《I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse》


 Chapter 1 Rise Of The Red Sun

    Kairos was adjusting his sses when out of nowhere, he was shoved.


    "Loser!"


    Then one secondter, the exact thing happened again.


    "Loser!"


    Kairos did not say anything and kept a tight hold onto his sses, which fell off of his face. A fairly burly guy walked on ahead, but not before shing him a cocky smile.


    Then doing it again.


    Well, that wasn''t the most urate way to describe what actually happened. But that was pretty urate in terms of what Kairos saw.


    For as long as he could remember, he experienced things twice. There would be the first time, then the second time one secondter. When he was still a little kid, he thought that it was normal.


    That everybody experienced things twice.


    It was especially annoying since it made him not only have to eat his spinach once, but a second time afterwards.


    After recovering from that shove, Kairos continued to walk down the street with his hands in his pockets and his head down.


    One time, when he was a little kid, Kairos went through a rather traumatizing experience. He walked over to the bookshelf in his house and pulled out one of his favorite books.


    However, there was also a pair of scissors higher up on the shelf which he did not know about. The small force he used to pull out the book was enough to make the scissors fall down as well.


    Kairos felt the scissors pierce his skull, causing him unimaginable amounts of pain. He immediately lifted his book upwards. He braced himself for the second wave of pain, but for some reason...


    It never came.


    In fact, the pain from before disappeared as well. That is, other than the phantom pain that was left behind.


    Kairos slowly looked up to see one of the des of the scissors pierce straight through his favorite book, while the tip was just a few centimeters away from his forehead.


    He immediately tossed the book away and began crying, rushing towards his parents'' embrace.


    "Mom, Dad, my head, my head!"


    His parents hurriedly rushed over, trying their best to console him.


    "What happened honey?"


    "Don''t be afraid! We are here for you."


    Kairos pointed to his head.


    "The scissors! It hurt my head!"


    At first, his parents seemed concerned. His mother gently brushed his short ck hair back to reveal a bare forehead. His father let out a sigh of relief.


    "Thankfully, you weren''t injured."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I was injured! Look, look!"


    He continued to point at his forehead, where he still felt the pain. His father had another look before standing up and walking towards where he came from.


    "Oh no. The scissors have torn up your favorite book!"


    His mother quickly stood up.


    "What? How did that happen? I put them on the top shelf."


    Kairos'' father frowned.


    "...They must''ve fallen off the top shelf. It seems this book saved him. No more putting scissors in high ces, they must be locked away safely."


    His mother nodded hurriedly.


    "Oh dear, I am sorry, that was even your favorite book! I will buy you a new book, ok?"


    Kairos simply stood there. Confusion hadpletely overtaken his previous sadness. He gently brushed his forehead with the tips of his fingers.


    And sure enough, he was fine.


    Then, he looked at the book on the floor.


    This was when Kairos first realized that he wasn''t exactly experiencing things twice. After a little bit of experimentation, Kairos found that what he first saw, wasn''t actually what happened.


    It was a vision of the future, albeit only one second ahead.


    When he first realized this, he excitedly shared this discovery with his parents. They yed along and pretended to believe him, thinking it was just a kid fantasizing.


    Kairos then went on to share it with his other friends.


    The moment he proimed it so, a little girl with short ck hair giggled.


    "I have a superpower too! I can be invisible!"


    Kairos let out a gasp,pletely believing her.


    "Show me, show me!"


    The little girl then proceeded to cover her eyes with her hands.


    "See? I''m invisible now!"


    Kairos blinked a few times, visibly confused.


    "But I can still see you."


    The little girl giggled.


    "What do you mean? I''mpletely invisible!"


    A little boy with fairly long blonde hair on the side put his hands on his hips confidently.


    "My power is shooting aser beam from my hands!"


    Kairos soon got over his initial disappointment and smiled excitedly.


    "Oh, show me, show me!"


    The little boy pulled back with both hands, sping them together. He closed his eyes and had a serious expression on his face.


    "This is my strongest move."


    Kairos couldn''t help but anticipate the devastation of this, ''strongest move''.


    "Yeah, go!"


    Suddenly, the little boy''s eyes flew open. Both hands shot forward and parted.


    "EEEEYYYYAAAHHHHHHHH."


    ...But nothing happened, other than the strange scream.


    The little girl jumped up and down on the spot.


    "Wow, so cool!"


    As for Kairos, he waspletely bbergasted.


    "What?"


    It was only until a whileter did he find out that his friends thought they were roleying, as though they had powers. This was when he found out his powers weren''t normal.


    Kairos had almost made it back to his house.<novelnext></novelnext>


    That was when a girl with long ck hair essentially body mmed against his side before wrapping an arm around his shoulders.


    "Hey, Kairos!"


    Kairos saw iting, but other than tensing up, he did not try to dodge. Instead, he let out a soft sigh.


    "Do you really have to tackle me each time, Nicole?"


    Nicole frowned yfully and pointed towards the fairly burly guy walking on ahead.


    "Why are you bothered so much more by a sweet innocent little flower greeting you, but youpletely ignore it when that jerk, Chad, shoves you?"


    Kairos pushed up his sses with a finger.


    "Well, I think you have the roles reversed. If anything, Chad is the gentle flower."


    Nicole pushed him hard as a gleam shed by her hazelnut irises.


    "What! How could you say that?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes as he recovered his footing.


    "Because he only pushes me lightly. Whereas you are essentially trying to topple me over, like just now."


    Nicole lifted her arm up and flexed her bicep.


    "That''s just because I''m really strong!"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "Stronger than Chad?"


    Nicole coughed awkwardly and changed the subject.


    "Anyway, do you want toe over to my house? You can try to teach me math and I will help you out with some Chinese!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "No thanks."


    Nicole let out an exasperated sigh.


    "But I''m fluent in Chinese!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Maybe, but the level of Chinese we learn in highschool is easy enough. On the other hand, it would take a few hours for me to tutor you in math until you understood."


    Nicole clicked her tongue.


    "Stingy!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "You know me."


    Nicole sighed.


    "Alright, I guess I''ll see you tomorrow."


    Kairos nodded.


    "See you."


    With that, the two of them separated, going to their respective houses which just so happened to be on opposite sides of the street.


    Right after Kairos pushed open the door, he set down his bag and went over to the kitchen to get a knife.


    The reason for this is because he made it a habit to always increase his pain endurance whenever he got home. Not that he was nning on actually stabbing himself, but ''seeing'' himself get stabbed.


    Since there was only an hour or so before his parents came home after he did, Kairos could only do this during that time. After all, letting out cries of pain while other people were in the house would probably cause some concern.


    The reason he wished to do this, is because he wanted to use this ability to save his life. Although Kairos couldn''t say this was an ideal life, he still enjoyed living for what it was.


    The very first time it saved his life, it was mostly based on luck. The pain heavily messed up his senses, throwing him off bncepletely. Frankly, this ability wouldn''t help much if the pain was so bad it made his brain stop.


    At first, Kairos didn''t think too much about it. However, as he got a stronger understanding of what death was, it made him afraid. Any random incident could get him killed, which most humans have toe to ept. There was only so much they could do.


    However, he could do far more to prevent it, thus he wanted to take full advantage of it.


    And so, every day, Kairos would plunge the knife towards himself, but right when he felt pain, he would pull away. That way he wouldn''t actually get injured. Though Kairos needed some practice to actually do it properly, he got it in the end.


    At first, Kairos only did small cuts on his arm. But as time went on, he stabbed through his gut, making tears uncontrobly gush out of his eyes.


    At his peak, Kairos even plunged it straight through his eye, which was not the most pleasant experience, to say the least.


    He walked up to his room, pushing it open before shutting the door. It was a pretty nd ce, without any of the posters that most teenagers his age would have.


    There were only the bare essentials. Aptop on a table, a chair, and a bed.


    Kairos took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself for another painful session. But suddenly, he froze.


    A frown formed on his face.


    That was because for just a second, he saw a pale orange lighte from his window.


    After a few moments, the orange light returned once more. Kairos grit his teeth as a fairly strong signal of pain entered his brain. He instinctively felt that this was a vision of the future.


    The light began to sh in and out of reality before bing a deeper and deeper red.


    It reminded Kairos of something.


    His dream.


    Ever since he was a child, he would have visions of a red suning up from the horizon. At first, they were really infrequent and confused him more than anything.


    But as he grew older, they continued toe back and even gave a strong sense of fear. At this point in his life, he would experience them every time he fell asleep and woke up in a cold sweat.


    Once, Kairos tried to stay up so that he wouldn''t have to deal with it, but he cked out in the middle of the night and had it anyway.


    Kairos even went to therapy to talk about this strange recurring dream. However, the only answer he got back was that he had too much stress and an improper sleep schedule.


    As the red light continued to sh from the window, Kairos ended up dropping the knife entirely, letting it ng against the floor. The pain he was experiencing was simply too much. It was even greater than the time the scissors pierced his skull or when he plunged a knife into his eye.


    Kairos began foaming at the mouth. He desperately ran towards the windows and pulled the curtains, sending the room into darkness.


    The pain immediately disappeared.


    Kairos fell onto the ground, panting heavily. For a few moments, he justid there, trying to regain his bearings.


    "...The fuck was that?"


    Kairos'' sses fell off while he himself had his eyes closed. Kairos reached around blindly before finding and putting them back on.


    After a few minutes, Kairos suddenly felt that the room was getting hot, as in unbearably hot. He stood up and walked over to the window, intending to get some fresh air in. However, before Kairos'' hand even got close to the curtains, he saw a bright shing red light that sent strong signals of pain to his brain.


    Kairos hurriedly recoiled from the window,nding on his bed.


    He furrowed his brows.


    "What is happening?"


    As for the answer to that question, it was something that Kairos never could''ve expected.


    The red sun from within his dreams began rising above the horizon. However, this was not the end of his nightmares.


    But rather, only the beginning.

 Chapter 2 A Monster

    Kairos took several deep breaths one after another. Although they were shaky, they were done withposure. This was something he had learned to do after each session of pain endurance.


    The stress built up in his mind gradually left, allowing his thoughts to flow more freely.


    Kairos began sweating because of the heat that had built up in the room. Considering it was the middle of fall, there should''ve been cold air outside. However, after being painfully warned several times, he knew better than to try that.


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    "The sunlight is unbelievably scary to me... Either I''ve developed a strange phobia, or my ability is somehow warning me about the threat of it."


    Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.


    "...My parents should be driving home soon."


    Kairos quickly pulled out his phone and went into the contacts section. He only had four people avable. These four had thebels, ''Mom'', ''Dad'', ''Nicole'', and ''Edward''. He tapped on Mom first, quickly sending a text message.


    ''AVOID THE SUNLIGHT''


    Then, he went to Dad and typed the same thing. Immediately afterwards, he called his dad. Several rings rang out and the wait made him anxious. And eventually, he heard the start of his dad''s voicemail.


    Kairos furrowed his brows and decisively ended the call.


    After cursing under his breath, he called his mother. However, she also did not pick up. Although Kairos had an urge to try again, he figured that it probably wouldn''t work out.


    Instead, he sent a text message to Nicole.


    ''Stay away from the windows and the outside.''


    The reason this was more formal was because he knew Nicole might''ve thought it was a joke if he put it in all caps. Using a period and proper capitalization should make her realize it was more serious.


    Kairos then exited out and tapped onto ''Edward''. However, he clearly had less enthusiasmpared tost time. Upon opening this section up, there were a series of friendly texts. However, it suddenly stopped at a message Kairos sent.


    ''Don''t worry about it''


    And that message was sent over four years ago.


    Kairos visibly hesitated on whether he should warn him. After a few seconds, he decided to type a message.


    Yet, seconds before he could, his phone began to vibrate and let out the default ringtone. For a moment, Kairos hoped it might be one of his parents, but the caller was Nicole.


    Nheless, he wasted no time in picking up.


    "Hey."


    A teasing voice came from the phone.


    "What are you doing, creeping around my house? If you regret declining my offer toe over you can just tell me!"


    Kairos shut his eyes.


    "No."


    Nicole paused. After a few seconds, she spoke in a very soft voice.


    "Is there some sketchy person moving around my house?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "No. Just stay away from the windows and anywhere else that sunlight can peek through."


    Nicole let out an exasperated sigh.


    "This isn''t some strange joke, right?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "No. Just know that it''s dangerous outside right now."


    Nicole seemed to be getting a little anxious.


    "What is the danger? Wait, my parents are home, should I get them away as well?"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "I''m not entirely sure. You should definitely get your parents to get away from the sun as well, just tell them that a person with a gun is outside. They probably won''t listen to you otherwise."


    Nicole let out a soft sigh.


    "Ok, I''m trusting you on this."


    Kairos stood up from the bed and rolled his eyes.


    "You don''t have to trust me."


    With that, he hung up.


    Remembering that he dropped the knife earlier, he picked that up and headed over to the kitchen. It was for the simple reason that the heat was quickly ramping up.


    Upon reaching the sink, he set down the knife and turned on the tap all the way, as cold as it could get.


    Kairos put his hands in the water, immediately feeling a strong sense of relief. He sshed some on his face, but instead of the cold feeling, he had visions.


    Several scenes shed by one after another.


    People writhing in pain.


    Humanoid monsters with bright red skin and overlyrge teeth.


    And even himself, standing under the light of the red sun...


    Transforming into a monster.


    Kairos abruptly snapped back to reality and let out a loud gasp. His breathing was heavy, but gradually calmed down. A few drops of water fell down from his face, falling onto the floor.


    A feeling of dread came over him. Those visions told him that the heat wasn''t going to be his greatest concern.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos felt that this sudden shift from normal life was far too sudden, but he had no ns of dawdling around. Countless thoughts shed by his mind at once.


    His first priority for survival should be food and water that is easy to carry. He had his school bag, which should be pretty useful for that sake. There was plenty of food he could carry in his bag.


    The second priority was a weapon. Though Kairos didn''t know what those monsters were, it didn''t take a genius to realize they were hostile.


    He looked at the kitchen knife next to him, then frowned.


    "Damn. Why don''t I have something like a baseball bat? If only I was a sports kid."


    His biggest concern was theck of reach. Although a knife was sharp, to actually stab one''s foe, they would have to get very close. On the other hand, a baseball bat not only had reach, but could be used by a novice easily.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Wait... I know a sports kid."


    Kairos pulled out his phone once more and instantly dialed Nicole. He began rushing over to the living room, where he left his backpack. The curtains weren''t fully covered on a faraway window and let a sliver of blood red light in.


    Not only did it look scary, but his body seemed to have an instinctual fear of it from the way his skin crawled.


    Kairos grit his teeth and grabbed his bag despite the difort that light brought. At that moment, Nicole picked up.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Kairos was panting and running with his backpack in tow.


    "If you can avoid the sunlight, get your bag and fill it with food and water that willst for at least a few days. Preferably things like bread, rice, or any other high calorie food."


    Nicole seemed concerned.


    "Is something wrong? You sound like you''re running for your life."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Never mind that! Just do what I said and make sure you have every single one of your baseball bats, especially the metal ones!"


    Nicole was silent, but for only a second.


    "Ok."


    With that, Kairos hung up. He opened up the zippers of his backpack and poured out the contents, letting his textbook and binders crash down onto the floor. After getting rid of his school supplies, he opened up the fridge and started to stuff things inside it.


    Luckily, there were two full bags of bread, which he promptly stuffed inside. They should be enough tost him a few days. All the other stuff were things like vegetables and eggs. Unfortunately, he didn''t have anything like beef jerky or canned foods. After clicking his tongue, he tore open the stic covering arge set of water bottles.


    Though Kairos thought that the concept of water bottles was stupid, as it was just filtered tap water that wasced with a tiny bit of stic. However, he could only thank his parents for not listening to him now, given the situation.


    Kairos was able to fit ten whole water bottles inside by stuffing his bag to the very brim. Although he wanted more food, he just counted on Nicole to do that.


    As he began thinking about his next steps, a muffled scream came from outside. It was a bloodcurdling scream, one of a person in immense pain. From what Kairos could tell, it shouldn''t be too far from his house.


    He inferred that the person screaming was transforming into a monster from his visions, thus didn''t even entertain the thought of helping them. After picking up the knife and slinging the backpack on his shoulder, he then wanted to go to his room.


    The second floor should be at least rtively safer in Kairos'' mind.


    On his way there, he was forced to pass by the entrance corridor of his home.


    And right as Kairos did so, his phone began to vibrate madly, letting out ring rm sounds. Since he saw it happen one second before, he was able to cover the phone by cing his arm on his leg.


    Unfortunately, it was still extremely loud.


    A loud screech came from outside of his house along with a series of thumping footsteps. Kairos saw the door burst open, revealing the monster and the strong red light. On top of that, he saw his body immediately begin mutating once the red light touched it.


    However, that was what he saw with his future vision.


    Kairos threw himself to the side, getting out of the way from the corridor. In less than a breath''s time, a loud bang resounded. The door to his house broke downpletely and the shrill cry of the monster filled the air.


    Kairos held his breath and began walking to his room, trying to stay as quiet as possible. His eyes were trained on the corridor behind him. He was watching out for when it woulde around the corner.


    Kairos saw the monster abruptly grab onto the corner, showing its creepy fingers, and peek its head out. Cold sweat immediately formed on his back as shot ducked into a different corridor, hoping that it wouldn''t seem him.


    Unfortunately, his backpack let out a few jingles from the metal straps it had on. The monster immediately let out a cry before charging in Kairos'' direction.


    In response, Kairos began running down this corridor, not caring about the sound he made. However, it was a dead end. After all, his house wasn''t a maze he could just run through.


    Knowing that this woulde down to a fight, he took his backpack off and tossed it to the side, not wanting it to weigh him down.


    Kairos then turned around and raised his knife. He couldn''t help but narrow his eyes as he got a better look at the monster.


    The immediate thing that jumped out to him was the bright red bulging veins across their skin. They seemed like they could burst at any moment. As for the skin color itself, it had a fairly red pigment, as though the monster got sunburned.


    The eyes had zed over to just be a pale yellow eye without any pupils. As for the mouth, it looked like it was forcefully stretchedrger along with sharper and longer teeth sticking out. It was not too different from a wolf''s, other than being bigger.


    The monster had hands, but they were tensed up into the shape of ws. Long ck nails extended from the fingertips, each essentially a small knife of their own.


    But what was most disconcerting for Kairos was not any of that.


    Instead, it was the ripped shirt and pants.


    Although they were ruined now, it wasn''t hard to tell that they were a cute light pink shirt and soft blue jeans.


    The reason why it bothered Kairos so much is because it showed that this monster in front of him used to be a human. And was human only a few moments ago.


    However, he was still going to kill it.


    The tears in the monster''s clothes showed that it had grown quite a bit from its original size. It was just barely taller than Kairos himself.


    That was why the monster was quite intimidating as it charged towards him.


    Kairos slowly breathed out.


    And took off his sses.

 Chapter 3 First Kill

    Kairos set his sses down next to the bag. The reason why he took them off in the first ce was that he never actually needed them to see.


    However, there was a reason why they were still precious to him.


    Long ago, when he was a child, he found a fairlyrge clear stone. Though it looked like ss, it was far tougher. And when he looked through it, he found that any visions of the future through that stone would be blurred.


    The reason why this was so significant to him was because he frequently had headaches. His only method of stopping such headaches was to close his eyes, greatly limiting the amount of information his brain was receiving.


    However, closing his eyes all the time was obviously inconvenient. And so, when he was a child, he begged his parents to make him a custom set of sses without magnification using that very stone.


    Kairos'' parents were very reluctant, but after making a deal of no Christmas presents or birthday presents for that year, they agreed. It was especially expensive and troublesome because that rock wasn''t easy to cut, like normal ss.


    As such, they had to go through a lot of trouble just to get someone willing to take care of it.


    It was damn expensive and Kairos knew that. Considering that they weren''t the most well-off family, he was thankful his parents listened to his request, even though it sounded like the whims of a child that would get bored of itter.


    These sses helped Kairos function like a normal being with far less stress and were a hassle to get his hands on, thus he treasured it very much. Considering the disasters that should happen soon, he figured that this was thest pair he would ever get.


    However, they also limited his ability. And right now, a little bit of stress was not worth anythingpared to his life.


    Taking off his sses immediately made his head hurt just a tad, but that stress paired along with the adrenaline snapped him to focus.


    Kairos took slow steps forward despite the rushing monster in front of him. He kept his eyes wide open, not daring to blink for a moment.


    Then, he saw it clearly.


    The monster swung its left w at him.


    Kairos ducked to the right, underneath the monster''s other arm before it even attacked. By the time the monster was even halfway through its strike, its target was already gone.


    Kairos slipped past, but not without cutting into the waist of the monster. He made a small wound into the side of the monster


    Without hesitation, he began running, but furrowed his brows along the way.


    In actuality, Kairos didn''t want to do such a shallow cut, especially when he was given such a good opportunity while he was close.


    However, with his vision of the future, Kairos saw that his de would get stuck into the monster. Given that this was his only weapon, there was no way he was giving it up now.


    Thus, he decisively went for a smaller cut instead, though its effects probably wouldn''t be as good.


    After missing, The monster immediately turned around and roared. Kairos frowned from the excessive volume, but thanked it for being stupid enough to waste a second roaring instead of chasing.


    In the back of his mind, Kairos was concerned about the monster ruining his sses and supplies, but that was an unnecessary worry. It couldn''t care less about those things as it fully intended on charging towards him, leaving a small trail of blood behind.


    Although Kairos had a head start, the monster closed the gap in a matter of seconds. Realizing that he didn''t have enough time to run into some room, he preemptively turned around and decided to try the same thing again.


    The monster rapidly closed in and swung with his right arm. Kairos ducked towards the left, but as he was trying to pass the monster, he felt a sharp paining from his shoulder, like it was being torn apart.


    Kairos was already shot with lots of adrenaline, but that fresh pain kicked it into high gear. He immediately stopped himself from moving forward.


    A momentter, the monster''s jaws snapped right in front of his face.


    Kairos could feel the ufortable heat from that monster''s breath as he looked into its eyes.


    Although nobody ever looked at him longingly in the eyes like this before, this was not the kind of affection Kairos was looking for.


    He saw the monster take a step forward and lunge with its jaws again. Knowing that the monster was much faster than him, Kairos did not have confidence in running away. The immediate solution that came to his mind was impairing the movements of the monster.


    All of these thoughts shed by in less than a second, meaning the monster had yet to move forward in reality.


    Kairos grit his teeth, bent his body back, and sent his knife towards the monster''s kneecap.


    The monster lunged forth and snapped with its massive jaws, but found that its target was just barely out of reach. On top of that, as it tried to step, a knife lodged itself into its knee.


    Kairos used the monster''s own momentum against it and was able to stick the knife in between its bones, causing it to pierce deep.


    Although Kairos had little knowledge in the medical field, he had a pretty damn good understanding of the human body.


    After all, he got very familiar with where the bones were ced within the body and how to get into the gaps with a knife. As Kairos backed off, he thanked himself for going through all those pain endurance sessions, as hard as they were to get through.


    The monster roared loudly and tried to move forward. For a moment, it really seemed like Kairos was doomed considering how quick it was. However, the monster alsopletely neglected the knife that was lodged inside of it.


    As it took a step forward, the muscles and ligaments within its knee pressed hard against the knife, until they were cut altogether. The monster''s calf directly split off with an ufortable sounding squelch, causing it to copse onto the ground


    One might say that it used to be an adventurer, until it took a knife to the knee.


    ? Kairos let out a sigh of relief as itnded right at his feet, but still hurriedly backed off. The monster may have lost one of its legs, but it would still crawl with all it could towards him. While Kairos did give up his weapon, at least now he was a little bit faster than the monster.


    Kairos ran into the kitchen instead of his room, as that would only corner him. Along the way, he had to pass by the entrance to the house, but for whatever reason, the red light did not go that far, so he was unaffected by it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos didn''t remember seeing more than one knife in the kitchen, but did a brief scan anyway. From the entire kitchen, he saw the fridge and a nearby dining table. The only somewhat feasible thing that could be used as a weapon was the chair.


    Left with little choice, Kairos picked up the chair and turned around to face the monster that frantically crawled towards him.


    As he still had some time, he lifted the chair up all the way up by its back. The monster made some strange guttural sounds as it approached.


    Kairos didn''t n on mming the chair down just yet, but he saw the monster pounce with his future vision. His hands tensed up considerably and he flung the chair down a bit earlier than nned.


    As it traveled downwards, the monster pounced forth.


    Two crisp bangs rang out one after another.


    The monster essentially mmed its own head against the chair, before mming onto the ground itself. As for the chair itself, arge crack formed on the seat as it was flung towards the ceiling.


    Kairos knew he could not keep his hold on it, thus did not try.


    The force behind the monster''s pounce forced him a few steps backward, but he had no intention of slowing how fast he was backtracking.


    After all, the bloody monster was still alive.


    There was a fairly bad wound on its head that began to spew out blood, but that didn''t stop it from moving.


    The monster let out aggressive and disorganized groans as it twisted its head around ufortably. It almost sounded like a baby that didn''t get a toy, but just far more deep and disgusting.


    Kairos picked up another chair and raised it once more, expecting it to pounce like before. However, the monster seemed to be disabled to a certain extent. It crawled over, but at a much slower pace than before, almost like it couldn''t piolet its own body properly.


    This made Kairos feel a little relief. With how this battle had been going, it was clear that this thing was tenacious. However, it wasn''t unkible.


    He could bet that many more people had transformed into these weird things so knowing that they were mortal made them far less scary.


    Despite all this, Kairos decided to keep his guard up and wait for the monster to approach. He intently focused on his future vision, trying to look out for anything unexpected to happen.


    However, he was just overthinking it.


    Kairos mmed the chair down on the monster''s head once it was in range, letting out a rather brutal fleshy sound and making it let out a cry of pain. He continued to repeat this several times, scattering blood and flesh around.


    Until eventually, a frightening crack resounded.


    The monster''s skull cracked open and the contents were crushed.


    [System booting up...]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow as he saw a strange blue panel appear in front of his eyes. However, it disappeared soon after. He was extremely confused, but decided to chalk it up to hallucinations from the heat.


    If it really was something else, then he could deal with it when it came to it.


    Kairos'' breathing was terribly ragged. Though at some point, the creature stopped moving, he just really wouldn''t feel reassured until its head caved in. And so, he continued pounding until he could confirm that it was dead.


    By now, his hands were trembling violently, sore from the strain he put on it. While Kairos did exercise to a certain extent, it was basically the bare minimum. His actual physical strength was probably less than the average male his age.


    Sweat poured down from his head like a waterfall, drenching him and the top of his clothes. Doing such strenuous movements when the temperature only continued to climb wasn''t the easiest in the world.


    Kairos let the bloody chair fall to the floor and sat down on the table to catch his breath. After about thirty seconds, he got back up because it was best not to waste time and the bloody smell from the corpse was disturbing him.


    Once again, he passed by the entrance to the house and took a peek outside. The red light made everything seem like it was coated in a thinyer of blood. However, except for that, it all seemed normal outside.


    Though Kairos didn''t feel safe just the ce this opened, he also didn''t dare approach the door. There was a consideration to make a fortification at this point, but the sound it may make in the process could attract more monsters, which he was not ready for right now.


    This was both in part because thest fight took quite a bit of Kairos'' stamina and his head hurt from overusing his future vision. He went back to retrieve his knife that was now bloody along with his backpack and sses.


    Afterfortably putting it back on, Kairos went up to his room.


    His first course of action upon getting there was checking his phone to see why it suddenly started to ring. He never set any rms of his own before and the one that did ur was far louder than any rm he had heard before.


    Upon looking, Kairos let out a helpless sigh.


    That rm was actually an alert sent out to every device that had reception.


    ''Please avoid any and all contact with sunlight until further notice. Currently, a strange phenomenon is urring in which the sunlight may be lethal to those exposed to it.''


    Although it was something that surely saved many people''s lives, it was quite inconvenient timing for him.


    Right as Kairos was about to shut his eyes, the blue status panel appeared once more.


    [System activationplete].

 Chapter 4 Evolve.

    Kairos furrowed his brows as he looked at the blue panel disyed before him.


    [Global Announcement: Evolve.]


    [Ok.]


    He had been sitting here for a while now, but it still didn''t go away. Kairos was a naturally suspicious person, thus didn''t want to click the button that said ok that easily. However, he figured that whatever was responsible could do much worse things than this.


    As such, he reached out with his finger and tapped it.


    With a clear ringing sound awfully reminiscent of a game, the panel disappeared before reappearing into a set of notifications.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [First Ten To Challenge Kill (Tenth - by ID: 345315364923) - 5 points awarded]


    [Early Kill - First Red Sun - 0.2 points awarded]


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    It appeared that this wasn''t exactly a hallucination, unless he was really going through it. However, he was also pretty sure he was sane. Although seeing real life turn into game-like elements was a little surreal for him, he already had experience with a simr bizarre thing.


    His ability to see one second into the future.


    As such, it did not take too long for him to ept it. As he read through the notifications, he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow.


    Although there wasn''t too much to work off of, he could already glean some information from what was given.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    He got points for killing a creature, with the notification explicitly stating that the creature was a rank superior to him.


    Kairos came to the conclusion that one could gather points by killing things and the rank within implied that killing things at a higher ''rank'' than oneself would give more points.


    [First Ten Challenge Kills (Tenth - by ID: 345315364923) - 5 points awarded]


    As for the second notification, stating that he had done the tenth global ''challenge kill''. He could surmise that meant killing a creature of a higher rank from the previous notification. Honestly, it surprised him a little bit that he was the tenth person to do such an act.


    After all, he essentially did it only a few moments after these transformations happened. He was essentially speedrunning, but he still only just barely squeezed himself into the top ten.


    Kairos rubbed his chin, wondering who those other people could be. As for the strange ID attached to it, he ignored that.


    Nheless, he quickly moved on to the third notification.


    [Early Kill - First Red Sun - 0.2 points awarded]


    There seemed to be an award for killing these things earlier on, while the red sun was still up. However, what was most concerning to Kairos was the fact it said ''First''.


    In other words, it implied that there was more than just one of theseing, like a recurring natural disaster. Before he could ruminate on it any further, they disappeared. Then, a new panel showed up.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.5]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 0.6


    Endurance - 0.4


    Agility - 0.7


    Willpower - 1.5


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    What immediately came out as strange to Kairos was the ID portion of the status panel. After all, what was the point of the essentially random string of numbers?


    Though, he did recall that this ID was disyed earlier.


    However, as there wasn''t much to think about, he moved on. When he took a nce at his rank, Kairos didn''t really care as he had no idea what exactly it measured and what an ''F+'' even meant, thus skipped over it.


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    This made him furrow his brows with concern and distrust. After all, he knew very well that this red sunlight would cause him to turn into a monster. It appeared that the system wished for him to do this.


    Whatever the reason was, it definitely meant that the system wasn''t exactly on his side.


    As for his stats, he was quite surprised at how paltry they looked. Although he could admit his endurance wasn''t the best, he didn''t think it was that bad.


    Then again, he had no idea what these numbers were based on.


    What surprised Kairos quite a bit was thebination of two things.


    The fact he did not have any magical capability or special abilities.


    After all, he literally had an ability that let him see a second into the future. If that wasn''t a magical or special ability, then what was?


    Nheless, Kairos moved on.


    After a bit of hesitation, he clicked on hide, making the panel disappear. There was no longer any trace of it. Upon thinking about opening the status panel, it reappeared.


    "...Hm, handy I suppose."


    Kairos also saw the option to add points to all of the stats except for mana capacity and magic affinity. However, while it sounded exciting to buff up his stats, he was extremely suspicious.


    He did not like this system.


    After all, its so called objective was essentially for him to kill himself. Thus, he decided not to press any more buttons and hid the panel.


    After that, Kairos sighed, hoping that this might all just be some weird fever dream. With thingsing to this point, he essentially lost all hope for that but still kept that tiny false hope within him.


    He then began to think about his parents once more.


    Were they okay?<novelnext></novelnext>


    Thinking about the encounter he just had, he quickly whipped out his phone and sent a text message to both his mother and father.


    ''Stay silent. There are bad things outside right now.''


    Then, Kairos sent it to Nicole as well.


    A few momentster, he got a text back.


    ''Got it.''


    He thenid his head against the wall, trying to rest a little. The temperature continued climbing to the point that it was very hard to bear.


    Kairos would''ve taken his clothes off, but they were also drenched in sweat, making it a bit cooler instead.


    Time continued to pass.


    The heat did not climb terribly fast, but the steady pace was like torture. By checking his phone asionally, Kairos was able to determine that a few hours passed, though it felt like days.


    He began to think of the cool air of the fridge, and couldn''t help but nearly be driven crazy by it. After a few more moments, he couldn''t help but stand up and make his way to the door, intending on getting to the fridge.


    However, as his hand wrapped around the doorknob, his ears picked up on footsteps.


    From all the way up here, they were unbelievably faint, but they were very much there. Though they sounded rather chaotic as he heard them twice, Kairos was able to sift through the sounds as he had been dealing with it his whole life.


    His guess was that three monsters were down on the first floor.


    Kairos did not have the confidence to take on three, even if he used all his points to improve his stats. Even if he had double the points, he still wouldn''t be too sure. Granted, Kairos had no experience in what the points would actually do for him, but the point still stood.


    As such, he slowly let go of the doorknob before sitting back down on the ground, feeling a little aggrieved. His breathing was a little heavy, courtesy of the heat.


    But suddenly, he suppressed it.


    Because there was the faint sound of somethinging up the stairs.


    Kairos knew killing creatures now should give him extra points which would also give him an advantage. However, he didn''t think it was worth the risk. Although one could not be timid if they wished to survive, they also could not be reckless.


    There was only one creature here now, but the other two would rush over like hyenas right afterwards. They weren''t exactly slow, either.


    As such, Kairos simply did his best to stay quiet. He did not hold his breath, but took each one very slowly and very deliberately, making it as silent as possible.


    An eerie guttural sound came from just behind his door.


    Kairos'' heartbeat sped up slightly, but it wasn''t enough to disrupt his breathing. The footsteps continued to pace around, almost like it was surveying the area.


    As this was all happening, the heat simply continued to climb. It had almost reached midnight, which was supposed to be the coldest time of day, but instead was only getting hotter.


    Experiencing such devastating heat nearly made Kairos delirious. Not to mention the fact that he had to do so twice because of his ability.


    There were still footsteps outside his door, so he had to keep his breathing calm. Unfortunately, it was getting harder not to freak out under this pressure.


    However, right when he was about to give up, Kairos decided he would endure this.


    He had been enduring pain for all of his life.


    Staying secretive about his ability even at the cost of bing a loser, or an outcast in highschool.


    Training his pain tolerance every day and fighting the urge to just give up each and every time.


    And...


    Other things as well.


    Kairos knew he could deal with this. If anything, it was too easy.


    His breathing that had begun to act up, calmed down.


    The heat continued to rise, but he just ignored it.


    ...Until eventually, the footsteps left, going back downstairs.


    Kairos did not let out a sigh of relief. In fact, he didn''t even stop breathing as quietly as possible. Almost like he wanted to prove something to himself.


    In fact, Kairos even dared the heat to go even higher.


    ...Though, it did not listen.


    The temperature peaked at exactly midnight, before slowly dropping. Eventually, he felt a strong sense of sleepiness overtake him. It was prettyte, after all.


    However, it obviously wasn''t the safest thing to sleep right now.


    Kairos knew that, but...


    His eyes slowly closed anyway.


    ...


    [Survived First Red Sun - 0.1 points]


    Startled by the notification, Kairos woke up.


    By the time he woke up, he found himself drenched in a pool of sweat. The temperature was still above average, but nothing like how it was moments ago.


    After silently chastising himself for falling asleep so easily, he slowly stood up and looked towards the curtain. It didn''t give him that same strong sense of fear from before.


    After a bit of hesitation, Kairos slowly lifted up the corner of the curtain.


    And was greeted with the early rays of dawn.


    Normal ones, not red ones.


    Kairos sighed.


    "...It appears that we at least get some reprieve."


    He walked up to the door to his room andid his ear on it. After confirming there were no sounds, he slowly opened it up.


    What he immediately saw was messy footprints in a trail of blood. Kairos remembered that he brought the bloody knife up here, exining its origin. He traveled down the stairs further and saw that all the bloody parts of the house had been trampled on.


    As for the corpse of the monster he killed before, it was gone, save for some messy blood scattered around.


    Like something ate it, bones and everything.


    From the sight he saw, Kairos quickly came to the conclusion that these monsters were attracted to blood, then looked at the bloody knife in his hand. He cursed under his breath before setting it on the ground quietly.


    After confirming that there was nothing here once more, he went into his parent''s bedroom and called Nicole.

 Chapter 5 Strength Increase

    After a few moments, the call went through. A voice hade out, but it was filled with static. It was as though they were talking on a walkie-talkie.


    "Hel... you there?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I am here. Can you hear me?"


    Nicole responded.


    "Kind... but lots of static..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Nevermind, I will try to make my way over to your house. Did you get that?"


    After a few moments, he got a response.


    "Yeah... door..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I didn''t get that. Can you repeat it?"


    The sound of Nicole clearing her throat came over.


    "...Open."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Nevermind, this isn''t going to work."


    Then, he shut the phone off.


    After shaking off the lingering sleepiness he still felt, Kairos got up and pulled the curtains just a tad, so that he could see outside. The windows here let him see into his front yard.


    Though Kairos was hoping it was empty, that was not the case. In fact, the sights made him a little afraid.


    The first thing that came out to him were two monsters slowly approaching each other, getting ready for a fight. However, what was more relevant to him was the amount of blood across the floor.


    After paying closer attention, he found that most seemed to be from monsters, or rather people that had be monsters. It was not easy to tell because very little of what remained consisted of bones or flesh. The thing that made him believe so was the stretched clothes that littered the ground, probably from people growing to sizes that were not supported.


    What he noticed about the two monsters approaching each other, was that they were both bloody, especially so for around their mouths. It was pretty clear that they had consumed something.


    After getting within a few meters of each other, they suddenly lunged, plunging both of their ws deep into the other. One thing Kairos was able to notice was that they were faster than the one he encountered before.


    The degree of this difference was very small, but it was still there nheless.


    Perhaps he could just brush this off, but he was not the type of person to do such a thing. A rather frightening hypothesis formed in his mind.


    That these creatures would always be getting stronger.


    In other words, they were evolving.


    A bold idea began forming in Kairos'' mind. What if he took advantage of when those two were fighting each other and killed them?


    ...Then he should be able to get some points.


    Normally, Kairos would never think in this type of fashion, but his realization of the monsters getting stronger put some pressure on him. He couldn''t help but think back to the ''Global Announcement'' from the system earlier.


    All it said was evolve.


    That probably meant everything was going to get stronger as time went on. So if he remained weak, that meant he was also very likely going to die.


    For a few seconds, Kairos'' mentality shifted from passive to proactive.


    He furrowed his brows, trying to think of a realistic way he could kill them. From what he experienced before, Kairos knew that they were tough things that would chase even after they lost a leg.


    However, they would die if their skull was crushed.


    At first, he was contemting bringing the knife, but that wouldn''t deal with the blunt force trauma he wanted.


    Kairos'' eyes drifted towards a tallmp in his room. He remembered from adjusting it before that thosemps had really heavy bases, mostly so that they didn''t topple over.


    ...It wouldn''t be the most convenient, but it was probably the best he was going to get.


    Kairos unplugged themp and wrapped the cord around the base, tying it just so that it wouldn''t get out of the way. Then, he manually removed the top part of themp off to make it a little easier to hold.


    He tried to pull it up, but came to a realization.


    The base was too heavy.


    With his current strength, he could pick it up, but not swing in any reasonable capacity. Kairos furrowed his brows, then thought about his status.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.6]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 0.6


    Endurance - 0.4


    Agility - 0.7


    Willpower - 1.5


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    There were small plus signs next to each stat, giving the option to increase them. However, the magic rted options were greyed out. He clearly hesitated as his eyes locked onto his 0.6 strength and the option to increase it. Kairos didn''t trust this thing, that was for sure. However, it seemed that whether or not he trusted it, assuming that he could indeed boost his stats, this panel would be necessary.


    There was little time to hesitate as the fight between the monsters would probably end soon, thus ending the opportunity to kill steal.


    Kairos grit his teeth and decided to just do it.


    [Strength - 0.6 -> 0.7 | Points 5.6 -> 5.5]


    He felt his body get a little warm as a feeling of his muscles getting just a bit sturdier came about. There didn''t appear to be any side effects.


    At least not now.


    Kairos still couldn''t lift up thempfortably and decided to put a little more into his strength.


    [Strength - 0.7 -> 1.2 | Points 5.5 -> 5.0]


    He immediately felt a surge of strengthe to him and much more than he was expecting. His body let out diforting amounts of heat, but it worked out in the end.


    Kairos tried lifting themp once more. Now, while he felt the weight, he could easily twirl it around even with just one hand. From what Kairos could tell, though there was no change to his visual appearance, he now had simr strength to a professional athlete.


    And would probably be stronger than the average professional athlete too.


    This shocked him greatly, how easy it was to be stronger.


    It made him even more determined to kill those monsters as it meant every second was part of a race to get stronger, so that one wouldn''t be left behind.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After putting on his backpack, Kairos made his way to the entrance and could see the two monsters in the middle of a bloody fight, both with various gashes and bite marks across their bodies.


    They were so caught up in their battle, that they didn''t even seem to notice him.


    Kairos slowly walked up to the entrance, then looked to the left and right, almost like he was getting ready to cross the street. Though in this case, he was just looking for more monsters, not wanting to bite off more than he could chew.


    At this point, one of the monsters shoved the other down before pinning them on the ground. Soon after, it reached for its neck with its jaws. The other monster let out a desperate roar and pierced the other''s chest.


    Kairos immediately realized it was now or never.


    He rushed out recklessly, making very clear stepping sounds as he did so. Kairos ended up going faster than he was expecting, but was able to adapt to it easily.


    He raised up themp as he went forth, with the base high up in the air.


    Before the monsters even had time to react, Kairos whipped themp down on the top monster''s head.


    A dull bang rang out along with a frightening crack.


    The top monster''s skull shatteredpletely and a notification appeared in front of him.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Compared tost time, itcked both the fact it was the first ten kills and the fact it was an early kill. Before he had any time toment on that, the monster below pushed off the corpse resting on top of it.


    Kairos pulled back themp, but couldn''t do it that fast. He saw the monster swipe and pierce through his legs with his future vision. Before that happened in reality, he stepped back, letting the w harmlessly pass by.


    Then, he mmed the base of themp onto that monster''s head.


    Another scary bang and crack rang out.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos was slightly winded, taking a few steady deep breaths. However, he felt that he could go for much longer. After taking another survey of the surrounding area and seeing nothing, he bolted over to Nicole''s house.


    He gave a few light knocks, but not without surveying his surroundings. Kairos immediately heard various whispering and scampering soundsing from behind the door.


    There was a hushed cry.


    "No!"


    But a set of footsteps gradually made its way to the door. After a few seconds, it opened up just a crack, revealing Nicole.


    "I thought you said to avoid the sunlight! What are you doing?"


    Kairos sighed and pushed the door open a little more so that he could get inside. Right after, he shut the door and locked it rather rudely.


    "Right now, the sunlight isn''t harmful. However, that shouldn''t be thest we see of it."


    Nicole nodded at first, but suddenly widened her eyes.


    "Woah! That''s a lot of blood, are you ok?"


    This was pretty fair given Kairos had blood over his clothes and on the base of hismp


    He set themp down and sighed.


    "I''m fine. It''s not my blood."


    Nicole froze up.


    "Did you... kill someone?"


    Kairos did think that though what he killed were monsters, it still counted as killing a person. However, he didn''t have a moralpass that made him feel bad about taking another''s life, especially for the sake of self-defense.


    However... it wasn''t always the best to be honest.


    "No, who do you think I am? My body is allnky so how would I kill anything? The streets are just covered in lots of blood and guts. In order to make my way over here without being seen, I got myself dirty in the process."


    Nicole''s eyes widened significantly.


    "...Y-You''re adapting to this rather fast."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "We don''t have a choice."


    He then looked over Nicole''s shoulder to see her parents, both huddled next to each other and clearly a little spooked out. However, after Kairos gave a reason as to where the blood came from, they seemed to calm down a little.


    He took a deep breath.


    "Alright. Is there anybody here who still thinks that this is a dream?"


    Nicole''s mother, Sydney, shook her head.


    "No, we tested that already."


    As the father, Harold, a bitter smile formed on his face.


    "Well yes, but that was on me."


    Sydney rolled her eyes.


    "What? Was I supposed to p myself?"


    The corner of Harold''s lip twitched.


    "No, your highness."


    Nicole couldn''t help but chuckle, as did Kairos. Sydney smiled yfully, obviously meaning it as a joke.


    However, while they were trying to keep the mood joyous, it was clear from how the three could hardly keep their eyes open that they were tired.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Did none of you get some sleep?"


    Nicole bit her lip.


    "The soundsing from outside... were too scary."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "But two of you could''ve slept while thest one kept watch, no? Perhaps even two people to keep watch."


    Sydney furrowed her eyes a little.


    "But... it''s simply too hard to fall asleep in a setting like this."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "Of course. However, our normal lives are alreadypletely gone. If we want to live, we have to get used to many new things. And sleeping while trusting someone to watch will be one of the basics."


    Harold held his wife a little closer and sighed.


    "...I suppose you are right."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Let''s go upstairs. You three sleep and I''ll keep watch. We will talk about our n after your minds are at least a little rested."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok."

 Chapter 6 Infected?

    Nicole along with her parents were allying down in a room with a nket covering themselves as suggested by Kairos. He simply said that they were going to have to get used to having no beds and also needed to sleep in the same room so he could keep watch on everyone.


    There weren''t anyints about that logic, so here they were.


    Both of Nicole''s parents were absolutely exhausted. And so, they were fast asleep before they even knew it. As for Nicole, despite also being tired, she was having some trouble.


    She looked up to Kairos.


    "I got all the bags filled with rice and brought refible containers filled with water like you said."


    Kairos nodded in response.


    "That''s good."


    Nicole smiled slightly.


    "I also got the bats. I got two metal ones and a wooden bat, just like you said."


    Kairos nodded again.


    "Yes, I can see them in the room. Go to sleep now."


    Nicole shut her eyes, but she was still awake.


    "Hey, Kairos. Me and my parents got this strange status panel thingy. It''s almost like we are all in a game! Do you have it too?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Yes, yes."


    Nicole softly giggled.


    "This must be a dream, right? How could any of this happen in reality?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "...Just go to sleep, Nicole."


    She was silent for a moment, but responded in the end.


    "Ok."


    With that, several quiet snoring sounds filled the room. Kairos didn''t feelfortable even wasting this amount of time, but he knew that havingpanions he could trust were necessary. After all, Kairos couldn''t just hope that no monsters would sneak up to him while he was sleeping.


    There had to be someone to keep watch.


    As for his parents... their condition was unknown. For now, he could only rely on Nicole and her parents.


    Kairos opened his status panel up once again.


    But soon after, he furrowed his brows.


    He continued to open and hide it several times, before confirming something.


    Kairos was unable to see the future version of his status panel. He didn''t notice this until now, but it seemed his ability was ineffective for this sake.


    Though that fact by itself hardly mattered, it also meant his ability wasn''t exactly all epassing. There were some things he could not see the future of.


    Kairos internally sighed, realizing he couldn''t depend on his ability too much. But at the very least, he realized it sooner thanter.


    Kairos decided to use this time to think a little more.


    How should he tackle things moving forward?


    Maybe being in an area with so many people wasn''t the smartest idea, as monsters should be lurking everywhere.


    Not to mention, there wouldn''t be an easy way to make a sustainable food source with concrete. As such, moving to the ins seemed to be a good option for now.


    Kairos stood up and began checking the three backpacks they had with them. There was a metal container filled with water on each side and within the backpacks themselves, was plenty of rice. They would be quite heavy, but also be a good source of food assuming they could cook it.


    Although they didn''t have much water, his backpack was full of it, so there at least was that.


    "Hmm... we probably need to bring things like pots. tes might be too much, but utensils are also important for hygienic reasons."


    As he continued to ponder, he realized that Nicole''s mother, Sydney, was squirming around in her sleep. She was sweating slightly with her brows furrowed. At first, Kairos didn''t see anything wrong with that.


    It was pretty normal to have nightmares after an event like this.


    However, what set off rm bells in his head was when she began fervently scratching the side of her arm.


    It wasn''t so much a scratch one did when they were itchy. This was like Sydney wanted to tear off her skin entirely.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow and walked around so that he could see what exactly she was scratching.


    It was the part just below her arm. By now, her sleeve had been pulled back. It revealed bright red skin with bulging veins.


    Just like how the monsters looked.


    Though Sydney was scratching it with all her might, it was simply too tough. Her fingernails couldn''t dig in at all. They would probably break before that portion of her skin got damaged.


    Kairos sucked in a sharp breath.


    Was she... infected? Was that even the right term?


    It was definitely usible to think that Sydney was going to transform into a monster as that is what happens in all those zombie movies. However, the monsters did not seem to transform because of some infection, but rather exposure to the sun.


    There was a chance that Sydney was fine.


    However, it would also be a big risk when they didn''t know anything.


    Kairos slowly raised hismp, right above her head.


    He began to contemte the consequences of such an action. Killing her would definitely piss the other two off tremendously. But that was the only thing to do if he wanted to y it safe.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    Then...


    Slowly lowered themp to the floor.


    He would see if Sydney talked about itter. Then, that would determine the decision he makes.


    With that, Kairos kept watch. Mostly on Sydney. He used this time toe up with ns and decide on several courses of action.


    After an hour or so passed, the adrenaline in his body disappeared. With that, came a strong sense of fatigue. He didn''t realize it before, but his arms had been strained badly.


    Even though he just swung themp twice.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos'' eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch when he thought of his pitifully low endurance. It seemed that his body wouldn''t be able to handle the pressure if he didn''t increase that. He hesitated only for a second before adding to it.


    [Endurance: 0.4 -> 1.0 | Points 5.6 -> 5.0]


    Kairos immediately felt relief spread through him along with strong currents of warmth. He took a deep breath and got up as it was getting a little hot. After a few moments, it settled down.


    Kairos was right in thinking that endurance was closely linked to his stamina. Though he still didn''t feel good about getting stronger this way, Kairos decided to continue using these points until some sign told him not to.


    After a total of three hours passed, Kairos began shaking the people that were asleep awake. He used a bit of caution For Sydney.


    The three of them were able to wake up, but they were clearly still sleepy. Nicole rubbed her eyelids and let out a long yawn.


    "Let me sleep some more..."


    She covered her eyes with her arm, which Kairos promptly removed. He sighed.


    "No more sleeping. Now is a pretty sensitive time. We can catch up on sleepter."


    Sydney was the first to get up. She held onto the side of her head.


    "How long were we asleep for?"


    Kairos responded quickly.


    "Three hours."


    Harold grumbled.


    "Gah... that''s not healthy."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "The apocalypse is not healthy either. Nothing happened while you all were asleep, but the sooner we get out of this highly popted town, the better."


    Nicole mumbled.


    "...So it''s all real."


    Kairos closed his eyes.


    "Yes, it is very real. Quickly wake up. There are some things we have to discuss."


    Several groans and eye rubbing urred before everyone sat up, pushing the covers off of themselves.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "First things first, we are in an apocalypse where most of the poption has be some sort of monster. Obviously, our main goal is to survive. That means we have to go somewhere that doesn''t have many people and somewhere we can grow food. In other words, a ce in the wilderness."


    Ufortable expressions appeared. Especially so for Nicole.


    Harold pressed his lips together.


    "So that''s what all those... screams were."


    Kairos simply continued.


    He raised a finger.


    "I''ve thought about using a car to get there, but it is simply too loud. The monsters appear to be attracted to both sound and the smell of blood. From what I''ve seen, they are also strong enough to have a high likelihood of surviving a car crash, thus allowing them to further damage the car."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Basically, the car is essentially a giant iron death trap."


    He raised another finger.


    "The other most important thing is immediate food and water. Water is definitely the most important, but it will be hard to get too far while extremely hungry. We will only be able to cook while safe, thus the rice you all have can be used forter, which we should bring a pot for. As for the bread I have in my backpack can be what we eat for now."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "And the final thing is rted to the monsters themselves. We shouldn''t fight them unless it is rtively safe to do so. As I said before, they are strong. In addition, how exactly people be these monsters is not fully understood. If there are any signs of that whatsoever, then you should talk about it."


    His eyes drifted over to Sydney as he said that, but naturally continued on towards the others.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Anyway, I hope you three will go get a pot and enough utensils for each of us. On top of that, if you have a med-kit, please bring that. Try to cook something with lots of the nutrients we will be missing, as we can''t be picky eaterster on."


    He paused.


    "If you can think of anything else helpful that isn''t too heavy or hard to carry, bring that too. Also, change into a new pair of clothes. We will probably be in these for a long time, so might as well get something without the sweat."


    He stood up.


    "As for me, I will be taking a shower as I still have blood on my clothes. I don''t want to attract any monsters, after all."


    Nicole perked up.


    "Alright! I will go get the med-kit from the basement!"


    Harold stood up.


    "I will prepare the other things. Also, I''m going to get my stash of disinfectant wipes. That should be useful."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Nice."


    As for Sydney, sheughed.


    "I guess I will cook something for us. I''ve had a pretty good understanding of all the essentials one needs in their diet, so that would be good."


    Kairos intently stared at her.


    She didn''t seem to notice.


    While Nicole and Harold left, Sydney furrowed her brows. She began to scratch her arm once with a bit of frustration.


    "...What?"


    Kairos remained dead silent.


    Sydney slowly pulled up her sleeve, before gasping as she saw the bright red skin and bulging veins.


    "W-What is happening to me?"

 Chapter 7 We Have To Run

    Kairos looked at Sydney who was on the verge of losing it.


    "Calm down."


    This might''ve been a bad thing to say to an immature teenager, but Sydney was an adult woman. As such, she listened and took a few deep breaths.


    "O-Ok."


    Kairos spoke very slowly, enunciating each word clearly.


    "From what I have seen, that patch on your arm right now is the same skin that those monsters have."


    Sydney''s eyes widened. Her breaths got a little heavy.


    "Am I going to be a monster?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I am not sure. However, you seem to be rtively sane for now."


    Sydney looked quite depressed. She began taking deep breaths once more.


    "Maybe I should not go with you."


    She closed her eyes.


    "Perhaps I should be killed."


    Kairos fell silent. In all honesty, he did somewhat agree with her logic. It was a big risk. However, Kairos was always one to understand things as best he could, down to their basicponents.


    And it seemed that Sydney was his best opportunity to do so.


    "Saying that you should be killed is an overstatement. Now, if you showed signs of freaking out unnaturally or losing your sanity, that is different. However, you are not much different from me or Nicole."


    Sydney slowly looked up to Kairos.


    "R-Really?"


    He sighed.


    "I''m just saying it is too fast to conclude that you are done for."


    Sydney slowly nodded.


    "I see."


    Kairos looked at the red patch intently.


    "May I know what you believed to have caused this?"


    Sydney held onto the side of her head and rubbed with a bit of frustration.


    "I remember Nicole anxiously telling me to follow her and get away from the windows. Though I didn''t really understand why, Iplied. As I went past, however, I remember the side of my arm feeling ufortably hot for some reason."


    She narrowed her eyes.


    "Thinking back to the emergency alert from our phones, I think the curtains to my windows were just slightly open and a bit of sunlightnded on my arm."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "...If this was only the effect of a tiny bit of light for a short duration, then-"


    "You can probably imagine how bad it was for anyone that just so happened to be wandering outside. Now they are mindless monsters."


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    As for Sydney, she simply sighed sympathetically.


    "It is simply too unfortunate."


    Kairos paused.


    "Are you going to share this fact with the others?"


    The corner of Sydney''s lip twitched.


    "I don''t want to worry them. There are already so many things to worry about. Even more might hurt them too much."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "However, transforming into a monster next to them can also lead to them hurting too much."


    Sydney pressed her eyelids tightly together.


    "Oh dear..."


    Kairos made a decision. He would do his best to keep Nicole''s mother as one of theirpanions. This was for several reasons.


    She didn''t really think about things. Although this could be considered a demerit, to Kairos, it was the opposite. People that didn''t think too much tended to be bad at lying or didn''t even try in the first ce.


    In other words, they were rather trustworthy.


    On the other hand, this partial transformation was beginning to intrigue Kairos. The entire time, Sydney had been subconsciously scratching that same patch on her arm. The sounds were very loud and even her fingernails were being ground up.


    However, the skin was fine.


    It appeared that the red sun increased one''s physical capabilities at the expense of their intelligence and rationality.


    As for the limitations and caveats, he now had someone as an example to find out, like a test dummy.


    Sydney swallowed ufortably.


    "I... I will tell them about it."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Well first, get to cooking. As for me, I need to get this blood off."


    Sydney let out a soft breath.


    "Alright."


    ...


    Kairos came down the steps and into the dining room with his hair still slightly wet. Nicole was holding onto a white medical kit with a green cross on top. As for Harold, he handed Kairos a pack of disinfectant wipes as he came down.


    Kairos took it casually.


    "Thanks."


    Harold nodded.


    "No problem. I couldn''t help but think of these considering our next shower is probably going to be far away... Not to mention all the other hygiene issues."


    There was a faint smell of roasted vegetables in the air, courtesy of Sydney.


    She eventually set the tes down to reveal many greens, along with fruits, especially so for oranges. After setting them down, she sat with a slightly solemn expression.


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "Aw... so many vegetables."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You should eat as much as you can. At some point you may miss them dearly."


    Once we all got seated, Sydney cleared her throat.


    "Sorry, but before we begin, I want to tell you something."


    Harold had picked up a set of chopsticks, but put it back down.


    "Ah, what is it, honey?"


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "I... seem to have been infected."


    She slowly lifted up her arm and pulled back the sleeve. Kairos raised both eyebrows, surprised at how fast she got to the point.


    He began to think that Sydney might be even nicer to have given her decisiveness. Though, she still closed her eyes and faintly trembled.


    Harold immediately spoke up.


    "Oh, no!"


    Sydney tensed up, but he quickly continued.


    "Are you ok? Maybe we can use something from the medical kit?"


    Nicole got up out of her seat and rushed over to her mother.


    "Wah! Does it hurt? I can rub it if it hurts!"


    Sydney seemed a little shocked.


    "Y-You guys aren''t afraid?"


    Harold seemed surprised.


    "Of course we''re afraid! What if this infection gets worse?"


    Nicole raised both hands in the air.


    "You have to be careful!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney looked down.


    "But... I might be bing a monster."


    Harold smiled.


    "So what? It''s rude not to include monsters. That''s discriminatory!"


    Nicole giggled.


    "Plus, mom is too strong! She will never be a monster."


    A soft smile formed on Sydney''s face.


    "T-Thank you."


    Kairos rested his elbows on the table with his hands in front of his face. He was a little perplexed as to how these people were taking the apocalypse so easily.


    Perhaps it may have been the power of a cohesive family that would never abandon each other.


    Kairos shut his eyes and began thinking about his own parents.


    As though reading his mind, Nicole gasped.


    "Ah, what about your parents, Kairos?"


    Sydney and Harold also gave concerned nces.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I''ve tried to call and text them, but they didn''t pick up."


    Sydney smiled reassuringly.


    "We can go to their workce to see if they are still alive!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No."


    The expressions of the other three seemed confused and a little scared. Nicole pouted slightly.


    "But... they are your family."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I n on seeing them, alright? However, you also have to think about this logically. If my parents survived, then they have very likely escaped the high poption density of the city and made it to the wilderness."


    He pushed up the sses on his face.


    "In other words, we have to make it to the closest ce in the wilderness to find them, which will be our target destination if we want to live anyway."


    Nicole gasped.


    "Wow, you''re so smart!"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "It''s calledmon sense."


    Sydneyughed.


    "Anyways, we should eat."


    With that, they began having their meal. They were a little louder than they should''ve been, but they didn''t seem to care too much about that now. Kairos couldn''t help but think that this was probably thest nice meal he was going to have for a long time.


    Though it didn''t taste the best as it mostly contained various vegetables, it was still quite nice.


    It did not take too long for them to finish.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright. I will use thismp as my weapon for anything wee across, and you all should divide the bats between yourselves. I rmend the one wooden bat goes to Sydney."


    Sydney didn''t seem that against it, but was still curious.


    "Why is that?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "It is considered the most fragile weapon we have. Considering that you are partially infected, I believe your strength is the highest, thus you are also the least likely to need a better weapon in a pinch."


    Harold seemed slightly against it, but nodded anyway.


    "I suppose that will be best."


    Sydney sighed.


    "Alright, now let me take care of the dishes."


    She picked them up and turned on the sink, prompting Kairos to furrow his brows.


    "There''s no need to wash them. We won''t being back here, after all."


    Sydney visibly shook.


    "Ah... right."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    It appeared that they still hadn''t fully epted the situation...


    That might be bad.


    Kairos sighed and walked towards the front door, but that was when several loud roars echoed on the streets. He slowly and calmly backed up, but could still discern the fact that there were footstepsing along his way.


    The inner corner of Kairos'' eyebrows dug down deep.


    "Quickly! Get to the backdoor!"


    Harold clenched his fist anxiously.


    "That thing is jammed! We won''t be able to get it open!"


    Kairos cursed under his breath.


    "Then upstairs!"


    The three of them hurriedly rushed up the steps while Kairos followed close behind. Suddenly, a thundering bang resounded within the house. The door directly burst off, the hingespletely broken.


    Kairos furrowed his brows, realizing that they should''ve kept their voices down.


    However, it was toote now.


    Fear was readily apparent on Nicole and her parent''s faces, but they did not pause and kept running. The monster heard them rush up the steps, thus did the same.


    Upon reaching the top, Nicole panicked.


    "W-What do we do now?"


    Kairos frowned.


    "Either fight it or jump out a window."


    Nicole didn''t even hesitate to answer back.


    "My room has a big openable window!"


    She rushed over to it, leading the group there. Nicole hurriedly pushed aside the curtains, then began spinning this small handle that very slowly opened the window.


    Sydney panicked.


    "There''s no time!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    Honestly, with his previous experience fighting them, he was also fairly confident in taking on just one of these monsters. However, he didn''t want to show that capability straight away.


    Unfortunately, Nicole''sck of judgment meant that wasn''t going to happen. The monster rushed over to the doorway, its footsteps both heavy and intimidating.


    Kairos got next to the side of the door and raised hismp, holding the base up high.


    The door was only halfway closed, so the monster directly mmed against the door and appeared. Screams immediately came from Nicole and her parents, while Harold''s was somehow the most high-pitched.


    But that was when Kairos acted, knowing the exact position of the monster''s head before it even burst in because of his future vision.


    Themp whipped through the air.


    A dull, but loud bang resounded along with frightening cracks.


    Kairos put some good strength behind that swing, directly denting the creature''s head. It mmed into the nearby wall, before falling to one knee. However, it was still alive.


    Kairos wanted to quickly follow up, but found that he just didn''t have that kind of flexibility, probably because of his low agility stat.


    At that moment, Sydney let out a loud scream, raising her wooden bat in the air before mming it down.


    The creature''s head copsed in on itself, before falling to the ground lifeless.


    Sydney was breathing very heavily, still getting used to the sudden rush of adrenaline.


    However, while the immediate threat was over, Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Don''t stop, we have to run."

 Chapter 8 Through The Houses

    Nicole had stopped opening the window initially, but hurried back to it after Kairos sounded so anxious.


    "Why?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "They are attracted to sound and blood. Look at our situation. There has been far too much sound and blood. Just us talking was enough to attract one of them, so there should be moreing now."


    Hearing this, Nicole anxiously sped up.


    As for Sydney, she was still holding onto the bloody wooden bat with trembling hands.


    "Oh... god."


    Kairos looked at her.


    "Calm yourself down quickly, we don''t have much time to lose."


    Sydney nodded and took deep breaths.


    "Yes... There was a message saying that I got some sort of point for killing this creature."


    Harold raised an eyebrow.


    "Like the one about surviving the red sun?"


    Sydney nodded.


    "Yes, it gave me 0.3 points."


    Kairos was about to ask a question, but then Nicole spoke up.


    "I got it open! Let''s go."


    She hopped on through,nding on the roof of the house.


    Kairos whispered, but did so a bit loudly.


    "Make sure to be quiet, we don''t want to attract any monsters."


    With that, the four of them got onto the roof. Despite seeing a gory mess just now in the room, once the three saw what was outside, they paled in fear.


    The amount of blood and mangled parts on the streets was simply too much. Coupled with the bloody smell, it was no wonder that it unsettled them. In the distance, there were several of these monsters fighting against each other.


    Kairos looked around the roof while the others were still in a daze. He saw the top of a dumpster at the back of the house. He turned to the others and gestured with his hand, like he wanted to pull them in.


    The others seemed to get the message and broke out of their stupors. Kairos sat down on the ledge and put themp on hisp. Then, he slipped down onto the top of the dumpster, only making a soft sound upon hitting it. The other three followed the same example. They weren''t perfect, but were still quite quiet.


    There was a faint sound of gurglinging from within the house. It seemed another monster was already inside, but that was no longer their problem.


    Kairos turned to the others and whispered.


    "The closest ce that I remember should be... less than ten kilometers away."


    He sighed.


    "If we didn''t have to take any detours, the bread on me should just barely be enough. However, we will have to do this slowly. That means we are going to have to hope a grocery store is still packed somewhere along the way, or we stop to cook some of the rice."


    Nicole nodded.


    "That makes sense..."


    They were currently in the alleyways of the houses. Kairos led the way, navigating through them. He did not want to go onto the open streets, but they eventually came to a point where they had to do so in order to go forward.


    Kairos turned to the others.


    "We will have to get on the other side of this road. Our main priority is to do it quietly, and the second is quickly. There''s no point in going fast if we alert anything that can hear us."


    They nodded in agreement.


    With that, Kairos took a deep breath.


    "On the count of three. One... Two... Three."


    The group began to shuffle out onto the streets. It was as though they were children that really needed to go to the washroom, but were following the no running in the halls policy.


    Out on the street was one of the monsters, however, it was not facing in their direction. They shuffled past anxiously, watching as it surveyed the area.


    By the time they got close to the other end of the street. Nicole didn''t realize it, but she had sped up considerably. Her eyes were focused behind her.


    Suddenly, Kairos grabbed onto her arm and whispered aggressively.


    "Stop!"


    Nicole jolted. She stopped, but turned to him with a confused look.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Kairos frowned, but let out a sigh of relief. He actually saw a monster lunge out from behind the house, sinking its teeth into Nicole''s neck. The moment that image appeared, he began pulling her back.


    Kairos clicked his tongue quietly.


    "We don''t know if the front is safe, you can''t just charge in all like that."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Ohe on, you''re overexaggerating it."


    Kairos did not say any more. Instead, he slowly walked forward while raising hismp. His steps were especially slow, but also quiet. His grip on themp was tightening considerably.


    By the time he reached the corner, there was no monster there. In his future vision, he saw himself peek over the corner.


    And there were three monsters there, all with their backs against the wall.


    Kairos immediately stopped trying to go forwards, causing his future vision to distort before bing normal again. He furrowed his brows.


    ...This was the only way forward if they didn''t want to go back out onto the streets.


    He turned back and ced a finger on his lips, mentioning to be quiet. Then, he made a gesture as though he wanted to pull them in.


    The other three were confused at first, but gradually realized that Kairos seemed to be preparing to fight. They pulled out their bats.


    Kairos grit his teeth, took a step forward, and swung hismp with full force. It whipped through the air, giving the monster no time to react.


    A deafening bang rang out while the skull of that monster directly caved in.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The other two monsters nearby immediately acted up, lunging towards Kairos. However, they didn''t roar like the others.


    Sydney was the first to react, perhaps because she had the experience of killing one before.


    Kairos saw the monster swing its w at his chest, thus took a step backward and leaned back. Then, the monster''s attack missed.


    Right after, Sydney brought her bat down onto the monster''s head.


    A loud bang rang out.


    Upon being hit, the monster stumbled to the side a few steps, clearly losing its bearings. As for thest monster, it didn''t stop and lunged forth towards Kairos.


    Unfortunately, Kairos was still regaining his footing and didn''t have themp raised. He internally cursed at himself for not increasing his agility a little more.


    However, he was not concerned, as he already saw what would happen.


    Nicole sucked in a cold breath and pulled her metal bat back. As for her pupils, they were clearly trembling from fear, but she didn''t back down because of it.


    Nicole imagined that it was a baseballing towards her. She took on the proper stance and swung with all her might.


    A clear metallic bang rang out, which resounded in the air for a few seconds afterwards.


    Thest standing monster was struck across the face and mmed into the nearby wall. They were both still alive, but now disabled.


    Kairos immediately lifted up hismp before mming it back down on the monster that tried to get up.


    A violent bang resounded as the creature''s skull was obliterated.


    Harold attempted to contribute, but since these were the alleyways, it was quite cramped. He couldn''t even fit within.


    As for Nicole, it seemed she gained a lot of confidence after that first hit, rushing in with the bat raised high. Sydney was about to act, but decided to move aside instead.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Another fresh bang resounded.


    The monster could hardly do anything before its head was split into a few chunks. The scene was rather gory, causing Nicole to go pale, but she seemed rather proud.


    After taking a few deep breaths, she smiled.


    "I... I did it!"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Yes you did. But you also would''ve died if I didn''t pull you back there."


    Nicole scratched the back of her head.


    "Ah, haha..."


    She cleared her throat.


    "But what are these points?"


    Suddenly, a status panel appeared in front of her. Kairos immediately raised an eyebrow, realizing that he could see her status while it was open.


    Several dots connected within his head before he realized that he didn''t want to show his status. He thought of an excuse.


    Sydney looked over Nicole''s shoulder.


    "Hm... maybe you can fix that low willpower you have with these points?"


    Nicole puffed her cheeks up.


    "I''m brave! Didn''t you see me just now? This system is clearly lying by saying it''s only zero point five."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "To be fair, you did seem really afraid. However, you were indeed brave enough to face it. Perhaps the system''s calction of things doesn''t ount for bravery."


    Nicole smiled brightly.


    "Hehe, I don''t need to put any points into willpower then. I can just be brave!"


    Kairos used this time to peek at Nicole''s stats and was immediately shocked.


    [Strength: 1.1


    Endurance: 1.2


    Agility: 1.0]


    Although they looked pretty small, Kairos was pretty sure a stat at one was far above the average human''s capability. He rubbed his chin.


    ...It appeared Nicole really did hold back whenever she tackled him.


    Nicole pouted when she looked at her stats.


    "Why are they all so low..."


    Then, she turned to Kairos.


    "Hey, what do you think I should increase?"


    In response, Kairos just shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well think back to the fight you just had. Were youcking in anything?"


    Nicole looked up slightly in thought.


    "Ah, I felt that I was a little slower than I''d like, so agility!"


    Her agility stat went from 1.0 to 1.4.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "You used every point?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? The numbers are so small anyway. Does it even really matter?"


    Her hand swished through the air like a bullet andnded on Kairos'' shoulder. Nicole''s jaw dropped when she noticed this.


    "What? I''m so fast!"


    Nicole then began twirling her arm around in the air, making several whooshing sounds as she did so.


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "That''s why you should put more care into spending them..."


    Nicole stuck out her tongue.


    "Hehe."


    One thing that made Kairos feel a bit confused was Nicole''s rank. It stated ''F-''. This confused him mostly because their stats were quite simr, yet the ranks were still that far apart. This hardened his resolve to not share his own screen.


    Sydney pulled up her own status.


    "I have some points too, maybe I should use them too?"


    Kairos looked over at the rank, which was F.


    He then saw the stats.


    [Strength: 1.0


    Endurance: 1.0


    Agility: 1.0


    Willpower: 0.7]


    Somehow, Sydney had lower overall stats than Nicole, but still a higher rank. It seemed it was calcted based on things more than just stats...


    Sydney tapped her chin before speaking up.


    "Maybe I could just add a little bit to everything."


    Then, she used 0.4 points to raise everything by 0.1.


    "Oh... it feels warm."


    Harold scratched the back of his head.


    "I didn''t get any takedowns yet, so there''s not much point for me to look."


    Nicole looked at Kairos with excited eyes.


    "Let me see your status too!"


    In response, he shook his head.


    "We have spent too much time doing misceneous things. Our opportunities shrink the more we stay put."


    Without waiting, Kairos turned around and began walking through the houses.


    Nicole couldn''t help but pout.


    "Ok..."


    She tried not to look at the corpses on the ground but took peeks so as to not step on them.


    And so, they traveled through the alleyways once more. Kairos would asionally take a glimpse on the outside to make sure he was going the right way and sometimes make adjustments based on that.


    At one point, Sydney frowned and spoke up.


    "Wait... I think my bat has cracked already."

 Chapter 9 Red Watch

    Kairos froze in ce.


    "What? Your bat broke already? It can''t possibly be that flimsy."


    Sydney held the bat sideways, revealing a crack around the handle. Kairos furrowed his brows and pushed his sses up.


    "...Wouldn''t a crack normally form at the top of the bat?"


    Nicole jogged over and looked.


    "Ah, it''s because you weren''t holding it properly!"


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Eh? How are you supposed to hold it?"


    Nicole sighed.


    "The handle for this one was shaved, so it is especially fragile. You have to hold both hands at the base and right next to each other. On top of that, make sure you are using the same amount of strength in each arm!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "So bats canst pretty long, just if used properly?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Well, not really. I mean, you could look at mine, it''s already a little bent."


    She stuck out her bat, as she said, the very end of it was slightly bent, despite being metal.


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "I thought those things wouldst longer than just a few swings."


    Nicole pouted.


    "Well, they are the best thing we could''ve possibly gotten as weapons..."


    Kairos decided to take a closer look at themp he had. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the base wasn''t as tightly attached to the pole like before.


    He clicked his tongue.


    "Change of ns. We need to find a ce with better weapons as soon as possible. But... I''m not exactly sure where we could find something like that."


    Harold rubbed his chin.


    "Hmm... I remember seeing a fire axe in the freezer of a grocery store when I worked there before."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Eh? Why would a grocery store have a fire axe?"


    Harold lowered his head down in thought.


    "If I remember correctly, they were so that the workers wouldn''t get trapped in the freezers. The fire axe would then be used to force themselves out in case of an emergency."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Oh, nice. Do they only have one, or do you think there would be multiple?"


    Harold shook his head.


    "There will probably only be one, that is if nobody has taken it already."


    Kairos smiled.


    "Ah, I suppose that is to be expected. Though I can''t imagine most people would think of the fire axe when they think of a grocery store. I''m pretty sure there will be a high chance of one being there."


    Sydney nodded.


    "From what I remember, the nearest one shouldn''t be too far away. I think it''s somewhere at our front, but more towards the right a little."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Then let''s go."


    Soon enough, they came across amercial district. There were various shops lined up next to each other such as barbershops, restaurants, and their goal, grocery stores.


    However, there was a fairly big difference between how they remembered it and now.


    It was bloody.


    Not to say that everywhere else wasn''t, but this ce, in particr, was really bad. Various body parts were strewn around the ce along with various organs. The smell of blood was strong and the carnage that went down here was easy to see.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "...Seems like a lot of people wanted to be the early bird."


    Sydney''s jaw dropped slightly.


    "Why are there so many people dead here?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "They probably realized that an apocalypse wasing and wanted to ransack as much food as they could for themselves. Unfortunately, that inevitably made quite a bit of sound. I imagine there were people fighting with each other too."


    He adjusted his sses.


    "So a lot of monsters were attracted. Then, they were killed."


    Sydney frowned.


    "...It''s a pity."


    Kairos sighed.


    "At least it seems to be rtively calm right now. This seems like a fairly good time. Although there is a lot of blood here, as long as we don''t make too much sound, we shouldn''t attract too many monsters."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Alright!"


    With that, the group got out onto the street and began briskly walking towards the nearest grocery store. The pungent smell of blood and guts became really apparent to them now, but they just dealt with it.


    However, before they got too close to the entrance.


    "Get back! This is our ce!"


    Two men appeared at the front of the grocery store. One with a thick ck beard holding onto a pipe, while the other was a man on the younger side with short hair, holding onto a crowbar.


    Something that immediately jumped out to Kairos was that their weapons were not covered in blood and neither were their clothes.


    In other words, they haven''t fought anything yet.


    Kairos raised a finger to his lips and responded in a hushed voice.


    "Be a little quieter. The monsters are attracted to sound."


    The younger man smirked.


    "Haha, oh really? Then why aren''t there any monstersing?"


    He put one hand on the side of his face, acting as though it was a megaphone.


    "Oh monsters? Why don''t youe and get me!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    He honestly didn''t understand how someone could be so daring in such a tense situation. That is... if they had not yet already gone crazy.


    Kairos swiftly signaled to the other people in his group with a pulling action and dashed to the side, towards a barbershop. The other three promptly followed.


    The man with the beard let out a condensingugh.


    "A bunch of cowards!"


    The group did not stop and got inside the barbershop, which was really clean considering how bloody it was outside. Almost immediately, Nicole spoke up.


    "Are they going to die if they keep making sound like that? We have to convince them that being loud is bad, or they are going to die!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "We have already warned them. That is plenty more than what we had to do. If they do not take our advice, then that is on them."


    Sydney sighed.


    "Yeah... We have already given them a chance which is more than what we are obligated to do."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "Ok..."


    The raucousughter of the two men was still slightly audible from within the store.  Harold cleared his throat, trying to change the atmosphere.


    "Well, would there be anything in this ce worth taking?"


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Well, scissors should be handy in a variety of situations and could also work as ast resort weapon. We should definitely stay here for a decent while, so getting scissors shouldn''t be too much of a problem."


    With that, the group split off to get some scissors. There was still hair on the ground, making the ce rather empty. However, it waspletely devoid of any people. Kairos ended up wandering into the back and found the breakroom for employees.


    He was looking for some sort of water dispenser, and found it.


    However, Kairos'' attention was immediately attracted to another item.


    "What the..."


    It was a watch lying on a table next to an open window. While it had the shape of any generic watch, the band was a dull red. As for the hands that were supposed to tell time, they meltedpletely.


    Kairos walked closer and furrowed his brows.


    "This thing must''ve been left by someone and hit by the red sunlight. Then... somehow changed."


    He got closer, but immediately felt ufortable from simply standing near it.


    "Hm. This really does make me curious..."


    He used his future vision to ''touch'' the watch without actually touching it. However, it only felt warm.


    After some hesitation, Kairos eventually walked back out and waved towards the others.


    "Hey, I found a water dispenser so we can have a little drink. There''s also this... strange watch."


    Harold raised an eyebrow.


    "Watch?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Juste in and take a look."


    The four of them walked into the breakroom, then surrounded the watch.


    Nicole let out a faint hum.


    "Oooh..."


    ? Then, she reached out for it.


    Kairos immediately spoke up.


    "Don''t touch it."


    Nicole flinched.


    "How did you know I was going to try and touch it?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Because you are too predictable."


    Sydney murmured to herself.


    "Isn''t this something bad? I don''t think the red sun is a good thing."


    Harold held onto his chin.


    "But the status panel does say to touch the red sun. There is probably some sort of benefit, right?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That does seem to be the case..."


    The corner of Sydney''s lip twitched.


    "Should I try it? I''ve been partially infected anyway..."


    Kairos thought for a while.


    "Hm... your status proves that only a little bit of infection shouldn''t matter. That means it should be ok for one of us that haven''t been infected to put it on for a bit of time. It looks too special to just be left alone."


    Sydney nodded.


    "Then... who should get it?"


    Kairos looked at the others.


    "Do any of you want it?"


    Harold hesitated, but shook his head. As for Nicole, she bit her bottom lip, clearly hesitant.


    She eventually sighed.


    "I... I''m too scared."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Very well, I will try it then."


    He reached for the watch, feeling its warm touch. He was about to ce it onto his wrist.


    But then, Kairos saw what would happen if he did.


    There was a tremendous amount of pain as his body seized up. Kairos immediately stopped himself, keeping the watch above his wrist.


    He was breathing rather heavily, almost like he had just gone for a run.


    Sydney looked at him with concern.


    "Are you alright? Did the watch do something to you?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I... I just have a bad feeling about putting this on."


    Then, he set it down on the table.


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Wow, it''s almost like you can tell the future with your feelings."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "Uh, yeah..."


    Nicole pouted.


    "So do we just leave it here?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "Well, if you trust my feeling we can do an experiment."


    Nicole raised an eyebrow.


    "Eh?"


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "You try to put on the watch, but if I feel something bad I will shout at you to stop. How about it?"


    Harold frowned.


    "What? We should stop with this nonsense. I can maybe understand a gut feeling, but I don''t think that extends that far."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Might as well try."


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "Ah, I''ll be fine Dad. I''m sure nothing too drastic will happen."


    Harold furrowed his brows, but said nothing more.


    Nicole smiled.


    "Let''s try it then."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Immediately pull away the moment you see my mouth move."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Got it."


    She picked up the watch and very slowly brought it over to her wrist, getting even slower once it came to cement.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    Since his ability was time-based, doing this actually made it harder to tell when it was in contact with her wrist and by proxy if she was ok. However, he decided just to trust himself.


    Eventually, Nicole ced the watch on her wrist.


    And that was it.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Do you feel anything?"


    Nicole let out a soft hum, then spoke really quickly.


    "It just feels a little warm. Also, why are you dragging out your words?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Why are you talking so fast?"


    Nicole put her hands on her hips, then suddenly zipped to Kairos, lightly punching him on the shoulder.


    Sydney gasped.


    "You... you are so fast!"


    Kairosughed.


    "Take the watch off for now."


    Nicole did as told, then let out a soft gasp.


    "Oh wow... it feels really different."


    Kairos smiled.


    "Looks like this thing can slow down time for the person wearing it."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "Wow! That is so cool!"


    Kairos reached out with his hand and lifted up Nicole''s. This made her blush faintly.


    "Eh? What are you doing?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Checking for any marks left by the watch."


    Nicoleughed awkwardly.


    "Ah, I see, I see."


    After a few moments, Kairos looked back up.


    "Hm. Seems fine. I think you should put that watch on whenever we have a battle. It will make your already fast self even faster."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok!"


    In the distance, there was a series of hasty footsteps along with a muffled voice.


    "Help! Help us please!"

 Chapter 10 Side Effects Of The Red Watch

    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Those people really came here to bring trouble for us again?"


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "But... we should still help them right?"


    Kairos grabbed onto the side of his head.


    "Well we don''t really have a choice right now, because I''m pretty sure they are leading the monsters right to us."


    He began walking out of the break room and into the main lobby while the others followed, albeit with hesitation.


    As expected, the two men from earlier were running towards the barbershop. The sliding door slowly opened, but they shoved themselves through the tiny crack due to urgency. Behind them, three monsters charged straight through, directly breaking through the sliding doors.


    Shattered ss flew into the air and the metal from the doors bent, before getting caught in ce.


    Kairos let out a long sigh.


    "You guys are real pieces of shit, you know that?"


    The man with the beard ran towards him like Kairos was the man''sst hope.


    His weapon was nowhere to be seen, while his eyes seemed zed over. The young man from earlier was also running, but sniffling with tears and mucus pouring down his face. It was quite the pathetic appearance, but still fairly reasonable given he was missing one of his arms.


    The man with the beard grabbed onto Kairos'' shoulders, shaking him.


    "You have to save me, you have to save me!"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I get it! Let go of me, dumbass!"


    The man with the beard did not listen. Instead, he continued shaking Kairos like a broken record, repeating the same things. As Kairos was wondering what was wrong with the man, he caught sight of an ugly wound on his back, a massive gash.


    The man was already beyond saving, but in his delirium, he clung onto any hope despite it being toote.


    Kairos used his shoulder to push against the man, trying to peel him off, but it wasn''t enough. A monster was getting really damn close to Karios, making him panic.


    But instead of worrying about it, he suddenly spun his head towards the side.


    Right after, a gray blur shed by.


    A disturbingly loud bang resounded.


    The man''s head directly came off the neck and burst into a mass of flesh. As of now, Kairos was looking at Nicole, who had just swung her metal bat.


    There was a dull expression on her face, but her eyes were wide open. She had a little bit of blood sttered onto her face, but she didn''t seem to care. There was also a red watch hugging her wrist.


    The now headless man slumped down lifelessly, but the monster nearby was stilling with full force. Kairos cursed himself once more for not putting more points in agility. However, he was still not concerned.


    A deafening metallic bang rang out.


    The monster''s skull caved. Its head shot backward almost like it smelled something terribly foul. Then, it lost bnce and fell to the floor.


    Nicole easily took out that monster. However, her bat was now horribly bent. It would notst many more uses. She still had that same dull expression and wasn''t going to stop any time soon.


    The other young man from earlier ran towards Harold and Sydney. The desperation in his eyes was fairly clear.


    However, before he could get close...


    A clear metallic smash resounded.


    Nicole delivered an uppercut on the man, causing his head to be ripped off his shoulders, beforending somewhere in the distance. The body slumped down, while a few metallic ngs rang out.


    The top of Nicole''s bat broke off,nding on the floor after being horribly mangled.


    Given that there were still two monsters here, this was some pretty bad timing.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He couldn''t help but be a little shocked.


    "Damn... weren''t you the one that said we should save them?"


    Nicole didn''t respond. Instead, she let out a frenzied cry as she lunged towards a nearby monster, thrusting the broken baseball ball out like a spear.


    Nicole was too fast, thus the monster simply didn''t have the time to react.


    With a squelch, the monster''s head was pierced through. Nicole grabbed onto its shoulder as it fell,nding onto the ground with her metal bat lodged inside its skull. She let out a low growl.


    But then, Nicole looked to her left. Her eyes widened.


    Because thest monster was reaching towards her head, attempting to grab it.


    Nicole froze up in fear. Her heart hammered as panic took over. Instead of trying to dodge, she attempted to pull out the bat, but that was going to take a while.


    Yet, before the hand reached her...


    A deafening bang rang out.


    Kairos had stepped up and swung themp with all his strength, shattering the monster''s skull. He had a small frown on his face.


    The base of themp had detached altogether, still lodged into the skull, leaving Kairos with just the metal pole.


    Thest monster copsed, falling onto one of the nearby rotating chairs, and spun around on it.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Despite the fight being over, Nicole''s breathing was rapid. She then wed at the skin above her heart, like she was trying to pull it out.


    Sydney rushed over.


    "Oh sweetie, are you ok?"


    Harold also ran over.


    "Princess!"


    Nicole''s pupils shot in random directions sporadically. But then, Kairos put a hand on her shoulder.


    "Hey, you should take off that watch now."


    Sydney and Harold had gotten next to them, but Nicole was still seemingly having a breakdown. However, she began to move. Her bloody hand slowly moved towards the other arm, the watch.


    With trembling fingers, she slowly unbuckled it before taking it off.


    Once it dide off, Nicole took a deep breath.


    "What the..."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Nice. You were able to take it all on your own."


    Sydney crouched down.


    "Nicole! Are you ok?"


    Harold also had a worried look.


    As for Nicole, she was still taking deep breaths but was also clearly calming down.


    "Y-Yeah. I''m ok."


    Kairos sighed.


    "It seems like the watch does have a side effect. Change of ns, only use it when there''s an emergency."


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "Isn''t it better that we just get rid of this damned thing?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Nicole is able to take off the watch on her own, even when it muddles her judgment. I think it will be fine."


    He looked into Nicole''s watery eyes.


    "Do you remember everything that happened?"


    She slowly nodded.


    "Y-Yeah. I put the watch on as we were going to the main room, and there weren''t any side effects for a while. But... the moment I saw..."


    Nicole paused. She proceeded to cough awkwardly.


    "Um, the moment I felt a bit of anger, it just exploded out, making me feel super super mad."


    Harold frowned.


    "We can''t use that thing anymore! It''s too danger-"


    "Well, I think it can save our lives, no?"


    Sydney spoke up, prompting Harold to look at her with confusion.


    "What? But..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney sighed.


    "Yes it is dangerous, but if used properly then it can not only save our lives, but Nicole''s herself, right?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Harold pressed his lips together bitterly, taking a moment to form his response.


    "Ok."


    Kairos smiled.


    "For now, get off that corpse. It kinda stinks, honestly."


    Nicole snapped to her senses.


    "Ah!"


    Then got off.


    Kairos looked at the watch in her hands.


    "If you aren''t using it, make sure that it''s not visible. I imagine this isn''t the only one of its kind out there, and if people know about it then they will get greedy. At the same time, you will need quick ess to it in the event of an emergency, so put it in your pocket."


    Nicole nodded and put it deep within her pocket.


    "Alright."


    She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.


    "I guess... we dealt with that."


    At that moment Kairos looked towards the outside.


    "Say, did you get any points for killing people?"


    Harold''s eyebrow twitched.


    "What are you-"


    "Yeah."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "A tenth of a point for each."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I see."


    There was a moment of silence among the group. Kairos coughed to try and get rid of the awkward atmosphere.


    "Anyways, we should get a drink from that water dispenser and get that fire axe since nobody will block our way now."


    Sydney let out a soft sigh.


    "Alright."


    They all took a small drink and were dyed a little because Harold went to use the washroom in the barbershop.


    Nicole attempted to recover her metal bat, which she was able to do. Unfortunately, it was essentially a glorified shank at this point with how damaged it was. She took it anyway, just in case.


    Right after, they promptly left and headed off to the grocery store.


    Kairos watched the surroundings, but there didn''t appear to be any monsters nearby.


    As such, they found themselves unimpeded in terms of getting in the store itself.


    Now, the sight outside was pretty bad. However, inside the grocery store itself was far worse. There were countless corpses strewn about, some sprawled out on top of a set of oranges and others torn up on the ground. Food had spilled out on the floor as well.


    Many broken cans littered the ground, some still with food inside. Although there was a lot of food within this ce, almost none of it was sanitary or just intact for that matter.


    The group collectively frowned.


    Sydney in particr clicked her tongue.


    "Such a waste of food."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "There were assholes all over the ce when the world was peaceful. An apocalypse can only make things worse."


    Harold scanned the ce.


    "I think the freezer should be somece over there. I can lead the way."


    Kairos raised a hand.


    "It''s probably best that I lead."


    Harold blinked a few times, a little confused.


    "You don''t have to shoulder the burden of danger all for yourself, you know? I am a man and can handle myself too."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I was being a little serious when I talked about my ''feeling'' earlier. I actually have a pretty good sense of danger."


    Harold scratched the back of his head.


    ? "Well, alright."


    With that, Kairos led the way forward. Obviously, when he was talking about having a good sense of danger, he actually meant the foresight brought by his ability.


    They slowly walked through the grocery store, making their way through the aisles. Harold would asionally speak up in a hushed tone to state which turns they should take.


    Eventually, Kairos caught onto a faint squishy sound in the distance. He slowed to a stop and put a finger on his lips, trying to send the signal to be quiet.


    The othersplied.


    Kairos crouched down, prompting the others to do the same. He crawled up to an aisle and looked down it to find nothing. He then crawled forward once more and then saw the source of the sound.


    It was a monster at the far end currently eating the bloody remains of some unfortunate person.


    Kairos turned to the others and raised a hand, mouthing the words, ''wait here''.


    Then, he approached the monster from behind.


    Themp in Kairos'' hand had been reduced to a metal pole, but he figured that should be enough for taking this thing down.


    And so, he slowly approached, taking each step methodically and quietly.


    As Kairos walked, he took a nce over his shoulder, not seeing any of the other three looking at him.


    Then, he opened his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.6]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 1.2


    Endurance - 1.0


    Agility - 0.7


    Willpower - 1.5


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    Nicole''s performance with high agility made a strong impression on him. And so, he decided to increase it, but only while the others weren''t looking.


    [Agility: 0.7 -> 2.0 | Points: 5.6 -> 4.3]


    After using up so many points, Kairos felt his body get extremely warm. Before, he could consider itfortable, but now, it was just really annoying. However, that didn''t mean he lost hisposure.


    Unfortunately, the monster had stood up by the time he was halfway down the aisle.


    It was already finished with its dinner and began turning around.

 Chapter 11 Screw Loose

    Kairos was able to see the monster turn around early thanks to his future vision. The very moment he saw that happen, he gave up on stealth and shot forth.


    Kairos'' steps were not that loud, but his body shot forth like a bullet. His hair and clothes pped around as though they were being blown around by the winds in a storm.


    By the time the monster had fully turned around, Kairos was only a meter or so away. The monster''s first instinct was to let out a roar, opening its repulsive mouth up.


    However, before it could scream, Kairos thrust forth with the metal pole. A faint whistling sound seeped out.


    Then, a frightening crack rang out.


    The metal pole went in through the mouth and burst through the top of the monster''s skull. It gagged for a second before falling limp.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos frowned a little and pushed against the monster''s chest with his foot so that it would slide off.


    He turned around to see that Nicole, Harold, and Sydney were all peeking out from behind the corner. Kairos smiled and gave them a wave before walking over to them.


    Once he got there, he whispered.


    "Alright, now let''s go get that fire axe."


    Harold nodded.


    "I think it should be that way."


    Under his lead, the group eventually got up to the freezer section without much trouble.


    Harold pointed at a door up ahead.


    "That should be it."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright. Since we are already here, I''ll go get the fire axe and you guys can scavenge for any food that is still intact. We can have a little snack breakter. Oh, try not to split up as well."


    Nicole gave a thumbs up.


    "Alright!"


    With that, the other three left to search the aisles in the form of their own group. Kairos then did a casual scan of the area before walking over to the door. He pushed on the handle, slowly opening the heavy door.


    Kairos took one step into the freezer section then felt his blood run cold.


    And it wasn''t because the temperature of the freezer section was low.


    What made him fearful... was that there were countless monsters sleeping inside. The monsters were sitting on the ground and didn''t seem to be waking up any time soon. However, they also covered nearly every single section of the floor.


    Kairos could see the fire axe from here. It was on the side of the wall, but closer to the far end. In other words, he would have to find a way to get there then back if he wanted to retrieve the fire axe.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    Stepping through so many monsters undetected wasn''t going to be easy, even if he had his ability to see in the future to help him.


    Kairos slowly closed the door, prioritizing silence. Then, he let out a soft sigh. For a moment, he considered either bailing out entirely or regrouping with the others to discuss.


    But after a bit of deliberation, Kairos decided not to.


    He took off his backpack and set it down securely on one of the cleaner sections of the floor.


    The most logical decision was to bail. A single fire axe definitely wasn''t worth such a high risk. And Kairos knew that.


    He knew that very well.


    However, there was a part of him that was a little insane. You could say that he had a screw loose. After all, Kairos was the kind of person to willingly endure painful sessions where he stabbed himself every day.


    For whatever reason, the life-saving potential of seeing in the future by itself wasn''t enough for Kairos. He wanted to improve it further, so that even if he experiencedrge amounts of pain, he could continue moving on.


    And while Kairos didn''t show it, he did actually enjoy the thrill of fighting.


    So he decided to fight the monsters in the freezer.


    Like an idiot.


    Kairos opened up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 4.6]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 1.2


    Endurance - 1.0


    Agility - 2.0


    Willpower - 1.5


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    He let out a soft sigh.


    "I''m really doing this, huh?"


    [Strength: 1.2 -> 2.0 | Points: 4.6 -> 3.8]


    [Endurance: 1.0 -> 2.0 | Points: 3.8 -> 2.8]


    [Agility: 2.0 -> 4.0 | Points: 2.8 -> 0.8]


    [Willpower: 1.5 -> 2.3 | Points: 0.8 -> 0.0]


    After recklessly spending all of his points in one go, he found that his body had heated up tremendously. Sweat began pouring down from his head, soaking him like he had just got out of a heavy rainstorm.


    Kairos grabbed onto the side of an aisle and took several deep breaths.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He could feel the muscles in his body tightening up, the bones in his body hardening, and the ligaments reconnecting. Everything was being optimized.


    And although it was slight, he could feel his mind bing a little clearer as well.


    Kairos spent about a minute calming down, getting used to the new changes. As he had ced value on agility, that was what he increased the most. However, Kairos also knew that having high agility but only being able to use that agility for a little while made it rather pointless.


    And so, he increased his strength and endurance.


    As for the willpower, he figured that even if he didn''t suffer any injuries in fighting these monsters, there were at least going to be several times where he experienced severe pain from his future vision ability.


    Being able to withstand it better may save his life.


    Kairos immediately felt quite hungry, thus opened up his bag and started to eat some of the bread still inside. Before he knew it, he had stuffed down an entire bag of bread, leaving him with only bag one left.


    Kairos quickly realized that evolving itself took quite a bit of energy. In other words, it was best to hold off if food supplies are low. However, considering they were in a grocery store, Kairos didn''t care too much.


    One thing that did perplex him quite a bit was how his body didn''t even change slightly. He was still the thin scrawny person like before, but the power within his body was now immense.


    However, Kairos decided to think about thatter.


    He slowly raised a hand up to the side of his face. Two fingers wrapped around the handle of his sses before slowly pulling them off.


    Kairos set them down on top of the backpack. Then, he turned around and walked towards the freezer door.


    Kairos twirled the metal pole in his hand. Although it was quite heavy, to him right now, it was nothing more than a feather.


    There was still quite arge amount of residual heat emitting from Kairos'' body from the evolution earlier. But thankfully, there was a freezer he could go to cool down.


    Kairos grabbed onto the door handle and smirked.


    "I''m really stupid, aren''t I?"


    With that, he opened up the freezer door with the metal pole resting on his shoulder.


    Immediately, Kairos'' entire view was filled with monsters. Without a single bit of hesitation, he walked inside and let the door close behind him.


    Kairos slowly lowered the metal pole until it was right next to one of the monster''s heads.


    "Now... let''s get started, shall we?"


    Suddenly, the metal pole shot forth, immediately shattering through the monster''s skull.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    In less than a second, Kairos was able to pull it back, before thrusting it towards another monster.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Themotion immediately the majority of the monsters. However, they still needed time to get up. There were still two monsters close by that were in the middle of getting up. However, Kairos'' metal pole shot out like a bullet and pierced like a needle. Their skulls stood no chance.


    Two cracks rang out one after another.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Though Kairos knew he was going to be quite fast with four points in agility, he was still surprised. There was something else he quickly noticed.


    Agility did more than just make him faster. It improved his hand-eye coordination and overall control over his body.


    Kairos twirled the metal pole before grasping it with both hands. Without mercy, he lunged forth and pierced straight through the skull of a monster that stood up.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    By now, one of the monsters let out a loud roar, immediately rousing all of the others to attention.


    Everything had been going smoothly for Kairos up until now. But that would not be the case now.


    The monsters immediately bolted forth. It was a life-threatening situation, yet Kairos smiled.


    And perhaps even crazier, was the fact he simrly shot forwards.


    Two of the closer monsters pounced towards Kairos. Instead of dodging to the side like a normal person, Kairos turned to the side, slipped right past their ws, and got right in between them.


    His metal pole went through seamlessly, but Kairos abruptly spun it with both hands. The pole rotated, one end shooting towards the face of one monster and the other at the back of the head for the other.


    Two high-pitched metallic bangs resonated with each other.


    Both skulls shattered, while the metal pole bent awkwardly.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Almost immediately afterwards, three other monsters appeared right in front of Kairos. They roared loudly, grating harshly on his ears.


    One swiped towards his abdomen, which Kairos dodged by taking a step backward. Another swung at his left shoulder, prompting him to tilt his body to the side and lean backwards.


    As for thest monster, its w reached out directly for Kairos'' neck. However, that was when he shifted to the right and lunged forth. The monster''s hand passed right by his neck. And at the same time, a silver gleam shed.


    Another skull exploded.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The other two creatures had recovered, swiped at Kairos. Initially, he was nning to swing his metal pole towards one of them, but saw that he would be unable to dodge the other monster''s w.


    As such, he leaned back very far, like he was trying to be a nk. Both attacks only struck the air. At the same time, Kairos'' leg swept underneath, mming hard on the two monsters'' ankles.


    It was surprisingly hard to trip the two, but with his two points in strength, he was able to manage.


    Kairos wanted to take advantage of the two monsters that were now on the ground, but suddenly felt a strong paining from his back. He ignored the monsters on the ground and spun his head around to see a monster attempting to bite off his shoulder.


    Kairos twirled the metal pole before thrusting one end towards the monster''s skull.


    With a disturbing crack, it went through the monster''s mouth and came out the other end. Though the metal pole was bent, Kairos was still able to pierce through things because of his raw strength.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    He bashed the corpse on the chest with his elbow, forcefully removing the metal pole.


    The two monsters on the floor were quickly getting up. However, Kairos couldn''t do much about that.


    After all...


    He was now surrounded.

 Chapter 12 Leaf In The Wind

    Kairos did a preliminary scan and noticed that there were four monstersing at him from different angles from where he could see. All things considered, there were probably two moreing from behind.


    He decided to take a step forward, whipping his metal pole towards one of the monsters in front of him.


    Their skull exploded.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Suddenly, Kairos an unbearably strong paining from his back, all the while three monsters from the front were closing in. He bent his knees slightly before shooting backwards.


    Kairos mmed into the chest of a monster whose head was now right next to him by the shoulder. He was not concerned about that monster as of right now, however. Instead, he twirled the metal pole to push on the back of a nearby monster, sending it towards the three charging at the front.


    With his two points in strength, he was able to force that monster forward, causing it to stumble in the way. At that point, Kairos felt an extremely bad paining from his neck.


    With his increased willpower, he was able to respond almost immediately, sending the end of the pole towards the skull on his shoulder.


    A loud bang resounded right next to Kairos'' face.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The monster''s head exploded into a mass of warm blood that sshed across his face. Coupled with the small smile Kairos had right now, he looked like a bonafide serial killer.


    As for the monster he had thrown ahead before, it tanked a few hits for him. One of the ws even directly pierced through, appearing on the other side.


    By now, the metal pole had bent severely. Yet, Kairos recklessly mmed it against the monster in front of him, not wanting to lose the points.


    A fleshy tear rang out.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The monster''s head was torn offpletely, but the body continued to obstruct the monsters, albeit only for a moment.


    Kairos had no time to deal with them as two more monsters had approached from behind, getting ufortably close. He bent down on one knee and sent the end of the metal pole flying towards one.


    However, Kairos soon found a fresh paining from his arm as he saw the monster randomly lunge forth and bite down with his future vision.


    In that split second, Kairos twirled the metal pole around, smashing the biting monster''s teeth. Unfortunately, it was not dead. As for the other one he ignored, it attempted to swipe at him with a w, which Kairos dodged by stepping to the side.


    Right after, he elbowed the monster''s chest. Kairos felt some bone in him snap concerningly, but the creature was also forced back, with something that snapped in its own body.


    The monster that was toothless attempted to sh him with its ws, but Kairos twirled to pole around easily, mming it against the side of its head.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The skull was smashed, however part of the metal pole ended up breaking off entirely, unable to withstand the continued force exerted on it.


    Suddenly, Kairos'' eyes rolled up into the back of his head.


    An overwhelmingly strong signal of pain filled up his brain. Specifically, it came from the back of his neck. He had neglected the monster behind him for too long and that came to bite him.


    Literally.


    Kairos nearly cked out from the agony, but was just barely able to swing his metal pole behind him. As for aiming, it was no longer something he could do right now.


    A loud bang resounded.


    Suddenly, the pain from his neck disappeared. His metal pole smashed into the chest of one of the monsters, getting it off him. There were tears streaming down Kairos'' face that quickly mixed in with the blood.


    His breathing was heavy as well.


    However, this was not time for him to take a break.


    Kairos still felt lingering fear from his near-death experience and decided he needed to try even harder. His fists clenched a little harder around the base of the metal pole and flung it around.


    With a crash, one of the monster''s heads exploded.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Right after, he rebounded off that impact, sending the metal pole back around towards another monster, exploding its skull as well.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    As for the monster that was hit in the chest earlier, it seemed to struggle in terms of breathing. However, it still reached out to Kairos.


    Unfortunately for it, Kairos was easily able to dodge its sluggish movement before sending an uppercut with one end of the metal pole towards its head.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The monster''s head shot up and hit the ceiling beforeing back down.


    Despite being in the freezer section, sweat began pouring down from Kairos'' head. His body emitted strong waves of heat as he continued exerting his body.


    By now, Kairos'' fingers felt a little sore as he really had to put strength into his swings if he wanted to guarantee that the monster''s skull was smashed.


    Unfortunately, there were still many more monsters left in the freezer. On top of that, because Kairos recklessly charged in, he was getting surrounded once more.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, then came up with an idea.


    What if he just kept moving forwards?


    That way, he wouldn''t be attacked in the back. With his agility paired with his natural ability, it shouldn''t be too hard to navigate his way forward.


    And so, that''s what Kairos did.


    He bolted forwards, prompting two monsters in front of him to reach out with their ws. Kairos stepped to the side and thrust one end of the metal pole straight through one monster, then mmed into it with his shoulder, getting himself out of the encirclement.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos turned around to see the group of monsters running towards him. He was running away, but was quickly running out of space given that this was still a rtively small room.


    And so, Kairos decided to charge straight towards the group once more.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The metal pole in his hand danced like a venomous snake, slipping through their attacks beforending on their vital points. As for Kairos himself, he shifted from the left and right almost like a leaf being blown along in the wind.


    Kairos got through the tiniest gaps, almost like the monsters weren''t obstructing him in the first ce.


    Skulls were being smashed one by one.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos'' body was drenched from head to toe in blood, but he didn''t seem to mind. Naturally with how reckless he was, sometimes he would mess up and see his body get ripped apart in his future vision.


    However, while it was only one second, his fast agility let him react to the scenario in time, bashing more skulls.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The other end of his metal pole broke, leaving him with what was essentially a really long shank. Nheless, he continued to fight with it, bending it further with each strike.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Before he knew it, there were only three monsters left in the room.


    Kairos was panting heavily, with one eye closed. Though he wasn''t injured, the blood covering his face forced him to close one.


    It was at this point that the monsters seemed to be afraid. They weren''t willing to recklessly charge towards him anymore.


    Kairos smiled.


    "Haha... too afraid?"


    However, while the monsters were afraid, his own condition wasn''t too good. Although two points of endurance had carried his body to move for a long amount of time, he simply did far too many strenuous movements in a short period of time. His mind was also pretty stressed from processing so many images.


    As such, Kairos was really tired.


    On top of that, his weapon was now heavily damaged.


    Though he could rush over to the fire axe on the wall, it was encased within a container that had atch that was required to be removed before it could be opened. In other words, the monsters would probably rush towards him while he did that.


    And so, Kairos had to work with the now short metal scrap he was holding onto.


    Though the monsters didn''t want to engage right away, Kairos saw no reason to wait any longer. The adrenaline was still coursing through his body in waves and he fully intended on taking advantage of that.


    And so, he dashed forwards, causing the three monsters to panic. However, they still responded with their own attacks.


    The monster on the left swiped with its w, but Kairos simply ducked to the side, dodging it. Right after, he let out a heave and thrust the metal scrap into the monster''s skull.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos tried to pull it out, but couldn''t do so easily. He put a lot of strength behind it, but forcibly tugged the head along with it.


    This was because the metal scrap had severely bent ends from all the abuse earlier. Now, this bent end got caught on one of the bones.


    Suddenly, Kairos felt fresh paining from his arm, prompting him to abandon his weapon and step back. Right as he did, a w swiped towards where his arm was.


    The two monsters weren''t just going to wait by and give him all day.


    Kairos began panicking slightly.


    After all, the biggest advantage he had over these monsters wasn''t any kind of ability, but the capability of using weapons. If Kairos was forced into a hand-to-handbat situation, he wasn''t even confident of winning against a single monster.


    Even if he could, it would be a long and drawn out battle.


    And so, Kairos bolted towards the fire axe, unable to think of another solution. The two monsters weren''t as fast, but they chased after him without hesitation.


    It only took Kairos a few seconds to reach the container. He fumbled with thetch and looked over his shoulder. The monsters were right behind him.


    Kairos immediately realized something.


    There was no time.


    He spun around and charged forth with grit teeth.


    Might as well try, right?


    The monster on the left shed at Kairos, but he easily saw thating and dodged. As for the other monster, it pounced forth, attempting to bite down on him.


    Kairos'' pupils constricted as he decided to truly let loose with his insanity.


    Instead of dodging, Kairos used his future vision to predict the monster''s trajectory. Then, he lunged forth as well, straight towards the monster.


    A long bang resounded.


    Kairos headbutt the creature, causing the both of them to recoil backward. His mind went ck for a split second from it, but it seemed that the monster was also as disoriented, if not more.


    But that didn''t mean the other creature was just going to stand by.


    It lunged forth, attempting to sh him once more.


    However, Kairos quickly recovered from his dazed state and sidestepped. He suddenly recalled the monster that had breathing problems earlier, then got an idea.


    Kairos straightened his hand out before plunging it towards the monster''s chest. He immediately felt the fingernail on his middle finger break.


    But his hand went inside.


    Straight towards the monster''s heart

 Chapter 13 Monster

    The feeling of sticking one''s hand through a monster''s flesh was very ufortable. That was something Kairos could definitely stand by.


    After all, his hand was going through one right now.


    Kairos grit his teeth and reached out for the heart, then clenched with everything he had upon doing so. His fingers pushed against the walls of the heart, causing it to burst. The monster was in the middle of attempting to sh Kairos, but roared in pain right after.


    It was originally aiming at Kairos'' neck, but instead shed into his arm.


    The nails tore into his flesh, peeling it back and leaving a long scar across it. Kairos saw iting, but there really was nothing he could do about it other than grit his teeth.


    Nheless, the monster no longer had its heart and wouldn''t survive for much longer.


    Kairos attempted to pull his hand back out, but his wrist got caught in between the gap of the monster''s rib cage. It was almost like shoving your hand into someone''s chest wasn''t a real fighting tactic or something.


    With itsst breath, the monster attempted to bite down on his neck. However, Kairos saw iting and pushed against its forehead with the base of his palm. The monster kept lunging forth, trying to overpower him, but it just barely wasn''t enough.


    Then, its struggle weakened before it stopped moving.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    By now, Kairos'' eyes werepletely bloodshot and the adrenaline nearly made his mind snap.


    However, it was still not over.


    Suddenly, another monster appeared from behind the corpse he was holding onto. It lunged forth, attempting to bite down on Kairos. However, using his future vision, he was able to react in time.


    The base of his palm mmed against the monster''s forehead, holding it back.


    This was the veryst one. Then he would''ve killed them all.


    However, he wasn''t in a very good situation.


    Currently, one of his hands was caught inside of a corpse and the other was holding off this monster''s attempt at biting it. He was nearing his limit, unable to push the creature''s head away for much longer.


    And if that wasn''t bad enough, Kairos saw a wing straight for his face.


    For just a split second, he felt hopeless.


    He regretted his choice of evering here in the first ce.


    However, as quick as those thoughts came, they were banished.


    Kairos still hadn''t gotten what he wanted out of life yet. He refused to die here.


    Kairos stopped thinking and opened his mouth wide.


    Then bit down on the monster''s neck.


    It was as though he had be the monster, using such tactics. I mean, these monsters were biting all the time themselves, it was only fair that he got to use it as well.


    Though, that didn''t mean it was exactly easy to.


    Kairos'' teeth dug into the monster''s flesh, but it was incredibly hard to move it further. However, instead of doubting his decision to do so, he put his all into it.


    By now, his mind hurt too much to think clearly.


    Kairos could no longer tell the difference between his future vision and reality. The only thing he felt was a burning feeling from his soul, forcing him to move forward.


    One that would never be satisfied.


    Blood poured down Kairos'' throat, nearly choking him. It was ufortably warm and had a sharp metallic taste.


    Normally, he would find it disgusting. But instead, he pushed even harder because of what it represented.


    Until eventually, arge chunk of flesh had been torn off the monster''s neck.


    Kairos had a wild look in his eyes along with the piece of flesh in his mouth.


    As for the monster, it stood still.


    Suddenly, a powerful stream of blood shot out of its neck as the monster copsed.


    The flesh was disgusting, but Kairos was still biting down on it.


    Like it wasn''t enough.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    [Multi-kill (Type - Challenge)  - 3.0 points awarded]


    [First Ten To Multi-kill - Challenge Type (Ninth - by ID: 345315364923) - 10 points awarded]


    As those notifications shed by his eyes, Kairos finally began to calm down. The wild look in his eyes quickly turned into a tired one.


    And at that moment, the freezer door burst open, with Nicole at the front.


    "Kairos! Are you ok?"


    Then she froze.


    Behind her were both Harold and Sydney, they appeared with concerned expressions, but once they looked inside, they also couldn''t help but freeze.


    As for Kairos, he blinked a few times.


    He spat out the flesh in his mouth and pulled out his hand from the monster corpse with a little bit of struggle.


    Kairos coughed up some of the blood in his mouth.


    "I uh... got the fire axe."


    He proceeded to open up the case for the fire axe before taking it off the rack that it was on.


    The other three were still bbergasted.


    Nicole slowly raised a trembling finger.


    "You... you..."


    Kairos tried to speak, but some of the blood got caught in his throat, making him cough it up.


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "Kairos!"


    She began running towards him, over all the corpses.


    Harold and Sydney also had frowns on their faces.


    Kairos waved his uninjured hand dismissively while still coughing a bit.


    "I''m fine, I''m fine. That wasn''t my blood I coughed up."


    Nicole seemed to calm down a little, but then she saw severalrge gash wounds on his arm, where the monster wed him earlier. A concerning amount of blood was seeping out of it.


    "What! You''re not fine! Gosh, we need to bandage that!"


    Nicole set down her backpack and hurriedly took out the medical kit. With trembling hands, she fumbled around with thetch before getting it open. Then, she spotted the bandages and hurriedly took them out, unfurling them with clear panic.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Calm down, calm down. I''m not dying any time soon. Though it does hurt quite a bit."


    Nicole''s voice was shaking.


    "O-Ok."


    However, she really didn''t calm down much. After unfurling the roll of bandages, she dropped it back into the medical kit. At the very least it wasn''t on the ground which was covered in blood.


    Sydney walked over.


    "Wait, the wound has to be cleaned first!"


    She reached into her bag and brought out a bottle of water with a bit of blood on it. Kairos held out his arm while Sydney unscrewed the cap before pouring the water down.


    Kairos'' face twitched, but it wasn''t too bad for him with all the adrenaline still pumping. The blood washed out along with a tiny bit of dirt.


    This wasn''t actually what you were supposed to do. In reality, it would be best for Kairos to get something to lift his arm in the air and cover the wound with something until the wound stopped bleeding.


    In fact, not doing so could''ve made him suffer severe side effects if it wasn''t for his two points in endurance.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Nheless, this was how they did it.


    After the bottle was out, Nicole then hurriedly began wrapping the bandages around Kairos'' arm.


    Almost immediately, his eyebrow twitched.


    "That''s... that''s really tight!"


    Nicole gasped.


    "Ah! Sorry!"


    She unfurled them before doing it more gently this time. After a while, the entire wound was bandaged. Sydney took out the scissors from the medical kit and cut the bandage before tying it up.


    "Dear god... what did you do?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "Well, I saw a lot of monsters inside the freezer, but they were all sleeping. So uh, I figured I could kill them while they were asleep. But... near the end, they woke up anyway and I had to fight off a few of them at once."


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "That... wasn''t the risk way too big for something like that?"


    Nicole frowned.


    "You could''ve at least got us to help!"


    Kairos cleared his throat as his mind rapidly thought of a lie.


    "By the time I opened the freezer, you guys were already gone. I didn''t want to call out as that would awaken them. At the same time, I didn''t want to wait too long and give up this opportunity as they might have woken up."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "But that was still way too dangerous! You can''t do something like that again!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    Though he agreed, Kairos already knew that he was probably going to do something simr at some point.


    Harold pressed his lips together.


    "I... I don''t think this was worth just a fire axe."


    Kairos raised the axe in his hand.


    "Well, we got one now. Though I did ruin my weapon in the process, so our overall weapon count stayed the same. Who do you think should get it?"


    A bitter smile formed on Harold''s face.


    "Since you worked so hard for it, I imagine it''s only natural you get it."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I guess so."


    Nicole seemed to be on the verge of crying and shook him.


    "You really can''t do that again!"


    Kairos raised his hands.


    "Ok, ok!"


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "...But why were there so many in this ce?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I think it''s because they prefer a cold environment to sleep in. I guess that means that hot ces are better to stay at. And that also exins why there weren''t too many monsters out on the streets too."


    Sydney nodded.


    "Ah... that makes sense."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Anyway... I need to take a rest. But not with all these dead bodies."


    He narrowed his eyes to lower how much he saw as the stress was really getting to him. Kairos hurriedly left the freezer, put his sses back on, and slung his backpack onto his shoulders.


    Sydney''s brows furrowed.


    "You are... really bloody right now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Ah, good point. Is there a clothes section here?"


    Harold shook his head.


    "Not here, but there is a clothing store nearby."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Perfect. Let''s go there."


    He grabbed a few extra water bottles that were still in the grocery store, as much as his backpack fit. Then, he used the extra one to wash away some of the blood on him before it dried.


    The group quickly left the grocery store before heading into the clothing shop.


    Kairos changed into new clothes and cleaned up most of the blood on his body. There was still a strong stench of it emitting from his body, but there wasn''t much to do about that.


    The group went to the back of the shop and found a prettyrge changing room that could fit all of them.


    Kairos yawned.


    "Alright. Can someone keep watch?"


    The others were also having trouble keeping their eyes open. After all, they didn''t sleepst night and only had a few hours afterward. Sydney raised her hand.


    "I will. I''m used to staying up."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Just wake someone else up after a few hours to take over. Preferably not me."


    And with that, heid down and shut his eyes.


    ...


    After several hours, Kairos woke up. His eyes slowly opened to see another pair of eyes, startling him.


    He snapped awake to realize that Nicole was looking at him.


    "You... you are supposed to be watching the entrance."


    Nicole shook visibly, breaking out of a trance.


    "Ah, sorry, sorry!"


    Kairos stretched and yawned.


    "Just keep your eyes on the entrance"


    Nicole nodded, then did as told.


    After confirming Nicole was looking away, Kairos snuck open his status panel.


    However, his eyes widened once he saw something he didn''t expect.


    [Private Announcement]


    ...

 Chapter 14 Get Ready

    It didn''t seem like anything too special at first, but Kairos quickly realized the implications behind the announcement.


    [First Ten To Multi-kill - Challenge Type (Tenth - by ID: 510923457834)]


    The first thing Kairos did was memorize this line of numbers.


    ''Five, one, zero, nine. Two thousand, three hundred and forty-five. Seventy-eight. Thirty-four.''


    He repeated that in his mind several times until he was confident that it was in his memory.


    Nicole turned around then looked at him strangely.


    "Are you ok? You''re just... staring into nothing."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, I''m fine."


    He recalled that he had gotten the same achievement as the one shown in the announcement. In other words, once somebody had gotten a ''Top Ten'' achievement, anybody that had already gotten it would be notified.


    And they would see their ID.


    What that also meant, was nine people had seen his ID after he got the tenth challenge kill. After that, eight people had seen his ID after he got the ninth multi kill.


    Though there was probably some ovep from those nine and eight people, at the bare minimum, nine people were shown his ID. This could be seen as both a good thing or a bad thing.


    If Kairos wanted to stay low, he had to make sure not to show his status panel to others, especially if they wanted to look at IDs. However, among these few people, having this ID was also proof of power in a certain sense.


    Depending on the mentality of the other people that saw his ID, it could be the basis of cooperation.


    However, Kairos wasn''t willing to trust random strangers. In fact, he wasn''t even willing to fully trust Nicole and her parents.


    As such, this private announcement feature gave him a headache.


    Kairos gave a quick nce at Nicole. After confirming she was looking towards the entrance, he closed the announcement and opened up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 20.5]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 2.0


    Endurance - 2.0


    Agility - 4.0


    Willpower - 2.3


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    The first thing that caught his attention was the staggering amount of points.


    Twenty and a half.


    That was more than all of his current pointsbined and by a long shot too. It was then that Kairos thought that he could''ve added points while he was fighting. However, he soon came to the realization that it wasn''t that simple.


    First off, the sudden loss of energy from adding points couldn''t be good. On top of that, he would have to manually tap onto the status panel with his finger to add points, meaning that it would waste time.


    ...However, there still might be a situation where adding points mid-fight could be useful.


    Suddenly, Nicole spoke, prompting Kairos to hastily close the status panel.


    "Hey."


    Kairos coughed.


    "Um, hi."


    Nicole took some time to respond.


    "It... really is real, isn''t it?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, of course."


    Nicole was still looking at the entrance, but shifted her gaze down ever so slightly.


    "I thought maybe if I went to bed, that all of this would turn out to be fake. That I would wake up in my warm bed once again."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Sometimes reality is more surprising than any lie."


    Nicole brought her legs up to her torso and hugged them.


    "Normally at this time, I would be in school. Probablyining about some math concept that makes no sense."


    She shivered slightly.


    "But now..."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    If Nicole''s mentality remained this way, she would probably be more of a liability than anything else. Not wanting that to happen, Kairos quickly tried to think of something and said the first idea that came to mind.


    "It doesn''t mean that it will be like this forever."


    Nicole turned to look at him.


    "What do you mean?"


    A small smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "We can work towards a future where everything goes back to the way it is. Then you canin about doing math again."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Make everything back to the way it was..."


    A bitter smile formed on her face.


    "Maybe not exactly the way it was. We should get rid of math from school."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Then how am I supposed to make you do things for me in exchange for the test answers?"


    Nicole stuck her tongue out.


    "You''ll just have to be more creative!"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "That''s too much work."


    Nicoleughed and turned away.


    There was a brief moment of silence.


    Nicole''s voice was a little dreamy.


    "Do you really think everything can go back to the way it was?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not anytime soon, that''s for sure."


    The corner of his lip turned up.


    "But one day. That''s for sure."


    Nicole shut her eyes.


    "I hope so..."


    After a minute or so, Kairos shifted his gaze towards his injured arm and lightly rubbed it. The wound was still a little sore still. However, for how long it had been, it had already healed considerably.


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Anyways. It''s probably time for us to get going. We shouldn''t sleep more than needed."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok."


    The two of them woke up the others. Then, they agreed to begin moving towards their original destination, the wilderness.


    The sun was getting close to setting. However, it was still quite high in the air. There were still a few hours of sunlight left.<novelnext></novelnext>


    They went back into the residential area, moving on through the alleyways. Though they traveled for nearly an hour, they only came across a single monster, which Harold took care of by charging forth.


    He was probably feeling like he hadn''t been doing his part.


    By now, they had reached an elementary school that just so happened to be along the way. It was made in a way where the first floor consisted of a fairlyrge square, while the second floor was a smaller square on top. Almost like a pyramid.


    Kairos was leading the way and looked up to the sun.


    "I doubt it will be easy to navigate during the night. I imagine the school wouldn''t be a bad ce to stay, so let''s go there."


    The others were in agreement, thus they walked towards the school, constantly looking around. Once they reached the wall, Kairos led the way around the wall, searching for an openable door.


    As they approached a corner, there was a faint sound of mumbling.


    This made Kairos furrow his brows.


    Was there some drunk or heavily traumatized person here?


    He tightened the grip on his fire axe and continued forward. The sound of the mumbling got a little louder.


    "Three, six, forty-nine, twenty-three."


    For a split second, Kairos couldn''t understand why that person was saying those numbers, but suddenly remembered that was the exact thing he did earlier.


    It wasn''tmon sense, but there were a fairlyrge number of people that knew a certain strategy about memorizing a long string of numbers.


    Saying each number one by one would make one easily mix them up. However, if they mixed it up slightly, treating them as two-digit numbers or higher. The only real reason there was to be memorizing numbers was if they had also seen the private announcement.


    This made Kairos immediately realize the person up ahead was not only someone thatpleted some sort of first ten achievement, but ranked at least ninth.


    He froze and turned around hurriedly, putting up a finger on his lips. There was a very serious re on his face, prompting the others to also be as quiet as they could.


    Kairos gestured for them to go backwards. And so, they started to do exactly that.


    But that was when a voice came from above them.


    "Why are you so afraid of me?"


    Though Kairos heard it beforehand, it was already toote. He looked upwards to see a man with blonde hair that reached his shoulders looking down at them with a confident smile. His clothes didn''t look like anything special, but they were free from blood. Though that was probably more of a bad sign in this case.


    Nicole and her parents froze up in fear, unable to speak.


    Kairos internally cursed, but he kept a shocked expression on his face.


    "Woah!... Should we be afraid of you?"


    The man rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "Well, if you are strong enough to warrant being allies, then there won''t be anything to be afraid of."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "And how strong exactly do you need us to be?"


    The man chuckled.


    "Why don''t you show me your status panels? That will make it pretty clear"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "That is way too personal, we can''t do that."


    Nicole tensed up and whispered into his ear.


    "What? Why are you-"


    Kairos raised a finger right next to her mouth, shushing her.


    The man with blonde hair raised an eyebrow.


    "Is it really such a big deal to show me your status panels?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Yes, it is. Our status panels essentially show a breakdown of our strengths and weaknesses. That is simply giving too much information to someone we can''t trust."


    The man with blonde hair narrowed his eyes.


    "So you don''t want to be allies?"


    Kairos looked back up.


    "Do you really want to be allies with someone that shows off that information willy nilly?"


    The man with blonde hair chuckled. He reached to his back and pulled off a fairlyrge recurve bow. There were a few things about this bow that made it stand out and less normal.


    The most notable feature was its blood red color. Like the red sun, or even Nicole''s watch. It was also quite long. The man wasn''t short, but the bow seemed to span nearly two-thirds of his height. As for the part the man was holding, it seemed to be meticulously decorated with various wind-like patterns.


    However, there was no bowstring.


    Nheless, the man smirked confidently when he pulled it out.


    "If you aren''t going to show me your status panels, there aren''t many other ways to prove your strength."


    Kairos smiled.


    "It seems you have something in mind?"


    The man nodded.


    "If you can dodge my attack, then I will consider you strong enough to be my ally."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "So if I can dodge your attack, we all team up."


    The man raised an eyebrow.


    "I will team up with you, yes."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Either all of us or none."


    The man seemed slightly displeased. He fell silent, making the atmosphere feel a little dangerous. However, Kairos fearlessly looked at him the entire time.


    And eventually, the man nodded.


    "Alright. If you can dodge my attack, then we can all be friends."


    Nicole seemed rather nervous, but eventually stuck up her hand.


    "I-I should be the one to do it instead!"


    The man raised an eyebrow with interest.


    "Oh, now you want to try?"


    Kairos nudged Nicole.


    "Come on, don''t you trust me?"


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "But... I can move really fast, especially with that-"


    "It will be fine."


    Kairos quickly cut her off.


    The man rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "Haha, so you aren''t even the fastest in the group, but want to be the one tested anyway?"


    Kairos smirked and shrugged his shoulders.


    "Pretty much."


    The man smiled.


    "I like you already, kid."


    A gleam shed by his eyes.


    "But that doesn''t mean I''m going to take it easy on you."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Alright, alright. Are you going to start now?"


    The manughed.


    "Since you are so eager, of course."


    He reached out towards one end as though there was a string to be pulled for the bow. Harold and Sydney could not help but think that this man had no idea what he was doing.


    However, that was when a blue stream of translucent blue light appeared in the form of a string, starting from his fingers. From the hand that was holding the bow, an arrowhead formed which grew to be a fully fledged out arrow.


    The man closed one eye.


    "Get ready."

 Chapter 15 Understanding

    Nicole and her parents collectively gasped when they saw mana appear out of nowhere. As for Kairos, his lip twitched.


    He couldn''t help but wonder how someone was able to use mana already.


    Nheless, there was no time to think about that now. There was an arrow to dodge.


    And so, he took off his sses.


    Kairos did slightly regret not putting more points into agility earlier, but there wasn''t really a way of him knowing, so he dropped that thought.


    He imagined that having four points in agility and being able to see the future should be enough to dodge, thus confidently stared at the arrow.


    While the man was still drawing his bow, Kairos suddenly felt an extremely strong pain in his head. Perhaps if he didn''t increase his willpower, he would''ve directly cked out. However, Kairos instinctively realized that the man had released his arrow, and that he didn''t catch it.


    And so, he tilted his head to the side right when that pain came. The future vision of that disappeared along with the pain.


    However, right afterwards, it reappeared at the center of his chest.


    Likest time, he instinctively spun to the side.


    Then, the arrow shot forth.


    It moved far faster than a bullet. To the human eye, there was basically no difference between its speed and the speed of light.


    With a faint whipping sound, it shot towards where Kairos'' head was, but suddenly curved downwards to his chest, then passed right by him.


    A thunderous bang rang out.


    The arrow mmed against the ground, severely cracking the pavement and even scattering a few fragments into the air.


    Right after, the arrow disappeared, with only the aftermath as proof of its existence.


    Cold sweat appeared on Kairos'' back. Honestly, he really wasn''t expecting it to be that fast. Even if his agility was several times higher, he wouldn''t have been able to dodge it. The only reason he could was because of his future vision.


    The man raised an eyebrow with clear interest.


    "Huh. You actually dodged it."


    Kairos took a deep breath as he put his sses back on.


    "And you really weren''t joking when you said you weren''t going to hold back."


    The man chuckled.


    "Of course not. I must say, you have damn good instincts."


    Kairos smirked.


    "And you shoot that thing too damn fast."


    The manughed and hopped off the building,nding next to Kairos.


    "Not fast enough, apparently."


    He reached out with his hand.


    "My name is Chase. What about you lot?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "I don''t believe in shaking hands as it can transmit diseases, which we should be especially careful of in an apocalypse."


    He then adjusted his sses.


    "Oh yeah, and my name is Kairos."


    Chase rolled his eyes and lowered his hand.


    "Alright. What about the rest of you?"


    Nicole and the others were still astounded by the power output of Chase''s arrow. However, they broke out of it after being called out.


    Nicole sheepishly raised her hand.


    "Um, my name is Nicole."


    Sydney gave a slight bow.


    "I am Sydney."


    As for Harold, he tried to wave his hand casually, but the nervousness still seeped through.


    "My name is Harold."


    Chase nodded.


    "Alright. Where are you guys off to?"


    Nicole averted her gaze.


    "Um, we were going to-"


    "A nearby grocery store after taking a rest in this school."


    Kairos cut her off. Chase gave him a strange look, but decided not to probe.


    "Alright. I''ve already fortified one of the ssrooms on the second floor, so we can use that."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright. But since we obviously can''t fully trust each other, we should be at a distance. Also, I''m notfortable with you taking watch by yourself."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Alright, but how do you think I feel? I have to sleep while trusting you people."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s not much you can do about that, now can you?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "I suppose not. Let me lead the way then."


    With that, he led them inside the school.


    This ce was rather peaceful. Other than the dirt and blood the group tracked in from walking inside, it was more or less clean. The empty halls with lockers lined on the sides almost made the whole apocalypse seem like an illusion.


    Kairos snuck a nce at Nicole, who ended up looking back in curiosity.


    After that, he faced forwards once again.


    Kairos began thinking about why this man wanted allies. Obviously, he wasn''t weak. Even if Kairos didn''t know he wasn''t one of the top ten, the arrow was enough to show that. The immediate conclusion that came to Kairos was cannon fodder.


    Perhaps there was something special he wanted, but there were too many monsters hanging around that ce and he needed some sacrifices. However, that wouldn''t make too much sense.


    After all, instead of proposing a ce to go himself, the man asked where they were going and pretty much epted it.


    Kairos was still thinking about it, all the way until they reached the second floor and entered the room Chase was talking about.


    As promised, it was fortified, in a certain sense.


    There were bookshelves ced where the windows were, blocking them. As for the doors, they were blocked by severalyers of overturned desks.


    After awkwardly climbing over them, they got to the center of the ce which was rtively clean.


    Nicole frowned.


    "I don''t want to sleep on the cold hard ground again."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s the apocalypse youngdy. We don''t have such luxuries."


    Nicole looked down and didn''t speak up once more.


    Kairos stretched.


    "I suppose it is time for us to have a proper rest. Since I slept the longest, I will keep watch first and for a little more time."


    Chase rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "I will keep watch with you."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Suit yourself."


    Nicole and the others seemed to be a little hesitant, but they eventuallyid down on the ground, trying to fall asleep. As for Kairos he just remained sitting up next to them. A couple meters away was Chase, who was looking at him.


    For a while, they were just silently staring at each other.


    Eventually, several snoring sounds filled the room.


    Noticing this, Kairos spoke up, but suppressed his voice so that it wouldn''t wake up the others.


    "You can just go to sleep. There isn''t much of a point in staying up."


    Chase simply smiled.


    "Haha, I''m not that sleepy right now anyway, so I will hold off."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Alright."


    This entire time, he had been brainstorming why Chase wanted to have allies. Obviously, Chase didn''t trust others, so concluding that he just wanted someone to watch over while he slept didn''t feel right to Kairos.


    If he was in Chase''s ce, Kairos would rather just set up some warning trap so that if anybody opened the door, the sound could wake him up.


    Traps were far more trustworthy than people after all.


    Kairos took a deep breath.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Maybe... it was because of the food?


    He soon discarded that possibility after thinking about it. After all, there was no need to be allies for the supplies. Just killing was obviously the better option.


    Not only would the supplies be acquired, but you wouldn''t have to worry about people using them either.


    Eventually, Chase spoke up.


    "Hey, what happened to your arm there?"


    Kairos snapped to focus.


    "Ah, I was negligent and let a monster scratch me."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "You were able to dodge my arrow but couldn''t even dodge a swipe from a monster?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, the monster didn''t give me a warning it would attack."


    Chase scoffed.


    "With the speed of my arrow, there basically wasn''t a warning. Plus, the monsters almost always scream their lungs out before attacking."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I don''t know what to tell you. At the end of the day, I got scratched by a monster."


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "Hah. I don''t believe that."


    Kairos looked at him, stupefied.


    "Then what else could it be?"


    Chase smirked.


    "I think you have some power that you keep sealed in your arm. Am I wrong?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    For some reason, the word, ''chuunibyou'', shed by in his thoughts.


    "...I can unfurl the bandages to show you my injury."


    Chaseughed.


    "Oh, really? Then please do."


    Kairos sighed and untied the bandage before taking it off. The wound revealed had already healed considerably, though the gashes were still very apparent. It would probably still take a little longer for the wound to scar over.


    Seeing this, Chase seemed a little surprised.


    "Huh. Is that just how your arm naturally is?"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "Why would this be how my arm naturally is? I got shed."


    He stretched it out.


    "Though I must say, taking off the bandage makes me feel like I''ve been released from prison. It was getting way too warm."


    Chase sped his hands together.


    "So you''re not going to put the bandage back on?"


    Kairos shrugged.


    "As long as I keep it clean, it should heal faster this way. The cuts are pretty shallow now."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "So you really don''t have any power sealed in your arm."


    Kairos raised the fire axe.


    "Just a normal guy with an axe. I feel like I should be the one asking you questions as you obviously have gotten some kind of power with the bow and magic."


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched.


    "I''m just a normal guy with a bow."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Come on. Not even you sound like you believe that."


    Chaseughed.


    "Hey, the definition of normal has changed quite a bit, don''t you think?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sure, but that doesn''t make you normal."


    Chase smirked.


    "What makes you say that?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I don''t think I need to say anything. A simple look is enough."


    Chase rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "But... I feel that there is another reason."


    Kairos intuitively understood what he meant, but decided to pretend to be oblivious.


    "And what could that be? Your hairstyle?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "Just a suspicion."


    With that, he rested his head against the wall.


    Even during their conversation, Kairos was still thinking of how Chase could want allies. He felt like the answer was right at his fingertips, but he just couldn''t connect it all together.


    Kairos decided to ask some questions.


    "So how did you find out a way to use mana anyway? I can''t add anything into my magic stats."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "You couldn''t?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No. You were able to from the very start?"


    Chase smiled.


    "Yeah."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "That''s unfair. You can just use magic while we have to use our own weapons."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s not as though my mana capacity is infinite. It takes quite a while to recharge."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You''re still better off than us. You can always resort to using your melee weapon even without mana."


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched. After a few moments, he sighed.


    "Actually... I can''t use any other weapons."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Eh? Your arms don''t look that flimsy."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "I shouldn''t, but I''ll just tell you. If I try to use something else, this damn bow gets offended."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Ah. I suppose you can deal with a few monsters very easily, but once there are too many, you can''t do much because of that."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess, but there haven''t been any big groups so far."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, feeling like Chase''s tone was slightly off.


    "But they likely will in the future, no?"


    Chase sighed.


    "Maybe. I don''t know."


    At this point, Kairos rxed his muscles that he didn''t realize he was tensing. He had more or less understood why Chase wanted to team up.

 Chapter 16 A Story?

    After roughly a third of the night had passed by, Kairos decided to wake someone else for them to watch. At that point, Chase decided to rest as well. While keeping watch with Kairos, he definitely had trouble keeping his eyes open, so it seemed that Chase really needed to get some rest.


    The night passed by rather uneventfully.


    By the time Kairos woke up, Nicole and her parents were awake. However, Chase was still tossing and turning around.


    Harold whispered.


    "What if we leave him here and leave quietly? I don''t feel safe next to him."


    Nicole pouted.


    "He tried to kill one of us so easily! There''s no way we can trust him."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "His personality is a little bad, but I think it''s fine to take him with us, at least for now. He won''t betray us any time soon because he really needs someone to ally with."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "But still, why should we take someone that might turn on us at any moment?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Because he is powerful."


    Harold frowned.


    "Doesn''t that mean he can easily backstab us?"


    Kairos raised a finger.


    "But, that man also has a weakness."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "He does?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "He can only use so many arrows. After that, he will be... rtively weak."


    Sydney raised an eyebrow.


    "How do you know that?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I found out by talking to him."


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "But what if he was lying?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I have a good sense for when people lie. I''m ny percent confident he was telling the truth."


    Nicole frowned slightly.


    "But that means there''s a ten percent chance..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "If there really aren''t limitations in how he can shoot his arrows, then he would''ve just killed us straight away. He has no reason to team up with a bunch of random people like us."


    Sydney narrowed her eyes.


    "That... does seem to make sense."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Frankly, having him on our side is far better than provoking him now. He can easily assassinate people using his arrows."


    Nicole muttered.


    "O-Ok..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Anyways, we should eat a bit. Once we are done, let''s wake him up and set off."


    He pulled out his bag of bread, giving each person a slice. The other three also brought out a few things they brought from the grocery store. One thing Kairos gradually realized was that even after eating quite a bit, he still didn''t feel that full.


    Sydney noticeably ate the most, with Nicole right after. Harold was the one that ate the least, and he also made a surprisedment about the other''s appetites.


    It seemed like spending too many points could easily lead one to need more food as well. Kairos realized that they would probably need to restock more often, which wouldn''t be too hard.


    However, he couldn''t help but worry about the future. Hopefully, he would find a solution before then.


    ? After roughly thirty minutes, they finished up.


    As for Chase, he was still sleeping. However, he had his brows furrowed, like there was some sort of bad dream.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Hey, wake up."


    Chase did not wake up.


    Kairos sighed and nudged his arm with the tip of his shoe.


    "Wake up."


    Suddenly, Chase sat up with his eyes wide open. He had already raised his bow and conjured a mana arrow onto it.


    While Nicole and the others were afraid, Kairos simply clicked his tongue.


    "We allied up, remember? An enemy would silently slit your throat, not wake you up."


    Chase blinked a few times before lowering his bow.


    "Ah, right. Good morning."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Good morning."


    Chase looked down at the mana conjured arrow he created.


    "Hold on, I have to get rid of this thing."


    He then walked over to the windows blocked by bookshelves and easily pushed one aside with his shoulder. With an elbow, Chase smashed the window before aiming outside.


    After a few seconds, he released it.


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "Did you hit something?"


    Chase nodded.


    "One of the monsters right in the skull."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You can hit things from that far away, huh?"


    Chaseughed.


    "I''ve always been using a bow. My archery is probably one of the best."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Plus you can curve the arrows."


    Chase smirked.


    "Heh. So you saw it. I suppose dodging that arrow wasn''t all a fluke."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Anyway, let''s get to a grocery store."


    He turned to look at others and saw Nicole in particr was pouting silently.


    "Do any of you know a closeby grocery store?"


    Sydney hummed to herself.


    "I do remember one along the way, yes."


    After a few moments, Chase turned his head.


    "What do you mean by along the way?"


    Kairos shrugged.


    "It just means the way we were traveling. There is a nearby grocery store, but we''ve already been there, so there''s no point in going back."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "...Alright."


    Sydney seemed a little confused, but just nodded.


    "Alright, I can lead the way."


    The group got out of the school and immediately noticed that there were several bloodstains around the normally clean pavement.


    Harold sucked in a cold breath.


    "They were just outside the school it seems like."


    Chase nodded.


    "They are far more active during the night."


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "I suppose it won''t be too bad for us during the day."


    With that, Sydney led the way, passing by several houses. Along the way, Chase ate a few energy bars.


    At some point, they encountered two monsters hiding in between the alleyways of the houses. However, Sydney was able to react in time, taking care of one while Harold dealt with the other. As for Chase, he didn''t even try to kill the monsters, seemingly uninterested in the points they offered.


    They ended up seeing a few monsters through the windows of houses that were just sleeping. However, other than the slight scare, there were no issues.


    Eventually, they arrived at another grocery store, lined up against several other shops. However, they weren''t the only people there.


    A set of cars had been lined up in a semi-circle around the grocery store entrance with quite a small group of bandits watching the perimeter. There was also a small group from the outside. The two sides seemed to be arguing with each other.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Harold looked towards the others.


    "Maybe... we should avoid this grocery store."


    Chaseughed.


    "Ohe on. Don''t be so scared."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "It''s called being smart!"


    Kairos frowned.


    "I... I think we should still try."


    Nicole looked at him with widened eyes.


    "But why?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Remember when I killed those monsters in the freezer while they were sleeping? They gave me a decent amount of points which I used to strengthen my body. It was my mistake doing so, as I didn''t realize it would increase my appetite by so much."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Monsters in the freezer? May you borate further?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I just killed monsters while they were sleeping. That''s all."


    Harold tapped onto his chin.


    "But I don''t remember you eating that much."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "That was because I decided not to eat too much. In reality, I''m actually really hungry."


    Nicole gasped.


    "Then why didn''t you eat more?"


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "I was nning on catching up at the grocery store."


    Sydney frowned.


    "Then let''s just go to the next grocery store."


    Chase smiled.


    "And what if that one is defended by even more people?"


    Harold clenched his fist.


    "We don''t know that!"


    Kairos spoke softly.


    "But with every second, more people are taking the limited supplies from these stores. Since these people are willing to defend it, that must mean there is enough inside worth defending."


    Chase smirked.


    "Exactly."


    Nicole grit her teeth.


    "I guess we have to. If we want to... survive."


    And so, the group walked towards the grocery store. Chase took the lead naturally as he did not bother slowing down.


    As they got closer, they heard the conversation.


    "For thest goddamn time, you''re not getting in here!"


    "Please, I just need a little! Surely some of the food is about to spoil, right?"


    One of the bandits was pointing what seemed to be a ck pistol at a woman with two kids behind her.


    A few other bandits looked over, but didn''t act.


    The one pointing the gun frowned.


    "I told you already, I don''t want to waste a bullet, but I will if I have to!"


    As for the woman, she seemed rather desperate.


    "And I told you that I have no other option! My children and I don''t have anything to eat! T-There was supposed to be a sale today, so I wanted to wait a little for our groceries!"


    The bandit furrowed his brows.


    "That''s none of our business, alright!"


    As they walked closer, Harold cursed.


    "They have guns! How do they even have those? Guns are illegal!"


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "The police station! They must''ve raided that ce."


    Nicole clenched her fist.


    "We can''t fight people with guns! We have to turn away!"


    Though Kairos didn''t say anything, he essentially had the same opinion. He really didn''t expect people to just have guns. However, before he could call out that decision, Chase walked up nonchntly, waving his hand.


    "Hey, we are here to take your food!"


    Several bandits already had their eyes on us, but now, they pointed their guns too.


    "Get out of here!"


    "We won''t hesitate to fire!"


    "We''ve already killed people before! Don''t test us!"


    Kairos furrowed his brows, wondering what Chase''s n could possibly be. Even assuming he had enough mana to kill all of them, the time it took to shoot the arrows would be more than enough for them to shoot multiple times.


    Nheless, Kairos didn''t believe Chase was that stupid. And so, he simply watched.


    Chase didn''t even pull the bow off his back. Instead, he spread his arms out wide, as though trying to wee them.


    "Look, I''m just telling you what''s going to happen in advance because I''m nice, alright?"


    The bandits seemed a little confused, but still kept their guns pointed at him.


    "Stay back!"


    "You want to get pumped full of lead?"


    "With how many of us there are, we are bound to hit you!"


    Chase narrowed his eyes as a mocking smile formed on his face.


    "Oh, really?"


    The bandits began ncing at each other, but quickly regained their confidence.


    "Yeah!"


    "Scram already!"


    Chase lowered his head ever so slightly.


    "Well, before that, how about I tell you a story?"


    Frowns formed across the bandits'' faces. One of them cursed, tightening his grip around the pistol.


    "No, why should we care about your story?"


    Chase continued on as though the bandits were actually an audience that couldn''t wait for his performance.


    "Haha, don''t get too excited! I will tell you the story now."


    The bandits looked at each other with clear confusion, now listening to a retelling.


    Chase pointed towards the bow on his back.


    "I''ve always used the bow for most of my life, getting pretty good at it. In fact, there were several times where I went out hunting with it."


    He sighed as though recalling good memories.


    "I always had this one friend with me that was insistent on getting me to use guns instead of my bow. He was like me, but instead of liking bows, he was a gun nut."


    One of the bandits cursed.


    "We don''t care about your damn story!"


    Chase held his hand up.


    "Don''t be so impatient! A proper story must also have proper pacing."


    He cleared his throat.


    "Anyway, we would alwayspete in hunting, to see who could get the most game. It was always pretty close, but I would win most of the time. In the end, my friend would me the gun, constantly switching back and forth between various kinds."


    Chase chuckled.


    "And every time he brought a new gun, he would drone on about the various mechanisms and parts within it, showing me each feature. He ended up showing me nearly every gun in existence."


    He nodded to himself.


    "It was boring as all hell, but those were still some good times."


    One of the bandits held their gun out a little farther.


    "Alright, you told your story. Now leave!"


    Chase tilted his head to the side.


    "It seems you didn''t realize why I told you that story..."


    A sinister smile formed on his face.

 Chapter 17 Beatdown

    The bandits began losing theirposure. Their hands became a little sweaty as nervousness flitted within their eyes.


    "We don''t care about your story!"


    "Back off right now, don''t think we will hold back!"


    "We will kill you where you stand!"


    They said that, however, the enthusiasm behind it was far less than before, reced with fear.


    Chase let out a mockingugh.


    "Oh, and how exactly will you kill me?"


    One of the bandits clenched their teeth.


    "By shooting you!"


    Chase slowly took the bow off of his back, prompting the bandits to anxiously threaten him.


    "Stop right now!"


    "We will shoot you!"


    However, Chase didn''t listen. Instead, he slowly reached towards his bow.


    "You see, that''s a little hard for me to believe..."


    Mana began forming at Chases'' fingertips, forming an arrow and string.


    "...After all, those are just toy guns painted ck, no?"


    The expressions of the bandits became pale.


    "Dammit!"


    "Wh-What the hell is that blue arrow?!"


    "Shit, just get our weapons. He''s only one person, we can overwhelm him!"


    With that, the bandits dropped their guns and pulled out various weapons like baseball bats and pipes. At this time, Kairos decided to walk up. There was one bandit that decided to run into the grocery store. Though it didn''t seem to be a person fleeing out of fear.


    But a person calling for reinforcements.


    Chase narrowed his eyes, shifting his aim away from the closest bandit to the one that was running. Then, he let the mana arrow loose.


    The arrow whipped through the air at incredibly high speeds, shooting straight past several tiny gaps before causing the runner''s head to explode. Chase was still quite far away from the cars, so the bandits would have trouble closing the gap right away. Not to mention, they had to vault over their own cars.


    Now that one of them had died gruesomely, most of them froze.


    However, one of the bandits kept hisposure and yelled out.


    "It''s only one person! We can get him easily!"


    Kairos walked up next to chase with his fire axe resting against his shoulder.


    "Actually, it''s two people."


    Chase turned to him with a smirk.


    "These small fry won''t be a problem for you, right?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I can''t see how they would be."


    The bandit who spoke up earlier frowned.


    "It makes no difference! We have the number advantage!"


    This seemed to wake up most of them out of their stupor, prompting them to charge with fierce expressions, raising their weapons high.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Let me give you guys a fair warning. If you get too close, I will kill you."


    He said it very clearly, but none of the bandits were intimidated. Perhaps thenky figure was part of it. However, Kairos didn''t really care if they did back off or not. He just said that so Nicole and the others would be less shocked by him killing people.


    Though Nicole did kill two people earlier, she was also in an unstable state, so it wasn''t too hard to ept. That wasn''t the case for Kairos.


    Once the bandits got within five meters, Kairos pulled the fire axe off his shoulder and began walking forwards.


    The bandits were not afraid. In fact, some of them even had confident smirks on their faces.


    "Get out of the way kid! This is yourst warning!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I think you misunderstood."


    At that moment, three of the bandits swung the weapons at various angles towards him. However, like a leaf being blown in the wind, he slipped past all of them before appearing behind the bandits.


    "You see, I am the one warning you."


    The bandits began turning around. However, before one of them could do anything, a gleam shed by.


    With a clear thwack, the man''s head flew up into the air.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    It almost felt like cutting a thin tree, but with more blood. Kairos had truly killed a person for the first time in his life. However, he didn''t feel anything special. Though he always expected it to be this way for a while.


    The bandits cursed before swinging their weapons at him again. However, Kairos easily dodged out of the way once more. In reality, he didn''t even need his future vision to pull off these feats. His four points in agility were already enough topletely overwhelm them.


    One of the bandits yelled.


    "Surround him!"


    Though a little disorganized, the bandits were able to quickly surround him, making a circle of fifteen people. Then, then slowly got closer to him.


    "Drop your weapon right now!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Did you guys really think you could get around me if I didn''t let you?"


    A few of the bandits opened their mouths to speak, but before they could, Kairos'' figure moved, nearly bing a blur.


    He dashed towards an arbitrary side of the circle before swinging his fire axe.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    In just a moment, two heads shot out into the air, spraying blood all around. Their respective bodies were pushed aside by Kairos, letting him break out of the encirclement.


    The bandits were now clearly afraid.


    "How is he so fast?"


    "We can''t touch him!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Quickly, get the other as a hostage!"


    One of the bandits pointed towards Chase, wanting to capture him. The man in question simply put the bow onto his back before raising his fists.


    "Hey, hey. Just because I''m not using my bow, doesn''t mean I''m a damsel in distress."


    The eyes of the bandits became a little bloodshot as the nearby ones charged towards Chase. They seemed to be panicking greatly over the death of their teammates and were getting desperate.


    Two of them raised their bats before swinging them at Chase''s kneecap and stomach. Yet, the person in question simply took a couple steps backwards, dodging it.


    While the two were still recovering from their swing, he suddenly charged in, getting up right next to the both of them.


    Chase had pulled his arm back before giving one of the bandits a brutal uppercut.


    The bandit had no time to react before he suddenly found himself in the air with his head thrown back. He let go of his weapon, letting itnd against the floor, while the bandit himselfnded on the ground headfirst with a frightening crack.


    And died.


    The other bandit next to Chase attempted to swing at him with his bat, but before he could do so, Chase used one hand to grab onto the man''s head and the other onto his chin.


    Then, Chase twisted it, causing a series of snapping sounds to ring out. As he did this, a mocking smile was stered across his face.


    "I''ve killed wild deer with my bare hands before and they put up a far better fight than you."


    The bandits that were charging towards Chase suddenly stopped in their tracks, too afraid to go any further. However, that wasn''t their only concern.


    It seemed like they had forgotten about the other person they were afraid of earlier.


    Suddenly, a bandit''s head flew up into the air.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos was a little stupefied that all of the bandits turned their backs on him before dashing towards Chase. He ended up just staring at their turned backs for a moment, questioning their intelligence.


    But at the end of the day, Kairos gave a warning, and they didn''t heed it.


    As such, he was going to act.


    And so, another two heads flew up into the air, spraying blood everywhere.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    The bandits looked behind them to see Kairos giving them a dead stare while covered in blood. They then turned the other way to see Chase with a mocking smile, still holding onto a body with the head turned the wrong way.


    The bandits seemed to break down.


    "We have to take care of the kid now!"


    "No! We need to get the guy without a weapon and use him as a hostage!"


    "I... I''m running away!"


    They werepletely disorganized.


    Two of them ran towards Kairos, obviously with no clear n in mind. Five of them ran towards Chase. Earlier, someone dered to take him as a hostage, but these five fully intended on killing him if they could. Their minds were simply too frazzled.


    Kairos simply sighed. He dodged the flimsy strikes of the bandits before beheading one.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    As for thest bandit, he hadpletely lost the will to fight. He copsed onto the ground, shivering.


    "D-Don''t kill me!"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "I warned you, didn''t I?"


    Before the bandit could say another word, a cold gleam shed by.


    Then, his head came off. Large amounts of blood spewed out from his neck.


    On Chase''s side, he bent his knees slightly and narrowed his eyes. A metal pipe was swung horizontally towards his head, but he ducked, avoiding it.


    Two baseball bats shot towards him at different angles, one on his shoulder and the other at his waist.


    Chase clicked his tongue and used his arms to block, letting them m against his forearms with a thump. Immediately afterwards, Chase let loose with his fists, mming it against one of their faces, smashing their face in, and sending them back.


    Right afterward, however, two more weapons swung towards him, forcing him to step back. He clicked his tongue and looked at Kairos.


    "Hey, can you help me out with this?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "But you aren''t a damsel in distress, remember?"


    Chase''s eyebrow twitched. He dodged another attack before sending his fist out once more, knocking out another bandit.


    "So you only help damsels in distress? What kind of person are you?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "An honorable person that lets capable people fight their own battles."


    Chase dodged another few weapon swings before punching someone else. He let out a sigh as he did so.


    "Fine, I''ll do it myself then."


    Thest two bandits were clearly afraid, but they still swung their weapons nheless. However, Chase simply stepped backward and smiled.


    "You shouldn''t attack at the same time..."


    He then lunged forward, grabbing onto both of the bandits'' heads before mming them together.


    "Because it gives me a window."


    The two of them copsed to the ground powerlessly. Chase immediately chased after the one that ran away afterwards. By now, the bandit that ran away had almost reached the blockade made by the cars.


    However, Chase was simply too fast.


    The bandit heard heavy stepsing for him, approaching at a speed he couldn''t possibly outrun. Then, he turned his head around to see a handing right for his face.


    Chase had leaped up into the air before grabbing on thest bandit''s face before mming it down on the pavement.


    Kairos cleared his throat, trying to hide his surprise.


    "See? You didn''t need any help in the end."


    Chase rolled his eyes.


    "Well now my hands are messy and you are to me.


    Before Kairos could respond, another voice rang out.


    "Who dares mess around in my turf?"

 Chapter 18 Threat Of Death

    Chase looked up from the bandit he had just mmed onto the floor. Then smiled.


    "And what is a prettydy like yourself doing here?"


    "What am I doing here? This is my ce!"


    There was a young woman standing at the entrance of the grocery store with a deep frown on her face. She had dark red hair, which could''ve been dyed, or maybe some byproduct of the red sun.


    There was an ugly scar that stretched across her eye. The wound still looked like it was in the process of healing, so was probably recent. Covering the eye that had been shed through was a ck eyepatch. She had a rtively slim figure, but nothing too different from average.


    However, the most notable thing about her was the blood-red katana she held in her hand.


    She looked around, seeing all of the corpses and decapitated heads.


    "It seems you all have made yourself at home."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It seems you are a wannabe pirate trying to sail the seven seas."


    The corner of thedy''s mouth twitched.


    "You all have some nerve..."


    She began walking up. From behind, another ten bandits began walking out of the grocery store right behind her. Most of them froze once they saw all the bodies outside, but kept walking forwards once they noticed thedy in front did.


    As for Chase, he smirked as he pulled the bow off of his back.


    "Now don''t be unreasonable, little flower. It''s just business, as one of my friends would say."


    Thedy tilted her head to the side and began smiling as she looked at Chase.


    "You''re the type that pisses me off the most."


    She continued walking up. On the other hand, Chase began backing up as a mana arrow formed on his bow.


    "You''re not the first orst person that''s going to say that."


    Thedy looked around.


    "...There seem to be eight of you."


    She narrowed her eyes.


    "And you have been able to kill so many of my men."


    Chase continued to back up, while Kairos got next to Chase.


    Thedy then smirked.


    "But only two of you are actually capable of fighting, and you seem to be tired from your previous fight."


    The woman and her two kids from earlier were currently cowering in fear, with the kids hiding behind the trembling mother. As for Nicole and her parents, they froze in ce like a deer in headlights. It seemed that they still weren''t used to gore. At least not when there were several heads rolling across the ground with their eyes wide open.


    Chaseughed.


    "You need so much just to convince yourself that you have a chance?"


    Kairos smiled.


    "Seems like someone''s scared."


    Despite their taunts, thedy was still smiling. She began to walk a little faster.


    "Hah. You must be talking about yourself."


    Kairos whispered to Chase.


    "Hey, I don''t think I can hold all of them off."


    Chase kept the smile on his face as he whispered back.


    "We just need to kill the leader, then the rest will be unable to pose a threat."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright..."


    He then took off his backpack and set down his sses. As though that was a signal, thedy dashed forth, pulling back her katana. Chase slowly backed off as the mana arrow in his bow formed.


    Kairos kept his position and stared at thedy with wide eyes, not daring to blink.


    Once they were only a meter apart, the katana shot through the air with a strange trajectory.


    Kairos almost missed it, but was able to twist the axe to block the de with the handle. However, with his future vision, he saw that the katana would cut straight through it.


    Knowing that would essentially mean death, he strained his muscles to spin the axe de.


    A loud metallic bang rang out.


    Their des collided against each other loudly, both going undamaged.


    Thedy immediately disengaged, getting out of range. As for Kairos, he simrly backed off. However, there was also cold sweat on his back. This person was very much so different from the others.


    It was probably how she gathered all of those people to work underneath her.


    The fifteen bandits were getting closer, but before they approached, thedy lunged forth once more. Her katana weaved through the air smoothly, but erratically. It was as though the katana had be some strangebination of a snake and a fish swimming through the water.


    Kairos was able to just barely block with his four points in agility as his future vision.


    Another ring metallic crash ran out.


    Their weapons collided once more, but thedy decided to continue with her assault, attempting to overwhelm Kairos. Her de twisted through the air once again.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos furrowed his brows, but just barely blocked it again.


    That was when the katana suddenly shot towards his abdomen like a spear. Kairos'' eyes got a little bloodshot as he twisted the fire axe so that the t metallic part would defend him.


    With a loud metallic bang, the katananded against the axe head which mmed against his stomach.


    Thedy then backed off, as did Kairos.


    And now, the rest of the bandits had gotten closer. Kairos could only barely defend against thedy. The only chance he had for attacking was if he gave up defense entirely and swung his axe. However, Kairos would definitely take a really bad hit for that, while he wouldn''t know if his attack wouldnd.


    As for Chase, he had one eye closed, watching the entire time. But there was no good opportunity to shoot. As such, he kept holding onto the arrow.


    Realistically, the best opportunity was when thedy charged in on her own. However, Kairos wasn''t able to take advantage of it.


    A bitter smile formed on his face as the bandits began encircling him.


    However, right as he was about to go for a desperate move, a set of footsteps approached from behind. Kairos turned to the sound with a bit of confusion, as he could tell they weren''ting from Chase''s direction.


    And he saw Nicole who had the red watch on her wrist along with a metal bat and a wooden bat in her hand. Her eyes were clearly bloodshot while her breathing was heavy. However, it seemed like she had control over her emotions for now.


    Chase raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself when he saw this.


    "Hm... it appears she is more than just a ball of cotton."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You ok?"


    Nicole nodded.


    "I think so."


    At that moment, thedy shot forth, trying to swing at Kairos once more, but it was blocked. The rest of the bandits closed in as well, but Nicole smashed one of their heads into pieces with her wooden bat.


    Thedy saw this as an opportunity and shifted targets to try and stab Nicole. However, Nicole was able to block it with her metal bat. Though her agility was rtively low, the red watch and also the fact she could use any part of the bat to block it let her do so.


    However, the katana did lodge itself halfway through the bat.


    Kairos wasn''t just going to stand by. Despite the fact a few of the bandits were in the process of attacking him, he swung his fire axe at thedy horizontally.


    Unfortunately, he underestimated how agile that woman really was, as she withdrew her katana and bent backwards, dodging it entirely. It was toote to stopmitting to his attack.


    A bat mmed against Kairos'' side while a metal pipe hit his shoulder.


    He cursed internally as he whipped his fire axe towards one of the bandits'' heads, decapitating them.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    As for Nicole, she dodged several of the bandits'' attacks before mming her wooden bat against their heads, exploding it once more. The crack on the wooden bat expanded a little further, but was still fine.


    Using her other bat, she promptly gave an uppercut with it, making their skull pop off of their spine. The metal bat bent pretty badly but was still more or less in one piece.


    At the same time, thedy decided to try and attack Kairos once more, lunging forth with her katana. A bandit attacked alongside her, swinging their metal pipe towards his head.


    Kairos grit his teeth as he moved his head out of the way and moved his fire axe to block the katana. Unfortunately, the bat still ended up hitting his shoulder, bruising him further.


    Kairos cursed internally as he swept out with his foot.


    Thedy easily backed off and dodged it, but the bandit next to her tripped and fell,nding onto the pavement with his head.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Thedy continued trying tond attacks on Kairos, using tricky strikes one after another. However, with Kairos'' future vision, he could tell when each of them wereing and urately block them with the head of his fire axe. By now, several scrapes had formed on it, but it was still holding on strong.


    Thedy wasn''t necessarily strong. However, she was extremely agile.


    Nheless, Kairos was also fairly agile, thus they were essentially stuck in a stalemate.


    During that time, Nicole let out a frenzied yell as she charged straight through the bandits, swinging her weapons recklessly towards them. She ended up taking a few hits, bruising her body. However, she was essentially unstoppable anyway, smashing skulls one after another.


    The wooden bat continued to crack further, until it split vertically. Nheless, Nicole kept using it. However, the top broke off soon after.


    As for the metal bat, she swung with it despite its deformity, causing it to bend one way, then bend back over and over. When she finally came across thest bandit, she mmed with all her might, exploding their skull, but also breaking the metal bat entirely.


    Nicole then shifted her gaze towards thedy, who she was currently behind.


    After picking up one of the metal pipes that the bandits left on the floor, she ran towards her recklessly, with no intention of slowing down.


    It looked rather promising.


    All the bandits were now dead. As for Kairos, while he was bruised, it didn''t affect hisbat ability, thus keeping himself alive against thedy''s assault. There was even Chase, who still had the bow pulled back.


    However, things didn''t always work out perfectly.


    Nicole lifted the metal pipe high into the air, running as fast as she could. Yet, right when she was about to swing it down, thedy suddenly twirled around, whipping out her leg in a full circle.


    Kairos was able to dodge, but Nicole was hit straight in the knee.


    She ended up cringing before falling down to her knees. Then, another foot swiftly whipped towards her head, mming against her and knocking her out entirely.


    Kairos dashed forth and did an overhead strike with his fire axe.


    However, right as it was about to hit, thedy and her katana disappeared into a mass of red mist.


    Since Kairos saw this with his future vision, he pulled back his attack early. He also saw with his future vision that thedy would reform, however, she would do so mid-swing towards his neck.


    Kairos'' eyes widened, not expecting that thedy had this sort of ability. He knew that there was no time to pull back his axe to defend.


    An air of despair came over him as the threat of death rapidly approached.

 Chapter 19 Insufficent

    Kairos felt an immense pain fill his head from his future vision. However, strangely enough, it didn''t feel like the sensation of having one''s neck cut through as he would''ve expected.


    After all, there was currently a katana moments away from reaching his neck.


    Rather, it was a fairly familiar sensation, like his skull was going to burst. Though it was still extremely painful.


    Kairos instinctively tilted his head to the side.


    And right when he did, a blue arrow shot right past.


    Thedy''s eyes widened tremendously. However, right after Kairos tilted his head, she did as well. The blue arrow grazed against her cheek, ripping open a long line of blood.


    However, she was still alive.


    Kairos grit his teeth, awaiting the sensation of pain. However, it never came.


    Chase had let go of the arrow. However, even when the arrow shot right past its target, he still kept eye all the way open, staring calmly. A deep frown was on his face as blue veins began bulging out from his skin.


    The blue arrow that had shot past suddenly reversed its direction, shooting straight towards thedy''s head.


    There should''ve been no way for her to know.


    But she stopped her attack and brought the katana behind her head.


    An ear-piercing bang rang out.


    The mana arrow crashed against the katana hard. That much was clear from the blood now seeping from thedy''s hand. However, she was still standing.


    Kairos was shocked by the turn of events. However, he already saw it happen a second in the future, so he was only stunned for a short moment. Kairos'' eyes had be bloodshot as he desperately tried to take advantage of this opportunity, mercilessly swinging his fire axe towards her skull.


    Another sh rang out.


    Thedy was able to defend against it, but she quickly backed up with a fearful expression.


    "I give up! I give up, so stop attacking! You can have whatever you want from the damn grocery store."


    Chase immediately spoke up.


    "Haha, it is only natural to spare such a pretty little flower."


    Kairos turned back to look at Chase with a little bit of incredulity. He opened his mouth to chastise him, but suddenly stopped.


    Chase was holding onto the bow with a confident smile. However, there was something slightly off about him. Though it was extremely hard to tell, the hands holding onto the bow were trembling slightly.


    The only reason Kairos could even tell was because of the contrast between the images of his future vision and the current one. From what he could tell, Chase couldn''t shoot any more arrows.


    Given that Nicole had been knocked out as well, he was on his own.


    Kairos slowly turned around back to look at thedy.


    She definitely seemed afraid. However, her hand was still tightly wrapped around the hilt of the katana.


    Although he could be fairly confident in taking down this woman now, he was also fairly confident that his body would be heavily injured from her death throes.


    And so, he took a deep breath and epted that this was the best case scenario.


    "If you surrender, drop your katana."


    Thedy furrowed her brows.


    "Ok."


    However, instead of dropping it she continued to walk backwards. Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "What are you doing?"


    Thedy kept her eyes trained forwards.


    "Getting another weapon."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Is this how you surrender?"


    Thedy clicked her tongue.


    "You have to at least give me a weapon to defend myself in the case you attack me anyway!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...Alright."


    With that, thedy eventually picked up a metal pipe from the floor and dropped her katana.


    Kairos stared right at her.


    "Kick the katana over."


    After a second of hesitation, thedy kicked the katana over as instructed. It slid across the ground with a scraping sound, eventually slowing down right next to his feet. Kairos promptly picked it up and stowed it away as the burning sensation came from his hands.


    Chase lowered the bow he was holding with a calm smile.


    "Now go on, pretty flower. We will take care of your store well!"


    Thedy slowly walked backwards. However, she suddenly lunged towards Nicole''s unconscious body, hoisting her up with one hand and raising the metal pipe with the other.


    Harold took a step forward.


    "Hey! Stop it!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "What are you doing?"


    Thedy''s breathing was unsteady.


    "Look, the deal stands, but I need insurance. You can have her back after I leave."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "You can''t just... leave now?"


    Thedy grit her teeth.


    "And then get shot in the back with one of those arrows?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "So when are you going to let her go?"


    Thedy blinked a few times.


    "...When I feel safe."


    Kairos sighed.


    "If my friend here puts down his bow, would you feel safe?"


    Thedy opened her mouth, but quickly closed it right after, thinking to herself.


    "No!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He took a deep breath.


    "Then what is required for you to feel at home, princess?"


    Thedy took several deep breaths.


    "I... I don''t know. I''ve never been in this kind of position."


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "What if we trade hostages? We give you someone else and you release the girl?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows and turned to look at him.


    "...What exactly are you trying to do?"


    Chase raised up his hands as though trying to show he was innocent.


    "Just offering a suggestion!"


    Kairos felt like Chase was trying to get rid of either Harold or Sydney, and it was rtively understandable. After all, they hadn''t contributed to the fight. However, Kairos was also unsure if that was truly his objective.


    In the end, he just dropped the subject.


    Kairos looked at thedy with a little bit of frustration.


    "Look, we aren''t going to get anywhere if you just continue holding onto her, alright?"


    She grit her teeth and began sweating. It seemed like she was getting quite desperate for whatever reason. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, almost like she had been enlightened.


    "Wh-What if we be allies?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh?"


    Thedy cleared her throat.


    "There is no true enmity with us, right? We both just wanted the food from the grocery store, that''s all! We can just... share it. It''s not like any of us are weak and will hold the other down."


    Kairos looked at the bandit corpses littered across the ground.


    "You really don''t care about all of the people on your side we just killed?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Thedy shrugged her shoulders.


    "Not really. I hardly even knew them for a day. They only listened to me because I easily killed their previous leader and forced them to work under me."


    Kairos lowered his head down slightly and thought about it.


    "...And how are we supposed to believe you aren''t going to backstab us?"


    Chase nodded.


    "Exactly. So we can''t take you."


    Kairos looked over at Chase with a bit of confusion.


    "Isn''t that how we teamed up?"


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched.


    "This is different!"


    Kairos couldn''t understand at first, but eventually realized. Chase wanted to team up with people because he couldn''t handle everything on his own with his limited arrow supply. However, he also didn''t want to team up with anybody too strong, so that he didn''t have to be that concerned about someone attempting to kill him.


    Thedy frowned, taking this the wrong way.


    "What? Because you think of me as some pretty flower? What about those other people you are with? I can hold my own weight unlike them!"


    Chase frowned.


    "This is an issue of trust, little flower."


    Thedy screamed out.


    "My name is Tori!"


    Chase sighed.


    "Well, alright Tori. This is an issue of trust. Like how you can''t trust us, we can''t trust you."


    Tori proceeded to frown.


    "...Then that can be developed over time, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Perhaps, but we aren''t willing to give you that time."


    Tori looked between the two of us.


    "Then... Then I will just hold this girl until you decide to trust me!"


    Harold frowned.


    "No way!"


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "Well this is how I''m doing it!"


    Kairos frowned. He really couldn''t understand why this woman was being so stubborn as to follow them. Nheless, there really was no time to waste.


    "So you don''t mind us going into the grocery store and you waiting out here?"


    Tori blinked a few times.


    "...No, of course not."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright. Then we will be doing that."


    There were a few whimpering sounds being made. He looked over to them and noticed a mother that was now sitting on her rear along with two children behind her back.


    Kairos waved.


    "Ah, do you want to-"


    The woman cringed in fear while the two children also began to shiver.


    Kairos wondered why, then remembered he was soaked in blood. It probably wasn''t the prettiest of sights. He sighed, then turned to Harold and Sydney.


    "We should take the supplies in the grocery store first."


    Harold frowned.


    "But that woman is still holding onto Nicole!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "She isn''t going to let go of her any time soon. We can''t waste so much time right now. Let''s just loot the ce before trying to talk to her again."


    Sydney looked a little distraught.


    "But what if she takes Nicole away?"


    Kairos frowned.


    "She has no reason to do such a thing, alright?"


    The two seemed displeased, but eventually caved in. Chase waved to the mother and her two kids on the floor.


    "You can have whatever you find still in the ce after we are done. Does that sound good?"


    The mother was still obviously afraid of Chase, but was still able to work up the courage to talk.


    "R-Really?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "We won''t be using them."


    The mother bowed.


    "Th-Thank you!"


    With that, the group of four entered the store.


    Surprisingly the ce was really tidy. There was still quite a bit of food left all over the ce and it wasn''t damaged or covered in blood. It seemed that the group beforehand did a good job of defending this ce.


    Kairos even opened up the freezer of this ce and found that it was devoid of a single monster. Like thest one, there was a fire axe. He decided to take it.


    While in the freezer, there was nobody else around.


    Despite that, he still took a look around the ce, almost like he suspected the others had some sort of ability that let them phase through walls.


    After double checking, Kairos opened his status panel once more.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 21.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 2.0


    Endurance - 2.0


    Agility - 4.0


    Willpower - 2.3


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    Though he did gain a few points from that fight, it was really nothingpared to the points provided by killing monsters.


    Kairos sighed.


    One thing he realized in thest fight, was that he couldn''t really be holding onto his points this much in case of some emergency situation. However, he also couldn''t be spending too much, as he might starve to death.


    Considering the amount of food in here, it was a good opportunity to increase his stats and have the food ready to not suffer consequences from his decision.


    [Strength 2.0 -> 4.0 | Points 21.1 -> 19.1]


    ? [Endurance 2.0 -> 4.0 | Points 19.1 -> 17.1]


    [Agility 4.0 -> 4.9 | Points 17.1 -> 16.2]


    Kairos valued agility, especially because of thatst fight. As such, he intended on increasing this stat the most. However, once he wanted to push it past five, the option to increase it suddenly grayed out.


    [Insufficient Evolution Rank]

 Chapter 20 Basement

    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    Currently, his body was letting out strong waves of heat. However, it was a littleforting because of the coldness in the freezer.


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "...Rank limitations, huh?"


    He originally thought that spending all these points wouldn''t be a big issue. That he could just increase his strength whenever he felt like it. However, it turns out that his rank wasn''t enough.


    Increasing his rank would mean that he would longer get extra points from challenge kills. However, it would obviously increase his strength.


    Though the only problem was that Kairos did not know how to increase his rank.


    ...Well, actually he was pretty sure it was rted to the red sun. After all, the monsters that had been exposed to the red sun were considered a rank higher than him. However, Kairos really didn''t want anything to do with that.


    There had to be some other way, right?


    Kairos shook his head, then figured he might as well increase his willpower while he was here.


    [Willpower 2.3 -> 4.0 | Points 16.2 -> 14.5]


    He felt a strong heat emanate from his mind before gradually disappearing. Once the ce was beginning to feel a little cold, Kairos left. Pretty much immediately, he began tearing open the various packages within the store and began eating whatever.


    So long as it didn''t require any preparation to be edible, Kairos would just eat it.


    After a while, packaging littered the floor below him, but there was no longer the feeling of gnawing hunger. Kairos looked over to his old wound, the gash he received from the monster before.


    It had essentially healedpletely, only leaving a thin red line where it once was. He remembered it was still rtively bad before this. Kairos thought about it and realized that increasing his endurance could be a pseudo way of healing.


    It definitely wasn''t the best option, but it coulde in handy during emergency situations.


    Eventually, Chase walked over, then looked at all the wrappings scattered across the floor.


    "You really uh, let yourself go."


    Kairos sighed.


    "A little bit, I guess."


    Chase narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "It seems you evolved and got a little hungry. Almost like you''ve kept a lot of points on you before."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I just haven''t eaten for a long time. That was part of the reason I insisted on going here. Because I was just really hungry."


    Chase did not speak for a moment.


    "Alright."


    He turned around.


    "Anyways, I have also eaten a little bit and it seems the others have packed up a bit. It seems you all have no ns of staying here."


    Kairos sighed.


    "You saw what happened to thest person that tried to hold down the grocery store."


    Chaseughed.


    "Yeah, we were the ones that did it after all."


    He sighed.


    "I suppose that''s part of why you ate so much. It''s a pity to leave so much behind."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Let''s go then. We still have to deal with the crazy woman."


    Chaseughed.


    "Perhaps she has cooled down by now."


    The two regrouped with Harold and Sydney before making it outside once more. There was quite amotion outside.


    "Hey, stop moving so much!"


    "You let go of me!"


    Tori was still holding onto Nicole with a metal pipe in one hand. However, it definitely wasn''t easy to do so because of Nicole''s intense struggle.


    The two of them were stumbling back and forth, almost like they were doing some strange kind of dance. Some might call it abstract.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Um, are you guys ok?"


    Nicole reached out towards the group.


    "Help me! This crazydy is holding onto me!"


    Tori was sweating slightly as she tried to hold on to Nicole.


    "Stop moving around so much! It''s called being a hostage, alright? If you don''tply I will hit you with this pipe!"


    Nicole did not even try to be more passive after she heard that. In fact, she began struggling even harder.


    "I don''t want to be a hostage!"


    She looked towards the others.


    "Don''t worry about me! Just take care of this crazydy!"


    Tori seemed to be on the verge of crying.


    "We can do this peacefully, alright? Peacefully!"


    Nicole screamed.


    "I refuse!"


    Kairos turned to Chase.


    "So..."


    Chase turned back.


    "I guess we just have to try and negotiate?"


    Harold and Sydney both had frowns on their faces, not liking how their daughter was being treated. However, they also didn''t say anything because they were afraid that Tori might do something.


    Though to Kairos and Chase, they doubted she would do anything because she seemed to be banking it all on Nicole as a hostage.


    Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "Pretty flower, you must realize you can''t hold onto her forever."


    Tori grit her teeth.


    "I... I can join your team!"


    Nicole seemed bbergasted.


    "No! There''s no way we are taking you!"


    Tori seemed a little distraught.


    "But..."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "You really couldn''t think of any other terms while we were gone? How about this, we will stand very far away from you, but you let go of Nicole while within our sight. Then, you can go free without any repercussions."


    Tori''s lip twitched.


    "...Then can I have my katana back?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You still have to be reasonable, alright?"


    Tori frowned.


    "I need the katana!"


    Chase chuckled.


    "And why do you wish for the katana so badly?"


    Tori did not speak for a few seconds like she was struggling internally.


    "...I just want it, ok?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Can you not survive without it?"


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "I can live without it, but it just means a lot to me! I didn''t realize how much I missed it until you took it away from me."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Hasn''t it only been a few minutes?"


    Tori''s eyes were slightly bloodshot.


    "They were a long few minutes to me!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    He was pretty sure Tori wasn''t lying, and if she was, then she was a good liar. But at that point, it was better to not drop the katana in the first ce and say that she needed it to survive for some reason.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Then how about we leave your katana far away from you, while we stand at the opposite end. And from there, you let Nicole go."


    Tori''s mouth opened and closed.


    "So... no teaming up?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "It seems pretty much everyone here doesn''t want to be on the same team as you."


    Tori looked down and paused. Then, she suddenly perked up again.


    "I... I know where something special is."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Something... special?"


    Tori nodded.


    "I don''t know exactly what it is, but it appears valuable and guarded well. It was actually the ce I was nning on going toter, but never had the chance to."


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "So you want us to take a gamble on it being valuable in exchange for epting you as a teammate."


    Tori grit her teeth.


    "It''s not a gamble! The damn thing is definitely valuable, but I just don''t know for what."


    Kairos sighed.


    "So... you will lead us to it in exchange for teaming up? Why do you even want to team up so badly?"


    Tori swallowed.


    "There... There are some really powerful people."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "What do you mean?"


    Even Nicole ended up settling down, wanting to hear this.


    Tori took a few shaky deep breaths in.


    "I saw... something tossing cars around."


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably.


    Although he believed that he was quite strong right now, he was definitely nowhere near strong enough to lift a car.


    Chase sucked in a cold breath.


    "...That sounds dangerous."


    Kairos turned to look at Harold and Sydney, who also seemed to be quite scared. He then turned back to Tori.


    "I guess that is a good reason to team up. Especially if there is an enemy that is stronger by so much."


    Tori took a deep breath.


    "So you agree?"


    Kairos looked at the others. Most of them had slightly displeased expressions but seemed to think it was better to team up.


    He sighed.


    "Sure, why not?"


    Tori slowly let go of Nicole, who scampered away once she had the chance. Tori then coughed.


    "Can I have my katana back?"


    Kairos thought about it for a moment. Then nodded. With his recent stat increase, he was confident in being able to take her out even if she did, thus gave back the katana.


    Tori hastily epted it and began stroking it like it was her child.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Anyways, get your supplies and then lead us to that ce. Time will not wait for us."


    Tori nodded.


    "Ah, alright."


    She ran into the grocery store and as she passed by, Kairos snuck a look at her bloody wrists.


    They looked like they had healed already.


    As Tori and Nicole were getting a few things in the grocery store, Sydney began talking to the mother and her children.


    "Do you want to join us? I''m sure it will be easier if we are all together."


    The woman seemed rather hesitant.


    Overhearing this, Kairos walked over. He did not want to take the woman.


    "Of course, if you don''t want to, you can also just stay in the grocery store. There should be plenty of food left over after we leave."


    The mother flinched and looked over to Sydney and Harold.


    "Um... is it possible for me to join only you two?"


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "Uh, sorry, but no. I am not abandoning my daughter."


    The woman nodded hastily.


    "Ah, I see, I see."


    She looked towards her children.


    "Then... I will just stay here at the store then."


    Sydney opened her mouth, but eventually closed it. She seemed to realize what would happen if the mother was left alone at the ce, but decided not to say anything about it.


    The rest of the group got ready. And as such, with Tori leading the way, they left.


    As they walked past the side of the grocery store, they came across nearly twenty monsters all lying against the wall like soldiers in wait. The moment the group appeared, they all scampered away, running to behind another wall.


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "They are acting just like vermin."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Those monsters were waiting for us. They knew we were fighting with each other and wanted to take advantage of the victor after they were weak and tired."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "What? They can''t be that smart, right?"


    Tori let out a soft gasp.


    "That is what they were doing?..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Whatever. Let''s just go to the ce."


    Tori nodded.


    "O-Ok."


    She led the group to a series of houses. Just some random ce within the neighborhood that didn''t seem special.


    Tori looked back and forth between the various houses.


    "Um... Not this one. Er... Not this one either.


    Eventually, she came across a house with the front door bashed in, nowying on the ground.


    "Ah, it''s here!"


    Kairos furrowed his brows, clearly distrusting this woman.


    "And what exactly is so special about this ce?"


    Tori pointed at the house.


    "The basement... leads to an underground cave. There was this strange red thing when I wasst there, but I was too afraid to fight the monsters guarding it at the time."


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Alright. Lead the way."


    Tori nodded. She went into the house and led the group into the house and straight towards the door to the basement.


    After opening the door, Tori gasped.


    "...It''s a little redder than I remembered."

 Chapter 21 Hooded Monster

    Kairos looked down the stairwell for the basement.


    "Is this supposed to be the entrance to hell?"


    It looked like an entrance down into a cave. However, there were what appeared to be red veins pulsating around these rocket walls, almost like the ce itself was alive. Tori furrowed her brows when she saw this.


    "It wasn''t like this before."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "What was the situation before?"


    Tori closed her eyes.


    "There were these monsters chanting to something around this red prism that was floating in the air. I wanted to snatch it, but wasn''t sure about the strength of those monsters."


    Kairos furrowed his brows, then turned to Nicole, holding out one of his fire axes.


    "Oh yeah, take this. You will probably need it."


    Nicole took the fire axe with a firm grasp and nodded.


    "Alright!"


    ? Kairos then turned to Tori, who wasn''t moving.


    "Are you going to lead us in?"


    Tori stuttered.


    "I-I..."


    Kairos gave her a deep look. There was a clear amount of hesitation on his face, but after a few seconds, he sighed.


    "I can take the lead."


    Nicole''s eyshes jumped.


    "But-"


    "It''s fine."


    Kairos shook his head and began walking down the steps.


    Tori''s eyes widened, clearly surprised. However, Kairos paused as he walked down the steps and turned to re at Tori.


    "Believe me, I will make you regret it if you try something."


    Tori''s face twitched, but she nodded soon after.


    "Got it."


    With that, the group began walking down the steps. The pulsating red lines made it feel as though they were walking down the belly of the beast.


    And when Kairos reached the bottom, he surveyed the area.


    "Huh."


    Tori had been right behind him. She stepped down along with him then looked at the area.


    "Eh? This isn''t what I remember at all."


    Kairos turned to Tori.


    "When was thest time you came here?"


    Tori spoke softly.


    "Just... a day ago."


    Kairos nodded.


    "It appears that the red prism you were talking about has some sort of value then."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "Probably some kind of a super shovel."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "What are you two talking about?"


    He made his way down towards the ground floor, then looked around.


    "Ah."


    Instead of a basement, there was a giant cave that had been hollowed out. The overall area they could see was around the space of a football field, which was far greater than any basement was supposed to be. Far off into the distance, were two separate pathways that seemed to contain endless darkness.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Does anybody have a shlight?"


    Chase nodded.


    "Ah, I should have one."


    He reached into his own backpack and pulled out a shlight after a little bit of rummaging. Kairos took it with a bit of surprise.


    "That''s convenient."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you camp within the forest overnight, this thing bes more useful than you''d think."


    Kairos looked it over before switching on, letting it release a fairly strong beam of light. He then began walking towards the two pathways.


    "So. Left or right?"


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "Do we really have to go down here?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "No. But we also don''t have to search for food, either."


    Harold narrowed his eyes.


    "But scavenging for food is a risk we have to take if we want to live."


    Kairos sighed and walked forwards.


    "Food is for our immediate survival, but without a certain amount of power, we won''t survive anyways, or even be able to acquire that food."


    Harold still seemed against it.


    "But-"


    "Honey."


    Sydney gave him a sad look.


    "He''s right. People are simply bing too strong too fast."


    Harold turned to her, then let out a soft sigh.


    "A-Alright."


    With that, Kairos clicked his tongue and began walking forwards.


    "Well, we really don''t know what is down either path, so we might as well just go down the left one."


    The group followed from behind, causing countless rocky tapping sounds to reverberate across the air. It almost made the ce seem bustling despite how empty it looked.


    The pathway was ratherrge. If they wanted to, four of them couldfortably walk shoulder-to-shoulder. However, it was only Kairos at the front while the rest of them clumped up from behind.


    At first, it was just a straight tunnel. The red veins across the walls seemed to grow a littlerger, but that was it. And eventually, they came across a set of three tunnels.


    Kairos shone his light between the three pathways that hardly looked different from the other.


    "It appears to be a maze."


    Chase rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "I recall a saying, that if one were to hug the left side of the wall, they could get through any maze."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Well, that only applies if the destination is from one end of the maze to the other. If the goal is actually the center of the maze, then a set of walls that aren''t connected to the rest will thwart that."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "What?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''m just saying that the tactic isn''t perfect. Though we may as well follow it for now."<novelnext></novelnext>


    With that, he began walking down the left path of the three options while the others followed from behind. It was just a normal pathway at first but slowly expanded to be a ratherrge room. Then up ahead, there were two more pathways.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Ok, if this really ends up bing even moreplicated, then we should probably give up."


    Suddenly, Nicole spoke up.


    "Um... are we back to where we started?"


    Kairos turned around and raised an eyebrow.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Nicole took a peek backwards and pointed.


    "Isn''t that the staircase we came from?"


    Chase furrowed his brows and walked back.


    There was indeed a staircase. Just to be sure, he walked up that staircase and pushed open the door.


    After a few moments, he came back down and nodded.


    "It is the ce we entered from."


    Harold frowned.


    "This ce is too weird, we should just leave."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Wait. This might actually make things easier."


    Tori''s eyes widened.


    "Eh? Really?"


    She was a little nervous because her suggestion seemed to be a waste of time.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "If these pathways work like a passcode and send us back whenever we get it wrong, it should be possible to brute force the right way."


    Chase scratched his hair.


    "But surely there will be consequences of getting it wrong, right?"


    Tori pointed ahead.


    "Is that the consequence?"


    Kairos spun back to face forwards and saw a total of six monsters appear from both of the pathways up ahead. However, these monsters were very differentpared to the others they had seen before.


    Unlike most that had clothes that were horribly ripped due to their transformation, these ones had ck robes covering their body. On top of that, they did not roar like most monsters upon appearing.


    Instead, they just stood at the entrance of the pathways, watching.


    Kairos frowned.


    "Are these the monsters you were talking about earlier?"


    Tori blinked a few times.


    "Um, they had the same robes, but these ones seem a little different."


    Eventually, one of the monsters walked up, standing in the middle of the room. Unexpectedly, it spoke up.


    "One."


    Its voice was horribly garbled and deep. If one wasn''t paying close attention, then they wouldn''t be able to make out the meaning of the word."


    Nicole nervously took a step back.


    "I don''t like these things."


    Chase rubbed his chin with great interest.


    "It seems that it wants one of us to step up."


    Harold looked up with trepidation.


    "We should get out of here."


    Kairos looked at Harold, before turning back.


    "...Let me try it."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "That can''t be a good idea!"


    Kairos walked up with the fire axe resting against his shoulder, not heeding their warnings at all.


    "I''m just really curious, alright?"


    Nicole reached out, but stopped halfway through, slowly letting her hand fall back down to her side. There was a concerned expression on her face, but she decided to let it go.


    Eventually, Kairos stood across from the monster.


    "Now what?"


    The monster bent its knees slightly and balled up its fists. It was taking on a stance.


    "Proof."


    Suddenly, it shot forwards. However, Kairos already saw thising, thus was not caught off guard. He stepped to the side and raised his axe.


    The monster threw a punch towards Kairos at a startlingly high speed. However, it was nothing to him paired with his future vision and higher agility.


    Kairos gave up on striking and got ready to dodge the attack.


    ...Yet the very moment he did, his future vision warped before showing the monster''s fist pull back as the other shot forth.


    Kairos decided to swing his axe at that fist instead. And once more, his future vision distorted, before showing him that the fist twisted at an elusive angle, out of the trajectory of the axe.


    Thankfully, because of Kairos'' high agility, he was able to react in time, shifting his axe to block.


    A loud bang rang out.


    Kairos hurriedly backed off while furrowing his brows.


    Although from the outside perspective, all they did was exchange blows once, it obviously wasn''t so simple. Though the monster was strong, it wasn''t really that big of a deal for Kairos.


    His strength was a substantial amount higher.


    However, the moment Kairos decided to change something because of something he saw in the future, the monster seemed to be able to predict that, as though it had the same ability.


    However, it didn''t seem to be perfect, as the monster still wasn''t able to attack him through it. Kairos strongly suspected that the monster was able to tell how he was attacking from how his body moved.


    As these thoughts swirled in his mind, the monster charged forth once more. On the other hand, Kairos made sure to keep his distance.


    His main advantage was the reach provided by his fire axe, thus he fully intended on using it. Right when the monster would be in range, Kairos swung with his axe.


    He saw that the monster dodged to his left in his future vision, thus redirected his trajectory to the left. Unfortunately, it seemed that the monster saw iting as his future vision warped, showing the monster dodging to the right.


    Kairos clicked his tongue and gave up on the swing altogether. Instead, he backed up some more.


    Nicole shouted.


    "Do you need help?"


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "I got this, don''t worry!"


    This time, he swung his fire axe horizontally, so that the monster couldn''t dodge to the side. However, the monster ended up jumping into the air.


    Kairos hurriedly canceled his strike and got ready for the monster in the air.


    But his future vision warped again, showing the monster simply running towards him.


    Kairos cursed internally before retreating once more.


    He wasn''t used to this kind of fight, where his opponent could also predict his movements. Though he was stronger, the monster''s technique was definitely superior.


    If it wasn''t for his future vision, Kairos might already be dead.


    He quickly realized that there was no way he could win like this.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes and swept out with his leg. He was confident that this would trip the monster if it hit because his strength was substantially higher.


    Kairos saw the monster leap upwards with his future vision, but did not stop his sweep with the leg. However, right when the monster leaped in reality, Kairos also flung his axe out.


    And flew straight towards the monster''s neck.

 Chapter 22 So Dumb, It Actually Works

    Kairos didn''t put his full strength into the attack, but was also pretty confident that he would be able to hit the hooded monster hard while it was in the air. Worst case scenario, it blocks the attack with its arm.


    However, his future vision showed him that things could be worse.


    A third hand burst out from the monster''s chest, extending out and grabbing the de of the fire axe.


    Seeing this, Kairos immediately stopped his swing and shot backwards.


    However, he quickly saw that the arming out of the monster''s chest wasn''t so simple. It had no skin, making it a bright red mass of muscle and was able to extend out much farther than its normal arm.


    Despite the fact Kairos retreated, the arm continued to shoot towards him and grab onto the de of the axe. It was simply too fast for him to do anything.


    Kairos attempted to resist, but quickly realized that this arm was far stronger than normal, to the point it could lift him up if he stubbornly held on to the axe. As such, he decisively let go of the axe despite knowing that it was his only weapon.


    A little bit of insanity seeped into his adrenaline-filled mind once he realized that he would have to beat the monster using his bare hands.


    Kairos'' eyes became bloodshot as he hunched over.


    Then, he blinked a few times before calming down.


    The monster spoke.


    "Pass."


    It was horribly distorted and fleshy sounding like usual, but the tone behind it made the meaning clear even if the word itself wasn''t so clear.


    The arm that had burst out of the monster''s chest continued to extend out towards Kairos, but at a moderate pace. It held out the axe right in front of him, which Kairos promptly took.


    The arm then rapidly disappeared into the monster''s chest as it went back to its original position. However, before the monster went all the way back, it turned its head around to look at Kairos and nodded.


    "Strong."


    Kairos blinked a few times before walking back to the others.


    "I guess they want to test us for some reason."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "That was dangerous!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That arm was unexpected."


    As they were talking, three of the hooded monsters walked up. The one in the middle was at the front and raised three fingers.


    "Three."


    Seeing this, Harold furrowed his brows.


    "We don''t have to listen to them, right?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose not. But that would be boring."


    Tori''s eyes were slightly widened.


    "It would be a waste not to interact with monsters that actually have intelligence!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "But of course, I don''t think those things would hesitate to kill one of us. So if you do choose to go up, you should understand that your life is at risk."


    Chase smirked.


    "Haha, that is not enough to stop me."


    With that, he walked a few steps forward, but still hung back. Tori shot a look at Kairos before turning to the monsters.


    "They seem tough, but... I should be able to deal with them."


    She walked up until she was only a few meters away from the monsters. They did not react to her presence. It seemed like they wouldn''t act until three people stepped closer.


    Sydney and Harold were both extremely reluctant. They didn''t look like they would step up anytime soon. As for Nicole, she was also hesitant, but eventually grit her teeth and walked up as well.


    Harold''s eyes widened slightly as he saw this.


    "Nicole!"


    Nicole cowered slightly, but remained resolute in her decision.


    "I will back off if it gets too dangerous!"


    Sydney also seemed concerned.


    "But..."


    Nicole gave a small bow.


    "I want to build a peaceful future, so I won''t give up any opportunity!"


    With that, she left her parents speechless, then got up next to Tori. Nicole stared at Tori with a frown, clearly showing her dislike.


    In response, Tori simply cleared her throat.


    "You can''t just go charging in recklessly."


    Nicole pouted.


    "I will do what I want to do."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "You can''tpletelymit to any of your actions, or you will be left helpless once the opponent reacts in time. That''s why I was able to knock you out immediately, but couldn''t for your friend."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Tori sighed.


    "If you were paying attention to the fight he had earlier, you would notice he constantly gave up on swinging once he noticed it would be unfavorable to do so. Keeping your options open is always necessary."


    Nicole seemed a little hesitant, but eventually decided to ask for advice.


    "What options should I be keeping-"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Proof."


    The monster at the front interrupted her. Tori narrowed her eyes.


    "No time!"


    She immediately swung her katana, which the monster at the front blocked.


    A clear thump rang out.


    Though her attack tore through its flesh easily, it stopped right in its tracks after hitting the bone. The monster began pushing back, but Tori immediately retrieved her katana and backed off.


    Her strength was not enough to deal with this kind of monster easily.


    On the other hand, Nicole hurriedly put on the red watch during this time. Right afterward, she swung the fire axe at the monster''s head. Unfortunately, the monster was one step ahead, literally. As in the monster took a step forward and let the handle of the fire axe hit his forearm, thus rendering the attack null.


    Nicole''s eyes widened as she found herself at a loss. The monster wasn''t going to show any mercy and shoved her hard, making her stumble back a few meters before falling onto the ground.


    Tori clicked her tongue and turned to Chase.


    "Damn. Can you help us out?"


    Chase simply frowned as a mana arrow formed on his bow.


    "There are two other monsters to deal with and you two can''t deal with a single one?"


    As he said, there were two monsters standing a few meters behind. They had their hands outstretched as blue mana slowly gathered in their hands.


    Kairos who was watching this couldn''t help but be displeased.


    "Why do they get to use magic already..."


    Chase had his arrow pulled back already, while the two monsters still seemed to be gathering mana. The monster at the front immediately noticed this and had his eyes trained on him.


    As Chase aimed toward one of them in the back, the monster in the front also moved over. This made Chase curse under his breath.


    "You have to hold down that guy in the front!"


    Tori sighed.


    "Easier said than done!"


    Chase''s eyebrow twitched.


    "If you can''t find a way, we are just going to make a fool of ourselves."


    Nicole got up to her feet and repeated to herself mentally that she had to find a way to prevent the monster at the front from moving.


    However, no ideas came to mind, thus she ended up charging forwards and raising her fire axe. Tori seemed a little frustrated, but did the same thing as well since she couldn''t think of anything better.


    The monster held both of its forearms up like swords. It simply remained in that position, standing there like a rock.


    Nicole swung the fire axe, but did not use all of her strength as Tori said. Though it was definitely not slow, the monster was able to step back and avoid it entirely. As for Tori, she did a rather elusive strike, one that seemed to go for the torso, but actually went for the neck.


    The monster seemed to fall for it, blocking its torso. However, it also hunched over, protecting the neck with its forearms.


    With another thunk, Tori''s katana pierced through its flesh but stopped at the bone. Knowing how hard this monster''s bones were, she did not even try to push any further, taking a step back.


    Though their first attacks weren''t sessful, the two of them swung once more.


    Chase thought that he could use this time to shoot his arrow, this pointed it towards the other monster in the back.


    However, the one protecting them immediately noticed. It kept its forearms up and charged to the side like a bulldozer, knocking over Nicole and forcing Tori to retreat.


    Chase clicked his tongue once more.


    He began sweating slightly, thinking that his only chance of hitting the arrow would be by curving it to throw the protecting monster off. However, he could only curve the arrow once and really didn''t want to use it just so that it would go in the monster''s direction.


    Ideally, Chase would use that curving ability to redirect it towards the direction that someone dodged.


    He slowly narrowed his eyes as he began to lose faith in the two people up front.


    Nicole got back up to her feet with frustration. Although she intended on listening to Tori about having more options, she also had no idea what those other options were supposed to be.


    It was almost like someone was telling her, ''Just solve the problem using calculus.''


    As though that was supposed to help her when she didn''t even know calculus.


    The monster had taken a decent amount of damage from Tori''s attacks. However, the bleeding from his wounds would stop in a matter of seconds while not affecting his ability to move.


    In other words, it would take an extremely long time to injure the monster enough so that it was no longer a threat. Considering that there were two monsters in the back, casting something, they did not have that time.


    Tori swung her katana once more, trying to be tricky like a snake.


    However, the monster was able to cover most of its vital points with its forearms, thus it simplynded on the forearms once more.


    Nicole charged forth while raising the fire axe as several thoughts shed in her mind.


    ''I need to stop it, but what can I do?''


    ''Options... what are my options...''


    It was hard to think under the effects of the red watch, but she forced herself to do so.


    Tori frowned slightly as she felt that the same thing would happen again. And as for Nicole, she thought the same. Her axe shot towards the monster''s chest, but Nicole was still thinking about what she could possibly do.


    She thought about doing a wrestling move, but didn''t even know what those looked like.


    For some reason, Nicole thought about Kairos and how she would wrap her around his shoulder as a greeting.


    She tried to get rid of that thought, thinking it was useless. But then, a rather strange idea came to her mind.


    The monster bent its knees, getting ready to take a hit. However, Nicole ended up dropping the axe altogether. In that short moment where pretty much everyone was confused, she got behind the monster and threw herself forward at full force, with one arm extended out.


    Nicole would always do this same move to Kairos pretty much every time she saw him. The first couple of times, Kairos always seemed to be able to resist the push, hardly even stumbling.


    For whatever reason, this made Nicole feel dissatisfied. As such, she slowly learned how to tackle more effectively, while Kairos would learn how to remain as stable as possible. This mini-war that they had with one another for so long made Nicole really good at toppling people over.


    It was a really strange skill, but it came in handy during this time.


    The monster currently had his knees bent in a way that would let him take on a lot of force from the front without falling over. However, the same didn''t apply to his back.


    As such, when that arm suddenly mmed against the side of its shoulder, it stumbled forwards, hardly able to control itself. It even ended up falling over, using its hand to hold itself up.


    And at that moment, Chase released his arrow.

 Chapter 23 Ive Made My Decision

    A blue mana arrow shot through the air like a bullet, straight towards one of the monster''s skulls. The monster casting immediately noticed this, thus canceled its casting, and tried to sidestep the moment it saw Chase release his arrow.


    However, the monster was not prepared for the sudden curve. There was no longer a ce to dodge.


    The arrow shot forth unimpeded.


    Well, almost unimpeded.


    Right before it hit, a tiny inconspicuous cross on the monster''s belt lit up, creating a translucent blue barrier.


    An ear-piercing crack rang out, like the sound of shattering ss.


    The mana arrow hit the blue barrier, doing significant damage to it, evidenced by the cracks all across it. On top of that, the monster even stumbled several steps backwards before falling over.


    However, there wasn''t any damage dealt to the monster itself.


    While that was happening, Tori had nced at the other monster casting a spell. Although she couldn''t tell how close it was topleting it, a fairly corporeal ball of mana had formed.


    Now that the monster blocking her was knocked down, she dashed towards the monster, intending on interrupting its casting process. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the best timing.


    While Tori made it halfway, the ball of mana had condensed fully before disappearing altogether.


    There was a sh of light before three red mana missiles appeared, shooting towards Tori at different angles. Though they were fast, she also had extremely good reaction time, thus could sidestep.


    Unfortunately, it turned out that they were homing, thus followed her.


    Tori grit her teeth as an extremely unwilling frown formed on her face. It looked pretty bad when all of the magic missiles shot towards her from all ends, giving her no chance to dodge.


    Yet right before they hit, Tori dissipated into red mist, letting them pass harmlessly through her. The magic missiles proceeded to scatter randomly, no longer homing as their target disappeared.


    One of them shot towards Chase, but he simply stepped to the side and avoided it.


    After another second, Tori reappeared, but looked a little different.


    There was a considerable amount of blood dripping down from underneath her eyepatch while her skin had noticeably reddened. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were bloodshot.


    But she was still moving.


    Tori continued running towards the monster. It attempted to run away, but its speed was slower. Tori gradually closed the gap, getting closer and closer.


    During this time, the monster that Nicole had knocked down recovered from the fall. At this point, Nicole no longer had a weapon and was just awkwardly holding onto the monster''s shoulder.


    She tried to back up, but the monster was one step ahead, shoving her off before turning around.


    At this time, Tori had caught up to her target. Both the monster and Tori swung towards their respective targets.


    Tori''s katana became a blur as it shot towards the monster''s neck. However, like thest one, a cross lit up before creating a blue barrier.


    Tori''s swordnded with a loud ng, but was rebounded. The barrier itself was undamaged.


    If that wasn''t bad enough, Nicole froze like a deer in headlights as a fist rapidly shot towards her face. It all happened too fast. Other than Kairos, the other spectators could not even register what happened before it had already urred.


    Yet, when it all seemed to turn bad, the monster''s fist stopped right in front of Nicole''s face. Her hair blew back from the wind as she remained frozen.


    Then, the monster spoke.


    "Pass."


    Tori had pulled back her katana, ready to swing, but held back after hearing that. As for Chase, sweat had formed on his forehead as his breathing became heavy, but he still had a confident smile. The monsters all walked back to their original positions.


    Harold and Sydney seemed to be experiencing a collision of several emotions at once.


    Harold grit his teeth, but also cried a little bit.


    "Nicole! That was too risky!"


    Sydney hurriedly nodded.


    "It truly was!"


    Nicole lowered her head slightly, feeling slightly ashamed.


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "I believe she did well. Her body is unharmed, what is the big deal?"


    Tori walked back with a slight limp.


    "But she should''ve at least tried to dodge."


    Nicole pouted slightly when she heard that and snuck a peek at Kairos. Noticing her gaze, he simply sighed.


    "Don''t freeze up in fear next time."


    Nicole nodded beforeing back to the sidelines with her head down.


    After a few moments, thest two monsters walked up.


    They stood side by side near the middle of the cavern and spoke at the same time.


    "Two."


    "Two."


    In the end, most of the group ended up looking at the only two people that haven''t gone, Harold and Sydney.


    Hardol''s face twitched.


    "I''m not going to go!"


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "This... I don''t feelfortable participating in this event."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Maybe you two don''t have to. Perhaps we can try it again with the same people."


    He walked up, intending on participating in another fight. Then, he looked at Chase, Tori, and Nicole.


    Though Chase had a confident smile, Kairos was able to tell that man was feeling weary. At most, he would only be able to shoot one arrow. As for Tori, she seemed to have overexerted herself greatly, still panting like she had just ran a marathon.


    As for Nicole, she seemed a little despondent, but was still the best candidate as the others were essentially out ofmission.


    Kairos looked at her.


    "Hey, Nicole. Do you want to try to fight this with me?"


    Harold and Sydney both seemed to be against it.


    Harold frowned.


    "But it was too close of a callst time! We shouldn''t!"


    Sydney shook her head.


    "Why can''t someone else do it?"


    Kairos sighed and shrugged his shoulders.


    "I was just asking, alright? If she doesn''t want to, she doesn''t have to."


    Nicole pressed her lips together. She avoided eye contact with her parents and looked at Kairos.


    "I will try!"


    Both Harold and Sydney seemed a little astounded as they watched Nicole walk up. Both of them were about to open their mouths to retort, but the monsters at the front spoke up first.


    "No."


    "No."


    They shook their heads before pointing at Harold and Sydney in sync.


    "Them."


    "Them."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What if they don''t want to fight?"


    The monsters shrugged.


    "No."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Entry."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "For all of us?"


    They shook their heads.


    "Only."


    "Unworthy."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Ah, alright."


    He turned to Harold and Sydney.


    "I guess you two don''t have to do anything, but you won''t be let in. Maybe the rest of us could go check it out?"


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "I... guess this would work. Are you sure you want to go with those monsters?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not sure, but I''ve decided I''m going to."


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "But you will stay with us, Nicole. It is too dangerous otherwise."


    Nicole pouted.


    "But..."


    Sydney frowned.


    "It''s too dangerous!"


    Nicole looked at her parents, then looked at Chase, Tori, and Kairos. Although some of them were winded, there was still an air of confidence that lingered around the three.


    It was then Nicole decided she didn''t want to be one that stayed safe all the time. She looked at her parents directly and bowed slightly.


    "I''ve decided that I''m going to go."


    Harold and Sydney both seemed a little aggrieved over her decision.


    "You can''t!"


    "Why won''t you just stay with us?"


    Nicole bowed.


    "This is the decision I have made. Sorry, Mom and Dad."


    Chase smirked slightly, interested in the conversation. As for Tori, she seemed a little bored, wanting to get over this already. On the other hand, Kairos just watched silently, without showing any expression.


    Harold opened his mouth.


    "You..."


    Sydney looked down.


    "...If that truly is the decision you insist on making, then we must participate as well."


    Harold looked at her with a bit of surprise.


    "You mean... fighting with those things?"


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "We can''t leave our daughter alone, can we?"


    Harold pressed his lips together.


    "...You''re right."


    Kairos waved his hand.


    "Hey, for now, take my axe."


    He said this because Harold only had a metal pipe while Sydney had a wooden bat they picked up earlier from the bandits at the grocery store. Although they were just barely enough to be considered weapons against the regr monsters. However, for these ones, it may not be a bitcking.


    However, right as he said that, the monsters spoke up.


    "No."


    "Transfer."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Well... Never mind then."


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "Haha, thanks for trying anyway."


    She then turned to Harold.


    "Are you ready?"


    Harold sighed.


    "As much as I''ll ever be. If we are going to fight, we can''t embarrass ourselves in front of the kids."


    Chase let out a faint chuckle that could only be heard by Karios and Tori. Neither questioned it. They understood what he meant by thatugh.


    Both Sydney and Harold stood side by side in front of the monsters, raising their weapons. At that moment the two monsters spoke.


    "Proof."


    "Proof."


    The two suddenly dashed forth, and each reached out with their respective w.


    It wasn''t apparent at first, but both of the monsters were actually missing an arm. One missing the left, the other missing the right. This was because their ck robes covered that fact up, so it was hard to notice.


    Harold ended up panicking slightly, taking a step backward to dodge, but lost his bnce slightly. He furrowed his brows, realizing that fighting wasn''t as easy as how it seemed.


    As for Sydney, she was a little more prepared, thus took a step back, dodging the attack, then promptly counterattacked.


    The monster she attempted to strike ended up dashing to the side, avoiding it altogether. Then, it began to circle around, trying to pincer the two.


    As for the monster attacking Harold, it took a step forward, attempting to sh him once more.


    Harold furrowed his brows as he held onto the metal pipe with both hands to block it.


    With a ng, the w mmed onto the metal pipe, making Harold stumble backwards once more. He was on the verge of falling, but just barely kept up.


    Sydney turned to face the monster that had circled behind them and swung her baseball bat with both hands. The monster in question took a step back, avoiding it once more.


    Kairos'' eyebrow could help but twitch as he saw this. He intuitively knew what they should''ve done, but they kept making simple mistakes. In his mind, he tried to imagine them doing the right thing, almost like how some people tilt their body as they y a racing game as though it would help them turn.


    However, it wasn''t like Kairos could just control the actions of others with his mind.


    The two monsters swung at them again. Both Harold and Sydney were able to block, but lost a bit of their bnce in the process. And right when they blocked, a strange orange light came from the missing arm of one monster while a dark blue light came from the other one.


    The two monsters began to turn around and attacked at the air behind them. Both Harold and Sydney did not think too much of the colors, thus swung with their weapons, given the opportunity.


    But then, the two monsters suddenly swapped positions, already mostly done with their attack.


    Harold and Sydney were both caught off guard. The ws mmed against their weapons at a bad angle for them, making them stumble.


    Harold, in particr, almost fell down.


    The monsters didn''t let up, swinging with their ws once more.


    Sydney was going to use her wooden bat to block, but saw in the corner of her eye that her husband could hardly even stand, much less block the attack.


    As she saw the w shoot towards his heart, she reached out.


    "Harold!"

 Chapter 24 The Red Priest

    Without thinking, Sydney reached out with her hand, defending Harold from the w.


    However, in order to do so, she had to pay.


    A disturbing fleshy sound rang out.


    The monster''s w directly pierced into Sydney''s arm, but was stopped in ce. It was the part of her arm that had been changed by the red sun. It wouldn''t have been too much to be concerned about, however, the monster that Sydney neglected wasn''t just going to leave her alone.


    Its w scratched against her back, prompting Sydney to cry out in pain.


    Harold''s eyes widened.


    "Sydney!"


    Nicole reached out with her hand, taking a step forward.


    "Mom!"


    As for Kairos, Chase, and Tori, they watched on indifferently.


    Nicole began running forth, but the monster that Kairos had fought earlier suddenly spoke up.


    "No. Interference."


    She ended up freezing.


    In that time, Harold grit his teeth and swung his metal pipe as hard as possible towards the monster that scratched up Sydney''s back.


    In the end, he hit that monster hard on the head, forcing it to stumble backwards. As for Sydney, she was in a daze from the pain. The monster that had pierced through her arm withdrew its w, realizing that part of her was strangely durable.


    Harold then tried to swing at that monster.


    However, it threw its head back, dodging the attack. Right afterwards, Sydney hade to her senses and immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to attack, thus swung her bat.


    However, as she did so, a bright orange light came from the side of the monster. Sydneymitted to her swing nheless, but the target shifted with another. Not prepared for the sudden shift of positions, she missed.


    And even ended up stumbling forth.


    The monster fully intended on capitalizing on the opportunity, its hand shooting straight towards Sydney''s heart. The person in question didn''t realize that her life was being threatened, but there was someone else that did.


    Harold.


    He felt his entire life with her sh by his eyes. And then without thinking, just threw his body in front of her.


    Nicole seemed to be on the verge of losing it and ended up running towards them when she saw what happened. But strangely enough, the monster that chastised her before didn''t seem to care now.


    The monster''s w that had been going for Sydney''s heart ended up shooting towards Harold''s instead.


    Harold closed his eyes, losingplete faith in his survival.


    As for Sydney, her brain still didn''t process the events.


    And then...


    "Pass."


    The monster suddenly stopped its attack, one millimeter away from Harold''s chest.


    Nicole who was running ended up slowing down to a stop.


    Sydney blinked a few times, overloaded by the series of events that happened. As for Harold, his legs trembled before giving way, making himnd on his knees.


    "Sh... Shit. What the fuck just happened?"


    The two monsters casually left.


    Chase muttered to himself.


    "That was unexpected."


    As for Sydney, she ended up hugging Harold and sobbing a little.


    "What are you doing! You almost died!"


    Harold was still in a daze.


    "I... I don''t know."


    Sydney''s back ended up bleeding pretty badly.


    Kairos called out.


    "Nicole, get the bandages."


    Nicole flinched, then hurriedly got out the medical kit. Harold and Sydney both calmed down a little bit, and Nicole hurriedly wrapped some bandages around her mother''s body.


    Harold took a deep breath.


    "Wait, your arm! You were also hit there, right?"


    Sydney gasped.


    "Ah, how did I forget!"


    She pulled down the sleeve. However, instead of a horrid wound like they were expecting, there was only a scar that was already in the process of scabbing over. Harold blinked a few times.


    "How..."


    Although he didn''t catch that good of a look during the battle, Harold knew that the wound was far worse than that.


    Kairos had walked over and raised an eyebrow.


    "It seems that the red sun made that part of your body have extremely high levels of regeneration."


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Oh..."


    The hooded monster from before had all grouped up and began walking down the left tunnel. The one in the lead turned its head around.


    "Follow."


    Kairos looked at the others.


    "Anyway, now that we all passed, should we have a look?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "That''s what we did all of this for, no?"


    Kairos ended up taking the lead, following behind the monsters, while the others followed from behind. It seemed that Sydney and Harold were still a little reluctant, but they had gone too far now.


    As they walked, Kairos wondered how these monsters were able to retain their sanity to this extent. After all, the other monsters seemed to retain their intelligence a little, but not enough to use genuinebat tactics or formte enough thought to even speak.


    Upon reaching a set of four tunnels, they chose the one on the far right. Then, there were seven tunnels.


    The monsters led them down the third one.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Hey, where are we going anyway?"


    The monster at the front spoke.


    "Church."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "There is a church here?"


    The monster nodded.


    "Yes."


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "I was never a fan of going to church."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "But I feel like this one might be more interesting."<novelnext></novelnext>


    The red veins lined against the tunnel walls became farrger. It reached the point where it had reached the thickness of an arm. It was a little creepy, but other than pulsating strangely, they didn''t do anything else.


    And eventually, the tunnel opened up to reveal what looked like arge prayer hall. The roof was raised quite high and there was even a chandelier with a set of candles on the ceiling. All across on the left and right side of the room were prayer mats. Some of them seemed slightly folded, while others had a few wrinkles.


    They had been used recently, but nobody was kneeling down on them.


    At the center of this room was a pir. And on top of that pir was a fairly small red prism, rotatingzily. However, that was not the most noticeable thing in the room.


    At the very back was what seemed to be some sort of magic circle. It shone with a bright blue, shining so brightly it was the main illumination of the room. There were various patterns, but the most notable was the giant pentagon in the center. Standing in between that magic circle and pir was a young man wearing the same hooded robes.


    The hood covered up part of his face, just barely showing his nose. He had a ck glove on one hand and what looked like a red bead in that hand. It was clear that this was a normal person.


    A few meters away from him was a middle-aged man also in ck robes, kneeling down with his head on the floor.


    As they walked into the room, the man noticed them. He looked up and smiled amicably.


    "Ah, I see that you are the new recruits for our Church of Evolution!"


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Nice ce you got here."


    The manughed.


    "Yes, yes. It naturally is for an esteemed church. I am The Red Priest. You havee at just the right time! This is thest follower that shall be baptized. Watch as our god bestows his blessings!"


    Suddenly, the red bead in his hand began to glow slightly. Then, it shot a red beam straight towards the middle-aged man. Almost immediately, he began screaming in pain.


    Sydney''s eyes flew wide open.


    "What are you doing?!"


    The young man chuckled as the light from the bead died down.


    "This is the baptism. Don''t worry, he is in pain now, but that is because he is discarding his mortal shell and bing one of the blessed!"


    The middle-aged man''s breathing was unsteady. His skin had reddened considerably. He was clearly sweating and in pain, but had a smile on his face.


    "Yes! This is true! For too long I have lived in such a filthy and imperfect way. But now, I can truly join our god as one of his angels!"


    The young man nodded.


    "Yes, yes. Now be prepared for the second dose."


    The red bead began letting out a red light once more, making the man scream out in agony once more. His body began to expand and mutate. The ck robes on his body used to be loose-fitting, and even oversized, but now they were tightly wrapped against his body.


    Nicole cringed in fear at this strange disy. She wanted to tell the two to stop right now, but was too scared to say anything.


    The light from the red bead dimmed once more.


    Now, the middle-aged man began to growl, almost like he was an animal. It looked up at The Red Priest and seemed to be on the verge of attacking.


    Seeing this, Harold furrowed his brows.


    "Watch out!"


    However, The Red Priest was not afraid. In fact, he chuckled.


    "Do not worry. They still understand the meaning of our god and will not bite the hand that feeds."


    This was a little hard to believe as the half transformed middle-aged man pulled back his partial w, ready to attack.


    Harold frowned.


    "Are you... sure?"


    Suddenly, the middle-aged man lunged forth, swiping towards The Red Priest''s face.


    Yet, right before it was about to connect, his attack stopped.


    The Red Priest did not even flinch that entire time and even had a small smile on his face. Instead, he let out a calm and gentle voice.


    "Remember who we follow."


    The middle-aged man let out a garbled voice.


    "God... of... Evolution."


    Then, he slowly got back down on his knees and his head against the floor.


    The Red Priest nodded.


    "Good."


    Kairos and the others watched on in astonishment.


    The red bead then began to glow once more. The middle-aged man spasmed violently, letting out monstrous cries of pain.


    But eventually, those cries of pain disappeared despite the red light shining on him.


    The middle-aged man was now a monster.


    It slowly stood up, then put his hands together in the praying gesture.


    The Red Priest smiled.


    "For."


    The monster bowed.


    "Perfection."


    The Red Priest sighed.


    "Very well. Your baptism isplete. Now join the others for the search in the holynd."


    Like that, the monster walked over to the glowing magic circle at the back of the room. The very moment its foot was set down, it vanished entirely.


    Tori let out a long breath and muttered.


    "Freaky..."


    Chase smiled.


    "That appears to be quite painful."


    The Red Priestughed.


    "Of course. But it is but a small price to pay for salvation. Since you are the new recruits it is understandable you don''t get it. But do not worry, for I will educate you on the ways of our god."


    He motioned towards the other monsters.


    "My followers that have already been baptized, please go to help the others search for the holynd. For now, I will perform the natural procedures that they should go through."


    The six monsters nodded before making their way to the magic circle.


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "Um, what if-"


    "Be respectful and wait for them to leave."


    Kairos interrupted her. He knew that she was going to express her reluctance to join this religion. Kairos was on the same page, however, he wanted those strong monsters to be gone before then.


    The Red Priest chuckled.


    "No need to be so formal, what is your question?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "This is simply proper manners."


    The Red Priest nodded.


    "Alright, alright."


    Once all of the monsters disappeared, Sydney looked around awkwardly before saying what she intended.


    "What if we don''t want to join this church?"

 Chapter 25 Red Prism

    The Red Priest seemed a little confused by Sydney''s question. Heughed.


    "What do you mean? Don''t be ridiculous, it is a rare blessing to be among the few that see the word of our god straight from the source."


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "But-"


    Kairos raised his hand, cutting her off.


    "Though I don''t truly understand what this baptism is, I am willing to give it a try."


    Nicole looked at him with a bit of despair. However, Kairos simply shed a calm smile.


    "Trust me, ok?"


    Nicole nodded with a bit of hesitation.


    "O-Ok..."


    The Red Priestughed.


    "Wonderful, it appears you are truly eager, and that is only natural!"


    Kairos put on a courteous smile.


    "Of course!"


    As he walked up, Chase took the bow off of his back. However, he didn''t do anything special, he just began casually inspecting it.


    Kairos began sweating slightly. He really didn''t want to be hit by that red light from the bead. The room was silent, save for Kairos'' echoing footsteps.


    He walked around the pir in the center, not even taking a nce at the red prism in the middle. Kairos'' eyes widened slightly.


    He was in full focus, ready to do something if his future vision told him something unfavorable would happen. However, even when he got up next to the man, The Red Priest did not act. Instead, he spoke.


    "Now, kneel down child."


    Kairos nodded.


    He ever so slowly did the kneeling motion as The Red Priest lifted the red bead.


    Then out of nowhere, Kairos lunged forwards and swung with his axe, straight towards the man''s neck. He fully intended on killing him.


    At the same time, Chase immediately pulled up the bow and let a mana arrow form on it.


    Yet, right when that happened...


    "Insolent!"


    The Red Priest took a step back, avoiding the axe. He had his eyes narrowed, but now, they part open with anger, revealing two blood-red eyes.


    There was still a smile on his face, but it was no longer friendly.


    Kairos intended on following up on his previous strike, at the very least intending on shoving the man into the teleportation circle if nothing else worked.


    However, he suddenly fell down to his knees.


    For some reason, his eyes began burning up painfully, making him lose focus.


    One secondter, a screech of agony rang out, almost as if that person was thrown into the fiery pits of hell itself.


    That was Tori.


    She had dropped her katana and copsed onto the ground. Her body was spasming violently, like she was having a heart attack.


    As for Chase, the mana arrow that formed immediately dissipated while he himself also dropped his bow, falling down onto his knees. His confident smile was nowhere to be seen.


    Instead, his eyes had widened as sweat poured down his forehead. His breathing was both rushed and erratic. Chase was grabbing at the center of his chest, almost like he wanted to peel out his own heart.


    As for Sydney, her legs buckled as she grimaced in pain. She held onto the reddened part of her arm and ended up taking a few steps back before hitting the wall behind her.


    Nicole furrowed her brows and ended up grabbing hard onto the section of her arm that usually wore the red watch.


    The only person that was unaffected in this whole thing was Harold, who looked around with clear confusion.


    The Red Priest spoke with the same gentle voice, but dragged his words a little and did not try to hide his hostility.


    "I don''t understand... how can you not understand the truth when it is so clear."


    Harold looked at everyone in pain and began sweating in anxiety.


    The Red Priest took in a deep breath.


    "All of you may not understand now, but as part of the blessed, you must learn to open your eyes to our true god."


    He shook his head and sighed.


    "It appears that ignorance truly is too terrifying, making one turn on the very being they were supposed to worship."


    The Red Priest closed his eyes.


    "But no matter. Once all of you are educated... you will understand."


    Harold grit his teeth and held onto the metal pipe a little tighter. He took another look at everyone else in agony and realized that he was the only one standing.


    He decided not to question why he was the only one unaffected, and thus charged towards The Red Priest, raising the metal pipe high in the air.


    "AHHHHHH!"


    The Red Priest''s eyes widened considerably.


    "A heathen?"


    Harold responded by running towards him while gritting his teeth.


    The Red Priest seemed considerably confused.


    "How was a heathen able to pass the trials? That is..."


    At this time, Kairos was covering his eyes with both hands. However, that did not stop the painful sensation. Though that didn''t mean he was fully experiencing it.


    In fact, Kairos was overreacting a little.


    That was because the sses were able to block arge portion of whatever was assaulting his eyes with great pain. He covered his eyes, but that was mostly to push the sses onto his face a little closer.


    The pain really was intense despite being blocked.


    However, Kairos quickly removed his hands once he heard Harold''s scream. And with his future vision, he saw The Red Priest lunge for the red prism hovering above the pir in the center.


    And so, Kairos moved.


    He too lunged for the red prism, but also pushed against The Red Priest''s body, pushing him back.


    The Red Priest was immediately incensed.


    "You vermin! How dare you disgrace the Church of Evolution!"


    He clearly struggled intensely. However, the strange thing was that his strength was not much more than the average human.


    Kairos took full advantage of that fact, first seizing the red prism. However, he also saw with his future vision the red bead glow with an unbelievably intense light.


    His entire body felt like it was lit on fire.


    Kairos decisively kicked The Red Priest as hard as he could, sending him flying towards the teleportation circle.


    The Red Priest''s eyes were bloodshot.


    "You! All of you will all pay for-"


    Then, his backnded on the magic circle, causing him to disappear entirely. Suddenly, all the pain disappeared, and the situation stabilized.


    Kairos had a frown on his face. Honestly, he wanted to try his luck and kill the man. After all, it was better to have corpses as enemies, unless they are a necromancer, of course. However, not only did he drop his axe, but there was simply no time unless he was willing to suffer the consequences of that red bead.


    But the most important thing was that he believed the source of their pain was from their evolved body parts. Since that red bead would force evolution, then the consequences were obviously extremely frightening.


    Kairos let out a sigh, then rubbed his eyes, pushing up his sses in the process. Though he didn''t have it as bad as everyone else and had a high willpower stat, he still teared up quite a bit, showing how bad it was.


    As for the others, they were all panting, recovering from the painful sensations, other than Harold that is. Tori was still spasming slightly and even frothing at the mouth. As for Chase, he had both hands on the ground.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney and Nicole seemed to be fine after a little while though.


    Harold looked at the magic circle, then at Kairos, then at Sydney and Nicole. He ran towards them.


    "Are you all ok?"


    Sydney nodded a few times as she took a deep breath.


    "Y-Yeah."


    Chase spit out a mouthful of blood.


    "...That was an unpleasant experience."


    As for Tori, she still seemed to have just gotten out of hell itself.


    "Wh... Where am I?"


    Kairos pushed up his sses.


    "You''re in heaven."


    Tori suddenly sat up.


    "What! I can''t be dead!"


    Then, she looked at her surroundings and blinked.


    "...Oh, I''m not dead."


    Tori massaged her temple with one hand and picked up her katana with the other.


    "What happened to that weird guy?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I kicked him into the magic circle. He''s wherever that thing leads to."


    Chaseughed.


    "Thankfully you dealt with that quickly..."


    He still had one hand over his heart, but slowly removed it.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Wasn''t able to kill him, but... I was able to get this thing."


    He held up the red prism closer to himself. The bottom part of the red prism had a spherical indentation. It seemed that it was somehow rted to the red bead.


    Suddenly, a status panel appeared in front of Kairos.


    [Status]


    [ID: 000000000001]


    [Hide]


    That was all that it said. It took Kairos a second to process, but he quickly realized what it was.


    "This prism has its own status panel..."


    Chase''s eyes widened. He walked over and took a look at the status panel as well.


    "...It does not tell much, though. Though the ID might be special in some way."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "There is definitely some use for this. However, there isn''t any instruction manual that tells me what to do..."


    Nicole walked over to Kairos with a bit of an anxious expression.


    "A-Are you ok?"


    Kairos looked up, a little confused by the question.


    "Uh, I think so? Am I wounded somewhere?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Ah, no, no. I just... you were so close to that guy..."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "It''s all ok now, don''t worry so much."


    He shifted his gaze towards the prism and narrowed his eyes.


    "Instead... we should find out what this does."


    Then, Kairos tucked it away.


    "But before that, we need to get out of here just in case those guys cane back."


    The others were more or less in agreement, thus with Kairos in the lead, they got out of the cave. He had remembered the order they used to get into this ce, and decided to just use the same order to get out. From there, they walked up the steps and out of the cave, finally back into the neighborhood they were familiar with.


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "...It''s so strange to think that there''s actually just a giant cave right underneath us."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "I don''t think that was naturally formed, at least not man-made."


    Chase chuckled.


    "The red veins, right?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes. I think... I think that this prism should be able to replicate that. Unless the creation of the cave was actually one of their special abilities or something."


    Tori raised both eyebrows.


    "That... that would be so strong!"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Would it?"


    Tori scratched her hair with frustration.


    "Yes. It is really hard to create a genuinely safe space, in any building, especially because of the windows. If you don''t barricade them really well, then the monsters can just break through them. And even if you do barricade them well, they can still break through with a bit more effort."


    She looked towards the prism in Kairos'' hand.


    "If... If that can create tough walls, then it means we can make a safe base anywhere."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "That does sound pretty nice."


    He looked towards the others.


    "Also, I''m feeling really hungry right now. Why don''t we get to another grocery store and hope that it is not looted? Maybe then we can see if this prism really works and hole up there if it does."


    Nobody was against it, and with that, the others set off towards another grocery store.


    Sydney led the way as she was pretty sure she knew where the next one would be. Along the way, they met a few small groups of monsters. They were nothing too big to deal with, such that Nicole, Sydney, and Harold were enough to take care of them.


    Kairos decided not to interfere because the points wouldn''t have much use for him right now.


    By the time it was rtivelyte in the afternoon, the group came across another grocery store.


    But this time, there were corpses scattered across the ground.


    A bloody battle was happening right at this moment.

 Chapter 26 Chad

    "Get the fuck out of here! You''re not going to step a single foot closer!"


    "I''m either dying right here, or walking over your dead body into that grocery store!"


    Tworge groups of people were fighting each other over control for the grocery store. It had worked up to be quite the messy fight, with many human corpses on the floor in the form of bashed skulls and people bleeding out from stab wounds.


    Kairos looked at the groups and noticed that there were only a couple people left on each side. Not to mention, they were injured, so they would be very easy to take care of.


    He took a step forward, but suddenly Chase called out.


    "Wait."


    Kairos turned around and raised an eyebrow.


    "What?"


    Chase slowly crouched down, gentlyying his hand against the floor.


    "...We should wait a little before getting closer."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Did you hear something?"


    Chase closed his eyes.


    "I can feel the tremors."


    It was then, Kairos could feel a very light rumble under his feet with his future vision. He then shifted his attention back to the front.


    And there was a monster, hiding at the side of the grocery store.


    However... instead of trying to take advantage of weakened people, it began running away. Like it was running for dear life.


    The rumbling eventually became clearer, to the point that it was audible to everyone. Nicole blinked a few times.


    "What... what is that?"


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "Wait, I think I remember..."


    Suddenly, a thundering roar resounded, one that sounded like a lion''s, but heavily distorted. Loud thumps resounded one after another as a giant monster charged towards the grocery store.


    This monster was over five meters tall, but that didn''t truly encapste its size. That was because the monster was unbelievably burly, nearly being wider than it was tall. The arms were sorge in rtion to the rest of its body, it even beat those people that injected oil into themselves just to make themselves look extra muscr. Though most monsters had lost their hair, this one still had some yellow hair left on its head.


    The group ended up backing up a little, even though they were already quite far away.


    Tori spoke under her breath.


    "That''s the thing that threw cars around earlier!"


    Chase sighed.


    "It is quite unfortunate to encounter this creature right when we wished to ess the store."


    The monster charged in and picked one person up with one hand, messily consuming them, and smashed its fist down on another, obliterating them.


    This made the people fighting each other panic. Some people began running away, which was a fairly normal reaction. However, some people decided to waste time to stab the people running despite a much greater threat before them.


    In the end, because of these people who valued winning the fight over their own lives, the monster was able to either snatch up or kill every single one of these monsters.


    Sydney recoiled slightly when she saw this scene.


    "That is frightening."


    As for Nicole, she narrowed her eyes, staring at the monster intently.


    "Wait... is that Chad?"


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he also took a closer look.


    "...Those are the same clothes. It is Chad."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "No wonder he is so muscr."


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "It appears that it will be quite difficult to enter that grocery store, don''t you think?"


    Harold frowned.


    "Difficult? There''s no way we are going to get in with that thing in the way..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh and turned to Sydney.


    "Where is the next closest grocery store?"


    Sydney frowned slightly.


    "...Not counting the ones we have visited, the next one is at least three kilometers away and a little off track."


    Tori blinked a few times.


    "Off track?"


    Kairos rubbed the side of his head.


    "...Off track if we want to get to the wilderness."


    After a period of deliberation, he decided that there was no point in hiding it now. Chase raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything.


    The monster began feasting on all of the dead corpses, prompting most of the group to look away.


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "Maybe we can go to the wilderness then find food there?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "Do we have anybody that knows how to gather food in the wilderness?"


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "I''ve hunted game before, but in terms of the various vegetation that is edible, I essentially know nothing."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    "Would there be any wildlife in the closest wild that there is?"


    Chase shook his head.


    "Not for a while. There are measures that are taken so that most wildlife won''t ever be close by. The most you would get are a few rabbits."


    The anxiety of the food situation kept creeping up on Kairos, making him extremely stressed.


    Seemingly noticing this, Nicole raised a finger.


    "It''s still ok! We can just wait for it to leave!"


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "From what I''ve seen, that thing constantly rushes towards wherever it can find more food."


    She sucked in a sharp breath.


    "I''m pretty sure the only reason I escaped it was because it chased after anotherrge group of survivors... and ate them instead."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "So that means..."


    The monster looked around, seemingly aimless. But then, it turned towards the grocery store. Though the ceiling was quite high inside, able to contain the monster''s height easily, the door was made for people that were roughly two meters tall.


    However, that didn''t seem to bother the monster as it rushed in, directly smashing through the door and wall of the ce.


    Kairos bit down on the end of his thumbnail.


    Nicole''s eyebrow twitched.


    "O-Oh..."


    There were several bodies inside the store, which the monster began eating without showing any manners whatsoever. Various organs and half-chewed flesh spilled out, sttering across the ground.


    After being done with the bodies, it then grabbed onto the various packages from the aisles, devouring them whole, not caring about all the packaging it was eating in the process.


    Kairos took a deep breath.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "...Well, we have two choices. We can run away and pray we get some food along the way, or we try to kill this thing."


    Harold furrowed his brows.


    "Isn''t it obvious we should run away?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "Maybe if our metabolism was normal. However, right now, I already feel like I haven''t eaten in days. I''m sure it isn''t as intense, but still the same for the others."


    Harold seemed confused.


    "Eh? I don''t feel that hungry."


    Nicole muttered.


    "Um... my stomach feels a little empty."


    Chase raised his hand.


    "I''m not hungry, but I also ate an energy bar just now."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    As everyone evolves, this will mean they will need more food. This went for everyone on the, meaning that food supplies as a whole would deteriorate frighteningly fast as people continued to change.


    "...There is a third option."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "What is that?"


    Currently, the group was standing in the alleyway of a house. Kairos peeked into a window that was for some reason within the alleyway and looked in the house.


    "We take the food inside these houses. Chances are, we will have to go through a few, but it will be enough eventually."


    Chase tilted his head to the side.


    "Ah, that is far easier. Why haven''t we been doing that?"


    Sydney seemed enlightened, and even excited. But then, she thought of the woman from earlier with her two children.


    "...But we might be taking from people that need it to survive."


    Tori pouted.


    "I doubt they would live that long anyway."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "How could you say something like that?!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I assume that some of you aren''t in agreement."


    Sydney frowned.


    "I... I don''t think I could do it."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "Isn''t taking food in general still taking what others could''ve needed? Just because it was from a grocery store and not a house doesn''t truly change the fact. Yet, we did it. This is simply what we do to survive."


    Kairos massaged his temple.


    "If some of us are unwilling, then we should just drop it. Sometimes it''s not about the actual morality of the action, but the perspective that they take."


    He was tempted to convince the others to loot from the houses. However, he also knew that the cohesion of the team would weaken significantly. It would essentially be him, Chase, and Tori, against Nicole, Sydney, and Harold.


    There was nothing wrong with this itself. However, Kairos still needed someone to watch over him while he slept, and he frankly could only trust Nicole and her parents for that.


    And so, Kairos quickly ended the talk here.


    He looked towards the giant monster.


    "...How about this, the people that wish to fight with that monster can do so. Some of us would be a liability anyway."


    Kairos attempted to pretend that the option of just running away didn''t exist, and just suggested it instead of saying it outright.


    Chase blinked a few times and looked at Kairos a little strangely, but chuckled.


    "Well, since I have a bow, there is no need for me to get close to the danger, so I will naturally participate."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "As I am the one that needs the food the most right now, as I used many points after killing those monsters in the freezer, I will also participate."


    Tori clearly seemed to be hesitating.


    "We really can''t just go through a few houses?"


    Kairos closed his eyes.


    "If you wish to split off from the team, then sure, you can go ahead and do that."


    The corner of Tori''s lip twitched.


    "...I-I will help you fight it as well then."


    Nicole raised her hand.


    "Me too!"


    Harold and Sydney both furrowed their brows. They were about to say something, but Kairos spoke up first.


    "You can''t participate directly."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "Ehh? Why?"


    Kairos shook his head and put it bluntly.


    "You will die too easily. Chances are, you may be more of a liability."


    Nicole clearly seemed despondent.


    "B-But..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "You can still help, but you will be on standby. If there is an opportunity, then you can take advantage of it."


    He looked over, and noticed that Nicole still seemed a bit sad.


    "...I''m counting on you to save me, alright?"


    Nicole''s eyes lit up.


    "Ah, you got it!"


    Kairos stood up and walked towards the grocery store.


    "Then let''s get to it."


    The monster was currently rummaging through the aisles, not caring about anything else around it. Though that was fair enough considering it was essentially the top of the food chain right now.


    However, it''s not like a wolf has never been killed by a pack of deer before.


    Kairos spoke softly to Chase.


    "Since it''s not paying attention, you might as well hit it with an arrow once we are close."


    Chaseughed.


    "That was the n."


    He lifted his bow as an arrow of mana congealed on top of it. As for Tori and Kairos, the two of them slowly got closer to the monster, taking note to not make too much noise.


    The monster directly uprooted one of the aisles, then tossed it to the side, causing it to crash into something else. Then, it bent down and began eating some more food.


    Tori and Kairos both got up close to the monster and raised their weapons.


    They were close enough to feel the heating from it.


    Then, Chase let his arrow loose.

 Chapter 27 Damsel

    The blue mana arrow tore through the air, going straight for the giant monster''s head.


    Both Tori and Kairos had their weapons raised, and swung when they saw that arrow.


    A clear bang rang out.


    The monster was hit hard on the head by the mana arrow, forcibly ripping off some of the flesh and revealing a cracked skull. It couldn''t keep its bnce, mming its head against the aisle it was eating from.


    At the same time, both Kairos and Tori swung towards the monster''s ankle, both having the same idea.


    Both of them pierced through easily, but Tori found it difficult to pull her de out from the monster''s thick flesh. While Tori''s agility let her have strong piercing power, herck of strength still hampered her in the end.


    The monster pulled its head out from the aisle it just crashed into, then let out a thundering roar that shook the ground.


    Kairos saw the monster suddenly whip around and hit Tori hard, immediately killing her. Originally he expected for her to use that strange move that let her turn into mist, but it seemed she could no longer do that for now.


    Kairos decided to try and save her life. He was confident enough that if he felt strong amounts of pain he could stop himself in time, so that his life wasn''t lost.


    And as such, in the span of one second, he pushed hard off the ground, grabbed Tori''s arm, and pulled her out of the way.


    Almost immediately after, the monster''s hand mmed against the ground with arge crash, scattering shards of pavement everywhere. The katana was still stuck within the monster''s ankle, however, Tori didn''t care about that right now.


    Her eyes were wide open while her heart beat frantically.


    After all, she almost died just now.


    Tori stuttered.


    "T-Thanks."


    Kairos frowned.


    "Thank me by picking up one of the weapons on the floor."


    Tori snapped to and looked at the weapons at her feet. The people from earlier were all consumed by the monster, but their weapons were still left behind, though they were bloody.


    The two weapons within reach of Tori were a baseball bat and a small knife. Without hesitation, she picked up the small knife before getting some distance from the monster. Kairos was a little confused by her choice, but prioritized getting away.


    The monster screamed angrily as it reached out towards the two. However, it stumbled as it tried to take a step forward. It was clearly hampered by the injuries it had taken to its ankles.


    Kairos even had the time to peek at Chase, to see his state.


    Though it was hard to see Chase from this far away, it wasn''t hard to tell that he was a little out of it. Chances are, he wasn''t used to shooting so many arrows within the same day.


    However, Chase still had both hands on the bow, just not drawing an arrow back right now.


    Kairos assumed that he needed more time to recover. He turned to Tori.


    "Focus on stalling."


    Tori nodded and took a few steps back.


    The monster was still trying to walk forwards, but ended up tripping and falling down onto his knees with a loud thud. It let out a groan of frustration, staring at the two of them with itsrge yellowed eyes.


    The monster used its hands to forcefully drag himself towards the two. However, while it wasn''t that slow, both Tori and Kairos had enough agility, thus were able to run circles around it easily, leading it into various directions one after another.


    Kairos was anxious at first, but realized that it didn''t have the same frightening regeneration that Sydney had, thus was still crawling around. Eventually, he was even beginning to feel pretty confident.


    Yet, as though he was jinxing himself, he suddenly saw a vision of blood red rain pouring down from the skies.


    Less than a secondter, it shifted to a vision of him soaked in that blood red rain, screaming and turning into a monster.


    And finally, it showed him reaching out to touch a few drops of that rain, then him staring at this finger changing.


    Kairos suddenly came to, gasping for air. The monster seemed to realize that and charged towards him.


    Suddenly, it reached out with its hand, attempting to grab Kairos. However, while he was in a muddled state, that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to react. His future gave him plenty of warning time to jump up out of the way.


    The hand mmed down hard on the ce he was just in.


    However, Kairos was not the most concerned about this. Instead, he looked up into the sky and noticed that a dark cloud wasing, and fast too.


    He spoke as loudly as he could.


    "Don''t stay outside, it''s going to rain!"


    The others seemed a little confused, but the faint sound of rain gradually became clearer. Kairos panicked slightly when he noticed this. The raincloud was moving way too fast to be normal.


    And so, he dashed into the grocery store, stepping right over the dead bodies.


    The monster promptly followed, mming against one of the aisles as it entered.


    As for Chase, he began running towards the grocery store. Though he didn''t understand why Kairos suddenly charged in, he felt that there must''ve been a reason that was enough to do so. On the other hand, Tori was feeling rather hesitant, but remembered that Kairos had saved her life earlier.


    And as such, she dashed into the grocery store.


    Kairos ran down the aisle as the monster behind him repeatedly mmed into them. Eventually, the monster seemed to realize that it wouldn''t catch up, thus directly uprooted one of the aisles and threw it towards Kairos.


    It shot through the air fast, but it wasn''t like Kairos wasn''t paying attention to what the monster was doing. His future vision was enough to know what was going to happen, plus the loud creaking sounds.


    Kairos was currently in the middle of two aisles, so he grabbed onto the side of one and pulled himself up, flipping over it.


    A loud crash and metallic screech reverberated where he just was.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Afternding down, Kairos immediately continued running away. As for the monster, it directly smashed through the aisle to get to Kairos, roaring angrily as it did so.


    It did not take long for the two of them to begin approaching the end.


    Kairos decided to pick an arbitrary direction, dashing off towards the left. As for the monster, it decided to take a shortcut by directly breaking down the aisles in his way, traveling less distance than if it were to walk around.


    It wasn''t enough for the monster to catch up to Kairos, however, it got closer.


    Kairos began sweating, not knowing how exactly he was supposed to deal with the thing behind him. Though he was fine now, it would eventually catch up.


    Soon, he reached another dead end and was forced to turn.


    With the strength of the monster, its movement was hardly impaired even when it was required to bust through obstacles to move forward.


    And as such, it got even closer.


    Kairos could feel the thumps of the monster''s crawling from behind him, causing cold sweat to form on his back. He could tell that after one more turn, the monster would catch up.


    To make matters worse, when he looked towards the front of the grocery store, he saw Nicole run inside, while her parents followed after her.


    When he told them to go inside, he meant for them to go inside a house. However, it seemed that his earlierment about counting on Nicole made her a little overambitious.


    While Kairos was going through countless scenarios that could somehow salvage this situation, Tori suddenly leaped up from a nearby aisle,nding onto the monster''s back.


    The monster attempted to reach for its back, but Tori was able to nimbly avoid it and even climb up towards his neck.


    After doing these crazy gymnastics, she had gotten right next to the messy wound left by Chase''s arrow. Then, she mmed the knife with full force, straight into the exposed cracked skull, pushing it in partially and leaving it there.


    Almost immediately after, the monster roared in pain. It reached towards its neck, attempting to catch Tori, but leaped off right after, doing a backflip in the process.


    The monster turned around, ignoring Kairospletely, and then rushed towards Tori.


    Yet, as it pivoted, a mana arrow shot from across the store, shooting straight towards the knife.


    ...But missed ever so slightly,nding onto the skull, further cracking it. The knife was lodged a little deeper, but it was still not enough.


    Kairos couldn''t help but raise both eyebrows when he saw what Tori did. He didn''t even consider that as a method ofbat before, running on top of the enemy. Though it seemed that his methods were too limited in view.


    The monster''s attention was nowpletely taken by Chase. It bulldozed straight through all the aisles, rapidly approaching him.


    As for Chase... he still had that confident smile on his face. However, he wasn''t moving.


    In fact, he even ended up falling onto one knee, while his hand grasped onto his heart.


    "Shit... it seems I have overdone it."


    Chase could tell that the monster was rushing over to him. After all, that thing was five meters tall. However, he also didn''t know what was left.


    Chase began crawling towards the side with one hand on his heart. However, with how slow he was going, he wouldn''t even be able to outrun a toddler.


    It was a symbolic struggle, more than anything else.


    As the sounds of destruction came closer and closer, Chase cursed under his breath.


    "...I should''ve just stayed put."


    He looked up to the side, seeing the giant monster right next to him, letting out a loud roar.


    A bitter smile formed on Chase''s face.


    "And I already told myself I wouldn''t be a hero."


    His eyes narrowed as the monster reached for him.


    "I''m an idiot, aren''t I?"


    Yet, right before he was about to be smashed into a pulp, a figure shed by and swept him up out of the way.


    As a loud crash echoed from behind him, Chase''s eyes widened in surprise. He quickly calmed down and smiled.


    "Haha, thank you, pretty flower."


    He tilted his head to the side.


    "Though I always thought that it would be me holding you in a princess carry as I saved you, not the other way around."


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "Do you want me to drop you?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    The moment Tori saw that arrow fly through the air, she knew that the monster''s attention would be shifted to Chase. Initially, she didn''t care all that much, thinking of a way to use that diverted attention to kill the monster.


    However, Tori also thought about the time Kairos saved her by just a hair. Though she didn''t understand why he did it, that fact touched her. And as such, she decided to try and save Chase as well.


    Though, that might''ve not been the best decision.


    After all, now the monster was charging after Tori while she was carrying someone, all the while strength wasn''t her strong suit.

 Chapter 28 So Long

    Tori began panting hard as she carried Chase''s trembling body. She couldn''t help but frown.


    "Why are you so heavy!"


    Chase gasped.


    "How could you call a damsel in distress fat?"


    Tori''s eyebrow twitched. She opened her mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. Suddenly, she leaped up while holding Chase close, impressively vaulting over one of the aisles. Right afterwards, arge chunk of metal smashed at their location.


    Uponnding, Tori grimaced as she used all she had to stabilize herself and continue running.


    "You really can''t move yourself?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "Honestly, it''s hard to even speak. A fish onnd would probably outperform me in agility right now."


    A deafening bang resounded as the giant monster directly bashed through the aisles, continuing to chase after the two running away.


    While this was happening, Kairos was looking towards the entrance of the store. Nicole and her parents were all looking at the monster in astonishment and fear. However, Kairos was paying attention to the red rain that was pouring down from outside.


    Although it did not make much noise, the water from the red rain began seeping into the store, prompting Kairos to call out.


    "Get away from the entrance!"


    Nicole was the first to snap out of her stupor, hurriedly running away. As though that was a signal, the other two promptly did the same as well.


    When Nicole looked back, she frowned.


    "Is that blood?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I don''t know, just don''t touch it!"


    The red rainwater began seeping into the grocery store, slowly removing the safe ground they had to stand on.


    Kairos climbed on top of one aisle and gestured with his hand.


    "Get on top of one of these."


    He then looked towards the monster that was currently chasing after Tori and Chase.


    "I''m going to go help them."


    Without waiting for a response, Kairos began jumping between the aisles, almost like he was ying a tformer game. There were several times where he saw himself fall in his future vision, but quickly changed how hended each time, saving him from falling.


    At first, Kairos was going fairly slowly, hopping between each one and making sure that he was stable. But after a few rounds, he just began running at full speed, only briefly pushing down with one foot on each aisle.


    Like this, he quickly reached the monster just as Tori was beginning to despair


    Kairos recalled how Tori had jumped onto the monster earlier, and tried to imitate it, jumping straight towards the giant monster.


    And he seeded.


    However, Kairos quickly realized that getting a stable footing on the monster''s back wasn''t going to be easy. He saw himself slipping with his future vision after getting his feet on its back.


    Though he attempted to shift the positioning of his feet uponnding in reality, he still saw himself slipping. Kairos frowned and decisively plunged his fire axe into the monster''s back, pushing through the thickyers of muscle.


    The monster immediately let out a roar and reached over to his back. Kairos could feel the vibrations while on its back and saw the hands rapidly approaching him.


    However, before they could reach their target, Kairos hoisted himself up with the fire axe, like he was rock climbing. He promptly abandoned it, then grabbed onto the handle of the knife that had been impaled into the monster''s skull.


    Kairos held onto the monster''s shoulder for support, then pushed inwards with all of his might. The bones had already been broken through, leaving only some sort of tight muscle that was really hard to push through.


    Kairos'' hand trembled as he continued to push down on the knife. Honestly, he wasn''t even sure if this would kill it.


    But he decided to bet it all on this.


    The monster then reached for Kairos angrily, aiming to crush his body into a pulp.


    Its arms cast a shadow over Kairos'' body.


    Yet, the person in question was not scared.


    After all, he had already seen the oue of this situation.


    The monster abruptly fell limp, crashing against the floor like a rag doll.


    The head continued to move, opening and closing its jaw repeatedly. However, other than that, there was nothing it could do.


    Tori looked over her shoulder, then let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that the monster was killed. She abruptly dropped Chase, who got the wind knocked out of him after he hit the floor.


    His eyelid twitched as he sucked in a cold breath.


    "If I didn''t know better and let my head hit the ground, I could''ve gotten a concussion or even died."


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "Sucks for you."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "You really don''t know how to treat a damsel."


    Tori kicked him in the side.


    "You''re a man! Stop calling yourself a damsel!"


    Chase grimaced in pain, but still forced a smile.


    "It''s discriminatory to say males cannot be damsels!"


    Tori clenched her fist.


    "The definition of damsel is an unmarried woman!"


    While those two were at it, Kairos took a deep breath. He pulled out his fire axe with a forceful tug, then walked around to the front of the monster''s head, staring right into its eyes.


    Kairos smiled as he rested the handle of his fire axe on his shoulder.


    "It''s kinda strange how our positions switched like this, Chad."


    The monster continued to open and close its mouth, only able to produce the sound of its teeth cking.


    Kairos sighed.


    "I know you weren''t trying to help me, but honestly, you were protecting me for a while in high school. So thanks for that."


    When Kairos was nearing the end of grade six, he had been a victim that had frequently been bullied by the other students and was known not to fight back.


    Since he did not want to attract attention, he simply decided to take it.


    However, there was one day when a group of three kids came up to him and attempted to take his sses. Kairos saw this happen in his future vision and promptly dodged.


    However, the kids continued to try and take his sses.


    Though Kairos was fine with being physically injured, these sses were not only expensive, but one of a kind. They helped him deal with arge amount of his mental stress, thus were incredibly valuable to him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    However, the kids kept trying to take it.


    And eventually, Kairos was forced to push one of them to get them off. He was rtively gentle and was able to force back each of them using his future vision to predict their attacks.


    The three kids backed off. However, it quickly spread across the school that Kairos really liked his sses.


    And as such, many people would try to steal his sses, especially for those three kids earlier.


    Kairos got extremely pissed off by this.


    And so, one day he decided to take action.


    Kairos waited until it was recess, and as expected, the three kids were back at it again. Honestly speaking, Kairos just saw this as three kids that were just messing around, not really understanding that their actions were hurtful.


    Which was quite a strange thought considering he was also a child.


    However, Kairos wasn''t confident that he could constantly protect his sses from the others. There were already a few close calls.


    And as such, he wanted to set an example.


    Once the three kids walked up to him on the tarmac, they naturally reached for his sses with their hands, smiling mischievously the whole time.


    But this time, Kairos threw his fists.


    With a dull thump, itnded right onto the kid''s face.


    The kid stumbled back, and frowned angrily. As for Kairos, he found his fist stung pretty badly from that hit.


    The three kids immediately tried to gang up on him, but it wasn''t like they were professional fighters. With the advantage of his future vision, Kairos was able to easily evade them.


    In the end, he was able to m one of their heads against the brick wall of the school, knocking them out. He was able to shove another kid, who fell on his back and got the air knocked out of him, making him cry.


    As for thest kid, he tried to turn around and run. However, Kairos didn''t want that to happen, so he tripped him.


    From there, all three of them were down.


    Kairos didn''t really think what to do at this point, but then thought that these guys would probablye back to take revenge. If that really did happen, that would be far worse.


    And so, he decided to break their arms.


    Kairos pushed their elbow down onto the ground and pulled their arm back in the direction that it wasn''t supposed to go.


    Naturally, this was extremely difficult. He instead decided to step on their elbow while pulling up on their arm as hard as he could.


    It was still difficult, but he was able to snap it.


    Excited by the sess, he proceeded to do it to the other two kids.


    Most of them ended up screaming extremely loudly, but Kairos didn''t mind it as that would probably intimidate the others more.


    In the end, Kairos was also a dumb kid.


    He was in essence, just like the others, not understanding how much harm he was causing.


    In the end, all three boys were permanently crippled.


    Kairos was going for the intimidation tactic, and it worked.


    It worked a little too well.


    In the end, he was expelled and had to finish the rest of grade six at another elementary school.


    The parents of those three children tried to press charges, but it turned out that Kairos was too young in that specific government to be considered able tomit any crimes.


    Kairos realized he messed up.


    However, when he went to apletely brand new middle school, he was picked on again.


    But there was this one bully that was considered the top of the food chain there. That bully was Chad. He arbitrarily chose Kairos to pick on, and while he was never nice, Chad cared more about sports than bullying. It was the satisfaction of exerting power that appealed to him more than anything else.


    At the same time, Kairos was able to spread rumors that Chad would not let anyone else bully him. Kairos became his ''property''.


    With that, while nobody dared be his friend except for Nicole, his life all the way to high school was rtively easy save for a few special cases.


    Kairos looked at what Chad had be now. He raised the fire axe high with a smile.


    "So long, my bodyguard."


    Then, he let it m down.


    The monster''s skull split in two, and its jaws gradually slowed to a stop.


    [Killed Creature (Daring Kill - Two Ranks Superior to Killer) - 1.0 points awarded]


    [First Ten To Daring Kill (Eighth - by ID: 345315364923) - 15 points awarded]


    [Recalibration...]


    [Points awarded will be evaluated as though the host is rank E due to (Daring Kill) aplishment]


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably. Though it was pretty reasonable that the giant monster''s rank was higher than normal given its strength, he was still a little surprised by how many points he had gotten.


    However, it seemed that there were also downsides to his feat, as his rank was now considered E. That meant the monsters that would normally give him 0.3 points, would now give him 0.1 points.


    While this was not a good thing, Kairos had been considering trying to evolve his rank anyway. He took this as a calling to do so.


    However, there were other issues to deal with first.


    The rain was still bleeding into the store.


    Kairos looked towards Tori and Chase.


    "Hey, let''s get to the second floor of this ce."


    Without waiting for their response, he waved towards Nicole and her parents who were on top of an aisle, looking at him with their mouths wide open.


    "Let''s go to the second floor!"


    They seemed to get the message.


    Tori got her katana back and walked away, prompting Chase to cough awkwardly.


    "Could you... carry me? I still can''t move."


    The corner of Tori''s eyebrow twitched.


    "...You really are a damsel."


    Chase was taken aback.


    "That''s just unfair."


    Tori rolled her eyes with a smirk and picked him up.


    As for Kairos, hegged behind a little, crouching behind an aisle and opening up his status panel.


    "Alright... let''s do this quick."

 Chapter 29 Energy

    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Drink Red Rain]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 30.5]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.0


    Endurance - 4.0


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.0


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    The thing that immediately jumped out to Kairos was the extremelyrge amount of points that he had. It was to the point where he really didn''t have to care about wasting them by adding them to his current stats.


    However, one thing he almost missed was the changed objective.


    [Objective: Drink Red Rain]


    Before, it stated to touch the red sun. However, now it was to drink the red rain. By connecting all the dots, it wasn''t hard to tell that they had a simr effect.


    Nheless, that red rain was approaching right now, so Kairos did not want to waste any more time.


    [Strength 4.0 -> 4.9 | Points 30.5 -> 29.6]


    [Endurance 4.0 -> 4.9 | Points 29.6- > 28.7]


    [Willpower 4.0 -> 4.9 | Points 28.7 -> 27.8]


    The expected warmth and hunger quickly assaulted him, prompting Kairos to grab a nearby snack and begin eating it.


    ...And waiting.


    All of the options to add points were greyed out, meaning he could no longer add anything. Kairos assumed that the condition for evolution was maxing out all of these points, but it seemed a little moreplicated than that.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "...I''m missing something, right?"


    His sses had a few bloodstains on them, so he took them off in an attempt to have a better look at the status panel. Though in the back of his mind, he doubted that this would do anything.


    Yet, the moment Kairos removed his sses, his eyes widened considerably.


    Because he could see a second vague status panel behind the first.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 44/150 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 6 Evolution Points]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]


    [Hide]


    The addition of ''Inborn Abilities'' was a little startling to him, but it wasn''t too big of a shock to him since he knew about his future seeing ability. Though he did think the name, ''Shattered Truth'', was a little strange, he didn''t mind it.


    The main thing that surprised Kairos so much was how the rank and objective changed. Instead of the rank showing a letter, it was reced by evolution energy. Along with that, it showed that there was a specific amount of evolution energy he needed to rank up.


    The objective was also switched to gaining evolution energy instead. It seemed that the system was trying to help get people to evolve with the energy, but told them the most ''efficient'' way of acquiring that energy.


    Kairos could guess that too much evolution energy would have adverse effects and probably also force one to evolve. He probably did not want to go above 150, considering it showing 45/150.


    He looked towards the giant monster''s corpse, then became curious about something.


    After a bit of hesitation, he stuck his hand into its open wound, letting the blood run down it. At the same time, he paid close attention to the evolution energy counter.


    Kairos kept it up for thirty seconds, not seeing any change. In the end, he began retracting his hand as the red rain was starting to get a little close.


    But right as he was doing so, it changed.


    [Rank: 45/150 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    Kairos let out a soft sigh, realizing that even being in contact with other evolved beings would increase one''s own energy. However, considering how slow it was despite being such a high ranked creature, it shouldn''t be a problem if people were careful.


    He then looked towards the red rain that was gradually creeping in.


    Kairos recalled seeing himself touch a bit of that water with his finger. Honesty, he wasn''t brave enough to do so, but still wanted some evolution energy. And so, he took a few steps forward, crouching down and keeping his hand above the red water.


    Kairos made sure to be walking back slowly so his feet did not touch it.


    And sure enough, just being nearby made his evolution energy rise slowly. It was close to the rate of about one point every fifteen seconds.


    Just as he hit fifty, Nicole called out for him.


    "Kairos? Where are you?!"


    Kairos hurriedly got away from the red rain, closed the system, and grabbed a few packages of snacks. He then ran out into the open, waving the snacks around.


    "Sorry! I just got a little hungry!"


    Nicole looked relieved, but also aggrieved.


    "There''s plenty of food upstairs! Come on, hurry!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright!"


    With that, he promptly ran up the steps, meeting up with the rest of the group. This section had more misceneous items, such as clothes, purses, and even an electronic section.


    Nheless, none of the group showed too much interest in the items.


    Harold was just sitting around, while Sydney was eating some stuff she had found. As for Tori, she was sitting on a bench and Chase was lying down powerlessly next to her.


    Nicole let out a soft sigh.


    "I found him."


    Chase lifted his head and looked at Kairos.


    "You took quite a while."


    In response, Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Was a little hungry."


    He then pulled out the red prism from his pocket.


    "Anyways, now that there isn''t anything trying to kill us, maybe we can try and figure out what this thing is."


    Suddenly, the system popped up.


    [Status]


    [ID: 000000000001]


    [Hide]


    Kairos had his sses on currently. He decided to take out one of the disinfectant wipes  and begin wiping it to clean the blood off.


    And that was when he saw the red prism disy something else.


    [Status]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 7/1000]


    [Hide]


    Kairos was attracted by the change in ID, from just a one, to one out of ten. It seemed that this was a part of some ten-piece whole.


    As for the energy, Kairos hedged a guess and assumed it was the same as the evolution energy. However, that wasn''t the strangest thing to him.


    He was the most surprised by the fact he... had an idea of how to use it now. Almost like it was some sort of instinct.


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "...Is there a switch on it? Maybe?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Let me try something."


    He tried to move the red prism with his mind.


    Then, it began to float up out of his hand.


    Tori raised both eyebrows.


    "What did you do?"


    Kairos scratched his hair.


    "I''m not sure. It''s a little hard to exin."


    He then began thinking of creating a small tform.


    Suddenly, red veins began to appear on the floor in front of him, rapidly expanding. Then, a stone tform began to rise out of the ground with those red veins covering it. The overall size was around the average dinner table.


    Kairos wanted to try to do more, but found he couldn''t


    The red prism had dimmed substantially. While it was originally a blood-red color, now it was more of a mahogany.


    Kairos peeked at the second status panel.


    [Energy: 0/1000]


    Sydney let out a soft gasp.


    "You... you did that?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "It seems so... This prism is able to create things. Though it seems to have run out of juice."


    He snatched it out from the air, continuing to inspect it for a little before tucking it away. Then, Kairos walked over to the stone table and gently felt it with his hand.


    The stone was smooth, and so was the red vein.


    He let out a hum.


    "I''m going to test how durable it is."


    Kairos lifted the fire axe up with both hands and tightened his grip. Then, he swung.


    An extremely high-pitched clink rang out.


    Kairos hit the stone table and ended up stumbling back a few steps. As for the table, there wasn''t even a scratch.


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "That''s sturdy."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Let me test if these veins have the same strength."


    And so, he repeated the process.


    Another high-pitched clink rang out.


    Kairos stumbled a few steps backwards likest time. However, there was a bruised look on the vein. Though just a few secondster, it healed back to normal.


    Tori nodded approvingly.


    "It did take a bit of damage, but this thing is still incredibly tough. We can use that to create a homebase wherever we want."


    Nicole muttered to herself.


    "...We can make a safe ce."


    Kairos'' eyes drifted.


    "One moment, I''m going to go see if I can add energy back into this thing."


    He pulled out the prism and went back down the steps.


    By now, a thinyer of red water had coated the bottom of the grocery store. Kairos held onto the prism by one end, then stuck it out so just the tip touched the red water.


    In mere moments, the energy value shot up.


    [Energy: 10/1000]


    It began increasing at a rate of about 10 energy per second, but that rate quickly slowed down. The redness of the water around the prism decreased significantly. However, the redness from the surrounding water came to fill in the gaps quickly.


    In the end, it began filling up at about 5 energy each second.


    The prism went from its dark mahogany to red in just a few moments.


    While Kairos was waiting, he was about to open his system panel. However, he quickly stopped himself.


    "Hey, what are you doing?"


    Because Nicole was behind him.


    Kairos turned around.


    "Why are you here?"


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "I''m not allowed to watch?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Just don''t get too close to the red water."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok!"


    She sat down on the steps, a little bit behind Kairos. After a moment of awkward silence, she spoke up with a small smile.


    "It seems that the future we were talking about isn''t that far away. Now that we can make those walls..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    He was very aware that while this prism could make a fairly sturdy wall, he doubted that it wouldst that long.


    Everything was bing stronger by the second.


    And the best example was the giant monster that they just fought. Though Kairos wasn''t sure if it would be able to break down walls made by the prism, it shouldn''t take too long for something like that to arise if it already has once.


    Though he wasn''t sure if he should''ve stated the truth so nkly in front of her.


    ...But in the end, it was better to say it earlier.


    Kairos shook his head slowly.


    "All of the monsters are growing stronger. The walls will not be able to protect us forever, maybe only a year if we are being optimistic. The only real way of staying alive is fighting and growing stronger with the tide."


    Nicole looked slightly despondent.


    "Ah."


    After a moment of silence, she smiled bitterly.


    "...But wouldn''t a year offort be better than just fighting for the rest of our lives?"


    Kairos looked towards Nicole.


    "Who said we would be fighting for the rest of our lives?"


    He then looked towards the red prism that was slowly filling up with energy, but wasn''t really looking at it.


    "Surviving is for more than just the happy things."


    Kairos'' eyes became a little dull.


    "It''s to be proud of the life you lived, as fickle it may be."

 Chapter 30 First Evolution

    [Energy: 1000/1000]


    Though it took quite a while, the red prism was finally fully charged up, no longer epting any of the energy from the red water. It was now letting out a fairly strong glow, almost like it was a special light bulb.


    Kairos retrieved it and shook off the few droplets of water still on it.


    Nicole was still watching from the steps behind. She couldn''t help but be interested in the glowing prism.


    "It looks kinda like a glowstick."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "A little bit."


    Even after tucking it away, Nicole continued to stare at him from here.


    Kairos couldn''t help but cough.


    "Are you going to go up?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "I''m just waiting for you."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t worry about me, I just want to be alone for a moment."


    Nicole seemed rather hesitant.


    "O-Ok..."


    She began walking up the steps, but took several nces over her shoulder before she left. Once she did, Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 51/150 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos noticed the new option, evolve, just casually sitting there.


    And so, he decided to press it.


    Several panels popped up.


    [Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 5 points for Frost Spell or Fire Spell? Frost/Fire | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    After a bit of deliberation, Kairos decided to put on his sses, and saw something really different.


    [Points will be used, if had, for evolution]


    [Use 5 points for Frost Spell? Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    The first two choosable options disappeared, while the option to take the fire spell had also left. Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    It seemed that at least 5 points were needed for one to evolve stably, while 10 points would give some sort of ability. However, one wouldn''t know that under normal circumstances given how vague it was. If one also wanted to acquire the spell, that would be another 5 points.


    In total, that was 20 points for just the evolution. That kind of price was quite frightening given that his total stats did not even add up to twenty when they were maxed out.


    ...When the others tried to evolve, he would have to stop them before they hit twenty points.


    It seemed that spells could only be acquired during the evolution process, or at least most easily during so. That meant that rising in evolution rank recklessly without enough points would be terrible for one''s foundation. Their strength in the long run would probably decline significantly.


    After letting out a soft sigh, Kairos put the sses back on.


    "...And here I thought I had plenty of points."


    He selected yes for all the options and decided to take the fire spell. His reasoning was that it would let him start a fire, which they could then use to cook food. Though Kairos knew it was theoretically possible to start a fire out in the wilderness, he also had no idea how to do so.


    Kairos double checked that everything was selected properly, and confirmed that the fire spell was what he wanted.


    Then, he pressed confirm.


    Almost immediately, Kairos felt his body seize up, but return control the next second. Warmth radiated from his body ufortably, while various strange squirming feelings filled up his entire body, almost like there were countless parasites within.


    However, it also felt like the parasites were created from his own body itself.


    Kairos noticed that his bones were growingrger, making him a couple of centimeters taller. He began to sweat from nearly every orifice as his body expanded ever so slightly.


    The process itself was not painful, though it was ufortable. This was against Kairos'' expectations, especially since all of the evolution he had seen was apanied by painful screams and frightening mutations.


    He eventually assumed that it was because of the five points he spent on a stable evolution. Perhaps if he didn''t pick that... he would be turning into a monster right now.


    After a while, Kairos felt that things settled down.


    He was about to open his status panel, but before he could, something else assaulted his senses. However, it was quite pleasant.


    Some refreshing cool energy began seeping into his body, circting through his blood and giving him a strange sense of relief.


    It was almost like he began breathing for the first time in his life.


    After a bit of confusion, Kairos immediately thought of something.


    Mana.


    He opened up his status panel once more.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 1/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 7.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9<novelnext></novelnext>


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.1


    Magic Affinity - 0.1]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos was slightly startled by the giant increase in evolution points needed for a rank up. However, he quickly got over it. Instead, his eyes went towards his mana capacity and magic affinity stat.


    They were both at 0.1, as opposed to zero. Not to mention, the option to add points to them was no longer greyed out.


    As expected, Kairos was able to gain the fire spell. On top of that, he gained the pulse spell which was the natural ability he spent 10 points on.


    He intuitively understood how to use both of them. Though, he didn''t exactly understand the theory behind it. It was like how most people could walk, but far less would be able to exin the specific muscle contractions needed in order to keep bnce and walk forward.


    Eager to test it out, he reached out with his hand towards the wall and casted the pulse spell. In the process of casting, Kairos already felt quite exhausted, the cool feeling circting within his blood quickly disappeared as it gathered towards his hand.


    Then, with a faint swish, a sudden force shot out of his hand.


    It mmed against the wall with a dull thud. When Kairos moved his hand out of the way, he saw a circr dent in the wall, with a diameter of almost half a meter.


    The dent was only a centimeter or two thick, but this was quite satisfying to Kairos. After all, his magic stats were as low as they could get right now. If they were increased, the power should also be increased tremendously.


    After a period of deliberation, he decided that mana capacity was going to be his biggest priority. He came to this conclusion because of Chase, who frequently ended up unable to shoot his deadly arrows because of theck of mana.


    And so, he increased it.


    [Mana Capacity 0.1 -> 5.0 | Points 7.8 -> 2.9]


    Kairos immediately felt like the blood circting through his veins had be empty. However, he could feel the presence of mana in the air slowly filling up that emptiness.


    He then thought about if he should save some points for increasing his physical stats. But considering they were already pretty high and his magic wasgging behind, he decided to dump it all into magic affinity.


    [Magic Affinity 0.1 -> 3.0 | Points 2.9 -> 0]


    Kairos felt like the mana suddenly became clearer, almost like it used to be a faint fog, but now had condensed into little droplets.


    He reached out towards the wall with his hand again, before gathering mana towards his palm. Something that was immediately apparent was that he could choose how much mana he put into the spell.


    After a bit of hesitation, he decided to put less than half of the maximum mana he could inject in.


    Then, let the spell loose.


    A faint whipping sound rang out, and immediately after, a deafening bang reverberated throughout the building.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh."


    He did not need to move his hand to see that he had blown away the wall next to him, creating a hole that was roughly five meters in diameter. It was almost like the wall had been shot by some massive bullet.


    Past the wall was the outside, revealing the red rain that came pouring down.


    Nicole immediately rushed down the steps.


    "Kairos? What happened?!"


    Kairos coughed awkwardly.


    "Um... it seems I have increased my rank."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Eh?"


    Kairos walked up the steps, and was greeted by both curious and frightful expressions.


    Chase raised his head up from his lying position.


    "Did something happen?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "So... that giant monster I killed earlier gave me a lot of points. And with those points, I was given the option to evolve. After doing that, it used up my points and I was given some spells to use. The sound you just heard was the effect of that spell."


    Chase''s eyes widened.


    "...Wow. I''m jealous. If I was just a little bit more urate with that arrow, I would''ve been the one to get those points."


    Heid his head back down and sighed.


    "But s, my aim was off."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "You will be able to increase your rank soon too, I imagine. Plus, you are already able to use mana, aren''t you? If you did rank up, it would probably make your arrows even stronger."


    Chase coughed.


    "The chances for that are low."


    Tori frowned slightly.


    "We should''ve gotten some points as well. We took part in killing the monster."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I don''t think that''s possible. It just seems that the points are given to the killer regardless. Anyway, since my rank increased I won''t be getting as many points from the kills, so I will let you all do so if there isn''t any big threat."


    Tori let out a soft sigh.


    "I suppose that''s just the way it is."


    Sydney had paused slightly, but then continued eating some food.


    Seeing this, Kairos finally felt the extreme hunger from his body. He couldn''t tell earlier because of his excitement.


    "Hey, where''s the food on this floor?"


    Sydney pointed towards a direction and kept one hand over her mouth as she chewed.


    "Over there."


    Kairos jogged over to that location and began eating everything like a wolf. Everyone else also began eating.


    Once they finished up, they decided to take shifts. Kairos was still notfortable letting either Chase or Tori take a shift, thus rotated with Nicole and her parents.


    Chase let out a casual remark about it, but did not protest any more than that. As for Tori, she didn''t have a singleint, directly falling asleep right then and there.


    Chase and Kairos were both quite surprised with how little Tori cared, but that was probably better anyway.


    And so, the night passed by uneventfully.


    By the time morning came around, Kairos got up and stretched. He couldn''t help but think he slept really well, despite doing so on a few pairs of clothes he took from the store.


    It was then he remembered there were no longer any more nightmares about that red sun.


    On the other hand, the others seemed half dead when they woke up, not used to sleeping without their beds. The only exception to this was Tori.


    She had actually slept on the cold hard ground, not even getting anything underneath herself. And she woke up with a neutral expression, almost like sleeping like that was normal to her.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Hopefully the rain is gone by now. If it isn''t, then we will have to stay here for a little longer."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "Then we should be able to make it to the wilderness."

 Chapter 31 More Monsters

    Chase stood up and cracked his neck.


    "Is there a specific problem with the rain?"


    Kairos shot him a nce.


    "It seems very simr to the red sun, changing people into monsters. Considering I don''t want to be a monster, it is a pretty big issue."


    Chase nodded.


    "Ah, that''s fair."


    Kairos took out the red prism.


    "However, it also seems that it will charge this thing up, which would probably help a lot in making our base. So it''s not like there are only bad things about it."


    There was also the fact that it would help evolution, but he figured he could disclose that informationter as it would probably take a while for the others to get enough points for evolution.


    Kairos walked down the steps then looked at the giant hole he had created in the side of the stairwell. Peeking out from it, he could see that the rain had indeed stopped. Though, there were still faint red stains left behind all across the floor. This was the same for the first floor in the grocery store.


    He turned around.


    "We should be able to leave now, the rain has died down."


    With that, Kairos took the lead, getting them out of the grocery store. He stepped out without much concern about any of the monsters.


    "The wilderness should be fairly close by. I imagine we should be able to get there today."


    Almost immediately he heard the sound of several monsters roaring. Looking to his left, he saw a group of five monsters that were looking at him ferociously.


    However, Kairos wasn''t the slightest bit scared.


    After all, they would find it really difficult to do any harm to him.


    However, one thing that he noticed was that these monsters seemed a little taller and redder than usual. Kairos scratched the back of his head.


    "I won''t touch them unless needed, as promised. You guys can go on ahead to get them."


    Tori and Chase were the first to step up, one with their katana and the other with their fists. They also seemed to want to do their evolution soon.


    These monsters were roughly ten meters away. But then, they all pounced together, closing the gap within a second. Both Tori and Chase seemed surprised, but it wasn''t enough to fully shock them.


    Tori''s katana shed as she stepped back.


    It tore into one monster''s neck, but suddenly stopped with a light thud. The spine kept the weapon from advancing any further. Without hesitation, she withdrew her sword and backed off. As for Chase, he threw a fist at a monster''s skull, pushing it back, then retreated as well.


    However, the monster he punched simply recovered one secondter, seemingly taking no damage whatsoever.


    Chase furrowed his brows.


    "They have be much stronger for some reason..."


    Tori also frowned.


    "I need to increase my strength to kill these things."


    Though the group backed off, the monsters were quite fast, meaning that they were unable to create any space. Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Should I step in?"


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Not yet."


    Then, he pulled the bow off his back, taking a few seconds to draw back a mana arrow before letting it loose straight towards a monster''s skull.


    However, the monster he shot at suddenly pounced to the side. Chase frowned as he shifted the arrow''s direction, causing the monster''s skull to explode. Though he killed it in the end, he was forced to curve the arrow, unlike how the monsters couldn''t react in time before.


    Tori pulled up her status panel and frowned.


    "Can you stall them for a bit?"


    Kairos raised his fire axe and let out a soft sigh.


    "Alright."


    A little bit of mana gathered onto his palm, just a little bit more than required to cast the pulse spell.


    The four monsters lunged towards him, but they didn''t attempt to surround him. As such, they ended up blocking each other, leaving him with only two to fight at a time.


    The two monsters reached out towards them with their ws, nearly twice as fastpared to the monsters he faced before.


    However, Kairos was even faster, easily dodging both strikes. While their arms were still extended, he swung his fire axe and reached out with his free hand.


    With a thwack, one monster''s arm was directly cut off, causing blood to spray out of the air. Although it was easy for Kairos to do so, he definitely noticed that the difficulty of cutting through them increased by quite a bit.


    As for his free hand, it got right next to the other monster''s chest. Then, a sudden force shot out from his palm.


    A few faint cracking sounds resounded.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly as he realized that the monster had died. It was so unexpected that he didn''t even stop himself despite seeing it happen one second earlier. The monster''s chest looked extremely red, but nothing too bad. Although cracking sounds came from his bones, there was only a slight indentation visible.


    It was not a wound that looked lethal in any way. Yet, it copsed right there.


    The monster that lost its limb earlier ended up taking a few steps back as its remaining arm covered the bleeding stump.


    It appeared afraid.


    Dealing with these monsters was extremely easy for Kairos. It was so easy, he even had the time to look over his shoulder at Tori, who was currently adding points into strength on her status panel.


    The first thing he checked was her ID, seeing if it matched up with the one ID he had memorized. However, it was different. Then, he took a peek at the stats.


    [Stats


    Strength - 1.1


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 1.5


    Willpower - 4.2]


    Comparing his stats and hers, the first thing Kairos thought was that they were really low. However, when he remembered how many points of his came from the top ten achievements, those points were also impressive. Not to mention, she still had two points saved up.


    Another thing that also stood out to him was how those stats were bnced. Tori simply put a disproportionate amount into agility and willpower. Though that didn''t seem to be that bad of a strategy in his eyes.


    Kairos looked back towards his front. The two monsters were still charging up. They went around the one that began fleeing and charged in as recklessly as they were before. After thinking for a moment, Kairos thought of something.<novelnext></novelnext>


    One monster swiped at him while the other tried to bite. However, they didn''t even get close. Kairos sidestepped before letting his fire axe whip out.


    One of the monster''s legs gave out, causing it to copse.


    Before the monster could react, his axe shed again, taking out the other leg. The now legless monster copsed to the ground. At that point, it tried to turn around and flee, but could hardly move that fast.


    Kairos was about to do the same thing to the other monster, but the gleam of a katana came by beforehand.


    With a small swish, the monster''s head came off cleanly.


    He looked over his shoulder to see Tori, as expected.


    Kairos looked at the one-armed monster that was trying to run away.


    "One second."


    He dashed past the monster crawling away with both arms and raised his axe. The one-armed monster couldn''t help but look behind itself.


    And saw a guy gaining on him like a sports car.


    The fire axe whipped out twice, taking out both of the monster''s legs. Despite being on the verge of death, it continued to use itsst arm to try and crawl away.


    Kairos shed off thest arm before picking it up by the back of its neck.


    The monster continued to move its jaws violently, struggling with all it could. However, there was not much it could do while it had no limbs.


    As for the monster that had lost both legs, I looked towards Kairos in front of him, then turned around and charged straight towards the others.


    Nicole put on the red watch with a small frown before stepping up. She raised her fire axe high before suddenly bringing it down. Perhaps the monster would''ve been able to dodge before, but without its legs, it was a little harder to do anything.


    The fire axe mmed into the monster''s skull hard, piercing halfway through. However, it continued to struggle reaching out with its hands.


    Sydney stepped up.


    "Nicole!"


    However, before she needed any help, Nicole pressed down harder, making the monster''s skull let out a sound like a watermelon splitting in half, just more gruesome.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh as he brought thest surviving monster over.


    "Sorry, I idently killed one of them earlier. But this one is still alive. I say Harold or Sydney should get it since they haven''t killed any recently.


    Harold looked at Sydney and nodded.


    "You should take this kill."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "But... aren''t your stats pretty low?"


    Harold waved his hand dismissively.


    "I will be fine."


    Though Kairos thought that was definitely false, he didn''t speak up. Instead, he simply dropped the monster onto the floor.


    Sydney ended up agreeing, stepping up and raising her bat.


    Then, she brought it down on the monster''s skull, causing a loud bang to ring out.


    But the monster''s skull was only slightly dented.


    She repeated this process a few more times before it was finally smashed. Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "Why is it still giving the same amount of points despite being so much harder? I... I don''t think I can take one of these things on if they are so durable..."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "It seems the red rain made them all stronger. Perhaps before, they were at the bottom of the E rank, but now they are at the very top."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "...That''s annoying. We should''ve killed as many as we could earlier on."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not like we could''ve known."


    Suddenly, his eyes shifted to the side.


    Off in the distance, a group of fifteen monsters began charging towards them.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "It seems they are far more lively after the red rain. It used to be hard to even find a few..."


    He cracked his neck.


    "I should be able to get rid of their limbs for you guys to kill."


    Then, he dashed forward, raising his fire axe. The fifteen monsters reached for him aggressively, confident in their numbers.


    However, Kairos easily slipped by, almost like an eel. He ran circles around them, taking off their legs one after another.


    In just a few minutes, all fifteen monsters lost their legs.


    Kairos thought that they would begin running, but they actually kept chasing him. Since that was more convenient for him, he just went with it, bringing the fifteen monsters along towards the group.


    "They can hardly fight back. Each of you can kill three."


    Tori didn''t hesitate, immediately beheading three of the monsters. Nicole was a little scared, but she also killed them, splitting their skulls in half. As for Chase, Harold, and Sydney, they weren''t as enthusiastic.


    Chase coughed.


    "Could you get rid of their arms? I don''t want to use my arrows to kill them."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Fine."


    And so, he got rid of all their arms, letting the remaining people get their kills. The process was quite brutal, especially for Chase since he had to use his hands. They all aimed at the monster''s skulls, but had to really bash at them before they would break open.


    Right when Chase punched through thest monster''s skull, even more roars resounded.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, as he looked at an evenrger group of monsters approaching from the distance.


    ...He began considering whether he should be afraid or not.

 Chapter 32 Horde

    After taking some time to count, Kairos found that there were forty-two monsters. He furrowed his brows.


    "It seems we are attracting more of them by fighting these monsters. Let''s start running before things get out of hand."


    Tori let out a soft sigh.


    "But they are worth so many points..."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "It is a lot of points, but at the rate that they areing we will end up dying."


    Tori nodded before running. She only said that out of pity for what they could''ve gotten, not because she actually wanted to stay.


    Kairos was fairly certain that they could get into the wilderness after going in a certain direction, thus led the group that way. He quickly found that while he was able to outrun the monsters easily, some of his group membersgged behind, moving at a pace that was slower than the monsters.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Continue going in this direction. I will take care of the monsters behind us."


    He then turned around, moving past the group. From there, he began gathering mana towards his palm, feeling it quickly rise to the absolute limit.


    It did not take long for the monsters to get close. They were fairly grouped up, meaning that his attack with an area of effect should get them all.


    And right when they were all in front of him, he let the spell loose.


    A whipping sound filled the air before an explosive bang rang out.


    [Killed Creature x42 - 4.2 points awarded]


    [Multi-Kill - 1.0 points awarded]


    All of the monsters were sted away, torn into pieces that shot backwards at varying degrees, from a few meters away to being sent like a home run hit. Along with that was essentially a curtain of blood, sshing up down onto the ground below.


    In fact, even the pavement below Kairos was caught up within the impact, evidenced by the cracks lined across it.


    He couldn''t help but marvel at the effects of the spell he just cast. Granted, that took more than half of his mana, meaning he could not replicate until his mana regenerated slightly.


    Though the only upsetting thing was that while the points were sizable, they were far lower than what he used to get for killing such arge amount.


    But before he could worry about that more, he could hear the cry of even more monsters.


    Kairos could see a horde begin to form. Though he had been confident enough in his strength before to casually walk outside, he was not confident he could deal with the amount he sawing.


    He had be overconfident just because he evolved earlier on.


    Kairos clicked his tongue and began running. He pulled out the red prism from his pocket and let it hover just above his hand. In the next moment, a long set of stone bars with red veins on them slowly came up from the ground, almost like prison bars.


    They reached six meters in height and had a sharp tip.


    Kairos lined those bars up between the school and a faraway house. After confirming he didn''t leave any gaps, Kairos caught up with the rest of the group. Yet, he found that his group members were also engaged in a battle of their own.


    They were currently fighting against six monsters, and from the corpse on the ground, it seemed that they had already dealt with one.


    Tori cut off the head of a monster while gritting her teeth. As for Chase, he shot a mana arrow, but from the frown on his face, it seemed like he was reluctant to do so. Another monster''s skull exploded, leaving only four.


    Nicole let out a grunt, swinging her fire axe with all her strength, and was able to split the skull of another monster.


    Harold and Sydney were both hitting this one monster with all they had, but while they tried to hit its head, their strikes ended upnding on their limbs.


    Kairos frowned before slipping past them, beheading that monster before doing the same to another. As for thest one, Tori took care of it.


    Harold gasped.


    "Ah! You surprised me, I almost hit you!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No time. We need to go."


    He looked over his shoulder towards the bars he had set up earlier.


    The monsters were climbing up the poles as well as stacking over each other, forcefully getting themselves over the barrier. However, once they reached the top, they didn''t do the smartest course of action and just tried to lunge over.


    This led to the sharp tips ripping into their bodies.


    Some of them got their leg caught, before falling down the pole, skewering themselves. Other monsters ended up tearing several long gashes across their torso as they forced themselves over, slowing their approach considerably.


    Kairos let out a sigh of relief seeing his strategy had worked, but those weren''t the only monsters. There were quite a bit approaching from nearly every direction.


    He took up the front and killed a straggler that charged towards him.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos was originally running down the street, but suddenly stopped. It was because he heard the sound of a car. Nicole, who was right behind him, seemed a bit confused.


    "Why are we stopping?"


    Right as she finished her sentence, a car drove by in the distance, trying to go around all of the monsters. Right behind were an extremelyrge group tailing behind.


    The driver was doing pretty damn good considering how many monsters were on the road, however, it didn''tst too long. At one point, the car mmed right into a monster, killing it, but also making the car lose a fairlyrge amount of speed.


    Not only that, but driving over the corpse made it lose even more speed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    This meant that many more monsters could reach the front, blocking it entirely. The driver was still able to kill a few more monsters with a few bangs and cracks, but in the end, the vehicle was stopped right in its tracks.


    All of the monsters surrounded the car before smashing the windows while extremely loud beeping sounds filled the air.


    A series of begging came from within the car.


    "No! Don''te in! Don''t! Get away fr-"


    And just a secondter, blood-curdling screams filled the air, attracting even more monsters.


    Kairos clicked his tongue and pointed towards a direction without as many monsters.


    "Let''s go down this alleyway."


    After the group passed through, he used the red prism to create more sharp bars out of the ground, blocking off the monsters that came for them. This way was a detour from their original destination, but there wasn''t too much of a choice.


    If Kairos had a bottomless supply of mana, he would dly st through all of the monsters. However, even just one cast was enough to use up the majority of his mana.


    He began sweating slightly, trying to take the long way around.


    The sound of the car beeping was still audible from the distance, so it should attract a lot of monsters towards it. As long as they got away, there shouldn''t be as many.


    And so, Kairos began running across a street, killing the monsters he came across, getting him a few of points here and there. The others behind him were also forced to asionally kill a monster due to the sheer number. The two people that did that job were mostly Tori and Nicole. Chase would shove them here and there, but not much other than that.


    Thinking that they had gotten fairly far from the beeping car, Kairos shifted their direction to be more on track towards the wilderness.


    The number of monsters decreased considerably, making it seem rather promising.


    Yet, Kairos ended up pausing once more.


    "...What the hell is this?"


    Off in the distance was a police station. From the sound of it, the police seemed rtively promising during the apocalypse. However, that was definitely not the case now.


    Though most of the streets were bloody, they were still mostly not covered in red. However, it was apletely different story for this ce.


    For an entire thirty-meter radius, there was not a single spot not covered with blood in the form of dried stains and still slightly wet ones. It was clear to tell that an extremelyrge amount of things died here.


    And as of right now, just outside the police station was arge pile of monsters. They were all above other corpses, eating up their flesh. Despite the giant pile, it didn''t seem like there was enough to go around as the monsters began fighting each other, wing at each other''s flesh to take a little bit more food.


    In the end, more corpses filled the ground, attracting even more monsters, and making the process repeat itself.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "...It seems we have to take another detour."


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "But the monsters are killing themselves there. It shouldn''t be too hard to get rid of them if they work against each other."


    Kairos grit his teeth. That was true to an extent. While there were a lot of monsters, their numbers also reduced rapidly because of how they were turning on each other. Compared to the horde they had to run from earlier, it was far fewer. However, he also felt that this much blood and noise would surely attract something bigger.


    As Kairos deliberated about this, he suddenly bolted down another alleyway.


    "We are going! Now!"


    Before the others could even ask why, an iparably loud high-pitched shriek resounded from the pile of monsters.


    This prompted them to run as well, not asking why.


    Suddenly,rge spikes shot out from inside the pile. Countless monsters, both dead and alive were skewered. Any of the monsters that were alive before were immediately killed.


    The spikes continued to extend out, lifting up all of the corpses. It revealed a monster that had a ck back, where all of the spikes wereing from. The monster wasted no time in eating all the flesh that it could, even tearing up its own mouth in order to consume more.


    By the time all that happened, Kairos had only reached the edge of the alleyway, and he couldn''t help but nce at the monster. In his future vision, he saw that the monster''s head immediately snapped towards him.


    Kairos stopped himself from ncing, not wanting to attract the monster''s attention.


    Unfortunately, a few of the others ended up taking a nce.


    And the monster looked over anyway.


    The monster stopped eating and looked at the people who left into the alleyway with its pupilless eyes. Its torn open mouth remained half agape, letting blood and flesh slowly fall down from it.


    Then, it retracted the spikes, letting all of the corpses smack onto the ground. With that, it shot towards the gap that the group had left in with terrifying speeds.


    The group had only gone a few meters when the monstertched onto the side of the wall within their alleyway. Tori couldn''t help but grit her teeth.


    "Shit! Can you deal with that?"


    Kairos looked over his shoulder, watching the monster crawl towards them on the side of the wall.


    He cursed under his breath.


    "If I can''t handle it, then I guess we''re all dead."


    He jumped up, scaling on the side of the wall to get behind all the others.


    Then, Kairos began gathering mana towards his palm.

 Chapter 33 Sniper

    Though it would only take a few seconds for Kairos to gather a decent amount of mana for his spell, the monster was going to reach him at an even faster rate.


    Kairos'' eyes narrowed.


    He spikes shoot out from the monster, thus threw himself back. However, he soon calmed down. When the monster had its spikes extend out, they ended up getting caught in the side of the walls. Although they pierced through to a certain extent, the monster seemed to be unable to extend its spikes further or even move.


    Kairos saw this as an opportunity, thus got closer.


    The monster retracted its spikes and even took a step back, almost like it wasn''t expecting something toe towards it.


    The monster let out a growl, leaping onto the other wall all the while watching closely.


    Kairos was about to take a step forward, but stopped when he saw that the monster would''ve retreated out onto the streets with his future vision.


    Although the alleyway would make it hard to dodge the monster''s attacks, especially the spikes, it would also go the other way around. Considering how fast it leaped back and forth between the walls, he decided limiting the thing''s movement would help quite a bit.


    Especially since he only had one chance to use the pulse spell before his mana would be depleted.


    Once Kairos stopped moving forward, the monster looked intently, its head abruptly tilting to the side and back. It would asionally lift up its arms or legs one at a time, almost like it was moving, but would stay in the same location.


    Kairos then tried to take a step back, and the moment he did, the monster lunged towards him, screeching. When it was a few meters away, the spikes suddenly extended out once more.


    Kairos could see theming with his future vision, thus threw his body to the side in order to avoid it. The spike lodged themselves into the walls around, causing more cracks to form in the wall.


    But also keeping the creature in ce.


    Kairos pounced forth once more, sticking out his free hand and intending on using the pulse spell. The monster retracted its spikes quickly, but the palm was already in front of it.


    However, Kairos suddenly grit his teeth and stopped himself from casting the pulse spell.


    He saw in his future vision that the spell would let out a tremendous force, cracking the floor and walls around him.


    ...But the monster would be fine, before shooting out a spike and piercing his body.


    Kairos cursed internally as he pulled back.


    The monster promptly shot out its spikes, brushing by the side of his abdomen. Kairos felt his eyes widen as adrenaline filled his body. He did not think that he would brush by death like this already.


    He thought through various possibilities as to why his pulse spell seemingly did nothing.


    Unfortunately, his thoughts were cut off before he coulde to a conclusion. After retracting its spikes, the monster lunged towards him. This time, it had its jaws wide open, trying to bite down on him. It looked quite creepy with the top of its head being a dark ck while the bottom was instead red.


    Kairos wanted to use the pulse spell once more, but stopped himself.


    He saw in his future vision that the monster''s bottom jaw would be obliterated, but the important parts would still be intact. In the instant, he switched to swinging with his fire axe.


    With a clear bang, it mmed down hard on the creature''s forehead and forced it back. One thing that immediately became apparent to Kairos was that not even a dent had formed on the creature''s forehead.


    It became quite clear to him that the ckened section of the monster was some sort of super armor. In other words, he should target its underbelly. The only problem was that this monster moved on all fours, keeping its vulnerable spot covered.


    After letting out a low growl, it shot its spikes out once more.


    Kairos blocked using the side of his fire axe. A fairly big dent appeared on the side of the weapon, but it was able to divert the spikes. After that, he decisively dropped the fire axe before reaching out towards the monster with his now free hand.


    Though the monster was locked in ce because of its own spikes, it didn''t n on just letting Kairos do what he wished. Its mouth opened wide, intending on biting down. However, with the help of his future vision, Kairos was able to trick the monster into extending its neck out one way and biting down.


    His hand swerved to the other side and grabbed onto the monster''s neck.


    Despite the monster not being thatrge, he could immediately feel that it was quite heavy. However, he had alreadymitted to doing this and wasn''t going to back off now.


    Kairos frowned, tightening his grip around the monster''s neck to the point that his fingers whitened and his hand was trembling. At the same time, the monster retracted its spikes and grabbed onto Kairos'' wrist with its own hands, desperately trying to remove the grip.


    However, It was already toote.


    Kairos had lifted up the monsterpletely, meaning that its back was now facing the opposite direction. This didn''t stop it from shooting out its spikes anyway, however, none of them could evene close to hitting him.


    Kairos moved his free palm towards the abdomen, then let the spell loose.


    A faint whip rang out before a deafening bang resounded.


    It mmed hard against the monster, causing its body to essentially turn into mush. Kairos lost his grip on it due to the force, thus letting its corpse shoot back. The surrounding walls and pavement were cracked from the residual impact.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos couldn''t help but think that all of this effort was definitely not worth the amount of points he gained. Though in the end he wasn''t fighting it for the sake of points, but to survive.


    And considering that he came out on top, it was the ideal situation.


    Chase who was watching from afar nodded


    "Nice kill."


    The monster''s ck carapace was undamaged, though it was also blown away. Kairos was about to run away with the others, but suddenly thought about how useful it would be to have a shield that was that durable.


    And as such, he rushed over to pick up the ck carapace, ignoring all of the blood that had been mushed up inside it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As he did so, he could make out quite a few monsters in the distance running towards him. Considering how he had almost no mana at all now, making him feel quite deprived, Kairos really did not like the sight in front of him.


    He picked up the ck carapace, retrieved his fire axe and ced it inside that. Then, he pulled out the red prism, letting it hover above his hand. Once more, he slowly formed those stone bars up from the ground, slowing down all of the monsters'' approach.


    The ck carapace was surprisingly heavy, prompting Kairos to drag it along the floor. However, it wasn''t heavy enough to significantly impair his speed.


    It did not take long for Kairos to catch up with the rest of the group, but due to the constraints of the alleyway, he could no longer take up the front. Thankfully, Tori took on that job, killing the asional monster that blocked their way.


    Nicole couldn''t help butment on the giant thing that Kairos was dragging along.


    "Why are you bringing that along? It''s kinda loud!"


    In response, Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sorry, but this stuff is tougher than concrete. It would be too much of a shame to leave it behind."


    Nicole seemed a little hesitant, but agreed in the end.


    "Ok!"


    Tori got out onto the streets after looking both ways.


    "There doesn''t seem to be anything blocking our way this time."


    The group followed behind her hastily.


    Out on the open streets were a few monsters here and there, but most were currently distracted by some of the leftover flesh still on the floor.


    Kairos heaved a sigh.


    "Let''s try to navigate a way back to the wilderness then."


    But that was when his eyes were attracted to a random red dot that had appeared on Nicole''s head. Harold was behind her at the time and noticed it too. He seemed to understand what it meant, thus he shoved her away.


    However, Harold put too much into it, thus getting into the sights of this red dot himself.


    Kairos saw Harold''s head explode in his future vision.


    Immediately, his body was shot full with adrenaline as he understood what Harold''s death meant. Nicole and Sydney would be extremely unstable, which was really bad considering they were the only two people he could somewhat trust right now.


    Kairos swiftly reached for the fire axe within the ck carapace, focused his senses to the limit in order to time this perfectly.


    Then threw the axe.


    Yet, right when he did so, Kairos'' eyes widened.


    "Motherfucker."


    The fire axe flung through the air. Though he was not used to timing things like this, he ended up doing so perfectly, blocking the path of the bullet with the middle of the fire axe.


    However, the bullet directly tore through it.


    The fire axe ended up forcefully mangled into several pieces, unable to stop the bullet in the end as it whizzed past.


    Harold''s head exploded into a pile of mush, while his body continued to move forward, bleeding heavily from his neck.


    Almost immediately Sydney yelled out.


    "HAROLD!"


    Harold''s body ended up copsing onto Nicole''s side. Some of the brain matter had sttered onto her face, while parts of the skull had cut into her skin. To make things worse, after Harold''s bodynded on her side, the blood spewing from his neck ended up drenching Nicole as well.


    She hadpletely frozen up. Not able to process the situation.


    Kairos cursed internally. Though he thought that someone would die eventually, he didn''t expect it to be so soon.


    Not to mention, considering it was by a bullet, they were killed by some other human. He couldn''t understand why someone would be not only willing to waste a bullet, but make a loud sound that would attract monsters to kill some random person.


    Nheless, this person seemed fully intent on killing the others as the red dot began focusing on Sydney. Kairos yelled as loudly as he could while throwing the ck carapace up ahead.


    It seemed Sydney''s survival instincts had taken over to a certain extent. Despite her frazzled state, she ducked behind the ck carapace, and the bullet mmed hard against it.


    The carapace was dented, but it held on strong. Chase and Tori seemed to get the same idea, throwing themselves behind the carapace as well. The only exception was Nicole, who was still frozen in shock.


    The red dot began focusing on her head. Chase and Tori held the carapace up, but it wasn''t exactly thergest thing. Kairos pushed off Harold''s body and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to bring her down behind the carapace.


    It wasn''t exactly thergest thing, meaning that they had to group up in order to get behind it. Even the slightest movement out of the way could lead to disastrous consequences considering how little space they had from behind it.


    Unfortunately, Nicole began screaming very loudly.


    And frantically struggling as well.

 Chapter 34 Distraction

    "Uu... AHHHH... ahh... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH."


    Nicole held onto her head and began moving around dangerously. Kairos was forced to grip hard onto the fire axe she was holding to stop her from swinging it around. However, it was not easy considering he also had to hold her down.


    While still covered in the blood and guts of her father, her mouth opened and closed as strange sounds continued to emanate. Even her eyes seemed to be dancing around erratically. As for Sydney, she seemed to be taking it somewhat better but was still freaking out.


    Both of her hands were clutching onto the sides of her head. She was trembling slightly as tears began forming, but at the very least she wasn''t resisting violently.


    Kairos couldn''t help but sigh internally. It seemed that they still hadn''t truly adapted to the apocalypse, not ready to ept that one of them would very likely die at any point.


    Though it would probably be stranger if they didn''t break down like this.


    Kairos suddenly tugged on Nicole hard, pushing her down. Right as he did, a bullet whizzed by the top of her head, mming hard against the pavement, scattering debris and forming a miniature crater.


    He tried to think of saying something that could calm her down, but he never was that good atforting other people. Especially not for a situation like this.


    Chase sucked in a cold breath.


    "This is not the most... favorable situation to be in."


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "How did someone get a damn sniper rifle?"


    Chase sighed.


    "There are quite a few ways for one to possess a firearm. Especially if you don''t care about the legality of it."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "We can''t keep taking detours like this. At this rate, we won''t ever make it to the wilderness."


    Tori frowned.


    "So you want us to push through this?"


    Kairos looked towards Nicole, who began sobbing.


    "Yes."


    Tori seemed distraught.


    "Wait."


    She looked at Chase.


    "You can shoot arrows, right? Can''t you kill that damn sniper?"


    In response, Chase simply frowned.


    "From how fast that guy can lock on, he will easily beat me. I have no idea where his location is."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...What if I tell you his location and I distract him then? Youe out with your bow drawn right after you hear him shoot."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "I never knew you wanted to die that badly. Did you not see how urate his shots were?"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "Just tell me if you can do it."


    Chase paused.


    "If you truly provide a distraction, yes."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    With that, he took a deep breath. Kairos was intending on peeking out to determine the sniper''s location, but only in his future vision. As he was preparing himself, he suddenly felt a tight grip on his shoulders.


    Nicole was sobbing and clenching as hard as she could onto Kairos.


    He wouldn''t be able to peek out like this if she continued holding on. There wasn''t really time to wait either, as a few monsters had turned their heads from how loud Nicole was being.


    They seemed cautious, not willing to approach. However, they were still looking.


    Eventually, Kairos decided to do something he really didn''t want to do. He wrapped his arms around Nicole, letting go of the fire axe she was flinging around. In the end, she seemed to calm down significantly and hugged back tightly, gently brushing her hands against his back.


    Nicole closed her eyes as she felt his warmth, somewhat surprised at how soft his body felt. Yet, the same could not be said for the other person.


    Honestly, Kairos felt disgusted.


    He was not the type to enjoy physical affection, but he decided to endure for just a bit. After a few seconds, Kairos let go, prompting Nicole to do the same. Her arms were still trembling, but she seemed to recover to a certain extent. She still couldn''t say anything, but looked deeply into Kairos'' eyes, seemingly thinking about something.


    As for Kairos, he prepared to peek out. To only do something in his future vision wasn''t actually that easy. If he didn''t want something to happen in reality, it was difficult to perform such an action.


    After all, there had to be a reality where Kairos decided to go through with that action for it to show in his future vision. The process itself was a little wishy-washy, almost like he was walking on a thin tightrope.


    However, Kairos had done it many times before, thus it didn''t take too long for him to work up the courage.


    He peeked up and saw a two-story library in the distance. Though it was faint, he could see the re of a scope. On top of that, he could feel the red dot on his forehead.


    Kairos quickly stopped himself from doing that action, warping his future vision away from that. He then spoke up.


    "In the second-most left window on the top floor of the library."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "How did you figure that out?"


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "Reflection trick with these things. Just get ready already, we don''t have all day."


    Chase seemed a little confused but didn''tin. He pulled out his bow, but felt a little ufortable with how tightly packed they were. A mana arrow began to form.


    As for Kairos, he took a deep breath.


    Once he confirmed Chase had his mana arrow ready, he peeked out.


    This time, he stayed for longer, not caring about the red dot on his forehead. Then, he suddenly felt a devastating pain. His head felt like it was spinning, while his consciousness threatened to fade away.


    Yet, Kairos continued to keep track of the time in his mind.


    Then, pulled his head down.


    Right when he did so, a bullet whizzed right past, blowing his hair aside before mming hard into the pavement. Right at that moment, Chase stood up with his bow drawn, aiming at the sniper''s location.


    He took less than a second to hone in before letting the arrow loose. The sniper hurriedly adjusted to Chase, but heavily underestimated how fast the arrow would be.<novelnext></novelnext>


    With a bang, the mana arrow shattered through the ss window and exploded the sniper''s head. He had beenying prone with a red sniper rifle, peeking out a slightly open window.


    Chase sucked in a deep breath.


    "It''s done."


    He turned to Kairos.


    "You really just y with your life like that, huh?"


    Kairos held onto the side of his head, still a bit dizzy from the phantom pain. Though he knew getting hit by a bullet would hurt, it was still much more than what he expected.


    "Yeah, yeah... let''s quickly get out of here now."


    They got out from behind the ck carapace. Sydney was still crouched down on the ground, seemingly not registering any of the world around her. Tori let out a sigh before pulling her up and dragging her along.


    As for Nicole, she stuck close to Kairos.


    Kairos took onest nce at Harold''s dead body before dragging the ck carapace along with him. A few monsters were in the distance, staring hungrily at the body, but did not dare approach.


    Kairos could tell what was going to happen sooner orter. For the sake of Nicole and Sydney''s mental health, they had to get out of here soon.


    They ended up getting closer to the library and as they did, a rather strange sight wasid out before them. There were countless corpsesying down on the ground just outside the library, in a position that implied they were looking at the library before falling over. And it was the corpses of people, not monsters.


    On top of that, nearly every single one had bullet wounds all over their body. There were currently a few monsters tearing these corpses up, feeding off of them. The monsters took notice of the group approaching, but had more interest in the food below them. It seemed that they wanted to be the first ones to eat it all up.


    As for the library itself, it seemedpletely closed off.


    The doors were shut while the windows were blocked by bookshelves. As for the ss that these windows consisted of, almost all of them were shattered.


    Tori frowned as she dragged Sydney along, who was stumbling in her steps and mumbling to herself. Almost like a drunkard.


    As they got closer to the library, a voice suddenly thundered, along with a tinge of surprise.


    "What are you trying to do? Leave now! We will not provide you with any food or shelter!"


    It was amanding tone, like a soldier. The arrogance behind that voice bleeded out heavily, almost like it was certain that every other person that existed was a piece of trash without exception.


    Kairos couldn''t tell how they were being seen, but didn''t care too much.


    "We are just passing by."


    The voice didn''t seem to trust him.


    "You don''t have to pass by this way! Go some other route!"


    Kairos couldn''t help but scoff with a small smirk.


    "Do you feel like a big boy? Screaming as loud as you can to cover up how pathetic you are?"


    He intuitively understood what kind of person shouting was. His disdain was so high that it couldn''t help but slip out.


    Chaseughed as well.


    "You don''t have to be so honest."


    The voice didn''t know how to respond for a few moments, not even responding despite the fact that they were walking by. The entire time, Kairos was focusing on his future vision in case these people did fire. He was ready to cover at the very least himself with the ck carapace. On the other hand, Tori shed one monster, killing it. And the moment she did so, the rest ran away like rats.


    Only when they were almost past the library altogether did the voice return.


    "I am a part of the armed military! You have no right to speak like that! If you dare get any closer then we will fire at you with our weapons!"


    Although he had the enthusiasm to back it up, considering that the group was already beginning to walk away from the library, it was kind of pathetic.


    Tori''s face twitched.


    "Let''s just get out of here."


    Chase chuckled gently.


    "Yes, we should."


    He then turned around.


    "By the way, you should check up on your friend on the second floor. I''m sure he''s getting a little lonely."


    The voice seemed agitated.


    "Shut up! Our arrangements have nothing to do with you! Do you hear me?"


    The group ended up ignoring that guy, walking away. They could still hear his faint screams from far away. That person would probably have a nice surprise when they found out one of their teammates was dead.


    Tori couldn''t help but let out a long sigh.


    "...Those guys really hate other people."


    Chase slowly nodded.


    "They would rather kill any humans thate close despite the monsters roaming the streets. It appears that they couldn''t handle a few civilians that were probably begging to bring them along. Now they kill humans on sight, but thankfully we had that weird shield, else more of us might''ve died."


    Sydney was not paying attention to the conversation, still faintly sobbing. However, when Nicole heard it, she froze up. Kairos was able to notice it because she was right beside him when all of a sudden she stopped moving.


    Her breathing had be heavy once more. It was clear she was on the verge of a breakdown.


    Kairos quickly spoke up.


    "Hey."


    Nicole flinched before looking at him. She tried to speak, but could only make very soft sounds that didn''t mean anything.


    Kairos reached out with his hand.


    "We have to move forward."


    Nicole huped, before taking that hand and squeezing it very tightly. If it wasn''t for his high stat points, Kairos would''veined that it was hurting him.


    As for Chase, he looked over and seemed to have realized what he said.


    "Ah, sorry about that."


    Nicole simply kept her head down without responding.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Let''s just get to the wilderness already."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "We should be able to take a break there."


    Unfortunately, while they would be able to make it to the wilderness, it wasn''t exactly a ''break'' in store.

 Chapter 35 Tree

    The group continued at a fairly brisk pace, going down the street. Tori took up the front and was able to take care of all the monsters that came for them. Compared to how it was like before, the journey was quite smooth.


    Although killing monsters would attract more, so long as they didn''t stay in the same spot to try to farm points, not too many woulde at once.


    But that also meant that they couldn''t afford to take a break and settling down at a location would also be difficult. It truly seemed that their only option was to make it to the wilderness, unless they wanted to settle down somewhere and face an unending horde.


    Eventually, Sydney was able to run on her own. However, it seemed more like she was running to deal with the stress rather than oveing it. As for Nicole, her eyes were still murky, but she continued to run while holding onto Kairos'' hand as though it was the only thing keeping her above the water.


    Kairos was rather anxious that something else would pop up once more. This was mostly in part due to the fact he didn''t have any mana, and the regeneration process was far longer than he thought it would be.


    At the rate that mana entered his body, it would take roughly half a day for it to restorepletely.


    Thankfully, his worries were unfounded. It seemed there were only so many unlucky encounters that they coulde across. They traveled for quite a while, slowly cutting their way through all of the monsters. At first, Chase was asionally forced to partake in fending them off with his fists or even his arrows. However, the number of monsters decreased significantly as they continued.


    As for the road, it switched from pavement to a dirt trail. Even the asional farm had appeared. Some were ratherrge, and others modest.


    However, as they were running, Kairos ended up furrowing his brows as he took in the scenery around him.


    That was because he could see a couple of strange red nts, some of which were moving around in an extremely life-like way.


    Kairos didn''t think about it before, but he realized that it wasn''t only humans that would evolve. He still had the mentality that this was something more like the ''zombie apocalypse''. Where essentially only humans were infected, and for some reason the asional dog.


    He shook his head and quickly changed his mentality.


    Even random objects could evolve, such as the watch that Nicole was using. That meant it really wasn''t a stretch to say that other living beings could too. The only thing that reassured Kairos was that it seemed only the asional nt would evolve.


    As for the other nts, they either died or remained the same.


    In other words, not everything would evolve even if they had the capability to do so.


    Eventually, they came across a ce that was filled with a rtivelyrge amount of trees. They had made it to the wilderness.


    Tori let out a sigh of relief.


    "...Can we finally take a break?"


    They really had been running for quite a while, so this was a fairly reasonable request. However, Kairos shook his head.


    "Let''s find a more in-like area with water first."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "And what if we don''t find it?"


    Kairos let go of the ck carapace for a moment to wave dismissively.


    "I''ve been here before. I don''t remember where exactly, but there was a camping spot with a nearby river. Once we get there, I can build a pretty big base we will very likely be safe in. Otherwise, it would be a waste of energy from this prism."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "...It was a long time ago, but it should still be here."


    Chase sighed.


    "Alright then."


    The group continued to walk at the precipice of the forest. Though Tori and Chase seemed to want to walk, Sydney was still running, thus making the rest of the group do the same to keep up.


    It took nearly another hour, but the group eventually made it to the in that Kairos was talking about. By now, everyone was extremely tired and hungry. It had already reachedte afternoon, soon to be evening.


    It seemed like it was finally time to rx.


    There was a in along with a river in the distance. Unfortunately, there was also arge tree with red leaves randomly in the middle of the in. Its roots extended across nearly the entire ce, almost appearing to be veins.


    Tori cursed.


    "What the hell is that?"


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "...I suppose we found the in."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Can you kill it?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "I can try shooting three arrows. If that doesn''t kill it, then there isn''t anything I can do."


    Kairos was confident in the power of Chase''s arrows. However, he took another look at the tree. It was nearly fifty meters tall, which wasn''t anything too crazy for a tree. However, the trunk was extremely thick, reaching a diameter of nearly thirty meters.


    Although Chase''s arrows did arge amount of damage and had strong piercing power, they did not have the pure destruction one would need to take down such arge tree.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Hold on, let me test something."


    He let go of Nicole, who ended up taking a few steps forward, but didn''t say anything as he went off alone.


    Kairos walked a little closer, setting foot onto the in. One of the roots of the tree were nearby, butpared to how thick they were at the center, it was really tiny here, at the width of the average straw.


    Kairos picked up an arbitrary rock before throwing it at the root.


    It bounced off harmlessly.


    That seemed to be a good sign, so Kairos decided to try stepping onto the root. As he was doing so, Nicole took a step forward.


    "Wait! You can''t!"


    Kairos snuck a nce behind himself, seeing Nicole''s pleading expression.


    "Just trust me."


    Nicole''s grip on the fire axe tightened considerably.


    "But... but..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I promise I will be fine."


    Nicole seemed a little shocked. She reached out with her free hand withckluster. But in the end, she put it back down.


    "O-Ok."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos then resumed taking a step down onto the root, paying close attention to his future vision. Yet, he was overthinking it.


    As nothing happened.


    There was onest test that Kairos wanted to do. And if it worked out, then he was willing to temporarily set up a base here, ignoring the tree for now.


    Kairos reached down to touch the root with his bare palm.


    Considering that even stepping on the root gave no reaction, he didn''t think that it would be any different with his palm.


    He saw himself put his palm down on the tree root.


    It was fine for a split second, but at the next moment, a sudden fresh pain assaulted his mind. Almost immediately, several separate spiky roots shot up from the tree, piercing into hand and also binding it down.


    Kairos immediately stopped himself from putting his hand down on the root as cold sweat formed on his forehead.


    "...We have to deal with this tree first."


    Chase pressed his lips together.


    "Alright."


    He then looked towards the tree.


    "And how exactly do we do that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Let me try something."


    He had thought of the fire spell. Kairos didn''t want to burn down the entire forest, but it would probably be fine since the tree was pretty far from any others.


    By now, his mana had recovered to less than a third of its initial capacity. Not wanting to waste it, he decided to see if he could get away with the bare minimum, just barely injecting mana into the fire spell.


    And that''s what he did.


    After a few seconds, he was able to form a tiny fire at the tip of his finger, just about a few centimeters in diameter.


    Then, he shot that fire out towards the root.


    It looked promising at first, causing the root to light ame and begin burning. However, after a few seconds, the branch lifted itself off of the ground and mmed itself onto its sides rather violently, until the me was eventually extinguished.


    Tori''s eyebrows raised.


    "It can move."


    Chase nodded.


    "It seems we may have to find another ce..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "...Give me onest try."


    He took a few steps back, pointing his finger towards the trunk in the middle of the in. This time, he was going to use as much mana as possible.


    Kairos began casting the fire spell, slowly gathering a fireball at the tip of his finger. One thing that he noted during the process was that it took much longer than the pulse spell. Even a fully charged pulse spell would only take a few seconds, while weaker versions would be close to instant.


    On the other hand, despite not casting the fire spell to its full potential, it already took nearly twenty seconds.


    In other words, it couldn''t be used as a quick response in a fight.


    However, within these twenty seconds, the fireball had expanded to quite arge size, a decent amount more than a meter wide. Kairos could feel the pain of having the mana drained from his body. Wanting to put his all into it, he continued to push thest bits of mana still in his bloodstream but quickly found a pain aching throughout his entire body.


    Kairos didn''t go too far, stopping when it became painful.


    Tori couldn''t help butment on the side.


    "That looks quite frightening."


    Chase nodded while holding onto his chin.


    "Though it is quite smallpared to the tree."


    Kairos let out a grunt before sending the fireball forth, letting it streak through the air towards the tree.


    Though it wasn''t at the speed of a bullet, or Chase''s arrow, the fireball was still fast, tearing through the air with its mes. Kairos began heaving after casting the spell and watched as it shot through the air.


    The fireball looked ratherrge at first. However, as it continued to travel, it quickly turned into what looked like a tiny dot, which seemed like nothingpared to the tree.


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitch. For a moment, he couldn''t help but think that he was scammed into taking this fire spell. Yet, once he saw the results in his future vision, he ended up raising an eyebrow.


    The fireballnded onto the side of the tree and exploded, unleashing arge amount of mes, almost like a molotov. The explosion only had a five-meter radius, but the fires that formed on the tree spread very, very quickly.


    It was far faster than fire on a normal tree, that was for sure.


    For just a second or two, the tree didn''t respond. And in that time, the fire had spread to the majority of the entire tree trunk. Suddenly, all of the roots of the tree were pulled out of the ground, flinging a bit of dirt into the air. It reached towards the trunk, mming against it in an attempt to put the fire out.


    However, the fire was already too much. The only thing mming its roots against itself did was spread the fire onto those roots, speeding up its demise. If the tree had vocal cords, it would probably be screaming out in agony.


    The tree put up a futile struggle, mming its roots against the ground, scattering soil around violently.


    Until eventually, it could no longer move.


    The tree continued to burn more and more. The fire caught onto the leaves, releasing even more smoke that slowly billowed up into the sky.


    And once it was finally over, there was only a pile of ash where it used to be. Unlike normal wood that would''ve been turned into charcoal after burning, there was hardly anything left of the tree to prove that it had existed.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos was a little surprised that such arge nt was still considered the same rank as him, but didn''t think too much about it.


    Tori raised an eyebrow, quite surprised at the sight before her.


    "That works."


    Chase blinked a few times before nodding.


    "Yeah, it really does..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Now... let''s build that base. I''m really damn tired."

 Chapter 36 Even If It Gets Really Hard

    Kairos pulled out the red prism and looked at it from an awkward angle so he didn''t have to take off his sses to look at the other status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 967/1000]


    [Hide]


    Creating those bars with sharp ends had used up a decent amount of energy. Although there was still quite a bit of energy left, he considered this a limited resource as he wasn''t sure if there was some other easy way to recharge the energy within.


    Once the group got closer to theke, Kairos let the prism float above his hand.


    He first formed the base ground, making it quiterge. He wanted there to be enough space for all of them to sleep rtively far from each other and also enough space to store various items that they might''ve needed. And as such, he made it about asrge as the size of a small house.


    From there, he created walls that were three meters high and closed them off.


    After that, Kairos looked at the energy used up.


    [Energy 740/1000]


    Chase walked around the ce and raised an eyebrow.


    "Where is the doorway?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I''m working on it, alright? It''s a little finicky making this thing."


    He then made a doorway on the wall that faced theke by making that section of stone sink down. But his eyes were suddenly attracted to the status panel.


    [Energy 737/1000]


    It took a few points of energy to get rid of the door.


    Kairos furrowed his brows. It would probably be best to not have an empty doorway, but it was best if he did not use the energy of the prism to constantly remove and restore the door.


    After a bit of deliberation, he thought of something. He used the prism to create a rectangr frame within the house and made it be supported by an inclined ne. This way, they had a pseudo door they could push over to block the gap.


    It wasn''t exactly the ideal way to have a door, but it should be better than nothing


    Kairos massaged his temple.


    "Alright, let''s get in finally."


    The group filed into the ce. However, the first thing that they noticed was that the ce was really dark. And that was with the lightning that came from the door.


    If they closed off the door as well, it would essentially beplete darkness.


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "It somewhat feels like I am in my mother''s womb. But not in a good way."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "...If I create windows, that also creates openings where we will be vulnerable. Maybe we can try to light up torches and make tiny holes above them to get rid of the smoke?"


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "I''m not going to gather the branches. Especially not after dealing with the thing you just killed."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "How about I raise the ceiling a bit and then get rid of the roof altogether."


    Chase frowned.


    "Then what if something like the red raines once more? We should either do the thing with the torches or just live in the darkness."


    Kairos nodded with a sigh.


    "...Let''s do that tomorrow then. We can just push aside the door for light. We should be able to take a break for at least one day."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose so."


    Sydney''s legs were trembling fiercely. She bent her knee in an attempt to sit down, but copsed entirely in the process, crumpling to the floor. It seemed that while she had been standing this entire time, Sydney was actually exhausted.


    She ended up falling asleep right there.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh before sitting down himself. He began eating the various foods that he had brought, while Chase and Tori followed the same example. As for Nicole, she nibbled a little. It did not take Kairos long to realize that the amount he was eating was far more than normal. Perhaps by the second day, he would no longer have any food left in his bag left to eat.


    ...If they still had the food Harold was carrying, they would be in a much better situation.


    This inevitably led to a bit of anxiety, but he decided to deal with it tomorrow. He remained firm in his decision to evolve despite the hunger it caused, especially because of the enemies they wouldn''t have been able to face if not for that.


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "...I guess I will take the first watch."


    He then turned to the others.


    "By the way, we should have it that Chase will apany one person with the watch while Tori will apany the other."


    Tori raised an eyebrow.


    "But-"


    She cut herself off as she caught a glimpse of Nicole''s trembling figure.


    "...Ok."


    It did not take long for the others to fall asleep. That is, everybody except for Nicole. She was still sitting upright and hugging her knees. Her eyes drifted towards the outside, towards thest bits of the evening glow.


    Kairos sighed.


    "You should get some sleep."


    Nicole lowered her head slightly.


    "...I''m not tired."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Just try to get some sleep."


    Nicole hugged her knees a little tighter.


    "I don''t want to sleep."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Do you want to take watch then?"


    Nicole lifted her head and looked towards him.


    "Can''t we... talk a little?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Alright. But you have toy down while we do so."


    Nicole swallowed.


    "Ok."


    She was already rtively close, but got a little closer beforeying her head down against the floor.


    Kairos didn''t look at her, but rather the sun that was slowly setting. For quite a while they just remained there in silence. Kairos even ended up sneaking a peek at her, wondering if she had fallen asleep.


    However, her eyes were very much open, and also bloodshot.


    A small frown rested on Kairos'' face.


    "What did you want to talk about? We should get it over with quickly so that you can fall asleep."


    Nicole blinked a few times, taking a few seconds to get the courage to speak up.


    "I..."


    She took a deep breath.


    "I can''t really understand. I just, how did it all happen so fast?"


    Nicole was rtivelyposed at first, but quickly broke down.


    "Why is my dad dead? I don''t understand."


    Kairos did not respond, mostly because he didn''t know what he was supposed to say. In the end, he just kept looking out towards the setting sun, listening to her speak.


    Nicole rubbed her eye with a finger as tears spilled out.


    "He didn''t even get to say hisst words. He just... just went away."


    Kairos brushed his hair back with his hand.


    "He decided to save you, even though that meant he would die. While he didn''t get to say hisst words, he still showed what he meant through his actions."


    Nicole covered her face with both hands.


    "But it didn''t have to be like this, right? I... I could''ve died instead."


    Kairos gradually closed his eyes. He obviously knew that Nicole was going through a lot. After all, having someone die so close in one''s life die like that was an extremely traumatic experience.


    At the same time, he was wondering what kind of person Nicole would be.


    From what he saw in the world, there were people that grew far stronger from the terrible experiences they went through. However, there were also people that broke downpletely, no longer able to function as a person.


    If Nicole truly broke down, then he would be unwilling to stay with her. Though he did want someone he trusted to watch over him, it was only to a certain extent.


    Kairos was rather shaky over Chase and Tori, but would still take that over a broken ss.


    It was rather cruel, but he simply saw that as normal.


    Though Nicole was essentially Kairos'' only friend, he still felt like he was far apart from her. Even when Nicole wrapped her arm around his shoulder, Kairos still felt like he was alone.


    This started long ago when Nicole saw Kairos getting bullied.


    At the time, Kairos was young and thought that he could reach out to her for help. However, Nicole was too scared to do anything but run away. She still came back tofort him after the bullies had left.


    But Kairos couldn''t help but see her in a different light.


    It wasn''t as though he thought Nicole was obligated to protect or help him. But he used to think that they would help each other through tough times. And Nicole would do that... in a rather strange way.


    Kairos could tell that Nicole liked him. He wasn''t that dense.


    However, he was also a little too smart for his own good.


    Because he could notice a few things with how Nicole treated him. She was particrly enthusiastic to talk to him whenever he had just gone through something,forting him.


    However, Kairos could tell that while a bit of it was out of concern, Nicole was trying to take advantage of him when he felt vulnerable.


    To get on his good side by using those weak moments.


    While Kairos was sad at times, his judgment was hardly ever affected by them. So each time Nicole tried tofort him, it pissed him off slightly.


    It was hard not to feel angry at someone that was trying to be maniptive. Instead of caring through any kind of mood, they would only show up when they thought that one was weak.


    This was part of why Kairos just couldn''t bring himself to care about Nicole and the suffering she was going through.


    It wasn''t as though he enjoyed her suffering, but rather, he couldn''t bring himself to care.


    ...But in the end, she was one of the only people willing to help him. And as such, he would still favor her over other people.


    And because of that, Kairos thought of a way to give Nicole a little push.


    "Your father wanted you to live."


    He gave her a nce.


    "While he didn''t say it, I''m sure that he wanted you to survive with all his heart."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "Yeah... I know."


    There was a lost look in her eyes.


    "That''s why I decided I was going to try to stay alive, even if it gets really hard."


    Kairos was slightly taken aback.


    "...I''m sure he would be happy to hear that."


    Nicole grabbed onto Kairos'' hand with both of hers and held on tightly.


    "But... it''s still so scary. It''s all so scary..."

 Chapter 37 Bunny

    Nicole eventually seemed to calm down for the most part, with a small frown resting on her face. While she still was sad, her eyes were clearer.


    "If I want to survive, I have to be stronger."


    She opened up the system panel, disying her stats.


    "...What do I spend my points on?"


    Kairos looked over at the panel.


    [Rank: F]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 2.0


    Endurance - 1.3


    Agility - 1.9


    Willpower - 1.1]


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "You added points into willpower?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    ? "Huh? I don''t remember ever doing that."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I rememberst time it was half of a point, but now it''s one and a tenth."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "Ah! It did rise by a lot."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "You really didn''t add any to willpower beforehand?"


    Nicole shook her head.


    "No... I only added strength and agility."


    Kairos came to a realization after hearing that. Just because one method of increasing one''s stats was via points, that didn''t mean it was the only way. It seemed like actual experiences could also contribute to that.


    Just as he was nodding to himself aftering to this conclusion, Nicole spoke up.


    "Wait."


    Her eyes widened ever so slightly.


    "I don''t remember putting any points into endurance, but it seems higher."


    Kairos snapped to attention.


    "What? Are you sure?"


    Nicole nodded.


    "I... think it was either one point or just barely above one. But now, it''s one point three."


    This immediately made Kairos a little weirded out. Although the increase in willpower was drastic, he could still ept it as a massive shift in one''s mind. However, the increase in endurance was quite different.


    Kairos was pretty confident that none of his stats had increased at all without the help of the system. And he considered that pretty reasonable.


    Though 0.1 seemed like a really small number, Kairos knew that it made a huge difference. An increase of 0.1 in strength equated to roughly a month of casual training in the gym for a person that didn''t exercise before.


    If Kairos wished, he was pretty confident he could run at a speed of 100 kilometers an hour, given that he didn''t have to drag anything along.


    These points were not anything small.


    After running through various possibilities in his mind, he began to think that Nicole had just forgotten she added the points.


    "You probably forgot. Those points aren''t anything small, after all."


    Nicole couldn''t help but close her eyes tightly, thinking hard.


    "...No, wait I''m sure. My strength and agility were increased by a tiny bit as well without my points."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. He looked at Nicole''s current points.


    [Points of Perfection: 3.3]


    That was quite arge amount. When he began thinking of all the things that Nicole had killed, it really did seem she had an excessive amount of points that didn''te from her kills.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Did you ever remember feeling an increase in strength despite not adding any points?"


    Nicole''s mouth was slightly agape as she continued thinking.


    "...The watch."


    She pulled out the watch from her pocket, looking at it intently.


    "When I put it on and killed something, it made me feel a little stronger."


    Kairos looked at the watch a little more closely.


    "...Don''t tell anyone about this."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok."


    It turns out that the watch had some other function, giving one the ability to naturally get a little bit stronger while killing things. Though the effects were small right now, he could imagine that over time it would make a pretty huge difference.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Just spend your points on your physical stats for now. Make sure to wear the red watch when you fight and try to save up for twenty points."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok!"


    She then added her points among the three physical stat points. Once she finished, her eyelids were on the verge of closing, but she resisted, trying to stay awake.


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "If you finally feel tired, then go to sleep. Stop trying to stay awake."


    Nicole took onest peek towards Kairos through slightly parted eyes.


    "Mm..."


    Then in the next moment, she began snoring softly.


    Kairos watched as the sun set, and the sky became a starry night. After a good bit of time, he felt like he was on the verge of passing out entirely. Before falling asleep, he shook Chase''s shoulder, prompting his eyes to shoot open.


    He blinked a few times, forcefully shaking off the grogginess.


    "Is there something?"


    Kairos nodded while rubbing one eye.


    "It''s your shift to watch."


    He then nudged Sydney until she woke up. Once she did wake up, she very slowly opened her eyes.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Please keep watch with Chase."


    There was no response, but he was too tired to wait for one, so he got back down on the ground and fell asleep.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos wanted to restfortably so he could wake up the next morning refreshed. Unfortunately, he would not be granted that wish.


    He was gradually awoken by Chase screaming.


    Kairos still felt very groggy, but snapped awake when he caught a whiff of blood in the air. But even though he was awake, everything was ck. There was no light in the room as of now.


    He forcefully rubbed his eyes and got up.


    "What is happening?"


    Chase spoke up, a little exasperated.


    "There are a shit ton of feral bunnies outside. For some reason, they aren''t leaving."


    As though to agree with his statement, there were countless shuffling soundsing from all around, along with muffled squeaking sounds. From the scurrying sounds on the roof, it showed these things did not even spare the roof. The most prevalent sound wasing from where Chase''s voice was.


    Kairos thought for a moment before casting the fire spell, lighting up the room. He didn''t channel extra mana into it, just letting the fireball rest at the tip of his finger. But it was enough to light up the room.


    Chase was currently pushing his back against the makeshift door. His hands were currently bloody, while a rabbit corpseid below him not too far away.


    As for everyone else, they seemed to be half asleep, but in the process of waking up.


    The situation seemed to be in control for now, as the bunnies were still outside. Though Chase was struggling, it wasn''t too big of a deal for him to hold the door.


    Kairos sucked in a deep breath.


    "Has it been like this for a while?"


    Chase let out an annoyed sigh.


    "They only showed up a little while ago, but they seem really persistent."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "I first saw a few bunnies watching us from outside. Their fur was a little red while their eyes seemed to glow a little. Not wanting to take any chances, I began pushing the door closed."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Then they all went crazy, trying to get into the ce."


    Kairos nodded.


    "They don''t seem to be that strong, right?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not individually. I was able to kill one of them pretty easily with just my hands. They are only at the F rank."


    Kairos looked towards Nicole, who was paying close attention to the conversation.


    "You should put on the red watch and get ready to swing."


    Chase couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow.


    "You wanna let those things in?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "If we only keep a small gap open, then it should be fine."


    Chase frowned.


    "But once they push through the crack, they could use it to make the gap wider and let even more through."


    Kairos walked up to the door.


    "Then just let me do it. My strength should be high enough to hold them down. As for you all, get ready to kill the bunnies."


    Sydney was still crouched down sitting but slowly got up to her feet. As for Tori, she did a few stretches before walking over.


    "Never thought the points would deliver themselves right to me."


    Nicole silently put on the red watch and got close with the fire axe raised.


    Kairos kept one hand on the door while the other held onto the fireball, swapping out with Chase. Then, he slid it ever so slightly to the side.


    The moment the tiniest of cracks appeared, the sound of scurrying and squeaking filled the room. There was only a faint moonlight outside, but it was enough to make out the glowing eyes.


    The bunnies violently pressed their faces against the crack, pressing their slightly reddened fur against themselves tightly just to get a little closer. However, Kairos was holding it down strong, making it too hard for them to fit through the gap.


    Nicole was the first to act. She got up close to the door, raising her fire axe just above the tiny crack, lining it up.


    With a grunt, she brought it down.


    Various cracking sounds filled the air as blood sttered over Nicole.


    Her axe did not go down smoothly, frequently getting caught on the various skulls. However, she clenched tightly onto the axe, continuing to push it down further.


    In the end, a pool of blood had formed at her feet. The bunnies from behind continued to struggle, but there were only corpses at the front.


    Kairos decided to make the gap a little wider. Almost immediately after, the corpses were pushed out, tumbling into the room. And behind them were many more bunnies that were shoving their way in, squeaking aggressively.


    The bunnies were stacked up on top of each other and quickly entered the room. In just a moment, ten were inside. Nicole swung, but was only able to take care of a few. However, Tori quickly followed up, quickly beheading the remaining ones.


    However, many more continued filing into the room, making both Tori and Nicole work damn hard to kill all of them.


    Chase didn''t seem to want to give up on this opportunity, but also didn''t just want to charge in with his fists. After a bit of hesitation, he pulled back his bow, letting a mana arrow form on it.


    After waiting for a gap between Nicole and Tori''s swings, he let the arrow loose.


    It zipped through the air before ripping into a few bunnies at the front. However, it didn''t lose its initial momentum, tearing violently through many more. The bunnies were even somewhat pushed back by the recoil the corpses faced.


    Chase even raised both eyebrows in surprise.


    "...That was a lot of points. It seems that there are far more."


    Tori clicked her tongue as she continued shing.


    "I suppose it will be a lot of work, but also very rewarding."


    Chase nodded as he drew back another mana arrow, waiting again.


    Tori and Nicole continued to slice up the bunnies that entered, causing a mound of corpses to fill up the front. The stench of blood was already pretty strong from the dried blood on their clothes, but now it was not only prevalent, but fresh.


    Though countless of the bunnies have died, it seemed that the bloody smell was enough to motivate them to try even harder.


    Chase let out another arrow and killed quite a few more bunnies, reducing the burden that Nicole and Tori had to face.


    But it did not take long for him to run out of arrows.


    By the fourth one, he was already heaving, unable to cast any more.


    Kairos was still pushing hard, leaning his body into it slightly to get more leverage. There would be times where he felt like he was losing control, but a forceful push resolved that.


    Now that Chase wasn''t shooting arrows, the bunnies were gradually beginning to overwhelm Tori and Nicole. After roughly ten seconds, one of the bunnies went unounted for, charging towards Tori with its tiny teeth bared.


    However, Chase grabbed onto one before that, prompting the bunny to struggle fiercely. That is, until a clean snap rang out, making it fall limp.


    As time went on, Nicole and Tori were both getting tired. After all, they were both exerting themselves fully as hard as they could continuously.


    The bunnies that slipped out gradually got out of even Chase''s control. Just when Kairos thought that he would have to act, Sydney joined in.


    She mmed down on a bunny that charged towards her fiercely, exploding it into a mass of flesh. The wooden baseball she was holding onto cracked slightly, while the bunny was very clearly dead.


    The force behind her strike was obviously unnecessarilyrge.


    And her breathing was a little heavy.


    It seemed that while she was silent, a lot of anger had built up.


    Kairos was wondering if that was a normal reaction and whether or not he should say anything.


    In the end, he let her be.


    And so, Sydney ran forward while screaming loudly.

 Chapter 38 Come Back!

    Right when the bunnies were beginning to overwhelm the group, Sydney stepped up and began swinging the bat violently. One after another, frightening cracking sounds resounded as bunnies were brutally smashed.


    Though nobody was silent as they were fighting, it somewhat seemed that way inparison to Sydney. She screamed hysterically, while her breathing had be erratic and heavy.


    The control over the situation was somewhat restored, but with how much force Sydney was using, the wooden bat was beginning to crack. If she just used enough force to kill, then the bat wouldn''t face many problems, but she truly put her all into the swings.


    And as such, it wouldn''tst for much longer.


    Kairos sighed, thinking he was going to have to step in sooner orter. The only shame was the fire axe he had been using was destroyed in an attempt to save Harold. Kairos began thinking of whether or not he should use the pulse spell, his hands, or borrow someone else''s weapon.


    But then he felt a sudden pushing on the door he was holding back.


    With his future vision, he saw that it was Sydney who began pushing at the door, trying to get closer to the bunnies. Knowing that this was suicidal, he conversely pushed as hard as he could, using his shoulder.


    The crack in the door was just about to close off, but that was when Sydney started to push against it.


    Kairos spoke immediately.


    "Don''t do that! You will kill all of us!"


    However, Sydney didn''t listen and began pushing. Although her strength wasn''t close to Kairos'', there was also the factor of bunnies. He could beat her head on, but also had to divert some strength to keep the bunnies away.


    Nicole reached out.


    "M-Mom?"


    Kairos gave up on trying to convince Sydney and looked towards Chase.


    "Help me out here!"


    Chase did not dy in rushing over, but by the time he got there, the gap had widened farther than it was before.


    Both Nicole and Sydney did everything they could to kill as many as they could, but there were simply too many.


    Nicole grit her teeth as she swung her axe, causing blood to spill into her eye.


    "Mom! Stop!"


    The excess bunnies began attacking Chase. It did not take long for a bunny to lunge towards his neck, forcing him back.


    As the gap widened, it became harder for Kairos to keep the door shut. And so, Sydney was able to push it open farther.


    Nicole was a little frantic.


    "Mom! You have to stop! Think about what Dad would want!"


    Unfortunately, Sydney already seemedpletely lost.


    The bunnies began tearing apart her flesh. After all, she was right at the front. However, Sydney did not seem to mind, not even screaming out in pain. She was still swinging her bat, killing several rabbits each time.


    However, for each swing, Sydney would take numerous bites. In the end, she continued pushing through until she went through the door altogether.


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "MOM!"


    She reached out to pull her back, but the bunnies got in her way, scratching up her arm before she could get to her.


    Nicole swung her fire axe faster and faster, but there only seemed to be more bunnies to match. Kairos wanted to cast the pulse spell, but quickly realized that it would probably end up killing Sydney if he did so. The area of effect was simply toorge whenpared to something like Chase''s arrow.


    He cursed internally as he watched Sydney force her way through the horde of bunnies. Other than swinging her bat, she began biting down on the bunnies, tearing through their flesh violently with her teeth.


    It was as though she was trying to get payback for all of the bunnies biting down on her.


    As bad as the situation was, Kairos couldn''t help but be a little confused.


    Because Sydney should''ve fallen over by now, not just by pain but because her muscles were being ripped apart, meaning she shouldn''t have the capability to even stand. But as though mocking his logical thoughts, Sydney began pushing further into the horde, to the point that they could no longer see her.


    Nicole continued swinging her axe, but it seemed she was still in a bit of shock.


    "...Mom?"


    Now that Sydney wasn''t interfering, Kairos was able to push the door enough so that the bunnies didn''t overwhelm the group.


    The situation stabilized quickly, but there was now a strange air that didn''te from the stench of blood.


    Nicole grit her teeth.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Why... why are there so many? Mom,e back!"


    Despite swinging with all she could, the bunnies continued to block her way.


    However, though muffled, the group could still hear Sydney''s screams. This made the hairs on Kairos stand up. The only possibility he saw in her surviving was if she was transforming into a monster.


    But he also didn''t understand how she would be transforming into a monster already, as theoretically there shouldn''t have been enough evolution energy to do so.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    He began thinking of various possibilities and various actions he could take. But eventually, it boiled down to just...


    Doing nothing.


    At this point, if Sydney was going to die, there was pretty much nothing he could do. His spells were offensive in nature and had an area of effect. He might be able to kill some bunnies, but to kill the ones directly impacting Sydney, it was going to be too difficult to not implicate her as well.


    And so, Kairos continued to hold down the door.


    Sydney''s screams continued, like she was burning in the pits of hell. However, it wouldn''t exactly be urate to call them screams of pain. They still sounded angry, but also very muffled. That was partly because of the door blocking the noise.


    But also because her fighting style of choice was biting down on the bunnies. She tore apart and ate their flesh as they did the same to her. It was as though they werepeting on who was the true animal.


    Eventually, when the time extended out for longer than ten minutes, he spoke up.


    "Sydney is still alive. It looks like there''s something that lets her survive."


    Nicole''s eyes lit up when she heard this. She stopped exerting herself so hard and began focusing on surviving.


    ...However, even that was beginning to be a hard task.


    By now, a thickyer of blood had coated the bottom of the floor. The bunny carcasses had stacked up so high, that they almost formed a miniature blockade of their own. If the bunnies weren''t able to force their way through it, then it could''ve been considered something useful.


    By now, Tori and Nicole were almostpletely covered in blood. They had to squint with their eyes just to see. Not to mention, they were both panting heavily, causing blood to ssh into their mouths.


    Even Chase was in a simr situation. His hands were coated deep in blood, making it seem as though he was a cannibal in a horror movie. He was trying his best, but his arms began to tremble.


    Kairos quickly was pretty sure that the situation was starting to get out of hand, thus he tried to push the door closed.


    However, it wouldn''t close. It seemed that it had gotten caught on a bunny corpse, stopping it. Though Kairos was rather unsettled by this fact, he knew in the worst case scenario he could just use the red prism to close off the doorway forcefully. That would leave Sydney out to face all of them, but she seemed to be faringpletely fine for now.


    Kairos began gathering mana in his palm to cast the pulse spell.


    Unfortunately, in the time that had passed, his mana had only recovered to about a fourth of its total capacity.


    As such, this spell wasn''t going to be the strongest.


    Nheless, he reached out towards the gap and casted it.


    A small swish followed up by countless crushing fleshy sounds rang out.


    [Multi-Kill (Lesser Kill - One Rank Inferior to Killer) - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Multi-Kill (Lesser Kill - One Rank Inferior to Killer) - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Multi-Kill (Lesser Kill - One Rank Inferior to Killer) - 0.1 points awarded]


    Countless bunnies died. There were still more, and a lot more. That was easy to tell from the scurrying soundsing from all around.


    But they began running away.


    For a moment, the only sound in the air was everyone panting. Kairos still had his back pressed hard against the door even though there were no longer any left. Nicole and Tori were still clenching hard onto their weapons despite the trembling and Chases'' bloody hands were still tensed up.


    Eventually, they came to understand that it was over.


    Nicole began pushing the bunny carcasses aside.


    "...Mom..."


    As though this was a sign, Kairos moved aside the door, and as he did so crunching sounds filled the air.


    Nicole, Tori, and Chase all widened their eyes.


    Wanting to see what themotion was about, Kairos also looked over and his eyes widened as well.


    "...Woah."

 Chapter 39 Found You

    A couple meters out from the entrance to their base were countless bones strewn across the ground along with half-eaten bunnies. Standing in the middle, was a humanoid figure.


    The reason calling it human wasn''t exactly the correct term, was because of the current appearance. There was no skin or hair on that figure. The muscles were fully exposed, but most of them were partially gnawed through or ripped out altogether.


    Though they weren''t in full view, there were multiple gaps where bone was visible. Overall, there wasn''t much left. Though it was hard to see, there were organs on the floor opposite to the figure.


    And they were human organs.


    Though one could probably tell that it was human, so much of it was stripped away.


    And the only person that this could be, was naturally Sydney. It didn''t immediately register to the people in the group, but by connecting the dots, they coulde to this conclusion.


    She was currently standing, facing away from the group.


    Nicole slowly reached out.


    "M-Mom?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows. He didn''t know why, but felt like Sydney was still alive, and very much so.


    Nicole took a shaky step forward, but Kairos put one hand on her shoulder. Nicole turned to look at him with a shaky expression.


    "W-What?"


    Kairos did not respond. He just kept looking at the figure at the front silently.


    Chase couldn''t help but close his eyes in pity, murmuring to himself.


    "...To lose both parents in one day. A pitiful child."


    The flesh covering Sydney''s body was twitching strangely. It moved in such a way that made it seem as though they were individually alive. Almost like they were parasites blending in to look like muscle.


    Kairos suddenly narrowed his eyes.


    "...She''s regrowing."


    Nicole gasped.


    "Wh-What?"


    Tori was originally looking away, but after hearing that, she paid close attention to what was left of Sydney. Although it was hard to see from how erratically the flesh was moving, it was indeed regenerating.


    The process wasn''t the fastest, but it was at a rate that could be seen by the naked eye, which was rather startling. It did not take long for the gaps where the bones were exposed to grow over.


    Slowly, the muscles were restored to their original condition. Then, skin that was at a slightly red shade regrew on top. Even the hair slowly regrew into long yellow hair, when she was previously bald just a moment ago.


    One other factor was the intense waves of heat her body was emitting. It was almost as though there wasn''t a person there, but an actual fire. Despite standing a few meters away, it felt as though a warm nket was beingid upon their faces.


    Nicole was trembling slightly, overwhelmed by the rollercoaster of emotions she faced.


    "M-Mom?"


    Sydney raised her head slightly. It seemed that she had heard that. However, immediately afterwards, she fell down to her knees before copsing face-first into the floor.


    Nicole ran up.


    "Mom!"


    Kairos also hurried after her.


    Nicole crouched down next to Sydney and began shaking her gently.


    "Are you ok?"


    Kairos lifted up Sydney''s face, taking care not to be too forceful. There was a small frown on his face, as he half expected to see something horrifying.


    ...But it was just her normal face, currently with the eyes closed.


    Sydney''s nose moved ever so slightly, indicating that she was breathing.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "...She seems fine."


    He was honestly still a little creeped out, trying to justify what he just saw. That level of regeneration just... didn''t make sense. There shouldn''t have been enough energy within her body to even regenerate to that extent.


    Another thing that Kairos noticed was that the red mark she initially had on her forearm was now gone.


    Sydney definitely looked extremely emaciated right now, but it didn''t change that the amount she regenerated did not make sense.


    Suddenly, Chase spoke up.


    "Hey..."


    Kairos looked up.


    "What?"


    Chase furrowed his brows as he looked off into the distance.


    "I can''t really tell for sure, but I think there are thingsing our way."


    Kairos clicked his tongue and looked at Nicole.


    "Help me carry her back."


    Nicole hastily nodded before lifting the side of her up. Kairos did the same, but with only one hand as he was still holding a tiny ball of fire with the other for light.


    The process was a little awkward, but they were able to fit in the door as foreboding howling sounds resounded.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I''d rather not fight them as I''ve already used up all my mana."


    Chase nodded.


    "...Likewise."


    Tori didn''t seem to be against it either, so they all went inside the ce. However, as Kairos was about to slide the door shut, visions shed by his mind.


    He saw the wolves eating the bunnies, tearing up their carcesses for a split second.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Then, these strange red monsters with red hairs sticking out of them feasting on the dead wolves.


    Before he could get a better look at what they were, his vision shifted to himself, lying down on the floor with his eyes wide open and blood spilling out of his mouth. He was on the floor of his base, while the surrounding walls were all destroyed.


    Kairos visibly shook when that happened.


    His previous visions were pretty straightforward, telling he would turn into a monster if he was too exposed to either the red sunlight or red rain. However, he wasn''t too sure what this one was trying to tell him.


    Despite feeling overwhelmed because of that vision, he grabbed onto the side of his head and ran through various possibilities.


    Nicole gently touched his shoulder.


    "Are you ok?"


    Kairos did not respond.


    Instead, he suddenly pushed aside the door and walked outside. He pulled out the red prism while he was at it.


    Kairos murmured to himself.


    "...The smell of blood."


    Though before, he was concerned about the usage of the red prism, not wanting to waste the energy, that suddenly changed.


    Several tall walls began rising from the ground, epassing every single bunny corpse and trail of blood. Along with that, many slightly oversized wolves came into view, running deftly.


    Chase furrowed his brows.


    "What are you doing?"


    Tori frowned, hesitating on whether or not she should help.


    Because the building of walls wasn''t exactly fast, they were able to directly jump over them easily as they were being created. Their eyes seemed to glow in the dark night as they rushed over to Kairos, teeth bared.


    Though there were many wolves approaching him, Kairos still focused on creating the walls.


    Nicole shouted.


    "Watch out!"


    However, Kairos had already seen iting. He suddenly threw himself to the side, letting a wolf brush right past him. Though there was more where that wasing from.


    He was quickly surrounded on all ends by the wolves. They spent a few seconds just watching him. Chase knew that even if he wanted to help fight, there was nothing that he could do. However, he rummaged in his bag before pulling out a shlight.


    He turned it on and pointed it towards the ground so that the re wouldn''t get in the way.


    Though the wolves were still staring, Kairos did not have the same intention of standing around. He suddenly lunged forth, reaching out with his hand that was holding the fireball. It shot out, hitting one of the wolves in the head, creating a small explosion and lighting it ame.


    Veins immediately began to bulge around the wolf''s body. Kairos just so happened to know that when veins bulge, one of the reasons was that the body was sending blood to the surface to cool down.


    However, before he thought any more about it, he whipped with his leg, smashing it against the side of that wolf.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Right after, he dashed past the now dead wolf, escaping the encirclement before the wolves had any time to react.


    By now, the walls were tall enough for Kairos. He began creating a roof to close it all off.


    At the same time, the wolves dashed towards him.


    Kairos'' focus was currently sharpened to its peak. And that wasn''t because of the wolves dashing towards him, but the anxiety that came from his vision. He felt that if he did not close it off fast enough, that his death was almost certain.


    As the wolves closed in on him, Nicole, who still had the red watch on her, seemed unable to handle standing by anymore.


    She rushed forth, but all of the attention was on Kairos. Though she was able to plunge her axe into the body of a wolf, forcing one to engage with her, it didn''t change the overall situation.


    But Kairos somehow seemedpletely calm. He took off his sses and threw them over to Chase, who caught onto them. And at that moment, the wolves pounced.


    Simrly, Kairos also moved, dashing forwards and sliding down.


    As he did so, he kicked upwards, mming hard against one wolf''s ribcage and cracking it.


    After picking himself up, he came face to face with another wolf that lunged towards him. He dodged just barely enough to the side, and the wolf ended up biting down on the tail of the already injured one.


    Amidst its painful cries, Kairos leaped on top of it, catching the wolves off-guard. Almost immediately, he felt the difficulty of maintaining bnce, but was able to stay on with thebination of his high agility, his future vision, and peak focus.


    One wolf couldn''t wait and lunged forth anyway, but Kairos was able to time it so that he smashed his fist down on the top of its head. The wolf was forced down, but kept its mouth still open on instinct.


    Then, it bit down on the wolf Kairos was standing on.


    After taking a deep breath, he mmed down against that wolf''s skull once more, causing it to crack.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos could feel his knuckles stinging badly from that, but he wasn''t too focused on that. The wolf he was standing on began running around as it howled in pain, trying to get away from itsrades that suddenly started biting, and also trying to shake Kairos off.


    But he wasn''ting off any time soon.


    The wolf swerved from side to side, but it would never catch Kairos off guard. He was able to respond ordingly, and remain on top.


    At the same time, the roof was nearly halfway finished, just with a hole at the top that needed to be formed.


    Logically, Kairos should''ve felt reassured as he was almost finished closing the ce off, but for some reason his anxiety was only growing.


    From outside the walls, a strange muffled bristling sound resounded. It was almost like someone was running their finger down a toothbrush, but far louder and rougher.


    The wolves got closer once more and would asionally pounce towards Kairos, but he was able to bat them away. Though he could''ve chosen more lethal methods, he currently just wanted to close off the gap.


    Soon, there was only a meter wide circle in the ceiling. Considering this would just take a few seconds, Kairos began to calm down.


    However, his body suddenly tensed up.


    A faint red light was cast down,ing from the hole.


    That was because a giant eye was looking down at all of them from that hole. It was right next to it, and the iris itself was unable to be fully seen because of the size of the hole.


    "Found you."

 Chapter 40 Problems

    As soon as the red eye appeared, it was gone.


    However, that didn''t change how unsettled Kairos was, or the others. Though it was only for a short moment, he felt like he recognized that eye.


    It was the cult leader''s. The person that was a part of ''The Church of Evolution''. Specifically, The Red Priest.


    Kairos gave up on closing the roof.


    It was toote anyway.


    He tucked the red prism into his pocket before mming his fist down hard on the wolf he was riding.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    With a crack, the wolf copsed to the floor. The skin on Kairos'' knuckle was ripped off, but the job was done. The other wolves acted quickly, pouncing towards him.


    However, this time he directly jumped up higher,nding onto one of the wolf''s backs. Like this, he kept his bnce and continued to fight off the wolves.


    But this time, he was sweating slightly with a frown on his face.


    When a wolf leaped towards him, his hand shot out towards its eye, before grabbing down tightly. The wolf immediately let out howls of pain as it tried to escape, but as it was struggling, Kairos punched it with all he had.


    A startling crack resounded.


    The wolf''s struggles noticeably lessened, but it was still alive. As for Kairos, he began bleeding from his fist pretty badly, but he had bigger problems to worry about.


    Once again, he threw his fist, cracking the wolf''s skull.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    The wolf''s body fell limp, but he did not drop it. Instead, he threw it towards some other wolves in the process of pouncing towards him, blocking their advance.


    Still, Kairos did not pause. He didn''t know exactly what the red eye meant, but he knew that he did not have time to waste.


    Nicole was already killing the wolves she could while Kairos was distracting them. As for Chase and Tori, they both understood the urgency of the situation.


    Chase decided to stay and hold the shlight though. This was because there needed to be light for them to fight properly and he couldn''t do much at all right now anyway. As for Tori, she charged in towards the wolves despite the fact her arm was still faintly shaking from fatigue.


    Kairos focused on crushing the wolf skulls as efficiently as possible. With the rising anxiety, his blow became stronger.


    He directly threw his fist at the side of a wolf''s face that was pouncing towards him.


    A frightening cracking sound came from both the wolf and Kairos'' fist.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Another one lunged for him, prompting Kairos to smash down on the top of its skull.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    His fists began trembling ever so slightly. They were beginning to feel a little numb and cold. The only way he knew he still had sensation was the feeling of warmth from his own blood.


    When two wolves lunged for him, he grabbed them both by the neck and transferred their momentum into each other mming their heads together. The teeth of one ripped into the other.


    Kairos pulled the two away before mming them together once more.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    He dropped both corpses, letting themnd against the floor with a thud. As for Tori and Nicole, they were already covered in blood from the rabbits, but now they had a fresh coat over their bodies after killing quite a few of the wolves.


    They were pretty efficient, especially since they were all distracted by Kairos.


    In fact, once Kairos smashed his fist against another wolf...


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    He found that the only one alive was the one he was standing on.


    And so, he lifted up his foot before bringing it down like a bullet.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Nicole ran up to Kairos, only able to slightly open one eye because of the blood over her face.


    "Are you ok?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No. None of us are ok. We have to get out of here."


    Tori looked a little solemn.


    "Does that mean we abandon the one that can''t move?"


    Nicole froze up, unable to speak.


    As for Kairos, he furrowed his brows and frowned deeply.


    He didn''t want to give up on Sydney for multiple reasons. The primary one being Nicole might not be able to take it and the second one being that Sydney had an extremely frightening regeneration ability that made her very valuable.


    Kairos closed his eyes and massaged his temple with the tip of his finger despite how badly his hands were hurting.


    Was there some other option?


    But they really couldn''t bring a dead weight with them if they wanted to run. Even if they didn''t bring her along, it was questionable if they could get away even then.


    Kairos'' breathing became unsteady, but he suddenly paused as he thought of the underground caves where they originally got this prism. He got an idea.


    He pulled out the red prism and looked at the energy value.


    [Energy: 376/1000]


    A tremendous amount had been wasted on building the walls that turned out to be useless. It pained his heart a little that his decision ended up being the wrong one, but there was nothing he could do about it now.


    However... it should be enough to execute his n.


    "What if instead of running away, we hide?"


    Chase had jogged over and overheard the conversation.


    "How exactly should we hide?"


    Kairos looked down at the red prism.


    "I create a ce underneath the ground with this thing, then close off the top. We stay there for as long as we possibly can beforeing back out."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "...Will we have enough air?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I stayed in my room without opening the window for weeks. I even covered the vent. Though there was still air seeping in from the gap in the door, there shouldn''t have been too much."


    He sighed.


    "It will get stuffy, but a few days is no issue."


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "That sounds like it''s going to be a painful experience..."


    She cracked her neck.


    "My arms are killing me, I''m going to increase my endurance."


    With that, a status panel opened in front of her as her shaking finger reached out to add some points. Kairos immediately held her hand back.


    "No, not yet."


    Tori raised an eyebrow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Come on... just like one point."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It will use up your energy, making you eat more. We don''t have that kind of food right now, especially if we are going to hide."


    Tori frowned, but nodded.


    "...Alright. Feels a little annoying to have so many points but unable to use them."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "They aren''t going anywhere. Come on, let''s do this inside the house."


    He looked up at the hole in the ceiling.


    "Just in case anything else is watching..."


    The group made their way back into the house. As they did so, many strange rough bristling sounds came from outside the walls. It almost sounded like an animal running through the grass, so Kairos ignored it.


    Back in the house, Sydney was stillying down silently, unconscious as ever.


    Kairos shut the door behind them and pulled out the red prism. Though he took back his sses from Chase, he didn''t put them on for now.


    The reason was so that he could pay close attention to the energy count left in the prism. He wanted to keep at least 10 energy after the process was finished. After all, he had no ns of locking them all inside. There had to be some left over to reopen the gap.


    First, a tiny hole formed in the ground, just enough for a person to fit through. He then created a room underneath it, making it a little over two meters tall and making it as wide as he could. His reasoning was so that he could stay further away from the others justifiably.


    And so, he watched as the energy counter rapidly drained from the initial 376. As it got lower and lower, Kairos slowed down, until eventually, it reached an energy level of 15. From there, he tossed down his own bag, while everyone followed suit right after.


    Then he turned to look at Nicole.


    "Jump down first and be prepared to catch your mom."


    Nicole looked down the extremely skinny hole that seemed to go down into a deep darkness.


    "...Could you make the hole a tiny bitrger?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I made it small so that I could make the room a bitrger. Don''t worry, the only thing waiting for you down there is stone."


    Nicole seemed a little hesitant, but walked up next to the hole anyway. She slowly put one foot through after another. As she slid down, she held onto the sides of the floor with a bit of panic and slowly slid down.


    One of the bulging red veins rubbed against her back ufortably, prompting her to frown. However, she was able to get down, albeit letting out a slight yelp along the way.


    A muffled voice came from down below.


    "I made it! ...But it really is dark."


    Kairos proceeded to pick up Sydney, bringing her over to the hole. He made sure the feet went in first, before the rest of the body. He also made sure the arms weren''t caught on anything and especially so for the head.


    After that, he proceeded to let go.


    From down below, a soft grunt was heard. Then, Nicole called out.


    "I... I got her!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh, before calling out.


    "Try to get out of the way so that we can jump down too."


    Nicole called out.


    "Alright!"


    After a few dragging sounds, she called out once more.


    "It''s clear now."


    With that, Kairos tucked both feet in the hole before slipping down. The feeling of the bulging red veins was admittedly strange, but it wasn''t harmful. Hended on the ground with a clear tap, now essentially inplete darkness. It felt a little cold, but otherwise, it was fine.


    Not being able to see anything admittedly made him feel a little anxious, but he knew that the only thing down here was him, Nicole, and Sydney.


    Kairos looked around, before quickly realizing he wasn''t going to see anything.


    "Hey, where are you, Nicole?"


    Nicole let out a soft cough.


    "Um, over here."


    Kairos then walked in the opposite direction and called out afterwards.


    "Alright, you can jump down now."


    Chasended down the next moment with a tiny grunt. He had thrown himself down without the slightest care. He then shined the shlight down, letting everyone see.


    Some of the backpacks were knocked over. Kairos promptly dragged them to the side, then called out.


    "You can jump."


    After a few seconds, Torinded down on the ground.


    She took a deep breath and looked around.


    "...Alright. Guess we are going to have to get familiar with this ce."


    Chase suddenly narrowed his eyes.


    "...Say, how will we deal with the need to go to the washroom?"


    The room immediately fell silent.


    Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "We can dedicate one side of the room for that."


    Tori frowned.


    "Oh god... it''s going to smell so bad."


    Kairos suddenly furrowed his brows.


    "Wait."


    Nicole perked up.


    "You... have another solution?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Sort of? I remember I haven''t needed to use the washroom ever since the red sun rose. In fact, my stomach almost always felt empty."


    Chase rubbed his chin.


    "...That is the same for me. I remember a simr situation when I was out in the wilderness with far less food than nned. I rationed it all out, just barely eating enough to survive. Thatsted for a week or so, and I only needed to go once in that entire time."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "It seems that because our bodies are not as much energy as it needs, it refuses to let any of it go."


    Kairos sighed.


    "...Well, that''s one less problem."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "Of many."

 Chapter 41 Strawberry Gum

    Kairos looked up towards the hole within the ceiling. He wasn''t sure if he wanted to close it up right away. Though he had reassured Nicole earlier about the concern about air, he couldn''t help but also have those same concerns.


    But in the end, he did it.


    Then, he took a look at the energy remaining on the red prism.


    [Energy: 13/1000]


    It was a very small amount, but it should be enough for the purposes of getting out. While before, the red prism had a fairly strong glow, right now it was very dull.


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched as he came to a realization.


    "Speaking of rationing, how long is that shlight going tost?"


    Chase seemed toe to a realization as he frowned.


    "...I am not entirely sure, but the most it hassted before was ten hours. Considering I have used this shlight before without recing the battery, an optimistic estimate is five."


    With that, he turned it off, sending the room into darkness.


    Kairos sighed.


    "I guess we should only use it when we need to eat. To make use of that time, I guess that we should all eat quickly and at the same time."


    Tori fumbled around in the darkness.


    "Um, could you turn the light on for a second? I can''t find my bag."


    Chase let out a hum.


    "It will be less than a second, get prepared to memorize everything."


    With that, he turned the shlight on for a split second, letting everyone catch sight of the surroundings for a split second before fading away.


    Tori sighed.


    "Ah, there''s my bag!"


    On other hand, Kairos froze up.


    That was because he saw Sydney that wasying down on the ground, but with her eyes wide open. They were slightly bloodshot from what he could tell.


    What creeped him out was the fact she was justying down there expressionlessly, almost like she was still unconscious.


    But the fact her eyes were open told a different story.


    If it wasn''t for that sh of light, he never would''ve even known.


    Kairos began considering that it might''ve been a bad idea to bring Sydney along so easily, not to mention without so much as a restraint on her body. He frowned, wondering why he didn''t even consider the possibility that Sydney might not be the most peaceful.


    Kairos did not act out right away. Instead, he began wondering what exactly Sydney intended on doing.


    "Anyways... we should be careful how we step. After all, one of us is unconscious right now and lying on the floor. It would probably be an unwee surprise if someone stepped on her."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "I should check up on her."


    Kairos coughed.


    "Maybe not right now?"


    Nicole was confused.


    "Eh? Why?"


    Kairos scratched the back of his neck.


    "What if you identally poke her eye because you couldn''t see? I think we should wait a little while at least."


    Nicole paused for a second.


    "Um, ok?"


    After a bit of silence, she spoke up.


    "So should we turn on the light to put everything together?"


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately.


    "...Alright."


    He said it a little solemnly, which the rest of the group caught onto, but didn''t really understand. After a bit of hesitation, Chase turned on the shlight.


    Kairos had his eyes dead set on where Sydney was earlier.


    And when the light came on...


    She wasn''t there.


    Kairos'' eyes immediately widened as he frantically looked around. While the light from the shlight covered most of the room, it didn''t cover all of it. And strangely enough, Sydney wasn''t anywhere to be seen.


    Nicole gasped when she noticed this.


    "Mom?"


    She looked around with confusion.


    "She was just here a moment ago."


    Chase frowned before wordlessly pointing the shlight towards one end of the room, then another.


    Eventually, itnded on one corner.


    Tori''s grip on her sword became a little tighter.


    "What the..."


    Sydney was awkwardly cringing in that corner. She was facing away from everyone else, while her head was lowered and pressed up against the corner. She seemed to be fumbling with her hands, but as for what she was doing, that was unclear. As for her body, it was faintly trembling.


    What topped it all off was the fact her body was emaciated, making her look even more like a monster.


    Nicole''s eyes widened considerably.


    "You''re up already? Are you... ok?"


    All things considered, Sydney definitely did not seem ok. However, she did seem to react to Nicole''s words.


    Sydney slowly turned her head around with one hand on the side of her face.


    Her eyes were twitching uncontrobly.


    "I... I''m sorry."


    Nicole took a few steps forward.


    "Sorry? Sorry for what?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney suddenly clenched the hand on the side of her face, stretching out the skin. Then she closed her eyes tightly.


    "I... I tried to eat you."


    Nicole noticeably flinched when she heard that. However, she seemed to get over it quickly.


    "You are that hungry? Quickly, you should get something to eat!"


    She picked up the bag from the floor and hastily opened it. After pulling out a bag of bread, she slowly walked towards Sydney.


    From her slow and hesitant steps, it was clear she was still a little afraid.


    Kairos did not say anything, but he followed Nicole from behind. If he saw something out of hand happen he would act.


    However, it seemed that his concerns were somewhat needless.


    Sydney began trying to back away, but since she was already in the corner, the only thing she aplished was pushing herself up against the wall.


    "No, no. No... get away from me."


    Sydney covered her face with both hands, as though not wanting anyone to look at her.


    Nicole seemed to be a little less afraid, and more concerned as she walked a little faster.


    "You have to eat something! You aren''t thinking properly right now."


    Sydney shook her head violently.


    "No! No!"


    She reached out with her hand as though wanting to push her back, but then retracted it seemingly out of fear.


    Originally, Kairos had pressing worries on how they were going to manage their food if Sydney was so desperately hungry. However, the problem quickly reversed into finding a way to get her to eat in the first ce.


    Kairos had seen something like this before.


    Anorexia.


    It was when someone desperately didn''t want to eat, the mostmon cause being the desire to lose weight in order to look a different way. However, the cause was definitely different here. The reason why it stood out to him was that he remembered this was something that Nicole dealt with before.


    It came up just when their teenage years were starting, just barely thirteen. At the time, their rtionship was still really close, essentially best friends.


    Kairos wouldn''t often get things like candies or snacks, but whenever he did, his first instinct was not to eat it himself, but to save it for Nicole. The only time when he ever did actually eat them was when he had at least two, so that one of them could be given away.


    As for why he did that, it was as simple as the fact that he enjoyed sharing with Nicole.


    There was nothing more than that.


    However, one day, when he offered her a tiny chocte egg, she refused it. Kairos didn''t question it, and took the egg back. But he did feel a little sad. After some time, Kairos got back home and just stared at the chocte egg instead of eating it.


    But then, that egg melted.


    So he threw it away, though he did think it was a waste.


    The next day, he felt the urge to give Nicole something, thus taking one of his favorite snacks, a small pack of sweet and sour candy as he went outside.


    Yet, when he met up with her and offered it, she still seemed reluctant.


    Kairos couldn''t help but ask why, prompting Nicole to respond by saying that she was full. He did feel a little sad again, but quickly thought of a solution.


    On the next day, Kairos made sure to buy a pack of strawberry vored bubblegum using his allowance money. While it was cheap, it was also most of his monthly allowance since his parents only gave him a little bit.


    Though he didn''t feel aggrieved over that loss at all.


    For the third day, he met up with Nicole and offered her a piece of strawberry bubblegum. Initially, she refused, but Kairos insisted.


    After all, it was gum, which wasn''t supposed to be eaten.


    Following that logic, Nicole ended up epting it. She still hesitated before putting the gum in her mouth and after chewing only once, she stopped.


    Kairos looked at her strangely, asking if the vor was bad, all the while chewing on one himself.


    However, Nicole shook her head as tears fell down her face. It was actually her favorite vor. Though it seemed hard to do, she forced herself to continue slowly chewing.


    Kairos panicked and ended up apologizing, thinking that he forced her to eat a bad vor, even though he himself thought it tasted pretty good.


    However, Nicole quickly rified the situation. She told him about how she really didn''t want to eat, even when it became really painful. For some reason, she began thinking that she was bing ugly.


    Kairos waspletely blown away by this.


    He couldn''tprehend why she thought this way, and said that he thought she was the prettiest in the world. Nicole didn''t believe him, but he asserted this intently. It seemed that because his thoughts were genuine, it gradually rubbed off.


    Nicole seemed quite happy because of it.


    He brought over the gum for the next few days and chewed it with her. Though he didn''t do more than that, it seemed to cheer Nicole up.


    Kairos did notice that over the days she got ufortably skinny, but by the time the pack of gum ran out, she didn''t seem against eating.


    Though Kairos was actually a little afraid of the weight that she lost during that short time. Her parents didn''t notice it, but with how often he was with her, it was quite noticeable.


    Although that was not the longest of experiences, it was something that stuck with him.


    Kairos looked at Sydney for a few moments, cowering away from the food. He slightly narrowed his eyes. Then, he walked over to his backpack and opened up a smallpartment.


    On the inside was an unopened packet of strawberry gum.


    He came back, peeled it open and unwrapped a piece of the gum before handing it over to Sydney. Nicole seemed a little shocked when she saw it, but didn''t say anything.


    In the end, Sydney didn''t even look towards the piece of gum. She kept her hands in front of her face, not even looking.


    "Get away!"


    Kairos crouched down and spoke softly.


    "It''s just a piece of gum. There''s no food."


    Sydney slowly averted her hand, peeking out from a small gap. She ended up cowering back and shaking her head.


    "I... I don''t want it."


    Kairos could guess the reason why Sydney was so averse to eating food. He very clearly recalled all the half eaten bunnies that rested at her feet.


    It seemed that Sydney had remembered that experience. Kairos himself knew how it felt to bite down like that as he did that before in desperation to kill a monster. It definitely wasn''tfortable.


    She was traumatized by the very act of chewing itself, just like Nicole.


    Kairos took a deep breath and put the piece of gum in his own mouth before chewing.


    Sydney flinched at the sound.


    Kairos spoke softly once more.


    "It''s just a piece of gum, with a sweet strawberry vor. Want to try one?"


    Sydney slowly moved the hands away from her face.

 Chapter 42 We Arent Kids Anymore

    Kairos slowly held out another piece of strawberry gum with his hand while softly chewing on the one in his mouth. Though this wasn''t really the time, he couldn''t help but think that it tasted pretty good.


    In the end, though Sydney seemed scared, she reached out to take it.


    There was a strong contrast between the smooth piece of gum and her wrinkled skin. But in the end, she wasn''t able to put it into her mouth.


    Kairos thought this might be because he couldn''t normalize it, thus stood up and pulled another one out of the pack before handing it towards Nicole.


    "Do you want one?"


    Nicole blinked a few times before nodding.


    "Um, yeah."


    She gently reached out and took it before slowly unwrapping the piece of gum. Kairos then looked towards Chase and Tori.


    "What about you guys?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s a little weird you have gum in the apocalypse, but if we are going to be down here for a while... then it would be nice to have one."


    Kairos flicked one over towards Chase, who caught it promptly. He then looked over to Tori and gave her a look when it seemed like she didn''t really want one.


    Tori seemed to catch on, nodding with a bit of hesitation.


    "Sure."


    Kairos tossed another one towards her.


    It did not take long for the room to be filled with various chewing noises. Sydney looked around her a few more times before looking back at the piece of strawberry gum. Then, she slowly put it in her mouth.


    Almost immediately, she began violently chewing down on it, a show of how hungry she really was. In reality, it did startle Kairos slightly, but he made sure not to show it, pretending it waspletely normal.


    Sydney forced herself to stop and grabbed onto the side of her head, groaning slightly.


    Kairos slowly asked a question.


    "Is the vor of gum bad? You seemed to like it at first."


    He purposely stayed on the word gum a little longer to more clearly show she wasn''t eating flesh, but rather a piece of gum, so there was nothing to be concerned about.


    Sydney shivered slightly before shaking her head.


    "N-No."


    She began chewing again, slow at first, but rapidly became quicker and quicker.


    Kairos coughed a little when he saw this.


    "Ah, I almost swallowed it, but you aren''t supposed to eat gum, haha."


    That was a lie, but it was supposed to wake up Sydney to make her realize she was just chewing on gum.


    Thankfully, it seemed to work as she stopped chewing so obsessively on it. Kairos kept his eyes on her the entire time, trying to gauge any changes he saw.


    And so, he was able to notice that Sydney was sneaking nces at the bag of bread Nicole was holding. She seemed to calm down considerably but was still a little jittery.


    Kairos looked over to Nicole.


    "Say, I''m a little tired of chewing on the gum."


    He then spat it out, letting itnd to the side.


    "Could I have a piece of bread? I''m feeling a little hungry."


    That wasn''t exactly a lie, because he was definitely hungry. Nicole nodded slowly.


    "O-Ok."


    She seemed to catch on to what Kairos was doing, and also made her actions slow and gentle as she gave the piece of bread.


    Kairos took it before slowly and deliberately chewing.


    After taking a bite, he spoke up.


    "Does anybody want one?"


    Sydney practically instinctively raised her hand.


    "A-Ah... I-I."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Oh, you want some?"


    He turned to Nicole.


    "Why don''t you give her the bag so she can take as many as she wants."


    In response, Nicole nodded hurriedly.


    "Yes!"


    Sydney grabbed onto the bag with both hands a little tightly. She reached in and anxiously took one, but before eating it, she let the piece of gum fall out of her mouth slowly.


    Sydney slowly raised one bread up to her mouth, before taking a small bite. Then, she began eating ravenously, no longer holding back. She ate it quite messily, holding onto multiple pieces and clenching onto them tightly.


    Considering that it did not even take a minute for her to finish the entire bag, it showed how hungry she was. By the end, she began panting slightly, but it seemed to be out of relief.


    A few secondster, she let out a gasp.


    "Ah! I''m... I''m sorry..."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s fine. You were just a little hungry."


    That being said, he couldn''t help but feel a little jealous that she had eaten the whole bag when that was what he wanted to do. Nheless, he just continued to eat the piece that he was holding onto.


    Kairos then walked back over to the others and looked over his shoulder, towards Sydney.


    "Are you going toe back now?"


    Sydney held onto the side of her head ufortably, but seemed to be more or less fine now.


    "Ah... ok, ok."


    They went back together as a group back near the center. Upon reaching there, Chase ended up scratching the back of his head.


    "Um... what now?"


    Kairos scratched his head.


    "I guess turn off the light and catch up on some sleep. We were trying to sleep before all of this, after all."


    Tori chuckled.


    "Ah, that''s convenient. Now I won''t have to take watch."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Just don''t make too much sound, and we should be fine. Remember we are hiding, because of..."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "The Red Priest we pissed off earlier."


    Sydney''s eyes widened slightly.


    "Eh? What happened before?"


    Kairos rolled his shoulder.


    "There was a giant red eye that looked down at us. The reason we are hiding out here in the first ce is in hopes that they don''t find us. If we stay down here long enough, they should stop looking and we can probably leave."


    Sydney seemed slightly taken aback.


    "So... we shouldn''t be eating too much..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "We should be rationing food, but not starving ourselves to death. Eating when we really have to is natural."


    He massaged his temple.


    "Anyway, we can talk about thister. I still didn''t get much sleep. Since we won''t have much to do, this is the best opportunity for us to take some rest. Who knows how long we will have to waitter on?"


    With that, heid down on the floor, shifting ufortably. His head was aching slightly, making him just want toy down.


    Chase seemed to more or less agree as he had turned off the shlight and alsoid down on the ground.


    A few snoring sounds filled the air,ing from Tori and Sydney. It seemed that they were both quite tired.


    A little whileter, Chase had fallen asleep as well.


    Kairos yawned and was about to drift off along with the rest of them, but Nicole grabbed onto his hand before he did so.


    She whispered to him.


    "Th-Thank you for helping my mom."


    Kairos closed his eyes with a slight grumble.


    "No problem."


    He rested his head against one of the red veins that were on the floor and fell asleep before Nicole could say anything more.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ...


    Kairos saw himself walking home from school. At the time, he was walking home with Nicole, but there was a slight frown on his face, displeased about something.


    On the other hand, Nicole had a really excited expression.


    She hugged Kairos tightly and giggled.


    "Let''s go to the park! We haven''t been there sincest week!"


    Kairos did not respond at first.


    Nicole lowered her head and peeked at his face.


    "Is that a yes? Or..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "We still have to do our homework, don''t we?"


    Nicole seemed taken aback.


    "Ehhh? But we didn''t even get that much, and we haven''t been to the park in so long!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "We aren''t kids anymore. Instead of ying, we should be working."


    Nicole visibly recoiled before shaking Kairos a little.


    "Earth to Kairos? Are you there? You must''ve been reced by an alien!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "I''m right here in front of you. It seems like you are the one that needs sses."


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "Gah... Why are you being so uptight? It''s not like we are actually adults! When we grow older it''s going to be all boring all the time, we should y around while we have the chance!"


    Kairos continued walking forward, not even sparing her a nce.


    "Being a kid is more than just being young, and being an adult is more than just being over eighteen. It''s also about changing as a person. And I have changed to not wanting to go to the park anymore."


    Nicole let out an unsatisfied grumble.


    "Then let''s just stay kids forever! I don''t want to grow up!"


    Kairos lowered his head.


    "Growing up isn''t a choice you get to make. It just happens."


    He frowned.


    "Plus, it''s already toote. I said this before."


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "We aren''t kids anymore."


    ...


    Kairos woke up, feeling ufortable.


    And soon enough, he found the source.


    Someone''s leg was on his chest.


    He furrowed his brows and pushed it off. Soon after, Tori let out a groan.


    "Hmm..."


    After the sound of rustling and a yawn, she spoke once more.


    "Why are you pushing me around? That''s rude."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Why did you think my chest was a good ce to put your leg? It made it awkward to breathe."


    Tori grumbled.


    "Hey, hey, I can''t help that I move around a lot in my sleep, but you didn''t have to push me."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Just because you didn''t mean to do it, doesn''t change the fact that you did."


    Tori chuckled.


    "Oh, so what if I told you that I meant to put my leg there? I''m sure that would change how you felt, no?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...Fair enough."


    Their conversation ended up waking the others up. Nicole sat up and let out some satisfied grunting noises as she stretched.


    "Good morning!"


    Chase grumbled.


    "Is it even morning?"


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Our internal clocks are probably going to get really messed up by this."


    Sydney let out a randomment.


    "My hands feel quite strange... My face feels a little strange as well."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Um... you lost a bit of weight when you fought earlier."


    Sydney gasped.


    "I did?"


    After a few rubbing noises, she eximed once more.


    "Oh, dear... I did. But I''ve done exercise before and it hasn''t been that drastic."


    Kairos couldn''t help but open his mouth with the urge to ask, ''Do you not remember what you did?''


    However, he also thought that might trigger a bad memory, thus he shut his mouth.


    Tori let out a dissatisfied sigh.


    "It reeks of blood."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "It always reeked of blood."


    Tori mumbled.


    "But this is different... if we were in the middle of a battle then it would at least help pump up the adrenaline, but now it''s just stinky."


    Kairos rolled his eyes, not responding to it.


    Sydney spoke up, but in the form of an embarrassed mumble.


    "How will we decide when we eat?"


    Chase responded fairly promptly.


    "Considering that we have at least eaten somewhat regrly beforehand, we shouldn''t eat for quite a while."


    Kairos brushed off some dried blood that had formed on his knuckles.


    "And why is that?"


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "Well, right now our bodies expect a normal amount of food intake and are operating off that basis. If we continue to do so, they will also operate on the same capacity. If we want to make the most of our food, we first have to stop eating."


    Kairos nodded.


    "For how long?"


    Chase sighed.


    "We shouldn''t think about how long. If all of our thoughts are about food, then it will quickly drain us and make us even more tired than before. The way I survived starvation before was distracting myself."


    Kairos put a finger on his chin.


    "Fair enough. What should we talk about?"


    Tori let out a soft gasp as though she had been enlightened.


    "Oh, what about how to use our points?"

 Chapter 43 Status

    Kairos hesitated on the sentiment of using points. However, he already trusted these other people to a certain extent. He at least dared to sleep in apletely dark room with them. Though that was more because of the circumstance rather than actual trust, since nobody tried to take advantage of another''s vulnerability, Kairos thought it was ok.


    "...I guess we can share each other''s stats."


    Though Kairos couldn''t see anything in the darkness, he could still feel that Chase was surprised just from the silence.


    Tori didn''t seem to realize this, and opened up her status panel straight away.


    "This is mine."


    [Status]


    [ID: 133543657645]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.2]


    [Strength - 2.7


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 1.5


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    Though there was still no light, that panel glowed enough to be visible, but just didn''t light anything else up.


    Kairos was a little surprised at how readily she shared the status panel, but decided to just look at all the stats first. Something that really stood out to him was her staggeringly low endurance, despite her other stats being high.


    He pointed this out.


    "Um, why did you max agility and willpower when you hardly had anything in endurance?"


    Tori raised an eyebrow.


    "Why would I do that? If I put it all into one, then the values go super high! If it''s all spread out, then they are all so low."


    Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    "Specializing in something is normal, but you can''tg behind in other aspects too much or they will be crucial weaknesses."


    Tori shrugged her shoulders.


    "Alright, alright. It''s not like I didn''t add anything at all to it, I gave a bit. Plus, I was going to do it, but then you told me not to because of food or something!"


    Kairos blinked a few times. It didn''t ur to him before, but he couldn''t help but think that Tori was a little weird. As he thought back on the past experiences he had with her, this feeling of weirdness became stranger.


    Perhaps that should''ve been clear when she took a hostage to be allies with the group that opposed her.


    It just really... didn''t make sense.


    Though the more jarring thing to Kairos was how easily Tori trusted them. Even Chase woke up with a nightmare just sleeping next to them, and wouldn''t go to sleep easily himself on the first day.


    However, Tori didn''t even slightly care, sleeping as though there wasn''t even an apocalypse. If they wanted to kill her, it would''ve been incredibly easy. And there was a perfectly good reason to, her katana.


    Sydney let out a soft hum.


    "The maximum points is just a little away from five?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Yes, until you evolve it seems."


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "It looks like you have enough to max them all out to have over twenty left over."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Evolving will take twenty points, so that works out nicely."


    He took off his sses for a moment, trying to see if there would be anything different.


    There were two changes.


    [Rank: 46/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    The first thing Kairos noted was that she seemed to have a lower total evolution energypared to him. He wasn''t sure if that just varied from person to person, or if one of them was an exception. Though after seeing the others, it would probably reveal the answer to his question.


    Theck of inborn abilities immediately made Kairose to the conclusion that her ability to disappear into mist shoulde from the katana.


    At least, that was what made the most sense.


    Tori seemed to feel pretty good about her points.


    "Heh, I''ve basically already caught up to you, Kairos!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess."


    Tori let out a soft hum.


    "So after I max out all my stats, I can evolve, then I can increase my agility even further."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "There''s something else you need to evolve."


    Tori seemed surprised.


    "Eh? What is it?"


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "I''m not sure, but it seems rted to all that red stuff that always shows up."


    Tori seemed a little upset.


    "...Oh."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You will probably get the option sooner orter."


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "Hey, why does your objective say survive?"


    Tori seemed confused.


    "Um, I don''t know."


    Chase waited a few seconds before opening his own status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 734513523564]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 15.2]


    [Strength - 3.8


    Agility - 4.2


    Endurance - 3.5


    Willpower - 4.0


    Mana Capacity - 4.9


    Magic Affinity - 4.9]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    Chase seemed a little surprised.


    "It appears that my objective has also changed to be the same."


    Tori gasped.


    "You have so many points in mana and magic."


    Kairos couldn''t help but look at the maxed out mana capacity and magic affinity.


    "You were able to add points into your magic stats?"


    Chase sounded confused.


    "What? Are you not able to?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "...I was only able to after evolving, because it gave me a tenth of a point in each. Without it, I wouldn''t have been able to cast anything."


    He then thought of the inborn abilities, thinking that it could be because of that.


    [Rank: 45/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Inborn Abilities: Hero (Null)]


    However, the moment he saw the ability name, it just didn''t seem to be the cause. Considering that it was grayed out and the strange ''Null'', it made Kairos feel that whatever it was, that the effect shouldn''t be active.


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "Huh. Now that I think about it, I believe I know the cause."


    Tori sounded excited.


    "Oh, I would like to have magic in advance too."


    Chase stammered.


    "Uh, I don''t think it will work like that."


    Tori sounded upset.


    "Huh? You''re not going to share how you did it?"


    Chase responded calmly.


    "I will share, it simply isn''t easily replicable. When the red sun first came, a bit of sunlight shone from the window and onto my chest. It was extremely painful for my heart, and seemed to change it on a fundamental level."


    He sighed.


    "I always thought it was useless, but I suppose I shouldn''tin since it gave me early ess to magic."


    Sydney seemed a little lost.


    "...The red sun?"


    She ended up opening her own status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 423632551433]


    [Rank: F+]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 10.2]


    [Strength - 4.3


    Agility - 3.7


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.1


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: Gnawing Hunger (F-)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Tori spoke out first.


    "Why are your excess points so low? You killed so many things. Were you adding them while we weren''t looking?"


    Sydney sounded confused.


    "What?... No, I haven''t been. These are much higher than the ones I remember."


    Nicole let out a soft mutter.


    "Gnawing hunger?"


    Sydney gasped.


    "What? When did that get there?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "It seems like you somehow created an ability for yourself. Though it really does seem like you should have more extra points on you."


    Sydney was a little exasperated.


    "But... I really don''t remember adding those points. Seriously!"


    Kairos took off his sses.


    [Rank: 97/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    "I do believe you, but somehow or another, you seem to be using up your points."


    He came to the conclusion that she either genuinely forgot that she did add them, or they were somehow used up automatically.


    Kairos felt that the second option was more likely, especially because of the gnawing hunger ability.


    Though one thing that made him more concerned was the extremely high evolution energy that Sydney had. Even when Kairos stood next to the red rain for extended periods of time, his total amount didn''t reach close to Sydney''s.


    He didn''t think that there was anything that should''ve increased it so dangerously other than her exposure to the red sun. Unless... the incident where Sydney rushed out to all the bunnies was to be considered.


    Nicole let out a soft gasp


    "The objective is to evolve, and there is even a button..."


    Kairos frowned slightly.


    "You have the option to evolve, so you should save your points and evolve once you can."


    Chase disagreed.


    "But wouldn''t it be better to increase the other stats for immediate gain? Then she can also gain more points when killing other things. Or does evolving present some other boon, other than costing so many points?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "I just... have a feeling."


    He didn''t know how else to exin the anxiety that the 97/100 gave him. Kairos thought about the people transforming into monsters and how Sydney herself mentioned she almost tried to eat someone.


    There seemed to be some corrtion to transforming and a high amount of evolution energy.


    Maybe if someone exceeded their cap, then that would start the process that turns them into a monster.


    Sydney seemed rather casual about her situation.


    "I think it will be fine. My stats are already close to the limit, so increasing them won''t matter too much."


    Nicole coughed.


    "Um... should I show mine?"


    It was a question meant for Kairos, but Tori spoke up first.


    "Why not?"


    And so, under that pressure, Nicole shared hers.


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 20.5]


    [Strength - 4.8


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.5


    Willpower - 4.8


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    Tori spoke up and seemed confused.


    "You already added all your points? When did you do that?"


    Nicole seemed flustered.


    "Eh? I added a little..."


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably when he saw the panel. All of the stats were almost at max. It immediately made him think of the red watch.


    As dots connected in his mind, he quickly realized that the watch seemed to increase points somewhat based on the amount of things killed. That was what let Nicole get so many points naturally.


    He couldn''t help but wonder if the red watch should be rotated around so that they all could get this benefit.


    ...Maybe in the future, but now was too soon.


    Kairos looked at her status panel without the sses.


    [Rank: 37/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Inborn Abilities: Lost (Null)]


    The rank was normal, but Nicole also seemed to have some strange ability, but it was grayed out like Chase''s.


    Chase spoke up.


    "It seems that our group is going to have a few E ranks soon."


    Then he let out a soft sigh.


    "Anyways, there''s only one person left we haven''t seen."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Here is mine."


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 7.4]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 5.0


    Magic Affinity - 3.0]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos'' immediate thought was that his avable points were pitifully low for how many things he had killed. Everyone else had points in the double digits, and some far into that amount.


    Then Chase spoke up.


    "...So I was right."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Yeah, yeah."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "Eh? Right about what?"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "It doesn''t really matter."


    As for what Chase was looking at, it was Kairos'' ID. He recognized it because he had seen it before. After all, when Kairos first encountered him, Chase was repeating his ID.


    Chaseughed.


    "You really... stand out, huh? I wonder what-"


    "Quiet."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Hey I-"


    "Seriously."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...Don''t make a sound."

 Chapter 44 Silent

    Everyone fell silent by Kairos'' request.


    And at first, there was only silence.


    But then, there were these strange, but familiar, bristling sounds. After a few moments, it became quite easy to make out numerous of these soundsing from almost everywhere around them.


    They were quite hard to distinguish, as they didn''t exactly sound like anything recognizable. It made the actual meaning of the sound a little confusing.


    Then out of nowhere, there was an abrupt m that came from above them before a loud screech. It seemed that whatever was above them, knew that they were down there.


    Countless more mming noises resounded as more aggressive screeching rang out.


    The ground had begun shaking, and that could be clearly felt by everyone involved. Everyone had fallen silent due to fear, but this prompted Kairos to frown as he felt that it was toote.


    This process had continued for over ten minutes, just relentless banging and screaming. However... it eventually died down.


    Yet, while those sounds gradually disappeared, the bristling sounds were still there. They were quite hard to make out and extremely muffled, but they were still there.


    Kairos spoke quietly.


    "Get closer to the center so we can talk without as much noise."


    Whatever was above them didn''t seem to be triggered by that noise. As they shuffled closer, someone ended up banging into someone else, but they only let out a faint grunt. However, they were able to make it to the center.


    Kairos spoke softly.


    "Now, let''s sit down."


    With a few shuffling sounds, everyone did as told. He then let out a gentle sigh.


    "All of us were negligent and forgot the reason why we were here in the first ce, to hide."


    The breathing soundsing from everyone were quite heavy. This paired with the bristling sounds that still came from above them made the atmosphere a little scary.


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "From now on, we need to be quieter. Much quieter."


    Nicole took a slow and deep breath.


    "What was that?"


    Kairos closed his eyes, which didn''t really change anything considering it was all ck. But he recalled that vision he had of those strange monsters with hair on their back.


    "Probably a special kind of monster."


    From what he could guess, it was probably just the things from his vision.


    Though Kairos wasn''t sure how they had gotten here, he didn''t think that the monsters finding out was life-threatening. At least, not directly.


    After all, it seemed that while the monsters were strong, they couldn''t seem to damage the material that the red prism had created.


    At this point, given how little energy was left in the red prism, there wasn''t much option for them left. They either had to continue hiding, or get out and fight.


    Frankly, Kairos did not believe that they would be able to fight the monsters, especially since they would have toe out one at a time, and immediately be surrounded by whatever they were.


    He took in a shaky breath.


    "At this point, we havemitted to hiding. The only thing that we can hope, is those things think that the sound was just some sort of coincidence."


    Chase seemed a little distraught.


    "Though I expect it from other people, I never thought I would be this negligent."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "I imagine it is because all of us felt quite safe in this room, away from all the other things. However, in reality we are not all that safe."


    Tori spoke up with hesitation.


    "I still hear that strange sound."


    She was referring to the bristling. Nicole''s voice was shaky as she said her piece.


    "Are we going to die?"


    Sydney''s breathing had be erratic.


    "We were found out."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Don''t panic. They might not know just yet."


    He pressed his lips together.


    "Let''s just stay silent now."


    With that, the group fell quiet.


    However, those bristling sounds indicating the presence of monsters did not go away. Nheless, everyone stayed quiet.


    Once a few minutes passed, everyone started to get a little anxious.


    After twenty minutes, they got even more worried.


    And after an hour, a few people were beginning to lose hope.


    The bristling sounds were still there.


    Tori took in a shaky breath.


    "Am I really going to die like this?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "If one of us speaks up too loudly, then probably yes."


    Though he was trying to keep hisposure, he was also feeling quite aggrieved as well. The constant bristling sound was beginning to wear him down. It didn''t help that the stench of blood had be revolting and they were in apletely dark environment.


    At this point, Chase spoke up softly.


    "...We can''t keep going like this. I said before that if we only think about food, we will be mentally drained, but if we stay like this in fear the entire time the result will still be the same."


    Kairos lowered his head.


    "Then what should we do?"


    Chase seemed to be at a loss for words, however, he spoke up eventually.


    "We can very quietly share stories. Get to know each other better."


    Sydney let out a soft groan.


    "I don''t think I can get myself in the mood for telling stories right now."


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "Then... how about listening?"


    Sydney muttered.


    "I suppose I don''t have a choice in that matter."


    Chase sighed.


    "Let''s just convince ourselves that we are camping, and sharing stories with each other. The reason why we are quiet is because we don''t want to wake the others up from sleeping. As for those sounds, it''s just grass being blown by the wind."


    Tori stammered.


    "Th-That sounds much better."


    Chase let out a suppressed chuckle.


    "Do you want to start with the story then?"


    Tori hummed.


    "Why not?"


    A few rustling sounds came from her direction, probably because she was repositioning herself.


    "Hmm. What kind of story should I tell? Something funny, or maybe my life story?"


    Chase seemed to not be as fearful anymore, responding cheerfully.


    "That''s the beauty of it, you can do whatever you want. Just make sure to be quiet so you don''t wake up the others."


    Tori seemed encouraged by this.


    "Then I will just say whateveres to mind."


    She already seemed to forget the situation they were in.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "My dad owns a dojo, though I never really knew why. He alwaysined that it was so much work and hardly got any money, but whenever the topic of selling it or giving it away was brought up, he would ignore it."


    Tori sounded a little exasperated.


    "But it wasn''t enough for him to just manage to dojo by himself, he would always bring me along. Because of that, I spent almost all of my childhood just in the dojo, swinging around a wooden katana."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "So that''s why you can swing that thing so easily."


    Tori seemed a little embarrassed.


    "Haha, I''m still nowhere closepared to the better people at swordsmanship. Though I did practice nearly everyday, so I''m still not too bad."


    Nicole let out a faint gasp of amazement.


    "Wow, I bet you had a lot to talk about with your friends."


    For some reason Tori didn''t respond for a while.


    Nicole sensed this awkward tension.


    "Um, I''m sorry, did I say something wrong?"


    Tori let out a suppressed giggle.


    "I, um. Never had any friends."


    Sydney seemed quite surprised.


    "Eh? Not even one friend? There must''ve been at least one person, right?"


    Tori let out a soft grumble.


    "N-No. Apparently I was known as the weird girl."


    Sydney didn''t seem to believe this.


    "Maybe not in school, but surely you met others in the dojo?"


    A few rustling sounds came from Tori''s direction.


    "The only people that came for lessons were guys. They did try to talk to me at first, but after I lost a spar with my dad pretty badly, none of them really talked to me anymore."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Why would losing a spar make them stop talking to you?"


    Tori began rubbing the tip of her finger against the ground, making a barely audible rubbing sound.


    "Um, he said that nobody should be as weak as a girl, so they needed to be at least at my standard. And um, if anybody lost a spar to me, then they would be expelled."


    Sydney seemed quite offended.


    "How could your own father do that?"


    Chase interrupted the conversation.


    "Remember we don''t want to wake the others up, it''s the middle of night after all."


    Sydney apologized.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    Tori let out a grumble.


    "I don''t think my dad had any bad intentions. He''s usually really nice, but I think he wanted to encourage the others. Nobody sparred with me unless my father forced them to."


    She sighed.


    "And each time, they wouldn''t hold back in the slightest, even using dirty tactics if they needed to win."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Ah. That''s why you wanted to join a team so badly."


    Tori seemed confused.


    "Eh? How is that rted?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, wondering if he should really say it.


    "I guess it just sounds like you were lonely."


    Tori stammered.


    "We-Well... only a little bit."


    Sydney reached out and patted her on the back.


    "You may not have had friends then, but you have them now. All of us are here now."


    Tori sounded embarrassed.


    "A-Ah. Yeah."


    She seemed to cheer up quite a bit.


    "What about you guys? Do you have any stories to share?"


    There were a few moments of silence. Just before it got too awkward, Chase spoke up.


    "I suppose I can go next. There was a time when I did not know much about archery..."


    He suddenly trailed off.


    With his future vision, Kairos could tell Tori was going to ask why, so he dashed forth and covered her mouth tightly with his hand. He could feel Tori struggle, but did not relent.


    Muffled voices came from above.


    "They aren''t here, second disciple. What do you have to say about your failure today?"


    "Priest. I. Am. Sorry."


    Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brows. As for Tori, she seemed to understand the situation and stopped struggling.


    The voices continued to speak.


    "And how is sorry supposed to help?"


    A loud smack resounded.


    "What kind of performance is this? The church of evolution''s ultimate goal is the pursuit of perfection, yet you can''t even seed in your mission? How are you supposed to be perfect this way?"


    "I. Will. Not. Make. Same. Mistake."


    There was the sound of a deep sigh.


    "There better not be. Do not forget that I did not have to give my blessings to you. Someone else can receive them on your behalf, and be the new second disciple."


    "Understood."


    Although things were a little too close, Kairos still felt a sense of relief.


    They did not find them.


    Unfortunately, that didn''t stay for long.


    "Keep the minions stationed here! Until we find a method to retrieve the holy stone, nobody may set their foot on the ground created by the blessed prism!"


    He muttered thest part.


    "Even if the ones that created it were heathens..."


    There were very faint sounds of footsteps leaving, however, the strange bristling sound remained this entire time. Kairos had almost deluded himself into thinking that it was just the wind blowing by grass.


    But it definitely wasn''t that.


    Everybody sat there in silence for a while. Kairos slowly removed his hand away from Tori''s mouth, and couldn''t help but feel a little aggrieved.


    Sydney whispered as softly as she could.


    "Are we safe now?"


    Kairos clenched his fist.


    "They are guarding this ce. If we leave now, we will get captured by them."


    It seemed that their stay underground wasn''t over just yet.

 Chapter 45 Fresh Air

    They were back to only hearing those strange bristling sounds. The immediate threat of The Red Priest finding them was gone, but they still didn''t exactly have a way out. Chase was no longer really in the mood for storytelling, and nobody else really cared to listen.


    In the end, they sat around for hours with a strange tension.


    As for time, there was nothing that they could use to tell it. At some point, Nicole couldn''t help but speak up.


    "I don''t have to eat, but I would just like to say I feel really hungry."


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "We should still wait. Just a little bit longer."


    Sydney hesitantly spoke up.


    "How long are we going to wait for?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "We don''t exactly have the best measurement of time. The only thing we have is to guess."


    Sydney stammered.


    "S-So how long do we wait?"


    Kairos shut his eyes.


    "How about this? We will each take turns to wait, and when that person feels it is time, is when we have a small meal."


    Chase hummed.


    "But we also have to limit how much we consume. If not, it will naturally incline people to eat as much as possible."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I suppose we will just have to trust everyone on that front. We can use the alphabet and the order of letters in our names for this order. That means Chase will be the first, and I will be second."


    Tori could not help but speak up.


    "...What if we just all evolved and tried to fight against all of the things above us?"


    Kairos lowered his head and thought about it.


    "The only issue stems from how fast the red priest guy and hisckeys. I don''t doubt that we would be able to clear whatever he referred to as minions, but the same can not be said for the others."


    Tori sounded a little aggrieved.


    "It can''t be that bad, right? We are stronger now."


    Kairos sighed.


    "And they probably are too. If you remember what happened before, we all tried to fight against them, but each time they were far stronger than us. If they didn''t just let us pass, then every single one of us would''ve lost our respective battle."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "Then there''s that strange ability that the red priest himself has. It seems to restrain us based on our mutations."


    Tori muttered.


    "So we just have to wait here?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "If it reallyes down to it, then we can try that tactic. But regardless, we have to wait for now. That red priest is probably nearby."


    Tori paused.


    "I guess it can''t be helped."


    With that, a looming silence fell down on the group. More hours passed by as the only sound was the strange bristlinging from above.


    Nicole began panting.


    "I... I really want to eat something."


    She spoke as though she was slightly drunk. As for Kairos himself, he was also feeling a little dizzy, but his willpower stat was enough for him to push through it.


    But then, he recalled that Nicole''s willpower was basically the same amount.


    If she was really feeling this way, then it must actually be pretty bad.


    After a moment of deliberation, Chase sighed.


    "Alright, I guess we should start now."


    He turned on the shlight, making everyone squint due to the sudden exposure to light. And once their vision did clear up, it revealed Tori already eating something. When Chase saw this, he couldn''t help but get incensed.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that he would begin yelling, so he quickly grabbed onto his shoulder.


    "We have to be quiet."


    Chase had just taken a deep breath, but hearing that, he let it out slowly. Right afterwards, he began interrogating Tori.


    "Why did you already start eating something?"


    Tori blinked a few times obliviously.


    "It was just a little snack!"


    Chase clenched his fist tightly, until veins began popping out, but quickly rxed.


    "A small snack will essentially be an entire meal for us while we are down here."


    Tori flinched.


    "What? I thought we were rationing, not starving ourselves to death."


    Kairos sighed.


    "We can just say you started eating early, just don''t do it again."


    Tori nodded.


    "Um, ok."


    Chase began opening up the bags, taking out a few packages.


    "If we want to go on a starvation diet, I believe you eat about six hundred calories a day. That way, the body is forced to slow itself down. However, since we obviously need more food than usual, that means a general estimate could be three times that, two thousand and four hundred."


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "Guess we follow thebels on these things."


    With that, the group began to eat their fill. Everyone more or less followed the guideline set, eating just two thousand and four hundred calories. However, nobody seemed even slightly satisfied.


    Kairos felt a little better, but was still a little dizzy.


    "...Felt like I just ate air."


    Chase furrowed his brows and held onto the side of his head.


    "Yeah, that''s normal."


    Sydney seemed to be holding back her drool.


    "Can we... really not eat any more?"


    Chase scanned the various bags.


    "From what I can tell, unless we start eating raw rice, we are going to run out of food in three days. That is, unless we are willing to start a fire and sacrifice something to burn for the sake of cooking this rice."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "And that is with how we are eating right now."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I didn''t think our situation was this bad. Our bags were almost full..."


    Chase sighed.


    "It doesn''t seem like we can wait it out. We will have to decide on either tomorrow or the day after to get out."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I am pretty sure I can only make a rtively small hole above us to get out. So perhaps we should discuss how to deal with that."


    With that, people began proposing various ideas, but nobody was into it. It seemed that thecking meal they just had made it hard for anyone to feel enthusiasm.


    Eventually, Kairos just sighed.


    "Maybe we should just try to sleep the time away."<novelnext></novelnext>


    It didn''t seem like anyone was against it. Though nobody was too sure how long ago they had slept, they also didn''t care enough.


    Another few rough hours passed.


    Kairos eventually woke up, but felt like he hadn''t slept at all. It seemed that most of the others had a simr sentiment.


    Nicole was breathing heavily.


    "Has it... has it been a day yet?"


    If Kairos was to say whether or not it felt like a day, he would say it felt like two. However, he didn''t think a full day had actually passed.


    "I don''t think so."


    Sydney began biting the edge of her thumb.


    "But we have been sleeping for so long. If anything, it should be more than a day, right?"


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "I don''t remember feeling this bad, even when I went on the starvation diet before. I must''ve miscalcted how much we actually needed."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Then maybe we can eat a little earlier than usual."


    In perfect honesty, he did not want to say that. However, he could also feel his own thoughts be muddled. Kairos felt like if he didn''t eat soon, he would be teetering on the very precipice of death.


    After a few moments of silence, Chase turned on the shlight.


    Everyone began eating once more, hardly able to wait. However, as they were looking at the various packages, the shlight began flickering.


    It stabilized a momentter, but soon died off.


    Chase cursed, trying to flick the switch on and off. Though it would asionally light up for a second, that was it. He began shaking the shlight too, but in the end it didn''t really work.


    He sighed with a bit of frustration.


    "Try to judge how much you should eat by yesterday''s standards."


    There was a moment of silence after he said that. It seemed that countless thoughts were rushing through each person''s mind. However, everything felt rtively tame at first.


    Yet, just after a few moments, it became clear that everyone was eating more than they should. Even Kairos couldn''t stop himself, as he kept thinking that maybe he could just have a little more.


    Chase eventually decided to try and stop this.


    "We can''t eat anymore. This is already too much."


    Though he said that, there were still sounds of people eating.


    Chase got incensed.


    "I said... we have already eaten too much."


    Sydney''s breathing was heavy.


    "But... Tori had already eaten more than me! Just after I get a little more."


    Kairos clenched his fist.


    "All of us already went overboard, that is something we can acknowledge. Let''s just stop here."


    For a second, there was no noise. But then, a soft sound of packaging being torn filled the air.


    Chase began screaming.


    "DID YOU NOT HEAR?"


    Nicole screamed as well, for the first time in a very long while.


    "I''M GOING TO DIE WITHOUT ANY MORE."


    Her voice sounded hoarse, showing how unhinged she got. It was pretty clear that she was tearing her throat as she was saying this. Kairos normally would have stopped this, but he was simply too pissed off to do so.


    It very quickly devolved into everyone screaming at each other.


    Everyone seemed to forget that they were supposed to remain silent, and didn''t even pick up on the sounds of bloody battle above them.


    Eventually, through all of their screaming, another voice rang out.


    "Hey, Kairos? Is that you?"


    Nobody noticed this voice at first, but after a good few thumps on the ground, everyone seemed to notice something was different.


    "Kairos? You should be down there, right?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows, taking a few breaths with his hoarse throat.


    The group collectively fell silent, and looked up with trepidation.


    "Hey, why aren''t you responding? You are there, right?"


    Kairos felt a bit of difficulty believing what he heard.


    Nicole panicked.


    "Who... who is that? We were too loud!"


    Tori began biting her nails.


    "Shit! Shit!"


    Sydney began trembling.


    "No... No..."


    Chase held onto the side of his head.


    "I didn''t even realize."


    Kairos stood up and called out.


    "Dad?"


    A muffledugh resounded.


    "Ah, so you are there, Kairos. Can you guys get out of there?"


    Kairos lifted up his red prism, hesitating for a moment. He took off his sses and began creating a small hole at the top, keeping close watch on what he saw in front of him.


    And... as is cleared, it was indeed the face of his dad, smiling confidently.


    His face was covered in blood, but that was considered something very normal to everybody at this stage.


    Sydney''s eyes widened.


    "Sam?"


    Kairos'' first reaction when he saw his father wasn''t to greet him, but to question.


    "How did you know we were here?"


    His father, Sam, shrugged his shoulders.


    "I got a pretty convenient ability that just told me."


    Suddenly, his nose twitched.


    "Oh god, that smell."


    He took a closer look at the people underneath and raised an eyebrow.


    "You guys are in bad condition, aren''t you?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Yeah, pretty much."


    He picked up his backpack before throwing it up.


    "Catch."


    Sam caught it deftly and set it to the side. Kairos proceeded to do the same thing with the other backpacks as well as the ck carapace. Everyone else also began jumping out. Though it was a little high, it was nothing difficult with their bodies enhanced by their stats.


    Then, he jumped up as well, almost feeling blinded by the dimly lit room.


    Kairos greedily gasped for air, basking in its freshness.


    They were finally free.

 Chapter 46 Is Mother Dead?

    For a few seconds, Kairos and the others regathered their bearings. They had gotten out of the house and recouped themselves. The early rays of dawn wereing from a hole above them.


    Both within the house and across the closed-in field, were countless corpses of these strange monsters, torn apart into two pieces messily. They look somewhat like people, but their limbs were repositioned to be like a horse''s, perhaps to make it better for four-legged running. On their backs, were strange long ck things sticking out of their backs.


    It seemed to be like hair but was also too thick and sturdy to be normal hair.


    As for the killer, Kairos'' Dad, he had neat ck hair like Kairos, but a short beard on top of that. He still had a suit on, but it was torn by the seams. He had a long bone that had been sharpened in his hand as well as two other sharpened bones attached to his belt.


    Considering how it was covered in blood, that seemed to be his weapon of choice, and the surrounding bodies showed that it worked.


    Kairos and the others ended up eating the rest of their readily avable food, avoiding the topic of the argument they had earlier. Looking at the bone weapons his father had, Kairos couldn''t help but ask for one as well.


    "Hey, could I have one of those bones as a weapon?"


    Sam, or Kairos'' dad, reached smiled.


    "I can actually create one right now from these corpses."


    He reached out with his free hand towards the thigh of one of the monsters, keeping it straight. A faint white light appeared around his hand, rotating almost like a chainsaw.


    When Sam''s hand was about ten centimeters away, it cut apart with almost no resistance. It took him only a minute or so to retrieve the bone and cut it up so that one end was sharpened like a sword.


    Chase nodded with his chin in his hand.


    "That is a pretty strong ability."


    Samughed, holding onto the newly sharpened bone proudly.


    "It works pretty well when I use it with a weapon."


    Then, he tossed the bone to Kairos, who promptly caught it. Kairos couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow.


    "If it really is that easy, then do you mind making Sydney one as well?


    Sam nodded.


    "Alright."


    After another minute, he made another sharpened bone and gave it to Sydney.


    Then, Sam looked at his son and spoke up.


    "You seem like you''ve been through a lot. What happened?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "My first action was to meet up with Nicole and group up. From there, we went to grocery stores as pit stops on the way to the wilderness. Along the way, we met Chase, Tori, and a cult leader. Along the way, we lost someone."


    He indicated who Chase and Tori were through pointing. Kairos then shrugged his shoulders.


    Sam thought for a moment before bowing.


    "...My condolences for Harold."


    Sydney and Nicole both seemed rather distraught but did not break down. As for whether that was because of their high willpower stat or because they epted it, it wasn''t so clear.


    "As for how effective the n of going to the wilderness was..."


    He adjusted his sses.


    "I''m sure you can see the mistake I made."


    Samughed.


    "It seems like it has been hard."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "And how about you? It seems like what you went through quite a bit."


    Sam sighed.


    "To be honest, that text you sent me basically saved my life, so thank you for that. At the time, I didn''t really think much of it, but decided to listen anyway. Your instincts seem to be extremely strong since you were able to predict it so urately."


    Kairos pushed his sses up.


    "More or less."


    Sam chuckled.


    "Anyways, as you know the ce I work for is in the city and quite high in the building. There are windows almost all over, so it was actually a little hard to find somece that was far away from all that."


    His eyes narrowed, while his tone dropped.


    "And it also meant that nearly all of my coworkers turned into those monsters."


    He shook his head.


    "At first, it was hard for me to believe what was happening, but seeing a giant overbearing red-skinned figure lunge at you sort of awakened me by force of panic. I ran, trying to flee the building, but then thought of your mother."


    Sam smiled.


    "And so, I rushed up to where she worked, and it seemed that she had the same idea."


    He pressed his lips together.


    "Unfortunately, while we were reunited, that didn''t mean the monsters behind the both of us would go away. While I ended up panicking, your mother seemed to... have another idea."


    Sam furrowed his brows.


    "She threw herself into a room that had ss panels, fully exposing her to the red sunlight."


    He paused for a moment.


    "I had no idea what to do."


    Kairos looked down slightly.


    "Is mother dead?"


    Sam clenched his fist.


    "No, if she was only dead, then perhaps I could ept it."


    His eyes widened slightly.


    "She immediately began screaming in pain and smashed everything within the room violently."


    He took a deep breath.


    "While I was frozen in fear, the monsters closed in on me. I knew that I was going to die soon, and began to give up. But then, several red tendrils shot out of your mother before mming into those monsters."


    Sam swallowed.


    "She smashed them into pieces and tore them apart so easily. My body was immediately covered in so much blood, stunning me."


    He wiped away a tear before it formed on his face.


    "Your mother... she began approaching me, but she wasn''t the same anymore. Her irises had be red, as did her long hair that used to be jet ck. If it wasn''t for all the red tendrilsing out of her back, squirming with minds of their own, then it would''ve just looked like she got colored contacts and dyed her hair."


    Sam smiled bitterly.


    "But in the end, she saved my life. Though she changed, I couldn''t help but be worried for her and rushed over. I trusted that she wouldn''t kill me, but..."


    He paused for a second.


    "She changed. There was a strange smile on her face, almost like she was dreaming. When I got close, she grabbed onto my shoulders tightly and dislocated both of them. But... she seemed to notice what she did and popped them back in.


    Sam held onto the side of his head.


    "I tried talking to her, but it seemed like she couldn''t hear me. Instead, she began humming this strange tune as she carried me with her, saying something about the joys of killing."<novelnext></novelnext>


    He blinked a few times.


    "Whenever we came across a monster, she would rip off all its limbs, then make me kill it. She broke off one of the chair legs and gave it to me as a weapon. Though I felt like this wasn''t right, I still did it in the end."


    Sam paused for a moment.


    "But what I didn''t realize was that she wanted to kill more than just the monsters. Even when we met withpletely untransformed people, instead of saving them, she would dismember them as well."


    He frowned.


    "I... couldn''t bring myself to kill them, which seemed to make her really angry. She... grabbed onto my arm and made me kill them."


    Sydney let out a faint gasp.


    "Oh, dear..."


    Sam sighed.


    "Like that, she rampaged throughout the building, killing many people and constantly bringing one for me to kill."


    He rubbed his forehead.


    "It went on for... so long. By the time we got out of the building, the real sun was already halfway in the sky. She charged off to kill some of the many monsters on the street."


    Sam blinked a few times.


    "And I ran."


    Heughed.


    "But it was only a few secondster did I realize how stupid that was. She reached me in just a moment, easily ughtering hundreds of monsters as she passed by. There was a sad look in her eye as she brought me in closer."


    Sam scratched the back of his head.


    "Then, she ran away, leaving me alone. I... apologized, but she was already too far away to hear me."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "But in the end, Mother is alive, right? That''s a good thing."


    Samughed quietly.


    "I just... think she is in a lot of pain."


    A painful smile formed on his face.


    "After all, the husband she went through so much pain to save ran away from her."


    As Sam lowered his head, Kairos reached out with his finger, pushing against Sam''s forehead and lifting it back up.


    "If you feel so bad, then live long enough to apologize to her face."


    Sam smirked.


    "Hah. Why are you trying to cheer me up? I am your parent, not the other way around."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Maybe stop acting like a kid then."


    Sam rolled his eyes.


    "If anything, you are acting too much like an adult."


    A small smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Anyways, we really should get out of here before those peoplee back."


    Sam raised an eyebrow.


    "Who?"


    Chase sighed.


    "Crazy cult leaders."


    Sam nodded.


    "That does sound like something we should avoid."


    Kairos took the lead, leaping up through the meter wide hole andnding on the roof with the ck carapace in one hand and a sharpened bone in the other. Soon after, everyone else followed.


    He looked towards them.


    "Before we go, let''s refill our water bottles in the river and wash our hands a bit."


    There were no objections, so the group promptly did as he said.


    As Kairos picked the ck carapace and the sharpened bone up with his wet hands, he sighed.


    "If the wilderness isn''t exactly safe, then is there just no ce that is safe?"


    Sam screwed on the cap of a stic bottle before putting it in Kairos'' bag.


    "The city should be pretty safe."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Isn''t that where the poption density is the highest? There should be many monsters there, right?"


    Sam nodded.


    "Yes. But my wife killed almost every single monster there, and the ones she wasn''t able to, ran away from the city. Even monsters really far away from her seem to have some sort of instinctual fear, making them run. So at least as of now, there are little to no monsters there, but many supplies."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "But monsters are attracted by blood, so those corpses will surely lure a few there. That is, assuming that mother has already left the city to go somewhere else."


    He tilted his head at the same time.


    "But at the same time, we really need to get some more food, and it would also help us catch wind of where my mother went."


    Tori looked over.


    "So you are saying we should go to the city?"


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "Though I don''t think it''s the safest option, it''s probably better. If the city really was massacred, then that means most of the shops should still have food in them. Maybe we will even get some canned stuff."


    Tori smiled slightly.


    "I did always want to check out the city, but never had enough time before."


    Sam chuckled.


    "The city is really not what it''s cracked up to be. You see many tall buildings, but really it''s just an empty husk covering a long dead ce."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "Well, I don''t think it could be very alive during the apocalypse anyway."


    Chaseughed.


    "That is true."


    With that, the group set off towards the city, with Sam leading the way.

 Chapter 47 Lost Rationality

    At first, the group ran away for fear of the cultists catching up to them, but once they got arge amount of distance, they began to walk.


    They were still in quite the abandoned area, so there were hardly any monsters nearby. And the ones that were, ran at the first sight of them.


    Kairos massaged his temple while furrowing his brows.


    Sam noticed this, and spoke up.


    "Is something bothering you?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I''m just a little ticked off. I thought everything would be fine once I got to the wilderness, but there really isn''t anywhere safe."


    Sam raised an eyebrow.


    "Don''t you have that red block that can create those super sturdy walls? That should work fine, right?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Unfortunately, it''s basically out of energy. Also I remember tucking that thing away, how did you even know I had it?"


    Sam sighed.


    "Shame it has no energy. As for how I knew, it''s rted to this weird ability I have."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Does it let you see through walls, like some sort of x-ray vision?"


    Sam waved his hand dismissively.


    "No, no. It''s nothing too special, really. It''s just if Iy my left hand down on a surface and concentrate, then I will see what previously happened. That''s how I was able to find you guys."


    Kairos'' eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch.


    "Huh. That sounds quite useful, though not in fights."


    Sam nodded.


    "Yeah, it is pretty useful. At first, the reverse of time is slow, but it gradually picks up. I''m pretty sure I can see things that happened long long ago, but it will also be difficult for me to see as it will pass by too fast."


    Chase cracked his neck.


    "Makes sense."


    As they were walking, a group of two monsters spotted them, but they quickly fled into the forest once they did.


    Tori frowned.


    "If only we had a gun, or something. That way we could make use of all those walking points."


    Samughed.


    "I... wouldn''t put too much trust into guns?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Eh? Why is that?"


    Sam took a deep breath.


    "I thought that maybe the military base was a good ce to go, but when I reached there everyone was dead. It didn''t exactly make much sense to me, but I used my hand to find out what happened."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "There were many monsters. They were attracted by the sounds of gunfire, but also died quickly. The various soldiers got their various weapons to fend them off. There was even a mounted minigun that one of them used."


    Sydney let out a sigh of relief.


    "Ah, I thought you meant guns wouldn''t work on the monsters."


    Samughed.


    "They work... that''s for sure. But their guns began transforming into something else."


    Chase''s face twitched.


    "Wait, the guns transformed?"


    Sam nodded.


    "All of the guns were bing a little redder as they killed monsters, especially so for the mounted minigun. At some point, flesh shot out of the minigun as it consumed the person using it. Then, it began shooting everywhere, killing both people and monsters. I nearly jumped even though I knew it was a vision, haha."


    Nicole shivered.


    "Even random things can turn into monsters? ...What if our clothes transform into monsters too?"


    Samughed.


    "I don''t think that will happen... probably."


    Kairos looked at him.


    "What do you mean?"


    Sam hummed.


    "From what I saw, the gun''s transformation was pretty proportional to the amount of monsters that they killed. I believe what was happening was that the guns were getting the evolution points instead of the soldiers using the gun."


    Chase frowned.


    "My bow doesn''t work like that though, thankfully. I get all of the points."


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly when he heard that.


    "Huh... so it seems a gun is tooplicated for whatever is judging who gets the kill, so it considers the person firing the gun not doing enough to be credited with the kill."


    Nicole held onto the fire axe a little tighter.


    "That is... weird."


    Tori looked at her red katana.


    "Huh. If our weapons were credited with the kill instead of us, then humans in general would probably go extinct, huh?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "At this rate humans are probably going extinct anyway."


    Sydney muttered.


    "...Everything really has changed."


    Nicole smiled gently.


    "But that just means it can change for the better too!"


    As they continued to get closer to the city, the buildings became more frequent. A group of four monsters charged towards them, but Sam was able to tear all of them apart with just one strike using his sharpened bone.


    It seemed like the number of monsters were about to increase, but it instead decreased. Instead, they were reced by corpses instead. This was considered a rather rare sight because most corpses would be consumed promptly after they formed, meaning it would be hard to see this manyid out.


    One thing to note was that each and every one of them were brutally murdered. There were several instances of the top half of a monster''s bodyying down on the floor while its shattered rib cage peeked out.


    Other than the monsters smashed into pieces, there were also ones with massive holes in their body, predominantly being their chest. Almost like they got stabbed by arge tendril of some sort.


    Sam let out a soft sigh and turned to Kairos.


    "This seems to be the work of your mother, though the bodies look a little old."


    Kairos looked up, towards the scene in front of him. Far up ahead he could see various skyscrapers fighting each other to be the tallest. Though the streets were littered with blood, there was a strange silence within the ce.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was almost like the ce was frozen in time.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "You said that the monsters would run away from her? How far was that range?"


    Sam blinked a few times.


    "The only thing I recall was that it worked even when the monster was a few hundred meters away. I wasn''t able to find any specific limit."


    Kairos looked down at the bodies.


    "It seems that the monsters still don''t dare approach, because these corpses are untouched. In other words, Mother should still be close by, and this should also be a safe ce to be."


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "Wow, that sounds really convenient."


    Chase stretched out his arms.


    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s loot one of those grocery stores."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Wait."


    He couldn''t help but recall how close Sydney was to reaching her maximum evolution energy gount.


    [Rank: 97/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    Though he was curious what would happen, he didn''t want to see it happen just yet. If they really did go into a ce devoid of monsters, then Sydney wouldn''t be able to get points to level up, thereby risking her bing a monster herself.


    Kairos pushed up his sses.


    "I believe it would be better for Sydney to collect points required for her evolution to a higher rank, that way she can use the food to support her own evolution."


    Sam nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    Kairos stood in ce, thinking for a moment.


    "How about you guys go secure one of the grocery stores while I help Sydney get the points she needs?"


    Sam raised an eyebrow, but pointed towards a building soon after.


    "Well alright, I will go secure that grocery store. You guyse backter and we should have a meal prepared."


    Kairos nodded before looking to Sydney.


    "Follow me."


    Without waiting for an answer from anybody involved, he left.


    Nicole called out.


    "Stay safe!"


    Kairos waved dismissively.


    "It will be fine!"


    Sydney hesitated, but soon followed after him. Kairos looked around for a moment before leaping up onto one of the houses,nding nicely on the roof. He walked towards the center before scouting the area.


    There was a fairlyrge group in the distance, prompting him to call out while pointing in a direction.


    "Let''s go over there."


    Sydney hesitated before jumping onto the roof as well, then looking at where Kairos was pointing.


    "A-Alright."


    Kairos was focusing heavily on Sydney''s eyes. This was because he had seen earlier that she was looking intently at the corpsesid across the ground. Considering people would normally be disgusted, he didn''t think that was a normal response.


    However, her eyes seemed normal... for now.


    Kairos leaped across the roofs of the houses and Sydney followed after him. After a few moments, they got closer to therge group of monsters and saw what they were doing.


    They were each holding onto the limb or head of a person pierced onto a piece of bone, lifting it up and down while chanting something. It looked rather gruesome, prompting Kairos to furrow his brows.


    "...They seem to have their own culture."


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Maybe they were all part of a group before the apocalypse?"


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "Maybe..."


    He then leaped off the roof.


    "Regardless, you will be killing all of them."


    Once his footnded on the ground, all of the monsters noticed his presence. They dropped the bones they were holding onto before charging forth. Kairos looked up to Sydney that was about to jump off to him.


    "Get behind them. I will distract."


    Sydney stopped herself and circled around before jumping off. She attracted the attention of a few monsters, but it wasn''t a big deal for her.


    As the monsters rapidly closed in on Kairos, he swung his sharpened bone, taking off legs one after another, forcing them the monsters to crawl. Sydney did the same, except it was taking off heads. Though the monsters attempted to kill her, she was just a step ahead, able to dodge and take advantage of the length of the sharpened bone.


    There was the asional surprise of a monster lunging towards Kairos, but his future vision gave him more than enough time to react.


    As for Sydney, she continued hacking through the monsters, already dealing with half of them. But there was a sudden shift at this point.


    Most of the monsters gave up on Kairos altogether before rushing to surround Sydney. Though Kairos wanted to help, there were still seven monsters that remained, blocking his way forth.


    Kairos ended up hesitating.


    But then, he heard Sydney scream.


    He quickly decided to force his way through, gathering mana in his hand for the pulse spell.


    Then, a secondter, he let it loose.


    With a bang, all seven monsters exploded into pieces.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 7


    Kairos rushed forth gathering the mana for another pulse spell... but quickly stopped himself.


    Sydney''s eyes were wide open and bloodshot. However, she was tearing through all of the monsters around her. The only concerning thing was a ratherrge gash on her shoulder, but it was already healing.


    Before long Sydney had ripped through all of the monsters and began panting heavily.


    With his future vision, Kairos could see that she would lunge towards one of the corpses. He had a strange premonition that letting her do so would probably be bad, thus dropping both the sharpened bone and ck carapace in his hand so he could restrain her.


    Kairos held onto her shoulders, and almost immediately, there was a lot of resistance. Sydney desperately tried to bring herself closer to the corpse on the ground, opening her mouth wide and even screeching.


    Kairos frowned before hooking both his arms around her shoulders, forcing her to remain upright.


    "Calm down!"


    Sydney raised her head high and let out a guttural roar, almost like she was a monster herself.


    Then, she moved her head to the side and opened her mouth wide, attempting to bite down on Kairos'' arm.


    She lost her rationality.

 Chapter 48 Sydneys Evolution

    Kairos saw in his future vision that Sydney would bite down on him, thus he stopped restraining her to avoid it. Sydney bit down, but only got air and stumbled a few steps forward after being let go.


    Almost immediately, her vision snapped towards one of the corpses as she lunged towards them once more.


    Kairos frowned before rushing forth once more, wrapping one arm around her neck and pulling her back. Sydney immediately retaliated by trying to bite down on the arm, but he pushed up her forehead with his other hand to stop her from doing so.


    "Can''t you see what you''re doing? Wake up!"


    Sydney let out a low growl as she threw herself side to side violently, trying to break free. Kairos furrowed his brows, wondering if there was some other way to get through to her.


    He got right next to her ear and began shouting.


    "You are not a monster, you are a person! Can''t you remember that?"


    The only response he got was a guttural roar, but he could still feel that there was a tiny part of her still inside, trying to fight it.


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "Open your status panel! If you can still hear me, open up your status panel!"


    At first, nothing happened, making Kairos think that this was going to be hopeless. He even saw other monsters closing in, making it so that the time that he had to try and wake her up was limited.


    But then, her status panel appeared in front of him.


    [Status]


    [ID: 423632551433]


    [Rank: 99/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 21.6]


    [Strength - 4.5


    Agility - 3.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.3


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: Gnawing Hunger (F-)]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    He looked at it by raising his head at an awkward angle, letting him see it without his sses.


    The first thing that jumped out to him was her evolution energy, just one away from reaching one hundred. This caused him the most panic. Though this was also an extremely intense situation, he still noticed that Sydney''s stats had increased slightly.


    But he very clearly remembered that Sydney never added any points.


    Kairos decided to think about thatter. Thankfully, she had more than twenty points, which also meant there was enough for him to carry out his n. He kept one arm wrapped around her neck and used the other to shoot towards the evolve button.


    Kairos was betting quite a bit, as he wasn''t sure if he would be able to interact with another person''s status panel, but decided to try anyway.


    However, he saw that in his future vision, Sydney would viciously bite down on his arm if he tried to do so.


    And so, he pulled back.


    The gash Sydney had earlier had fully healed up, and that was when her status panel changed all on its own.


    [Status]


    [ID: 423632551433]


    [Rank: 100/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 21.0]


    [Strength - 4.6


    Agility - 4.0


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.4


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: Gnawing Hunger (F-)]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    The first thing he noticed was the evolution energy had jumped up to one hundred out of hundred, making him panic a little. As a side thing, he noticed that she lost 0.6 points, but only gained an overall of 0.3 points in her status.


    However, now was not the time for theorycrafting.


    Sydney''s skin began to redden, almost like she herself was transforming into a monster. And that was when Kairos decided to risk it all, pressing down on the evolve button.


    Right after, his arm was bitten down on. He could feel Sydney''s teeth rip through his flesh, sharper than what he remembered.


    However, as bad as it was, Kairos was internally letting out a sigh of relief, because he was able to interact with the status panel.


    [Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 5 points for Fire Spell or Earth Spell? Fire/Earth | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    For whatever reason, the option to evolve stably was grayed out. And so, Kairos forced himself to press on the yes option. Since natural ability was already automatically selected as yes, he went down towards the two spells.


    In an ideal world, he would''ve deliberated over whether or not the fire or earth spell would be better, but the situation didn''t really allow it. While feeling Sydney''s teeth rip through his arm, he selected the earth spell simply because it was something different.


    And then, he pressed confirm.


    The status panel disappeared, while Sydney suddenly stopped moving. Kairos'' breathing was heavy, wondering if it was still not toote. Sydney was still biting down hard on his arm, but her jaw gradually ckened, letting go.


    A few faint cracking sounds came from her body as she became slightly taller.


    She seemed to be in a daze, but was no longer in her frenzied state.


    As for Kairos, he now had a long gash ripped across his arm. Blood spilled out and sttered onto the floor, but it did not take long for the wound to stop bleeding. As for when it would heal, he wasn''t sure, but it wasn''t too bad, all in all.


    The monsters around Kairos continued to close in, but he wasn''t afraid. He picked up the sharpened bone, lunged forth, and shed at a monster''s neck, ripping it off.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    He was about to do the same to the other nearby ones, but then a figure shed by in his vision, and that monster''s head flew off.


    It was Sydney.


    Her eyes were wide open, and her breathing was intense. Right after taking that monster''s head off, she put one hand on the headless corpse''s shoulder, then pushed in the sharpened bone and ripped it apart.


    Right afterwards, she yelled.


    Kairos looked over and blinked a few times.


    "Are you ok?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney grabbed onto the side of her head with her hand, speaking in between heavy breaths.


    "Sort... of."


    A few of the monsters charging towards them suddenly stopped in their tracks. Sydney''s eyes abruptly snapped towards a small group of them.


    Her hand clenched tightly against the bone, shaking erratically.


    Then, she ran towards the monsters.


    "AHHHHHHHH."


    Seeing this, the monsters began running away. However, they hesitated for a moment, giving Sydney enough time to catch up easily. She ripped into the first monster, but didn''t stop so that she could catch up to the other ones.


    It took only a few moments before all of them had fallen.


    But she didn''t stop there. Her mouth opened wide, making Kairos a little nervous, but she closed it soon after, without biting into the corpses.


    Instead, Sydney began ripping into the monsters with her sharpened bone.


    "RAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"


    Her screams were tearing her throat. Her eyes were widened and bloodshot. She continued to bash the corpses even when they turned into mush.


    If Kairos squinted hard enough, he might''ve seen a kid ying in a puddle of water.


    Well, maybe not.


    Eventually, Sydney calmed down, but her breathing was still intense. Her clothes that were dry before were now drenched in blood and covering up the entirety of her forearm and some of her upper arm.


    In all honesty, Kairos thought that most of Sydney''s desire for violence and eating flesh would dampen greatly after evolving. But that wasn''t exactly the case. Her sanity had definitely recovered to a great extent, considering just a moment ago she was biting into Kairos'' arm.


    However, the damage was not fully undone.


    Kairos guessed that he was a littlete in clicking that evolution button considering the shade of red that appeared on her skin. His original thought was that he made it in the nick of time, but it seemed he had actually been a bit off.


    Kairos slowly walked up.


    "Have you got it out of your system?"


    Sydney shut her eyes and began shivering.


    "I... think so."


    She took in several deep breaths one after another, before shakily getting up to her feet. Then, she had a closer look at the mess below her.


    "What... have I be?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "The fact you have the capacity to judge yourself for it, means you are more sane than you think."


    He didn''t say thest part of his thought, which was, ''though that doesn''t mean you are sane by any means.''


    Sydney continued to take deep breaths, trying to meditate her emotions. Though, it seemed that those emotions were spilling out of her from how she was trembling.


    "I don''t... understand. I''m usually not the type of person thatshes out like that."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I don''t think any of the monsters thought they would be the type of people to kill others either."


    Sydney grabbed onto the side of her head and shut her eyes tightly.


    "Am I going to be... a monster?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I can''t say for the future, but you are fine for now. Evolving seems to have the effect of increasing your tolerance of the strange red energy. Because you evolved, you don''t have to worry about bing a monster any time soon."


    He said, ''at least, not physically,'' in his mind.


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Do I... need to tell the others? About my breakdown?"


    Kairos looked at her for a moment.


    "That''s your choice. I won''t tell them, so if you want it to be a secret, then you can just keep it one."


    Sydney''s mouth twitched a couple times, showing her hesitation. Eventually, she sighed.


    "I don''t really want to think about it right now. Maybeter."


    This immediately set off a g in Kairos'' head. Namely because Sydney was very willing to share the fact she had been mutated by the red sun before. Yet, now she was a little more hesitant.


    After a few seconds of deliberation, he decided to watch a little instead of acting out.


    "Do you mind if I take a look at your status panel?"


    Sydney nodded a little absentmindedly.


    [Status]


    [ID: 423632551433]


    [Rank: 0/1000 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 500 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.6]


    [Strength - 4.7


    Agility - 4.1


    Endurance - 5.0


    Willpower - 4.5


    Mana Capacity - 0.2


    Magic Affinity - 0.2]


    [Special Abilities: Gnawing Hunger (F), Temperance (F), Earth Spell (F)]


    One thing he noted was that the evolution consumed all one hundred of her evolution energy, but he considered it to be a positive thing. Less evolution energy meant being farther from monsterization.


    As for her special abilities, he was a bit surprised to see that her ''Gnawing Hunger'' ability had risen from F- to F, but didn''t look too much into it. The temperance ability made him curious, but he decided that it was better for Sydney to get something to eat before any experimentation.


    "Anyways, let''s get to the grocery store where the others are. I''m sure you are really hungry at this point, no?"


    Sydney suddenly snapped to attention when she heard hungry.


    "Um, yes."


    With that, they began running back, though it felt more like a brisk jog to the both of them.


    It did not take too long for them to reach back to the grocery store that they said they woulde to. The immediate sight they were greeted by was a pile of bodies.


    Not monsters, but people.


    Their wounds were noticeably different from all the corpses outside. Instead of being brutally smashed or pierced, they were ripped apart.


    At one end of the ce was Chase, who spotted them.


    He gave them a small nod before continuing to eat on his own.


    Kairos and Sydney walked over to see the others with several scattered packages across the ground. Sam was the first to look up and speak.


    "Were you able to finish your business?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Sydney was able to evolve, yes. What happened on your side?"

 Chapter 49 Scared Of Change

    Sam put a finger on his chin.


    "As for what happened, while there weren''t any monsters in the ce, there were quite a few people residing here. We asked if we could have some of the food, but..."


    Chase swallowed a piece of ham.


    "They wouldn''t let us in."


    Nicole seemed to be a little out of it, but was still eating normally like the others.


    "Then we... killed them."


    Sam shrugged his shoulders.


    "I did consider negotiating with them further, but I decided to check what they had done before in the past."


    His eyes widened ever so slightly while the smile on his face disappeared.


    "And... they don''t deserve to live."


    Kairos blinked a few times before sighing, deciding to not question it.


    "Anyways, we should eat and stock up on some food here. I assume most of you have already added points and eaten to make up for the energy, right?"


    Nicole gave a small nod, while Tori gave a thumbs up while stuffing her face with almost expired bread. As for Chase, he simply smiled, which was enough to tell Kairos that he did.


    Sydney looked over to a nearby milk carton. She picked it up and furrowed her brows.


    "This cost seven dors? What kind of scam is this?"


    Samughed.


    "That''s just how things are in the city. Why do you think we would always join you in shopping over on your side, rather than here?"


    Sydney put the milk carton back with a bit of disgust.


    "Ugh... it looks like the city was already in the state of an apocalypse before."


    Samughed, and the others either chuckled or smiled a little.


    As for Kairos, his lip turned up, but it suddenly dipped back down. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sydney.


    "Hey... aren''t you hungry?"


    In response, Sydney flinched. She scratched the side of her head.


    "Oh. I thought that I was? But it doesn''t feel too bad right now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Well since we are already here, why don''t you eat something anyway?"


    Sydney nodded a little absentmindedly and leisurely picked out a few things. While that was happening Tori grumbled.


    "I have all the points I need to evolve, but can''t do it. What do I need to even do?"


    Kairos sighed as he got something for himself to eat.


    "It should only be a matter of time. I''m pretty sure you will be able to evolve soon enough even if you just wait around."


    Tori clicked her tongue.


    "Hopefully..."


    Kairos had the instinctive urge to only open up his status panel in secret, but soon remembered he had already opened it up next to everyone except his father, so just opened it anyway.


    [Private Announcement]


    [First Ten Daring Kills (Ninth - by ID: 064245313420) - 10 points awarded]


    He blinked a few times, just staring at the screen in front of him. For whatever reason, he forgot about the existence of the panel like this. Kairos began to wonder what he should say if the people around him questioned him, but...


    "Are you ok, Kairos? You''re just staring at the air."


    Sam spoke up with a bit of concern, attracting the gazes of the others.


    Kairos simply coughed.


    "Sorry, just thinking about something."


    He then repeated both this id along with refreshing his memory of thest one using the usual technique to memorize numbers. From there, he went to look at his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 8.2]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 5.0


    Magic Affinity - 3.0]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    There were 8.2 points to distribute. Kairos was either nning on putting it into his direct physical stats, such as strength, endurance, and agility, or into his magic rted stats, such as mana capacity and magic affinity.


    Sam looked over and nodded.


    "Those stat points are pretty high! Especially if you were the one that earned all of the points yourself."


    Kairos rubbed his chin gently.


    "Yeah. Do you guys think I should put my points into raising my physical abilities or raising my magic capacity?"


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Magic seems really strong, right? Your magic power is only three, but the spells are still so deadly."


    Kairos nodded.


    "It is very powerful, that''s for sure. However, depending on how powerful I want to spell to be, it will take more mana, and not a small amount either. Though I can increase my mana capacity, the mana regeneration seems to stay the same."


    Nicole stopped eating in order to listen in more closely. Then, she proposed a question.


    "So what about increasing the physical stats?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "That would be far more reliable given that our stamina isn''t going to run out in just a few attacks. However, the actual effectiveness doesn''t evene close to the power of the spells."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "I suppose the best way to handle this is to have some of us focused more on the physical aspects to be reliable killers, while we have others be the trump card in case something far beyond our league shows up."


    Kairos raised a finger.


    "We need at least one that can kill a giant horde, in case the numbers be too massive."


    He then raised a second finger.


    "And another one that can kill an extremely tough monster, in case one so happens to show up."


    Sam nodded.


    "That makes sense. I didn''t exactly specialize my points into magic, but with my spells I should be able to deal with a sizable crowd."


    Kairos looked at him.


    "How so, exactly?"


    Sam raised his hand and held it out straight. A faint white light appeared around his hand, then extended out to be a meter long.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He whipped his hand off to the side, and with a bang, arge incision appeared on the wall next to him.


    "If I put in more mana, I can make it longer, and if I use it with one of these bones, it will increase my reach slightly. The only cost being that the bone would crack apart after one swing."


    Kairos nodded.


    "How long can you make it, and how many attacks can you make?"


    Sam thought for a moment.


    "It should reach about eight meters, nine in total with the bone. As for how long it willst, it should give me about one second of swinging. So... about three to four full swings."


    Chase raised his hand leisurely.


    "Though I haven''t evolved yet, my mana arrows are pretty effective against a single monster. Once I do get the chance to evolve, I should be able to take care of them."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "But that will still be a little while. My spells can y both parts fairly well, so I should probably focus on magic for now. The physical specification can wait."


    Nobody disagreed, and so, he added the points.


    [Mana Capacity 5.0 -> 9.0 | Points 8.2 -> 4.2]


    [Magic Affinity 3.0 -> 7.2 | Points 4.2 -> 0.0]


    Kairos let out a refreshing sigh after adding the points. The sensation of adding more into the magic rted stats felt like he was breathing in the freshest air that purified his body.


    Then, the hunger began settling in, prompting him to eat some more.


    As they were eating, Sam eventually sighed.


    "If only we had a lighter. Then we could actually have something hot to eat."


    Kairos turned to him.


    "Did you not see my status panel? I have a special ability called the fire spell. We just need something to burn, then we can cook something up."


    Sam let out a small gasp.


    "That''s perfect then! There''s a clothing store just across from here, let me get some of that stuff to burn."


    Kairos stood up.


    "I''ll go with you."


    Sam chuckled.


    "Alright."


    Nicole raised her hand high and waved.


    "Stay safe!"


    Sam rolled his eyes.


    "You guys are acting like we are leaving the country, it''s just across the street."


    Nicole blushed slightly and turned away.


    With that, Kairos and his dad left the ce and went into the clothing store opposite to them.


    Sam went to check out the tags on the clothes and picked out a few that were cotton. Kairos looked at the variety of clothes around.


    "Since we are already here, why don''t we get a change of clothes for everyone."


    Sam smirked.


    "Since when did you be so considerate of others, Kairos?"


    In response, Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Fresh clothes improve our hygiene and will get rid of some of the blood that will attract monsters. It''s just being logical."


    Samughed.


    "Alright, alright. That makes sense."


    Kairos picked out a change of clothes for himself. He gave his father a nce as he picked out a few.


    "Do you think Mother is still... herself?"


    Sam looked a little despondent, but continued to pick out a few clothes.


    "I... I''m not sure. But there is one thing I can count on, is that even if she has changed, she still cares. Despite having many opportunities and excuses to gravely injure me, she never did. Even when I ran away or refused to kill people, your mother never hurt me too badly."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Why... why do you think this happened to Mother, but not to any of the other people that transformed into monsters? Was it really just a one in a million chance that she was special?"


    Samughed loudly, without restraint.


    "To me, finding your mother really was a one in a million chance."


    His smile rxed slightly.


    "But I don''t think that this was because of something special. When your mother threw herself right in front of the ring rays of the red sun, I didn''t feel afraid. Not even when I knew everyone else had transformed."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "What? You weren''t even slightly concerned?"


    A smirk formed on Sam''s face.


    "You probably don''t know this, but there are times when your mother has this strange look in her eye. It is one filled withplete confidence, a will that will never break."


    He took a deep breath.


    "I saw that look in her eyes before she lunged forth, and even when she screamed in agony, that look never left her."


    Sam shut his eyes while a small smile formed on his face.


    "She did that because she was determined to save my life. Even if she... became something scary afterwards, your mother would always stay true to her resolve."


    He slowly opened his eyes and looked down.


    "Your mother was always strong like that."


    Kairos slung a set of sweatpants over his shoulders.


    "Then why did you try to run?"


    Sam smiled bitterly.


    "While I knew she wouldn''t hurt me, it truly was too scary. I didn''t want to continue killing innocent people."


    He paused.


    "But most of all, I was scared. Scared that your mother... forgot."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What is that supposed to mean?"


    Sam chuckled.


    "Um... I''m not too sure myself."


    Kairos was about to ask another question, but then his head suddenly snapped to the side.


    He saw... a red minigun through the ss walls.


    It was very slowly sliding across the street, moving slower than even a snail. It seemed like it was struggling to even move that much. There was a shield at the front, which was normally for protecting the person using the minigun, but in this case, there was nobody for that.


    Uponing across a corpse, the barrel of the minigun expanded into a giant mouth, before swallowing it whole.


    Grotesque chewing sounds ensued as it slowly turned towards them.


    Kairos frowned and raised his finger.


    "...Good thing I put my points into magic."


    A tiny fireball formed at the tip of his finger.

 Chapter 50 RUN AWAY

    The red minigun paused for a second, as though trying to observe the scene in front of him. Sam had already ducked behind a counter, taking cover. However, Kairos decided to take off his sses and strain his eyes to remain open.


    Sam panicked when he saw that Kairos was still standing out in the open.


    "Take cover! That thing has far too much firepower!"


    Kairos did not listen. Instead, he grit his teeth and continued to channel mana into the fireball.


    "Don''t worry. I will be fine."


    The fireball continued to slowly expand, causing some of the nearby clothes to start smoking.


    As for the minigun, it continued to stare at the scene in front of it, almost like it was trying toprehend what exactly was in front. Kairos fully intended on taking advantage of theck of response, and was confident he would be able to dodge if it did begin firing with the one second of warning he would get.


    The fireball expanded to a diameter of one meter, then two.


    Despite it bing sorge, Kairos still felt like he could make it a decent amount bigger, and that it took less than a third of his total mana capacity to cast.


    But then, Kairos suddenly felt his head go nk.


    He could feel his waist getting torn in two along with an unbelievably loud ring sound. Kairos instinctively knew what this meant, and was prepared for it.


    Right when this pain came, he let loose of the fireball and threw his body to the side. Just a momentter, that ring sound of gunfire ensued.


    The bullets shattered the ss windows and pierced through the fireball cleanly. They then smashed against the structure that held all the clothes, sending them flying and spinning up into the ceiling. The bullets were far from weak, that was for sure.


    However, while the bullets pierced through the fireball, it was unable to hinder the momentum. And as such, the fireball continued forth, though some of it was being ripped apart.


    A deafening explosion ensued, sending out rushing mes from the point of impact, causing most of the clothes to catch on fire. On top of that, strong gusts of wind threw those clothes on fire across the store.


    Kairos immediately threw the clothes he was carrying away, but it didn''t help that much given there were several sets of burning clothes drifting down towards him right now. He was tempted to get up in order to avoid them, but if he did that, he would be torn apart by the bullets.


    The minigun was ripping through the store, scattering ster and whatever else the walls were made of all around the ce. Thankfully, it only chose to shoot at waist level instead of going lower, else they would have to do more than justy down to dodge.


    Kairos clicked his tongue as he realized that the fireball he sent out wasn''t able to kill the thing. As for the ming clothes, he was initially a little anxious, but quickly rxed. Arge beam of water suddenly shot towards the roof, hitting it with a loud thump, though the sound was drowned out from the gunfire.


    Its initial momentum was quite frightening, but most of it was dispelled after it hit the roof and scattered across the ce, putting out most of the fires.


    Kairos was sshed with some of the water which made him feel ufortable, but at least it put out the burning shirt that was on his leg.


    He shot a nce towards the source of the water, his dad, who gave him a small smirk despite the unfavorable situation.


    Kairos sighed and began considering his options.


    It seemed that the fireball wouldn''t work, and even if it did, the time it took to charge was too much. That left the pulse spell, but he would have to get up close to the minigun.


    Kairos looked down at the ck carapace he brought with him and decided he could try it. But while the ck carapace was definitely sturdy, he wasn''t sure if it could stand the bullets for long considering the destructive power.


    With that, Kairos decided to continue lying down on the floor and advance with the ck carapace in front as insurance.


    Like this, he went onwards almost like a snake. However, due to the width of the ck carapace, it frequently got caught on the various debris that was thrown about from all the destruction earlier.


    Kairos frowned and pushed through forcefully. It wasn''t any trouble to make it through, but it definitely dyed him. Though he wasn''t all too concerned since it seemed that the minigun was still only shooting at waist level for some reason.


    There should still be plenty of time.


    But as though that thought was a jinx, his father shouted.


    "Shit! We have to get out of here!"


    Kairos furrowed his brows and looked behind him, about to ask. But he soon shut his mouth as he saw the reason for it.


    Turns out, the minigun wasn''t just randomly firing. Or at least, it just so happened to have some other use.


    The bullets were able to pierce through the walls, and along with the extremely high firing rate, the wall was gradually being destroyed.


    In other words, the top of the building was going to fall over soon enough as there was nothing to support it. Kairos cursed under his breath, wondering if he should continue forth or try to break out the side of the wall and escape.


    The adrenaline running through his body made it hard to focus on logical thinking, but he forced himself to do so anyway.


    Perhaps if he thought about the most likely way to survive, his mind would jump towards escaping. However, he was focused on finding a way to kill this thing.


    If the building copsed, then it would also interfere with getting closer to the minigun once more. Frankly, Kairos really didn''t want that thing to continue firing, wanting to stop it as soon as possible. For one, it may begin focusing on the grocery store, and even if nobody was harmed, most of the food would be ruined.


    On top of that, that sound could attract monsters.


    He wasn''t afraid of the smaller ones, but the problem was that most smaller ones seemed to avoid this area.


    Only monsters big enough to not fear whatever was making them afraid woulde here, and that loud sound acted like a re.


    With that in mind, Kairos decided to rush in, while holding the ck carapace in front of him.


    The minigun was just about to finish tearing through the walls, but froze in ce for a second when Kairos popped up. Right after that moment of hesitation, the minigun snapped towards him and began firing.


    Kairos immediately felt a strong force bash against his arm, threatening to snap it off directly. He tilted the ck carapace to the side so that the bullets would ricochet off instead of directly smashing against him, but the force was still overbearing.


    The ck carapace held on, but it was trembling violently as a few cracks formed on its side. As though the situation couldn''t get any worse, the building began copsing. Although the minigun was no longer shooting the wall directly, what remained was unable to keep it up.


    The building first teetered, letting out a loud metallic creaking sound before falling over entirely,ing down towards the minigun.


    Kairos grit his teeth and arched his back, using all his strength to move forwards just a little bit faster. Suddenly his head snapped upwards as he raised one hand up towards the buildinging down on him.


    With a bang, the pulse spell was released, shattering the wall, giving Kairos a gap.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Right afterwards, the building mmed down onto Kairos, and the minigun just a few meters in front of him. They were abruptly sent into darkness from theck of the sun, but the light from the fire of the minigun continued lighting up the ce.


    Considering it was now all of nothing, Kairos began gathering all the mana he could towards the palm of his hand, preparing the pulse spell.


    He pushed forwards against the minigun. There were now visible cracks on his ck carapace, showing that it could break at any moment now. However, it had already done its job.


    Kairos had gotten next to the minigun, and his hand was trembling violently from the excessive mana gathered in his hand. It held almost all the mana he had left and was just pretty close to its maximum power.


    Though he hadn''t cast it yet, just the chaotic rumbling of mana in his hand let him know that it was going to be powerful.


    The ck carapace shattered into pieces.


    But Kairos knew this would happen.


    He lunged to the side before raising his hand towards the minigun.


    It was glowing so brightly, that it was as though another sun was next to him.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Die."


    Everything seemed to fall silent, but only for a moment.


    A thundering explosion ensued, followed by a relentless rumbling sound.


    The ground shook violently.


    The wind blew.


    And the darkness was pushed away, revealing the bright red sun.


    The building around Kairos was blown away, smashed into tiny pieces, and thrown in every direction. Along with that, a massive crater had formed underneath him, with countless cracks snaking across the pavement.


    As for the minigun, it wasunched like a cannonball. The barrel was severely deformed along with the shield, bent like a wrinkled piece of paper.


    It mmed into the grocery store, firmly nting itself in one of the aisles.


    The other people in the group had gotten near the entrance, trying to help, so the minigun hadnded quite close to them.


    All of them looked at the scene in front of them with widened eyes.


    Nicole trembled as she took in a deep breath.


    "That was amazing!"


    Everyone seemed quite excited.


    However, Kairos still had a big frown stered across his face.


    After casting a mana spell at nearly full power, there was a strong sense of vertigo, one that threatened to take his consciousness the moment he stopped concentrating.


    Kairos immediately realized why this was the case.


    While his magic was enhanced high in order to cast this devastating spell, the rest of his body was not strong enough to sustain it. After all, it seemed like the actual casting process was closely tied to his body.


    Even if he wanted to focus more on magic, he should at the very least increase his endurance along with it. That way, the burden suffered from casting such a spell would be decreased.


    But all of this wasn''t the reason he was frowning.


    As bad as the situation was, he was not in any lethal danger right now, so it would be a rather petty thing to be upset about at this point.


    No, the reason why he was frowning...


    Was because he didn''t get a system notification telling him that he killed the minigun.


    In other words, it survived.


    Kairos tried to force his voice out, but was having difficulty. So instead, he pointed towards the minigun, prompting the others to look as well.


    Toriughed.


    "Yeah! We saw! It was pretty damn cool."


    Kairos shook his head as a mouthful of blood burst out of his mouth. The others immediately shifted from smiling to concerned expressions.


    Chase furrowed his brows.


    "Are you alright?"


    With a heavily distorted voice, Kairos yelled.


    "RUN AWAY!"


    The group panicked and started to look around, wondering what threat they were supposed to run from. Only Chase connected the dots together quickly before dashing out of the way from the minigun.


    Seeing as the rest of them still hadn''t gotten the message, Kairos tore his throat to scream once more.


    "IT''S STILL ALIVE."


    Expressions of fear appeared on everyone''s faces as they turned back to the minigun.

 Chapter 51 Split By The Waist

    The minigun crawled out of the hole it was in, but did not begin firing immediately. This gave enough time for people to get out of the way. Though, not everybody did just that.


    Sydney decided that instead of running, she was going to charge towards the minigun, raising her sharpened bone.


    Kairos couldn''t help but be baffled by this sudden courage that just looked like a suicide attempt to him.


    Didn''t she see earlier how the minigun just took down an entire building?


    And now, she was charging at it with just her own vulnerable body.


    The minigun was trembling, almost like it was in pain. It fired a shot, but because of how deformed the barrel was, the bullet just hit itself, causing some blood to start leaking out of the barrel.


    Seeing this, Sydney''s choice of rushing in didn''t seem so foolish.


    However, Kairos clenched his fist soon after.


    "DON''T! JUST RUN!"


    Sydney turned back and hesitated, but in the end, she kept going. Kairos'' eyes widened tremendously as he watched what happened next.


    The minigun didn''t seem to care anymore, making it all or nothing. It didn''t hold back at all, firing as many rounds as it could. Almost immediately it began bleeding heavily. In the first moment, blood sttered out from the barrel, and in the next, it was torn off entirely, blown away by its own firepower.


    Now, the minigun began shooting bullets covered in its own blood. However, because the barrel was essentially removed, the bullets had next to no uracy, shooting off in nearly every direction that was 180 degrees in front of the thing.


    Nheless, this was a minigun that had an incrediblyrge rate of fire. Normal miniguns could easily begin firing one hundred rounds in a single second, but this one surpassed that by a wide margin. It nearly shot three hundred rounds.


    And so, given that Sydney was standing up in front of it, she ended up taking many shots.


    She held the sharpened bone in front of her, but that would only block the asional bullet.


    Her skin was ripped through as holes appeared one after another. They pierced through less lethal spots like her stomach and her limbs. However, they also pierced through ces like her heart, her neck, and even her skull.


    At one point, a stray bullet pierced straight through Sydney''s eye, causing it to burst into a mess of blood and other fluids.


    Yet, despite everything she kept moving forward. Each time a bullet wound formed in her body, it would already begin healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    Kairos widened his eyes in bewilderment.


    "...What?"


    He continued lying down on the ground, and even got one of the fragments of the ck carapace so that he could block a stray bullet if it just so happened toe towards him.


    Sydney''s bravery wasmendable, and her will to sustain the pain of her body getting ripped apart was astonishing.


    However, bravery could only get a person so far.


    Sydney''s waist got ripped in two, causing the top half of her body to copse onto the ground, bleeding tremendously. Nicole screamed hoarsely.


    "Mother!"


    Yet, even when she was ripped in two, she continued to crawl forth. Both of her eyes were widened to their limits, even when one of them was in the process of regenerating. As for her face, it was nearly expressionless, like her concentration was at its very limit.


    Though, it seemed almost everyone, including Sydney herself, underestimated how strange her power seemed to be.


    Because the lower half of her legs that were already detached from her body began moving on their own. The movements were clumsy at first, but then they began to push off the ground, sliding themselves closer to Sydney''s waist.


    It did so at a faster rate than she could crawl, so it ended uptching back onto her and quickly regenerated. After just a few moments, Sydney found herself able to stand back up and run towards the minigun.


    Kairos'' jaw dropped.


    He simply didn''t think that such a brute force method was even feasibly possible. His mind would not even think to use such a suicidal strategy of just charging forth, it would just not be considered as a possibility.


    And that was even if he knew that he had some sort of super strong regeneration ability.


    Everyone watched on speechlessly as Sydney continued to get closer.


    However, as she did get closer, the gunfire naturally became more concentrated on her simply because the distance was not as far.


    Her body was quickly ripped apart.


    Her legs fell off separately, as did her arms.


    However, the most frightening thing was that her head separated from the rest of her body, plopping down on the floor.


    Yet, every single body part of Sydney''s continued moving, almost like she wasn''t even a human.


    The minigun didn''t seem to like this. After a few seconds, it tilted the barrel towards one of the body parts, one of the legs. In just a couple moments, it was torn into a bloody paste.


    Though Sydney''s regeneration power was frightening, it was not to the point that it could still save that leg. That thing was gone.


    If the minigun had decided to do so on Sydney''s head, she might have been gone for good. However, it seemed like the minigun had a really difficult time processing things in general.


    Even when the leg had turned into a bloody paste, it continued shooting at it as though it still presented some sort of great threat.


    This gave enough time for one of Sydney''s arms to wrap around the minigun and pull. That arm was able to tilt the minigun upwards, but only by so much before it began falling again.


    One of Sydney''s legs pushed up on the bottom of the base, assisting in tilting it up further. Then, both the other arm and leg joined in, able to push the minigun up and causing it tond on its back.


    The minigun hadn''t paused in firing, but now, it could only shoot at the ceiling.


    While it did rip apart the ceiling tiles of the grocery store, it was no longer able to shoot any of the people, which was the important part.


    Sydney''s waist anxiously did a snake-like maneuver to get itself closer to her head. And after a few moments, it didnd itself onto her head.


    The frightening regeneration did its work, and she was now a body with no limbs. At first, Sydney had sprayed blood everywhere from each part of her body, but now, the bleeding had stopped.


    That''s not to say that Sydney was in the perfect condition right now. While her limbs were currently holding down the minigun, both of her eyes had already rolled into the back of her head.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As for the limbs, though they anchored the minigun down, that didn''t mean it stopped struggling. Almost like a tortoise on the back of its shell, it jiggled back and forth.


    There was not much sess because of Sydney''s limbs, but they couldn''t go on forever. In fact, they were quickly losing their ability to move by the second, gradually rxing.


    Kairos forced himself up onto his feet and stumbled forwards.


    He wasn''t sure if he would make it in time.


    However, there was someone else who had the same intentions as him.


    It was his father, Sam.


    He had rushed forth while still covered in a lot of dust from the debris of the copsed building. It only took him a few moments to sprint over and reach the minigun.


    And once he did, Sam pulled his sharpened bone to the side as a strange white light began circting around it like a chainsaw.


    With an audible grunt, he mmed it into the side of the minigun and an unbearably loud grinding sound ensued, like a saw grinding into metal.


    It was so loud, that even the ring gunfire from the minigun was almost getting drowned out.


    Sweat began to form on Sam''s forehead as he continued pushing, but also tilted his head back so that he would be hit by the bullets.


    He was gradually cutting through the thing, but the process was slow. Even after ten or so seconds, he had only cut a few centimeters in. It had peeled away part of the minigun, revealing a fleshy interior, but did not cause any lethal damage.


    Noticing that the situation was still bad, Kairos continued to run over.


    Sydney''s limbs had held strong for quite a while, but now, they had all softened up, no longer able to move. The minigun rocked back and forth with more intensity, trying to flip itself over.


    Seeing this, Sam gave up on trying to cut any further, abandoning the bone altogether so he could use both hands to hold the thing down.


    He kept his head down as beads of sweat continued to form on his forehead.


    Though the situation was bad, it still seemed to be rtively under control.


    But of course, it took a turn for the worse.


    The minigun seemed quite suicidal at this point. While the sound of gunfire continued, for some reason, no more bullets came out of it. However, the sides of the minigun began to bulge dangerously.


    Sam narrowed his eyes as he quickly came to a conclusion.


    The minigun was shooting at itself, tearing a hole through its very being so that it could shoot him.


    Sam grit his teeth.


    "I need some help!"


    Kairos began gathering all the remaining mana he could into his palm for another pulse spell. However, he quickly found himself drained. His heart immediately felt the strain as he tried to amplify its power.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t even close to the level of the previous pulse spell which was unable to kill the minigun.


    But Kairos still saw an opportunity, the opening that his father created with the de, peeling back its extremely tough shell and revealing the insides.


    If he could just get closer and cast the spell, then it would all be fine.


    As that thought shed by his mind, he saw in his future vision the gunfire suddenly burst out of the minigun''s side and shred his father into a bloody mess.


    Kairos immediately yelled.


    "Run!"


    Sam hesitated. His thought process was that he couldn''t just give up on holding the minigun down, else it would begin to fire at everyone else. Then everything would be a lost cause.


    But that moment of hesitation was only for a split second.


    Sam knew from previous experience to trust the calls of his son. That was part of the reason why he even listened to Kairos'' strange text to avoid the sunlight.


    And so, he tossed himself aside.


    Right afterwards, part of the minigun burst, spraying blood and bullets in the air.


    Sam just barely saved himself, but now the minigun was free to rock back and forth once more. Using this as an opportunity, it nearly hoisted itself up.


    And if it did so, then Kairos would be the one ripped apart by bullets.


    However, he didn''t even flinch, as he saw what had happened.


    Sydney, while still only being a body with no limbs, sat up herself and bit down on the deformed shield ting of the minigun before holding it down.


    Kairos ducked down before sliding across. The side of the minigun that faced him immediately began to deform, showing the minigun''s intentions.


    However, it was already toote.


    Kairos pushed his palm against the opening of the minigun and let the pulse spell loose.


    A fleshy exploding sound resounded.


    While the outside of the minigun was unharmed, blood spewed out of every orifice.


    [Killed Creature (??? Kill - Undeterminable Variant) - 0.6 points awarded]


    Kairos finally rxed when he saw that message, but then quickly turned his attention to Sydney.


    She was about to lose consciousness.

 Chapter 52 Sydneys Abilities

    Although they had defeated the unfairly strong minigun, Kairos and the others weren''t out of trouble yet. Everyone quickly gathered around Sydney, inspecting her condition.


    Kairos quickly got her legs and arms, putting them in the proper ces so that they could reattach once more. And thankfully, they did do so. However, the pace was much slowerpared to before.


    Sydney''s eyelids began to fall, like she was unbearably sleepy. However, Kairos felt it would be bad if she lost consciousness, so he called out.


    "Don''t fall asleep!"


    Sydney blinked a few times, but her eyes still didn''t open up very wide. She seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep.


    Kairos furrowed his brows intensely as he thought of possible solutions to her condition. Then, an idea he hade up with long ago resurfaced within his mind.


    "Open your status panel! I will help you add points into endurance."


    From what he remembered from testing it a while ago, while adding points in endurance wouldn''t heal the injury, it would still increase their overall constitution without increasing the injury.


    In video game terms, it could be seen as someone taking ten damage out of a one hundred hp health bar. Adding one hundred points to the total health wouldn''t change that the ten damage existed. However, it would change the fact that what was initially ten percent health missing, became five percent.


    Kairos raised his finger, ready to press a button.


    It took Sydney a second, but she did end up opening her status.


    [Status]


    [ID: 423632551433]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 0.3]


    [Strength - 4.8


    Agility - 4.4


    Endurance - 5.0


    Willpower - 4.6


    Mana Capacity - 0.4


    Magic Affinity - 0.3]


    [Special Abilities: Gnawing Hunger (F), Temperance (F), Earth Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably when he noticed that she only had three tenths of a point avable. He assumed that she must''ve added these points into her stats beforehand, though it confused him why she decided to spread her points across all the traits rather evenly.


    Kairos'' finger decisively shot towards the plus sign next to the endurance stat.


    But then it froze.


    [Points - 0.3 -> 0.2]


    He saw the avable evolution points go down, but he was sure that he didn''t do anything.


    And just a momentter, Sydney''s stats changed, despite nobody touching it.


    [Mana affinity - 0.3 -> 0.4]


    Kairos narrowed his eyes and muttered.


    "What?"


    Though the points seemed to be automatically assigned to whatever position they wanted to be in, Kairos did not act immediately. Thoughts shed through his mind one after another.


    He remembered that Sydney''s stats were suspiciously low before after she had ughtered an extremelyrge amount of bunnies when they had been assaulted by a horde of them.


    In fact, just by looking at all the carcasses that littered the ground at the time, Kairos was fairly certain that Sydney had killed the most bunnies. Most of the carcassesid out across the floor hardly had anything left of them, not even the bones.


    The bloody mess underneath Sydney only told a small picture, as most of the carnage had been swallowed up by her.


    This made Kairos think of the gnawing hunger skill. This seemed to be the source of Sydney''s strange regeneration ability.


    It was quite clear that if an ability just gave one the ability to regenerate fully even from a near death state, that it would be a little unfairly powerful. Kairos would expect that sort of ability to be inborn, or an ability acquired under special circumstances.


    Yet, from what he could tell, this seemed to be some conicendental mutation that Sydney got from the original transformation she had gotten from being exposed to a sliver of the red sun.


    Kairos believed that it had some sort of rtion to the grief she had from the death of Harold and possibly some other special features of her constitution. All in all, there were a myriad of factors that made it too hard to determine which exactly let her gain this ability.


    However, all of that wasn''t important.


    Rather, the fact that she seemed to need these points seemed more crucial. Kairos pressed his lips together as he saw the points she had avable go from 0.2 to 0.1.


    He could still increase her endurance, but that may actually have a bad effect in Sydney''s case.


    Seeing as she was still regenerating, Kairos took a deep breath and shook his head.


    "Nevermind, it seems that the points are being used for your healing."


    He narrowed his eyes as he saw Sydney''s agility stat go from 4.4 to 4.5.


    "And they aren''t even wasted, as they are being put into your own stats."


    Although Sydney still looked really tired, her body looked rtively intact. The thickyer of dark red blood that coated her clothes was rather concerning, but there were no visible wounds.


    Herst point disappeared, before going into her willpower stat.


    Sydney parted her lips slightly.


    "Hun... Hungry."


    Nicole immediately stood up and saluted.


    "I''ll go get something!"


    As she ran off, Kairos called out after her.


    "Get something that doesn''t need much chewing!"


    Nicole gave a thumbs up without looking behind her to acknowledge she understood. Just a couple secondster, she returned with some canned peaches and opened them up next to her.


    After opening it up, she was about to pick up one of the peach slices with her hand, but quickly stopped herself once she noticed how dirty and bloody it was.


    Instead, she took out one of the utensils she had, picked one up and then put it into Sydney''s mouth.


    Sydney almost immediately swallowed it, not even bothering to chew.


    Seeing how quickly she ate it, Nicole seemed a little concerned about choking, but decided to give her another one anyway.


    Once more, she swallowed it whole.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "I think it''s better if you just dump the entire thing in."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "Ah! O-Ok."


    She then put the can next to her mouth and tilted it, letting all of the peaches fall in. Sydney made a gagging sound, making everyone a little concerned, but all of the peaches traveled down nicely.


    Kairos looked at her intently.


    "Do you need more?"


    Sydney took a few deep breaths and shook her head.


    "I-"


    Though she was still speaking, Kairos'' eyes suddenly snapped to the side.


    It was because Sydney''s points had changed.


    [Points - 0.0 -> 0.1]


    Then, a momentter, it went back to zero. Sydney''s skin originally had a few leftover cuts, but they quickly disappeared.


    Then, her strength stat increased.


    Sydney furrowed her brows, even blushing slightly because of embarrassment.


    "Ah, I feel... hungry again."


    Kairos muttered.


    "You are able to gain points through eating."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sydney''s eyes widened considerably.


    "E-Eh?"


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "That does seem to be the most likely case."


    Tori gasped.


    "Wait, how is that fair?"


    Sam simply chuckled.


    "This is quite ironic, considering you were never a glutton before, Sydney."


    Sydneyughed weakly.


    "It isn''t healthy to eat more than what you need, after all."


    Kairos turned to Nicole.


    "Could you get some more food?"


    Nicole broke out of her stupor, jumping slightly.


    "Ah, yes!"


    Kairos nodded and paused for a moment.


    "...Thanks."


    Nicole smiled a little and ran off to get more. She soon returned with a couple cans of peaches and opened them up before giving them to Sydney.


    She ate them as greedily as before.


    This time, it didn''t increase after one can, but after another, it went up by a tenth of a point.


    Soon after, that one disappeared as well as another stat was increased.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "...Sydney, do you feel like you can cast either the gnawing hunger ability or the temperance ability?"


    Sydney blinked a few times before shaking her head.


    "No, but I do feel like I can cast the earth spell."


    Kairos nodded with his chin in hand.


    "It seems like those two abilities are passive, activating on their own. My guess is that your gnawing hunger ability lets you convert food you eat into evolution points and also use those points to heal yourself. Though even when healed, you still gain stats."


    He furrowed his brows, thinking of all the numbers. Though he could only work with rough estimates, he could alreadye very close to answers with just a rough estimate in math ss.


    It was just something that came naturally to him, letting numbers flow through his mind peacefully.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "As for the temperance ability, it should have something to do with abating your hunger. I think it might make you need to consume less food... as well as fewer points when using your gnawing hunger ability. Or it might be giving you more points, but regardless it is increasing the conversion ratio."


    He blinked a few times.


    ? "In other words, this ability perfectlypliments your other one, enhancing both of them at the same time."


    Sydney''s eyes widened significantly.


    "W-Wow..."


    Kairos hummed.


    "Well, while we are still here, I guess you should eat as much as you can. Just leave a bit for us to carry alongter."


    Sydney shakily got up to her feet and nodded.


    "If my abilities really work like that, then I should take advantage of that."


    Kairos nodded.


    "First eat the stuff that will either spoil soon or is not calorie dense."


    Sydney let out a small sigh.


    "Alright."


    With that, she headed off to begin eating. Chase couldn''t help but smile bitterly.


    "...Something like that really makes me jealous."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You were able to cheat out mana early and even got a special bow. Don''t you think you don''t have the right to be jealous?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "Yes, yes. But if we ever do find arge food source, then she will be quite frightening, no? It wouldn''t be a stretch to say she may soon surpass all of us."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, at least she will be on our side.


    Chase smirked.


    "Yes, thankfully I am not on the opposite side of her..."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "...I wish I had some sort of special ability like that."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Once you evolve, you will be able to use up your points to get your own ability too."


    Tori smiled brightly.


    "Heh, yeah."


    But then, she pouted.


    "...Why can''t I evolve, still?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Just have a little bit of patience."


    Tori sighed.


    "I guess there''s nothing else I can do."


    Sam was looking at Sydney intently, before shifting his gaze towards the corpse of the minigun. Kairos noticed this and seemed to guess his thoughts.


    "If Sydney eats too many monsters, I am fairly confident that she will turn into a monster. It''s not like she couldn''t, but doing so would be too risky. We should avoid it if possible."


    He sighed.


    "Plus, it is rather... bad for the mind to eat the corpses."


    Kairos said this because he remembered one of his past experiments. Just sticking his hand into the corpse of a monster increased his evolution energy. So naturally, eating should increase it by quite a bit more.


    Sam chuckled and scratched the back of his head.


    "Alright, alright! But I didn''t even say anything."


    Chase smirked.


    "I admit I was thinking of that too."


    Kairos waved his hand.


    "Anyways, we should get back to eating our own fill. Ah, and let''s also start a fire, the thing we were trying to do before."


    Samughed.


    "That was quite crazy, wasn''t it?"


    Nobody was against that, so they went to work. Kairos collected some of the clothes he could find scattered by and made a small pile with them. Then, they all had a nice warm meal, making them refreshed.

 Chapter 53 Three Teenagers

    [Endurance - 4.9 -> 5.5 | Points - 0.6 -> 0.0]


    Kairos had spent his points in increasing endurance due to what happened in thest fight, where the only real damage he took was from casting a spell at high power.


    He let out a soft sigh.


    Kairos wiped away some of the food stains still stuck on the side of the metal pot with a disinfectant wipe before cleaning his own utensils.


    Sam couldn''t help but give a thumbs up afterwards.


    "You guys even brought a whole cooking set with tools! That made this meal feel like there isn''t actually an apocalypse going on right now."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Even though it is the apocalypse, it doesn''t change how hygiene is important. If you stick a bunch of dirt and blood into your mouth all the time, then you might find yourself suddenly dying out of nowhere."


    Sam nodded.


    "Haha, of course, of course."


    Chase casually stomped out the fire with his foot, but raised an eyebrow when he noticed the mes started to pick up on his clothes. He batted it away with his hand and was thankfully able to get it off with just a bit of trouble.


    "These fires are far more potent than normal ones."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "I guess magic versions are a bit better then."


    Chase nodded.


    "Guess so."


    Sydney went off after eating to continue eating some other foods, but she clearly had far less enthusiasmpared to before.


    She furrowed her brows as she forcefully shoved down some rye bread.


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Mother, are you ok?"


    Sydney smiled softly.


    "Yes, sweetie. I just... feel quite full."


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "Then you should stop eating, right?"


    Sydney looked down at her feet.


    "But... I need to do this. What if we all die because I wasn''t powerful enough?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Nicole''s right. If you really can''t eat anymore, don''t force yourself. If something really does happen, you will be able to respond better while not feeling sick from overeating."


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Oh... that makes sense."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Anyway, we should get a change of clothes since we can. This dried blood is making me feel really ufortable. Then we can stock up on food and move on."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Why can''t we just stay here? There is still quite a bit of food left over."


    Chase stood up straight and cracked his back.


    "The reason to convince you is that those crazy cult people are still looking for us and have some weird tracking ability."


    He turned around and shot her a nce.


    "The real reason is that stagnating here is just boring."


    Tori let out a soft sigh.


    "That does make sense. I don''t really want to stay here anyway."


    With that, there seemed to be no otherints. And so, everyone changed their clothes and restocked on food.


    There wasn''t actually that much left in the grocery store. Most of the stuff that wouldst long were taken by the group, while the rest wouldn''tst for much longer, possibly only a few days.


    They all set out together, deciding to go deeper into the city.


    Kairos turned to his father.


    "Do you remember the direction that Mom left?"


    Sam furrowed his brows.


    "I do think I have a general idea, but it has been a few days since then. I don''t think it would be that urate."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Might as well follow it if we can. There''s nothing else to really lead us, after all."


    Sam shrugged his shoulders, agreeing with that logic.


    "Alright, just follow me."


    Like how it was before, the streets were quiet. However, all of the torn corpses that littered the ground made it feel loud... almost like they were still screaming out in pain even though they made no sound.


    Kairos would asionally take a nce at these corpses, seeing how thoroughly ripped apart they were.


    In all honesty, it made him somewhat afraid. The more he thought about it, the crazier it seemed to him. From how battered these monsters were, they didn''t even have the chance to fight back.


    And on top of that, so many monsters were massacred just like that, all over the entire city.


    More than just the devastation, Kairos couldn''t help but continue to think about the implications.


    As in, the number of points his mother must''ve acquired.


    There must be very few things that could even challenge her at this point with how powerful she must''ve be.


    And while his father did tell him that she did not lose all of her sanity, Kairos couldn''t help but still feel apprehensive. What if she did end up losing that bit of sanity? Or maybe she wouldn''t remember him, thus only sparing his father.


    Yet, in the end, despite thinking of various bad situations, he still wanted to see his mother.


    If she really wasn''t the same, then so be it.


    But if there really was part of her still left, then he wanted to reunite with her. Not because she was super powerful, but because she was his mother that cared for him.


    Kairos sighed.


    Sam turned to look at him.


    "Something on your mind?"


    Kairos simply shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s the apocalypse, so being a little disgruntled is normal."


    Sameughed.


    "But that''s whyughing and smiling is even more important."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I guess."


    As they continued to go down the streets, they came across something that unsettled them. Even more so than all of the corpses spread out across the ground.


    It was... the sound of people singing.


    Sam was the first to stop in his tracks, prompting everyone else to do the same. There was clear hesitation on whether or not they should move forward.


    The singing wasn''t really anything creepy itself. It just sounded like some teenagers having a fun time with some trendy song. Yet, as normal as it was before, in the context of the apocalypse it was simply too weird.


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "Should we go meet these people?"


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "They don''t sound like bad people. I can''t imagine they would be that bad if they are just singing."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Since these people are so casually singing, they are either crazy, orpetent enough to not take the apocalypse too seriously. In the first case, we can deal with them fairly easily, and in the second case we can probably have a civil conversation with them."


    Nicole hummed.


    "That doesn''t sound too bad. Maybe we can learn something from them."


    Everyone was more or less ok with this decision, even though they knew there was an element of risk. But that was quite natural, since everyone in the party had already be much stronger than what they were before.


    As they got closer, they found that it really was what it sounded like. There wasn''t some special type of monster emting the sound, but rather just three teenagers around the age of Kairos and Nicole, singing.


    They all had white masks that covered the top part of their faces, almost like they were at some sort of dance. Other than appearance, these masks didn''t serve much purpose as most of the face was revealed anyway. Their clothes were nothing special, slightly worn down casual clothing.


    One of them was a guy with short, but bright white hair. It was fairly clear from the shade of white that this wasn''t someone with aged hair, but dyed hair. He was twirling around a red string with a small red ball on top.


    "And I... can''t see... the difference between a nightmare and my life."


    Another was a girl with long blue light blue hair, tied back up into a ponytail. She had a red paddle ball in her hand that she was ying with, though the ball was rather spiky.


    "So please, just save me from myself. Cause there''s a side of me~"


    Thest one was a guy with hair a little longer than usual and light green hair. He seemed to be holding a red pole, but on closer inspection, one would see that it was actually a microphone stand.


    "And no one sees it, I battle demons everyday. I can''t escape my mind."


    They were all sitting on the tops of the roofs of various restaurants, sitting across from each other. Their legs dangled carelessly, and they even kicked around at the very edge, clearly not concerned about the fact they were roughly two stories high.


    On top of that, they all had smiles, like it was the weekend and they didn''t have to go to school.


    The three seemed to notice the others, but didn''t really take much note of them, continuing to sing to themselves.


    Nicole gave a small p and nodded to herself.


    "You guys are really good at singing!"


    The guy with white hair snapped his finger, which smoothly transitioned into a raised thumb and index finger pointing towards Nicole.


    "Haha, naturally."


    The girl with blue hair swayed her head back and forth with a small smile.


    "We''ve been doing it since we were eleven, after all."


    The guy with green hair shrugged exaggeratedly.


    "It was always us three with each other. Nobody else."


    Chaseughed.


    "Are you guys, perchance, a rock band?"


    The girl with blue hair raised her hand into the air, pulling back her middle finger and ring finger, but sticking up her pinky and index finger.


    "Hell yeah!"


    The guy with white hair caught the little ball he was spinning with and smiled.


    "Maybe not the most popr one yet, but give us some time and we''ll be the biggest one out there!"


    Tori could not help but blink a few times, pausing for a moment before speaking.


    "In the apocalypse?"


    The guy with green hairughed, raising his microphone stand high into the air.


    "Nothing''s ever stopped us before, and we sure as hell ain''t letting no apocalypse stop us either!"


    Though Kairos couldn''t help but think they were stupid for having such ambitions, there was a part of him that could respect such determination.


    A very small part of him, but a part of him nheless.


    He adjusted his sses.


    "I don''t want to be rude, but sound has a chance of attracting monsters. I doubt you wille across many here, but there is always that small chance."


    The girl with blue hair giggled.


    "If a monster reallyes, then we will just deal with it."


    The guy with green hair swung his microphone stand like it was a sword.


    "I''ll just bash its skull open, and that will be that."


    The guy with white hair put a hand on his knee as he arched his back over.


    "And if that doesn''t work, we can always run."


    Sam smiled as he looked at those three.


    "So how do you n to be the biggest rock band of the apocalypse? There''s going to be a pretty big roadblock of exposure now that people aren''t exactly on the inte and everything."


    The three of them fell silent for a few moments.


    The guy with white hair shrugged his shoulders.


    "No idea what we should do, but we are sure as hell going to try."


    Sam rubbed his chin.


    "Then wouldn''t you have to go around to various ces yourself to make your name known?"


    The three of them began thinking.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes at that statement and turned his head towards his father.


    "You aren''t trying to bring them with us, right?"


    Sam smirked.


    "Nothing wrong with taking people with us, if they aren''t a burden, no?"


    The three teenagers looked at each other, and seemed to havee to an agreement despite not speaking any words.


    The white haired guy turned to them.


    "Sounds like one of you wants a band on your side, while the other thinks we will just be a burden. How about we show you what we can do?"

 Chapter 54 Pow!

    Kairos blinked a few times. In all honesty, he knew that logically it wouldn''t be too bad to team up with some others that had some sort of skill. However, he just didn''t like the personalities of those three.


    He couldn''t exactly put his finger on it, but he just didn''t like them very much.


    Since it would be too much of a hassle to exin, Kairos didn''t bother to.


    "So what exactly are you proposing?"


    The guy with white hair jumped off the building. He thennded with a soft tap, bending his knees ever so slightly.


    "We can just have a friendly fight. If you get hit twice, you sit out. How about that?"


    Sam shrugged his shoulders.


    "That sounds pretty reasonable."


    Both the girl with blue hair and the guy with green hair jumped off too,nding behind him.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "All of us against you? If a person is out after getting hit two times, that wouldn''t be the fairest, would it?"


    The guy with white hair smirked.


    "Hah. How about we try it and see how unfair this is exactly?"


    Chase smirked.


    "Honestly, I think I have the disadvantage here, I usually kill on the first hit."


    The guy with green hair shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you can kill on the first hit, then just do it."


    Chase sighed.


    "Well, if it''s just a friendly match, then there is no need to use my weapon. I''ll just go barehanded."


    The girl with blue hair giggled.


    "So it''s more or less fair then. It seems nobody has any issues?"


    A second of silence passed, seemingly showing everyone''s agreement.


    The girl smiled and began hitting her paddleball back and forth.


    "Well, what are we waiting for?"


    The guy with green hair held onto his microphone stand close to himself, and kept the microphone close to his mouth, almost like he was getting prepared to sing.


    As for the guy with white hair, he began twirling the red ball attached to a string once more and walked forth.


    They were in no rush, and neither was Kairos. He thought about taking off his sses, but figured there was no reason to take this too seriously.


    However, his eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch the next moment.


    The guy with green hair yelled into the microphone, which was amplified by the device.


    "Let''s rock!"


    Everyone on their side couldn''t help but feel a little dizzy from the excessive volume. And it was that moment that was taken advantage of.


    The girl with blue hair hit the spiked ball with her paddle hard and the string that attached the ball to the paddle ended up extending far beyond its original length. It snaked right towards Chase''s forehead.


    It almost hit him, but at the veryst moment, his head snapped to the side, letting it pass by him.


    The ball almost immediately retracted, going back towards Chase. Despite not seeing it, he seemed to have somehow predicted it and ducked down, avoiding it once more.


    On the other hand, the guy with white hair whipped with his arm, letting the red ball attached to the string fly out towards Sydney. She averted her head before it came, but the red ball didn''t seem to follow normal physics, suddenly shifting its direction while in mid-air.


    The ball tapped Sydney on the forehead as she didn''t expect this.


    "Ah!"


    The guy with white hair smirked.


    "One!"


    Sydney''s eyes flew open wide as she snapped to attention, trying to get away from the red ball. Though it only hit her a while ago, it already began shooting back towards her the next second.


    Sydney was able to duck in time this time, but that ball was relentless, chasing after her like it was alive. She widened her eyes to their limits just to follow it.


    Though that didn''t mean the others were standing still.


    The people that weren''t being attacked were rushing forth. Kairos was the first one to sprint forth, without even taking any precautionary measures to dodge.


    Upon reaching the guy at the front, he swung his sharpened bone, aiming for his abdomen. Though he didn''t put much strength into it as the guy dashed backwards as though he was on rollerskates.


    Kairos diverted the trajectory of his attack, swinging it towards the string, but when it got close, the string shot back, almost like it was a ma being repelled away.


    While that was happening, Sam followed up, chasing after the guy with white hair that was fleeing. He was noticeably faster than Kairos, and thus was able to catch up to him rtively easily.


    Once in range, Sam swung with the sharpened bone at the guy''s chest.


    But the guy suddenly threw his head back, and once he did, the base of the microphone stand flew over.


    A deep boom resounded.


    Both the sharpened bone and base of the microphone stand collided with each other before freezing in ce. From how loud the sound was, it wasn''t too hard to tell that both sides had high strength values.


    The guy with green hair smirked as the microphone stand trembled in his hand.


    "You''re pretty strong, aren''t you?"


    Samughed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You''re not so bad yourself."


    Just a few secondster, the microphone stand was retracted smoothly. It seemed like he didn''t care too much about winning the confrontation. As for the guy with white hair, he had already scurried off.


    During this time, the red ball that was trying to hit Sydney, which she dodged by ducking under it. But then, it abruptly expanded. While it was originally at the size of a ping pong ball, it had berger than Sydney herself. On top of that, a jaw formed on the red ball, with clear prominent teeth. The teeth parted ever so slightly, but closed right after, as though it was controlling itself.


    Sydney ended up getting hit on the back of the head. She blinked a few times, as though unable to believe she had gotten out this quick.


    The guy with white hair chuckled while at the very back.


    "Two!"


    The red ball immediately shrunk back down to its original size and whipped back.


    On the other side of this battle, the girl with blue hair was actually fending off Tori, Chase, and even Nicole all on her own. After Chase dodged the ball that had rebounded, both Tori and Nicole tried to close in on the girl.


    But that was when the ball pulsated strangely.


    And spikes abruptly shot out from all ends. The overall thing had expanded into a spiky sphere with a radius of about five meters. The spikes pierced into the pavement below, sending cracks throughout.


    Tori noticed something was off the moment it pulsated, thus backed off early, while Nicole had the red watch on and was thus also able to react in time.


    The girl with blue hair pouted when she saw this.


    "Aw... I thought I could get a two for one deal!"


    She smiled soon after.


    "Guess I just have to do it the traditional way."


    The spiked ball suddenly retracted, ripping through the street as it shrunk. By the time the ball hade back, it had shrunk back into its tiny size once more.


    She pulled the paddle back all the way and swung with all her might, throwing her shoulder into it and nearly tripping over her own foot.


    A clear thwack rang out as the ball shot forth once more.


    But this time, it expanded into a spiked ball straight away. The pretense was shed.


    Both Nicole and Tori stepped back once more, splitting off to separate sides to dodge it. As for Chase, he didn''t bother trying to step up and backed off.


    He raised an eyebrow.


    "That is quite a unique attack."


    Tori and Nicole both dashed towards the girl, but on opposite ends.


    Seeing this, the girl with blue hair just smiled without the slightest concern. She pulled the paddle back and over to the side. The spiked ball rebounded backwards, ripping across the pavement, and went straight towards Tori.


    Despite seeing the giant ball of deathing for her, her expression remained neutral. The rumbling sound continued to get closer, and when it was less than a meter away from her she leaped upwards.


    Tori threw herself back and did a backflip. Right when she was at the peak and sticking her stomach up into the air, the spiked ball rushed right past her. Then, shended on the road.


    The girl with blue hair narrowed her eyes at this disy. She quickly came to the conclusion that this wouldn''t be an easy person to deal with, thus she shifted her attention to Nicole.


    While running backwards, she pulled her paddle back. The ball had shrunk once again once it got closer to her. A strange glint shed by her eyes as the paddle in her hand whipped forth, thwacking against the ball and grabbing onto the string with her fingers.


    The spiked ball expanded once more, rushing towards Nicole like a truck.


    She had little confidence in replicating what Tori had done, thus she threw her body to the side, attempting to dodge. Yet, the very moment her eyes turned to the side, the girl with blue hair tugged onto the string.


    The spiked ball kept its forward momentum but was now also sliding to the side, right towards Nicole. Seeing this, Nicole wanted to try and backtrack, giving up on running forth. However, she was simply too slow.


    In the end, she could only watch as the spiked ball mercilessly rushed towards and tore through the ground.


    Right as the adrenaline peaked, the tips of the spikes suddenly became pads, smacking against Nicole softly. It was not lethal. Though that didn''t change the fact that Nicole was thrown to the side with the air knocked out of her lungs. Before she could recover from her daze or even stop flying through the air, the ball rebounded back and mmed into her once more.


    Nicole spat out some saliva as her eyes widened all the way.


    She rolled across the ground a little while her head began to spin.


    Now, she was out as well.


    Tori was running towards the girl with blue hair the entire time, but despite the fact that the girl was running backwards, Tori was having great difficulty catching up.


    Once she did close the distance by two meters, the girl with blue hair blew her a kiss.


    "Seeya!"


    The girl leaped upwards, clinging onto the side of a building before scaling up with more proficiency than a monkey.


    Tori tilted her head to the side, letting the shrunken spiky ball pass by her head and go back to the paddle. Then, she leaped up and climbed after the runner.


    The girl giggled mischievously as she ran across the roof, and by the time she got to the end, she turned around and winked, before letting her body fall off the side.


    Tori was originally a few meters away, but since her target spent some time taunting, she was able to close that gap to less than a meter. Tori pulled back her katana while the girl was falling and grabbed onto the ledge with her free hand.


    Then, she brought herself over the ledge.


    As for the girl with blue hair, she had one eye closed while her free hand was pointing a finger gun towards Tori.


    "Pow!"


    She swung the paddle, sending the spiked ball forth.


    However, Tori was prepared for this. She swung her katana, smashing it against the spiky ball as it was expanding, throwing it away.


    Yet, right when she did that, the corner of the girl''s lip turned up. She lowered the thumb of her finger gun.


    A bang resounded.


    Tori found the clothes at the top of her shoulder ripped open along with some of the skin. She quickly realized that this was her first hit.


    Meaning the next one would get her out.

 Chapter 55 Seamless

    Tori still saw this as an opportunity as the girl had just used both methods to attack her, so she swung her katana, focusing on speed more than anything else.


    There was no need to go for a killing blow, all she had to do was take advantage of this opportunity to hit the girl once. Even if she were to take a hit after, it would still be better than nothing and not aplete loss considering that they had the advantage of numbers, so it was still a rtively fair trade.


    Unfortunately, before her katana even made it halfway, the paddle in the girl''s hand whipped forth.


    And mmed against the side of her face.


    The girl was simply much faster than Tori, giving her no chance.


    Somewhere along the way, Tori had forgotten that the girl didn''t have to only use the ball attached to the paddle to attack and that the paddle itself could actually be used.


    Herst thought as she was blown to the side, was that she was still too weak.


    She became quite dizzy.


    Back on Kairos'' side of things, they were still trying to deal with the two guys.


    He and his father were right up close, but it also felt far because of how difficult it was to hit them. Chase was approaching, but not in any super big rush. In technicality, it was still three versus two, so they had the numbers advantage.


    However, Chase really did have a bad disadvantage in this fight as he wasn''t going to use his bow, while they had already lost Nicole and Sydney without even trading back a single hit.


    At this point, Kairos had to acknowledge that their abilities were definitely more than he expected. In fact, he could tell that each of them had already evolved simply from their basic physical stats.


    The only person that couldpare, was his father.


    And that wasn''t exactly his own effort, but more so that Kairos'' mother spoon-fed him kills whether he wanted them or not.


    Kairos decided that it was a fight worth taking off his sses for, thus he did so, clearing up his future vision.


    It was at that point, he saw the guy with green hair detach the microphone from the stand. The microphone had a tiny little string at the end, which the guy grabbed onto, and in just a few moments it extended out to be a meter long.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder why all three of them had string-like tools, but decided to focus on closing the distance.


    He saw with his future vision that the microphone would whip out and wrap around his sharpened bone. Then, the microphone would morph into some sort oftch that would bind it in ce.


    Not wanting that to happen, Kairos moved his sharpened bone out of the way. The microphone flew past him. His father followed up, swinging his own sharpened bone.


    The guy was forced to block with the stand, causing the two of them to be in a deadlock once more. However, because Sam was using both hands while the guy was now using one hand, Sam was slowly gaining the advantage.


    Kairos didn''t even blink as he rushed forth, wanting to take advantage of this opportunity.


    However, with his future vision, he saw that a red ball would shoot over, wrapping itself around his target''s waist before pulling.


    Kairos saw himself missing with the sharpened bone, thus decisively chose another option.


    He began casting the fire spell, but injecting the bare minimum mana required.


    Once the red ball shot over, wrapping the string around the guy''s waist, a tiny fireball had formed on Kairos'' finger.


    Then, he let it loose.


    The guy with green hair widened his eyes as he tried to sidestep out of the way, but the fireball was too fast,nding on his abdomen, bursting into mes. He quickly pped them, putting them out the next second, beforeughing.


    "Alright, alright, you got me once. Was not expecting that!"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side, dodging a microphone that hade back for him.


    "...You guys really like your strings, don''t you?"


    The guy with white hair smirked.


    "Naturally, we gonna pull on some heartstrings, yo!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes as he considered his options, and quickly realized that they were in a bad position. Those two simply had a way of attack that was far more flexiblepared to them rigidly swinging some bones around.


    On top of that, their teamwork was nearly seamless, despite it only being a few days in the apocalypse. Though it wasn''t like Kairos wasn''t close to his father, there was no way they were going to have that much coordination in the way they fought.


    Kairos took a peek behind him, at Chase who was just a few meters away.


    If he couldn''t do something, then they would probably lose the spar.


    Kairos continued to take the initiative to approach, as if they really began creating more distance, then they could just harass with their far greater range. Sam seemed to have the same idea and took the lead due to naturally being faster.


    The guy with white hair decided to take the front this time, letting his teammate get behind him. Then, he let the red ball in his hand loose towards Sam, letting it expand into a giant set of jaws.


    Sam narrowed his eyes and shot off to the side, while Kairos shot off towards the other side. That red ball still had a surprising amount of flexibility, able to change its direction and chase after Sam.


    Though, it was definitely far more sluggish aspared to when it was smaller.


    Sam mmed his sharpened bone against the giant set of jaws, forcibly keeping it at bay. Then, after a split second of hesitation, he pulled out one of the other bones on his belt and lunged forth to sh.


    Though the guy with white hair naturally wasn''t going to stand there, so he dodged to the side.


    Seeing this, Kairos decided to try and throw his sharpened bone to get a hit in. Worst case scenario, he could get the other bone on his father''s belt.


    However, in his future vision, he saw that a microphone would whip out and the cord attached to it would grab onto the bone.


    Kairos immediately stopped himself from throwing the bone.


    Instead, he decided to continue running forth.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Since the guy with white hair dodged to the side, it gave Kairos enough time to catch up normally.


    And once he was one meter away, a microphone whipped towards him. In his future vision, he wasn''t able to keep up, and got hit in the face. However, since he saw it happen, he was able to dodge to the side.


    And right after, he saw in his future vision that the ball would collide with his back.


    Kairos furrowed his brows and threw his body to the side, but that still wasn''t enough. He then did the same thing that his father did, mming his sharpened bone into the giant set of jawsing back for him.


    Sam lunged forth swinging with one sharpened bone, which the guy with white hair easily dodged. But then, he followed it up with another swing which forced the guy to lean back, temporarily forcing him to remain in ce.


    That was when Chase dashed in from the side.


    But before he could get too close, a microphone stand whipped in his direction, forcing him to back off.


    And through all of this, Kairos finally saw another chance, by using his hand to attack.


    After all, the lethality didn''t matter so much as getting the person hit in the first ce, since that was the rules they were ying by.


    His hand shot out, fingers outstretched like a sword. The guy with white hair immediately recognized his intentions, thus he tugged on the string with both hands, causing it to bend in a strange way.


    In Kairos'' future vision, he saw that the string would bind his arm tightly. Then, instead of getting a hit off, he would be the onepletely vulnerable instead.


    However, Kairos didn''t decide to dodge the string. Instead, he bent his fingers slightly and moved his hand to the side, just barely avoiding the coiling string.


    Then, Kairos grabbed onto it and tugged.


    The guy with white hair wasn''t expecting this and was even pulled forth. Kairos then grit his teeth and whipped his head forth.


    A clear bang resounded.


    Kairos butted heads with the guy with hair and did not hold back for the sake of moving faster. The end result was that the two of them were somewhat disoriented due to the force put behind that strike.


    The guy with white hair and hispanion both retrieved their respective weapons and backed off to recover themselves. Whilepletely focusing on retreat, only Sam could barely keep up, so they made quite the distance.


    The guy with white hair held onto the side of his head and smirked.


    "We both got hit, but cause you were the one that reeled yourself back for it, I''ll give you that one."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "I see you have either a lot of confidence or sportsmanship."


    The guy with white hair raised an eyebrow.


    "Heh. The secret is that it''s both."


    That was when someone else''s voice called out from afar.


    "Confidence is the first step to sess, after all!"


    Kairos looked over to see the girl with blue hair standing on top of a roof. She had the paddle in one hand and held onto Tori''s body with the other. As of now, Tori seemed to be in a half conscious state. She seemed to be trying to resist, but was having difficulty in moving her body in general.


    She was hit on the head a little too hard.


    The girl with blue hair gentlyid down Tori on the roof before hopping down,nding with a light tap.


    Kairos'' eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch.


    It seemed like it had already be a three versus three. Though Kairos somewhat expected the others to fall, he didn''t think it would be this easy.


    Their advantage of numbers was already lost.


    But at the very least, two of them had already been hit once, and for now, the girl with blue hair was still quite far away.


    Kaios clicked his tongue and called out while rushing forth.


    "Finish off those two while thest one can''t catch up!"


    All three of them ran with that very intention, but the only problem was that those two guys really were fast.


    It was then that the guy with white hair surprisingly stopped, turning around to face them. He flung out the red ball once more, but kept it at its small size. He let it shoot out towards Kairos, who promptly dodged.


    It then twisted while in mid-air, forcing Kairos to dodge once more, but that was expected because of both his future vision and what he had seen before from this ball.


    Yet, all of a sudden, Kairos'' eyes flew open despite dodging the ball.


    He felt a sharp pain tear through his leg in his future vision.


    Kairos shifted his foot to the side jarringly, affecting his bnce and almost getting himself hit by the ball.


    And it was then, the ground beneath him broke apart with a bang.


    Almost like someone shot a bullet.


    Kairos looked over his shoulder and saw the girl with blue hair pointing a finger gun at them with one eye closed. Her paddle was casuallyid down at her side. It was clear that she never actually intended on getting closer to attack, but rather staying at the back and shooting at them.


    Kairos quickly realized that this fight was actually going to be even harder than he expected.

 Chapter 56 Hit Once

    "Dodge the person shooting at us!"


    Kairos shouted that as he twisted his torso to avoid a small red ball shooting towards him. Because of all the dodging he had to do, he was naturally unable to close the distance.


    On the other hand, both Sam and Chase were now next to them.


    Sam started it off, swinging with one of his sharpened bones towards the guy with white hair. Unfortunately, like every other time, his target dodged with a confident smile stered across his face.


    Sam quickly followed up with another swing, but missed once more. As that happened, the red ball began ignoring Kairos entirely, shooting towards Sam instead.


    Naturally, Kairos warned him.


    "Dodge!"


    Sam looked over his shoulder and twisted his body out of the way. Kairos wanted to use this moment of reprieve to step forth, but felt a fresh pain rip through his leg in his future vision.


    Kairos quickly stopped himself, and once he did, the pavement in front of him exploded, scattering pieces of street everywhere. He spared a nce over his shoulder towards the girl with blue hair once more.


    She still had a casual smile on her face, but her eyes were locked onto Kairos intently. It seemed like she already figured out that Kairos could somehow predict her shots.


    And used that to force Kairos back.


    Chase attempted to rush forth as well, but the guy with green hair had set his eyes on him, not willing to let him do as he pleased.


    The guy with green hair waited patiently, until Chase was three meters away. Then, he flung his microphone, sweeping the ground underneath him. Chase promptly jumped up, avoiding it entirely.


    However, the guy with green hair wasn''t done with that. As the microphone was sweeping out, he held out the microphone stand to get caught in the middle of the cord.


    And in that way, the cord wrapped itself around the pole, which then made the microphone whip around once more.


    Chase frowned.


    Despite knowing that it was almost impossible to get out, Chase tried to move his foot out of the way. Unfortunately, not only was he too slow, but he was also midair, making dodging basically impossible.


    Chase''s ankle got caught. The cord wrapped itself around, and then the microphone soon transformed into a strangetch, attaching itself to his ankle.


    Practically immediately, Chase realized that he wasn''t going to get out of this hold unless the guy with green hair wanted him to. And with that realization, he acted the moment the guy with green hair attempted to tug on the end of the cord.


    Chase pulled his caught leg back, forcefully straining the cord and screwing up his bnce. Although the guy with green hair seemed caught off guard, he only stumbled a little bit forward.


    Still, he decided to swing with his microphone stand, aiming for Chase''s shoulder.


    Chase did not even try to dodge. In fact, he even tugged on the cord with his free hand, both pulling himself forwards and the guy towards him.


    Then, his hand shot out like a spear, and tapped him on the chest right as the microphone stand crashed into his shoulder.


    Chase''s expression twitched.


    And in the next moment, he grimaced as he felt a ripping sensation through his leg. He had been shot by the girl with blue hair.


    The guy with green hairughed.


    "Guess we are both out."


    Chase smiled bitterly, brushing some of the blood off from the new injury.


    "Guess so."


    The two of them walked to the side to watch the battle that was still going on.


    Kairos continued to run forth with the small gap where he wasn''t being attacked. At the same time, Sam was using both of his sharpened bones to fend off the red ball that was snaking around him. Dodging the red ball itself wasn''t too difficult for Sam. In fact, he wouldn''t even need to use his sharpened bone for that sake.


    However, the guy with white hair wasn''t holding back his trickery anymore. He was causing the string to twist elusively, trying to wrap itself around either Sam or his weapon.


    Sam constantly mmed his sharpened bones against the red ball to forcibly divert its trajectory so that he wouldn''t have to move his body too much in order to avoid getting caught by the string.


    Kairos chose a slightly more roundabout way to approach so that he wouldn''t get caught up with the string.


    But that was when he saw his father duck down in order to avoid the red ball, but pay the price of getting shot in the leg. He wanted to tell his father to dodge but quickly realized that it was pointless.


    Sam either had to get caught by the red ball or get hit in the leg. Either way, that essentially guaranteed that he would get hit.


    Kairos kept his mouth shut and continued advancing, all the while contemting over the teamwork that they had shown. Though their attacks weren''t the most shy, like his max power pulse spell, they were very reliable because of how they worked together.


    It was reliable in the sense that it forced a person to choose either one unfavorable situation, or another. Though there may have been one that wasn''t as bad as the other, it still meant that the person wasn''t getting off scot-free.


    Sam grunted as his leg was torn open by the girl''s bullet.


    At the same time, Kairos had reached the guy''s side and swung with his sharpened bone. The string distorted to stop his attack, but Kairos saw how it would distort, and snaked his way past.


    The guy with white hair raised an eyebrow as he shot backwards, dodging his attack.


    At that point, Sam let the string wrap around one of his sharpened bones. Then, he let out a grunt as he threw his sharpened bone towards the guy.


    The guy with white hair was already a little off bnce from doing a hasty dodge, and grit his teeth in order to forcibly shove his body to the side, just barely dodging the bone.


    But that was when the corner of Sam''s lip turned up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He pointed towards the direction that the guy was moving in before a sudden stream of water shot out. It was rather thin, perhaps not even five centimeters wide, but it shot with decent speed and hit the guy with white hair right in the chest, whose eyebrows both shot up from shock.


    Though at the same time, another invisible and silent bullet ripped through Sam''s leg.


    Both the guy with white hair and Sam were out.


    Noticing this, Kairos immediately looked behind him, towards the girl with blue hair. She was looking back with the corner of her lip turned up, clearly still quite confident despite being the only person left.


    She pointed a finger gun down towards Kairos'' foot before letting her thumb fall down.


    "Pow!"


    The bullet was both silent and invisible, but Kairos could tell that it would rip through his foot if he continued to take a step forth. And so, he stepped to the side, avoiding it.


    Kairos couldn''t help but think that this ability was quite unfair. If it wasn''t for the fact he had the ability to see the future, his own unfair ability, he would be helpless.


    But thankfully, the girl with blue hair wouldn''t be able to hit him unless he was negligent.


    She had tried to predict his dodge by shooting towards the side. However, whenever that happened, Kairos would just continue forth without dodging.


    The girl quickly realized that Kairos really could tell where exactly the bullets were going to hit. She decided to continue shooting anyway for fun, but didn''t run away.


    After all, the only way this fight would be decided is when the two of them began fighting within close quarters.


    And so Kairos continued to dash forth with the steady beat of his feet mming against the pavement. He would asionally dash to the left or right, avoiding the miniature explosion at his feet.


    His shirt pped wildly in the wind, while his face was expressionless as ever.


    Kairos'' dead eyes stared right into the girl''s cocky eyes.


    It did not take long for the distance between the two of them to get closer. And now, Kairos was only about twenty meters away.


    It was at that time the girl pulled her paddle back before whipping it forth, causing the spiked ball to shoot forth. Kairos watched as it expanded to a diameter of five meters and ripped through the ground in his future vision.


    He threw himself to the side and twisted his body, letting it brush right past him. At the same time, he felt a strong pain rip through his leg once more.


    Kairos bent his knees slightly before straightening them out, causing both his feet to slide backwards. It almost seemed like he was trying to dance.


    Then, pavement flew up into the air from the spot where he just was.


    Kairos continued to close the distance, but also took note of the loud ripping sounding from behind him. He went forth while the girl closed one eye, aiming at his leg.


    Then, she let her thumb fall.


    Kairos suddenly felt a ripping pain in his leg, thus he moved it to the side. However, because he did that, he killed his momentum and could no longer dodge the rampaging spiked ball behind him.


    His mind quickly whirred as he suddenly thought of something ambitious.


    He looked behind him, but only in his future vision.


    Then with that knowledge, he swung behind him with the sharpened bone.


    With a ck, it hit the end of one of the many spikes on the ball, pushing both Kairos forth and keeping it at bay. Considering both the spike and the sharpened bone were both very thin, the margin of error was almost next to none.


    In other words, had Kairos even been slightly off, it would have missed, he would''ve swung the sharpened bone for no reason.


    In reality, it looked like he had kept his eyes on the girl the entire time, but swung his sharpened bone back, hitting the spike magically. Almost like he was a psychic.


    The girl with blue hair raised an eyebrow for the first time and began backpedaling. Originally, Kairos would have been slower than the girl, but with the help of pushing on the spiked ball, he was able to steadily close the distance.


    The girl seemed to notice as she tugged on the string, causing the spiked ball to slide to the side, causing Kairos'' sharpened bone to disconnect.


    Kairos naturally expected this, thus pulled back at the right moment.


    As the spiked ball rushed to one side, the girl then pulled on the string the opposite way, causing the spiked ball to pull in and bulldoze its way towards Kairos at an angle.


    And as that happened, she pointed another finger gun at him.


    Kairos could immediately tell that the situation he was in wasn''t the best. However, he wasn''t going to give up now.


    He looked towards the spiked ball and counted on his future vision to tell where the bullet would go.


    With a small frown, Kairos focused hard as he held the sharpened bone somewhat horizontally to block the spiked ball. He suddenly felt a sharp pain at the top of his shoulder.


    Kairos then quickly moved out of the way.


    However, the expected shot did note. There was a brief moment when his future vision warped. And in that time, Kairos did not sense the bullet go through his leg.


    And as such, he suddenly felt a ripping sensation through his leg, but not in his future vision. At the same time, the giant spiked ball collided with the bone, which just barely remained in ce, pushing Kairos forth.


    He narrowed his eyes.


    Kairos had now been hit once, while the girl hadn''t.

 Chapter 57 Settlement

    Kairos'' future vision wasn''t the most perfect ability, as strong as it was. Whenever Kairos decided to do something different based on something he saw in the future, there was a split second where his future vision would warp to shift to the new version.


    And that split second was something like a blindspot for him.


    That was why he wasn''t able to notice that he had been shot through the leg before it already happened. Though he was able to feel the aching that came from after the injury, it was hard to distinguish it since his body was already aching from straining it to move all this time.


    The girl with blue hair''s eyebrow jumped ever so slightly, like she was surprised that she was actually able to get a hit off. With this, she was encouraged to continue shooting, and so that''s exactly what she did.


    Kairos rushed closer towards the girl, using the momentum of the spiked ball to make him go faster. At the same time, the girl once again pointed a finger gun right at his legs.


    This time, Kairos was not going to make the same mistake.


    He suddenly felt a pain rip through his leg, so naturally he moved it. Right when he did that, Kairos saw that the girl actually shifted the trajectory of her finger gun, predicting where he would go.


    And so, while his future vision was warping, he tensed up his leg and made it twitch back.


    A bang resounded right next to his foot.


    A few fragments of scattered pavement grazed against his skin, but didn''t do much else. Kairos lunged forth after she had shot, reaching out with his hand.


    The girl with blue hair leaned back, just barely getting out of reach.


    But that was when Kairos injected the bare minimum amount of mana to cast the pulse spell. It was released almost immediately.


    A clear thump resounded.


    The girl was struck in the abdomen. Although the damage caused was next to none, it still counted as a hit. Now, they were on even terms. The girl clicked her tongue as she gave up on shooting any more bullets.


    Instead, she began pulling on the string that connected the paddle and the spiked ball. The spikes ended up grinding against the bone Kairos was holding. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white just so that he could keep holding it properly.


    At the same time, he gathered mana to create another pulse spell, and let it loose.


    The girl with blue hair tensed up as she went to the side, trying to dodge. However, Kairos had already seen that happen, thus was able to release the pulse spell promptly.


    Then, it whipped out.


    ...Before doing nothing.


    The girl with blue hair was caught off guard, seemingly thinking that she had lost. However, it onlysted a second before she continued to run away.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    He thought that maybe the spell had hit, but he just couldn''t tell. Though from how the girl looked, that probably wasn''t the case. This was because while the pulse spell was strong and quick to cast, it had very little range. Especially so when not charged up.


    ? Compared to the fireball spell, the difference was obvious.


    The girl was not willing to relent knowing that she still wasn''t out. She continued to pull the string, causing the spiked ball to shift to one side once more. Then, she reversed her pull, causing the spiked ball to tear through the pavement and rush back to Kairos.


    At the same time, she raised another finger gun, pointing it towards his legs.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    He needed to look at the spiked ball if he wanted to defend against it, but he also had to look straight to tell where exactly the girl was shooting. It seemed that the girl had somehow figured out a way to work around his future vision.


    And so, what he did was look at the spiked ball with his future vision, but continuously stopped himself from actually doing so.


    It was quite difficult to pull off. There were several times where he almost identally looked at the spiked ball in reality, but he was able to do it nheless.


    The girl with blue hair narrowed her eyes before firing the bullet.


    Kairos was able to move his leg out of the way preemptively, even without the support of his future vision.


    And then, the spiked ball mmed into his bone.


    The girl with blue hair widened her eyes and hurriedly tugged on the string. However, Kairos wasn''t going to give this opportunity up. He pointed his finger forth, letting a tiny fireball coalesce on top.


    The girl with blue hair threw her body to the side, but Kairos wouldn''t miss when he could see her actions a second ahead of time.


    The fireball shot out.


    And burst into a small me onto the girl''s abdomen.


    ...But at the same time, the spiked ball mmed into Kairos'' back, creating a few tiny holes in his back.


    The girl hurriedly shrunk the ball while also patting out the mes that had caught onto her shirt.


    Kairos had seen that the oue would be a tie. It definitely wasn''t a victory like what he would''ve preferred, but at this point it was more than what he could ask for. That was simply because the girl was faster than him.


    If she continued to run away, then he would have to use the fireballs to hit her. Although the fireball traveled fast, it wasn''t fast enough to reach her over long distances. The only reason he somewhat kept up was that he strained his arm to push against the spiked ball that nearly killed him.


    Kairos sighed.


    "...Well yed."


    The girl with blue hair continued to pat out the mes.


    "Yeah, you too! ...Hot! Hot, hot!"


    The guy with white hair and the guy with green hair were the first two that rushed over, both eager to hear about the result.


    The guy with green hair spoke up.


    "Did we win?"


    The girl with blue hair shook her head.


    "Nah, sorry."


    The guy with white hair then sighed.


    "Did we lose?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not exactly."


    Sam, Chase, and the others also got closer, wanting to hear the results. Kairos looked at them and blinked a few times.


    "It was a tie."


    The guy with white hair let out a chuckle and waved his hand dismissively.


    "Damn, at least it wasn''t a loss, man."


    Samughed.


    "I suppose we are quite the even match."


    Kairos pulled his sses back out and put them on.


    "If it truly was a life or death battle, then it would be hard to say who wins. However, I do have to admit that both sides would face deaths."


    Nicole looked down at her feet, fidgeting a little bit. She was eliminated without being able to do anything herself, so she felt quite embarrassed. As for Tori, she was holding onto the side of her head, trying her best not to look at the girl with blue hair.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos sighed and looked towards the guy with white hair.


    "I suppose in the end, I was wrong. You guys are far from a burden from what I''ve seen."


    In response, the guy smirked.


    "You ain''t so bad yourself! I bet if you made those spells stronger, you would''ve blown us away!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Anyway, my name is Kairos."


    The guy with white hair put two fingers on his forehead before whipping them to the side, almost like some sort of strange salute.


    "Sup, Kairos. My name''s Eric."


    The girl with blue hair raised one hand, waving enthusiastically as the other continued to y with the paddle ball.


    "Hey! My name is Jenny."


    The guy with green hair made a peace sign.


    "It''s Nick over here."


    The other people in Kairos'' group introduced themselves, just not as casually as them.


    After getting to know each other, Eric tapped his chin as he swung the red ball around.


    "So, back on the topic we were on a while ago. Where are you guys going?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not any particr direction, honestly."


    Nick put one hand on his hip.


    "Hah, same here. The main priority is still bing the most famous rock band though."


    Jenny smiled.


    "You guys want to hear our performance?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched as he really didn''t want to start listening to them ying their music. He raised a finger.


    "I think if you guys want to be more popr, you will have to find a big crowd that can listen."


    Eric raised an eyebrow.


    "What are you proposing?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "It would probably be best to find a ratherrge settlement. That way, you can perform once, but reach many people. We should hurry and try to find a ce like that."


    What he didn''t specify was the fact there was almost no way that a settlement had formed by now. After all, it was just a few days into the apocalypse.


    How in the world would there possibly be some sort of settlement when people are just barely able to survive in the first ce?


    Those were his thoughts as he made that suggestion.


    Nick nodded to himself when he heard that.


    "That sounds like a great idea! Let''s find that settlement, then!"


    During this time, Sam hadid his hand down against the floor, in a section where the road wasn''t torn or covered by corpses.


    After a few moments, he spoke up and pointed one way with his finger.


    "From what I can tell, there are quite a few people that have walked in that direction."


    Jenny crouched down next to him and alsoid a hand down next to his.


    "Huh. I can''t tell anything at all. You must be pretty good at tracking!"


    Sam smiled awkwardly.


    "Haha, no, no. I just have an ability that lets me see those kinds of things."


    He stood up and looked off in the direction he pointed.


    "I couldn''t exactly catch what they looked like too closely, but there were quite a few people going in that direction. If nothing else, I could make out that they were humans instead of monsters."


    Nick put the microphone stand on his shoulders and hooked his arms on top.


    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s go!"


    Eric raised an eyebrow while smiling.


    "Hah! I can already see the crowd cheering for us!"


    While Sam was taking the lead, the group walked on ahead. The three that had joined the group walked in a line, spread a few meters apart. Honestly, Kairos was expecting them to remain bunched up with each other.


    Even if it wasn''t for the sake of safety, he still expected people close to each other to separate themselves from the others.


    After all, that was what he had seen.


    However, it seemed that these three were rather open, even to people they had just met.


    Jenny began humming to a tune, and eventually, she began making a steady beat with her paddle and ball.


    Both Eric and Nick gradually began nodding their heads to it as well.


    And in just a few moments, the very thing Kairos was trying to avoid, happened.


    Eric began twirling the red ball to the beat, and began singing.


    "Say, oops I got ny-nine problems singing bye, bye, bye."


    Nick rocked his head back and forth.


    "Hold up, if you wanna go and take a ride with me better hit me, baby, one more time."


    Kairos felt a little irritated at first, but he couldn''t help but admit they really did know what they were doing, with nearly perfect coordination.


    If he had to choose, listening to them sing was still better than just walking in silence.


    And before he knew it, they came across something unexpected.


    A settlement.

 Chapter 58 Watching You

    Kairos stopped in ce and looked up with wide eyes.


    "...What?"


    They were still in the city, but there was a wall far up ahead in sight. It was a mixture of gray and brown while the wall itself was iparably smooth. The walls encapsted quite arge area, so much so that Kairos couldn''t actually make out the end of the walls easily. As for the height, it should''ve been at the very least thirty meters high.


    Surrounding these walls were various copsed buildings. This created quite arge clearing surrounding the ce, which made it stand out even more than it already did.


    In a certain sense, it appeared as though it had just plopped itself down, and destroyed everything nearby. Basically, it just felt unnatural.


    This made Kairos feel a little strange about this ce.


    He couldn''t help but think this wasn''t something humans constructed, thus he thought that it may have been some sort of natural phenomenon that was potentially dangerous.


    On the other hand, Eric didn''t seem to share the same sentiment.


    "Woah! I didn''t think we would get to a settlement already!"


    He snapped before pointing a finger gun towards Sam.


    "You really are good at finding things!"


    In response, Sam chuckled.


    "It was just a coincidence. I''m not actually that good."


    Nick shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.


    "Well, you are a hell of a lot better than us."


    Jenny began walking up with her arms outstretched, not even slightly concerned about what it could have been.


    "Helloooooo~"


    She did not hold back, casting her voice loud enough so that it could be heard to anyone inside.


    After a few moments, the top of a man''s head appeared from the wall. He held a pair of binocrs and looked down at them. Though it wasn''t visible to Kairos and the others, a small frown formed on the person''s face when he saw that the voice wasing from a teenager, and even deepened when he further scanned to see many more kids.


    "Get out of here! This is not a ce for people like you!"


    After dering that, the person stopped poking their head out.


    Jenny put her hands on her hips and pouted when she saw the person''s attitude.


    "People like us? How can you assume that you know everything just when you take a look at a person?"


    The person at the top didn''t bother poking their head out again, but still rebutted.


    "So many of you are just useless kids! We don''t need any more people like you in here!"


    Jenny narrowed her eyes as her frown deepened.


    "Why don''t youe down here and see how useless we are for yourself?"


    The person at the top was rather dismissive.


    "Not going to waste my time!"


    Kairos walked up and adjusted his sses. From the sound of things, it really was a settlement. However, there wasn''t any clear entrance, unless climbing up the wall was considered one.


    "May I ask how this ce was formed?"


    The person at the top scoffed.


    "It was created by an angel that is far out of your reach!"


    Right after that was said, another voice came from the top of the walls. However, it was far more feminine and young.


    "And yet you consider this angel a useless teenager?"


    The person seemed rather panicked.


    "Ah, no! I-"


    Another person walked up from the ledge, revealing themselves. It was a girl with violet hair, with two cute unbraided pigtails on the side of her head. Her eyes were light blue, and even from so far away seemed to gleam slightly.


    The girl was wearing a school uniform, and other than being slightly ruffled up, it was fine.


    There was a calm smile on her face, one that spoke of confidence over the situation.


    She waved her hand leisurely.


    "Ah, Kairos! I thought I recognized that voice."


    Kairos blinked a few times with confusion.


    "You know me?"


    The girlughed.


    "Yes, yes. It is expected you have no idea who I am. After all, we never spoke!"


    Kairos furrowed his brows, then gradually thought of this one person. It was a ssmate he had shared a few sses with, Tiana. The impression of her wasn''t too strong, but there were a few things that made him remember her.


    First off, was her violet hair. It stood out a fair amount because of how different it was, but also wasn''t too shy because it could almost be ck. It was a pretty big contrastpared to Eric and his friends who all basically had neon colors for hair.


    The second thing was that she was always a little strange. Gym ss was separated by gender, so the guys and girls would both have their own separate periods. Yet, for some reason Tiana would always show up for the guy''s gym ss. The teacher had expressed that she shouldn''t be doing so, but was quickly shut up after a simple threat.


    Kairos gathered that she was either from a rather influential family, or had a rtive in the higher ranks of the school.


    And so, Tiana would always watch whenever they yed sports. It was rumored that she liked Chad, and that was why she decided to cut in gym ss all the time.


    Kairos was actually quite surprised that Tiana even knew his name, much less recognize him by voice. After all, she never really looked at him.


    He paused for a moment.


    "Tiana?"


    Tianaughed.


    "Wow, I''m really surprised you actually remember me!"


    Nicole couldn''t help but flinch before looking between the two.


    Kairos simply sighed.


    "Of course, it''s not too hard to remember the only person who dyed their hair in ss."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side and smiled.


    "Haha, and what if I were to tell you that it was natural?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Why does that even matter?"


    Tiana brushed aside her bangs.


    "Ah, you are right! I got off topic a little here. Anyway, why don''t you alle in?"


    Before any of them had the chance to ask how exactly they were supposed to get inside, part of the walls began to shift. Part of the wall began sinking into the ground, creating a small pathway near the bottom.


    Kairos was rather surprised how easily she came to that decision.


    As for Eric, he didn''t really care. Instead, he shed Kairos a smile.


    "Sick! You know the people of this ce? What other connections do you have?"


    The man at the top of the wall seemed rather concerned as well.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Wait! We can''t take any more baggage in!"


    Tiana turned to the man and raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you questioning my decision?"


    The man seemed rather afraid, but was still insistent.


    "There are too many burdens on us already! We should minimize them if we want those that matter to survive!"


    A strange smile formed on Tiana''s lips.


    "You''re right, we should discard the burdens."


    The man sounded a bit relieved.


    "Thank you for under-"


    Yet, before he could finish his sentence, Tiana had grabbed onto his shoulder. Then, she picked him up by one hand and cast him over the edge, almost like he really was just a piece of trash.


    For the first second, the man didn''t seem to process what happened.


    But right afterwards...


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."


    Kairos and most of the others looked above with incredulity. The only person that acted differently was Chase, whose smile deepened slightly as he held onto his chin with his hand.


    Jenny was originally leisurely walking towards the small pathway, but frowned when she saw the man falling from the sky. She immediately pulled back her paddle before mming on the spiked ball hard.


    As it traveled, it quickly expanded to a diameter of five meters. The man saw this as he was going down, but to him, it didn''t seem like good news, only making him scream even louder.


    "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."


    However before he was skewered by those spikes, the ends had be soft pads, which caught onto the man.


    From there, the ball began falling down at a rtively fast speed, but one that was still safe. The man grit his teeth until eventually hitting the floor, bouncing up a little from the ball.


    He rolled down onto the ground while clutching his chest, seemingly trying to calm his beating heart. His breaths were heavy, while sweat began pouring down from his brows.


    The man was in camouge clothing along with an assault rifle strapped onto his back, indicating that he was probably from the military.


    After shaking his head, he slowly got up to his feet, albeit trembling. He noticed pretty easily that it was Jenny that saved him and bowed to her.


    "Th-Thank you for saving my life."


    Jenny rolled her eyes.


    "Not so useless now, huh?"


    The man hurriedly shook his head.


    "No, no!"


    Jenny then lost interest, instead opting to look up towards Tiana with a frown.


    "Hey, you can''t just throw people off buildings! That''s rude!"


    Tiana looked down silently for a few moments before sighing.


    "If people aren''t punished, then they will only get more out of hand."


    Nick pointed a finger at her usingly.


    "Yo, even if you want to punish someone, it doesn''t have to be killing them!"


    Tiana took a deep breath.


    "...Whatever."


    The man couldn''t bring himself to look up at her, and simply began shivering without knowing what to do.


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Hey, useless. Since these guys want to give you a second chance, you got yourself one. But next time, I won''t give you another chance no matter who vouches for you."


    The man looked up and blinked nervously before pointing at himself.


    "M-Me?"


    Tiana smirked.


    "Yeah you. Isn''t useless a perfect name for you? You use it so much after all. From now on your name will be useless."


    The man''s face twitched. He first looked out towards the surroundings, as though contemting whether or not he should leave. But he almost immediately gave up on that notion, bowing towards Tiana.


    "O-Ok. Useless thanks the angel for her benevolence!"


    Kairos decided to tune out that conversation.


    As for Sam, he was frowning deeply.


    "...I''m not sure if we want anything to do with someone willing to cast aside a human life so easily."


    Jenny walked forth, taking exaggerated steps.


    "I don''t care about all that, I''m going up there to give that girl an earful!"


    Eric shrugged his shoulders as he walked up, twirling the red ball.


    "I''m up for that. That Tiana girl needs to know that''s really uncool, yo."


    With that, Eric, Nick, and Jenny began walking in through the pathway, while the man from before kept his head down and hurriedly followed after.


    Kairos turned to the others that were still in ce.


    "We can at least check the ce out, right?"


    Nicole pressed her lips together as conflicting emotions arose within her. But to Kairos'' surprise, she seemed to havee to a decision.


    "Yeah, we should."


    She began walking forth, prompting Kairos to follow. Sam sighed and shook his head, but still followed as well.


    In the end, the group walked through that small pathway.


    Kairos noted that the length was about five meters. In other words, the walls were five meters thick, which definitely wasn''t anything to scoff at.


    And once they did walk past, they were greeted with a rather giant space. At the center, there were still a few tall residential buildings, but all around them wasrge amounts of overturned earth.


    There were currently numerous people of all kinds working on that earth, tilling it with things like metal poles, baseball bats, or wrenches.


    Nicole''s eyes widened in excitement.


    "...Wow."


    From the corner, Tiana peeked her head out, already down from the wall that was thirty meters high.


    "Hey!"


    Jenny was about to speak, but Kairos did first.


    "Why did you let us in?"


    Tiana giggled with her hand over her mouth.


    "You see, I have been watching you for a while..."

 Chapter 59 Secretive Manners

    Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    "...You were watching me?"


    Looking at her closer, Tiana had a life-sized butterfly pin in her hair. She tilted her head to the side and smiled.


    "Why do you think I would always go to your gym sses?"


    She put one hand on her cheek along with a knowing smile.


    "I was there to watch you."


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel confused.


    "Huh? Why me?"


    He was never the star yer or even that athletic for that matter. It was frankly rare to find him even truly participating, as nobody would ever pass to him. The only thing he would do was asionally catch the ball before tossing it to the nearest person.


    And as for the times where he had to participate because of the nature of the event, he would hardly ever do a good job, though that was on purpose.


    That was why he could hardly fathom why Tiana could even want to watch him. After all, there was practically nothing to watch.


    However, Tiana smiled almost like there was poison coating her lips.


    "I can see that you are always thinking ahead. No matter what, your eyes would never be on the ball itself, but where the ball would be. Somehow you always seemed to be able to calcte the results of something a second before it actually happened."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched violently.


    He honestly had no conscious awareness that he was doing that. Though now that he thought about it, that was something he did all the time. After all, why would he look at the ball directly when he had already seen where it had gone?


    The only interesting thing to look at would be to see the new result, rather than the old.


    ...And it seemed someone somehow picked up on that.


    Kairos pushed his sses up as he made a mental note to be wary of that from now on.


    "I''m pretty sure you are mistaken. Even if I have some basic sort of calcting ability, it isn''t something that someone else couldn''t have."


    Tiana giggled.


    "Oh, but it extends even further than that. Even when you are just walking around, it''s as though you can tell whenever anything happens, whether it''s avoiding bird poop that falls from the sky, or avoiding a car that drove a little too recklessly."


    Kairos opened his mouth, and found himself at a loss for a moment.


    How did she even know all of that?


    "I... don''t remember seeing you watching me?"


    Tianaughed.


    "Just because someone has their head down staring at their phone, doesn''t mean they aren''t paying attention to their surroundings. Though, everyone assumes that. Frankly, I''m always watching everyone."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "That''s creepy."


    The corner of Tiana''s lip curled up.


    "Thank you for thepliment."


    Kairos rubbed his temple.


    "So you really decided to take all of us in because I was a little more calcting than the average person?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "I know what I know."


    She then turned to the man and shooed him away.


    "Go back to manning the walls, useless."


    The man flinched, but hurriedly saluted before running away.


    Jenny pouted after watching the man go away.


    "Couldn''t you have been a little nicer?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "Kindness only begets people that will act out of line. If they aren''t afraid, then how can you expect them to do what they''re told?"


    Nick furrowed his brows.


    "That''s where you encourage them. They ain''t gonna do their best if they are afraid all the time."


    Tiana smiled and sped her hands together.


    "And what do you do when that encouragement fails?"


    Nick did not have a rebuttal.


    However, Eric spoke up instead.


    "What if my two friends and I here try something?"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow. She pondered over it for a moment.


    "...You can try if you wish."


    She then raised her finger.


    "But!"


    Tiana slowly pointed towards Kairos.


    "That is under the condition that you be in charge of the logistics. Otherwise, you have to work on a farm to be here."


    Kairos was almost rendered speechless, but decided to hear more about the farm.


    "When you say work on the farm, what exactly do you mean?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side with a smile.


    "Ah, I will give anyone that bes a farmer a plot ofnd which they can grow crops on! Then, they will only have to pay by giving ny percent of their yield to me."


    Sam''s head physically recoiled slightly as he blinked a few times.


    "Sorry, did you say ny?"


    Tiana nodded.


    "Yes. You will get ten percent of any food you grow!"


    The corner of Sam''s lip twitched.


    "...I thought getting taxed twenty-five percent was quite unfair, but it seems my vision was a bit too limited."


    Tiana chuckled.


    "It was always a choice! All of these people understood the terms and did not have to choose to agree. They decidedpletely out of their own free will."


    Chase smiled.


    "I suppose when you know there will always be someone that agrees, you don''t have to care too much about creating lenient conditions."


    Sydney frowned and lowered her head.


    "But... that doesn''t mean it''s right to take advantage of them."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Tiana walked up to her and lifted up her chin with the tip of her index finger.


    "And what? You think I should be running a charity in the middle of the apocalypse?"


    Nicole hurried over and bowed towards her.


    "Please don''t touch my mother!"


    Tiana lowered her finger with a soft sigh before turning to Nicole.


    "And on what grounds do you have to tell me what to do?"


    Nicole fidgeted, but stayed strong.


    "I don''t think I have grounds to. I couldn''t create anything close to what you have made. But still, while I respect your actions, I don''t want you getting too touchy."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few moments. It seemed as though she was going to say something harsh, like usual. Though reality turned out to be a little different.


    "It seems you aren''t as worthless as you made yourself out to be."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Eh?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "From what I''ve seen before, you never seemed to be the type of person to stand up for yourself, much less others."


    A small smile spread out on Nicole''s face.


    "I... I guess some things changed."


    Tiana sighed before turning to Kairos. She had both hands on her hips along with a smile.


    "So, are you willing to take on the position?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Could you give me a quick briefing on what I will do and what I will get from it? Also, are there any caveats if I want to quit?"


    Tiana smirked.


    "You will make decisions on how we spread out the city''s resources, which at most will be once a week. You will get more than what you need for food, and when we establish a mary system, you will get one of the highest pay. There are no restrictions on quitting, as long as you inform me beforehand."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "That sounds rtively... lenient."


    Tiana winked.


    "Let''s just say I am confident in your ability."


    Kairos deliberated over whether or not he should ept this. It sounded like a fairly good deal, and there was also the untold benefit of having a position of power. Though he couldn''t be sure about how much power it would give him and what exactly he could do with it, resources were surely important during the apocalypse.


    Thus, managing those resources should be quite useful.


    In a certain sense, this was essentially most of what he could ask for. Originally, he was nning on fighting hard to barely survive and create a somewhat sustainable shelter. At the earliest, he figured it would take a month.


    Yet here it was, right in front of his very eyes.


    Ironically, his main concern wasn''t the benefits, potential traps, or even Tiana''s character.


    It was whether or not he could actually perform an adequate job. After all, what Kairos said was pretty much true. He did not have some sort of innate talent in calcting things.


    Tiana simply misinterpreted his ability to see in the future as extremely high proficiency in that regard.


    Kairos closed his eyes and took a deep breath, staying silent for ten or so seconds.


    Then, he opened his eyes.


    "Sure, I will try my best."


    Tiana smiled brightly.


    "Great! Now, let me assign you to the rooms in the building! I assume all of you are Kairos'' friends, so you will also have your own rooms and a decent amount of food allocated."


    With that, she began leading the way to the center of this miniature city, while the others followed behind.


    Kairos couldn''t help but notice a few people off in the distance farming had begun staring at him quite intensely. Their gazes seemed to indicate jealousy, but also fear.


    Kairos grew curious about how Tiana managed to herd these people. It seemed that there were two cases. She was either extremely powerful, enough to overwhelm thempletely, or charismatic...


    And rtively powerful.


    Either way, he decided to try and stay on Tiana''s good side. She would be quite frightening to have as an enemy, but also an extremely useful ally.


    Soon, Tiana made it to the ground floor of the apartmentplex. She pointed towards one of the rooms on the first floor.


    "That will be your room, Kairos."


    She then turned to the others.


    "As for you all, your rooms will be on the third floor."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Could I get a room on the first floor instead? It would be more convenient."


    Tiana smiled strangely.


    "Haven''t you realized that the reason you can''t get a more convenient room is that you are only a friend to someone that has a higher position? If you want a room on the first floor, prove your abilities to me, and I shall grant you one."


    Tori blinked a few times, wondering why she had gotten such a strong response. She didn''t think that it was that big of a deal.


    "Um... ok."


    Tiana led the group to the third floor and showed them each to a room. Most of them decided to check them out. One exception was Eric, Nick, and Jenny, who seemed to have formed their own n that they wanted to execute.


    Tiana looked towards Kairos, once the two of them were alone in the hallway.


    "Should I show you what you will be doing for your job?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Alright."


    Tiana brought him back down to his room and opened the door, revealing the interior.


    "I will get someone to deliver you information on the status of the city at various points in time. As for delivering your decision, I hope that you can send it straight to me. My room is the opposite of yours, so it will be rather easy to do so."


    Kairos was trying to pay attention, but was having difficulty doing so. That was because the interior of the room was just way too luxurious. It wasn''t as though everything was iid in gold, but he was able to instinctively recognize that everything was very expensive.


    The room was generouslyrge, probably enough for four people to live without feeling cramped, with quite a few sofas, carpets, and various paintings. He could even make out a second floor just in this one ce.


    Ironically enough, Kairos was pretty sure he wouldn''t be able to live in a ce like this if it wasn''t for the apocalypse happening.


    Taliaughed.


    "Is it high end? I feel my family didn''t do the best job of making these ces."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    So she was from a wealthy family.


    Talia smiled strangely as she picked out the butterfly pin in her hair... which began fluttering its wings.


    "Now that it is only the two of us, I hope we can talk about some more secretive manners."

 Chapter 60 Questions

    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Secretive manners? You mean how the logistics work is going to go?"


    Talia waved her hand dismissively.


    "You will just have to make decisions based on the information you get, and sometimes I wille to personally consult you on decisions. It isn''t anythingplicated."


    Kairos couldn''t help but think it was fairlyplicated, especially since he hadn''t done something like this before, but decided to keep quiet. He looked at the butterfly that was now gently fluttering its wings on top of her finger.


    "So... that''s a real butterfly?"


    Talia giggled.


    "Well, not really."


    The butterfly had a purple color and began glowing ever so slightly. She let out a soft sigh while looking at it.


    "You see, it''s a lie detector."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes. He didn''t really believe in lie detectors as a concept. In his eyes, it didn''t really make sense for something to be able to sense that sort of thing, especially considering all the special nuances in what could be considered lies, half-truths, and actual truths.


    The best he could think of was a machine that would measure various factors like heart rate, expression change, and other functions. But that was far from a lie detector in his opinion.


    Nheless, he also didn''t think it would be possible for someone to be able to build these giant walls just a few days into the apocalypse, so perhaps he was just being too narrow-minded.


    Kairos looked towards the butterfly.


    "So I''m being interrogated?"


    Tiana put one hand on her cheek.


    "Interrogated is a bit of a harsh word. I prefer to use... interviewed."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Fine, what do you want to know?"


    Tiana smiled.


    "Haha, don''t look so glum. I will tell you some things about myself too, and you will know that it won''t be a lie as long as the butterfly doesn''t glow red. For one, I''ve always had the ability of lie detection, even before the apocalypse has started.


    Kairos'' eyelid jumped.


    "That''s... surprising."


    Tiana leaned in and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.


    "And it''s not too different for you, right?"


    Kairos adjusted his sses. He decided to test a few things.


    With his eyes firmly nted on the butterfly, he spoke.


    "No."


    He saw it glow red, but that was only in his future vision. He quickly stopped himself from talking in reality, leaving him staring at Tiana awkwardly.


    Kairos took a deep breath and tried something else.


    "Not really."


    Once again, the butterfly glowed red, prompting Kairos to hurriedly stop himself in reality. Hemented over it, but decided to answer honestly, as in reality, he had been silent for two seconds.


    "Yeah."


    Tiana smirked.


    "I thought so. Also, I''m quite surprised that you didn''t lie."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Didn''t you say I was good at calcting things?"


    Tiana giggled.


    "Yes, yes. I did."


    Kairos rubbed his chin. He wondered if it would also work on her.


    "Though I don''t know if it really works. Could you try telling me a lie?"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow, but didn''t seem too offended.


    "I am a male."


    The butterfly proceeded to glow red. She tilted her head to the side.


    "Satisfied?"


    Kairos nodded, though he still couldn''tpletely trust her. For all he knew, it was just a color changing butterfly that she was able to control.


    "Do you mind if we exchange questions? One for one."


    He was trying to see if Tiana''s goodwill towards him truly extended that far, and honestly wasn''t that confident. But...


    "Sure. I''ll even let you ask the first question."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Thank you. May I know how you created the walls of this ce?"


    Tiana put a finger on the bottom of her lip.


    "That is quite interesting, isn''t it?"


    Kairos did not respond. He quickly figured out she was trying to slip in casual questions within her sentences. This made him quite concerned as the only reason she would try to do something like this is if she actually had a lie detector.


    Tiana seemed a little disappointed by theck of an answer, but continued anyway.


    "It was created by a special artifact that I have found. There is a special synergy it has with my own power that allows me to create such a ce."


    She raised the butterfly in her hand ever so slightly.


    "Do you have your own special artifact?"


    Kairos decided to try his old tactic.


    "No."


    However, the butterfly turned red in his future vision. He hurriedly stopped himself in reality, then spoke some other words.


    "Yeah."


    Tiana nodded and didn''t pry any further. Kairos realized that she wasn''t being too unreasonable, still allowing him to keep a certain amount of privacy.


    He decided not to pry too much either.


    "Are you truly confident in supporting such arge group of people with the current food supplies?"


    Tianaughed brightly, almost like the soft jingle of bells ringing in the air.


    "You could''ve just asked me after, you are the logistics person after all."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "The truth of this question is important to me."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "My parents were quite paranoid people, so far beneath the apartmentplex is a huge food storage that only I know how to get to. Even if we only had to survive off that, there would still be plenty to feed everyone here for six months. And that is taking into consideration that some may evolve and get hungrier."


    She extended her hand out to the side.


    "Not to mention, many of these rooms used to be inhabited by people, meaning that they still have some food in their fridges. As for where those people are now, they aren''t in theplex. As for water, I''ll just have to ask you to trust me that I have a method."


    Kairos untensed a few muscles he didn''t know he was straining before nodding.


    "Alright."


    This ce gave him a strong sense of stability already, and that was one of the things he desired. Though, he definitely had no ns of staying here all the time.


    Tiana walked into the room before sitting down on one of the sofas. She then looked over to him.


    "Are you afraid of me?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. Though he definitely nned to be cautious around Tiana, it would be an overstatement to say he was afraid. He was still pretty confident in his own abilities, and the warning that his future vision would give him.


    Kairos figured if there really was a high chance of him dying, that his ability would warn him beforehand, like how it warned him of the red sun and the red rain before.


    Yet, at the same time, he felt it would be better for him if Tiana did think he was afraid.


    Kairos began walking over to the opposing couch and decided to try something.


    "Yes."


    He saw that the butterfly would glow red in his future vision, thus he quickly stopped himself.


    Kairos then sat down on the couch as though he wasn''t nning on speaking in the first ce. As a side note, he was rather surprised by how soft the furniture was.


    "Of course..."


    The butterfly began to glow red.


    But Kairos quickly followed up another statement afterwards.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "-not."


    Tiana looked at the butterfly, then at Kairos a little suspiciously. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.


    "You decided to lie now?"


    She leaned over and held onto her chin with the base of her palm while resting her elbow on her knee.


    "If it wasn''t for the butterfly, I would''ve believed you. Your fear really doesn''t show."


    Kairos simply kept quiet, while sighing in relief on the inside.


    He started off by saying a lie, which triggered the reaction from the butterfly. However, he quickly added a word that changed the meaning of the sentence.


    And in that way, it looked like he lied about not being afraid.


    Kairos decided to follow up with his own question, pretending nothing happened previously.


    "What kinds of people are you nning on letting into the city?"


    Tiana continued to stare at him for a few moments, but decided to go along with his subject shift.


    "The n is to add controble powerful people and smart people. Along with that, I want to take in a few F-ranked people for every new addition to work on the farms. That way, there should be enough food to support those experts."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    Tiana saw his look and thenughed.


    "Ah, sorry, I called you controble implicitly. You are an exception, rest assured."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Alright."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Now... what do you think of the conditions I gave you for your job?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Better than expected."


    Tiana smiled.


    "I''m d."


    He shot back a question right after.


    "Would you consider it viting the conditions of my job if I leave the city?"


    Tiana giggled sweetly.


    "Aww, you wanna be well behaved?"


    Kairos did not respond.


    After a second of silence, she continued.


    "As long as youe back once a week, then you can do as you wish. In fact, I encourage you to explore the outside."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Understood."


    Tiana took a deep breath.


    "Do you like Nicole?"


    Kairos physically recoiled a little, feeling this question was a bit out of left field. However, he quickly found it in him to answer.


    "No."


    Tiana looked at the butterfly on her hand intently, then raised an eyebrow with a slightly confused expression.


    "...Strange."


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "...What is your current rtionship with your parents?"


    His aim in asking this question was to get a general grasp on whether or not he should avoid provoking her parents, even if they were weak.


    However, Tiana ended up falling silent for a few seconds. She took a minute beforeughing weakly.


    "There isn''t much of a rtionship. After all, they turned into monsters."


    Tiana took in a shaky breath.


    "And I killed them."


    Kairos was unable to respond for a moment.


    He began to somewhat understand why she was so cruel now.


    "Sorry."


    Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "Don''t worry about it, I''m fine."


    The butterfly began glowing red. Kairos did his best to ignore it.


    Tiana shook her head, quickly regaining her bearings.


    "Anyway. What is your id number?"


    Kairos froze in ce.


    He understood the implications of that sentence and ran through several possible answers, but none of them had the effects he wanted. In the end, Kairos could only remain silent for the next five seconds.


    And then, there was a knocking sound at his door.


    "Kairos?"


    Tiana stood up with a smile.


    "Haha, I''ll be going now. Don''t worry about answering thatst question, as I already got the answer."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes without responding. It seemed that she was asking about the id number because she knew about the top ten rankings. Since he didn''t respond, he basically said that he knew about them too.


    Tiana opened the door.


    Sam was on the other side with a casual smile on his face that froze.


    "Ah."


    Tiana waved her hand.


    "Don''t worry about me, I was leaving just now."


    She walked past without another word.


    Sam looked over his shoulder with a bit of confusion.


    "O-Oh. Alright, bye."


    He stood there a little awkwardly.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Come in."


    After a bit of hesitation, Sam walked in and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the sofa.


    "Hey Kairos, how you holding up?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Fine."


    Sam sat down.


    "Haha, I guess so. You were given a position out of nowhere, and even got us in by proxy!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Sam''s expression gradually fell down.


    "...You do understand that dealing with power isplicated, right?"


    Kairos looked up.


    "Yes, but I don''t understand the specifics."


    Sam smiled bitterly.


    "That''s normal."


    He sighed.


    "Why don''t I brush you up on the basics?"

 Chapter 61 Oh Yeah

    Kairos looked towards his father and nodded.


    "Knowing the basics would be pretty helpful."


    Sam smiled bitterly.


    "Haha, I wish that there was someone that could''ve taught me how things worked, but s, I had to learn it myself."


    Kairos held onto his chin.


    "Was there a lot of power struggle in yourpany?"


    Sam let out a sigh.


    "There is a power struggle in pretty much everypany. I highly doubt that there is one that has had moderate sess, but no power struggle. Even the startups have violent back and forths between its members."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, thinking about it.


    "Huh..."


    Though he had seen the surface of such a climate, he really didn''t understand it, especially because he was never directly within it. The most he had seen was indirect versions or vague versions of power struggle in school.


    Sam used a second to gather his thoughts.


    "Though I have climbed up thedder to a certain extent, there was always someone above me. The majority of the time, you are trying your very best not to provoke your boss in any way, which can be quite hard when they are unreasonable people."


    He rubbed his knuckle against his temple, clearly a little stressed by the experiences he remembered.


    "If you want to increase your power, that will always be the condition required, not provoking the one above you."


    Sam leaned back into the sofa.


    "From there, you can prove your abilities, that you are calm in stressful situations and show off your capability while keeping good rtions. Especially so in situations where a hasty decision is required, but it is also gravely important. The second aspect is how good you are at persuasion, whether it is ttery, having a dominant personality, and maintaining rtionships."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    Sam chuckled.


    "Though you probably won''t have to worry about that considering that you are starting near the top already. The only thing you have to be careful of is to maintain your rtionship with Talia, since it seems she is the one governing everything."


    He raised a finger.


    "Just know that the chances of beating a person that is above you in a position of power is impossibly difficult if you have a conflict. There are a few exceptions, but they are incredibly rare. Understand that any conflict you have will likely end up as a pyrrhic victory at best. Though you shouldn''t really care about increasing your position of power given you are already quite high."


    Sam cleared his throat.


    "Though considering this is the apocalypse and people now have dynamically different power ranges, it gets a bit moreplicated. I''m not sure exactly how it will work, but physical power will be quite important. My rmendation is to intimidate, but not frighten. In other words, show that you are more powerful, but do not pressure the other side."


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "Hm. It does get far moreplicated."


    Sam chuckled.


    "This would be the part where I would tell you to always get ready to transfer to some otherpany, especially when rtions begin to sour, but..."


    Kairosid back on the couch.


    "There is not exactly a ce to transfer."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, worst case scenario I would be forced to flee the city without anyone noticing. I imagine it will be quite difficult to survive without a sustainable food source, but that was just our situation before."


    Sam nodded with a smile.


    "Haha, yeah."


    His expression faltered slightly.


    "...Basically, the gist of it is to not make that girl upset, and everything should be fine. Your mother and I both did not even make our marriage known or even shared that we knew each other for the sake of not provoking certain people."


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly.


    "You couldn''t even talk about that?"


    Sam shrugged his shoulders.


    "We learned that the hard way, haha."


    Kairos rubbed his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "...This sounds like a huge pain."


    Samughed.


    "Because it is."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "So the first steps seem to be going out to fight some monsters. Though only after I fulfill my responsibilities. Could you gather the others while I go ask Tiana about some stuff?"


    Sam nodded.


    "Sure."


    With that, they left the room. Sam went up the stairs to go to the third floor, while Kairos went to the room opposite to his and knocked on it.


    Soon after, Tiana came out.


    She raised an eyebrow.


    "Didn''t we just talk? Or do you have some more questions you would like to ask?"


    Kairos shook his head while keeping his back straight.


    "It''s nothing like that. I desire to leave the city soon, thus wish to fulfill my required responsibilities now, so that I do not neglect my work."


    Tiana smiled.


    "It seems your father told you a few things, huh?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. He didn''t know how to respond.


    In the end, Tiana brushed it off with augh.


    "Well, there isn''t much to report as of now. So far, we are nting partially sprouted potatoes. From what I''ve been told it should take roughly a month or more for them to grow. With roughly one hundred farmers, they need quite a bit to be fed. And that''s pretty much the extent of the situation."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I suggest that you provide a rtively generous amount of food for them to eat, stating that you will give enough for perhaps the first month and a half. This way, they won''t be too afraid. As people that are too afraid will likely try to find ways to avoid giving their ny percent so they can feel a bit more secure in their food."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin, contemting it for a moment.


    "Alright, that sounds pretty reasonable. You can go off on your little journey then, juste back in a week or so!"


    Kairos bowed.


    "Thank you."


    Tiana smiled strangely.


    "You don''t have to be so polite in front of me."


    She began closing the door and peeked out of the crack.


    "Frankly, that hypocritical shit pisses me off."


    Kairos flinched as the door mmed shut. He stood there in silence for a few moments.


    "...Somehow I messed up already."


    He shook his head and began walking up the stairs.


    "Whatever."


    He was greeted with the sight of Sam talking to Sydney. Tori and Chase were standing off to the side passively.


    "Are you sure? Wouldn''t it be better to consolidate your strength?"


    Sydney looked conflicted, furrowing her brows intently.


    "I don''t think I should get stronger. I''m not sure if I can control myself..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Yes, but don''t you remember?"


    Sydney looked over to him and blinked a few times.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Ah, remember what?"


    Kairos looked her straight in the eye.


    "If you want to remain in control of yourself, you also need to improve your strength. Don''t you remember the difference it made before?"


    Sydney blinked a few times with her mouth slightly agape, as though she finally came to that realization.


    "I understand."


    Tori looked between the two of them.


    "Remember what?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Nothing too important."


    He then walked over to Nicole''s door and knocked on it.


    It did not take look for a set of footsteps to rush over.


    Nicole opened the door with a wide smile on her face.


    "Ah, Kairos!"


    ? Kairos nodded.


    "We are going out to kill some monsters."


    Nicole''s smile froze on her face.


    "But... why?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "To get stronger."


    Nicole looked confused, tilting her head to the side.


    "But we already have the shelter we need, right?"


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "Shelter is more of a symbolic thing, and is only guaranteed when one is powerful."


    Nicole''s lips parted ever so slightly, like she never expected that to be the answer.


    "Y-You are going outside to get stronger?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Yeah, didn''t I just say that?"


    Nicole looked down to the ground and fidgeted slightly.


    "...Alright, I will join you."


    Kairos was a little surprised as he somewhat expected her to either decline or try to convince him otherwise. Though he wasn''t going to go against it, as it was better this way.


    Chase cracked his neck.


    "Can we go already? I really can''t sit right while I''m still not even at the E rank."


    Kairos let the sharpened bone rest on his shoulder.


    "Yeah, let''s go then."


    The group then left the apartmentplex and walked out towards the entrance of the ce.


    Along the way, they passed by many people farming the fields. Many of those that noticed the group had gotten out of the apartmentplex shot hateful res in their direction.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel that these people weren''t very weing.


    It was then he recalled his father''s advice. To intimidate, but not frighten. He thought that this was a method one was supposed to use in order to fend off someone in a higher position.


    And that was also what his father meant.


    However, it seemed like that it would also be beneficial to prevent an uprising. Most of the people farming already seemed bitter even without his intervention. It seemed that the preferential treatment that he had gotten sparked jealousy within the others.


    Though he didn''t want to attract attention, it was already toote for that.


    Kairos assessed how much mana he had.


    It was roughly a half, which was not a lot by his standards. Though he wanted to save it for the sake of going out, he figured that there shouldn''t be too many fights immediately.


    And so, he walked over to a boy who was trying to clear arge pile of rubble away. He seemed to be a bit younger than Kairos, and was heaving greatly just trying to move away the stones.


    Kairos waved casually.


    "Do you need some help in moving these stones?"


    The boy looked up to him with a bit of surprise.


    "O-Oh, it''s ok! I got this."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Why exactly are you clearing these stones?"


    The boy scratched the back of his head.


    "Ah, this is the plot of farnd I was assigned and if I want to farm, then I have to clear away this rubble."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "But it doesn''t look like the others have to do the same?"


    The boy looked down at the ground with an awkward smile on his face.


    "Um... some people moved their rubble onto my farnd even though we were supposed to bring it out towards the city borders."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Could you tell me who did that?"


    The boy hurriedly shook his head.


    "Ah, it''s no problem, haha."


    Kairos surveyed the area, and noticed that a few people in the distance were noticeably tense. He pointed towards them.


    "I see that you are the people that neglected your responsibilities."


    Those people seemed rather defensive.


    "What? I didn''t do anything!"


    "This is a false usation without any proof!"


    "You can''t just boss us around! What makes you think you have the right?"


    Nicole clenched her fists and walked up.


    "Kairos..."


    In response, Kairos gave her a gentle push back.


    "Don''t worry."


    He then faced forwards once more.


    "That is a good question. I wonder, what makes me have the right to boss you around?"


    The people seemed to get more confident at first, not noticing the sarcasm behind his words.


    Kairos raised his hand, which gradually began glowing blue. He didn''t inject so much that his hand began vibrating violently like before, but it was still nothing to scoff at.


    The people speaking out earlier quickly realized that something was wrong, bing somewhat afraid.


    "W-What are you doing?"


    A strange smile appeared on Kairos'' face.


    "Answering your question."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "Oh yeah, duck if you want to live."

 Chapter 62 Temperment

    Kairos couldn''t help but think that Tiana''s temperament had rubbed off on him. As for whether or not that was a good or bad thing, he didn''t really know yet.


    Nheless, he couldn''t help but admit being a bit overbearing felt nicer than he thought.


    As he aimed his glowing blue hand towards the pile of rubble, the other people that were nearby began ducking and put their hands on their heads. The boy next to him ended up stumbling backwards and falling on his behind.


    That was when Kairos let the spell loose.


    For a split second, there was only a faint swish as the mana was expelled from his body.


    Then, a thunderous explosion ensued.


    Nasty cracks spread around the pavement that he had been walking on earlier. As for the rubble that was covering the farm, it was blown away and further shattered into smaller pieces.


    The force was enough to send several of the smaller fragments twenty meters in the air, while therger ones scattered to even move ten meters. Those fragments were still fairlyrge, and ended up mming into the people that had taken cover earlier, ripping apart their skin and bruising their bodies.


    They ended up letting out various cries of pain and ended up getting covered in dirt. The rubble smashed uprge amounts of tilled farnd into the air, ruining it.


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger while holding onto his elbow using his other hand.


    "Hm. It seems I have caused quite a mess! Well, since it is your plot, then you shall be the one to work on it, alright?"


    Those people didn''t end up responding. While covered in dirt, they continued to roll around and groan in pain. In fact, it seemed like one of them had broken their arm because of Kairos.


    Seeing that broken arm, Kairos couldn''t help but let out a faint chuckle.


    It reminded him of some things.


    The boy from before was trembling slightly.


    "This... this is too far!"


    The rubble on his plot ofnd was cleared, and the aftereffects had already tilled some of the farm for him. However, the boy was still clearly against it.


    "I... I don''t need this treatment."


    Kairos looked at him and narrowed his eyes. However, instead of displeasure, a smile ended up spreading across his face. He couldn''t help but think of more memories and look at the boy with a bit of unfairly ced disdain.


    "Oh, really?"


    Kairos walked over to the boy, lowered his face and brought himself closer. It was to the point where he could clearly make out the boy''s afraid face.


    "Don''t worry, I am very impartial."


    Kairos spoke rather loudly, which made the boy grit his teeth in pain. All of the other farmers in the surroundings couldn''t help but stop what they were doing and look at him silently.


    Kairos tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.


    "No matter who, as long as they wish, then I am more than willing to help them."


    A few more gullible people seemed a little excited, not understanding his true meaning.


    He then stood back up and gestured towards the people rolling around on the ground in pain.


    "For example, can''t you see how much I''ve helped these people?"


    Several people flinched. Some people couldn''t bring themselves to look at him any longer.


    Kairos pointed towards a man who was crying out in pain, with his arm twisted the wrong way.


    "Out of my own goodwill, I have broken this man''s arm. He is having difficulty thanking me through his tears of joy! Pleasee to me if you want simr treatment. Don''t worry, I''m very nice."


    Everyone had fallen very silent. All of the people working on farms were looking down, trying their best not to move as they didn''t want to attract attention. The only people looking at Kairos were those that were in his group.


    Nicole in particr had her eyes widened all the way. She reached her hand out shakily, but was hesitating.


    "K-Kairos?"


    She called out as though she wasn''t even sure if the person in front of her was truly the person she had been with for so long.


    Sydney had her mouth agape slightly, as though she was having difficulty understanding what he had done.


    Tori seemed rather indifferent, as though this situation wasn''t anything strange. On the other hand Chase had a strange smile on his face.


    Sam pressed his lips together and looked down.


    Although he seemed displeased with Kairos'' actions, he also didn''t look surprised.


    In the end, he just sighed.


    "Come on, let''s get out of here."


    Kairos realized he had probably gone a tad bit too far, but he figured that this should be all he needed to do for a long while. He knew how fast rumors would spread, so even the people on the other side of the city, too far to see, should quickly know what happened.


    It was important to establish a reputation.


    Kairos walked on ahead nonchntly, back with the normal expression on his face.


    "Yes, we should leave. Waiting here any longer is just wasting time we could''ve needed."


    The group walked back towards the entrance, some more resolutely than others. Their walk was eerily silent, making the sounds of their footsteps rather noticeable.


    It was quite strange when there were so many people, but hardly any sound was made.


    The people working on the farms all tensed up and made sure not to look. Kairos thought about all of their envious res from before and couldn''t help but marvel a little at the effectiveness of his intimidation.


    Along the way, a child ended up crying when Kairos got near, but he didn''t even spare a nce. A mother hurriedly held onto the child and desperately tried to calm him down.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh and thought to himself.


    ''Seems like I''m the bad guy now, huh.''


    By the time the group got close to the entrance of the city, they seemed toe to another realization. The wall was closed off, meaning that they couldn''t exactly leave.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched, but before he could think of going back to Tiana a pathway began to reveal itself automatically. He was a bit confused, but decided to continue through it anyway, and the rest followed.


    By the time they came out the other end, Nicole couldn''t keep her thoughts silent anymore.


    "W-Why did you do that?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I was given a rather nice position out of luck. However, most of the people are likely against my new position or jealous because of it. Considering that it is the only reason we are even allowed to stay, it is important to maintain that position."


    He looked over his shoulder and into Nicole''s eyes.


    "Wouldn''t you prefer having this as a ce to stay? Without my identity as the logistics guy, then we would all be kicked out."


    Nicole looked down.


    "But did you have to..."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "What else do you think he could''ve done? If he tried being nice, then countless shameless people would try to take advantage of that. And taking into consideration how many there were..."


    Nicole clenched her fists tightly.


    "I... I guess."


    Sydney lightly brushed Nicole''s hair, but did not say anything. Tori obliviously blinked, not really understanding the dreary atmosphere, and decided it would probably be better to be silent.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos looked towards Sam and spoke as though none of this had ever happened.


    "Could you check what recently happened here? Maybe we can get a lead on where to go afterwards."


    Sam had a long look at his son before nodding.


    "Alright."


    He got down on one knee and ced his palm on a rtively clean spot on the ground. He closed his eyes and remained very still for roughly five minutes.


    Then, he opened his eyes.


    "...I saw the walls being constructed."


    Kairos nodded.


    "What else did you see?"


    Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He spoke gently.


    "It passed by in a sh, but I could see a ratherrge group of survivorsing from the left."


    Kairos put a finger on his chin.


    "Since the survivors came from the left, I propose going to the right."


    Tori raised an eyebrow.


    "Eh? Why?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "If the survivors came from the left, then there''s probably nothing useful in that direction. There were no threats, and anything rtively valuable they had gotten their hands on is probably gone."


    Tori slowly nodded.


    "Ah, makes sense."


    Sam sighed.


    "Then right it is, I suppose."


    The group proceeded to traverse towards the right, walking over all the dead corpses. The street was as silent as it was before. It seemed like there was still a strong sense of dread having over the ce.


    However, in just an hour or so of walking, they were able to see active monsters.


    It was still the city streets, but there were a multitude of monsters feasting on various corpses they had found.


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Finally, I thought none of these damn things would show up."


    He pulled the bow off of his back and drew a mana arrow.


    Most of the monsters noticed their presence, and raised their heads to roar. Some of them took a step forward as though proving their aggression, but soon took another step back.


    Chase let an arrow loose, smashing through a few skulls and diverting the trajectory of his arrow to get a few more.


    "Damn. Thought I would get a few more."


    Sydney''s breathing had be a little heavy as she held on the bone with both hands.


    Kairos raised his hand.


    "Wait, wait."


    Most of the group turned to look at him strangely.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "I don''t n on killing any of these, but I want to test something before we get rid of them all."


    Sam raised an eyebrow.


    "And what is that?"


    Kairos walked forth, until he was just a meter away from the monsters.


    "Just... something."


    The monsters roared at him aggressively, lunging forth asionally, but always pulling back right after. Nicole called out with concern.


    "Be careful!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''ll be alright."


    He ended up walking a bit closer, but the monsters still didn''t attack him, seemingly unwilling to step any closer.


    Kairos waited for one of them to lunge forth with their ws, then he grabbed onto its ws, pulling on it with all of his strength. The monster didn''t seem to expect that as it was thrown onto the pavement.


    It immediately let out rather high-pitched roars and scrambled up to its feet,pletely ignoring Kairos. The monster rushed back towards the other side.


    Kairos decided to be a little willful and stuck out his leg, causing the monster to trip.


    It didn''t even look at him before scrambling away on all fours. Only when it had reached the other side, did it turn around to roar at Kairos resentfully.


    Chase couldn''t help butugh.


    "They are so damn afraid..."


    Kairos backed off while thinking to himself.


    "It really seems like there is something scaring them away, with a clear boundary too."


    Sam looked over his shoulder and muttered.


    "...Ananta."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Anyways, you guys can continue."


    Chase was in the process of drawing back another mana arrow, but decided to walk up to the monsters and take advantage of this opportunity.


    Other than him, both Sydney and Tori walked up too.


    Nicole simply stood in ce, not going up. However, Kairos didn''t say anything as he would''ve preferred more points going towards Chase and Sydney.


    That was because Chase naturally had a hard time gathering points, and would probably need some for his evolution while Sydney''s points could basically be converted into health.


    As for Tori, he just shrugged it off.


    But there was something he couldn''t shrug off.


    A strange, yet familiar brushing sound.

 Chapter 63 Puppets

    Kairos furrowed his brows, turning his head towards where the brushing sound wasing from. There wasn''t anything at first, but after a few moments, he saw something far off in the distance.


    It was those strange monsters that were humanoid, but were walking on all fours and inverted legs. There were also strange long thick ck hair-like things on their backs. They would twitch slightly, and rub against each other to make the strange brushing sounds.


    Chase was currently beating a monster down with his fists. However, despite abusing the fact the monsters wouldn''te over the edge, he was still having a tough time. In the end, his fists really just weren''t enough to beat the monster down.


    In the end, he resorted to wrestling. He was able to reverse their position before strangling it. Though it took a minute, Chase was able to choke it out and kill it.


    As for Tori, she had already killed quite a few, while Sydney was gradually losing it. She ripped apart all of the monsters with just the sharpened bone at first, but then she started to use her hand as well.


    The monsters easily tore her apart one of her arms as she recklessly strangled some in return, but at the same time, she was able to kill a few of them that way.


    Chase couldn''t help but stare on with a bitter smile.


    "...How exactly is this fair?"


    Regardless, it didn''t take them long for them to kill most of the monsters. While this was happening, Kairos kept his eye on those strange monsters with those long hair-like things.


    His first instinct was to call out and tell everyone to run away, but those monsters seemed to be rather oblivious. They were scouring the general area around them, but didn''t seem to notice that they were fighting against several monsters at the moment.


    Kairos looked over to his father.


    "Hey, remember when you cleared out those monsters while we were hiding underground?"


    Sam looked back towards him.


    "Ah, yeah. Why do you ask?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Was there anything special about them?"


    Sam raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh?"


    He paused for a moment to think for a few moments.


    "I do remember that they strangely seemed unable to see or hear me. It was only when I was maybe a meter or so close to them that they started to lunge towards me, but I was able to cut through all of them fairly easily."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with a bit of confusion.


    "Hmm... but how would things like this even survive if they were only able to notice things so close to them? Unless there was something else about them."


    Sam nodded.


    "Now that you mention it, I find it a little strange that they are even rank E in the first ce. Maybe it''s because they have extremely strong offensive power that I never got to see before killing them."


    Once they finished their conversation, the others had also finished killing all of the monsters that stayed near the border.


    As Kairos walked over, Sydney''s gaze snapped towards the monsters in the distance. With her eyes wide open and heavy breathing, it was fairly clear what she intended to do.


    In his future vision, Kairos saw her step past the boundary. And right when she did so, the strange monsters that were over thirty meters away immediately turned to her direction and began shrieking with their hair-like things stretched out taut.


    Kairos acted, quickly grabbing onto Sydney''s shoulder and pulling her back.


    At first, Sydney turned back with quite a bit of aggression, but once she saw it was Kairos, she calmed down.


    "What is it?"


    Kairos looked over to the monsters and frowned.


    "...I don''t think it''s a good idea to walk out of this strange boundary."


    Chase turned to him with a bit of confusion.


    "And why is that?"


    Kairos took a deep breath, trying to piece things together.


    "Don''t you remember how we were almost found? I remember they were talking about leaving their minions or something, which are the same as those monsters."


    Nicole nodded.


    "They are the same..."


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "I just don''t think it''s a good idea to alert them."


    Tori shrugged her shoulders.


    "Alright, so just try to take the long way around them."


    Kairos saw that she ended up taking a step forward, which also caused those strange monsters to have the exact same reaction. Before it actually happened, he pulled back on her shoulder.


    Tori looked at him strangely.


    "...Is there something you want to tell me?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I just feel like there must be something more to those things."


    Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "So are we going to go back because of these things?"


    Kairos hesitated.


    There was a part of him that wanted to just say yes, but that would make their journey out here ratherckluster. By now, the strange monsters had filed out onto the street by quite a bit.


    Kairos saw in his future vision a hooded figure appeared among the creatures. He cursed internally.


    "Hide."


    Without exining himself further, he then ran towards one of the nearby buildings and tried to hide behind it. Nobody questioned him and tried to do the same, but there simply wasn''t enough time.


    A few of them were unable to make it within one second, causing Kairos to feel a lot of anxiety. However, there were no sounds, making it sound as though they were undetected.


    While everyone was now in the alleyway, Sam looked at him with a questioning look.


    "What happened?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I... had a bad feeling. Like there was something watching us."


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "I caught a glimpse of someone and they turned to look at us while we got behind here."


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "We have to leave then."


    He turned towards the other end of the alleyway and intended on running there.


    However, he froze in ce.


    As the hooded figure was already there.


    The person standing there had most of their face obscured, showing only the mouth and chin. However, that was enough to show that the person had be a monster from the strange redness and deformation.


    The hood that covered this monster''s body was a dark red color and draped over the monster like a cloth. It covered the majority of its body, hanging just above the knees and torn at the edges.


    Tori looked at the hooded figure and nodded to herself.


    "Ah, that''s the same person I saw before."


    Chase drew back a mana arrow while his eyes narrowed. Nicole''s eyes widened, but the fear didn''t stop her from taking out her red watch and putting it on.


    Kairos pointed his finger towards the thing and began casting the fire spell.


    The hooded figure didn''t seem that concerned, still standing there, but slowly raising its head. And soon enough, it revealed two hollow eye sockets, showing the fleshy interior of its head.


    Kairos had made a fireball that was roughly thirty centimeters wide and intended on throwing it.


    But then he heard Tori speak.


    "Wait, that''s not the same one."


    Kairos hurriedly stopped himself from channeling the fireball any further, as he couldn''t afford to be so reckless with his mana.


    Especially considering he just used it to show off back at the city.


    Chase simrly held onto his arrow and clicked his tongue.


    "It''s a fake?"


    The hooded figure suddenly bolted forth, as though to challenge that statement. Kairos was at the front and saw that its arms woulde out from under the cloth.


    However, there were no hands on these arms, reced by a tip of sharpened bone.


    Kairos wanted to hold onto the fireball, but saw no other choice, thus released it. He shouted as the fireball shot through the air.


    "Fake or not, it''s still going to attack us!"


    The hooded figure dashed forth at the same time the fireball wasunched and ended up smashing its face against it.


    A violent explosion ensued, prompting everyone to back off as the mes rushed towards them. However, another hooded figure was waiting behind them.


    Chase was thest person into the alleyway, thus was also the first person rushing out.


    Seeing the hooded figure standing outside, he did not hesitate to release his mana arrow. In a sh, it broke straight through the hooded figure''s head, shattering it into flesh and bone that scattered into the air. Now the hood deted like a balloon as it rested on top.


    Along with that, the hooded figure even took a few steps back.


    But then, it caught itself, despite having no head.


    Chase frowned as he looked at the figure in front of him, but continued to run forwards without hesitation. He brought his arms back while twisting his body to the side, preparing for a shoulder tackle.


    Then, he mmed into the hooded figure, causing it to be shoved back, and pushing a way back out of the alleyway. However, as the hooded figure was shoved back, two sharp bony arms came out and jabbed themselves into Chase''s stomach.


    As it was blown back, a nasty gash was ripped out.


    The skin ripped apart to the point that it revealed his organs, showing his intestines mostly. They also suffered a little bit of damage, but it was nothing too serious. Nheless, this was the first time he had gotten such an injury, and was caught off guard as a result.


    While Chase was in a daze, Sydney rushed out to the front, mming her sharpened bone against the headless figure, piercing through its chest and causing a bit of blood toe out. With that, it was shoved back once more, but tore through Sydney''s arm in the process.


    Though, that injury basically healed immediately.


    On the other side, the explosion from the fireball had settled down, though the mes continued to rage on. And in the back of those mes, a figure began rising up.


    It was the hooded figure from before, but now it looked rather different. The hood had been burned awaypletely, while the flesh covering its body had charred considerably and hardened.


    Some of the flesh began falling off of its body, revealing the bones underneath.


    This was especially so for its skull, which only had a few patches of ck flesh on top of it.


    Part of its rib cage was revealed, and if one paid attention closely they would see a few hairline cracks within, a result of the explosion.


    From all this, it was easy to tell that its method of movement was not through the muscles in its body. It began running through the mes, straight towards him.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    There had to be someone or something remotely controlling these things, but where was it?


    He looked around himself for a second, but quickly refocused on his front, to deal with the charred body rushing towards him, while still on fire.


    Kairos was thinking of casting a pulse spell, but had noticed the hairline cracks on the rib cage of the monster in front of him, mostly by chance. As such, he wondered if he could take advantage of it.


    His mana was only enough to cast one spell with fairly decisive power and one spell with rtively weak power. As for the fireball he had just cast, that would be a rtively weak spell.


    Seeing as these things were puppets of some sort, he didn''t want to waste those few casts on them.


    Kairos bent his knees and held the sharpened bone out in front of him. One hand was on the base while the other one held onto the side to stabilize it. He took inspiration from the proper form to shoot a basketball.


    Once the charred corpse got close, he pushed against the base of the bone as hard as he could, letting it fly out.


    With a crunch, the rib cage of the skeleton had shattered.


    One of the arms had even directly fallen off.


    But the other one shot towards Kairos'' skull.

 Chapter 64 Possession

    Kairos saw in his future vision that the corpse''s sharp bone arm pierce through his skull. Despite the debilitating pain that wreaked havoc in his mind, he tilted his head to the side.


    The sharpened bone ripped through his cheek, tearing it open and revealing his teeth. While the oue definitely wasn''t ideal, it definitely could''ve been worse.


    The charred corpse continued to move, but Sam acted before it could do anything else. He swung at it with his hand that had been coated with a white light.


    With a bang, itnded on the skeleton''s shoulder before letting out ufortably loud grinding sounds. In less than a second, the arm was cut off, leaving the corpse with basically nothing left.


    As though realizing this fact, whatever was controlling it suddenly stopped, letting the charred corpse fall limp to the ground.


    Sam shot Kairos a nce.


    "Are you ok?"


    In response, Kairos sighed.


    "More or less."


    He held onto his torn apart cheek, trying to stifle the blood flow. Unfortunately, that just caused most of it to go into his mouth, filling it with a strong copper taste.


    However, that was still not Kairos'' concern.


    "We need to find whatever is controlling these things."


    After saying that, he looked around for a moment before jumping up and stabbing the sharpened bone into the wall. After hoisting himself up, he used his other hand and legs to get what traction he could on the wall before stabbing the sharpened bone in a higher position.


    Although it was rather clumsy, he began scaling up the wall that way.


    While Kairos was doing that, most of the other group were still trying to deal with the headless puppet. Sydney was still at the front, shing into the monster''s flesh and getting shed in return.


    It was rather bloody, but it more or less worked out.


    As for Chase, he was hunched over with an arm covering the nasty gash on his stomach. The other hand continued to hold onto the bow, but it didn''t seem like he would be able to use it anytime soon.


    On the other hand, both Tori and Nicole had circled around Sydney on opposite ends. They then swung their weapons.


    The headless puppet backed up from Sydney and used both arms to try and defend against their strikes.


    It was able to block Nicole''s fire axe rtively easily, but Tori''s was just barely able to snake by and m hard into his shoulder joint.


    Sydney did not wait to follow up, bringing down her sharpened bone onto the headless puppet, forcing it to kneel down.


    Tori grit her teeth and pulled back her katana despite not cutting through the skeleton''s shoulder. She simply did not have enough strength.


    However, there was still a clear dent made, which she fully intended on taking advantage of after.


    The three of them were very quickly overwhelming the headless puppet. Tori had pulled back her katana, wanting to take a decisive sh that would cut through this one''s arm, but suddenly had the urge to step to the side, thus she did.


    And as that happened, two sharpened bones shot towards where her head and heart were. The source being another hooded figure.


    Tori clicked her tongue as her katana shed.


    The hooded figure used both of its arms to block, and while it was close, the katana was stopped in ce by one of its arms.


    She was not discouraged, and continued to swing her katana around. Unfortunately, none of her attacks were able to get through, but at least the hooded figure was unable to unleash one of its own attacks.


    While that was happening, both Sydney and Nicole were swinging at the now kneeling headless puppet.


    Sydney''s attacks were random, down more in a fit of rage than anything. As such, she wasn''t targeting any of the crucial joints, mostly focusing on ripping apart the puppet''s flesh.


    As for Nicole, she was trying her best, but the puppet would focus mostly on defending and attacking her. In fact, there were several asions where the puppet would let its body get torn open by Sydney just so its bone could shoot towards Nicole.


    There were various asions where the bone got a little too close to Nicole, but the slow down of time brought by the red watch was enough for her to safely dodge.


    By now, Kairos had gotten on top of a three-story restaurant, with the bleeding from his cheek now gone. He observed the situation, seeing most of the others fighting against two puppets.


    Next to the boundary that they were taking advantage of earlier, were several of the strange monsters with long hair-like things. They shrieked while their hairs stood up straight, almost like cats.


    However, they would not step over the line.


    It seemed like they were too afraid, just like the other monsters. Originally, Kairos wasn''t too concerned about them, but then he saw a rather startling sight.


    One of the strange monsters began to convulse violently. The flesh on its body both bloated and contracted, making it look like it was on the verge of exploding. However, that never came to pass.


    Instead, the flesh on its arms were ripped off, leaving sharpened bones. That flesh then turned into a hood that covered the rest of its body. As for the legs, they forcefully twisted and made the monster turn into a bipedal.


    Like that, another hooded figure began running into battle.


    Considering that two were already making the group go into a stalemate, another would break the bnce and overwhelm them.


    Chase seemed to notice this.


    He was still bleeding since the gash on his stomach was very messy, making it hard to heal. If he removed his arm, then there might be some unforeseen consequences in the near future.


    Yet, a mana string formed on the bow anyway.


    But then, something Kairos didn''t expect happened.


    Chase tilted the bow sideways and bit down on the string with his teeth. As he pulled back, a mana arrow formed.


    Then, he let it loose onto the faraway hooded figure.


    A loud bang resounded.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The mana arrow exploded onto the figure''s chest, turning it into a mass of flesh, blood, and bone. Almost all of the torso was now gone. With that, its arms had disconnected along with one leg.


    The hooded figure was essentially rendered useless.


    Kairos took a deep breath and pointed his finger towards the group of strange monsters. It would probably be better to kill those before they turned into more of the puppets.


    With those thoughts in mind, a fireball appeared on the end of his finger.


    As he channeled mana into it, Kairos suddenly felt a strange sensation of being watched. His head snapped to the side, and on the floor next to him, he saw an eye.


    The eye was partially inside of the floor, with eyelids consisting of cement. As for the iris, it was blood red.


    That eye was very familiar to Kairos. Although it wasn''t impossible for multiple eyes with red irises to exist, he couldn''t help butpare it with the giant eye he saw in the sky before.


    They were vastly different sizes, but they were the same.


    Kairos immediately brought his sharpened bone down. However, as he did so, the eye shut its eyelid, disappearing entirely. In the end, he smashed into the roof, causing a crack to form.


    He was pretty confident that he did not hurt the eye.


    Kairos stood up and shouted.


    "There is an eye somewhere around here!"


    By now, the fireball at the end of his finger had expanded to be forty centimeters wide. He didn''t think that this would be enough to kill all of the monsters, but since they decided to bunch up, it should have a fairly strong effect.


    Kairos let the fireball go, letting it speed through the air.


    The strange monsters were oblivious, until the fireball was right in front of their faces.


    An explosion ensued.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 4


    The explosion itself was roughly two meters wide, which instantly killed four of the monsters. After that, the mes that spilled out from the explosion caught onto many of the other monsters.


    They ended up shrieking in pain and scattering away from each other. Though even in their panicked state, they did not cross the boundary as though doing so would be worse than losing their own life.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    The mes were able to burn most of the closest monsters to death. There were still more than ten of them left, but each of their bodies had charred considerably. More than half of them were gravely wounded, while the rest were still not in the best condition.


    Kairos immediately felt more piercing res on him.


    He took a quick scan around and saw that there were three eyes looking at him from various positions. One reced the entire window of a nearby building, while another was about the size of a basketball on a building across the street.


    However, the most notable one was probably the eye that rested on ground beneath him, nearly asrge as the roof itself.


    Kairos was standing at the edge of the building, thus found himself at the edge of the eyelid. He was honestly frozen in shock by the appearance of three eyelids, especially the one below him.


    However, after being exposed to it in his future vision one second in advance, he was able to ovee it before it happened in reality.


    Seeing the giant eye beneath him made Kairos want to st it away with all the mana he had left using a pulse spell. However, the fact that there were multiple eyes extinguished this desire immediately.


    He thought that maybe the eyes were the ''true'' body of sorts, but seeing several made him feel like it was not so simple. Nheless, this apprehension did not stop him from stabbing the eye with his sharpened bone.


    Kairos honestly expected that the eye would somehow evade or deflect his strike.


    So when he heard an ufortable squelch, he couldn''t help but be surprised.


    The sharpened bone had pierced into the eye, causing some blood to spill out. However, the eye did not seem perturbed. Instead, it just continued to look at Kairos passively, almost like it could not register anything else.


    Although the eyes all looked at him neutrally, Kairos could not help but feel resentment behind them.


    Along with that was just the overall creepiness of them.


    Kairos decided to leap off of the building in order to evade them. Though he wasn''t looking at the eyes, he could still feel their pupils following him.


    With a m, hended down on the pavement.


    Tori was still engaged in a battle with a hooded figure, and while she was able to make various nicks and dents in the sharp arms of the monster, they were still very much stuck in a stalemate.


    Kairos was behind Tori''s adversary and decided to help out, rushing forth with the sharpened bone. The hooded figure suddenly turned around and did the same thing. Tori seemed a little surprised by this sudden change, but only waited a split second before taking advantage of it.


    Kairos saw where the sharp bone arms would go in his future vision, thus promptly evaded one of them and parried the other one. At the same time, Tori swung her katana with full force.


    Her instinct was to go for the creature''s neck when it decided to turn around, showing such a vulnerable side to her. However, she quickly remembered that these things still moved without their head.


    And so, she swung towards its arm.


    With a thunk, one of the hooded figure''s arms fell off.


    At this time, Chase was focusing on the basketball-sized eye off in the distance.


    He drew back another mana arrow using his teeth, intending on destroying it.


    But out of nowhere, the pupil suddenly turned towards him.


    Then, Chase began aiming the mana arrow towards Kairos.

 Chapter 65 Think, Quickly

    Kairos immediately noticed that Chase suddenly redirected his arrow towards him, instead of the red eye he was initially aiming at.


    He frowned, wondering what caused this sudden change.


    The hooded figure in front of him only had one arm to fight with, so it was not hard to hold it off. Unfortunately, there was now something else to deal with.


    Kairos suddenly felt a strong pain in his chest. This was something he expected, so he quickly twisted himself to the side.


    And right when he did, a mana arrow streaked past where he just was.


    With a bang, the mana arrow smashed against a distant building.


    Kairos grit his teeth and swung his sharpened bone to block the arm of the hooded figure.


    "What the fuck are you doing, Chase?"


    Chase did not respond.


    Instead, he removed the arm that was covering the gash on his stomach, letting the blood spill out of him. Then, he began drawing back another arrow with his hand.


    One thing Kairos noted was that Chase''s eyes had changed from light blue to dark red. Along with that, his mouth hung open ever so slightly.


    Tori''s katana shed, severing another one of the hooded figure''s arms. Though that didn''t stop her from noticing that they were receiving friendly fire. She turned around to look at Chase with a betrayed expression.


    "You''re really acting up now? What the hell is wrong with you?"


    As Kairos expected, Chase did not respond.


    Instead, he let another mana arrow loose at Kairos, who dodged by depending on his future vision.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    He was wondering what could''ve possibly gotten Chase controlled like this. Yet, the only real thing he could think of was the fact that he had stared into the eye from earlier. But realistically, that made no sense.


    After all, Kairos had stared into the eye multiple times before and nothing happened.


    As those thoughts ran through his head, he saw his father approach Chase.


    Then, in his future vision, he saw Sam split Chase in two vertically, spilling his blood everywhere.


    Kairos quickly shoved how surprised he was out of his mind before calling out.


    "Father, wait!"


    Sam had both hands tightened around his sharpened bone, raised for an overhead swing. But he stopped himself once he heard Kairos'' voice.


    Though from the way he furrowed his brows, it was clear that Sam wasn''t pleased.


    "Kairos! You can''t just spare the people that turn on you, even if you''ve created ties with them!"


    During this time, Chase pulled back another mana arrow, and while it seemed to strain his body, his expression hardly changed.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I''m not sparing someone that turned on me!"


    While saying that, he rushed towards Chase, looking him dead in the eye. At the same time, he muttered to himself.


    "At least not this time..."


    Sam looked confused, but decided to remain silent.


    Kairos suddenly felt a piercing pain in his chest, thus he shot towards the left. As expected, once he did so, a mana arrow flew past him. By now, he was only a few meters away.


    At this point, Chase''s condition looked bad. His veins were bulging from his skin intensely, while his body was trembling faintly. Nheless, he still slowly reached towards his bow, preparing another mana arrow.


    Before that happened, Kairos shoulder tackled him.


    With a thump, Chase got the wind knocked out of him, while his body folded like a sheet of paper. Before he was thrown away, Kairos wrapped one arm around Chase''s waist, holding him in ce.


    Even now, he was still thinking of what could''ve possessed Chase.


    The few things he had thought of were things rted to evolution energy taking him over. However, that was unlikely considering that Sydney still had a hold of her emotions despite several close calls, as well as the rest of them more or less being sane.


    Kairos definitely believed that they were all slightly on edge, considering how quickly they broke down while trapped underground, but that was different from what was happening now.


    He also thought that it might''ve been the bow taking over Chase''s body.


    Though again, he believed the chances were low. Chase had heard the story about how guns took the evolution points instead of the actual soldiers. Considering that he had been getting points all this time, Kairos was pretty sure that the bow didn''t get any.


    After all, the points were always distributed to the killer solely, instead of being shared.


    Then, there was also the possibility that Chase had actually turned on them, perhaps because of some sort of telepathicmunication. However, Kairos was fairly confident that Chase was the type of person that would''ve said some sort of snarky remark like, ''Sorry, but I don''t n on dying.''


    Then, the only thing Kairos could think of was the fact Chase looked at the eye earlier.


    While he was caught up in his thoughts, he could feel Chase struggle venomously, scratching his skin like an animal. Although his skin was torn through, because Chase didn''t have particrly long fingernails, the damage was minimal.


    Nheless, Kairos still was having difficulty keeping him in check.


    Chase ended up throwing his bow to the side, and seemed to intend on scratching him with his other hand as well. Yet, as the bow was flying through the air, several ck tendrils shot out from its sides before piercing into Chase''s arm.


    Kairos couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath.


    So this is what he meant by being unable to use other weapons.


    Chase''s body had stiffened up while the bow pulled itself back to him. Once it was next to him once more, the bow forced itself into his grasp before retracting the tendrils.


    Somehow, the spots where Chase''s arm had been pierced by the tendrils seemedpletely fine after they were retracted, save for a few tiny red dots.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Hey, you awake yet?"


    Chase remained still for a few seconds. Then, he began wing away once more, but this time kept a firm hold onto the bow.


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    He guessed that the owner of the red eye found some way to possess Chase. But then that begged the question.


    Why wasn''t Kairos possessed?


    If looking at the eye was really all it took, then he should''ve been possessed as well. His guess was that since his rank was higher, he was unaffected by the skill.<novelnext></novelnext>


    While all of this was happening, Tori took care of the hooded figure with no arms, while Nicole and Sydney were able to take off one arm from the puppet that they were fighting.


    Kairos began pondering over possible solutions to get rid of Chase''s possession.


    "Wake up, dumbass!"


    Unfortunately, Chase only continued to w away at his back. Kairos ran towards a wall, and mmed Chase into it, causing him to make a strange gurgling sound.


    "Hey! Do you hear me?"


    After a short period of recovery, Chase went back to what he was doing before, attacking Kairos. At this point, Kairos was beginning to wonder if this entire thing was a lost cause.


    That maybe it was better to just kill him outright.


    At the same time, Nicole let out a grunt as she swung her fire axe, taking off the puppet''sst arm with some difficulty. Most of the chest and gut were torn open because of Sydney.


    ? While she suffered simr injuries herself, all of them rapidly healed.


    Kairos pulled back from the wall he mmed Chase into, and as he did, a red eye formed on it. At first, the red eye nced towards Kairos. However, just a secondter, it turned to look at Sam, who was looking back with evident surprise.


    To Kairos'' dismay, Sam stiffened up strangely. Then, his eyes began to turn red as well.


    Nicole was focusing intently on Chase, and seemed ready to kill if necessary. Unfortunately, that also meant she wasn''t focusing on Sam.


    In his future vision, Kairos saw Sam swing his sharpened bone horizontally as a white light coated it.


    And Nicole''s heade off.


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he looked at Nicole.


    "DUCK."


    Nicole seemed taken aback, but followed what he had said, causing some of her long ck hair to fly up in the air. Right afterward, Sam''s sharpened bone snaked past, cutting the tips of her hair.


    Nicole couldn''t help but shudder as she felt the wind of the strike pass by the top of her head so quickly, but did not dy in running away from Sam.


    Sydney''s breathing was heavy, and she turned to face Sam with determination. However, once she saw who it was, all of that determination turned into confusion. In a sh, one of Sydney''s arms fell off from Sam''s sh.


    Tori furrowed her brows.


    "Damn, weren''t you the one being all high and mighty about people turning on each other?"


    Kairos cursed under his breath, he was wrong about his initial predictions again.


    "Make sure you don''t look at the eye! It will possess you, just like how these two have been!"


    Nervous expressions appeared on the rest of the group. They clearly began hesitating over whether or not they should even be looking in a certain direction.


    Tori voiced her concerns.


    "Damn, should I keep my eyes closed, then?"


    Kairos took a second to think. After all, they couldn''t just close their eyes to fight. From what he recalled, it took a few seconds for the eye to take control.


    Kairos decided to take a gamble with his advice.


    "If you see the eye, immediately look away."


    As he spoke, an eye formed on the floor underneath Sydney. Instinctively, she turned to look, but hurriedly closed her eyes right after before turning her face away.


    It seemed to have worked.


    But in that time, Sam swung his sharpened bone once more, taking off another one of Sydney''s arms.


    Her regeneration was enough to stop the bleeding from both of her arms, but it would be optimistic to think that it could do any more.


    Sydney ran away, though still half confused.


    As for Kairos, he grit his teeth as he internallyined about how unfair this was.


    With just a single look, someone could be turned into a puppet, and inherit all of their powers?


    What was he even supposed to do?


    Kairos mmed Chase into the wall once more before grabbing him by both shoulders.


    "Wake up, you piece of shit! Otherwise, I''m killing you!"


    As he expected, it did little to deter Chase from attacking him any longer. Kairos cursed, and mmed his head against Chase''s rather helplessly.


    With a frown, he red into the man''s red eyes.


    "Did you hear me?"


    Kairos was about to give up, but suddenly noticed that Chase''s eyelids fell slightly, while his grip weakened. He blinked a few times and pulled his head back.


    "Can you hear me?"


    Chase immediately began struggling fiercely once more.


    Kairos clicked his tongue, feeling extremely irritated. It seemed that some of the control over Chase weakened for just a moment.


    But why?


    Kairos brought his head closer once again, and as expected, it caused Chase''s motions to dull once more. Something was causing the control to lessen whenever he got close.


    Was his body in some way special?


    Maybe it was somehow tied to his ability to see the future?


    Or maybe the person controlling Chase was just ying with him, trying to make him hesitate more on killing.


    As these possibilities shed by in his mind, he couldn''t help but panic.


    While he was thinking, Sam was rushing after the others. Sydney was rtively fast, but still slower than him. As such, she would still get cut up by Sam every so often.


    On the other hand, both Nicole and Tori also fled, but were both substantially slower.


    They were still F rank, after all.


    Kairos had to decide quick.

 Chapter 66 Worse

    Kairos'' mind worked quick, as every single second was one that he could not afford to give.


    The red eye would control anybody that looked at it.


    That is, unless it was him.


    And when he mmed his forehead against Chase''s, it seemed to make his eyes dull slightly.


    Dots connected one after another, until Kairos felt he was quite stupid for not getting it earlier.


    His sses.


    Kairos grabbed onto his sses by the bridge before forcefully pushing them onto Chase, focusing on getting the lenses as close to the eyes as possible, and nearly getting them to touch his eyeballs.


    Chase had an immediate reaction, gradually closing his eyelids. His body seemed to fall limp too.


    Then, he lost consciousness entirely, falling down towards the ground.


    Kairos quickly put the sses back on his face just in case and stuck out his foot, letting Chase''s headnd on it. Though he wasn''t sure if Chase could still get injured from falling on his head, Kairos recalled him mentioning it, so he helped out.


    And immediately afterwards, he rushed over towards Sam, who was still trying to cut up everyone else.


    It did not take long for Sam to get within range to attack the others. Tori seemed to instinctively realize this, as she spun around and decided to face him head on.


    Sam recklessly swung his sharpened bone as a faint white light coated it, while Tori raised her katana to block.


    An ear-piercing ng rang out.


    Tori had raised her katana in time, but Sam was still pressing down on her with the sharpened bone. Ufortably loud screeching sounds filled the air as the white light grated against the katana.


    Tori was almost immediately pushed back. She grit her teeth as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Though she was trying as hard as she could, the katana continued to press down onto her. Her hand was trembling, and a few tears even formed on her palms.


    The difference in strength was just too huge.


    While Tori was gasping for breath, she was beginning to lose focus. That was when Sam suddenly backed up, causing her to stumble forwards. Then, with both hands around the bone de, he traced a vertical arc right towards her neck.


    Tori''s eyes widened considerably, and just before the attack connected, she suddenly disappeared, turning into a red mist.


    The sharpened bone tore through the air, making a clear whoosh. But that was it.


    Tori reappeared at the next moment, heaving even more violently than before. Sam did not dy in bringing down his sword once more, except it didn''t reach Tori.


    In fact, it wasn''t even close.


    Because he was swinging behind him.


    Kairos suddenly stopped in his tracks and leaned back, letting the tip of the sharpened knife pass right by his neck. His pupils were shaking slightly, because he saw his heade off in his future vision.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath as he continued forth, trying to shake off the nervousness. He pulled the sses off of his face with one hand and grabbed onto Sam''s head with the other.


    Naturally, Sam, or more urately the thing controlling him, wasn''t just going to let him do what he wanted. The sharpened bone once again shed through the air.


    In all honesty, Kairos was a little nervous because of what he just experienced earlier, but quickly calmed down. Neglecting the sharpened bonepletely, he pushed the sses towards Sam''s face.


    Nicole was paying attention to the fight a few meters in the distance and noticed that. She ended up taking a step forwards and reaching out with her hand.


    "Watch out!"


    However, Kairos didn''t react in the slightest.


    And right when the bone was just a few centimeters away from his neck, the entire thing self-destructed on itself, turning into several tiny fragments. A few of them scraped into his neck, but were more or less harmless.


    With probably more force than necessary, Kairos pressed the bridge of his sses onto the bridge of his father''s nose. The lenses got right next to his eyes, and the effects were immediate.


    The strong red color of his iris turned to hazelnut, as his eyelids fell.


    His father was about to copse, but Kairos caught him before he fell. Right after, he put the sses securely onto his face and turned to the others.


    "We have to run now! Someone pick up Chase."


    Tori dashed over to Chase and picked him up in a princess carry once more. She muttered to herself.


    "...He really is a damsel."


    If Chase was awake right now, he would''ve pretended that he was actually asleep so that he wouldn''t have to acknowledge her statement.


    With that, the group began running.


    However, it didn''t seem like the person behind all of this was going to let them go so easily.


    A giant eye appeared on the road, and two more appeared on the sides of two apartment buildings, each nearly taking up their entirety.


    Tori, Nicole, and Sydney ended up catching a nce of the eyes, but quickly turned away. They were able to see that there were eyes to the sides and below them in their peripheral vision, thus they naturally looked up towards the sky.


    However, there was another surprise waiting for them.


    A giant eye, staring down at all of them, far up in the sky.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Just close your eyes!"


    They all did as told. While Tori was intently keeping her eyes shut, she couldn''t help but raise a point.


    "How do we know where to run?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Just follow my voice!"


    He looked over his shoulder and continued to call out, saying various variations of ''over here'', or ''keep following''. Eventually, Kairos ended up needing to step on the eye and felt quite ufortable doing so, however, it was solid enough to the point that he could ignore it.


    He decided on retreating entirely, as whatever this was, it was far too risky for them to take it on. Kairos looked over his shoulder once again, but then his face twitched.


    For a second, he couldn''t help but tense up and forget to call out, prompting Tori to nervouslyin.


    It was because there was a monster following them.


    It had a hood draped over itself just like the other hooded figures, but this one was clearly different. The monster still had its arms intact, and instead of ws, it just had normal hands. As for the redness of its skin, it was very slight. Enough that one could just mistake it as someone that was slightly sunburned.


    In fact, the overall frame of the monster was very simr to a normal human, to the point that it was slightly shorter than Kairos.<novelnext></novelnext>


    However, nobody that looked at its face would consider that it was a normal human.


    That was because it had seven eyes and no other facial features.


    One of them was a giant eye on his forehead, taking up most of the area, while the others were in two vertical lines across its face.


    The giant eye as well as three other eyes were closed. As for two of the eyes, they were open, but also furiously bloodshot. One of them even had a small hole inside it and was bleeding.


    As for thest eye, it was noticeably smaller than the rest and looked somewhat shriveled.


    It was almost like the monster was slowly growing an eye on its face, or something like that.


    The two open eyes seemed to glow, even in the daylight.


    They also seemed to hold a clear hatred for Kairos, as though it was desperately wanting to tear him to shreds.


    Unfortunately for Kairos, despite the monster being shorter than him, it was faster.


    And by quite a bit too.


    Kairos took deep breaths and considered his options, but didn''t forget to call out.


    "Run faster!"


    Tori''s face was flushed, as carrying someone and running as fast as possible wasn''t that easy for her.


    "I''m trying!"


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "Just run faster!"


    A deep frown was forming on his face as he began considering his options. He still had enough mana to cast a rtively strong pulse spell, something that would be enough to instantly kill thirty or so regr monsters.


    However, Kairos was not confident that it would be enough to even incapacitate the monster behind him.


    He was fairly certain that the monster behind him was the true body of what was controlling all the things from before.


    There was a part of Kairos that wanted to fight it.


    From what he could tell, it was a rare opportunity where this monster showed itself. Not to mention, it would probably get far stronger in the future.


    And he would''ve taken that risk, as stupid as it was.


    That is, if he wasn''t carrying his father on his shoulder.


    Kairos wasn''t confident that he could protect his father''s life while fighting the monster, thus he stayed resolute in running away.


    Seeing the monster gain on them, Kairos slowed down a little, until he was just behind everyone else.


    "Keep going forward! I will tell you if somethinges up, just focus on running faster!"


    Then, mana began gathering towards his hand. It wasn''t enough to make it glow an intense blue, but there was still an indistinct light blue mist surrounding his hand.


    Kairos raised his hand towards the monster that was rapidly gaining on them and hoped that this would be enough.


    However, he suddenly stopped himself.


    And simrly, the monster stopped in its tracks as well.


    The four eyes that were closed on his forehead abruptly shot open, while the eye in the sky and on the terrain shut.


    Kairos furrowed his brows in confusion, but didn''t stop running.


    As for the monster, it was slowly taking a few steps back. There was no facial expression to read, but it seemed nervous.


    Then, the monster ended up turning around and breaking into a full-out sprint, going as fast as it could.


    As for Kairos, he didn''t feel too good about suddenly getting out of his situation for free.


    Though he definitely thought that his chances of death were pretty high if the monster didn''t run away, he still didn''t think their current situation fared any better.


    Kairos knew that the monster ran past the boundary that all of the other monsters were unbelievably afraid of. In other words, something frightened it badly.


    Frightened it to the point that it began running without abandon, despite all of its hatred.


    Despite how strong it was.


    Kairos hesitated, but quickly came to a decision, even if it wasn''t the most thought out one.


    Because he really felt like there was not enough time.


    "Open your eyes and run to the left, right now!"


    For a second, everyone was rather confused. They hesitatingly opened their eyes and noticed that the haunting resing from all sides were gone.


    However, they didn''t rx, because the anxiety in Kairos'' voice was as clear as day.


    There just so happened to be a road that led to the left at this junction, the reason why he said to go this way. And the group all ran down this path.


    Both Kairos and Torigged behind slightly as they were both carrying someone, but they were still running with all their might.


    Nicole spoke through heavy breaths.


    "What are we running from?"


    Kairos was heaving violently, but still responded.


    "I don''t know."


    At that moment, a high-pitched screech came from their right, far off in the distance. It sounded like it was at least several kilometers away, but it was still clear to each and every one of them.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...Just know it''s something worse than the thing we just fought."


    A solemn air hung over the group.


    As for Chase and Sam, the both of them suddenly furrowed their brows, both having nightmares.

 Chapter 67 Some People You Cant Offend

    Once Chase fell unconscious, he found himself in what seemed to be an endless white expanse. His first instinct upon reaching here was to take a preliminary look around.


    However, there wasn''t much to see. Though one could argue there was actually a lot.


    After a few moments, Chase walked a few steps forward. The sound of his footsteps seemed to echo several times over, creating a rather distracting cacophony of sounds. Eventually, he stopped walking, letting the ovepping sounds of footsteps gradually die down.


    Chase narrowed his eyes as he continued to look around him.


    He felt a little strange, and after a few moments, he realized it was because there was no bow on him. On top of that, his clothes were normal casual ones that were not tattered or bloodied.


    Nor was there a faintly bad smelling from him from ack of a shower.


    His condition made it seem like he was living a normal life, before all of the urrences of the apocalypse. However, this didn''t make Chase feel any morefortable. If anything, it did the opposite.


    He shut his eyes tightly as he tried to recall what hadst happened.


    It took a few minutes, but he was just barely able to pick out the fact that they had left the city Tiana had built and headed off to get some more evolution points.


    As pieces continued to connect into his mind, he remembered that they were fighting a rather strange opponent, one that could control puppets.


    And then...


    He couldn''t remember anything else.


    Chase held onto the side of his head, trying to push his memories further, but they seem to have been cut off entirely. After a little while longer, he gave up on trying to recall any more.


    He was beginning to consider his options, though there weren''t exactly that many in his current situation.


    As he was pondering, he suddenly felt the ce distort rather violently. Chase himself was unaffected, but distortions appeared on the endless white expanse.


    They settled down quickly afterwards, but he was still a little concerned.


    Then, a few momentster, the rippling became extremely strong. It was as though he was trapped inside a giant rubber ball, and that rubber was being stretched to its very limits.


    And then, it was cut.


    Tears formed in the endless white expanse, expanding rapidly. And once it cleared up, it revealed... himself.


    His younger self to be exact, out in the park, ying around.


    Chase was a bit bewildered, but decided to walk up to his younger self and observe him. It didn''t seem like his presence was noticed. He attempted to reach out and touch his younger self, but his hand phased right through.


    At that point, he simply let his arms fall to his sides as he decided to observe.


    Chase was ying by himself, and there weren''t many other kids around.


    At some point, when he was at the highest point he could reach in the park, he saw some kids younger than him off in the distance.


    There was a kid with ck hair getting shoved around by two other kids. They seemed quite a bit younger than him. The two kids seemed rather arrogant.


    Chase actually remembered this, despite this being many many years ago. He walked over to look at the kid with ck hair and noticed something.


    Though he was being shoved around, there was a clear look in his blue eyes. From what Chase could tell, that kid wasn''t afraid. Rather, he was clearly intending on doing something. This wasn''t something that he had remembered from before.


    However, before that happened, his younger self rushed in, running down a slide and jumping off halfway. Little Chase''s feet mmed into the wood chips, scattering them around in the air.


    This attracted the attention of both the kid with ck hair and the two other kids.


    Little Chase pointed towards them.


    "Leave him alone! What did he do to you?"


    The two kids frowned exaggeratedly.


    "Why do you care?"


    "It''s none of your business."


    As for the kid with ck hair, he gave a curious look.


    "Who are you?"


    Little Chase thumped his chest.


    "I am a person you can stand behind!"


    After saying that, he got in between the kids. Because he was a substantial amount older, he was also quite a bit taller.


    The two kids looked displeased.


    "Get out of the way!"


    "You will regret this!"


    Chase couldn''t help but let out a dry chuckle when he looked at his younger self. But then, his smile disappeared.


    Little Chase suddenly frowned strangely, looking at the two kids with scary eyes. He gave off a pressure that wouldn''t juste from being taller or older. It was something closer to what one would see from a soldier on the battlefield.


    In fact, it would actually be far worse.


    Despite taking a spectator role, Chase couldn''t help but feel slightly frightened by his younger self. Right after that fear appeared, he immediately felt strange.


    Why in the world was he afraid of himself?


    And in a vision no less.


    Though, it definitely seemed like he wasn''t the only one that shared this fear.


    The two kids were trembling, nearly unable to stand up. In fact, one of them directly wet themselves. After just a few more moments, the two of them ran away crying.


    "Waaaaaaah!"


    "Mamaaaa!"


    After the two kids ran away, Little Chase turned around with a rather proud expression.


    "You are saved now!"


    The kid with ck hair looked up to him enthusiastically, with clear admiration


    "Wow! You''re so powerful!"


    Little Chase smirked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Heh. Naturally."


    The kid raised both hands in the air.


    "Can you teach me?"


    Little Chase proudly straightened up his back and raised a finger.


    "Of course! Make sure that you always fight for someone else!"


    The kid seemed rather confused, furrowing his brows and putting a finger on his chin.


    "No, I mean teach me how you became so powerful!"


    Little Chase giggled.


    "That''s exactly what I am teaching you! If you care enough to help someone else, the poweres all on its own."


    The kid''s mouth hung open slightly as he let out a gasp in awe.


    "Wow, that''s so cool!"


    Little Chase gave him a thumbs up.


    "I know!"


    Chase let out a soft sigh as he watched all of this. The background became distorted once more. Then, he saw his younger self once more, looking upwards.


    Opposite to him was his mother, holding onto the sides of his face with both hands.


    "Chase, it''s not too bad because you are a kid now, but you can''t offend some people, alright?"


    Little Chase seemed rather upset.


    "But they were the ones wrong!"


    His mother let out a helpless sigh.


    "I know, I know. But it''s not always about who''s right or wrong. It''s about surviving."


    Chase looked rather solemn as he watched this. He recalled that his naive younger self didn''t even slightly believe his mother. In fact, he didn''t even really understand.


    Even though Chase was just a kid, he was living in a rather run-down and shady area. As such, there were several times where he witnessed some less than favorable people doing things.


    However, Chase knew that he was far weaker, though he based that more on the fact that he was younger at the time. While he did piss some people off, people weren''t able to find out that it was him.


    But what he didn''t know was that his parents were also involved in these shady businesses. That was actually the primary reason that they lived here in the first ce.


    While Chase never directly got caught, he would eventually find out that he ended up leaving clues that led to his ce.


    That ended up making the people suspect his parents.


    And in the end, some people were sent to kidnap one of their children.


    At the time, Chase was not in the house. However, his little sister was.


    As he was recalling these things, a high-pitched screech filled his ears, giving him quite the headache and prompting him to dig his fingers into his scalp in pain. The space around him distorted to show his younger self at his doorstep. The door was already wide open, and little Chase seemed confused.


    In the end, he walked in without caring too much.


    However, everything seemed ruined.


    When he was younger, he was hardly afraid of anything, and as such charged in. A thick smell of blood filled the air. Along with that, there were several people screaming at each other rather loudly. He followed those voices.


    As for Chase, he followed behind with a slow walk, not too anxious to see what happened.


    The voices got clearer when he got closer, however.


    "Are you retarted? Why did you kill the person we were supposed to take hostage?"


    "Fuck, man, she was biting me, alright? I just wanted to put her in her ce."


    "With a fucking bullet to her heart? Exin yourself shithead, or we are going to pop a cap in that thick skull. You must be working for the snakes, aren''t you?"


    Once Chase reached the living room, he saw his younger self frozen in shock. Six or so burly adults were standing around a tied up dead body. They all had pistols in their hands, and in the middle of them was a little girl. She was bound, but there wasn''t much of a point in restraining her.


    The little girl''s eyes were bulging out of their sockets, while a trail of blood leaked from her mouth. Along with that, there was a rather bloody hole in the middle of her chest.


    This was Chase''s sister.


    Once his younger self showed up, the guy who killed the hostage had his eyes light up.


    "Haha, look at all of you overreacting, we have a hostage right here!"


    He rushed over and grabbed onto Chase''s wrist with one hand while the other one held onto the gun leisurely. The man turned around with a confident smile, looking at the others.


    "See? You all are so uptight and unadaptable like one tiny mistake would cause a copse of the n."


    The guy did not notice the strange look Little Chase had right now. It was a rather terrifying one. With a small frown and dead eyes.


    While the man was still looking behind himself, Little Chase grabbed onto the man''s hand that was holding onto the gun, pointed at the stomach, then forcefully pushed against the man''s trigger finger. It was all in one swift motion.


    A loud st rang out in the room, and blood sshed out.


    The man did not even slightly suspect that a child would fight back, thus dropped his guardpletely. In the end, he paid quite the price.


    The man groaned in pain and found himself falling to the ground. With both hands, he covered the gunshot wound on his stomach, but the wound from when the bullet exited was far worse.


    He was losing blood rather quickly.


    As for Chase, he had taken the gun out of the man''s hands and began pointing it at the other five people.


    For a split second, the other five were in shock, but they still didn''t seem that concerned. Some people took cover behind a wall, while others pointed their own guns at him.


    Before Little Chase even got a chance to fire his second shot, two people had already pulled their triggers while aiming at him.


    When Chase saw this scene, he initially felt a bit of mncholy. However, as the situation went on, he gradually felt that his survival didn''t exactly make sense. Sure, he had a gun, but he was facing five other people that not only also had a gun, but had the proper knowledge of how to use one.


    Then, he found out his answer.

 Chapter 68 Naive

    Little Chase twisted his body to the side as two of the others aiming at him pulled their triggers. He dodged both bullets.


    Then, he fired a shot of his own,nding straight on a man''s forehead and causing gray and white matter to stter on the wall behind him.


    "Shit!"


    Several more bullets began firing towards Little Chase, as the people who took cover joined in, and others crouched down to shoot.


    However, he had suddenly be something like the best dancer in the world, twisting from side to side and abruptly dashing in directions one after another.


    As for Chase who was spectating all this, he walked right in the middle of the gunfire, with all of the bullets passing straight through him. He then looked directly at the face of his younger self.


    Chase suddenly raised an eyebrow.


    The gun in his younger self''s hand began changing, shrinking down in size to fit his small hand while his light blue eyes gradually shifted color.


    Bing golden.


    This change wasn''t something that he realized at the time.


    The others fighting him seemed to notice though.


    "What the- his eyes!"


    "I couldn''t give a fuck if I wanted to, just shoot the kid!"


    Yet, despite having an overwhelming advantage they began falling one by one. As for Little Chase, he waspletely unscathed. He shot his gun once every second, and each time he shot a person''s head would st into blood sttering across the ground behind them.


    It did not take long until there was only one person left.


    The man in question was taking cover in another room, taking in slow deep breaths. It took him only a second or so to regain hisposure and remainpletely silent. He was utterly confused on how all five of his teammates died just like that to some kid, but that wasn''t enough to make him give up.


    With his line of work, people dying was amon urrence. One of hispanions just casually killed Chase''s sister just now, showing this.


    The man pointed his gun towards the entrance, waiting patiently.


    Then, a bang rang out.


    The man felt dizzy all of a sudden, but didn''t understand why. In hisst moments, he put his hand up to the side of his head and felt blood.


    Then cked out.


    On the other side of the wall, Little Chase retracted the pistol he had put on the side of the wall. He didn''t even walk over to the other side to check if he truly killed the man. For whatever reason, he was just that confident.


    The spectator, Chase himself narrowed his eyes when he saw all of this. He did remember somehow killing all of the people in the house, but never thought about how he did it. It was something he tried his best not to think about.


    In fact, he was questioning if the vision he was seeing right now was actually his own memories. If so, it would mean he had some sort of power that he wasn''t aware of.


    As weird as it was, it would actually exin how he was able to even survive this encounter in the first ce.


    He let out a soft sigh and watched his younger self walk over to the first person he shot.


    Then push the tip of the gun into the man''s eye socket.


    For the first second, there was no response, but then the man couldn''t help but wince in pain.


    "Wait, let me go, I don''t even really care about those guys!"


    He seemed to want to plead more, but a gunshot cut him off before he could say any more. The blood sshed back onto Little Chase''s face, but his expression did not change. He remained still for a moment, almost like he was fully taking in what he had just done.


    Then, Little Chase looked towards the corpse of his sister. He slowly walked over to her side.


    The gun in his hand ttered onto the floor.


    Then, he dropped down on his knees.


    Chase walked over to the couch in the living room and sat on a section that was covered in brain mush. It was quite ufortable, unlike an actual couch it felt like he was sitting on stone.


    However, he didn''t even notice it, as his attention was all on his younger self.


    Little Chase gently picked up his sister and brought her into a soft embrace. The blood spilled onto his clothes, but he couldn''t notice that at this point.


    He spoke through trembling lips.


    "Sorry, sister."


    Then closed his eyes.


    "Your brother did not listen to mother''s advice."


    Chase did not move for a few moments, but eventually, stood up. He knew that this was just a vision of the past, but he still couldn''t help but bring himself to speak up.


    "Naive."


    With that, he walked out of the house.


    And once he did so, a bright light shed while his vision suddenly cleared.


    "Agh..."


    Chase would''ve thought he woke up in a bed if it wasn''t for the fact he was greeted by a violent jostling sensation. His eyes opened, and Tori''s face appeared in front of him.


    She smirked, and spoke while panting.


    "You finally woke up, huh?"


    Chase quickly realized he was being carried by Tori.


    He then closed his eyes.


    "I''ll go back to sleep."


    The corner of Tori''s lip twitched.


    "Wake up, damsel!"


    Chase opened his eyes.


    "Ok, ok. Just give me a few moments, my body feels weak. What is happening anyway."


    Kairos had a small frown on his face as he carried Sam away.


    "We are running from something."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "...something?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Basically an enemy we can''t afford to offend."


    Chase narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "Spooky."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos took a nce at Sam, wondering if he had woken up yet. He had been making quite violent movements in his sleep, clenching his fists and frowning intensely. However, he was definitely still asleep.


    Seeing this, Kairos furrowed his brows, but did not panic.


    Since Sam had fallen asleepter than Chase, he figured that it logically made sense that he would wake upter too.


    However, he would turn out to be asleep for much longer than imagined.


    When Sam was taken over, he too was sent into an endless white expanse.


    However, unlike Chase, he recalled what had just happened immediately. He realized that he was in the middle of a fight, but was suddenly thrust into this ce.


    Sam instinctively reached for his waist, wanting to take one of the sharpened bones he had put there. However, he only ended up grasping air. He realized that he was covered with normal clothes, like he wasn''t actually in an apocalypse right now.


    Sam frowned and tried to channel mana into his hand for his de spell. Unfortunately, it ended up doing nothing. There wasn''t even a tiny bit of mana in his body right now.


    He did not give up though.


    Sam raised his leg and mmed it down with a grunt. A fairly loud tap echoed within the endless white expanse, while his footnded down on the rock-solid ground beneath him.


    As though this ce wanted to further frustrate him, he didn''t get the normal feedback one would from stomping hard onto the ground. While it was hard like rock, it was also soft like cotton.


    Sam furrowed his brows from the loud reverberating echoes. He attempted to stomp and even punch the ground, but the only thing that did was to make ufortably loud reverberating echoes.


    He wasn''t even able to hurt himself, save for his ears.


    It was as though he was in a padded cell, where people too insane for their own good are put in.


    Sam then tried running, but that ended up aplishing nothing.


    After just a little bit of running, he already got winded, like he was back in his worn-down body that worked a nine-to-five.


    Sam hunched over and put his hand on his knees, panting.


    That was the moment when the world around him distorted significantly, ripping and tearing. Before he knew it, Sam found himself in a familiar ce.


    It was a lecture theater, where university sses were held.


    There were rows of seats gradually going up, all filled with people. It was as if a really popr movie was showing, but it was actually just a slideshow with a professor monotonously giving his lesson.


    Sam blinked a few times, clearly a bit bewildered by the sight in front of him.


    After looking around a little, he was able to catch sight of himself. And next to him, was his wife, and best friend at the time.


    Sam walked down the steps slowly, and got next to his younger self. He waved his hand.


    "Um, hello?"


    There was no reaction. This made him realize that in this ce, he couldn''t be seen. That he was only an observer.


    As Sam spent more time here, the memory gradually became clearer to him. His freshman self leaned over to the side.


    "Hey, do you understand a single thing that this guy is saying, Ananta?"


    Ananta turned back to look at him with a slightly awkward expression.


    "It''s only the second week of lectures, how do you already not understand? It''s just going to get way harder, you know that right? We are just starting university!"


    Freshman Sam pressed his lips together.


    "Well... I wasn''t paying attention to the first lecture at all. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell this delta epsilon stuff is."


    Ananta let out a soft sigh.


    "I''ll teach youter, ok? Just try to understand what you can from this lecture."


    Freshman Sam blinked a few times and recoiled slightly.


    "...Wait really?"


    Ananta rolled her eyes.


    "That was what you were trying to get at, weren''t you? I just said it for you."


    Freshman Sam scratched the side of his head awkwardly.


    "Uh... yeah."


    This was a memory that stuck out to Sam in particr, because he was really justining for the sake ofining. Venting his emotions was something he just did casually.


    When Ananta proposed to teach him, he was genuinely surprised as he was not expecting that. That thought never actually crossed his mind.


    However, he was also the awkward type of person that tended to go along with the flow. He had a natural inclination as to what words and actions wouldn''t piss the other person off.


    And in this case, his freshman self had a strange inclination that Ananta wouldsh out at him if he said anything different.


    His thoughts at the time were that Ananta was nicer than he expected and that he might as well go along with it.


    Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek reached Sam''s ears, prompting him to grab onto his head with both hands.


    The vision around him distorted significantly.


    He saw a glimpse of himself along with Ananta, sitting at a table studying several monthster.


    Freshman Sam was writing down a series of numbers, while Ananta was looking over. After a few moments, she sighed.


    "Why are you using permutations here? This is abinations question, it literally says order does not matter in big bold font. "


    Freshman Sam gasped.


    "Ah, crap!"


    Ananta sighed, but was still smiling slightly.


    "I told you to take this course in highschool."


    Freshman Samughed awkwardly.


    "I uh, didn''t think it would actually be difficult. I thought probability was easy, with just a couple fractions here and there."


    Anantaughed.


    "You really think they are going to teach you an entire course that just has basic fractions in it?"


    Freshman Sam raised his hands in the air.


    "I didn''t think it through!"


    The vision quickly distorted once more, but it was still this same room. The only differences being the scented candle lit and ced to the side, and the fluffy pillows on the seats.


    On one side of the table, was a rather oblivious person. And on the other, was one that was lovestruck.

 Chapter 69 Reoccurance

    This vision of the study session was a yearter.


    Sophomore Samid on the chairzily, looking down at a textbook while twirling a pencil in his hand. It was fairly clear that he had gotten used to being here. On the other side was Ananta. She had a notebook open along with a mechanical pencil next to it. However, she wasn''t looking at that, but rather the person across from her.


    A drawn out sight came from Sophomore Sam.


    "Ironic how it''s called Stoke''s Theorem, but I''m really not stoked to learn it."


    Anantaughed and ced one hand on her cheek.


    "It''s not his fault that hisst name was that."


    Sophomore Sam leaned back in the chair.


    "Why are these people named after all these theorems anyway? So many of them are just basically the same form, like this one and Green''s Theorem."


    Ananta shrugged her shoulders.


    "What? You don''t want your name passed down in history?"


    Sophomore Sam clicked his tongue and rested his head on the top of the backrest.


    "That''sme as hell. I don''t care about what happens after I die. At the very least, I don''t care enough to be this pompous."


    Ananta rested her elbow on the table and supported her head by the chin. There was a small smile on her face.


    "Haha, that''s a bit harsh. Though, at the same time, it''s just like you."


    Sophomore Sam tilted his head to the side.


    "Just like me? What does that even mean?"


    Ananta leaned in a little and giggled.


    "Hm? Are you trying to get at something?"


    As the person revisiting this memory, Sam let out a soft sigh. He could still vividly remember where this was going.


    As for his younger self, he had no idea.


    "Huh? Am I trying to get at something?"


    Ananta rolled her eyes as her smile grew slightly wider.


    "Your words just now were... just like me."


    Sophomore Sam slowly nodded.


    "Uh, yeah?"


    Ananta let out a soft sigh.


    "Yes."


    This confused Sophomore Sam tremendously.


    "Huh?"


    Ananta pouted.


    "You really are making me spell it out, huh? Yes, I like you."


    Though she was quite clear, it didn''t seem to clear up the confusion the oblivious man was facing.


    But thankfully, after about thirty seconds or so, Sophomore Sam was eventually able to piece together the meaning of this sentence. Though, he still wasn''t able to believe that he was getting confessed to.


    "Wait. Are you saying you like me... like that way?"


    Ananta clicked her tongue.


    "What else is it supposed to mean? Come on, you can''t tell me that you really weren''t expecting this."


    Sam opened his mouth and closed it a few times, trying to speak, but unable to formte the words.


    Ananta crossed her arms and looked to the side.


    "We are basically already a couple, y''know? Like, just think about it."


    Sophomore Sam put a finger on his chin and did just that. However, to him, he didn''t really see it. They just seemed like close friends.


    "Uh... is it?"


    Ananta stood up and grabbed onto his shoulders before shaking them.


    "Don''t lie to me! You''ve been teasing me so much, yet you''re pretending to be innocent?"


    Sophomore Sam raised his hands up like he was being yelled at by the police.


    "Ehhh?"


    Ananta let out a soft sigh.


    "I''ve bought you things, and you''ve bought me things. We got out to eat together with just the two of us frequently. You evene over to my ce all of the time!"


    She pointed at him usingly.


    "But the kicker that lets me know that you know is that you always wrap your arm around my shoulder! I''ve been letting you do it without even shying away, so you obviously know by now!"


    Sam looked at his younger self''s bewildered expression and couldn''t help butugh, but the smile on his face slowly disappeared.


    Sophomore Sam shut his eyes tightly and furrowed his brows.


    "...Oh, those are all things that people dating do."


    Ananta leaned back into her chair with a small pout.


    "I mean, pretty much everyone already thinks we are a couple, and we basically are. I''m just making it official."


    Sophomore Sam scratched the side of his head.


    "But those things could also be considered a thing friends do, right?"


    Ananta rolled her eyes.


    "What kind of friend has that much skinship and stays at each other''s ces this much?"


    She let out a soft sigh.


    "I guess we haven''t gotten that far, especially because all our friends think we are just fucking all the time."


    If Sophomore Sam was drinking something, he would''ve spit it out. In fact, despite only having saliva in his mouth, he nearly spat that out.


    "What?"


    He grabbed onto the side of his head, then seemed toe to a realization.


    "Oh... that''s why Tony always gives me those weird looks when I''m walking to your ce."


    Ananta grabbed onto his hand with a smile.


    "Well, do you want..."


    She ended up blushing and awkwardly cleared her throat.


    "I mean uh, you haven''t said that you liked me back. It''s only fair, you know?"


    Sophomore Sam was stunned for a moment. There was a forlorn look on his face for a brief moment.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But eventually, a trembling smile formed on his face.


    "I uh, like you too."


    Sam took a deep breath as he watched his younger self say that.


    It wasn''t technically a lie, but he really didn''t see her that way at all before. It was kind of an oversight on his part considering the circumstances, but he thought that Ananta also saw it at least somewhat simrly.


    Sam just always wanted a friend, and it just so happened to be that Ananta ended up being one of them. He really did enjoy spending time with her and would probably even die for her.


    But he still thought of her as a friend.


    It wasn''t that he liked guys or anything. Sam just always thought of her in that way. He didn''t think it was weird, but from how everyone else acted, he couldn''t help but ept that was the case.


    When confronted with the sudden confession, his first instinct was to be honest and tell how he actually felt. But then, he also imagined their rtionship would take irreparable damage.


    In the end, he paused for a moment to think.


    If he had to choose someone to always spend time with for the rest of his life, he would without a doubt choose Ananta. So even though it was out of the blue for him, he decided to ept it.


    Sam sat down on the floor and looked up to the ceiling.


    It was a little dirty.


    He never really understood why there couldn''t just be friendship between opposite genders. It seemed like there never really just was a ce for only friends. It was either acquaintances, or lovers.


    There was technically a friend phase, but it would have quotation marks around it so much of the time. It seemed that the only way this was possible was if it was a business rtionship, or if it was one made while being an adult.


    Sam didn''t decide to fight with this notion.


    He was the kind that just went with things. And that''s how he ended up marrying Ananta.


    Sam then thought of something he wanted to try out as he looked towards his younger self. Without really knowing why, he decided to ce his hand on the back of his younger self.


    His hand phased through, making him think that his test failed.


    But then, time began to reverse. It started off slow, but very rapidly picked up in speed. After remaining in this position for quite a while, Sam suddenly released it.


    And once he did, Sam saw his younger self when he was just a kid.


    This version of him was sitting down on a bench at the park. He watched the other children ying around, while he was just kicking at the woodchips covering the ground.


    There was a natural frown on his face, and he looked rather grumpy.


    But then, a little girl ran over and waved towards him.


    "Hey! Why are you just sitting here at the park? You should be ying!"


    The kid version of Sam just grumbled, not willing to respond.


    Then, without even asking, the little girl grabbed onto his hand and pulled him up from the bench.


    "Don''t be like that, dummy! Why don''t you y with me?"


    The kid version of Sam seemed a bit apprehensive, but muttered an agreement.


    "Ok..."


    The girl smiled brightly.


    "My name is Ananta, what is yours?"


    He muttered.


    "S-Sam."


    The two of them proceeded to just run around the park, where the majority of the time was just Ananta pulling him along. Yet, it did not take long for the frown to turn into a smile.


    Sam''s eyes began to dull slightly as he watched this. He could feel some sort of resistance, that he could leave this strange realm of memories by now.


    But he didn''t want to.


    He justified it to himself by saying that he would only stay for just a little bit longer.


    "Not so fast, Ananta! I''m scared!"


    "What is there to be scared of, dummy!"


    Sam saw himself grow up, bing older along with Ananta. Both of them had changed considerably over time, but they were still very close to each other.


    When they were in middle school, they had both gotten very used to each other''s presence.


    "Yo, Sam! I got a hundred dor restaurant gift card, let''s go get something right now."


    "Seriously?!"


    Middle school Sam had his eyes open in shock. As for Ananta, she justughed.


    "Yeah, that would be a dirty lie to tell!"


    He then grabbed her arm and pointed in a direction.


    "I want at least one box of chicken nuggets!"


    Then, they were highschoolers.


    "Ananta! Let''s go use up this movie gift card I got for my birthday!"


    "Don''t add so much butter to the popcorn next time!"


    Before Sam even realized, he was once again looking at himself and Ananta together. And Ananta confessing to him again.


    Sam reversed the time once more, taking him all the way back.


    And he watched the entire process again.


    And again.


    By now, so long as he somewhat willed it, he could leave this ce. Yet, he couldn''t bring himself to do it.


    It made one wonder if he would actually leave this ce at all.


    As for the person carrying his unconscious body in reality, Kairos, this dyed wake up was stressing him out by quite a bit.


    By now, the group had been running for nearly thirty minutes. Chase had already begun running using his own feet, and the general consensus among everyone was that they were really tired.


    However, none of them suggested to stop running. In fact, none of them dared to stop.


    Everyone kept their eyes forward, but there was an extremely bad looming feelinging from behind. Far off in the distance, there was a massive set of red tentacles that were smashing apart the surrounding infrastructure.


    All of them could agree that they wanted to run away.


    There was some sort of strange pressure that made them feel afraid. There was a natural instinct in their bodies telling them that they had to escape, further propelling that desperate desire to flee.


    And the unfortunate thing was that the giant tentacles were approaching them.


    The distance between them was still quite huge, but it seemed like the monster had somehow noticed them.


    Kairos'' eyes were bloodshot, as carrying someone while running really did weigh him down, especially when he was running at full speed. He really hoped that Sam would wake up soon, but that seemed like a pipe dream at this point.


    There was also another lingering fear in Kairos'' mind.


    At some point, he turned around to look at the monster, and that fear ended up being well ced.

 Chapter 70 Pause

    Kairos recalled Sam''s description of his mother, Ananta, earlier. He said that there were red tentacles sprouting from her body, and each should have had considerable amounts of power.


    As for the monster chasing them, it also had tentacles.


    Though they were far more massive than Kairos could''ve ever imagined.


    And as he expected, once the monster got closer, he was able to confirm that it really was his mother. Except, she looked quite different.


    Ananta used the red tentacles to walk as though she was a spider, crushing through buildings and rushing through the air very quickly. It looked as though the entirety of her back was no longer there, reced by a hole that held tentaclesrger than her.


    As for her body, it was significantly reddened, to the point it was on the same level of actual monsters. There were alsorge bulging blue veins snaking through the entirety of her body, almost looking like cracks.


    If nothing else, she would have a normal size body assuming you ignored the tentacles.


    Unfortunately, from her bloodshot eyes and open mouth with fangs, she seemed far from friendly.


    Though Kairos'' goal was technically to find her at one point, he was hoping to be a little tougher during that time, with at least one card to bail out of the situation. On top of that, he was mostly depending on Sam to do the talking.


    But he was unconscious right now.


    Realizing that running was pointless by now, Kairos turned around and faced her. He brought his father down from his shoulder and tried to hold him up in a fashion that she could see.


    From there, he tried to talk.


    "Wait, Mother! I am your son, and this is your husband right here!"


    Most of the group turned around to look. Some of them looked afraid, but most of them looked pretty hopeful after hearing those words.


    Unfortunately, the results didn''t match up with those hopes.


    Kairos'' mother had her eyes right on Kairos and Sam, but it was as though she was looking right through them. Her mouth was open, with her teeth bared like an animal. There were even sharp fangs to match, really making her y the role.


    Though Kairos saw that it didn''t exactly work in his future vision, it wasn''t like he had much of another choice.


    With each step closer that Ananta got, the strange pressure bearing down on them increased exponentially. By the time she was five hundred meters away, it felt like their very souls were being crushed.


    Kairos yelled at the top of his lungs as hemented over how helpless he was in this situation.


    "It''s me! Your family is right here! You care about us, right?"


    Countless beads of sweat formed on his forehead, especially because he saw in his future vision that Ananta didn''t even flinch. As she got even closer, nobody was able to even move.


    In fact, they could hardly stand.


    Chase grit his teeth, and tried to will whatever power he had seen in his memory into reality. Though he wasn''t sure that it would even be close to enough, it was better to try anything at this point.


    Unfortunately, it just wouldn''t activate.


    Chase didn''t understand what the conditions were for it to trigger, so he just stood there helplessly. He kept trying to urge his mind, almost like a little kid trying to activate their final form.


    But it felt pointless, in fact, he couldn''t even marginally sense something.


    Kairos was beginning to despair as he watched Ananta close in.


    The pressure even began to make his vision blurry. And then, for whatever reason...


    His future vision paused.


    It wasn''t that the ability deactivated, but just that the future vision he was seeing was actually just a stationary frame. Almost like he wasgging really badly in a video game.


    He was quite confused as nothing like this had happened before.


    And before he knew it, his own body froze up as well.


    It was at this point Kairos connected the dots to realize that it wasn''t his future vision freezing, but that he himself had frozen in time.


    The others behind them weren''t able to evenprehend that as their expressions were still frozen on their faces.


    As for Kairos, a mind-numbing pain assaulted his eyes.


    In fact, they even began to bleed.


    The frozen frame that he initially saw suddenly shifted to another frozen frame after a second. In this frame, he saw Ananta right next to him, while the red tentacles surrounded him, making it look as though he was in a death trap.


    Kairos felt that he had the ability to move, and he really did want to move, whether that was to make another attempt to talk, or to nudge Sam awake. However, he also felt that the consequences of such an action would be dire for his body.


    Everything in his mind was telling him not to do so, simr to how it does when one begins to overuse their muscles, but on arger scale.


    This strange fear was quite crippling, and in the end, Kairos didn''t act in that second.


    Two lines of blood fell down from his eyes, and connected by the chin. And then, he saw another frame.


    This time, it was of all the tentacles swarming towards him, while Ananta herself had stepped up right next to her face.


    At this point, Kairos felt like he had to move.


    He desperately tried tomand his mouth to open and speak, but his mind continued to hold him back, making him unable to do so.


    In the end, another second passed, and the frame shifted once more.


    However, he was not dead like he expected.


    Rather, Anata was standing right next to Sam, looking at his face. Kairos'' vision was blurry, but at this distance he could still make out her expression.


    While her mouth was still open, showing off her fangs, there was more of a curious expression.


    The red tentacles were still nearby, but they had rxed by now.


    By the next second, Kairos saw Ananta smiling, while staring intently at Sam. This alleviated a great amount of anxiety Kairos had, though the pressure bearing down on him was still hurting him quite a bit.


    He then saw a series of frames where Ananta had a variety of child-like expressions. Sometimes joyful and sometimes curious.


    There were times when she was pping happily, while other times she tilted her head to the side with beady eyes.


    Ananta then pried Sam out from Kairos'' grasp using her tentacles. She looked at her newly acquired person almost like it was a toy. With her actual arms, she hugged the man as though he was a stuffed bear and rubbed her face against his.


    From there, she abruptly took off, heading out towards the distance.


    Kairos thought that there might''ve been a case for him to do something to improve the situation, but frankly, he was just too afraid of pissing his mother off.


    It seemed that her mind had regressed tremendously, but despite that she still seemed to remember Sam. Whether or not that was some sort of instinct, Kairos did not know. However, the threat was finally gone now.


    Unfortunately, so was his father.


    At the very least it was unlikely that Sam would be in any danger, assuming he did not upset Ananta. Kairos doubted that there was anybody even close to Ananta''s strength right now.


    This strange state of half frozeness continued for a while, even after Ananta had left.


    It lingered for about ten minutes or so, which was pretty tortuous to Kairos, but his increased willpower just barely let him stand it.


    Though he definitely didn''t want to experience something like that again.


    Then, everything became normal once more.


    Kairos'' future vision returned to normal, and made it very clear to him that his eyes hurt. He hurriedly took off his sses, letting the blood spill out from his eyes naturally.


    "...Fuck."


    As for the rest of the group, they were all stunned.


    They had their eyes wide open in shock, standing in ce. That shock turned into confusion just a few secondster.


    Nicole looked around.


    "What? Where did it go?"


    Sydney had one hand over her heart while gasping for air.


    "Was it... a dream?"


    The corner of Tori''s lip twitched.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How can we all just have a dream together like that?"


    Chase frowned deeply.


    "...One of our members has gone missing."


    Kairos was taking deep breaths one after another.


    "Yes."


    He slowly turned around, and once he did, a few shocked expressions appeared.


    Nicole ran over to him.


    "Are you ok?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''m fine now, though the blood that is seeping from the tear in my cheek tastes really bad."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "Do you know what happened?"


    Kairos frowned.


    "...It was my mother."


    Tori nodded.


    "I do remember your father talking about the tentacles... they are much scarier in personpared to a story."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I''m fairly certain she has the ability to pause time. That''s why it looks like everything suddenly changed."


    Chase sucked in a cold breath.


    "That... is just too strong of an ability, no? We wouldn''t have even been able to know that we died if she killed us."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "I was able to sorta see what happened, probably because I was right next to her. She was about to kill me, but then suddenly stopped after looking at Sam. I think that was what saved me."


    Sydney looked quite downcast.


    "Ah... then she took him away?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "She took him away after staring at him for quite a while. The way she made expressions made it seem as though she was a child. She even rubbed her face against his like he was a toy."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Her intelligence has regressed?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "I think so. Though considering how much power she has, that is probably a pretty small price."


    Chase chuckled.


    "That''s... very true."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "Why did she take him away?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I don''t know. But thankfully, it seems we survived because of that."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "...Will you be ok?"


    Kairos took a second to respond.


    "My father is now with my mother. If nothing else, they will both be fine."


    Though he said those words, it didn''t sound like he was all that reassured. It was almost like he was saying that to try and convince himself.


    Kairos shook his head.


    After a few moments of deliberation, he spoke.


    "We need to be stronger."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "Much, much stronger."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t think we''ve been doing that badtely, no?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "The progress is still far too slow. Justpare us to the two things we fought earlier. We werepletely outssed."


    He then grit his teeth.


    "But each time we increase our rank, gaining points also bes harder, as everything we kill gives less points."


    Chase looked rather solemn after he said that.


    "But there is nothing we can do about that."


    Kairos frowned slightly.


    "There has to be some other way. This is way too slow."


    Tori ended up opening her status panel and let out a small gasp.


    "Speaking of... I can evolve now."


    She reached out with her finger, about to press the button.


    That was when Kairos called out.


    "Wait."


    Tori looked at him with a bit of confusion.


    "Didn''t you say we should evolve to be more powerful?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes... but could you let me try and look at the status panel?"


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "And why is that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. He hesitated for a moment.


    "Well, I can see other options in the status panel for evolution."

 Chapter 71 Toris Evolution

    Tori looked at Kairos with a bit of confusion.


    "What do you mean, you can see other options?"


    Kairos wiped the blood off of his face.


    "I found out when I was helping Sydney earlier that I can select a different spell for you, rather than the one that is disyed."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "But the spell here says lightning, it sounds pretty cool, so I don''t think I''d want something else."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Just let me take a look, maybe I''ll find something you would like more."


    Tori scratched the side of her head.


    "Um, ok."


    Kairos walked over and took a look at her status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 133543657645]


    [Rank: 52/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 31.9]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos clicked on the evolve option. Though Tori looked a little ufortable, she decided not to interfere.


    [Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 5 points for Lightning Spell or Wind Spell? Lightning/Wind | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "I can see a wind spell avable. Do you want to consider it?"


    Tori scratched the side of her head.


    "Uh, which one is better?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I have no idea, honestly. But take a second to think about what kind of spell you would like."


    Tori rubbed her chin with her thumb and forefinger.


    "Huh..."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "There isn''t too much of a point in overthinking it. In the end, we don''t know what either of them do."


    Tori turned to him and proceeded to smirk.


    "Then maybe the wind spell is better for me so that I can sweep you off of your feet."


    Chase''s face twitched.


    "...Then I suppose I have no choice but to be swept up by my dashing white knight."


    Tori giggled.


    "Alright, I have decided! I choose the wind spell!"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "Um, are you sure you want to make your choice so... arbitrarily?"


    Tori shrugged her shoulders.


    "Thinking too much has never done me any good before, so I''m not going to get so hung up on it."


    Kairos blinked a few times, then nodded.


    "Alright, I can''t fault that."


    He didn''t want to spend too long just for her to make a decision anyway. With that in mind, he selected the wind spell and hit confirm.


    The status panel changed, and Tori ended up shivering in surprise as well. Her body reddened slightly, but it calmed down soon after. She took a few deep breaths, sucking them in as though it wasn''t enough for her.


    After thirty seconds or so, the changes seemed to stop. Tori let out a small sigh.


    "Wow, that feels... refreshing."


    She proceeded to open up her status panel.


    Kairos had wiped off the blood on his face before putting on the sses.


    [Status]


    [ID: 133543657645]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 11.9]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.1


    Magic Affinity - 0.1]


    [Special Abilities: Wind Spell (F), Wing Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Wing spell?"


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "Hmm... a white knight with wings, huh?"


    Tori kept her eyes on the status panel, but was already opening up her backpack to take out various snacks that were stored inside. Kairos noted that some of them seemed rather luxurious, such as caviar. He was a little confused on where she got it from, but decided not to question it right now.


    Nicole seemed quite excited.


    "Does the wing spell mean you can fly?"


    Tori spoke while chewing on her food.


    "I really hope that''s not all that it does. I don''t really care about flying anyway."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "But!..."


    Sydney tilted her head to the side.


    "There might not be that many practical uses of being able to fly."


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "It does sound situational, but we shouldn''t be so fast to judge its effects, no?"


    Tori nodded.


    "It has to be something good! I spent so many points for it."


    Without a second thought, she activated the wind spell. Wings suddenly sprouted out of her back, but far from traditional ones that birds would have. These wings were not only red, but appeared to be bat wings.


    They were not all thatrge, spanning a length that was less than her arms.


    Tori looked over her shoulder and raised both eyebrows.


    "Wow, I wonder what I can- ah!"


    The wings suddenly retracted on their own, while she ended up gasping for air.


    "What? Why did it suddenly stop?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You need mana in order to cast these spells. Since you just evolved, your mana is at the bare minimum, so it''s only natural you can''t keep it up for long."


    Tori let out a muffled groan while still chewing on her food.


    "That''sme."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "But also rtively reasonable."


    Tori opened up her status panel, then without hesitation began putting points into agility. Kairos was honestly a little surprised, he imagined that she would at least try to put a little bit into mana.


    After watching her continue to press the same button over and over again, Kairos couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Wait, wait, don''t you want to put at least a few points into your magical abilities?"


    Tori did not stop increasing her agility even as she responded.


    "Eh, I can do thatter."


    Kairos tried to reach out to her hand, but saw that Tori would easily dodge out of the way, then decided to continue trying to convince her.


    "If you have too much of one stat, then the rest of your body won''t keep up! I already tried adding many points into the magical stats, and ended up coughing blood after using a spell."


    Tori nodded.


    "Ah, that makes sense."


    Though she agreed, Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little aggrieved.


    "You..."


    Because she was still adding points in agility. Chase''s mouth was agape ever so slightly.


    "Haha, you are very... independent."


    Tori smiled proudly as she put both hands on her hips.


    "Hehe, of course!"


    Her body was essentially glowing red at this point while sweat poured down almost like a waterfall. Her clothes were soaked more or less instantly.


    She tapped her chin with the tip of her finger.


    "Hm. I can''t add any more points."


    Kairos looked rather speechless, then proceeded to shake his head.


    "I guess you maxed it out."


    He peered over at the panel and saw that her agility value was now at 14.9 points, seemingly the new maximum of this rank.


    Tori smiled slightly.


    "See? I almost have two points left over! Now I can increase my magical stats."


    Kairos raised his hand.


    "Wait, if you already put so much in agility, you might want to increase your other physical stats so that they can keep up with your agility."


    Tori shrugged her shoulders.


    "Well, it''s already imbnced, so why does it matter?"


    Without waiting for the others to respond, she began increasing her magical stats equally.


    Kairos opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then closed it right after. She was more or less right anyway, her stats were already severely imbnced, so it didn''t matter too much anymore.


    By the end, Tori looked at her status with a satisfied smile on her face.


    "I like how this looks!"


    Kairos looked over at the status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 133543657645]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 0.0]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 1.0


    Magic Affinity - 1.1]


    [Special Abilities: Wind Spell (F), Wing Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    The new giant stat for agility was very easily noticeable. And from there, she had spent her points more or less equally on the two magic stats.


    After doing that, Tori continued to stuff her face with various snacks and began casting the wing spell once more.


    Suddenly, the red wings appeared on her back once more, but were also notably muchrger thanst time, nearly reaching double her arm length.


    The others ended up taking a few steps back to make some room.


    Sydney seemed a little apprehensive.


    "Oh my..."


    Tori took a nce at her wings and smiled.


    "Ah, these look quite nice."


    With that, she raised the wings and pped them. A strong gust of wind blew down, while Tori herself soared up into the sky like a bullet.


    Kairos was quite surprised, and from Tori''s bewildered expression, she also seemed to share the same sentiment.


    Within just a few seconds, she had already soared up thirty meters into the air.


    Tori then soared around in the sky, swooping up and down as though she was a bird.


    "Woooooooo!"


    Kairos called out.


    "Don''t forget you have a limited amount of time!"


    After hearing that, Tori shot towards the ground at frightening speeds, prompting the rest of the group to flinch.


    Chase''s eyes widened.


    "Slow down, slow down!"


    Tori didn''t seem to listen, still catapulting down at the same speed. When she was a meter away from the ground, Nicole couldn''t help but look away, not wanting to see someone stter onto the floor.


    Yet, there was no sound of collision.


    Right before hitting the ground, Tori''s wings pped, killing most of the momentum. She then touched the ground with one hand and turned it into a cartwheel. After a few rotations, she stopped and jumped up to her feet.


    Tori smiled brightly as the wings retracted back into her body.


    "I take it all back! Flying is way too cool!"


    The rest of the group looked at her with a bit of shock. Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "Well, you don''t exactly fit the image of a white knight with those wings."


    Tori smirked confidently.


    "Hehe, then I can just be the demon king that kidnaps you, the fair maiden."


    Chase rolled his eyes.


    "It seems like I won''t be able to do anything if you can move that fast."


    Kairos decided to ignore the weird interaction these two people had with each other.


    "Tori, do you still have mana to test out the wind spell?"


    Tori nodded casually.


    "Ah, right! That thing."


    After saying that, gusts of wind began stirring around her. Her clothes pped wildly with the wind along with her hair. These winds circted at roughly two meters around her, thus they didn''t affect the others.


    Soon, the winds died down.


    Kairos blinked a few times, and mentallypared that spell to his fire version.


    "...Maybe I shouldn''t have suggested that spell to you."


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "Perhaps you could use it along with your wing spell to propel you at extreme speeds?"


    Surprisingly, Tori didn''t respond right away. Instead, she seemed to be in a partial daze.


    "I feel like I can shift the winds in many different directions at the same time. If I get close to someone, I could probably make it really hard for them to move, then propel my katana as well."


    Chase nodded.


    "There seem to be a couple uses then."


    Kairos hummed.


    "I suppose there are a few uses, but it looks more so like a support spell."


    Tori rolled her eyes.


    "Why do you sound so concerned? It''s my spell, and frankly, I like it."


    Kairos raised both his hands up as though surrendering.


    "Alright, alright."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Damn, I want to evolve too, but I''m still missing a few points."


    Tori raised a finger.


    "Ah, I remember seeing arge swarm of monsters chasing something when I was flying. Let''s go there!"

 Chapter 72 Swarm

    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Chasing something? What were the monsters after?"


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "I''m not sure, it was too far away to see clearly."


    Kairos sighed. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before responding.


    "I suppose... we can''t do much else. Let''s go then."


    With that, Tori led the way while the others followed. They ended up walking through several alleyways and awkward entrances because Tori wasn''t the most flexible leader, but they were able to get to where they desired, which was what mattered most.


    The sun was gradually beginning to hang rather low, casting the sky with a faint orange glow. In other words, it would soon be night. Soon, they started to hear the roars of monsters and the sounds of their footsteps.


    Along with that, they hade across a fairly big clearing. It was a ratherrge parking lot, with quite a bit of scattered rubble that presumably came from destroyed buildings.


    Within that clearing, were countless monsters, just like what Tori had said before. And they were all chasing something.


    Or rather, someone.


    It was a rtively old man holding onto a ive, which was essentially a spear with a de at the top of the pole instead. The pole itself was ck in color, while a red tassel hung just below the de.


    As for the old man himself, he had a fairly long gray beard. His clothes seemed to be some sort of robe, but it was hard to make out what they really were because of the thickyer of blood coated over them.


    There were over a hundred monsters in the parking lot alone, and all themotion seemed to be attracting even more monsters. However, their target, the old man, didn''t seem to be all that concerned.


    He was jumping around rather deftly, leaping up on top of cars and twirling his ive around, beheading many of the monsters.


    The old man suddenly turned to look at Kairos and the others. From the looks of it, the sight of other people made him incredibly vignt.


    "Ni men yao si ma?"


    Tori raised an eyebrow.


    "Uh, what is he saying?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I think he is speaking Chinese, but I can''t really make anything out other than him saying something about us."


    After a second, he turned to Nicole, whose eyes were open wide.


    "Um, he is asking what we want."


    Chase chuckled.


    "I assume that it is in a sarcastic way."


    Nicole scratched the side of her head before nodding.


    "Yeah... should I tell him that we mean no harm?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Tell him that we would like to kill some of the monsters."


    Nicole nodded promptly and proceeded to convey that mention to the man, speaking in fluent Chinese. The old man seemed a little surprised once he noticed that Nicole was speaking with the proper ent as well.


    He immediately became much more amicable and spoke casually while he continued to fend off the monstersing for him.


    While the two of them were talking, a few monsters from within the horde broke off from their initial target and came towards the group.


    Kairos had pulled back his sharpened bone, but didn''t end up swinging it.


    Because a soft gleam shed by him before all of their heads came off.


    The monsters copsed to the ground powerlessly as blood spilled out. It seemed like they didn''t even realize that they had died in the first ce.


    Kairos turned to look at Tori, who was cringing slightly.


    "...I told you it would hurt to have imbnced stats."


    Tori was holding onto the wrist of her other hand painfully, almost like she couldn''t bear to hold onto the weight of the katana.


    "I already knew that part!"


    On the other hand, it seemed that the talk between Nicole and the old man was going rather smoothly. After a few moments, Nicole turned to the others rather excitedly.


    "He said that he wasn''t going to kill all of these monsters anyway, so we can join in! Also, apparently, there will be a lot of monsters when it bes nighttime, so we get out of here soon as well."


    Upon hearing that, Chase took the bow off his back.


    "Alright then."


    A mana string coalesced around his bow, while he reached out. However, just momentster, Chase suddenly covered his stomach with his arm. A frown formed on his face.


    "Damn, I thought it healed up by now."


    A bit of blood seeped out from his stomach. Though he was injured, it didn''t seem like he was willing to give up on killing some of the monsters.


    And as such, he pulled back on the string of the arrow using his teeth likest time. A mana arrow formed beforeunching forth.


    Arge line of monsters all had the skulls split open, but the arrow was not done after just that. It proceeded to turn around and cut through another line.


    Nicole had put on her red watch and rushed in to join the fight as well.


    Though she could only kill them one by one, she was able to stably do so while avoiding their attacks. Sydney joined in as well, but was far more reckless, not caring if she had gotten hit in the process of killing the monsters.


    Tori also partook in the fight, but would only sh every twenty seconds or so before trying to recover. Each sh of hers would take out several monsters, but in the end, how fast she could kill things lowered considerably.


    Kairos didn''t want to be left behind either, thus joined in.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 15<novelnext></novelnext>


    Altogether, they cleared through countless monsters, causing the corpses to stack up rather quickly. However, there was a constant flow of monsters that reced them, making it so that they just kepting.


    It did not take long for Chase to run out of mana, leaving him standing there awkwardly with an arm on his stomach. As for Tori, she had also given up on swinging, opting to take a break to rest her arms.


    Perhaps it was only Sydney that continued to gain momentum, swinging much fasterpared to when she just started. Her breathing was heavy, while veins began bulging in her skin.


    The sun was on the verge of setting, about to disappear altogether.


    It was then the old man called out.


    Nicole let out a soft gasp before passing on what he said earlier.


    "He said that he''s leaving now and that we should do the same!"


    Kairos felt somewhat reluctant as he felt like he hadn''t gotten many points at all. However, he figured there should be a reason for his advice.


    "Let''s find a ce to take shelter then."


    Everyone had begun retreating from the swarming monsters.


    Well, everyone except Sydney.


    It didn''t seem like she had even actually heard the others speak. She was swinging her sharpened bone wildly and even using her free hand to grapple the monsters and smash them against the sides of cars.


    The old man had already hopped rather far away, but didn''t leave just yet. He said something, which Nicole promptly tranted.


    "Um, he said that we can go with him, but we need to hurry!"


    Kairos looked towards Sydney and frowned slightly.


    "Hold on, I''m going to try and get her to wake up."


    Because Sydney was fairly deep within the group of monsters, Kairos had to rush through them to get to her. He ducked when one of the monsters tried to bite down on him and swung his sharpened bone to behead another that was charging towards him.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    While weaving past two ws that swung towards him, he jumped on top of a car, prompting the monsters to climb up on as well.


    He stepped on top of one of their heads before leaping towards Sydney,nding rather close to her. Kairos'' sharpened bone whipped around, killing all of the monsters next to him, and giving a second or two of reprieve from being attacked.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 3


    Then, he grabbed onto Sydney''s shoulders.


    "Hey, we are going now."


    Almost immediately, Sydney spun around and swung her sharpened bone behind her. In his future vision, he saw the bone tear through his chest. While enduring the pain he quickly backed up, avoiding it.


    At the same time, he kicked away several monsters that were approaching him before turning back towards Sydney.


    "You already bit me before, are you going to do that again?"


    Sydney was in the middle of swinging her sharpened bone towards him, but suddenly stopped. It seemed that those words caused her eyes to light up with both sanity and a bit of guilt.


    "A-Ah! Sorry!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh as he continued to push back the monsters.


    "Apologize by leaving this ce already."


    Sydney nodded.


    "Ok!"


    She ran back, rushing through the monsters rather forcefully. Though the monsters were able to sh her, they were also forced back. It was as though she had be a spearhead, leading the way and clearing a path.


    Kairos followed behind and swung his sharpened bone towards any monster that was about to attack him.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    It did not take long for them to push through the horde and appear on the other end. The old man had his eyes wide open as he saw how many ugly gashes were on Sydney''s body, to the point that part of her bone was revealed.


    On the other hand, while the others seemed slightly ufortable, they weren''t all that concerned. Nicole seemed to notice the old man''s reaction and quickly reassured him of Sydney''s wellbeing.


    The old man didn''t seem to believe her at first, but after seeing how fast Sydney''s wounds regenerated, he eventually nodded with widened eyes.


    From there, he gestured to follow him, which everyone promptly did.


    The old man deftly ducked behind a building, hopping on top of a dumpster before leaping onto a building opposite to the dumpster.


    Everyone was more or less able to perform the same act, though Chase''s bleeding began to worsen slightly because of the pressure he had put onto it. As for the monsters, some of them began to jump to try and chase after them.


    However, most of the monsters just barely weren''t able to make it to the roof. That was because they did not bother to use the dumpster to help boost them up slightly. Instead, they opted to just jump up normally.


    Though that didn''t mean they werepletely unable to get on the roof, and the old man seemed to notice this. He gestured hurriedly to follow after him as he rushed forth. The actual roof of this ce had little spacepared to therge building, because there was another section, like a smaller block ced on top of arge block.


    The monster ended up stacking to a point that they could jump on top of each other in order to reach the top of the roof.


    Kairos made sure to kill any of them that did get up on the roof, before kicking their corpses back down, interrupting a few others that tried to jump up.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 4


    While that was happening, the old man picked up adder before setting it up on the side of the wall. He quickly climbed up while urging everyone else to do the same.


    One by one, everyone climbed up. Chase cringed a little more from his wound, but didn''tin. Kairos was thest person to get to thedder as he was taking care of the monsters behind all of them.


    He ran towards thedder once everyone else had climbed up, while several monsters followed him closely from behind. Kairos was getting ready to fight as he climbed thedder, yet once his hands grabbed onto the bars, the old man lifted up thedder, pulling Kairos up as well.


    Upon reaching the upper roof, he looked towards the old man with a bit of surprise.


    "That is a pretty smart way of doing it."


    The monsters gathered on the roof, and began to stack up. However, before they could form a pile big enough to jump off of, they ended up sliding back down.

 Chapter 73 Naive

    Kairos continued watching the monsters continue to try and get up, but due to theirck of coordination, they slipped on each other and tumbled back down.


    The old man had a proud smile on his face as he watched them slip back down. He said something, but it was in Chinese so the others had difficulty in understanding. Nicole let out a smallugh and responded with her own remark.


    The old man raised an eyebrow then turned to Kairos.


    "Eh... Thanks, thanks very much."


    He slurred the "s" sounds and had to pause between each of the words, but was still able to more or less articte the words so that they had meaning.


    Kairos was a little confused, not understanding why he was being thanked.


    Nicole leaned over and whispered.


    "I told him that you said that was smart, and he thanked you."


    Kairos turned to the old man.


    "Uh... mai guan shi."


    He turned to look at Nicole.


    "Did I say your wee right?"


    In response, she smiled softly.


    "Just a bit weirdly pronounced, but yes, you did."


    The old manughed rather heartily and began talking at a rather fast pace. Nicole nodded asionally and would respond to him as well. As for everyone else, they were more or less standing on the roof awkwardly.


    Chase lightly nudged Sydney with his elbow and spoke softly.


    "Hey, do you understand what they are saying?"


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "Um, no. She learned her Chinese from her father."


    She bit her lip and took a deep breath.


    For a second, Chase wondered why that sounded a bit off-putting to him. Then, it suddenly clicked. The person she was talking about was dead. Not only that, but he died not too long ago.


    Chase decided to keep quiet.


    The rooftop was somewhat dirty, but considering the standards that they were in, it was pretty clean. Someone had taken the time to sweep the ce. Along with that, was a table that had various cutlery on top.


    Next to it was a ratherrge cooler which almost seemed like a treasure chest.


    For some reason, there was even a weapons rack that held a few ives. Next to it was one that was resting on the floor.


    There were also two nketsid out on the floor. Both of them looked used, but only one of them hadrge dark brown stains from dried blood.


    Tori tilted her head to the side as she looked at the cooler.


    "Hm... what are you doing, little one?"


    "Eeep!"


    A startled cry came from behind the cooler.


    The old man turned to look towards the cry and seemed a little annoyed. He muttered something before getting behind the cooler and pulling out a boy. He said something before pointing at Kairos and the others.


    Nicole let out a soft giggle.


    "He said his name is Tai and is also nagging at his grandson to introduce himself."


    The little boy bowed awkwardly, with a forced smile on his face. It was fairly clear that he was afraid and wanted nothing to do with this situation.


    "Um... Hi, my name is Ling."


    Unlike his grandfather, he was able to pronounce English fairly easily and with the proper ent. He had short ck hair in the form of a bowl cut. His irises were hazelnut, except for this one small patch that was light blue instead. Ling had partial heterochromia. The contrast of dark and light colors made it fairly noticeable.


    Kairos waved rather leisurely with his eyes slightly out of focus.


    "Hey, my name''s Kairos."


    The others also introduced themselves, and everyone got to know each other''s names. Tai would asionally point to someone and repeat their name in a curious tone, trying to confirm if he understood it properly.


    Sometimes it took a few tries, but everyone politely repeated their names for Tai to hear, prompting him to nod with a smile.


    It was getting rather dark, making it difficult to see clearly, though it was still enough to make out the general figures of the environment and the figures around them.


    The various growling sounds of monsters and footsteps below them began to die down.


    Chase was the first toy down with one hand over his stomach.


    "I think I''m going to go to sleep a little early. If I take a watch, could it be at the end? I''m hoping my wound will heal by then."


    Kairos lightly rubbed onto the side of his cheek. It definitely hadn''t healed, though it seemed to be making progress. It seemed that opening his mouth to talk had dyed the process by quite a bit.


    "Speaking of, I think I have to take a break from talking to heal this wound in my cheek, so I''m going to go to sleep as well. Do you guys mind taking watch?"


    Tori, Sydney, and Nicole didn''t seem against it.


    With that, heid down on the ground. Though, he did end up taking out a snack before he went to sleep. Tai decided to strike up a conversation with Nicole and was rather loud at first.


    However, he soon quieted down after Nicole mentioned that some people wanted to go to sleep.


    Ling sat down on the nket that wasn''t bloodied, but did not go to bed. He clearly wasn''tfortable enough to sleep yet.


    Tai happened to turn and see him sitting on the nket, then immediately chastised him for not giving up the nket to one of the guests. From there, he urged Nicole to use it instead.


    Ling seemed to be against it internally, but got up and out of the nkets anyway. As for Nicole, she hurriedly denied Tai, though he kept insisting.


    It took Nicole to firmly state that she really did not want to sleep in the nkets that someone else had for Tai to back down.


    While the two of them were having their own conversation, Tori couldn''t help but talk to Ling.


    "Hey, what rank are you?"


    Ling seemed a little surprised that someone decided to strike up a conversation with him. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.


    "Um... what do you mean?"


    In reality, he had understood the question. However, he hesitated which made him take a few extra seconds to answer, and that pause made him feel like he couldn''t say the answer.


    Tori blinked a few times.


    "The rank that shows on your system. What else would I be talking about?"


    Ling cleared his throat awkwardly.


    "Ah, it''s um, F with a plus at the end."


    He brought up the status panel, showing its contents. Though the night was dark, the status panel was still visible to everyone. It ended up attracting quite a bit of attention, prompting the others to look at it.


    The immediate thing that was noticeable was how low the stat points were.


    They ranged between 1.1 and 1.5. Although it would be enough to be on par with other professional athletes before the apocalypse, as of now, it was simply far too low.


    Upon seeing the status panel, Tai chastised Ling and told him to close it. Though Ling didn''t really understand why, he did so.


    Tai ended up breaking off from Nicole and dragged Ling to a corner. He began whispering to him, while Ling listened half-heartedly.


    Suddenly losing the person she was talking to, Nicole decided to walk over to Kairos'' side and sit next to him. As he began tucking away the wrappings of his finished snack, Nicole spoke up.


    "Those two are really close, haha."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos blinked a few times. Though he said before that he wouldn''t talk, he couldn''t help but do so.


    "What? They are?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Ah, I guess it does look kind of weird, but this is kind of just how caregivers show their love in more asian parts of the world."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "By... yelling at them alot?"


    Nicole shrugged her shoulders.


    "Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kind of weird, but yes."


    She let out a soft sigh.


    "Tai is actually quite a nice person. Though he has been brought up in the traditional ways where the child wouldmonly be beaten if they did something wrong, he can''t bring himself to hit his grandson."


    Kairos rubbed his chin, pondering over it.


    Nicole then pointed towards Ling.


    "And as for Ling, he is always listening to what his grandpa says. In fact, if you pay attention, he is actually seeking out answers from his grandpa, using his word as a guide to follow."


    Kairos turned to her with both eyebrows slightly raised in shock.


    "Since when were you actually sharp?"


    Nicole couldn''t help but giggle.


    "What do you mean, sharp? This much is obvious."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "...It isn''t obvious to me."


    Nicole shrugged her shoulders.


    "Maybe it''s because I was raised by a Chinese parent while you weren''t."


    Kairos looked down.


    "I guess..."


    Nicole was talking rather energetically earlier, but abruptly fell silent. She suddenly became rather lethargic.


    "Haa..."


    She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth slightly.


    "I wish... I still had my father."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "He always had the best of intentions."


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "To be honest, I didn''t know why I was so excited to talk with him. But now I realize it''s because I felt like he somewhat resembled my father. The fact that he had a grandson amplified that fact even further."


    Kairos slowly nodded to acknowledge her statement.


    Nicole''s breathing became ragged.


    "I... I''ve been trying so hard not to think about it. But it keepsing back. I-It hurts so much."


    She took a few deep breaths, more or less recovering herself. Nicole then whispered so that only Kairos could hear.


    "Sometimes I wonder how my mom is taking it, but I''m too afraid to ask. Not because of her response, but just because I don''t want to think about it."


    She ended up leaning a little closer. Not enough to touch, but enough to feel the other''s body heat.


    Kairos reached out andid his hand on her knee. His lips parted ever so slightly.


    "It''s painful to think about, but keeping it inside would only worsen it. You have to face it eventually, so it''s better to face it right now."


    He then said one other part in his head.


    ''Though I am being a big hypocrite by saying that.''


    Nicole tightly grabbed onto the hand that Kairos had ced on her knee. She bit the bottom of her lip.


    "O-Ok."


    Though Kairos could not see, there was something in the way that Nicole was faintly trembling that told him she was crying.


    It was quiet.


    Very quiet.


    But Nicole was definitely crying.


    Tai was still lecturing Ling, when Sydney decided to walk up and wave her hand sheepishly.


    "Um, sorry, but I think it would be better to sleep now."


    After being asked to, Ling tranted for Tai.


    Upon understanding what she meant, Tai hurriedly bowed.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    He ushered Ling to the nket and slept in his own nket.


    But before everyone could fall asleep, the person who everyone thought was asleep, Chase spoke up.


    "That child must make a decision."


    Tai asked Ling for a trantion, but the person in question didn''t understand it himself.


    After a few moments, Ling said it word for word.


    Tai was confused and got Ling to pass on his question.


    "Um, what do you mean by making a decision?"


    Chase did not respond immediately, making a strange silence hang in the air.


    "You are far too weak, Ling."


    Everyone else was a little surprised.


    Tai asked for a trantion, but Ling ignored him and responded on his own.


    "I can be stronger! I''ve been practicing with the ive almost all day now!"


    Chase sighed.


    "I don''t mean your stats, or your skills."


    He sighed.


    "When I say weak, I mean you are too naive."

 Chapter 74 Dream Visit

    Ling seemed rather offended by Chase''s statement.


    "I-I''m not naive!"


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "Chase, he''s just a child. What more could you expect out of him?"


    Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "He may only be a child, but it''s not about what one should expect from a child. It''s about what is required from him because of the environment."


    Tai sensed the tension in the air, but could only look back and forth between Ling and Chase awkwardly due to hisck of understanding.


    Tori cleared her throat.


    "I uh... do think that you won''t be able to stay alive long with the way you are right now."


    Ling clenched his fists as they rested at his sides. There was a clear frown on his face.


    "But... but..."


    Kairos decided to interject.


    "There is a miniature city that we came from."


    Everyone quieted down somewhat, letting his voicee out a little clearer.


    "In that ce, people that are at the lowest rank have the opportunity to farm in order to live. It won''t be the easiest as you will have to give ny percent of everything you farm to the city, but it is the best way to guarantee a food supply."


    Ling pouted.


    "I don''t need to be a farmer!"


    Chase spoke up.


    "Have you ever killed a monster yet?"


    Ling crossed his arms.


    "Yes!"


    Chase followed up with another question.


    "And was it with your old man''s help?"


    Ling did not respond.


    Chase spoke passively.


    "You can either choose to go and be a farmer for the rest of your life, or learn how to defend yourself."


    Ling still seemed rather angry.


    Chase continued.


    "You can''t rely on him forever."


    Ling''s expression froze on his face. It took him a little while, but he did respond.


    "I... I know that."


    Tai seemed to be unable to stand it at this point, grabbing onto Ling''s shoulder and anxiously asking what they meant. Though he didn''t seem to be the most willing, Lingplied.


    He was rather timid while exining, and by the end, Tai gave him a hug.


    Nicole had calmed down somewhat and muttered lightly to Kairos.


    "I''m kinda jealous, to be honest."


    She sighed.


    "...Are you also jealous?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Not really. Their situation isn''t all that different from ours."


    Nicole seemed a little confused.


    "Eh? What do you-"


    "Uh, you name Chase?"


    Tai spoke up over Nicole.


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "Yes."


    He looked a little heavy-hearted and gave a small bow.


    "Ling is... only family. I can protect."


    Chase sighed.


    "Ling, tell him that even if he wants to protect you, he can''t. Assuming you want to live for longer than a few days, this is a choice you have to make."


    Ling seemed a bit perturbed, but did so without much restraint.


    Tai seemed rather worked up first, but fell silent soon after. It seemed he wanted to dere that he would be able to protect him, but soon realized that would be a fake promise.


    Ling ended up asking Tai for his opinion on what choice he should make.


    Tai opened his mouth.


    But no words came out.


    Chase did not understand thenguage they were speaking but was still able to make all of that out.


    "You have to make the choice by yourself."


    Ling frowned slightly.


    "Alright! I... I will be strong enough to protect myself!"


    To such a determined answer, Chase seemed rather disdainful.


    "No."


    Ling seemed quite confused.


    "E-Eh?"


    Chase sighed.


    "You have made your choice far too early. This isn''t something you can just make a decision on."


    He paused.


    "First try and see what it is really like to go out and fight. Only if you understand how that works, will you ever be able toe to a decision."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "It almost sounds like you are the mother of that child or something."


    She smiled soon afterwards.


    "Hehe, d to see my fair maiden is so caring."


    Chase didn''t snap back this time, opting to remain silent.


    As for Ling, he took a deep breath.


    "Then... I will try."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chase closed his eyes.


    "Mhm."


    Then, he fell asleep.


    The tense situation seemed to die down rather fast, with most of the people deciding to try and get some sleep. Nicole clenched onto Kairos'' hand a little tighter.


    "I guess... everyone is struggling."


    Kairos muttered.


    "That was always the case, even before everything went to crap."


    After saying that, he decided to get some rest. Rather than tired, he was more so hungry. However, Kairos imagined that it would be really annoying to try and eat while his cheek was torn open. As such, he just hoped that it would heal by morning and that he could try again at that time.


    Nicole coughed awkwardly.


    "Um, I will take the first watch then."


    With his head down, Kairos then tried his best to fall asleep. Though it didn''te easily, it came soon enough.


    He found himself in a dream. When he first came to that realization, he couldn''t help but feel afraid. After all, his previous experiences with dreams were all fairly bad and consisted mainly of the red sun.


    Ironically enough, Kairos had been getting the best sleep in a while when the apocalypse had started.


    Nheless, as unpleasant as those dreams of the red sun were, they were also a warning. As such, Kairos snapped to attention, paying close attention to his surroundings.


    Though, his surroundings made it hard to care that much.


    He was sitting on a bench, in the middle of a city. The streets were dirty, but they were also filled with people walking to and fro. It was definitely not the apocalypse, that was for sure.


    After watching all these people walk past, Kairos gradually lost interest. He gradually discarded the possibility of this dream being a warning of some sort.


    "...Huh, is this a normal dream?"


    Kairos wasn''t familiar with this kind of dream as it was either nothing, or a painful dream. He heard somewhere that some people thought of dreams as some sort of representation of their life or concerns.


    Though he didn''t see anything like that, so he just decided toy back on the bench and rx. He figured that it might be one of the few times he could do so, even if it was actually just in a dream.


    His eyes gradually shut.


    Just a few moments after, he could hear someone sitting down on the bench next to him. Kairos slowly opened his eyes to be greeted by a blurry figure. It was a person that was a little taller than him, but had a simr hairstyle. As for the clothes, they were pure ck and slim.


    This blurry figure was quite noticeable considering that everyone else in the crowd was clearly visible.


    He was looking at Kairos and waved his hand in greeting.


    "Mhhm."


    Like his overall appearance, even his voice was extremely blurred, making it hard to make out. Kairos blinked a few times, wondering if this was to represent something to him.


    "Um, who are you?"


    The blurry figure made various gestures and let out various words that sounded like intense vibrations rather than anything coherent.


    After not getting a response, the figure seemed to realize that there was a problem in his form ofmunication. He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. After a few moments, he raised his index finger and let out a muffled gasp.


    The figure seemed toe up with an idea.


    It turned to look at Kairos and grabbed onto his chin. As the person being grabbed, Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little ufortable with how touchy that person was being. Before he could say anything else, he suddenly found himself locked in ce.


    Suddenly, the figure''s eyes lit up. They had be exceedingly clear, to the point that it was somehow more visible than everything else. They shone with a myriad of bright colors that constantly alternated and shifted. It was simr to a rainbow, but the saturation of the colors were too low for it to be considered as such.


    Nheless, they were exceedingly bright, but not in a way that would make one want to squint. Instead, they just seemed to hold a strange kind of beauty.


    It did not hold the kind of appeal that made one admire it, but rather the kind that would make one want to stare at it for a little longer, almost like they were fascinated.


    That was what happened to Kairos, but right after, a mind numbing pain traveled through his entire body. It was incredibly horrible, especially so for his eyes. The pain was far greater than the time he had those dreams of the red sun. This was also taking into consideration his increased willpower which surpressed the pain by a considerable amount.


    Kairos thought he would be able to finally escape those painful dreams, but it turned out that he still had one in the end.


    During this painful experience, he saw many things sh by one after another. They hardly even stayed for a tenth of a second, making it extremely difficult to pick up on them as well as remember what they were. But despite the torturous pain, he focused as hard as he could on them. Kairos was able to make out a few events.


    It was him in the apocalypse.


    But the key thing was that they hadn''t happened yet.


    He could just barely make out various giant monsters, and many different forms of explosions and spells colliding with one another.


    And he also saw dead people.


    In particr, the ones that were in his group such as Chase, Nicole, and even Tiana.


    By the time they all settled down, Kairos felt rather exhausted. There was a still lingering headache, and when he began to understand his situation, he realized that he was crumpled down on the floor.


    He took in a few deep breaths as the world gradually came back into focus.


    "Hey, can you hear me now?"


    There was a voice from above that was quite nonchnt.


    With one hand on the side of his head, Kairos looked up to see that the blurry figure had be quite clear. His eyes were still the same alternating colors that he had seen before and a cocky smile was on his face.


    The people that were walking on the street didn''t seem to notice Kairos'' state, walking by as though they hadn''t seen anything. Though, he wasn''t sure if they actually couldn''t see him, because he doubted anyone would actually bother sparing a nce even if they did.


    With a sigh, he got back on the bench and turned to the young man sitting next to him.


    "I can hear you now."


    The young man pped a few ties.


    "Ah! That''s great, that''s great."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It''s not the greatest for me."


    The young man had a shocked expression, though it was fairly clear to see that he was faking his shock.


    "Well whatever could you mean by that?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Making someone go through that experience isn''t exactly the most courteous thing."


    The young man held onto his chin and looked like he was pondering.


    "That''s strange, I would actually think of it as a very kind thing."


    Kairos waited in silence for a few seconds.


    "Are you really a person in my dream?"


    The young man switched back to his cocky smile faster than someone that was bipr.


    "Sort of, but not really."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Could you give any more of a vague answer?"


    The young manughed.


    "It''splicated, alright."


    Kairos sighed.


    "What the hell do you want?"


    That was when the young man awkwardly fell silent. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth, but then closed it again.


    "Haha..."

 Chapter 75 Kill You Right Here

    The young man and Kairos ended up sitting on the bench for quite a while in silence.


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "Did you really do all that just for this?"


    The young man still didn''t speak for a while.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Who are you, anyway?"


    The young man seemed morefortable with this question.


    "Haha, someone you know very well."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...Are you my father''s younger self?"


    The young man rubbed his chin as though pondering over it.


    "What makes you think that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, he has some sort of ability that seems to be rted to the past, and you also resemble him by quite a bit."


    The young manughed.


    "I must say, it is a very reasonable guess."


    Kairos'' light blue eyes flickered.


    "...So you aren''t going to tell me?"


    The young man shrugged his shoulders.


    "You will figure out soon enough."


    Kairos didn''t really like talking to this person already.


    "You are really annoying, you know that?"


    The young man burst out intoughter.


    "Yes, yes. It''s something I''ve be, you could say."


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "I don''t really like the way you smile. Is that something that has be of you as well?"


    The young man shrugged his shoulders.


    "More or less."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You know, some of the people that smile all the time arepletely oblivious to the real world."


    The young man didn''t seem offended. Rather, his tone dropped significantly.


    "And some people that smile all the time, have seen too much."


    He still held that same casual smile, but there seemed to be a dreary air that came with it. For some reason, Kairos couldn''t help but feel unsettled.


    Nheless, that strange air disappeared soon as the young man proceeded tough once more.


    "Anyways... let me answer that question you had from way back, the whole reason I''m doing this in the first ce."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    The young man paused for a few seconds.


    "I just wanted to let you know, as bad as things are, they can get worse. Far worse."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You did all that just to lecture me?"


    The young man shrugged his shoulders.


    "That wasn''t the n, but it somehow just turned out this way, so..."


    He coughed into his fist.


    "Bye."


    Without so much as another word, he got up and flicked his hand in parting. Then, the young man walked away.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...Weird."


    He was left alone on the bench, and with that, the dream began to dissolve.


    "Wake up, Kairos!"


    Two tiny hands were on his shoulders and gently jostling him back and forth. He woke up to see Nicole with slightly bloodshot eyes. She seemed to have just woken up too, having difficulty in keeping her eyelids up.


    Kairos snapped to attention.


    "What happened?"


    Nicole let out a tiny gasp.


    "Your eyes are so... bright."


    She quickly shook her head, wondering why she said that out of the blue.


    "Ah, you finally woke up! Apparently Ling ran off, and then someone went to go find him."


    Kairos was originally quite concerned but suddenly found himself not caring as much.


    "Who chased him?"


    Nicole rubbed her eyes.


    "Um, I think Chase was the first one to go, then Tai followed soon after."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Chase went?"


    Nicole nodded.


    "Y-Yeah!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue and suddenly sat up. He still had a faint headache, prompting him to grab onto the side of his head. It was the dead of night, with only an extremely faint illuminationing from the moon.


    Tori and Sydney were both standing awkwardly, seemingly concerned but not doing anything.


    As for Ling, Chase, and Tai, they were all gone.


    Kairos muttered to himself.


    "Did this guy work at a daycare center before?"


    He sighed as he got up.


    "Did you guys see where they went?"


    Tori sucked in a sharp breath and hesitatingly pointed in a direction.


    "I... think they went this way? I was still half asleep when it all happened."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Then we might as well go off that to find them."


    The nkets were scattered around messily, while most of the weapons on the rack had disappeared. However, there was still one more ive there. After a second of hesitation, Kairos ended up taking it.


    Tori seemed surprised.


    "Eh? Isn''t that theirs?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "They might die, why is your first priority to maintain the integrity of not being a thief?"


    Tori let out a soft gasp.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Oh."


    Kairos crouched down to jump off, but suddenly froze.


    It was because his future vision seemed... off.


    For whatever reason, it extended further into the future. It was only for a moment, but instead of being two seconds, it was one.


    And in those extra two seconds, he saw that several monsters would try to ambush him the moment he got down.


    After a moment of confusion, Kairos slid his sses a little down before opening up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 72/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 428 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 3.7]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 5.5


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos quickly scanned through his status panel and almost missed a very tiny minute change. His inborn ability, Shattered Truth, had changed from rank F- to F rank. He couldn''t help but recall the strange dream that he had, where that random person looked into his eyes like that.


    There seemed to be some sort of rtion there, but he couldn''t spend that long pondering over it.


    "Kairos?"


    Nicole seemed a little confused by why he just paused. Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Hold on."


    He walked to a different side of the ledge, before trying to push his future vision to go longer. Kairos could feel a noticeable strain on his mind as he tried to perform this, but it wasn''t too much for him.


    He maintained this state for a few seconds, where he could see two seconds into the future. Then, he saw himself jumping off, and right below him were a few monsters.


    From there, Kairos jumped off in reality. With the ive in one hand, he beheaded the monster below him a little awkwardly.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    From there, he swung his sharpened bone to the side. A cruel crunch resounded as he pierced straight through the skull of another one.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    The monsters had originally been extremely silent and even took advantage of the direction of moonlight to obscure their figures in the shadow. But now, they had been found out.


    It seemed that they realized this, and roared out.


    Sydney was the first to jump down, mming both her sharpened bones into the heads of the monsters. Tori and Nicole jumped off after, also dealing with the monsters. Nicole remained rather aggressive, while Tori spent a few seconds in between every attack, still having difficulty in controlling her attacks properly.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos killed a few creatures before looking down strangely.


    "Hey."


    Nicole looked over after splitting the skull of thest monster in two.


    "Ah, what is it?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "There seems to be far more monsters than usual."


    Tori looked over the ledge and let out a small gasp.


    "Ah... you''re right."


    The streets were teeming with monsters, nearly filled to the brim like a can of sardines. There had been a horde of them before, but it was nothingpared to this.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "How did they even get anywhere with so many of them?"


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Maybe they were attracted by them going onto the streets."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "...This will be a little difficult."


    Far off in the distance, was a rather bright light. Because of how dark it was, it stuck out like a sore thumb. Kairos and the others took a closer look at that bright light, to find it was the glow from Chase''s blue mana arrow as well as some strange sort of yellow energying from Tai.


    Chase''s mana arrows looked distinctly different from usual. Normally, he would create fairly thin ones, with the intention of piercing. However, this time, he was coalescing arge amount of his mana to create a giant arrow. Unlike normal, when it would take a matter of seconds to create the arrow, this time it was taking nearly a minute to form.


    He was standing at the back, hastily retreating as he pulled back the arrow.


    Ling was on Chase''s back, holding on while panicking by a considerable amount. He still had a ive on his back. And at the front, was Tai.


    He was swinging his ive likest time, but there was a far greater intensity in his strikespared to before. Along with that, his de was glowing with a bright orange, and every time he would swing, a bright energy would shoot out of it and continued to cut through more monsters behind.


    With Tai spearheading the way, they were just barely able to push forth, but several gashes had already appeared on both Chase and Tai.


    Kairos pointed his finger out towards him, letting a fireball coalesce at the end.


    For a moment, he thought about releasing it closer to them so that they could cut their way back over, but then thought about the residual mes. The fire spell was quite nice because of both the initial explosion causing damage as well as the lingering mes. However, that lingering me could easily end up damaging the people that weren''t supposed to be attacked.


    With that in mind, Kairos redirected the fireball to go towards where they were retreating.


    As the fireball continued to expand, Tai couldn''t help but freak out a little, but that didn''t stop him from slicing through the monsters in front of him. On the other hand, the corner of Chase''s lip turned up.


    Once the fireball had expanded to be a littlerger than two meters, Kairos figured that it would be enough. Although he didn''t have his full mana capacity right now, it was close enough.


    As such, he was rather liberal with his mana.


    The fireball glowed in the dark night conspicuously, almost like the sun hadn''t actually set. The visages of all the bloody monsters in the street were much more visible, with thin veins snaking across their bodies.


    Kairos could feel the heat emanating contained within the fireball, which stirred up light winds that caused his clothes to flutter.


    Then, he released it.


    With a whoosh, the fireball snaked through the air beforending roughly twenty or so meters behind Chase and the others. An explosion shook the earth and the mes brightened the ce up considerably.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 40


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Normal) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The explosion itself made Chase sweat a little, both because of how close it had gotten as well as the heat. There was also a fire that began spreading, finishing off the monsters that were only partially charred and even iming the lives of the monsters far off. Many painful roars emanated from the horde.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 10


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Normal) 0.3 points awarded]


    While Chase was still charging up his mana arrow, a ming monster rushed toward him. With a small frown Chase stuck out his foot before kicking it back into the pit of mes and letting the zombie burn alive.


    It was then he called out to Ling.


    "Hey, tell your grandfather to get ready to jump!"


    It seemed that Ling was still in a partial daze, still too shocked to respond.


    Chase frowned.


    "LING!"


    The sudden shout made him flinch.


    Chase frowned.


    "If you can''t even do this, I will personally kill you right here."

 Chapter 76 Rescue Operation

    Tai furrowed his brows with confusion. Though he understood very basic English, they were just a random assortment of words that he just so happened to learn with the help of his family.


    Unfortunately, one of those words was not jump.


    As such, he did not understand what Chase was screaming about, and needed Ling to trante. Ling himself had been shaken up considerably, feeling too afraid to say anything.


    After all, he was a child, and a very timid one at that.


    When Chase yelled at him, while it did break him out of his stupor, he was still having trouble. Frankly, Ling was just not a brave person in general.


    In the end, he still couldn''t say anything.


    Chase was panicking because the reprieve brought by Kairos'' fireball would soon disappear, meaning he couldn''t carry out the next part of his n.


    Though Tai didn''t understand exactly what was going on, he could tell that Ling was troubled. He suppressed his grunts as he cut through the monsters.


    "Ling."


    Tai spoke rather solemnly, almost like he was cutting through monsters like a farmer culling wheat.


    "I believe you always try best."


    He spoke in English, despite the fact that they were both fluent in Chinese simply because he knew Ling was more used to it.


    "I never me you."


    With broken English and in a poorly spoken ent, he spoke as best he could, trying to get the meaning out.


    Ling pressed his lips together. Though it wouldn''t be easy to understand exactly what his grandfather meant for the average person, he had gotten used to his broken grammar by now. As such, he fully understood what he was trying to say.


    Tai was basically saying that he didn''t me Ling for all the times that he had messed up.


    Although Ling had gotten quite used to being yelled at, there was still a part of him that felt insecure because of all of that yelling and berating. It made him feel quite incapable, that he should be med.


    In fact, Ling was also the reason why his parents died.


    He was too afraid to say anything when he saw the monster when he was the only one that saw it. And because of that, his parents ended up getting torn apart and eaten. Ling could only hide away and cover his ears, trying to deny the experience.


    With all those thoughts in mind, he came to realize that this was not the person he wanted to be.


    So even though it was scary, he spoke.


    Ling told his grandfather to jump.


    Tai did not understand why he was saying so, and even thought that was a terrible idea. However, he followed it without hesitation, leaping into the air and doing a backflip.


    That was when Chase whipped around, with his giant mana arrow at the ready. While his hair was still in the air from the sudden turn, he let the arrow loose.


    Grazing just under Tai''s back, the mana arrow shot through the air, creating a miniature vacuum. While traveling through the air, it began to destabilize, bing far bigger than it was originally and losing its form. It looked as though the arrow was actually made of sugar and began dissolving in water.


    But as messy as it was, it was powerful.


    It had reached over five meters in width and pulverized any of the monsters that were in its way, and even killed some of them that were just barely caught at the side.


    The mana arrow gradually lost momentum as it traveled, and by the time it got close to where Kairos and the others were, it had dissipated entirely.


    When Tainded on his feet, he quickly realized what happened. A path had been cleared for them, though it would onlyst a little while.


    Tai rushed forth, keeping an eye on the monsters nearby.


    Chase followed closely from behind and spared a nce at Ling from over his shoulder.


    "See? You can do it if you try."


    Ling was trembling slightly.


    "Y-Yeah."


    The corpses of the monsters that had been hit by the mana arrow were all torn into pieces, but those pieces were pushed towards the side and had gathered quite a bit. It wasn''t something that Chase was expecting, but it was a nice surprise as it made the monsters have difficulty getting over it.


    However, it wasn''t as though it was an actual wall, so the monsters had soon gotten past it.


    Tai swung his ive at the nearby monsters, but didn''t use the orange energy this time. He was under far less pressurepared to before. Even more so than the smaller count of monsters, the fact that his footing was clear helped far more.


    Earlier he had to step over the corpses he killed to make any progress, forcing him to split his attention lest he slipped.


    Kairos was watching all of this happen from above. Though the people below were in danger, he couldn''t help but think of all the points he had gotten. From his rough calctions, he got more than five points from just a fireball.


    While he would get double from just barely entering the top ten for some achievement and he had gotten even more from recklessly killing the monsters in the freezer, those situations were different.


    Kairos was quickly realizing that as one rose in rank, the difference in power between ranks grew immensely. Along with that, meant it would be harder to kill those that were at a higher rank.


    As a consequence, while they would need more points to max their stats, it would also be harder to get those points. This made him incredibly tempted to cast more fireball spells, but he held himself back for now.


    Kairos watched as Chase and the others ran back. A small frown formed on his face.


    "...As powerful as that mana arrow was, I don''t think that it was enough to get them all the way here."


    The monsters were closing in again, while there was still quite some distance from the building.


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "They should be able to just barely make it. They were doing fine before too, right?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "But the problem is they have no reliable way of getting up here. It will be difficult to do so while surrounded by monsters."


    He looked toward Tori.


    "It seems that we are going to need your wing spell. Quickly add as many points as you can to mana capacity."


    Tori was slightly taken aback, but acted quickly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ? She opened up her status panel before pressing on the mana capacity option rapidly.


    Soon, it reached from its original 1.0 to 4.2.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Alright, you''re going to need someone to help clear the nearby monsters so that they don''t get to you instead. I will take care of that while you focus on flying the others up."


    He then turned to Nicole and Sydney.


    "You guys stay here, if you go down there, we will have more people that need saving."


    Though Nicole seemed reluctant, she also understood that by going down there she would probably only be a burden, thus she kept her mouth shut.


    Tori looked at Kairos, then at the ground.


    "Alright, so when are we moving?"


    In response, Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Whenever I say go."


    He took off his sses and threw them to Nicole, who promptly caught them. Along with that, he set his sharpened bone down on the ground. Kairos took a deep breath, pushing his future vision to be two seconds long. The strain in his mind was immediately apparent, but that extra two seconds let him see far more.


    He jumped off and used the pulse spell in his future vision, testing out howrge of an effect various amounts of mana would have.


    Channeling for a second and a half would kill almost all of the monsters in the vicinity, and also cause a massive crater to form on the ground. However, that was also probably a waste of mana.


    He then tried it for slightly less than a second.


    This had simr results, but the ground was more or less unscathed in this scenario, but the monsters were still dead.


    Kairos then jumped off.


    "Go."


    Mana began channeling in his hand, causing a faint blue mist to appear. The monsters saw Kairos and rushed toward him, but were none the wiser to their fate.


    When he was only a meter above all of the monster''s heads, he let the pulse spell loose.


    A deafening bang ensued.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 29


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Normal) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The monsters underneath him were turned into bone fragments and a bloody paste, while thin cracks appeared on the pavement below.


    For a second, the surrounding monsters took a step back and froze, perhaps a bit shocked by the sudden death of so many. But right afterwards, they charged in recklessly once more.


    Torinded by his side at the next moment.


    Kairos pointed towards Chase and the others who were getting near.


    "You take care of the monsters towards them and pick them up when they get close. Try to save as much mana as possible."


    Tori nodded and faced in that direction.


    Kairos preemptively rushed forth. He took into consideration that his ive had a miniature spike on the other end, which meant he might identally hit Tori by ident if he didn''t make some space.


    He tried to recall how the old man used the ive, holding his hands in the same position. Though, he still felt a little out of ce because he didn''t really know how to use the ive.


    To remedy this, Kairos extended his future vision to two seconds and tried out a sh. He was able to behead two monsters, but it still felt a little clunky. Kairos stopped himself from doing so, causing his future vision to warp.


    Then, he tried something else.


    In the end, he was able to try out four different swings before needing to actually act. In those swings, Kairos found that the ive was rtively heavy, which made downward swings a little cleaner. Though he could still overpower it easily because of his points in strength.


    Kairos held the ive low, sweeping upwards in a diagonal sh before quickly following up with a diagonal downwards one.


    The sound of flesh being ripped open filled the air.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    At the same time, Tori''s katana shed.


    Over ten heads flew into the air. It seemed as though the monsters didn''t even realize that they had died once before it had already happened. Tori''s arm was trembling fiercely after that attack, but she still held onto the katana firmly.


    The monsters were pushed back, while Chase and the others had gotten closer.


    Tori was panting heavily, but forced herself to swing once more. As for Kairos, he was finding it easier to use the ive the more he did so. It quickly became apparent to him that the range it provided was very useful, especially so against these monsters.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 7


    That was when Tai had finally broke through the monsters, meeting up with Kairos and Tori.


    He was not in good condition to say the least.


    There were several w wounds across his body and even a nasty chunk bitten out of him. Chase himself wasn''t in much of a better condition. The only person rtively better was Ling, who had a few scrapes over his body.


    Kairos called out.


    "Take them, now!"


    Tori''s wings suddenly appeared out of her body. Without exining, Tori sheathed her katana and reached out to pick up Tai. While still half in a daze, the two of them shot into the air.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Now all we have to do is wait for our turn."


    Yet, as though that was a signal, a strange cry suddenly came out from the distance.

 Chapter 77 Caged

    The strange cry in the distance made Kairos unsettled, almost making him mess up swinging the ive to hold off the monsters around him.


    Though, as unsettled as he was, it was nothingpared to the presence his mother gave off, or even that strange monster with six eyes.


    Nheless, it was still something to be concerned about, especially when there were so many monsters already. Honestly, Kairos thought that this could''ve just been an opportunity to get many free points. He hypothesized that the monsters preferred toe out at night, and was even nning to take advantage of this fact on other days.


    However, it probably should''ve been a given that with so many monsters, a stronger one would lurk among them.


    It wasn''t immediately apparent as this monster didn''t seem to be muchrgerpared to the other ones. As such, they only knew the general direction.


    Nheless, Chase was already having extreme difficulty in dealing with the monsters next to him. Not only was he wounded badly, but he was even carrying Ling on his back.


    He began panting heavily while one hand was still on his stomach. Some mana coalesced around his bow, but it quickly dispersed afterwards.


    He had no mana left.


    Chase frowned as he sidestepped a monster''s w.


    "Could you help me out?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Alright, alright."


    After shing the monster in front of him, he gathered mana for a pulse spell. His free hand shot out behind him, going underneath Chase''s arm.


    An ear-piercing bang rang out.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 15


    The monsters were blown away, sted into pieces by his pulse spell. Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "Thanks."


    The strange cry from earlier resounded once more, but this time it sounded more aggressive. It seemed attracted by the pulse spell.


    A faint glimmer appeared in the sky, quickly followed by several more. Or at least, that was what Kairos saw at first. After taking another closer nce, he could see that they were actually pitch ck spikes.


    They emanated at a spot roughly fifty or so meters away, growing erratically. The spikes were almost like the branches of a tree, growing out before changing directions randomly and splitting off at random sections.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Could you hurry up, Tori?"


    "I''m trying my best here!"


    Torinded down on the ground next to them. She immediately noticed how badly Chase was hurt and ran over to pick him up. Yet, when she tried to pull him up, Tori couldn''t help but cry out in pain.


    Her wrists were too badly damaged from her reckless swinging earlier.


    She shot a nce towards Ling, who was on Chase''s back.


    "I can''t carry you both, get off!"


    Chase frowned, and forcefully pushed the hands holding onto him, making Ling fall to the ground.


    "Take the kid first!"


    Tori flinched. She looked towards the kid, who only had minor wounds on him, then at Chase who seemed to be at his dying breath.


    Then without saying another word, Tori picked Chase up by the shoulders, flying into the sky.


    Chase seemed against it, saying something, but his voice was caught by the wind.


    Kairos let out a relieved sigh and continued to cut through the monsters around him, gaining a decent amount of points. As for Ling, he took the ive off of his back, holding it in the proper position along with the right footwork.


    It was clearly something he had practiced quite a bit.


    Unfortunately, while he was proficient in using the ive, the only thing he could do was tremble while the monsters continued to close in. Kairos noticed this, and if he was willing to get hurt a little, he was fairly certain he would be able to protect the boy.


    However, he did not even try.


    A monster lunged toward Ling, about to bite down on him. Kairos fully expected to see him die. Yet, that did not happen.


    Ling suddenly snapped out of it at thest moment, swinging the ive in a smooth curve, beheading the monster in front of him. Warm blood sshed onto his face, and he seemed to be in slight shock that he had actually done that, but did not have the time to do so considering that many more monsters were approaching him.


    Despite the situation looking unfavorable, Ling was able to bring himself to swing the ive and kill the monsters around him. His strikes were neither fast, nor strong. However, he truly did have an extremely refined technique that let him get past these barriers to kill the monsters anyway.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow while watching this. He supposed that he had underestimated Ling, but still didn''t care too much for him. Not even Nicole needed so much encouragement to start attacking, thus in his eyes, Ling would have many problems in the future.


    Tori did not dy ining back down to fly another one of them back up.


    Though it put a rtively heavy burden on his mind, Kairos was still maintaining his extended future vision, letting him see two seconds ahead. And that was when he saw Tori get skewered by the strange ck branches from earlier.


    It seemed that she hadn''t seen the faint glimmer that they gave up.


    Kairos immediately called out.


    "Stay back!"


    Tori did as told, suddenly stopping her descent.


    "But why?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "There are some strange ck spikes in the air, you will get caught by them if youe closer!"


    Tori furrowed her brows, but let out a gasp soon after.


    "I see them! They... are moving around really fast though. I should be able to dodge them."


    Kairos frowned.


    "Are you sure?"


    Tori shrugged her shoulders.


    "If I don''t, then who''s gonna save you?"


    Kairos could not argue with that point, but other problems soon found him. With a clear bang, one of those ck branch-like things mmed into the ground, cracking the pavement.


    Though it seemed quite strange, because it was over three meters away from Kairos and Ling. Not to mention, it did not even hit a monster.


    However, as though to answer the confusion, several more of these ck branches rapidly mmed into the ground, all three meters away from Kairos. In just a second or so, a circle of ck branches had surrounded them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Though it was made to be like a cage, all of the ck branches were spaced out to be about half a meter away from each other. Even someone with particrly wide shoulders wouldn''t find it too difficult to squeeze past them.


    Kairos had seen this happen in his future vision, but gave up on escaping it because there were simply too many monsters in the way.


    The monsters outside of the cage seemed to want to approach Kairos, but were also too scared to enter it. As for the ones already in the cage, their movements became a little sluggish, but were otherwise unaffected.


    Kairos wasn''t exactly sure what had changed, but made swift work of the monsters around him. Ling did the same and was panting heavily by the end.


    They had finally gotten time for a breather.


    The roars of monsters wereing from all around them, yet none of them decided to take a step into the cage that had formed. Though it was technically not the worst situation in the world, Kairos felt it would still be better to break out.


    In his future vision, he channeled his pulse spell.


    However, he quickly found an extremely strong rebound force, causing his arm to explode into a mass of blood and flesh.


    Kairos immediately stopped himself from channeling the mana as he tried to shake off the prickly sensation of pain that continued to reverberate in his arm. With the feeling of needles piercing his skin, he quickly turned to Tori and called out.


    "Don''te!"


    Tori had taken a long route around to avoid the ck branches in the air. She intended to slip past the entrance of the cage to pick them up, but stopped in the air.


    "What? Why?"


    Kairos frowned deeply.


    "There is something wrong with the mana in here, if youe in, you will be hurt very badly."


    Tori blinked a few times in surprise.


    "Then what do we do about you and Ling?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I''ll just have to figure something out! You go back for now and conserve your mana. There''s no point in more of us getting trapped here."


    Tori hesitated for a second, but ended up flying back up anyways. Kairos imagined she would get an earful from Chase who suddenly took a liking to some random kid, but did not bother himself with it right now.


    After all, his situation was worse.


    Several of the monsters in one direction suddenly stiffened up awkwardly. Their limbs bent at strange angles, clearly not in the way that the body was supposed to be.


    Suddenly, their skin distorted. Then, numerous ck spikes burst out from all of their bodies, causing blood to spew out. The monsters split up into tiny pieces and fell onto the ground, leaving a ck spike structure behind that looked awfully close to a tree. The other monsters all coordinated in taking a step back, despite being such arge horde.


    The ck spikes slowly sunk into the ground, and then revealed the thing responsible.


    It was very noticeablepared to the rest of the monsters. That was because this one was not red, but mostly ck, with a few thin white veins visible. The face of the creature was a pale white, while a casual smile rested on its face. As for its eyes, they were bright green, seemingly glowing in the night. It also had short green hair that matched with its eyes.


    As for the body, the proportions made it seem as though it was tall, withnky limbs. However, it was actually quite short rtive to other monsters, not even reaching two meters in height.


    For a second Kairos thought that it might''ve been a human. However, the countless ck appendages extending out from its body made him think differently. It was far more creepy looking than any tarant could be.


    This strange creature was roughly ten or so meters away, and was slowly walking towards them.


    Ling couldn''t help but tremble like a sheep.


    As for Kairos, countless things shed through his mind. He was quite confident in his strength, even if it was far from the peak. However, that was with the consideration that he could cast spells.


    Without that, he wasn''t so sure anymore.


    Unfortunately, that was the situation he found himself in.


    After gritting his teeth painfully, he decisively opened up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 72/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 428 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 17.3]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 4.9


    Endurance - 5.5


    Agility - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    He had garnered quite a few points from killing the monsters earlier. It had been a while since he had so many.


    And then, Kairos added all of his points into physical stats while the creature was still slowly walking forth.


    [Strength: 4.9 -> 11.0 | Points: 17.3 -> 11.2]


    [Endurance: 5.5 -> 10.0 | Points: 11.2 -> 6.7]


    [Agility: 4.9 -> 11.6 | Points: 6.7-> 0]


    Despite his rushed actions, the creature did not seem all that concerned, still approaching at the same pace. On the other hand, Kairos'' body reddened significantly, to the point that he matched the same hue as the monsters.


    Sweat poured down his face messily, while his skin wrapped around his muscles tightly. Nearly all of the fat of his body disappeared, which almost made him look like a model of a human with their muscles exposed.


    However, Kairos could not sense all of this.


    Rather, the only thing he could, was an unbearable hunger.

 Chapter 78 A Garden

    Kairos did think of the fact that spending so many points would make him extremely hungry, but he figured that he could deal with thatter and fight with the creature right now. Considering that he had already been hungry because of how little he had eaten before, the effects were magnified several times over.


    Unfortunately, he had vastly underestimated the effects of using so many points and overestimated his own capability to withstand it.


    In fact, it seemed that his body was on the verge of breaking down because of excessive energy consumption, and he didn''t even have his backpack with all his food in it. Kairos began to regret his decision, but also did not think that his current stats were even enough.


    He was hoping to somehow be able to bear it, but that turned out to be too much for him.


    Kairos couldn''t even make sense of the world around him, or even his own actions. What he did not realize was that he had begun crawling on all fours, toward one of the monsters'' dead corpses.


    In his blurry state, he was vaguely aware that his mouth had been opened. Driven by his instincts, he could not stop himself from biting down.


    Since Kairos still had a hole in his cheek, blood and chewed-up flesh ended up spilling out from that side. Nheless, he was forcefully shoveling hard enough that most of the flesh and blood went down his throat instead.


    And like this, Kairos began eating the flesh of the monsters like an animal. He ripped and tore through it with his teeth and hardly bothered to chew before swallowing. The monster''s flesh was quickly disappearing, and it did not take long for him to reach the bone of the arm and the rib cage too.


    There was still a bit left to eat from that monster, but Kairos had no need to be picky. There were several corpses stacked up here, thus he took giant bites out of all these fresh corpses. He was being even more wasteful than actual monsters themselves.


    If someone ate chicken wings like this and posted a photo of the aftermath on the inte, they would be heavily condemned.


    It did not take long for Kairos to get through nearly all of the corpses below him. And by the end, he was a bloody mess. It was even difficult for him to open his eyes, while the feeling of his clothes sticking to him felt quite ufortable.


    However, by the end of it all, he seemed to recover some semnce of sanity.


    Kairos gradually took in the situation around him.


    Ling pressed himself up against the very edge of the miniature cage they were stuck in. It seemed that he had tried to slip through the gaps, but was unable to for whatever reason. As for the creature that created the cage in the first ce, it was just a few steps away now.


    Kairos'' status panel was still open next to him through the entire thing.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 467/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 33 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 0]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 11.0


    Endurance - 10.0


    Agility - 11.6


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Along with his now increased stats, despite being in a muddled state, something else stuck out to him like a sore thumb.


    [Rank: 467/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    He remembered that it was not too long ago that he didn''t even have a hundred evolution energy, yet here he was with nearly five hundred, just about ready for the energy he needed to rank up.


    If Kairos wasn''t careful with how he managed his evolution energy in the future, then he may find himself exceeding his cap without having the points he needed to properly evolve.


    Though, that was a problem for the future. As of right now, he had to somehow deal with thenky creature in front of him.


    For whatever reason, the creature did not act right away. Instead, it simply observed Kairos with its bright green eyes that were dazzling like emeralds.


    Kairos tried to extend his future vision, but the pain in his mind was far too sharp, making him lose focus, making it not worth the effort. He had already abused it too much, making the mental burden too much for him to bear, especially because he did not have his sses on.


    Nheless, a second was still nothing to scoff at, though it still hurt his mind. The newly added stats made Kairos feel like an entirely new person, like his strength could allow him to easily overpower many new things.


    But he was also pretty sure that was a delusion caused by his sudden increase in status points.


    While the creature was still staring at him, Kairos decided to try and forcefully break through the cage in his future vision.


    After pulling back the ive that now felt like a feather, he whipped it forth.


    Then it snapped.


    Kairos hurriedly stopped himself from swinging the ive in reality, quickly realizing that while the ive was well made, it was still a normal weapon. It wasn''t made to withstand so much strain.


    Thenky creature slowly tilted its head to the side as it observed them. Its pale white face almost looked like it was lighting up in the dark.


    Kairos decided to try something else, balling his hand into a fist. He bent down on one of his knees to prepare for his next strike. Then, in his future vision, he bolted forth before mming his fist against the ck branch.


    The immediate sensation was like hitting steel. The ck branch had cracked, but Kairos felt like something cracked in his own arm as well.


    He quickly stopped himself from doing so in reality, then began sweating.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It seemed that he should''ve put more points into strength in order to break down the branches, but it was toote for regrets now.


    Kairos then tried to rush through the gap between the ck branches, mostly to see what would happen if he did.


    There wasn''t anything that repelled him directly, but he could feel his body being sapped of the mana inside. He didn''t think anything of it at first, but he could feel that he was losing something else along with that mana.


    As such, Kairos once again stopped himself from performing such an action in reality.


    In the end, he decided his only chance was to forcefully break the ck branches, though it would probably set the creature off. With that in mind, he pushed off the ground before mming his fist against the branch opposite to the creature.


    A dull bang rang out along with a soft crack.


    Kairos could feel that his fist was trembling ever so slightly while a strong pain snaked through the bones in his hand. The ck branch gave in ever so slightly, but it was not enough to break it.


    And as for the creature, the casual smile on its face quickly turned into a frown.


    It let out an ear-piercing strange cry. The pavement below Kairos began cracking, spreading out very quickly.


    Seeing this, Kairos ignored the pain and punched the ck branch once more.


    This time, it shatteredpletely. The skin on Kairos'' knuckle had peeled back, revealing his flesh, but he could care less about that right now. In his future vision, he saw that the ground below him caved in, bing a giant sinkhole.


    Seeing this, he did not hesitate in leaving through the hole he had made before jumping up into the air.


    Right as he did so, the sinkhole formed, and Ling ended up falling down it helplessly.


    Kairos focused on getting as much horizontal distance as possible to get out of the range of the sinkhole, but as he was flying through the air, he suddenly stopped in ce while a strong pain filled his chest.


    The ck branches snaked through the air and pierced through him.


    Kairos saw it happen, but there was essentially nothing he could do because he was mid-air. The mana in his body began seeping into that ck spike, and it felt as though his vitality was being sapped away as well. He couldn''t help but feel a sense of despair from his situation. He could vaguely hear some concerned criesing from the building above.


    In fact, Tori even ended up flying down to try and save him.


    But it was too little toote.


    The ck spikes dragged him down the sinkhole, plunging him into darkness.


    Kairos attempted to struggle the entire time, but it seemed like the ck branch that pierced through him doubled as a form of restraint, locking up the functions of his body.


    He even decided to try and channel his mana to form a spell, but he saw that in his future vision that his body would only implode if he attempted that.


    In the end, Kairos could only be taken away.


    He could tell that he was moving very quickly, and it wasn''t just in the downward direction. It seemed that the creature was taking him away somewhere, but as for where that was, he did not know.


    Quite a bit of time passed by.


    Though Kairos couldn''t tell how much it was, at the very least a few hours had passed. The entire time, he was skewed to the ck branch. Thankfully, it didn''t seem to be draining his mana during the travels.


    But then, it stopped moving.


    And with that, Kairos felt his mana and vitality slowly begin to drain. Naturally, he didn''t want to just sit there and take it, but no matter how hard he struggled, his limbs just wouldn''t move faster than a sloth.


    It had been a while since Kairos had felt this powerless.


    He was beginning to give up hope.


    But just as that sentiment arose, he could feel someone grab his hand. It was a tiny hand, but one that held conviction as it yanked on him.


    Kairos burst out of the ground and was greeted with the face of Ling, who had one eye closed. The eye that Ling had open was the one with partial heterochromia, half light blue, half hazelnut. Upon pulling Kairos out, his other eye fluttered open.


    He still looked nervous, but seemed a bit relieved upon seeing a familiar face.


    Kairos immediately felt control over his own bodying back to him. The ive that he had on him from earlier was lodged into his leg, causing quite the messy wound. He hadn''t actually realized he had been pierced until seeing it for himself.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Thanks."


    Ling did not respond. Instead, he looked in a certain direction with fear.


    Kairos followed his gaze to see the creature from earlier, but it was not facing him as of now. It seemed to be tending to something, but as for what, that was not clear.


    Kairos decided to take this time to take in his surroundings.


    They seemed to be on some sort of field, covered with grass. All around them were these ck treesing up and out of the ground. They looked quite unsettling as each of them vaguely had the pattern of a distorted face on their bark.


    As for the leaves that came out of these trees, they were very thin, like hair, and were also red in color.


    Kairos'' gaze shifted up, and that let him see a person.


    It was a young man skewered by the ck branches, like Kairos was. His eyes were wide open, while a thin line of blood was overflowing from his mouth.


    It was hard to tell, but the man was still alive.


    After a few moments, the creature let out a strange cry, and the body slowly descended from the air before being buried into the ground underneath a sapling.


    Then, it began to grow as a face formed on the bark and red leaves appeared as well.

 Chapter 79 Half Blind

    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he watched the young man essentially turn into a tree.


    It seemed like that would''ve happened to him if Ling didn''t pull him out.


    As for thenky creature, it was still working away doing random things such as stroking the red leaves of the tree or patting the soil. It would be very fitting if the creature began casually humming.


    For whatever reason, the creature didn''t seem to notice them even though they weren''t the quietest or sneaky about things.


    Kairos frowned and looked down at his leg. The handle of the ive he took earlier wasfortably sitting in his leg. With a frown, he began pulling it out. Though he imagined this would exacerbate the healing, he would rather have a weapon right now.


    The stress in his mind was still pretty bad. On top of that, most of his mana had disappeared, not solely from casting the spells, but because those ck branches had drained it out of him.


    Kairos definitely had the option to extend his future vision to two seconds and considering it was a dangerous situation, there was also reason to do so. However, he did not have his sses with him. They were with Nicole.


    As such, he could quickly find himself needing to close his eyes just so that he wouldn''t ckout from the stress if he abused it.


    Kairos took in a deep breath as he took the ive out of his leg, feeling it grind past his leg bone. As expected, the bleeding got much worse, but that was not enough to stop him. Eventually, he was able to pull the entire thing out, and his blood began seeping into the ground.


    Ling looked surprised at his actions, but did not say anything, opting to stand still.


    Kairos took a deep breath and pulled the ive back.


    In his future vision, the creature didn''t notice anything at first, but as Kairos'' blood continued to seep into the ground, it suddenly froze in ce awkwardly.


    From what Kairos could tell, there was no time, thus he acted.


    In his future vision, he threw the ive, causing it to shoot with frightening velocity. Unfortunately, numerous thin ck branches shot out of the ground, creating a that blocked it. There was a tiny gap, but the de was toorge, causing it to bounce off.


    Kairos immediately stopped himself from throwing the ive in reality, while the creature slowly turned around. There was a confused look that shone through its bright green eyes.


    Though it quickly turned into a deep frown.


    Adrenaline shot through Kairos'' worn down body, allowing him to move quicker. Without hesitation, he broke the ive on his knee in half, doing so without much difficulty because of his strength.


    Ling looked rather distraught, but he couldn''t care less right now.


    Then, he took the half of the ive that only had a tiny sharp end before throwing it with all his strength. That broken half of the ive whipped through the air like a bullet, tearing through the air.


    Numerous ck branches shot out through the ground, while the creature itself tried to move out of the way. However, despite being in a life-threatening situation, the creature moved incredibly slowly, essentially making no distance in the time that the broken ive took to travel.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that it pinged off one of the branches, thus he quickly stopped himself from throwing it in reality. Then, with the memory of where the branches were, he tried once more.


    The same events urred, but this time the ive slipped through a tiny hole before piercing straight through the creature''s head.


    Green blood spilled out of its head as it snapped backwards. The mini spear had pierced through rather easily, while the shaft ended up stuck halfway through.


    For a few moments, Kairos panicked as he did not see the notification that told him he had killed the creature.


    However, it seemed that the damage done was quite significant.


    Because its head had snapped backwards, it ended up looking into the sky, almost like someone that was asking god for the meaning of their life.


    Green blood continued to drip down its face before it eventually began tilting as though it was blown down by some sort of light wind. With a light thump, itnded on the ground.


    Ling stammered.


    "I-Is it dead?"


    ? Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You''re going to jinx it, you know?"


    But as though wanting to contradict him, a system message popped up.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    It seemed that while this particr creature was incredibly strong, it also had ring weaknesses, such as itscking mobility and incredibly weak body.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, I guess we survived without too much difficulty."


    Yet, right after he said that, his face twitched awkwardly.


    Kairos instinctively moved to the side, pushing hard on the leg that was gushing out blood. Right when he did so, a ck branch shot out of the ground and towards the spot he just was.


    He furrowed his brows intensely both from the pain from his leg as well as the confusion on how they were still moving.


    That was when numerous ear-piercing screeches began ringing out one after another. The faces on the ck trees began twisting as though they were real faces twisted in agony.


    Kairos couldn''t help but mutter to himself.


    "It seems I jinxed it."


    Countless ck branches burst out of the ground, but thankfully they weren''t necessarily targeted at him. In fact, Ling froze in ce and just so happened not to get hit by any of them.


    Kairos grit his teeth as he threw his body to the side, evading another ck branch.


    The ck branches thrashed around, smashing uprge amounts of soil and also hitting other ck trees. One thing Kairos noticed was that some of them seemed to be peeling away at their own bark, as though wanting to kill themselves.


    While Ling didn''t have much trouble coincidentally evading the ck branches, Kairos was constantly on his toes, forced to move around like he was stepping on hot coals.


    Though it really did feel like he was stepping on hot coals because of how much pain his leg was experiencing in the process. Kairos was confident that he could endure it, but the fact that his body was taking damage by this process was inevitable.


    He had tried to swing the other half of the broken ive to break some of these ck branches, but found that while he would be able to break through the branch, the part connecting the de would be heavily damaged, cracking in the process.


    He figured that it would just barely be able to destroy two branches before bing useless, and thus didn''t want to recklessly do so.


    Though, it would be wrong to say that he had the luxury to wait around still.


    Kairos slowly made his way toward one of the trees, dashing from side to side to avoid the branches shooting out of the air. Then, he swung the ive horizontally, trying to cut it down.


    A dull thump resounded.


    The ive ripped through the tree messily, but was just barely able to get through most of it, while the remaining part ended up falling on its own.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The trunk of the ck tree wasn''t nearly as hard as the roots, but because of the overall thickness, it still put heavy pressure on the part connecting the ive and handle, causing a few cracks to form.


    The tree had been cut down.


    But unfortunately, the tree itself was still shrieking, while the ck branches continued to move around with the same vigor it had before.


    While Kairos was cursing internally, he caught Ling trying to say something from the corner of his eye. His head snapped to the side to look, and Ling was indeed mouthing something.


    However, the loud shrieking drowned out any sound he madepletely.


    Kairos frowned before yelling.


    "If you have something to say, speak louder! I can''t hear you!"


    He then whipped his head back, dodging a branch that shot down from the sky.


    As for Ling, he did try to speak up, but it made no real difference.


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "For fuck''s sake, can you at least try to be louder?"


    It was then Ling finally spoke up loudly enough for Kairos to just barely hear. In fact, he had missed most of it the first time, but because of his future vision, he was able to hear it twice and just barely piece together the message.


    ''I think you have to hit them higher.''


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he twisted his leg to avoid another ck branch.


    "Where exactly? And speak louder if you even slightly care about us making out of this alive."


    Ling hesitated for a second, but thankfully spoke loudly enough.


    "A little bit above their faces! There''s a thing there!"


    Kairos'' gaze snapped to the tree he had just cut. The branches at the top continued to thrash around while the thin red leaves that made it up trembled almost like it was shivering from the cold.


    As for the face, it was just above the ce where he had cut.


    Kairos decided to follow Ling''s advice, putting all his strength into the ive and cutting just above the face.


    The result was a bright blue explosion once the ive got halfway through. The tree had exploded, scattering ck bark everywhere. Kairos was able to block most of it, while Ling had gotten cut up a bit.


    As for the branches at the top of the tree, they stopped moving entirely. On top of that, several branches that had shot out of the ground suddenly fell limp.


    The pressure Kairos faced fell significantly as the number of attacks in this area decreased greatly with the death of the tree. Unfortunately, the ive ended up breaking in the process of cutting that one down. Not only did the de snap off the hilt, but it even cracked itself.


    Kairos walked over to Ling.


    "Where is your weapon?"


    With a small pout, Ling lowered his head.


    "I don''t know."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Where did it go?"


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "When I fell down that giant hole that formed earlier, I saw these bright lightsing for me and swung my ive at it, but then they wrapped around the handle and dragged me away. I held on for super long and let go once we came above ground, but the ive was buried somewhere underneath.


    Kairos blinked a few times, shifting his gaze towards Ling''s hands. They were severely reddened and even bloodied from the torn skin. In fact, there were even red marks on his arms.


    It was clear that he held on desperately.


    One small thing that Kairos had picked up on earlier was what Ling had said about bright lights. Though it didn''t seem particrly important, he found that it was strange. After all, there shouldn''t have been any lights from what he could remember.


    "What do you mean by lights?"


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "Um... the bright blue stuff around us."


    Kairos looked around, and did not see what he was mentioning.


    "I don''t see that."


    Ling seemed slightly surprised.


    "Eh? Really?"


    Kairos rubbed his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    "Yes, why would I be lying to you in this kind of situation?"


    Ling furrowed his brows.


    "...Oh. I think..."


    He tapped the side of his head a few times.


    "One of my eyes can''t actually see."


    He pointed towards the eye with partial heterochromia, the one that was half blue and half brown.


    "But even if I close the other eye, I can see these blue flowy things in the air."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...You can see mana."

 Chapter 80 Green Orb

    Kairos furrowed his brows, thinking about the implications of a person being able to see mana. Ling didn''t seem to understand what he was talking about at first, but as he began pondering it, his eyes lit up in realization.


    "Oh... that makes so much sense then. That''s why nobody ever saw those bright lights like me."


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little baffled, as it sounded like this was an ability Ling was born with, yet he couldn''t even tell that he had it after so long.


    Nheless, he wasn''t going to spend this time questioning the kid''s intelligence.


    "...What kinds of blue lights do you see?"


    Ling looked around the ce.


    "There is like, a ball just above their faces, which then goes into a lot of tiny little strings that go up and down."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "How big is the ball? Show me with your hands."


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "Uh..."


    He held his two hands apart to be roughly ten or so centimeters apart. Kairos couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow, thinking that they were quite tiny for the size of an explosion that happened earlier.


    Then, Kairos looked out towards the other trees that were still relentlessly destroying everything around them. Though now that he had some time to look around, there was one tree that had remained still. It was the one that had just grown, the one that Kairos and Ling watched grow from a person.


    He walked over to it.


    The face seemed to be in agony, but more than that, it showed confusion. Kairos wanted to test something on this tree, but he still needed some sort of weapon to do so. He considered his options, but there really weren''t many at all.


    However, he did think of one.


    Kairos pulled out the red prism from his pocket. Thankfully, it hadn''t fallen out yet.


    He saw its status panel appear.


    [Status]


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 1/1000]


    His face twitched when he saw the incredibly low energy value. He remembered when hest used it to clear out a space, it had run out of energy entirely. The fact that it was one right now thankfully meant that it could recover on its own, but it seemed that the rate was unbearably slow.


    Kairos sighed, but was thankful that it even had energy in the first ce. From there, he began growing a thin pole out of the ground with sharp ends on both sides.


    Ling seemed rather fascinated, but also creeped out.


    That was probably in consideration with the red veins bulging around it.


    Kairos focused on creating a suitable length while maintaining sharp ends. He also wanted to make it thicker, but found he could only just barely do so before running out of energy.


    In the end, he made a rod that was very thin and had two sharp ends, one of which was lodged into the ground. It was essentially a miniature spear.


    Kairos wrapped one hand around the hilt, and immediately felt ufortable. This was in part because of how thin it was, but also because of the bulging red veins that appeared on it.


    He then casually attempted to pull it out, but to his surprise, it remained in ce even though he tugged on it with a decent amount of strength.


    Kairos furrowed his brows before clenching a little more tightly, causing his knuckles to whiten. With a muffled grunt, he pulled hard onto it.


    His hand began trembling, while his feet actually began sinking into the ground. Though it was dirt underneath him, it was tightly packed. In fact, the ck roots of the trees underneath actually made it even more solid, despite all of their thrashing around.


    Yet, the spear did not even budge.


    Kairos clicked his tongue before wrapping both arms around the spear and taking on a proper stance to pull it out. Even when using everything he had, the spear was unbelievably difficult to pull out.


    However, he could just barely feel some give.


    Kairos wasn''t sure if it was his imagination, but considering he felt that tiny bit of movement twice, he was fairly sure that it was working.


    And so, he continued to pull with more enthusiasm.


    By now, both of his feet were submerged in the ground. On the other hand, several cracks had formed in the earth around the spear. These cracks originated from the spear''s location and snaked outwards.


    It was then that the very earth itself was pulled up.


    And finally, when Kairos nearly found himself knee-deep in the earth, the spear hade out. He was panting heavily by the end and took some time to inspect his newfound weapon.


    "...I never knew the Excalibur was a spear."


    Ling let out a surprised gasp.


    "Eh? It is? But it looks a lot like a sword."


    Kairos looked at him strangely before ignoring him. It seemed like the spear was somehow attached to most of the ground beneath it, despite being so thin.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how difficult it would be to uproot arge tform created by this red prism if it was so hard to do so for such a tiny spear. Though it was definitely inconvenient for him in this situation, he couldn''t help but feel assured that a base created with this red prism in the future would be very strong.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh as he tested swinging the spear around. It made very clear whipping sounds as it traveled through the air. Though it was very thin, it still had some weight to it. Not an exaggerated amount, but definitely more than one would expect from its size.


    Kairos then looked at the ck tree in front of him that still seemed confused.


    "Sorry about this, but it would probably be better for you anyway."


    He looked at Ling.


    "Can you put your hands on the tree to show me the size of the blue light you see?"


    Though confused, Lingpiled, putting his hands roughly ten centimeters away on top of the tree''s face.


    Kairos then rested the side of his spear at the top of where Ling indicated it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Alright, step back."


    Ling hurriedly stepped back, watching on in curiosity.


    Kairos gradually pulled back the spear, but made sure to keep it at the same elevation. Then, the spear whipped through the air.


    An ufortably loud snap filled the air from the sound of a sonic boom.


    The spear ripped straight through the tree, appearing on the other side rather easily. The severed half of the trunk did not immediately fall down. Instead, it abruptly shifted to the side while still on top.


    Then, it gradually began tilting from the force of gravity before smashing onto the ground.


    The face on the trunk of the tree didn''t seem to realize what just happened, but still seemed rather aghast, like it could somehow sense that something bad had happened to it.


    Kairos nodded to himself as he looked at the spear. The red veins had been damaged, but they were already regenerating and had recoveredpletely by the next second.


    Because of how thin yet durable the spear was, it could also double as a sword.


    After that, he climbed on top of the newly formed stump and took a look at the thing in the center.


    There was a bit of light green faintly glowing in the center.


    Kairos gently pried around it with his spear, pushing away the bark to reveal more of it. What he discovered was that the tree had a small green ball inside of it. After a few more moments of observing it, he forcefully dug through it.


    Kairos was definitely not showing the proper care considering that this thing exploded on himst time, digging away without much concern.


    This was because of his future vision.


    However, to Ling, it seemed as though Kairos waspletely unafraid. At first, Ling thought he was being a fool, but seeing as nothing happened, his opinion shifted to Kairos being an expert.


    It really wasn''t that though.


    Kairos had identally damaged the green orb earlier and quickly stopped himself, but realized that damaging the green orb wouldn''t cause it to explode while exposed to air. Instead, a cyan liquid would rush out very quickly but was otherwise harmless.


    Once most of the green orb had been exposed, Kairos grabbed onto the orb and began to pull.


    The tree below him suddenly started screaming in agony. The branches that had been unresponsive all this time suddenly started to thrash around, though their coordination was quite off, sometimes jittering around in ce, and other times awkwardly bending in random directions.


    Kairos obviously knew that the tree was in pain, but that didn''t seem to concern him. In reality, he saw this as mercy. While the tree seemed to be calmer than the rest, it would probably end up freaking out like the rest once it realized it had be a tree.


    With those thoughts in mind, he pulled out the green orb.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    The tree suddenly stopped moving, and the ck branches fell limp.


    Ling shivered and shifted his gaze away slightly so that he wasn''t directly looking at Kairos, but enough so that he could still see.


    As for Kairos, he took a closer look at the green orb in his hand.


    He didn''t actually have the slightest clue what it was, but the reason he went through all this effort to extract it was because of the potential offensive nature. After all, the explosion from earlier was enough to shatter the de of the ive.


    Unfortunately, it seemed that the explosion was mostly caused by built-up pressure, so they wouldn''t really be able to work as bombs by themselves.


    However, Kairos wasn''t willing to give up on it yet, as shown by him holding it in his hand.


    When he had punctured it identally earlier in his future vision, he couldn''t help but think about drinking whatever liquid it was. Though that kind of mentality was rather suicidal, Kairos had his ways around it.


    Despite the massive mental strain, he extended his future vision to two seconds. He nearly nked out, but was able to hold on.


    Without dy, Kairos shed open the orb and tried to drink the liquid within.


    He did not even try to do it slowly, as that would be counterintuitive.


    An overly sweet taste filled his mouth.


    Though Kairos wasn''t one to deny a sugary treat, the sweetness of this liquid was far too overbearing, to the point that it made him want to vomit. However, he held on.


    A second passed as the liquid continued to make its way down his throat.


    A warm sensation had spread through his body. Although it could be consideredforting, Kairos couldn''t help but feel slightly unsettled.


    But within this myriad of feelings, he could also feel the pain in his leg numb significantly. Even his mind felt a little clearer.


    Before another second passed, Kairos quickly stopped himself.


    The spear in his hand shot towards the green orb, before abruptly freezing.


    Kairos took a second to deliberate over the risks.


    His head was hurting really badly, impairing his judgment, but he tried his best to push through it.


    From what he could tell, the liquid from the green orb didn''t seem to have any immediate harmful effects, other than being too sweet. Though, there could be ones that only came afterwards.


    Kairos massaged his temple using the tip of his finger with clear frustration.


    The stress was making it hard to think.


    His mind couldn''t help but wander to the refreshing feeling he felt, though it was only for a split second.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    He decided he was going to drink it.


    His justification was that his current injuries would make it hard to survive anyway, so he might as well take this gamble.


    And so, Kairos punctured the green orb.

 Chapter 81 Harvest

    Unlike thest time, Kairos decided to take it slow, only cutting out a tiny incision before beginning to drink. From the tiny incision, liquid rushed out as though there was a leak in a major pipe.


    The amount that came out was far less than when he experimented with his future vision. However, that overbearingly sweet taste remained the same. Though it wasn''t nearly as bad as the first time he tried it, it had this same ufortable quality despite being in low doses.


    The liquid almost felt like water, having little to no viscosity, letting it slip down rather easily.


    Kairos was a little nervous when doing this, but there didn''t seem to be any harmful effects yet. He thought about stopping at this point, but because the green orb would continue spewing out green liquid, he didn''t really want to. It was probably somehow tied into his mentality of not wanting to waste food.


    Kairos slowly but steadily drank more and more of it.


    He found that despite entering his stomach, he wasn''t feeling any more sated. It was almost as though it disappeared entirely by the time it had gotten there.


    Another thing he noticed was that his leg began to feel a little numb, and so did the wound on his cheek. Though he couldn''t directly see what his cheek looked like, he could do so for his leg.


    As such, he observed it closely.


    It did not take him long to notice what was happening. The bleeding in his leg was slowing to a stop, while the flesh on the wound was reddening slightly, and gradually closing up.


    By the time he had finished drinking most of the liquid, the wound on his leg had sealed up, as was the one on his cheek. There were still nasty red scars left over, but at this rate, they would disappear immediately.


    Another effect Kairos realized was that the strain in his mind was disappearing quickly. It was quite a refreshing feeling and one that he was not used to. He could definitely see that this could be addicting, as normally his mind was always a little stressed out from seeing things twice.


    The only slight reprieve was when he went to sleep, but then he would have dreams to follow up right after.


    And those weren''t pleasant most of the time.


    However, all of those things weren''t the ones he cared most about.


    Rather, he could tell that his mana was being refilled, and not to a small amount. Despite having next to no mana earlier, he was now nearly half full.


    Eventually, Kairos finished all of it. The green orb had retained its general shape as a sphere, but had also shrunk considerably. Now it looked quite simr to a marble. Though it didn''t look that useful, he decided to tuck it in his pocket.


    Kairos looked down at where his leg wound used to be and saw that it had healedpletely. He rubbed his chin.


    "...Even if there are some unknown side effects, these are probably far too useful to just give up on."


    Though they didn''t turn out to be good explosives, this was actually better. Even if the only property was restoring mana, spells were far more effective than explosives anyway.


    Kairos'' gaze shifted towards the other tree monsters that were thrashing their ck branches around violently.


    "I will end your suffering, do not worry."


    Though there were definitely some ulterior motives, he was going to help others out, so there was no reason to feel bad.


    At least, that''s what he told himself.


    And so, Kairos picked up the spear before running over towards one of the trees. Unlike before, when he felt incredibly muddled, now he felt like he was truly alive.


    A ck branch burst out of the ground, but he sidestepped before it couldnd on him. Then, a couple more shot down from the sky, but only mmed into the dirt next to him as he twisted to the side.


    ck branches continued to shoot out of the ground,e down from the sky, and also sweep towards him. Yet, he dodged all of them and didn''t even have to rely on his future vision.


    For the first time, he took in the effects of having high physical stat points and truly soaked it in. Before Kairos knew it, he was already next to one of the ck trees. Without hesitation, his spear did a swift horizontal sweep.


    A soft thunk rang out, and Kairos'' spear had traveled straight through the tree.


    Yet, it didn''t seem as though the tree had been cut.


    Nheless, Kairos pushed on the top of the trunk and caused it to slide over and expose another green orb. The tree seemed to notice what he was doing as it cried out in intense agony. Numerous ck branches shot toward Kairos, very clearly targeted.


    Unfortunately for the tree, Kairos fearlessly mmed his spear into the side of the green orb before tilting like a lever, causing it to pop out. He caught it with one hand.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    All of the ck branches shooting towards him suddenly fell limp.


    Only pausing to tuck the green orb away, Kairos continued towards other trees. It was rather simple for him to go through each and every one of them.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    With every kill, the pressure he faced only decreased even further. The ck trees could only watch in horror as all of their efforts to prevent their death werepletely futile.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    It soon became a little difficult for Kairos to hold onto all of the green orbs. He decided to pause his deforestation ns for a second and got next to Ling, who was sitting on the ground and keeping his head down.


    Kairos tossed the green orbs next to his feet.


    "Hold on to these for now."


    Ling looked up nervously.


    "Um, alright."


    He picked a few of them up, but quickly found himself unable to hold them.


    Kairos did not bother with it any longer and began to get rid of the rest of the trees still standing in the area. On the other hand, the ck trees could do nothing but watch as they were helplessly ughtered. While their roots were mobile, it seemed as though they couldn''t just uproot themselves and begin walking.


    Such was the sad fate of a nt, unable to run from its predators.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 8


    Kairos suddenly found the ce to be rather quiet, All of the thrashing had stopped, while stumps with their trunks next to them littered the ce. Along with that, many limp ck branches were scattered all over.


    In all honesty, he found that there were fewer trees than he had originally thought there were. Though, now that he took a look at everything around him, it might''ve just been that he had killed them all too quickly.


    He walked back over to Ling, carrying the green orbs.


    As for Ling, he huddled with the green orbs almost like he was a hen with a bunch of eggs.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "We don''t have our backpacks with us right now. Do you see anything to make a makeshift bag out of?"


    Ling looked around and scratched the back of his head.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Uh, no."


    Kairos dropped the green orbs to the ground.


    "Hm... I''m going to try and make one."


    He looked around the ce and considered his options. His first instinct was to use his clothes, but he didn''t really want to strip. There were also Ling''s clothes, but he also really didn''t want to look at a shirtless Ling.


    Kairos definitely wasn''t going to give up on the green orbs, so the only option left was to try and make something.


    He picked up one of the ck branches but found that they withered and broke apart as he did so. Despite being so tough earlier, now they were essentially a pile of ash.


    Kairos clicked his tongue and moved on.


    As he walked through the remains, he realized that the thin red leaves of the trees began dissipating, turning into a dark red liquid. As a smell permeated the air, he was able to figure out that the liquid was blood.


    It was a scent Kairos was awfully familiar with.


    Eventually, he came across a table.


    Kairos didn''t really know how he didn''t see it earlier. Perhaps he had been too caught up in the moment.


    Regardless, there was a ratherrge satchel of something on the table, with a piece of twine wrapped around the opening.


    Kairos blinked.


    "That''s convenient."


    After a second of thought, Kairos unwrapped it.


    Skulls spilled out onto the table. They were all filled with dirt, while the nose and eye holes were covered with what looked like a ck blindfold, but seemed a little too smooth to be fabric.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "...Huh."


    While he was wondering what these were for, Kairos  had noticed that a tiny sapling came out from one of the skulls. And when he looked closer at the others, he found that they also had saplings within them.


    Kairos decided to not think about it any longer, letting the contents spill out on the table while he took the satchel. The skulls rolled onto the table while the dirt inside spilled out. However, the saplings remained inside.


    Kairos hesitated, wondering if he should get rid of these saplings. But at the same time, he didn''t care that much. And so, he left.


    Once he got back to Ling, he stuffed all the green orbs into the satchel. As he was doing so, he posed a question.


    "Hey, do you see any other bright blue lights?"


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "Um, there''s a lot in the air, but most of it ising from those green things."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Other than these green orbs, what other high concentration of mana do you see?"


    Ling surveyed the area before pointing to a ce next to him.


    "Um, right over there is quite a bit, but it is a bit scattered."


    Kairos wrapped the twine around the satchel that now had fifteen green orbs inside. As he picked it up, Ling reached out with his hand.


    Kairos looked at him with a bit of confusion.


    "What is it?"


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "Do you not want me to hold it?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Uh, I can hold on to it fine."


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "Ah, ok."


    Kairos shook his head before walking over to where Ling had pointed.


    After walking over dead branches, he found himself standing over the corpse of the strange creature from earlier. Its bright green eyes and pale face remained, while itsnky ck body seemed to be one with all the dead branches on the ground.


    Kairos pointed towards it.


    "Is the bright light right here?"


    Ling nodded.


    "Um, yeah."


    Kairos looked down at the corpse and hesitated. He felt it would feel pretty disgusting to try and pry away at the corpse below him. Yet, at the same time, he didn''t care enough to hold back.


    Using his spear, he pushed away at the ck branches connected to thenky ck body. With soft cracking sounds, they were disconnected from its body. Then, he peeled away at the skin.


    But to his surprise, there was nothing there.


    It was a hollow shell.


    Kairos furrowed his brows before moving on to the creature''s head, prying away that as well. Green liquid sshed out from here, and once it cleared, it revealed a tiny green orb. It looked exactly like the one Kairos had used up.


    He sighed.


    "Well, whatever."


    Kairos shifted his gaze away, but as he did, he saw a paper buried underneath the ck branches.

 Chapter 82 A Gift

    "What is this?"


    Kairos pushed away the ck branches with his spear so that he could get to the paper buried underneath. After picking it up, he shook the dirt that covered it to reveal its contents.


    ''Commands


    1 - Collect living creatures with medium or above mana amounts and transform them into living oaks.


    2 - Tend to any existing living oaks and nurture them.


    3 - Await my arrival''


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    Ling also took a peek at the paper.


    "What..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "It looks like these are orders for this weird nt thing."


    He furrowed his brows.


    "In other words, there is someone controlling these things somehow."


    Ling let out a small gasp.


    "They can... control them?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "It basically means that this person is probably much stronger than these creatures and we are now sitting in his trashed-up garden."


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "Will the person forgive us?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Would you forgive someone that destroyed your garden that you spent lots of time on?"


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "Well... I wouldn''t feel that good about the person."


    He seemed a little scared.


    "Does that mean we have to fix this ce before the persones back?"


    Kairos frowned.


    "It means we have to get the hell out of here before that person finds out."


    Ling looked rather awkward.


    "Ah, right!"


    Kairos looked around the ce.


    Past all the trees that he had destroyed earlier, there were actually just more trees. Except those were actually normal, unlike the moving trees, or as the person who created them put it, ''living oaks''.


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Looks like we are just going to have to pick a direction."


    Ling looked around.


    "Where do we go then?"


    Kairos put a finger on his chin.


    "You pick a direction."


    Ling seemed surprised.


    "Eh? Why me?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You have far better luck than me. Don''t you remember how I had to dodge all of those branches and roots while you just stood still?"


    Ling pouted.


    "...But I think you are luckier because you can do so many things."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "If I didn''t put in the effort, I wouldn''t be able to do the things that I can."


    He narrowed his eyes as he thought of the times he had stuck a knife into his body to increase his pain endurance.


    "It wasn''t always easy, but I still tried my hardest."


    Ling tilted his head to the side.


    "But... I''m also trying."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "You know, you''re the kind of person I hate the most. The one that always says they were never lucky, or they''ve been doing all they could. Yet, in reality, it''s just handed to them every time."


    Ling looked down to the ground.


    "...Am I really that kind of person?"


    Kairos paused for a moment, before letting out a sigh.


    "Well, I don''t really know. It''s just a feeling, I guess."


    Ling scratched the back of his head. He didn''t answer for a while, but instead pointed in a direction.


    Kairos followed his finger, to see that it just led to an arbitrary part of the forest.


    "Hm?"


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "You wanted me to pick a direction, right?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Ah, yeah."


    Ling pressed his lips together.


    "I choose this direction."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Then let''s go."


    He began jogging in that direction and Ling followed from behind.


    The forest consisted mostly of tall and narrow trees. The ground was rather bumpy. If a car had to traverse this kind of trail, then it would give hell to the people riding it.


    Twigs, leaves, and rocks littered the area, all of various sizes.


    Each time they stepped was usually apanied by a crunch of some sort. Kairos was able to navigate it rather easily. As for Ling, his stats made him on par with professionals in physical aspects, yet he still ended up stumbling on things, tripping on rocks, and other such things.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little baffled that was even possible, wondering if he was faking it.


    Nheless, he didn''t care enough to ask, opting to slow down so that Ling could keep up.


    Though, that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to ask about anything.


    "Hey, if you see a noticeably bright blue light, or one that looks suspicious, tell me."


    Ling nodded.


    "Um, ok."


    They continued to run through the forest for quite a while, making it seem endless. Kairos was wondering if there was any way he could get back with the others. The easiest way would be to get back to the city that Tiana was in since he believed that they would surelye back to that ce at some point.


    However, he also had no idea how to get there.


    Ling stammered and tripped over a rock.


    "U-Um... when are we going to see the others again?"


    Kairos ducked under a branch.


    "Once we find them, what else?"


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "A-Ah, ok."


    Kairos began wondering if Ling was naturally born this way, or if he was somehow raised to be like this. Either way, he didn''t really like him.


    Though considering that Ling had pulled him out of the ground, basically saving his life, he would bear with him.


    After traveling for about thirty or so minutes, Ling was panting heavily. Kairos wanted to go faster, but held back anyways.


    As for Ling, he couldn''t help but speak up.


    "U-Um!"


    Kairos slowed to a stop and sighed.


    "Do you need to take a break?"


    To his surprise, Ling shook his head.


    "Er, no. I saw a really bright blue thing."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, where is it?"


    Ling pointed slightly off track from the direction they were already running.


    "Over there, it feels really far away though."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, thanks for remembering that."


    Ling kept his head down and scratched the back of his head. As for Kairos, he did not wait up or ask for a ''you''re wee''.


    He would rather not waste time anyway, and ran towards the new ce with mana.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As for Ling, he broke out of his stupor once Kairos had gone off before hurriedly chasing after him.


    When Ling had said that it was far away, he wasn''t exaggerating. In fact, he might''ve even made an understatement. After they ran for a few minutes or so, Kairos turned to Ling who was tripping over himself to follow.


    "Hey, did we pass it yet?"


    Ling gasped for air.


    "Um... no... but we are a bit closer."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Is it truly that big?"


    Ling put his hands on his knees.


    "I... I''m not sure. But I think that it should be getting closer."


    They continued to run for ten minutes. Though Kairos wasn''t running full speed to let Ling follow, that didn''t change the fact that they had covered quite the distance.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Are you sure that this is a bright blue light?"


    Ling gasped for air.


    "Y-Yes..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Alright."


    They continued to run through the forest for another fifteen or so minutes, and that was when Ling suddenly stopped running. Kairos turned around to look at him.


    "Are we here?"


    Ling shook his head. He had both hands covering his eye with partial heterochromia and seemed to be in pain.


    "It''s... so bright."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "That bad?"


    Ling nodded and hunched over. It was fairly clear that he couldn''t take it anymore.


    Kairos couldn''t help but grow even more curious about whatever was emitted such strong mana fluctuations that someone ended up being blinded by it. When he stopped to really focus on his sensations, he could just barely tell that the air felt different.


    It was as though the air was slightly heavier than usual.


    Kairos looked at Ling.


    "From the time you originally pointed us in this direction, how much further do you think this bright blue light is?"


    Ling was panting slightly, but still answered.


    "It... it should be really close."


    He shook his head.


    "But getting any closer hurts too much for me."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Do you think that you can survive by yourself?"


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "Um... I..."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "To be frank, I''m too curious to ignore whatever this thing emitting so much mana is, and I don''t really care about you."


    Ling looked down to the floor.


    "O-Oh."


    Kairos paused before letting out a sigh.


    "Are you not confident in surviving by yourself?"


    Ling scratched the back of his head.


    "I don''t know."


    Kairos crouched down and looked at him.


    "Then how about you find out?"


    Ling looked taken aback.


    "Huh?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I genuinely believe that everyone can be a strong person, but sometimes they just need the right opportunity to be one."


    Ling furrowed his brows.


    "You think... I can be strong?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Well, no."


    Ling looked a little sad when he heard that, but Kairos quickly followed up.


    "I know that you can be strong. That''s just how people are."


    Ling opened his mouth slightly.


    "Then... I want to try."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "It won''t be easy, you know?"


    Ling nodded.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Honestly, the objective probability of you surviving is low, but with how you are right now..."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "I feel like you will be able to defy all odds and do it."


    Ling pressed his lips together.


    "R-Really?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I mean, I don''t really know. I''m still a firm believer in probability in the end."


    He then untied the sack with the green orbs and pulled one out. In one smooth motion, he held it out towards Ling.


    As for Ling, he seemed confused.


    "Um, what are you doing?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It''s a gift. If you ever need to recover badly, whether it be injuries, mana, or even stress, you can break this open and drink it."


    Ling''s lips parted slightly.


    "A... gift?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s not that big of a deal, alright? I still have fourteen of these."


    Ling reached out for it with a trembling hand, almost like he had just won the lottery. And when he grabbed onto it, he had conviction.


    "T-Thank you."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "It''s whatever."


    Ling looked down at the green orb while holding onto it with both hands.


    "It''s... my birthday today."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, then happy birthday."


    He stood up.


    "Anyways, I''m going to go now, stay safe."


    Ling nodded, remaining silent.


    Kairos began walking away, but turned around after a few steps.


    "Hey, thanks again for saving me from that tree thing. And... sorry for being a little rude to you."


    Ling did not respond, but Kairos was not waiting for a response. He continued to make his way toward whatever was emitting tremendous amounts of mana.


    And once he left, Ling was left alone, still holding onto the green orb. For quite a while, he just stood there without moving.


    Then, he abruptly burst out in tears.


    Ling muttered to himself.


    "It''s also the first time I''ve gotten a gift..."


    Kairos began running through the forest. At first, he was taking it slow, but then realized that he didn''t have to wait up for Ling, so he nearly began running at full speed. Feeling the wind rush past him was quite cooling.


    He wished that he had his sses though, so that it could block the wind from his eyes.


    Nheless, Kairos could still see, but he couldn''t help but wonder if he missed it.


    Yet, right as he was thinking that, he cast away those thoughts.


    Kairos hade across a clearing in the forest, where there were no trees for hundreds of meters. Instead, there was a giant blue crystal, emitting a faint glow.

 Chapter 83 Curiosity Killed The Cat

    Kairos couldn''t help but approach the giant blue crystal out of curiosity.


    "...Woah."


    It was shaped like a pir, with many jagged points along its sides as it continued up into the air. It was probably at least five hundred meters wide considering howrge it was, while Kairos couldn''t determine the height.


    Because he couldn''t make out where the top was from here.


    It simply seemed to disappear into the clouds.


    He had already felt a slight bit of pressure from quite far away, but now, he could tell that it wasn''t an illusion. Kairos really was feeling an air that was heavier than usual.


    He couldn''t help but wonder how such a thing was created.


    An educated guess, given what it looked like as well as what Ling saw, was that this thing was a mana crystal.


    Kairos walked closer to it, wondering if he could possibly use it for something.


    However, he couldn''t help but freeze in his steps as he walked over the crest of a small hill.


    Because once he did, the sight of countless dead bodies greeted him.


    Their deaths came in countless forms, such as being burnt, cut up, and some even seemed poisoned. However, the grand majority of them were nothing but bones.


    From the corpses, Kairos could make out animals, humans, and monsters. It was a little hard to tell what some of the bones were, other than them being humanoid, but from how many there were, it was not hard to tell.


    One thing to note was that the number of corpses was far greater the closer one got to the crystal. And on top of that, most of the bony corpses were the ones that were right next to it as well.


    In fact, there wasn''t a single corpse that hadn''t be a skeleton within a hundred meters of the crystal.


    The hairs on Kairos'' neck stood up.


    It was pretty obvious to him that this thing was dangerous. All previous thoughts of exploring or trying to find out what this thing was had been cast out of his mind.


    He turned around and began walking away. Yet, as he did so, he couldn''t help but wonder what caused so many things to be attracted and killed by the crystal.


    Though Kairos could ept that many animals and monsters had been killed, there were far too many human corpses.


    He couldn''t feel any force tempting him to get closer to the crystal other than curiosity.


    And logically, all humans should''ve turned away once they saw so many corpses like him.


    Yet, before Kairos could wonder any further, he found his answer.


    Upon trying to escape back into the trees, he found that his foot was stopped like it hit some sort of wall. Kairos wasn''t just going to give up like that and reached out with his hand.


    Just like his foot, it was blocked.


    That was when the status panel opened on its own.


    [Congrattions for finding one of the few dungeons on Earth!]


    [Please enter the dungeon, indicated by therge mana crystal!]


    Kairos sharply clicked his tongue.


    It sounded just like one of those inte scams. The only thing that would''ve made it moreplete is if it said that he had won a million dors in some sort of obscure sounding raffle.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    He didn''t even slightly believe that he was lucky, or that this should be congratted. After all, there were far too many other ''lucky'' people that died before him.


    Not wanting to participate, Kairos wondered if he could brute force himself out of this situation.


    After putting down the sack of green orbs, he took out the thin spear he had, holding it horizontally with both hands.


    After sucking in a sharp breath, Kairos shot forth, scattering the dirt underneath him.


    A loud bang resounded.


    Kairos had hit the invisible barrier with the tip of his spear. Both of his hands clenched tightly onto it, and the force of the impact was quite impressive.


    Unfortunately, nothing happened.


    In fact, both of Kairos'' hands were trembling. He was pretty sure that this barrier was stronger than diamond. And far stronger than that as well.


    Kairos expected this oue. After all, he was sure that many others would''ve tried to do the same thing.


    Nheless, he couldn''t help but feel disappointed.


    Kairos picked the sack back up and looked towards the mana crystal in the center.


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    He did not move.


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    Kairos furrowed his brows, taking a few steps forward. The messages temporarily stopped appearing, though he was definitely moving at a slow pace.


    Upon reaching the crest of the small hill, he stopped.


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    [Please approach therge mana crystal to begin the dungeon!]


    With every system message that appeared, Kairos couldn''t help but feel more unsettled. However, it was when they abruptly stopped, that he felt far worse.


    A minute passed, before a standalone message appeared.


    [Toxic gas released. Please approach therge mana crystal to avoid death!]


    Kairos cursed under his breath before running towards the mana crystal.


    He saw in his future vision that the toxic gas had appeared, but not the system message.


    As such, when he saw that it said to get to the mana crystal, he did not wait.


    Kairos covered his nose and shut his mouth tightly while a light green mist appeared in the air. The color didn''t look foreboding, but the effects were definitely not light.


    Unfortunately, while Kairos was not breathing, this seemed to be a poison that would seep in through the skin.


    He quickly found that his eyes began burning up like they had been lit ame, thus he closed them tightly. As for his skin, it began aching badly, but more than that was a strange itchy feeling.


    To top everything off, his entire body was in pain.


    Though his eyes were closed, Kairos quickly found out that his skin was peeling off, falling to the ground. He couldn''t help but go even faster despite already not holding back.


    But it was then Kairos saw himself tripping in his future vision.


    He had stepped on one of the dead bodies.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos quickly changed his footing, stepping over it. Then, the realization that he would have to walk over the mountain of corpses came to his mind. Though he would have a second, it might not even be enough.


    Without hesitation, Kairos forced his future vision to extend to two seconds.


    He saw himself tripping over a body, thus he quickly corrected it. However, that correction made him trip over another body.


    Naturally, he tried something else but suddenly found himself slipping in a puddle of something wet.


    Once again, he tried somewhere else, and this time hended on something fleshy. However, it worked, so he went with it.


    Like this, Kairos rushed through using his future vision to just barely stay afloat.


    It did not take long for him to feel the outeryer of his body be numb. And soon, he couldn''t feel it at all.


    Because it had decayed off of his body.


    Kairos could feel his muscles begin to weaken under the poison, decaying as well. His body began aching and begging for him to rest.


    However, Kairos was not going to listen to it. Especially not right now.


    Though that didn''t change the fact it was getting harder for him to move forwards.


    Kairos thought about consuming one of the green orbs right now, but that it would take too much time. It would only be roughly a second to unwrap the satchel, open a hole, and start drinking it. However, the actual drinking process itself would be five seconds at the fastest.


    He didn''t think that even if he could constantly drink from the green orb that it could outpace the damage he was taking from the poison.


    And so, he decided to continue pushing on, focusing on his steps to walk over the corpses.


    As Kairos'' body continued to weaken, doubts suddenly began appearing in his mind. The pain was numbing his senses greatly, to the point it was beginning to get really hard to navigate based on his sense of feeling. Yet, even with his eyes closed and covered, they were still burning in pain.


    The sense of weakness in his muscles spread further.


    Then, some thoughts appeared in his mind.


    Thoughts of just... giving up.


    What was the point in trying anyway?


    Even if he did get over this, his chances of surviving were so low anyway. All of the dead bodies were a testament to this fact.


    And even if by some miracle he was saved from here, then he would just be thrust back into the apocalypse. That wasn''t the kind of life that was enjoyable anyway. It would be better to just die now and prevent the suffering that would obviously happen.


    Kairos couldn''t help but be reminded of some memories.


    There was only one other time in his entire life that he had these same thoughts, so his thoughts naturally diverged to them.


    "Why did you hurt Elliot, apologize now!"


    Kairos saw himself facing the principal of the school.


    "I already apologized, and I wasn''t even trying to hurt him, he just pushed me and I fell on him!"


    Another kid standing next to him crossed his arms.


    "Hmph! All of my friends saw it, you purposely tried to do that! Now look at the rash I have on my arm!"


    That was Elliot, and he exaggeratedly waved his arm around that had a scratch mark on it.


    The principal sighed.


    "Kairos, you will be expelled right now, if you don''t apologize. He has the testimonies of the entire ss, they saw everything! I will be notifying your parents."


    It was at this point Kairos began despairing.


    Because he knew that his parents wouldn''t believe him and only scold him more. After all, they had never believed him before.


    No, that wasn''t fair to say.


    After all, nobody believed him.


    Ever.


    Kairos felt like the entire world around him was disappearing, that he was caught in a vortex of darkness. His being seemed to be slowly fading out of existence.


    But that was when something in him had awoken.


    It was not a sense of hope, that would let him push forth no matter what.


    Nor was it a sense of courage that would let him endlessly charge into the battlefield.


    No, it was something far uglier.


    Something... cynical.


    Perhaps the best way to describe it was schadenfreude. Deriving pleasure from the suffering of others.


    Kairos became strangely silent, but bowed sincerely at the principal''s office.


    "I''m gravely sorry, Elliot."


    Elliot seemed surprised, but smiled soon after.


    "d you can at least recognize you''re an asshole."


    The principal sighed.


    "Kairos, you are suspended for two weeks."


    He did not even rebuke Elliot for his words, but Kairos didn''t mind.


    Two weeks had passed, and he was soon back in school.


    Elliot hade to him on the very first day, at the first period.


    "Hey, missed me? I need to make up for how long we''ve been apart."


    A strange smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Yes, yes, I did miss you."


    Elliotughed before walking up and reaching out to grab him.


    But the moment he was touched, Kairos exaggeratedly fell backwards, and grabbed onto Elliot''s arm.


    "Ah, help, I''m falling!"


    There was one thing he learned as a kid when he broke the three kid''s arms from elementary school.


    That arms were hard to break, but if one moved the bone covering the joint...


    A nasty crack rang out, along with an ear-piercing scream.


    ...it became pretty easy.

 Chapter 84 Dungeon

    Kairos remembered when he had broken Elliot''s arm over the back of his chair.


    He apologized furtively afterwards, and when the principal found out, he was both humble in apologizing and even self-demeaning while he did so.


    In the end, the principal was convinced that it was an ident, but because Elliot wasining Kairos still received a light punishment.


    Most of the people in ss thought it was an ident as well, and became afraid of the fragility of their own bodies considering how easy it looked like one could break their arm.


    Elliot was definitely pissed off, but also had to deal with his broken arm. Though he tried to egg on his other friends to harass Kairos, there was something about the way that Kairos had smiled all the time that made the others avoid him.


    And the entire time, though he had a distraught expression on his face, he was desperately trying to hold back hisughter, lest he let it out and expose himself.


    This side of Kairos wasn''t created by his environment. Rather, it was something that always existed within him, but just not far deep below. The only thing that his situation did was wake it out of him.


    And it was that very side of him that hade out just now.


    As he ran through the toxic gas, feeling his body withering away, there was not even a slight sensation of pain.


    Instead, there was a feeling of rage.


    Kairos had gotten angry not at the fact his situation was dire, and not at how people had treated him in the past.


    Instead, he was angry at himself for having such negative thoughts.


    Kairos never really knew why, but whenever he felt that he was slipping down to the bottom of the abyss, it was his anger that would force him out, almost like magma rising from an active volcano.


    His entire body was filled with extremelyrge amounts of adrenaline and began to heat up on its own.


    He began running even though it was painful.


    He began running even when his body shouldn''t have been able to.


    He began running to prove to himself that he was greater than this, that he could ovee it.


    It was a rather arrogant mentality, but Kairos was never a humble person.


    And soon enough, his shoulder hit the mana crystal, after climbing up the bones that littered the ground.


    Almost immediately, mana began surging around him, coating him entirely.


    Then before he knew it, he had vanished from his original position.


    Once Kairos reappeared, he had found himself in a rather dark and dingy room. Considering howrge the crystal was on the outside, it was surprisingly cramped in here.


    Though, Kairos couldn''t really be focused on all that.


    Because his body was still in a terrible state right now. In fact, while the toxic gas had disappeared, the poison was still running rampant within his flesh.


    Kairos immediately opened up the sack. He took out the green orb and sliced it as he was bringing it up to his face.


    Without dy, he began drinking the healing liquid.


    The effects were immediately apparent as Kairos could feel the decay slow down tremendously. By the time he finished drinking the entirety of the contents, the poison had disappeared entirely.


    Kairos noted that one of the uses of this green orb was to nullify the effects of poison. And right after that, he took out another one and sliced it open as well.


    Though the poison was gone, his injuries were still bad. The effects of the green orb only slightly healed his injuries after dealing with the poison.


    As Kairos drank the healing liquid once more, he could feel his aching body be soothed.


    ckened parts of his body began shedding. As for whether it was flesh or skin, Kairos could not tell. Weakened hairs also began falling out of his head while new ones came to rece it.


    Kairos felt the stress he had from abusing his future vision also melt away, like ice cream on a sunny day.


    His bright red muscles reappeared, while skin coated over them soon after.


    Kairos didn''t have much fat before, but a lot of it had disappeared from the decay. As such, his muscles were now very sharply defined.


    Because he was rtivelynky beforehand, he didn''t look that bulky, but still looked like a professional bodybuilder nheless.


    It did not take long for his entire body to be restored to functioning condition.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh, staring at the two tiny green marbles that were on the cold stone floor next to him. He picked them up and pocketed them without too much hesitation, now having three of these marbles.


    Kairos did a quick count of the green orbs he had and counted twelve in total.


    As he wondered what would''ve happened if he didn''t collect these green orbs, he couldn''t help but shudder.


    His death would''ve been inevitable, because the system was so unforgiving that it wouldn''t even get rid of the poison after he had obeyed itsmand.


    [Entered Dungeon - 1.0 points awarded]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow after seeing those rewards. Although it wasn''t an exaggerated amount of points, it was still a healthy amount. He could only imagine each point would matter far more once one rose in grade.


    He cracked his neck and opened his status panel to get a grasp over his situation.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 467/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 3.0]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 11.0


    Endurance - 10.0


    Agility - 11.6


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos noticed the objective changed to clear the dungeon, but didn''t ce too much emphasis on it.


    Instead, he began thinking about what he should invest his points into.


    His first instinct was to put more into his mana capacity, as having more magic seemed to be quite beneficial to him. However, he also thought about where he was.


    Wasn''t this the interior of a mana crystal?


    Logically, there should be at least some source of mana somewhere.


    With those thoughts in mind, Kairos stood up and observed his surroundings a little more closely.


    The room was just a tadrger than the room in his own house. It was in the shape of a square and made out of gray stone. Embedded in the roof was a small blue crystal that emitted a strong light that lit up the room. Despite being blue itself, the light that it emitted was white.


    Unlike a normal room, there wasn''t a single piece of furniture, almost making it as bad as the average college dorm.


    Almost.


    On the other hand, there was a rather foreboding-looking cased opening that led into a giant swirl of misty blue mana. The mana was so dense that Kairos couldn''t see further behind it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    On the opposite side, was... what looked like a reception area.


    There was a square hole carved out in the middle of the wall to reveal another room, and behind it was what looked like a person. It appeared to be a blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman that was wearing a suit for whatever reason.


    She had a cordial smile on her face while both hands were sped together and at her waist.


    In just a second, Kairos was able to tell that it wasn''t a real person. That was because he immediately realized that shadows on her body didn''t make any sense given the lighting in the room.


    He walked closer to it and was even more convinced.


    His depth perception told him that it was actuallypletely t, instead of an actual projection. Once Kairos was next to the image of the person, it began to talk rather robotically.


    "Hello! Wee to the dungeon!"


    The mouth of the image shifted between an open mouth and closed mouth sporadically to imitate talking. It was almost like Kairos was watching an unbelievably low-budget anime that couldn''t bother using more than two frames for any form of speech.


    Kairos walked to the side and saw that the person really was two-dimensional. He concluded that it was a holographic projection, then posed a question.


    "How do I leave this ce?"


    The projection replied immediately.


    "Just leave that hallway, and you will be taken to the first floor! You can view your floor progress and currency just by asking me!"


    A status panel appeared next to the projection.


    [Floor Level: 0]


    [Dungeon Currency: 1]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What can the currency be used for?"


    The projection replied curtly.


    "For buying products from the shop! Do you want to be redirected to the shop page?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Um, ok?"


    The status panel changed.


    [Shop]


    [Bread and Water - 1 point]


    [Fried Rice and Milk - 3 points]


    [Steak and Wine - 5 points]


    [nket - 4 points]


    [Bed - 10 points]


    [More]


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. It was bing quite clear to him that this was more of a prisonpared to anything else. Now, it seemed like he was going to have to pay for his own basic necessities.


    His only hope was that he would be able to acquire them anyway through other methods, but decided not to think about it too much.


    Out of curiosity, he tapped on the more option.


    [Insufficient Floor Level]


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "...So, how do I get points?"


    The projection eagerly spoke up.


    "Clearing floors will award points!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...How many?"


    The projection paused for a moment.


    "Different amounts depending on the difficulty!"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "How do I leave this dungeon? Not just going to a different floor."


    The projection did not respond for thirty seconds, just standing there awkwardly. Then, it responded.


    "Upon clearing all floors, the participant will naturally be granted leave from the dungeon!"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "And how many floors are there?"


    The projection did not respond. Kairos waited for a while, but it didn''t seem to want to give an answer any time soon.


    He was beginning to realize what this ce meant by dungeon. It wasn''t the video game definition, a ce to get loot.


    Instead, it was the literal definition, a prison cell.


    After letting out a soft sigh Kairos walked away from the projection and had another look at his status panel. He currently had three points to work with.


    His physical stats were the highest right now, with magicgging behind slightly. His willpower was the lowest, but Kairos felt that the willpower stat seemed to be rather low performancepared to the others.


    Kairos guessed that it might be usefulter on, but as of right now, he couldn''t be bothered to increase it.


    Once again, he naturally gravitated towards increasing his magical stats, in particr the mana capacity.


    But then he remembered that the green orbs were able to restore mana. Though Kairos was definitely concerned about his limited supply of green orbs, it would probably be inevitable that he was going to use them.


    As such, mana would naturallye with it.


    That left increasing his magic affinity, or more into his physical stats.


    Kairos thought back to when he charged his pulse spell nearly to its limits. The sheer force of it was able to essentially blow away the walls of a building like it was made out of sand.


    ...And that discouraged him from putting more points into magic affinity.


    Because wasn''t that already powerful enough?


    With those thoughts in mind, Kairos found himself eyeing his physical stats, even when he never really valued them before.


    With a sigh, he put in those points.


    [Strength: 11.0 -> 12.0 | 3.0 -> 2.0]


    [Endurance: 10.0 -> 11.0 | 2.0 -> 1.0]


    [Agility: 11.6 -> 12.6 | 1.0 -> 0]


    And so, Kairos began walking towards the foreboding door, on his way to the first floor.

 Chapter 85 Traps

    Something that surprised Kairos slightly was that even after he had added three total points to his overall status, he didn''t feel hungry afterwards. Though he could definitely tell that the evolution was still consuming the energy in his body, the aftereffects were not felt.


    After a moment of deliberation, he realized that it must''ve been because of the liquid he drank from the green orbs. Other than the healing, mana restoration, and stress relief, there was also a property that made it quite nutritional.


    Kairos reminded himself once more to be smart about how he used the green orbs considering how many things they could do.


    And with that, he set foot into the dense misty mana.


    It felt as though his leg was pushing through water, but that water didn''t provide all that much resistance and wasn''t wet. There didn''t seem to be any solid surface for his foot to be ced on, but it was held up nheless. It gave his body the instinctive feeling that he was falling, though logically he knew that he wasn''t.


    Kairos decided not to think about it too much and continue to push through, stepping forth with his other leg as well. He closed his eyes, but the bright blue light that came from the mana seeped past his eyelids to blind him anyway.


    Kairos felt as though he was falling through the air for a few moments. It wasn''t the mostfortable feeling, especially with the ring bright light that assaulted his eyes. However, it soon came to an end, as Kairos found himself once again in a dark and dingy stone room.


    Except this time, it was far smaller, and only had one hallway up ahead.


    [Advance to the next floor to clear this level]


    Kairos blinked a few times, wondering why the system couldn''t be just a little bit more detailed, perhaps describing the situation he was in or the obstacles he had to face.


    However, he didn''t harp on it.


    With nowhere else to go, Kairos began walking down the corridor with his spear in one hand and bag of green orbs in the other.


    As he was advancing down the hallway, he suddenly took a step back.


    Though nothing happened in reality.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that if he took a step forward, then a spear would suddenly shoot out of the wall. His reaction time was enough to dodge it, though he ended up dodging a little too early, as it hadn''t actually happened yet.


    He realized that this seemed to be because of his heightened agility stat. The fact that his reaction time was so quick now wasn''t something that he was used to.


    Though, it seemed that this hallway was filled with traps, and would thus give him a great opportunity to get used to it.


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger before taking a step forth. He saw a spear shoot out of the wall and held back the urge to immediately dodge. Then once the spear came out in reality, Kairos took a step back.


    With a bang, a stone spear shot out and hit the other side of the wall. There were no cracks in the wall where it hit despite hitting with quite the heavy impact. As for the spear, it remained attached to the wall, the length spanning the entirety of the hallway.


    After a second or so, it began to slowly retract back into the wall, almost like a viper.


    Kairos waited for it to go halfway before putting his foot back in the ce that activated the trapst. However, nothing happened.


    He then waited for the trap to retractpletely, disappearing into the wall like it was never there. From there, he ced his foot at that ce once more, before retracting it.


    The spear shot out and hit the opposite wall with a bang, an awfully familiar scene.


    Kairos rubbed his chin. It seemed that these traps could continually activate, making them renewable in a sense. However, there was also a cooldown of sorts while the trap was retracting back into the wall.


    In other words, he wouldn''t be able to slowly trigger traps one by one to make it through, as they would eventually reset.


    Though, that wasn''t too big of a deal to him.


    Kairos bent his knees slightly and hunched over. Then, after tensing up one foot, he abruptly bolted forwards.


    Several spears shot out of the wall, from every angle. However, they were unable to touch Kairos before he shot past him. For a second, he thought that this was going to be quite easy as he just had to be fast enough.


    However, he was quickly proven wrong, as he saw a spear shoot towards where he would''ve been. Nheless, Kairos was easily able to dodge it by twisting his body slightly, not needing to rely on his future vision.


    As he continued forth, the spears seemed to be able to predict where he would be based on his speed. Considering there were at least two spears that shot out from varying angles for every step he took, Kairos had to slow down significantly to dodge.


    As a spear shot out from the side and towards his head, he leaned back, letting it pass by his face. A spear then shot out of the ground, forcing him to slide to the side. While they were retracting, Kairos continued to go forth.


    A spear shot out from each side of the wall, forcing him to take another step back.


    It was then Kairos felt a strong pain in his foot from his future vision.


    He grit his teeth and moved his foot out of the way. Right when he did, a spear shot up out of the ground.


    A bit of sweat came down from his forehead.


    The spears seemed to be able to predict his movements, like they were learning his patterns. Kairos clicked his tongue and continued while the spears were retracting.


    This time, he decided to move more erratically, opting to pause randomly. Spears ended upunching out of the wall before he had even stepped there. From there, he slowly walked past the spears before suddenly bolting forth.


    By the time the spears shot out, Kairos had already been gone.


    It was almost like whatever was controlling the spears was getting confused. The spears continued to shoot out, but they had be far more random. Though, because it was much more random, it had be far easier for Kairos to dodge.


    It seemed that his movements were still trying to be predicted, but weren''t able to do so.


    Kairos was moving randomly and doing a good job at it. One thing that he had learned from probability was that people tended to believe one possibility was more likely to happen if another one had happened first. However, this was false.


    An example would be that most people would think flipping heads on a coin four times in a row would almost never happen. But in reality, it was actually rtivelymon, assuming that there were enough trials.


    As such, Kairos would frequently repeat the same action several times over before randomly switching to another one. The spears that were initially trying to predict his movements seemed to give up altogether after just a minute had passed, opting to randomly shoot out.


    Unfortunately, because Kairos could see them all happening, it wasn''t really random to him.


    He got by quite easily.


    And before he knew it, he found himself in another room.


    Upon stepping inside, both of his feet were tensed, ready to make a sudden movement to dodge. However, nothing happened.


    The spears in the corridor behind him gradually retracted.


    Kairos surveyed the new room he found himself in. It was quite simr to what he had seen before, made out of stone and being rather dark and dingy. There was only a weak blue lighting from the ceiling. Unlike thest time, where he only had one path to go, there were now three other paths for him to travel through.


    One of them was an incredibly wide hallway, where five people couldfortably walk side by side in. Another was a medium hallway, that would just be slightlyrger if Kairos stretched out both arms. Thest one was very thin, to the point that a person could only fit if they walked sideways through it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Though, those paths weren''t the things that he had first noticed.


    "A... a person!"


    Rather, it was a man that was inside the room. He looked to be in bad condition, with his skin wrapping around his bones, and frazzled ck hair. Ah, and he was also missing a foot.


    There was a rather clean cut just above where his ankle should''ve been.


    There was also a steel sword lying next to the man.


    When Kairos looked at him, he saw a blurry status panel appear next to the man, making him quite surprised.


    The man was cringed in a corner on the opposite side of the room, but he crawled over to Kairos.


    "Hello? Could you please give me some food?... Please respond!"


    Kairos snapped out of his stupor, ignoring the blurry status panel for now.


    "Sorry, I didn''t bring any food."


    The man blinked a few times.


    "What? Then how have you survived here? That bag must be full of food, you liar!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I only got here a few minutes ago. This bag is full of explosives, not food."


    He casually unraveled the bag he had, revealing the green orbs. Though Kairos knew that they could double as a food source, and a good one at that, he was unwilling to reveal that information.


    The man furrowed his brows.


    "No... no... maybe it is edible?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you want to explode into tiny little pieces, sure."


    The man shuddered.


    "But... but... you should have one point from entering the dungeon, right?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I didn''t use it."


    The man seemed to be in shock, frozen up in fear.


    Silence fell.


    Kairos used this time to try and get a better look at the blurry status panel. That was when an idea formed in his mind.


    He extended his future vision to be two seconds long.


    And then the status panel cleared up.


    [Status]


    [ID: 064245313420]


    [Floor Level: 0]


    [Dungeon Currency: 11]


    Kairos stopped extending his future vision and massaged his temple. He only saw the information briefly, but got the gist of it. It wasn''t the status panel he was used to seeing, but he seemed to be able to see the information of others anyway. The eleven dungeon currency surprised him slightly, but for some reason, he couldn''t help but feel strange.


    It was unrted to the currency, but there was just this weird sense like something was familiar, but also not.


    Kairos sighed and arbitrarily opened his status panel.


    [Private announcement]


    [First Ten To Daring Kill (Tenth - by ID: 721432546245)]


    [Hide]


    It was then that Kairos had a sudden enlightenment. After seeing the announcement, he realized what that ID was. The man starving next to him was the ninth in the world to perform a Daring Kill.


    Kairos looked at the man once more, reevaluating him.


    He cracked his neck.


    "How about this, I can help you get some food after we clear this floor. I should have some points to spare, and I can even get you the steak and wine, if I have enough."


    The man''s eyes suddenly lit up, however, they turned dull soon after.


    "But... it''s far too hard. The traps are impossible to cross!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Surely you are exaggerating, what do you mean?"


    The man shook his head fervently, like he was recalling his trauma and desperately trying to deny it.


    "The traps were never made to be cleared in the first ce. Surely, you understand that, right?"

 Chapter 86 Desperate

    Kairos massaged his temple using the tip of his finger.


    "I don''t understand, like I told you, I just came here. What do you mean by they were never meant to be cleared?"


    The man closed his eyes.


    "...I came from a different ce, traversing down a hallway where countless swords swung through the air, nearly taking my life on countless asions. I had just barely made it past, though I had strained my muscles badly in the process."


    He then took a deep breath while trembling slightly.


    "Then, I found myself in a room. After taking a break, I then went down one of the pathways. There were more traps just likest time. Soon, I found myself in another room with three more paths."


    The man looked down to the floor.


    "I continued to try going down these paths, but some of them were dead ends while others simply led to another room. And eventually, while trying to make my way through a hallway, my leg was cut off."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "In other words, it appears to be in the structure of abyrinth."


    The man frowned.


    "...It''s more like a cage!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "There are still many paths you haven''t traveled to yet, right?"


    The man opened and closed his mouth.


    "But who''s to say there will be an exit on the other side?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "You don''t need anyone to say it, you just have to find out. Have you gone down this thin path?"


    The man furrowed his brows.


    "N-No, but you really shouldn''t go down that one, it will be far too hard to dodge."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I''m going to do it. If you want to follow, you can."


    The man reached out, while his eyes bulged slightly.


    "No, no! You can''t!"


    His breathing became heavy.


    "If you going to just kill yourself, you might as well die here, so I can have something to eat."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You n on eating me?"


    The man looked at him strangely, with eyes that had be bloodshot.


    "If you are going to die anyway, then what''s the problem?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...You really think I''m going to die just like that?"


    The man scratched his scalp.


    "Of course! There''s no other way!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I just went through that previous hallway without so much as a scratch or even being winded. Do you really think it will be that hard for me?"


    The man mmed his fist against the floor.


    "That''s because it was an easy one!"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Well if it''s so easy, then why don''t you just go and do it?"


    The man pointed towards his missing foot.


    "How am I supposed to when I''m literally a cripple?"


    He shook his head.


    "You know what, I don''t need to convince you."


    Strangely enough, it was then Kairos had the exact same thoughts. Though the man before him probably possessed a certainmendable amount of strength for being one of the people to perform a Daring Kill, his will was too weak, and his character was bad too.


    Not to mention, Kairos would also have to invest in him by helping him regenerate his foot, which meant giving up a green orb as well as his secret.


    He was fairly sure if he gave one, this would be the type of man to ask for another.


    In other words, the man was worthless to Kairos.


    The man swiftly reached for the steel sword next to him, showing none of the previous fragility he had before.


    Kairos thrust his spear towards the man, but he seemed to be quite capable as he brought the sword to block without even looking.


    A ng resounded within the room.


    The man immediately retreated and took on a stance, holding the sword with one hand, while the other held out like a w. He was standing on his stump of a foot without nearly as much trouble as one might expect.


    Kairos decided to wait, as he imagined he would win the war of attrition. The man was starving, after all, so he must''ve been desperate. There was the consideration that his mind was slowly being stressed out but his future vision, but the man didn''t know that.<novelnext></novelnext>


    And as such, he rushed forth.


    Kairos watched him swing his sword in his future vision. He stepped out of the way and thrust his spear forth.


    However, the man reacted promptly, also moving out of the way and shifting the trajectory of his attack.


    Kairos gave up on his initial attack and brought the spear up to block.


    A loud bang resounded, echoing off of the walls.


    Though his initial attack was blocked, the man continued to press down with his sword, forcing a sh. Kairos pushed back, using both hands. Yet, despite the fact the man was only using one hand and was supposedly starving, Kairos felt himself slowly being pushed back.


    He was quite surprised, as his strength was twelve points but still on the losing end. The man probably had fifteen points in strength and also knew some techniques that increased his application of force.


    Because he was on the losing end, Kairos had the intention of backing off. However, he saw that the moment his foot moved in his future vision, the man would grab his spear.


    While furrowing his brows, Kairos let one hand go from the spear. Almost immediately, he began losing the confrontation.


    As for the man, he saw this as an opportunity and reached for the spear.


    However, Kairos had channeled the fire spell with the minimum mana required for activation, creating a tiny fireball in the palm of his hand. Using his future vision, he cut off the man''s hand.


    A miniature explosion urred, followed by the sound of searing flesh.


    The fireball had hit right in the center of the opposing palm. With a cry of pain, the man backed off while shaking his free hand. ck smoke wasing out of his palm, along with the smell of cooked meat.


    The man seemed to get hungrier because of it. He grit his teeth in anger before rushing forth again.


    Kairos kept all of his attention on the man, but in his future vision, he suddenly saw himself get rocked off bnce, the floor underneath one of his feet shooting up all of a sudden.


    Without questioning it, Kairos preemptively moved to the side.


    As he did, a block of earth shot up from the ground. The man''s eyes widened in shock, but he did not slow down in his charge.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that the ground underneath him would rise once more, disturbing his footing. As such, he decided to move forwards, not wanting to be caught in between the two blocks of earth.


    The man furrowed his brows as he shed. Kairos swung his spear like a sword.


    With a bang, they collided.


    However, Kairos had no intention of keeping up this confrontation, with the intention of stepping to the side and sliding the spear up the side of the sword to parry it. Yet, the moment he moved his foot, he saw that a block of earth would rise underneath that ce, thus he changed his direction midway through.


    The man narrowed his eyes as he watched Kairos step away.


    He seemed to realize that it was not a fluke that Kairos could predict where the blocks of earth would appear. Though, that didn''t mean he had given up on using the earth spell.


    The man took a step toward Kairos with an overhead strike. As he did so, the ground underneath him rose at an angle, so that he was on a slope and partly sliding towards Kairos, while his stump of a foot was securely put in ce within.


    As Kairos had just dodged out of the way, he did not have much time to do so again. Though his agility was his highest stat, it seemed that the man''s was even higher. He intended to block, but saw in his future that he would be unable to keep his stance. In fact, even standing up would be a challenge.


    If that happened, he would bepletely open for the next strike.


    As such, he decided to make a rather dangerous move.


    Kairos felt the blood rush through his head as he neglected the man''s sword entirely while thrusting his spear towards the heart.


    Seeing this, the man seemed to be in disbelief. Though he saw thising, he had already put everything he had into this strike, and thus could not back out now. In fact, the man couldn''t even dodge in time.


    In the end, he decided to use his free hand to block.


    This time, a bang did not resound. Instead, the piercing sound of flesh filled the air.


    The sword mmed into Kairos'' shoulder, sinking deep into the corbone and causing a concerning crack to ring out.


    On the other hand, the spear pierced through the man''s hand messily, and into the chest. Unfortunately, it just barely missed the heart, but was still able to puncture the lung.


    The man had purposely held his hand at an angle, thus the spear did not pierce through cleanly, but was instead caught in the bones and forcefully diverted.


    Kairos did not wait up and attempted to pull the spear back. Unfortunately, because of how tangled up they were in the bones and flesh, it wasn''t that easy.


    The man simrly tried to pull out his sword, not falling into a daze despite the pain he was experiencing.


    However, Kairos steeled his will andpressed the muscles in his shoulder. It magnified the pain several times over, but it simrly made it difficult for the man to retrieve his weapon.


    The moment Kairos had pulled out his spear, he fully intended to thrust it again, but before he could do so, the man jumped back, immediately fleeing. Kairos considered chasing, but the man was faster than him, so he didn''t bother.


    Instead, he shifted his grip and held it with one hand, leaving his other free.


    Once the man had reached the other side of the room, he pressed his forearm against his chest to slow the bleeding. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing he could do to stop his hand from profusely doing so.


    His breathing was ragged and clearly painful. Nheless, he still found it in himself to spit out words.


    "You... don''t even care about your own life?"


    Kairos chuckled as he tensed up his shoulder muscles to slow the bleeding.


    "I do care about my own life. That''s why I decided to take a trade when the other options were worse."


    The man remained still, staring at Kairos with a new type of gaze. His breathing was still ragged. He created a small block of earth to support his stump of a foot and seemed to be trying to stabilize his condition before moving forth.


    As for Kairos, he didn''t mind waiting, thus just stood in ce.


    His injury wasn''t by any means light, but he was confident that it was nowhere near the man''s. The internal bleeding from his lungs should have put the man on a clock.


    Though he would''ve been confident that it was lethal for the average person, Kairos couldn''t say anything with how much people have evolved. Perhaps just five points in endurance were enough for a person to heal from that given enough time.


    But still, Kairos was making that assumption in the consideration that the person had the nutrition in their body to support it. Though the man wasn''t moving like it, Kairos was still pretty sure he was starving.


    After a few minutes, the man seemed to get desperate. His eyes had concerninglyrge bulging red veins within.


    The man took a deep breath.


    "You... You were the one that forced me to do this."

 Chapter 87 Rewarding

    Kairos really wanted to call the man a dumbass for implying that it somehow wasn''t his own fault that he was in that situation. Nheless, he doubted the man would listen.


    If anything, he had probably just med Kairos in order to delude himself.


    And once a person says something like that, there is no point in trying to convince them.


    Kairos could tell that the situation had be dangerous, thus he extended his future vision to two seconds despite the strain. The man''s hair rapidly transformed to be gray and feeble. As for the sword, some sort of purple energy began coalescing around it.


    Kairos decided not to wait around, and charge up a pulse spell.


    A light blue mist began forming around his hand. On the other hand, the man''s sword hadpletely changed, appearing to be nearly ck with purple energy festering around it. One side of the de had be jagged while the tip of the de curved upwards.


    Kairos continued to watch intently, and he suddenly felt a strange cold pain in his heart.


    He suddenly realized that the man had shot forth at unbelievably high speeds, to the point that he didn''t even register him moving. However, while he didn''t catch the movement, his future vision was still enough to tell him when to dodge.


    And so he did, abruptly stepping to the side.


    A deafening bang shook the room right as he did so.


    The man shot forth like a lightning bolt, but his purple sword only ended up hitting the wall. However, he was not discouraged despite the fact he had missed, instead opting to try and sh Kairos once more.


    However, before he could do so, Kairos had retaliated with his own spell.


    The pulse spell released, making only a soft swish at first.


    Before bing an ear-piercing boom.


    The man was sted back, spitting out blood as he mmed into the wall. His purple sword shot off into the distance before gradually turning back into the normal steel sword.


    The man slid down, where his feet hit the ground first, beforending on his rear. A messy bloodstain appeared on the wall where he had slid, but it disappeared rather quickly.


    Kairos walked a little closer and let out a soft sigh.


    "You really couldn''t have just tried to clear the floor with me, huh?"


    The man tried to speak but only coughed up blood in the process. Though that was fair enough given his ribcage didn''t even hold up its original shape, clearly broken, and giving his torso a strange overall shape.


    Kairos held his spear at his side and pulled it back slightly.


    The man choked out more blood before raising a hand.


    "W-Wait, I''ll clear the floor!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "And how are you going to clear it like that? You''re literally a cripple."


    The man cringed.


    "No, no, I swear I can!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Well, I don''t want you to."


    He saw in his future vision that the man would lunge out toward him in ast desperate attempt. Kairos decided to wait for that.


    And once the man did lunge out, Kairos'' spear whipped through the air.


    A disturbing fleshy sound filled the room.


    The man''s head was torn off of his body,nding to the side. As for his body, it copsed and slid on the floor for a few centimeters.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Kill Bonus - 0.4 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 11 currency added]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...It is quite rewarding to kill people, it seems. And now I should have at least twelve of that currency too."


    After taking that into consideration, he once again took a closer look at the pathways around him.


    He obviously wasn''t going to go down the one with spears, as he knew that would be a dead end. However, he wasn''t entirely sure which of the other ones he should try. From what the man had said earlier, it sounded like he did not go through the incredibly thin pathway, where one would have to walk sideways to fit through.


    After a bit of consideration, Kairos picked up the decapitated head from the floor and shoved it into the thin pathway.


    After gaining some distance inside, a dagger suddenly shot out of the wall, piercing the head. Afterwards, the head ckened significantly. The flesh quickly rotted before falling off.


    Kairos let go, and by the time the head hit the ground, the only thing left was a skull. After a few moments, that skull was swallowed up by the floor underneath. Any trace of the head was now gone in its entirety.


    Kairos furrowed his brows before turning to the body of the man.


    It had not begun rotting, but all of the blood around it had disappeared. Kairos picked up the body by the cor bone, trying to ignore the spine that was jutting out awkwardly.


    He then took a look at the side that was on the floor.


    He was greeted with a fleshyyer. Kairos furrowed his brows. The reason why he knew that was strange was that the organs of the body were gone. It seemed that the dungeon had already consumed them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos found out the reason why there were so many bones resting just outside of this ce.


    It was because after their dead bodies were consumed, the dungeon would spit out the bones left over.


    After a bit of hesitation, Kairos tried throwing the body into thergest pathway. A fireball suddenly shot out and exploded onto it, torching the body and burning it to ash.


    The residual fire quickly died off, and in just a few seconds only bones were left of that corpse as well. They began sinking into the ground just like the skull before disappearing entirely.


    And just like that, all traces of the man were gone.


    Their fight from earlier didn''t even cause a crack in the wall, so the only proof that he actually existed was the steel swordying on the floor.


    Kairos thought about taking the sword, but he frankly didn''t think that it would outperform his spear.


    For a few minutes, he took several deep breaths while his eyes were tightly shut. He underestimated the effects of how bad using his future vision was.


    He didn''t even feel slightly hungry even now. The wound on his shoulder had already stopped bleeding and even sealed up.


    But the stress his mind was facing was like a nightmare haunting him in reality.


    That didn''t mean Kairos was going to use one of the green orbs. He waited for the stress to subside while his eyes were closed before moving on. After all, nearly starving to death wasn''t his n. It clearly didn''t work out for thest person.


    He then tightened his grip on the bag of green orbs before turning sideways into the thin hall. Almost immediately, Kairos realized that the bag wouldn''t fit. After a bit of deliberation, he tried to bunch them up so that they would get through. With a quick yank, so that the green orbs wouldn''t be a pile again, he pulled it into the thin hallway.


    Almost immediately in his future vision, he felt something pierce through his knee. Kairos quickly shifted the position of his leg, letting the dagger hit air. It was then he thought of how the bag might get stabbed open by the daggers.


    The hallway of spears had far more spacepared to this. It made it so that there weren''t actually many asions at all where he had to reposition the bag so it wasn''t stabbed by the spear.


    On the other hand, the bag here was spread out, meaning it would easily be pierced by the daggers


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    He definitely wasn''t willing to give up one of the green orbs just like that.


    Kairos spent a few seconds thinking. He realized that he would have to go fast enough so that the daggers wouldn''t shoot out again to hit the bag, but slow enough so that they didn''t tear through the bag while they were retracting.


    ...It would be far easier if he extended his future vision to be two seconds long.


    Kairos frowned.


    But then, he came to a sudden enlightenment.


    There was literally no reason to keep his eyes open when the only thing he could see was a small part of the wall. He could extend his future vision while keeping his eyes closed, and the effects of stress should be very small.


    And so, that was what Kairos did.


    He saw in his future vision that his leg was pierced by the dagger, and quickly moved it. After that, he dragged his bag with him.


    Suddenly, he felt a strong pain in his head, prompting him to tilt his head to the side to avoid it. At the same time, he felt the bag get caught by the dagger. Kairos stopped himself from pulling the bag, waiting a little longer.


    Yet, he saw that once he tried pulling the bag once more in his future vision, it had already gotten pierced by a dagger.


    Kairos grit his teeth and pulled earlier, just barely getting it out of the way.


    That was when he felt sharp pains in his chest and arms.


    Kairos quickly repositioned them so that they wouldn''t get hurt.


    Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. It was far harder to do this than expected, but the important point was that he was doing it sessfully.


    Kairos honed his focus as he gradually dragged the bag of green orbs with him. He was forced to split his concentration into both dodging the daggers but also maintaining the integrity of the bag.


    It was quite difficult, to say the least.


    In fact, he was quickly finding this to be nearly impossible. Though closing his eyes reduced his stress, he could still feel his head burning in pain. It was getting harder to tell which sensation was his future vision and which was reality. With his focus spread so thin, he was forgetting to even breathe multiple times now.


    This reminded Kairos of one time when he tried to write with both hands at the same time. It was just like this time, very difficult. Many times he found himself just not writing with one hand, unable to do the same for the other.


    However, he was quite bored at the time, so he decided to stick with trying it. As he continued to try, he was able to write the same letter and the same time fairly quickly and neatly.


    Then, as quite a bit more time passed, he was able to write a word with both pencils writing a different half of the word.


    After a few days of just doing so, he was able to write two different words at the same time.


    It was quite the useless skill, as he could essentially match the same speed with just one hand and also put less focus into it. However, Kairos also remembered reading that a scientific article said it was impossible to multitask.


    He didn''t actually read the article itself, but he definitely remembered seeing that.


    After doing some more research, he realized that the article was actually a very poorly conducted experiment, where just a few people were told to try doing two things at once.


    And with one trial, that was it.


    Kairos searched through more articles and eventually found that it was found certain people can multitask better than others. And for people with split brains, doing two things at the same time was actuallypletely natural, though there were many other negative effects of having split brains.


    It was then Kairos realized he shouldn''t stick to the knowledge that he knew, as countless times it could very well be false.


    Which is why he decided never to believe something was impossible.


    And so, he decided he was going to ovee this and keep his bag intact, even if the logical odds were almost zero.

 Chapter 88 First Floor Cleared

    At some point, Kairos no longer thought of himself going down a pathway filled with poisonous daggers. Instead, he began to see everything as a set of patterns and conditions. If he felt pain, he would retract his body. If he felt the bag get caught by the dagger, he would pull a bit faster.


    Kairos kept his arm close to his side so that he wouldn''t trigger daggers that were far away, thus avoiding a situation where he couldn''t pull his bag in time.


    It was almost like he had be a machine.


    Move now.


    Stop then.


    Speed up soon.


    Kairos wasn''t truly thinking anymore. Other than thoughts of performing the task before him, all other thoughts avoided him.


    It was to the point that when he felt that the daggers had stoppeding for him, he was confused. Kairos continued to try to move like he did before, but there was no feedback. Eventually, he snapped out of his stupor and opened his eyes.


    He was in another room.


    Except this one was different. Instead of there being other pathways, it was just one giant room. Kairos would''ve considered it a dead end if it wasn''t for the glowing misty blue pir in the middle.


    After a bit of hesitation, he walked towards the pir and touched it.


    His hand phased through and a familiar water-like sensation came back to Kairos. A possibility formed in his mind, but he was partly in disbelief.


    He walked into the blue pir and had a strange sensation of falling, but not really falling. The misty blue mana wrapped around his body.


    Until eventually, he found himself back in his room.


    [1st Dungeon Floor Cleared - 50 Dungeon Currency awarded]


    [First 25 To Clear First Floor of Dungeon 0032 (25th - by ID: 345315364923) - 5 points awarded]


    Kairos blinked a few times, looking at the system notifications.


    He was honestly surprised that he had actually gotten a decentlyrge amount of dungeon currency. Though, maybe that was actually just his misconception with hiscking understanding.


    Another thing he was surprised about was that he had gotten a top twenty-five achievement as opposed to the traditional top ten. On top of that, it meant that only twenty-four other people had actually been able to pass the first floor of this particr dungeon.


    When Kairos recalled all the dead bodies he saw outside he couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath. It was almost like one of those post-secondary schools that had an unbelievably low eptance rate.


    Though, when Kairos thought about it, that was pretty reasonable given the difficulty. After all, even just the hallway with spears was hard enough, then you would have to get lucky that one of the paths was actually the correct one.


    If it wasn''t for the man that had indicated that he cleared most of the otherbyrinth, Kairos wouldn''t have had such an easy time finding the right path.


    He looked over to the holographic projections, standing therepletely still with the same smile it always had. After walking a little closer, it began to talk.


    "Congrattions on clearing the first floor! Your room will be merged with the dungeon lobby within the next few hours."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Dungeon lobby?"


    The projection quickly responded.


    "You will join the others that have also cleared the floor! It''s a privilege for all those that have worked hard to climb the dungeon."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "Can I be excluded from this privilege?"


    The projection immediately spoke.


    "No."


    Kairos blinked a few times before letting out a sigh.


    "Can I see my status panel?"


    Once he said that a panel appeared next to the projection.


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 1]


    [Dungeon Currency: 64]


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Hm... I only remember gaining enough points to have sixty-two."


    The projection spoke up.


    "That is because certain actions within the floors can also give points, such as passing through hallways. The dungeon is very generous!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Sure... could you open the store page?"


    The projectionplied.


    "Of course!"


    [Shop]


    [Bread and Water - 1 point]


    [Fried Rice and Milk - 3 points]


    [Steak and Wine - 5 points]


    [nket - 4 points]


    [Bed - 10 points]


    [More]


    Kairos clicked on the tab that said more, and several other options popped up.


    [Proof of Perfection Point - 1 point]


    [Random Elemental Spell (1 Avable per Participant)  - 10 points]


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably once he saw what was avable.


    His fingers immediately began itching to spend his points, but he stopped himself from hastily doing anything. Kairos definitely nned on taking the elemental spell, as he had never seen a way to gain a spell like this elsewhere. With how the conversion system worked, it was basically ten points he could use for evolution, when he spent only fivest time.


    But although it was overpriced, he still didn''t have a shadow of a doubt that he wanted it.


    Something so limited was just too valuable, even if its price was normally lower.


    Kairos was also very tempted to spend all of the other points on evolution points. After all, the fifty-four points were more than all of his current status points added together.


    Nheless, he couldn''t help but feel there was some sort of caveat.


    There was no way that this ce was going to be that generous given how stingy it was earlier. Nheless, Kairos couldn''t see a world where he didn''t buy the spell.


    And so, he tapped on it.


    His mind suddenly felt strangely clear as information became infused in his mind. It almost felt as though he had suddenly grown another limb, but he was able to use it as though he had been born with it.


    After a minute or so, Kairos muttered to himself.


    "Gale spell?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    He opened up his status panel and saw that there was a new addition to his special abilities.


    [Gale Spell (F)]


    The first thought that came to mind was that this spell sounded simr to Tori''s wind spell. Kairos'' impression of the spell was that it was fairly underwhelmingpared to the power of the other elemental spells.


    However, his spell seemed to be different, for better or for worse.


    He was almost full on mana, thus he wasn''t too concerned about conserving it. And so, he tested out casting the spell at its minimum mana requirement.


    Kairos could tell something had formed just above his four fingers, but he couldn''t see it. After a moment of contemtion, he held his fingers out straight and pointed towards a wall.


    Suddenly, a whipping sound filled the air before a clear smack.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    It seemed that this spell conjured a wind de. He decided to pour more mana into it, enough to form a fireball that was a meter wide.


    Faint blue mist had formed around his hand, but other than that, there was nothing showing. Nheless, Kairos felt the tip of his fingers get a little heavier as the air around it became quite dense.


    The charging time was roughly the same as the fire spell, a couple of seconds.


    He then let it loose.


    A subtle whistling sound filled the air before a loud bang resounded. His wind de had collided with the wall, but it was still intact. Kairos closed his eyes and pondered over the power of the spell.


    It definitely paled inparison with the giant explosion the fireball had as well as the mes that came afterward. However, sometimes the mes were undesirable as they could cause some friendly fire.


    The gale spell also had the advantage of being invisible. While the pulse spell also had this property, its damage dropped off significantly past a few meters while the gale spell did not have this problem.


    Kairos was satisfied with the spell. Though it wasn''t anything too different from his current skill set, it helped tie up loose ends.


    He then took another look at his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 471/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.5]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 12.0


    Endurance - 11.0


    Agility - 12.6


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos thought about the projection''s words earlier, that his room would be merged with the lobby. That meant he would be ced with other simrly powerful people, thus it was probably best his stats were a little higher.


    One thing he could assume was that they had gotten the top 25 achievement, and at a higher rank than him. In other words, they would have far more points. Those that were near the top should have countless points from the achievement alone.


    Though Kairos wasn''t sure, if there was an increment of 5 points for each rise in rank, that meant the first person to clear the dungeon got 125 points.


    Which was quite a terrifying amount.


    Kairos thought about evolving, but did not actually have enough evolution energy to do so. The only thing he could hope for was that the others weren''t able to evolve either.


    With narrowed eyes, he clicked on the option in the shop to buy evolution points.


    [Points: 5.5 -> 9.5 | Dungeon Currency: 54 -> 50]


    Then, Kairos maxed out his physical stats.


    [Strength: 12.0 -> 14.9 | Points: 9.5 -> 6.6]


    [Endurance: 11.0 -> 14.9 | Points: 6.6 -> 2.7]


    [Agility: 12.6 -> 14.9 | Points: 2.7 -> 0.4]


    Kairos took several deep breaths as his body began heating up tremendously. He began sweating fairly badly, but it wasn''t too bad overall.


    The only slight issue was that he had begun to feel hungry.


    It wasn''t the kind he normally got from spending so many points, where he couldn''t stop himself from tearing through everything around him. However, it would definitely affect him as he moved on.


    Though the effects of the green orb were strong, they weren''t omnipotent.


    Kairos frowned.


    He didn''t want to spend points on bread and water, especially considering that they had the value of an entire evolution point. Yet, at the same time, he didn''t want to consume one of the green orbs just yet.


    In the end, Kairos decided to wait and see.


    The hallway in his room that used to lead to a glowing blue mist of mana was now blocked off by stone. As such, there was nothing to do for now.


    Kairosid down on the ground and closed his eyes. His shoulder still ached slightly, but it was mostly his head that was hurting. His hunger couldn''tpare either, as it wasn''t nearly as bad.


    He passed time with regted breathing, deliberately taking air in before expelling it out.


    The stress in Kairos'' mind gradually lowered, bing far less painful.


    This was actually something he was quite used to doing, as he would frequently have to deal with excessive amounts of stress. This was something that persisted even after he had gotten his sses.


    Only after several years from then, did it calm down by quite a bit.


    Kairos sometimes found it a little crazy when he thought back to how bad it was when he didn''t have sses. Most of his days were spent with closed eyes and regting his breathing to try and lower his stress, just like now.


    He honestly had no idea how he had dealt with it before.


    Though, it seemed like he would have to learn soon, unless he could get some recement for his sses.


    Kairos remembered another small issue.


    It was almost impossible for him to sleep before he got his sses, and even if he could, it would be for a few hours at most. The nightmares didn''t help either.


    And that was something he was experiencing right now.


    Though his stress dipped, it still stayed above a certain threshold and made it difficult to feel sleepy.


    Nheless, he wasn''t aiming to sleep right now.


    After all, he was going to meet his fellow dungeoneers.

 Chapter 89 Strange Trio

    Kairos was slightly concerned that he would suddenly end up near other people, and be in a position that could entice others to attack. From how rewarding killing the other person was earlier, he was fairly sure that anybody he met would be tempted.


    However, it seemed those worries were unnecessary.


    A bang abruptly resounded within the room as it jostled violently.


    Kairos'' eyes flew open as he stumbled up to his feet.


    He looked around, but his room looked like it did as before, despite such a huge impact. The projection was still smiling casually as it always did. However, the doorway that was originally blocked off was now open.


    Kairos walked over, cing one hand on the side of the doorway before taking in the sight before him.


    He didn''t really know what he expected, but it looked far more deste than expected. A massive cavernous expanse wasid out before him, just as dark and dingy as his own room. At the very top, was a giant blue crystal that gave off a white light, making everything more or less visible.


    Kairos almost thought that it was just an expanded version of his room, but there were a few differences. He could make out a stone spiral staircase off in the distance that didn''t seem to have a structural integrity that made sense.


    There were no railings or support beams to keep it up, just stone that kept going upwards.


    And to his left, he saw that there were several other empty doorways, just like the one to his own room. Kairos could presume that they were the rooms of the others.


    And as expected, there were twenty-four of them off in the distance.


    From what Kairos could tell, the vastness of this ce was farrger than the mana crystal he had seen before. He wondered if it was actually just an illusion, but not actually thatrge.


    "Hey, Twenty-Five is over here!"


    While Kairos was caught up in his own thoughts, he heard the voices of others.


    Three people had approached him. He was somewhat expecting people that looked like gangsters or hoodlums, but it seemed he was wrong.


    There was a little girl, probably at a simr age as Ling. She had casual wear that was somehow not ragged or dirtied. Her hair was bright blonde while her eyes were sky blue. In her hand was a red karambit knife that seemed a little too big for her, but she still held it rather easily.


    Kairos felt a little unsettled by the girl, and it wasn''t because of the weapon. Rather, it was because of how her eyes looked. They were slightly wider than normal, making her look quite innocent and curious. However, Kairos could tell that it was fake.


    He could only tell because he had learned before that keeping his eyes open at a certain level would make people think you were innocent. Though Kairos usually didn''t like doing it because it stressed his head out a little bit, he still did so.


    Sometimes he would even practice doing it in the mirror to fool others.


    Kairos just had a feeling that the girl was putting on a facade, as opposed to actually being innocent. The difference was so small, that he couldn''t even really say what exactly made him think this way.


    His best description would be that there was some sort of discordance between the eyes and mouth.


    Another person was surprisingly an old man, using a cane to walk. From what Kairos could tell, while the old man did not have to use the cane, it helped him do so faster. He made the assumption that his leg was some sort of prosthetic because it didn''t seem to evolve to have the same strength as the rest of his body.


    The old man wasn''t exaggeratedly old, to the point that he seemed to be on his deathbed, but in modern times he would be considered someone at the age where they were quite vulnerable and could use some help.


    He had rtively long hair for a man, with most of them grayed out though the asional strand was still ck. His eyes were only barely open, revealing small slits. As such, it was very difficult to tell what his eye color was. His face wasn''t too wrinkled, just bunched up in certain sections.


    The overall vibe Kairos got from the old man wasn''t a pleasant one either. For some reason, the way he stood almost made him seem like the type that would scream, ''Get off mywn!''.


    Except instead of waving a cane, he would bring out a shotgun and cock it.


    Kairos didn''t really know why he thought that way, but he did.


    As for thest person, this was the one that had called out earlier. It was a young woman fitted in a suit that was quite tidy. From the way she looked, it almost made it feel as though there wasn''t actually an apocalypse, but rather just any other workday.


    She had long brown hair that was slightly wavy that had reached her waist. Her eyes were bright green,parable to emeralds.


    It almost seemed like she was wearing some sort of lipstick, but that was actually just how it naturally looked. There were two swords resting on her belt, both in sheathes as of now.


    The woman had her arms crossed and looked toward Kairos with a bit of curiosity as well as confidence. Though one thing that he had noticed was that there seemed to be vignce in her eyes.


    Kairos was about to speak, but suddenly saw something in his future vision.


    Out of nowhere, the woman had drawn her sword and shed toward him in one swift motion. He had prepared himself to dodge it, but suddenly found that his future vision warped to see that she didn''t actually do anything.


    It seemed she noticed that he had figured out her intentions.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "That''s not the nicest way to greet someone."


    The womanughed.


    "Ohe on, I haven''t actually done anything yet."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "You might as well have."


    The woman rubbed her chin with interest, indicated clearly by her smile.


    "Why do you seem so scared of us? We are just a humble trio trying to get by."


    The little girl looked up to Kairos and slightly parted her lips as though trying to prove her innocence, while the old man looked down at the floor.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I would prefer that a group of gangsters rolled up on me."


    The woman made an overly shocked expression.


    "Eh? Why is that?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes and held his spear out to the side.


    "At least then I wouldn''t be judged for attacking a woman, an old man, and a kid all at once."


    The woman casually raised her hands up in the air andughed.


    "Hey, hey, no need to be hostile..."


    She tilted her head to the side slightly.


    "How about we start over, my name is Aria, also known as Neen."


    The girl stammered.


    "U-Um, my name is Alice, and some people call me twenty-four."


    As for the old man, he spoke rather bluntly and forcefully.


    "...I''m Kyle, and I''m the twenty-third person to clear the first floor."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow before letting out a soft sigh.


    "People usually call me Kairos, but I guess you can call me twenty-five as well, since you guys seem to care about the order that we cleared the floor in."


    Aria pped her hands.


    "Haha, that''s great, hello Kairos! I hope you enjoy your stay here."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Since you''re so hospitable, do you mind giving me a quick rundown of this ce?"


    Aria chuckled.


    ? "Of course, of course. This is the ce where most of us spend our time, casually talking to one another just like we are right now."


    She then pointed towards the spiral staircase far off in the distance.


    "After you climb up that staircase, you can get to the second floor where you can earn points to buy food. Speaking of, how many points do you have?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I think three? I used most of them to buy steak and wine, I''ve never had something like it before."


    Aria kept a cordial smile on her face, but her body still flinched when she heard what Kairos had ''spent'' his points on.


    "Ah, you must be joking, right?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos looked at her with a straight face.


    "What do you mean? Is it funny or something?"


    Aria let out a softugh.


    "Well... if you want to gather more points for more, you will have to climb up that spiral staircase and get to work."


    Kairos looked at it.


    "Guess I should go there after I get a little hungry. Speaking of, do you know how to get to the next floor?"


    Aria smiled bitterly.


    "Ah, we are trying to figure that out."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Nobody has done it before?"


    Aria blinked a few times.


    "Well, there might be. None of the top ten are here, so they either died or advanced to a higher floor."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Well alright, thanks."


    Aria tilted her head to the side.


    "Say, what is in that bag you are carrying around."


    Kairos responded without a second thought.


    "Explosives."


    Aria was speechless for a few seconds.


    "Explosives?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Never know when you need to blow something up."


    Aria slowly nodded.


    "I see."


    There was an awkward silence for a moment.


    Alice walked up.


    "Um, big brother, could I have some bread and water? I''m a little hungry."


    She pouted slightly and put her hands behind her back, hiding the knife.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Big brother?"


    Alice nodded enthusiastically.


    "Yes! I''m sure big brother is a generous and kind person."


    Kairos nodded to himself.


    "Ah, it must be nice to have a big brother like that."


    Alice looked slightly confused.


    "Um, yes?"


    Kairos waved his hand.


    "You should introduce me to him sometime."


    With that, he began walking towards the spiral staircase while the others looked a little dumbfounded.


    His footsteps reverberated within therge cavernous expanse.


    Kairos had underestimated how far away the staircase actually was, despite traveling for a few minutes, he was still rtively far away.


    Aria caught up with him, along with Alice and Kyle following close behind.


    "Hey, wait, wouldn''t you like a rundown on how to get points?"


    Kairos turned around.


    "Uh, I guess?"


    Aria smiled as she had before.


    "Why don''t we make an alliance?"


    Kairos let his spear rest against his shoulder.


    "Is that the only way you would give me that information?"


    Ariaughed.


    "Well, it would just make me feel more reassured to share with a person I can call a friend."


    Kairos thought about it for a moment.


    As much as he didn''t like the three, he was sure that the others probably wouldn''t be much better. Even if the alliance would be rather fragile.


    "...Clearly outline the terms of the alliance and I will consider it."


    Aria smiled.


    "Oh, it''s nothing big. We will just sleep in the same room and keep watch for each other, just so that nobody... disturbs our rest."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...That''s it?"


    Aria nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Kairos couldn''t find fault with it.


    "Alright then. Could you exin how I can get points then?"


    Aria smiled brightly.


    "Yes, yes. Once you climb up the staircase, you will find three pathways. You will see one with lots of blood, that''s where you could find monsters to kill and earn points. Another one is pitch ck, and once you go inside, you won''t be able to see at all. There are red crystals that if collected will get you a point."


    Kairos nodded.


    "And thest pathway?"


    Aria pressed her lips together.


    "It looks like the hallway of an ordinary house."


    She muttered under her breath.


    "Never go in there."

 Chapter 90 Three Paths

    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Why shouldn''t I go in there?"


    Aria''s eyelid twitched slightly.


    "It''s just... not good."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I believe you, but could you tell me why it''s so dangerous? Like some sort of monster roaming the ce?"


    Aria looked at him for a little while.


    "Well, there are doors on both sides of the hallways. I believe the requirement to get a point is by entering a room and then closing the door while inside."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...Sounds like a game of chance?"


    Aria shrugged her shoulders.


    "While none of us know what happened to the first ten, five people have died. And four of them died because of those rooms."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I see. Thanks for the information."


    Aria smiled.


    "Haha, alright, have a safe trip!"


    Kairos turned around and continued to walk away. Though as he did so, he couldn''t help but feel as though the gazes of hyenas were stuck to his back. He was deliberating over the situation as he got closer to the stairs.


    Aria was definitely hostile, and chances are, the other two were too. That was evident from how she almost attacked him, but stopped once she realized Kairos could tell.


    Yet, she suddenly shifted her stance.


    Kairos didn''t think that it was a shift of heart. She definitely seemed anxious that he might end up dying, showing genuine concern.


    He began thinking of what reasons there could be.


    Then he remembered that killing someone would allow one to take all of their points. On top of that, there were a decent amount of evolution points that came with it.


    Perhaps that was the reason she proposed the alliance earlier. So that they would have ess to when he was most vulnerable.


    Once he eventually got arge number of points, they would probably kill him. Maybe they wouldn''t have been able to hold back if Kairos told the truth, that he actually had fifty points on him.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    He had to get out of this floor.


    And out of this dungeon as well.


    The smell of desperation in the air was too much for him.


    He soon came across the spiral staircase. It was farrger up close. The simple width of the steps was enough to have two cars drive beside each other with plenty of space in between.


    Kairos looked upwards, where the spiral staircase seemed to go up into a ck void.


    "...This may take a little while."


    With a sigh, he began running. Kairos found himself quite surprised at his own speed, which was on the same level as a car.


    The tapping sounds of his footsteps reverberated in his ears, while the wind blew past his hair. For a brief moment, Kairos forgot about everything else.


    The wide staircase was quite convenient for the sake of running fast, giving him lots of room to go.


    His surroundings gradually became darker and darker, until he eventually found himself at the top.


    Kairos panted slightly, then looked down the spiral staircase.


    A sense of dread immediately filled him as he saw how high up he was. It wasn''t a fall that he could survive, that much was for sure.


    ...Maybe he should''ve taken greater care in climbing up the steps.


    Nheless, Kairos decided to focus on other things.


    As said, there were three ''hallways''. Though the only issue was that they were more like cavernous expanses. One path had dried blood and seemed to be a vast expanse of emptiness. Another was just pure ck.


    And thest one consisted of several hallways and doors. The wallpaper had flowers on it and looked rather nice, while the doors were an unassuming brown. They appeared to form some sort of infinite maze, as even from here Kairos could see countless branching paths that seemed to go everywhere.


    Though on paper, it sounded a little ridiculous that the most dangerous ce wasn''t the one that was pitch ck or the one that had dried blood littered over it. Yet, when Kairos looked at all the hallways, he couldn''t help but feel weirded out.


    Even if Aria didn''t mention it, Kairos probably wouldn''t have taken that ce lightly.


    It was simply too out of ce, like a trap.


    With consideration of the other two paths, the one that was pure ck was still fairly off-putting to Kairos. Considering that he had no idea what was really inside there, he felt that was fair enough.


    And so, he began walking down the bloody path, which was ratherrge and empty.


    Yet, before he had even traveled for a minute, a person suddenly jumped out in front of him.


    "Stop right there."


    It was a young man, with short ck hair like Kairos, except styled. He held out one hand, while the other was in his pocket.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What?"


    The man paused for a second.


    "So, you''re the new guy, huh?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "So what if I am?"


    The man snuck nces at the bag Kairos was holding as well as the spear.


    "Well, if you want to pass, there''s a fee. You have to trade in five points for bread and water before giving it to me."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And if I don''t pay?"


    The man smiled.


    "Then you aren''t passing."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side slightly.


    "And how sure are you of that?"


    The man''s eyes widened slightly. It was at this point Kairos realized they were bloodshot. He was smiling strangely.


    "...I''m willing to bet my life on it, so I''m pretty sure."


    Kairos furrowed his brows. He stood still, observing the man for a few more moments. It took a little while, but he noticed that there was actually little to no fat on the man''s body.


    His muscles were clearly defined and wererge enough to make it seem like he was normally built. If the lighting was a bit better, Kairos would''ve noticed this immediately.


    Especially because it couldn''t help but remind him of the man on the first floor, who was starving.


    At the time, the man also had a decent amount of muscle on him.


    In fact, Kairos actually thought he was faking it once the man began fighting. Logically, it made no sense that someone starving could fight that hard.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But now, he reevaluated that opinion.


    There was something about the young man in front of him that seemed a bit different. Kairos had experience dealing with bullies, but none of the ones he dealt with before gave the same vibe as the man in front of him.


    After a few moments, Kairos sighed.


    "To get the bread needed, I will have to go all the way back down. How about you first let me in-"


    "No."


    The man was shaking slightly.


    "No way in hell. You have to pay first."


    Kairos found himself unable to speak for a little while.


    "...Why aren''t you trying to gain points yourself?"


    The man did not speak for a while.


    "You don''t need to know that. Eithere back with food, or don''te back at all."


    Kairos raised his hands.


    "Alright, alright."


    He backed off, walking back to the center.


    Kairos rubbed his chin before sighing.


    "If only there was some way to get a straight answer from people."


    He then set his sights on the pitch-ck hallway. After a moment of hesitation, he walked inside.


    Just as Kairos was told, his vision was abruptly cut off, leaving him in total darkness. He found it oddlyforting, soon realizing that it reduced his stress considerably.


    And so, Kairos began walking as though it wasn''t actually pitch ck, but a beautiful field of flowers.


    But he was abruptly taken out of his delusion when he heard some muffled sniffling in the distance.


    "Why... why..."


    The sounds of messy eating filled the air, like the sound of a pig eating.


    "Why..."


    Kairos paused, keeping himself as silent as possible. He decided to listen in on the ramblings.


    "I... I already ate so much..."


    The person in question began hyperventting.


    "Why is it still like this? This is impossible... it has to be. Just one bread was enough for an entire day before! I must be dreaming... yes... dreaming."


    A softugh resounded.


    "My body will be so plump, and all of these useless muscles will all disappear. When I wake up... everything will be different. Yes, I will be living a better life..."


    Kairos furrowed his brows. This person sounded just like the man he saw earlier, sounding both dangerous and desperate.


    While Kairos wondered how he should get past, strange gurgling sounds filled the air.


    Muffled groans of pain soon filled the air as well, along with the sound of some liquid sttering on the ground.


    A few momentster, a dull thump along with a tter rang out.


    Kairos felt something roll over and touch his foot.


    He decided to forget about what just happened, and kick away the thing that rolled next to him. He put his focus on what the person said.


    It sounded like the food that was being provided by the dungeon wasn''t enough after a while. Perhaps the food somehow lost effectiveness as a source of nutrition.


    Kairos also focused on how the person in question held resentment for their own muscles. Rting to the previous statement, it seemed that they had contributed to his starvation.


    Yet, he knew that the human body should''ve converted muscle into energy once it needed to. So there shouldn''t have been a problem...


    Unless that mechanism was taken away.


    Kairos couldn''t help but recollect his own experience with rationing food with the others. It only took them a few days topletely break down, despite having a decentlyrge amount of food.


    It seemed that muscles now remained on the body forever.


    Kairos'' eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch, considering he had maxed out his physical stats not too long ago.


    He shook his head and decided to try and walk further into the pitch-ck hallway.


    For the most part, it was silent. Yet, out of nowhere, he began hearing a whispering. Kairos could tell that he wasn''t imagining it because he heard it twice.


    After a bit of hesitation, he walked towards the whispering.


    And it became a little clearer.


    "...I will never stop..."


    "...die...die...die..."


    "...never forgive..."


    Kairos furrowed his brows and decided to extend his future vision before walking closer. A strange humming sound filled the air, along with a faint vibration. As Kairos continued to walk closer, he found that the sounds wereing from the ground.


    He held his spear with his armpit then reached out towards it, ready to retract if he felt something wrong in his future vision. Though, he only ended up grabbing onto some sort of cube.


    Whispers continued to emanate from that cube, making his hand vibrate ufortably.


    After a few moments of hesitation, he walked out while holding onto it.


    Soon, Kairos suddenly found himself back in the light. He looked down at his hand and saw what he expected.


    It was a red crystal, like Aria had mentioned earlier.


    Murderous mentions continued to emanate from the crystal, but Kairos didn''t feel afraid. He could feel that they weren''t targeted at him. As for what it was targeted at, he didn''t know.


    The red crystal gradually began disappearing from his hand, almost like it was dissolving into air.


    [Dungeon Currency Transferred - 1 point added]


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "That was easy enough."


    He decided to go back in, and try for some more. After all, it seemed rather easy the first time.


    He scoured for a few minutes.


    Then for thirty minutes.


    Kairos wanted to go further, thinking he might have gotten unlucky. However, he also considered it would be a little difficult to find his way back if he continued like this. As such, he made his way back.


    He ended up spending nearly an hour backtracking as he didn''t go the exact right path, but he found himself back in the light soon enough.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "...It seems that getting this currency is quite difficult."


    His gaze then shifted to the hallway with doors.

 Chapter 91 Famine

    Originally, Kairos decided to ignore the third hallway, with all of its doors. However, he also began wondering if that was really what he should''ve done.


    Frankly, as nice as points were, he had no intention of staying here for any longer than he needed to. Getting points this way was frankly not what he wanted to do. From what Aria had said earlier, it was some sort of taboo to go towards the doors.


    Yet, at the same time, none of them were able to advance to the next floor.


    Perhaps that meant there was some sort of mechanism there.


    ...Though at this point, he was feeling really hungry and stressed out as well. His encounter with the person in the pitch-ck hallway made him quite averse to eating, but that couldn''t change his needs.


    Kairos decided to try one of the doors. Considering he had his future vision to back him up, he should be able to back out if something bad happens.


    And so, Kairos walked into the hallway of repeating doors.


    He didn''t choose right away, opting to walk down several more doors until he arbitrarily decided on one. After opening the door, he was greeted with an empty room that had the same flower-pattern wallpaper outside. A white light shined brightly at the top of the room.


    Kairos decided to briefly extend his future vision to two seconds and see what would happen if he shut the door behind him.


    The moment the door shut with a soft click, a hazy blue figure appeared on the opposite side of the room.


    Kairos quickly canceled his actions, keeping the door ajar.


    He rubbed his chin in contemtion.


    ...It didn''t seem particrly dangerous. Though he might''ve been underestimating the blue figure''s ability.


    While remembering this spot, he decided to walk back into the hallway and try out the door opposite to the one he was just at. After opening the door, he was greeted with the same empty room.


    He peeked into his future vision to see what would happen if he closed the door, and was greeted with countless bullets materializing in thin air and raining down on him from every angle.


    Kairos hurriedly stopped himself from closing the door in reality.


    He came to realize it seemed like some sort of pandora''s box. There would be some random surprise for him on the other side.


    Thankfully, it seemed that his ability would actually help tremendously in this scenario so that he wouldn''t have to take any huge gambles.


    Kairos was really feeling the stress at this point, once again underestimating how debilitating extending his future vision felt. Not to mention, he really should eat something.


    He decided to take a break beforeing back to the doors.


    Upon getting back to the room where the spiral staircase was located, he saw some familiar faces.


    It was Aria, Alice, and Kyle.


    Kairos looked at them strangely. However, they were all paying attention to the other pathways, not even noticing he was in the same room as them.


    After walking a little closer, he raised his hand.


    "Um, why are you guys here?"


    Almost like they were some sort of kpop band, they all jumped up before turning around at the exact same time.


    Their expression was first shock, but quickly transformed into a normal casual one. Ariaughed awkwardly.


    "Ah, Kairos! We were just waiting for you here to see if you were ok!"


    Kairos did not respond immediately, instead opting to take a closer look at the people in front of him. They were all wearing clothes that had covered their entire body. Aria''s suit made it hard to see the body structure underneath, as it had its own structure.


    As for Alice, her clothes were rather baggy.


    And Kyle had clothes that were basically rags covering his entire body.


    In other words, Kairos couldn''t see if their bodies were normal, or skin tight like everyone else.


    "...You don''t need toe and check on me next time."


    Aria looked at him for a good few seconds, analyzing him closely. Then, sheughed.


    "Ah, but we are in an alliance, no? It''s only natural to check up on each other!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "There''s no need for that, really."


    The corner of Aria''s lip twitched.


    "Alright, alright. So, how did your point gathering session go? And... where did youe from?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I tried to go down the bloody path to kill some monsters, but a guy wouldn''t let me pass unless I gave him some food, which I didn''t have. Then, I tried the pitch ck pathway and was able to find a single red crystal, but that was it."


    Aria pped her hands gently.


    "Ah, so you were able to get a point?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, it seemed fairly easy."


    He then looked over to the pathway with hallways and doors.


    "And then I tried walking down that ce a little bit."


    Alice''s face twitched.


    "Why did big brother go there? It''s too dangerous!"


    Kyle seemed a little baffled.


    "...Did you not hear that''s how almost everyone died?"


    Kairos raised his hands in the air.


    "Hey, hey, I never entered a room and closed the door. I only checked it out a little bit."


    Aria smiled bitterly.


    "Um, I think it''s best just to stay away from that ce anyway."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Ok, I didn''t do anything anyway. I''m going to go back now."


    Since the three were standing at the top of the spiral staircase, he decided to jump off from the other end,nding at the side.


    The other three looked a little anxious but simply followed after him casually.


    Kairos walked a little quicker so that he was decently far away from the others. This seemed to prompt Aria to hurry up a little, which then made Kairos break out into a full sprint.


    Alice called out.


    "Wait, it''s not safe to go so fast!"


    Kairos responded without much care.


    "Don''t worry, I have good control over my steps."


    That wasn''t exactly the truth, but he would rather keep his distance from the others.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He continued to travel down the steps, almost feeling like he was traveling down a slide, just more dangerously.


    Once he eventually felt he was about fifty meters up in the air, he simply jumped off.


    For a few moments, he felt the wind wildly blow past his clothes.


    And eventually, he mmed down on the ground.


    Kairos bent his knees,nding with one end of his spear on the ground.


    Despitending with a pretty hefty impact, the ground was undamaged. As for Kairos, he felt the shock travel through his body, but there didn''t seem to be any injuries.


    After getting back up on his feet, he began walking back to his room.


    Another m resounded behind him soon enough, the sound of someone elsending.


    "Wait, do you want to take a shift for sleeping now?"


    It was Aria.


    Kairos spared a single nce behind him.


    "Not yet, I''m going to eat something before trying to get more points. I don''t even have a bed or nket, after all."


    Aria blinked a few times.


    "There''s no need to buy a nket or bed! It would be better to get some more points for food first. After all, you can''t survive without eating!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Ah, well either way I''ll go back up after having a meal."


    Aria stopped chasing after hearing that.


    "Haha, ok, ok!"


    She then began walking back to Kyle and Alice, who didn''t jump off. They seemed to be discussing something, but Kairos didn''t care.


    As he made his way back to his room, he could overhear two people arguing with each other in the distance.


    "What the hell is taking Mark so long?"


    "I don''t know, he was carrying all the food we had prepared for the red crystal expedition."


    One was a man with short blonde hair, and upon catching sight of Kairos, he red. The other was a woman that had short ck hair, but it was messily cut. It seemed like she had messily cut it with a de.


    She turned to look at Kairos as well, and simply observed for a good few moments.


    Kairos felt like he was being analyzed, almost like he was a zoo animal in a cage. Deciding not to think about it too much, he got back inside his room.


    Unfortunately, there was no door to close, so the privacy aspect was reallycking. It definitely wouldn''t get a high rating online as a ce to stay.


    After taking a peek behind him, he only saw people far off in the distance.


    From there he walked over to the projection, prompting it to open his status panel once more.


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 1]


    [Dungeon Currency: 51]


    Kairos blocked it with his body.


    "Open the shop."


    The same shop had greeted him, offering both food and something to sleep on.


    From there, he hesitated for a second before buying the bread and water, costing him one point. Blue mana coalesced around the counter in front of him before suddenly bing a loaf of bread and arge ss of water.


    Though it wasn''t that small of a portion, it definitely wasn''t worth an entire evolution point.


    He took a sip of the water.


    It definitely felt like water, but there was no refreshing sensation despite him being fairly thirsty.


    He then took a bite out of the bread.


    It was hard, dry, and had little to no taste.


    That was more or less what Kairos had expected. It did not take him too long to finish.


    By the end, he no longer felt hungry.


    However, Kairos frowned when he took a closer look at his body. It was rather... muscr looking.


    His skin wrapped quite tightly around his muscles, not that he didn''t have any fat, but it had reduced considerably from when he had first entered this dungeon.


    Kairos shut his eyes tightly.


    He wasn''t entirely sure if it was his imagination, but his body seemed to get smaller after he had eaten the bread. Even if there was some sort of difference, it was an unbelievably small one.


    Several red gs raised in Kairos'' mind, slowly connecting together. He began to find it suspicious that both the bread and water were formed out of mana.


    ...There probably weren''t any calories in mana.


    Kairos hedged a bet.


    That the food provided was actually fake.


    ...But it also seemed like the other people had been here for a while. Maybe not entirely fake, but definitely not what it looked like.


    Maybe the only real food that was here, was actually the green orbs that Kairos had on him.


    Kairos pressed his eyelids tightly together and took a deep breath.


    Then came to a decision.


    After clicking on the ''more'' tab in the shop, he spent all 50 of his remaining currency on evolution points.


    As reckless as a move this was, Kairos felt it was the right one.


    Though he did it for the sake of not wasting his resources on useless things, it was more so for the mentality he wanted to take.


    This ce was a hellhole, and that was even rtive to the fact the rest of the world was plunged into the apocalypse.


    It seemed that all the others on the floor were focused on surviving before anything else. However, ironically enough, by avoiding risk, their lives were all whittling away.


    Kairos had no n to be like all of the others on the floor with him.


    As for the mystery ten, they probably did something different, exploring the strange rooms. And by doing that, they either advanced to the next floor, or died without a trace. It was a gamble to follow after them, but this was the only option he saw.


    Without a single dungeon currency to his name, he walked out of the room.


    And he had no intention of evering back.

 Chapter 92 Monkies

    As Kairos made his way back to the spiral staircase, he noticed that the two people arguing earlier had already begun making their way there.


    As for Aria and the others, they were in the way, but hurriedly scampered off to the side after noticing the others making their way forth. Kairos didn''t think too much about it, instead opting to go towards the staircase at the same pace he had before.


    It did not take long for Aria and the others to see where he was going and decide to meet up with him once more.


    Aria smiled cordially.


    "Hey, you are going back to get some points, right?"


    Kairos nodded absentmindedly, not even pausing in his travels.


    Kyle did not make direct eye contact, but spoke up roughly as well.


    "We can help you with the acquisition process so that we would all have an easier time with it."


    Kairos did not pause, instead waving his hand dismissively.


    "I''m just going to try and find some more red crystals, alright? I won''t need much help."


    Aria cleared her throat.


    "Um, one thing I forgot to tell you earlier is that those red crystals are very rare. Your best bet will be to find a way to kill the monsters."


    Kairos sighed.


    "But I don''t have the points to give that guy the food that he wants."


    Alice balled her hands into fists.


    "Don''t worry! With all of us here, he will have to listen! That''s why we should go together."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "...There''s no need."


    The longer he spent with those people, the more he wanted nothing to do with them. That was what discouraged him from epting their offer, but the biggest reason was that he wanted to try out the hallway with doors.


    Kairos had no intention of wasting his time trying to kill monsters.


    Nheless, the three were persistent.


    Kyle coughed roughly.


    "This is simply so that we can all gain points. We can split them fairly regardless of who obtains them."


    Aria nodded enthusiastically.


    "Yes! This way, we can not only live, but livefortably. Buyingfort items is not out of the question either!"


    Kairos took a peek at the people behind him before turning forwards once more.


    "You seem to put a lot of trust in me."


    Alice raised one hand high into the air and waved it around.


    "That''s because big brother looks like a trustworthy person! We know he would never betray us."


    Kairos'' expression twitched when he heard that.


    "...So you trust me enough to let me get all of the points?"


    Alice fell silent, not knowing how to respond. That was when Kyle responded curtly.


    "Of course, if the situation calls for it, you will kill the monster thus gaining the respective points. However, for the sake of everyone''s survival, whoever can end its life should be the one doing it."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose that could make sense."


    Aria pped lightly.


    "Alright, then let''s get to it then!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I''m not exactly used to working with other people, so I think it would be better for me to do things by myself."


    Ariaughed.


    "Oh don''t worry about that, this will be the perfect opportunity to learn!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...Then don''t me me for any mistakes that I make."


    Alice giggled.


    "Don''t worry! Everyone makes mistakes!"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "I guess..."


    He cursed internally, unable to find a reasonable excuse to reject the three that were being as unreasonable as they were. Though they did seem rather pathetic, Kairos still didn''t want to make an enemy out of them yet.


    After all, to reach this ce, they had to have cleared the first floor.


    Though Kairos wasn''t sure if they had some other version, it couldn''t have been much easier. And frankly, if it wasn''t for his future vision, he wasn''t sure if he could''ve even cleared the first floor.


    It meant that each person here wasn''t one to be taken lightly.


    And so, the four of them walked up the spiral staircase. Though there would be asional attempts from Aria to bring up a casual conversation, Kairos shut them all down rather tly.


    From there, the group reached the top.


    "You killed Mark, didn''t you? Are you looking down at us?"


    In the bloody hallway, the man that had short blonde hair grabbed onto the shoulders of the starving one guarding the way. To the side, the woman with messily cut short ck hair crossed her arms.


    "You really are willing to do anything, aren''t you?"


    The man that was so hostile to Kairos earlier had raised both hands in the air.


    "I didn''t do anything! I''ve just been standing here..."


    The woman narrowed her eyes while holding onto a roughly woven together bag.


    "Then how is Mark dead, huh? I bet it''s because your crippled ass saw the opportunity and decided to kill him!"


    The man being corned frowned.


    "I didn''t do anything!"


    He then caught a glimpse of Kairos and pointed at him usingly.


    "Wait, I saw him go down there, to the ck hallway! He must''ve done something!"


    The man with blonde hair turned around, before ring at Kairos.


    "The new face is so bold?"


    The woman turned around and raised an eyebrow.


    "Tell me, twenty-five, is the dumbass here telling the truth?"


    Kairos raised his hands in the air.


    "I did end up going into the hallway with red crystals, but I can assure you that I did nothing myself."


    The woman frowned and walked a few steps forward.


    "So you did do it, but you''re just too scared to admit it?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "The only thing I did was get a red crystal from inside the ce, alright?"


    He then furrowed his brows.


    "...I would prefer not being reminded of that."


    The woman tilted her head to the side slightly, while her eyes widened.


    "Reminded? Reminded of what? How you killed Mark?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "When I was walking through the ce, I heard whimpers. There was a person mumbling to himself about wanting to be fat and how the food no longer sated him. Then I heard some gurgling sounds before I felt a head roll next to my feet."


    The man with blonde hair was still holding onto the other person.


    "What? Are you trying to say Mark killed himself?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Not necessarily, I''m just telling you what I know."


    The woman frowned.


    "The dipshit twins are still fighting monsters right now... so the only person that could''ve been in the ck tunnels would be Mark."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess it was Mark then."


    The man with blonde hair shoved the person he was holding onto before rushing forth.


    "The hell? Mark wasn''t the kind of guy to kill himself, you lying sack of shit!"


    Kairos'' eyelids couldn''t help but fall, showing how annoyed he was getting.


    "I haven''t lied about anything. I just told you about what I know, alright?"


    The woman clenched her fist tightly.


    "...I was wondering who dared mess with us. Of course it was a newbie that didn''t know of our reputation."


    Kairos sighed.


    "And of course, you aren''t listening to me."


    The man with blonde hair cracked his fists.


    "Heh, there''s no need to listen anymore, we already know the truth. Next time, you should do a background check on people, Twenty-five."


    A confident smile appeared on his face.


    "Because I''m so nice, I''ll let you know who you fucked with. The name''s Darren, the fifteenth person to reach this floor."


    A small smirk formed on the woman''s face.


    "And my name is Ines, the thirteenth person to clear the first floor. Do you understand who you''ve messed with now?"


    Kairos watched as the man that med him scampered away beforeughing to himself.


    "I''ve messed with a lot of people, but the only thing I understand now is that the two of youck the basic intelligence to function as a human would. You must be monkeys, and with that consideration, it truly is impressive you learned how tomunicate. I''m sure many scientists would go crazy to meet you."


    The woman smiled dangerously, while her hand spasmed violently, growing ws.


    "Piece of shit, you asked for it!"


    Aria, Kyle, and Alice were all quite far away from Kairos, right next to the pitch ck pathway.


    Upon seeing the situation get out of control, Aria called out.


    "Hurry! Get inside here and they won''t be able to see us!"


    Without so much as looking back, the three of them all dived into the ck pathway, disappearing from vision.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Some alliance that was."


    A strange smile formed on his face.


    "This is why I hate people. It would be so much better if they were all dead..."


    He considered following after the others. However, he preferred being able to see his surroundings.


    And so, Kairos leaped back towards the hallway with doors.


    Unfortunately, that was when Darren''s figure blurred before appearing in that hallway. The ends of roughly ten or so red nails suddenly appeared from the palms of his hands, almost like they were hiding inside.


    Kairos furrowed his brows and stopped in ce.


    Ines jumped down onto the spiral staircase before leaping up once again with a w reaching out towards him.


    In the end, Kairos ducked to the left, avoiding the w.


    Darren took this opportunity to rush forth and try to pierce him with the nailsing from his hands. However, Kairos didn''t have too much trouble evading it by twisting his body out the way. Nheless, he was off bnce, meaning he was fairly open to getting hit.


    Instead of pressing this advantage, Ines opted to back up.


    As for Darren, he let one of the red nails fall out of his palm and held onto it between his two fingers. Then, he let it whip forth.


    Kairos threw his head back, letting the nail shoot past him.


    At the same time, he ran around the spiral staircase. Ines slid over with a smirk, blocking his path.


    "Are you sure you want toe closer?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, before whipping his spear back.


    A metallic ng resounded as it hit Darren''s hand filled with nails. Despite his attack being blocked, this didn''t discourage him. His other hand plucked nails out of his palm before whipping them.


    Kairos was able to dodge them fairly easily, despite facing both projectiles and swings. However, he was also being forced to take steps back to dodge, which brought him closer to Ines.


    Once he was just two meters away, Ines suddenly lunged forth, opening her mouth wide as her teeth rapidly grew into fangs.


    Kairos intended on turning around and piercing Ines through the heart. However, he saw in his future vision that she would just continue without so much as flinching.


    And so, Kairos abandoned that idea, instead sweeping with the spear, trying to trip her.


    Ines jumped over it easily, and she aimed to w out his eyes while Darren aimed to pierce his back.


    But Kairos immediately slid underneath Ines, almost like he was a baseball yer desperately trying to reach home base.


    His assants seemed rather surprised, and taking advantage of that he began running to make some distance.


    Ines spun around, while Darren''s figure blurred.


    Kairos thrust his spear forth towards the air with furrowed brows.


    A loud series of ngs resounded.


    Darren suddenly appeared, holding his hands close together to block the spear.


    Ines let out a roar awfully reminiscent of a monster before rushing forth as well. Lightning began coalescing around her body, while gales of wind began forming around Darren.


    Kairos frowned as he quickly realized he could no longer hold back using his own spells, thus began charging up the pulse spell.


    His eyes widened slightly as he reached out with his hand.

 Chapter 93 Is This Sparta?

    After charging for a second, Kairos released the pulse spell.


    A soft swish rang out before a loud thump.


    Darren didn''t seem prepared for it, getting struck in the chest andunched backwards. However, the winds around him rapidly slowed his momentum.


    Kairos'' spear whipped backward, intercepting Ines'' electrified ws. Yellow arcs of lightning erratically jumped out,


    Kairos let himself be pushed forth, opting not to have a confrontation.


    Though, Darren wasn''t just going to let him go. The winds picked up the various red nails lying on the ground, allowing Darren to easily pick them back up, now with several nails in between his fingers.


    He threw a nail toward Kairos'' upper arm. This almost prompted Kairos to throw his body to the side, but he saw in his future vision that it had slightly shifted trajectory and went for his head.


    And thus, Kairos tilted his head to the side, letting the nail fly past.


    Darren seemed rather surprised but continued to throw the nails while the wind began bringing back the ones that were thrown away. It seemed that he wasn''t able to stir winds great enough to move the nails fast enough to be lethal on their own, thus had to supplement it by throwing.


    However, he was still able to use the spell well because it allowed him to retrieve the nails and also change their trajectory.


    Kairos felt several nails pierce his body, but thankfully that was only in his future vision. He was able to dodge the nails rather easily, approaching Darren quickly.


    Kairos thrust his spear the moment he got within range, prompting Darren to gather his nails together to block.


    A crisp ng rang out.


    Despite Kairos trying to shift the trajectory, Darren was able to easily block the spear, letting it get caught in between the nails in his hands. The worst thing that happened to him was sliding back a bit.


    A wild scream came from behind as Ines lunged forth.


    Kairos grit his teeth and did the trick where he looks behind him, but only in his future vision.


    Using that information he stepped to the side, letting Ines'' w pass by his side. As it passed by, Kairos wrestled onto the arm, immediately feeling the voltage pass through his body and run rampant, making his muscles seize up.


    Straining his body as much as possible, Kairos forced it to move, carrying Ines'' w forth further, towards Darren.


    Kairos figured that since she seemed to lose most of her rationality, she wasn''t going to hold back with her attacks at all, also meaning it would be hard for her to retract them. As such, it would be rather easy to push her attack further to attack her ally.


    Darren furrowed his eyebrows before bringing the nails in front of him.


    A sharp sh resounded, followed by ufortably loud metallic grinding sounds.


    Darren was able to interlock Ines'' fingers with his nails, blocking them. However, he began finding difficulty moving his own body as the electrical current passed through to his own body.


    Kairos grit his teeth, trying to force himself to move, but underestimated the effects of the lightning around Ines'' body. It had reduced his speed by at least half, though at least Darren wasn''t faring too well either.


    Unfortunately, Ines was doing just fine.


    Against Kairos'' expectations, she didn''t just recklessly try and attack him once more. Instead, she pressed her weight against him, forcefully shoving him towards the spiral staircase.


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he realized her intention. She wanted to throw him off the staircase.


    He immediately let go of Ines and got away from her, but the effects of the lightning were still rampaging through his body. Though the only way he could truly separate was by jumping onto the spiral staircase, thus he did exactly that.


    Ines gave chase immediately, while Darren backed off a little. Pulling back his hand to get ready to throw the nails once more.


    Uponnding, Kairos immediately twisted around while holding his spear horizontally. Ines came down with an overhead strike as she jumped down as well.


    A crash resounded.


    Kairos could feel his own eyes getting bloodshot, but it was nothingpared to how many red veins snaked in Ines'' eyes. In fact, her entire body hadrge bulging blue veins that squirmed like live worms.


    Despite having his strength maxed out. Kairos could immediately tell he was losing the sh, and thus backed off. Though, as he retreated, he felt pain coursing through his leg in his future vision. Kairos shifted his foot at a strange angle, and a nail mmed onto the staircase where his foot was going.


    Ines used that time to lunge toward Kairos with both her arms spread out, almost like she was trying to give a hug. There was even a smile on her face, though it looked more sadistic than loving.


    Seeing this, Kairos decisively jumped off himself. He bit down on the bag he was holding using his teeth, freeing up a hand to hold onto the side of the staircase.


    Ines couldn''t stop her own momentum, but didn''t try to. She instead jumped,nding down on the opposite side and further down the spiral staircase.


    Before Kairos could even begin pulling himself back up, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his hand in his future vision.


    Without hesitation, Kairos swung himself forth a little before letting go of the ledge. Right as he did, a nail mmed onto the staircase where his hand was.


    For a moment, Kairos was suspended mid-air without a single thing to hold him up. It wasn''t a sensation he was used to. While the effects of Ines'' lighting had worn off by now, the anxiety nearly made his body seize up regardless.


    However, Kairos had already thought of a n and thus was able to easily reign his panic in. He began charging the pulse spell, letting it build up.


    He shifted the grip on his spear before raising it up, almost like how someone would raise a g up. Though, he also tilted it back, letting it catch onto the stairs above him. With a grunt, he forcefully hoisted himself up.


    Several nails shot towards his spear, trying to offset it, but they all ended up missing by a small margin. Darren frowned over missing, but that was fair enough given how thin the spear was.


    While that was happening, Ines wasted no time in rushing up the steps.


    Kairos ignored her, instead opting to focus on the person harassing him from afar. He then jumped up, to which Darren threw a nail.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Unfortunately for him, Kairos was able to catch the nail, holding onto it between his two fingers. Without dy, he threw it back. Darren was easily able to dodge it, using both the wind to divert the trajectory and stepping to the side.


    However, that was exactly what Kairos wanted him to do.


    He was able tond right next to Darren. Faint blue mana had already gathered around his palm and by now his hand was even giving off a faint glow.


    When Kairos pressed his hand against Darren''s chest, he frowned, realizing what was about to happen.


    His figure suddenly blurred, before appearing a few meters back.


    However, Kairos had not released the pulse spell.


    After all, he could see that Darren would disappear at that point.


    Kairos did not hold back in rushing forth, while Ines jumped up and was following closely behind.


    Darren clicked his tongue, throwing several nails forth, but Kairos was able to sidestep them rather easily. In the end, one of them ended up piercing Ines''s arm instead, though it didn''t even slightly faze her.


    Kairos was able to catch up rather easily despite Darren backing up, as it was naturally slower to run backwards.


    Without dy, he once again brought his hand right next to Darren''s chest.


    A severely panicked expression appeared on his face immediately. However, he was unable to suddenly shift his position again so soon.


    Though Kairos didn''t know beforehand, he could see it all happen in his future vision. The glowing from his hand suddenly became a little brighter.


    An ear-splitting explosion reverberated.


    Kairos had released the pulse spell after charging it for several seconds, causing the air to shake. Hairline cracks formed on the ground underneath him, but disappeared as fast as they formed. As for Darren, he was sted backwards like a bullet, leaving a thick trail of blood as he flew through the air.


    He just so happened to shoot back into the bloody pathway, quickly disappearing in the distance. Though from what Kairos saw, his condition was extremely bad.


    Darren''s chest looked oddly deted from his shirt, evidence that the man''s rib cage had shattered. The rest of his body didn''t seem too good either, as his skin had ruptured, causing his blood to stter everywhere.


    His muscles should''ve been damaged too.


    Nheless, while Darren wasn''t going to be a problem for now, there was still Ines rushing towards him.


    She lunged forth, trying to bite down on his neck with her elongated teeth.


    However, Kairos abruptly twirled around and threw his head back, just barely avoiding it. The bag that he was still holding with his teeth was almost implicated as well. He pulled his foot back before mming it into Ines'' stomach, forcefully pushing her back.


    Unfortunately, despite putting all his strength into it, he was only able to shove her backwards by the length of his leg. On top of that, the lightning all over Ines'' body discharged onto him as well, causing his body to seize up and slowing his actions considerably.


    Ines took advantage of that, grabbing onto his leg with both ws before pulling.


    Kairos decided not to resist, instead, he used his other foot to push forwards, bringing himself closer, letting him feel an ufortable warmth emanating from her, simr to the overheated body of monsters.


    Ines did not seem to mind suddenly being so close. In fact, her mouth opened wide to reveal her long and sharp teeth, and lunged forth to bite down on him.


    Kairos pulled his head back as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. However, he wasn''t doing so to dodge out of the way.


    While Ines lunged forth, he did the same, holding nothing back.


    A crisp bang filled the air.


    Kairos had mmed his forehead against Ines''. He could feel blood dripping down from his forehead, while Ines'' only had a bruise. However, she also did not expect the hit, and her head ended up snapping back.


    She even ended up letting go of his leg and stumbling a few steps toward the ledge.


    Kairos was still having difficulty moving, but forced himself to move forth, keeping up. He once again pulled his foot back, raising it up for a kick.


    Ines had just regained her footing, when her heel went over the edge. This caused her topletely lose her bnce, about to fall off herself.


    But Kairos, as the gentleman he was, spared no hesitation in helping her fall down.


    His foot suddenly shot out,nding on Ines'' stomach hard.


    For whatever reason, Kairos had a strange inclination to dere that this was Sparta, despite being a dungeon.


    Ines wasunched like a cannonball. As she was falling, her back mmed against the staircase before sliding off, leaving her to free fall.


    Ines grit her teeth in frustration, but there wasn''t any fear.


    Mana began gathering around her mouth. After a few seconds, she abruptly oriented her body straight with her face looking away from the staircase.


    Then, a violent gust of wind shot out of her lips, causing her to recoil back towards the staircase.


    She once again mmed onto the stairs, while the natural incline nearly caused her to slip off again, but she grabbed onto the edge before that happened.


    Ines was still very much alive and kicking.

 Chapter 94 Twins

    Kairos saw that while Ines had fallen quite far, she was still able tond back onto the spiral staircase. Practically immediately, she began scampering up once again. However, as fast as she was, it would still take quite a while for her to get back up.


    Kairos hesitated for a moment, but turned around before rushing down the bloody pathway.


    From how he saw it, this was a good opportunity while they were separated to finish one of them off. Since Darren seemed pretty badly injured, that was naturally the one he wanted to go fight.


    Not to mention, he didn''t have any contingency n if he fell down the spiral staircase, so he had no ns of trying to fight with Ines for now, who was more or less fine.


    Kairos squinted slightly. After walking a decent distance into the bloody path, he found his eyes felt ufortable. There seemed to be some sort of faint mist lingering in the area, almost like a light foggy day.


    It obscured his vision somewhat, but he was still able to see one hundred or so meters ahead of him.


    Though most of the blood was dried and nearly ck, there was still a line of fresh blood. Kairos assumed that there was left by Darren, and thus followed it.


    The trail was initially straight, but eventually became a ratherrge splotch of blood. From there, there was no longer any bloodstain. Kairos furrowed his brows.


    He began considering if it was possible that Darren had somehow died and was then swallowed up by the dungeon, like how it did with the other corpses.


    But then again, it would probably be much faster for blood to be swallowed up rather than an entire corpse.


    As Kairos stared at the blood in front of him, he witnessed it rapidly disappear.


    He quickly came to the conclusion that Darren was still alive, and somehow able to stop the bleeding. Kairos furrowed his brows before looking around him.


    There were no signs, so he decided to randomly choose to go to the left. His rationale was that Darren probably went to the side rather than fleeing directly away since he worked so hard to get rid of the trail.


    After a moment of hesitation, Kairos went left.


    He jogged briskly, squinting his eyes because of the ufortable mist. Eventually, he was able toe across sounds far off in the distance. Thinking that it was a good sign, he shifted his direction slightly to get closer to those sounds.


    Along with the clear tapping sounds of his footsteps, roars came from the distance.


    Kairos presumed that these were the monsters. Which then led him to wonder how strong they were exactly.


    Soon enough, he found himself able to see the situation for himself.


    There were two little children fighting against a massive ogre-like monster.


    Kairos cursed internally once he realized that he hadpletely lost Darren, but decided to stay to watch the scene go down.


    The monster was nearly ten meters tall, but while it was high, its bloated shape was far more notable. It seemed that this particr monster was obese, though it was definitely also muscr. Along with that, its skin was in a darker shade than usual, and red veins snaked through its entire body, squirming strangely.


    There was a giant club in its hand, which was at the same height as it. As it swung the club around, violent gusts of wind would follow right after. The weight was clear, but the monster was swinging it around like a toothpick.


    Unlike other monsters, this one seemed more human, mostly because...


    "Hahaha, some little kids want to try and kill me?"


    It was talking, and also the cocky smirk on its face as it fought. This was quite startling to Kairos, as he imagined most monsters to havepletely lost their rationality.


    At any rate, it was even difficult for people that were considered humans to retain coherent thought, which made it that much more impressive.


    The ogre-like monster swung its club at a little boy, who was hovering in the air. The club was by no means slow. If Kairos wanted to dodge, he would probably only be able to do so by using his future vision.


    Yet, that boy glided through the air, suddenly soaring upwards, and dodging it. He had short and rugged brown hair. Though practically nobody tried to maintain their hair in the apocalypse, from how messed up it was, it seemed like he had always had extremely messy hair.


    "Judging people by their age is the first mistake many make."


    Despite being engaged directly in a battle, there was a rather monotone expression on his face. It appeared as though he was bored. In fact, his eyelids were hardly open, almost like he was on the verge of falling asleep.


    Yet as though to contrast that fact, there were bright green pupils underneath, that gave off light almost like it was a wolf''s at night.


    Along with that, the kid was holding a long chain in his hand, which was over three meters long. At the end, there was a meter-wide scythe.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder where someone could even find a weapon like that.


    The chain almost seemed to be dancing in the air. In fact, it seemed alive, almost as though it was actually an eel navigating its way through the ocean. There was a dangerous glinting from the de as it abruptly shot towards the monster''s neck.


    However, despite howrge it was, the monster was also agile, able to step to the side, avoiding it entirely. In fact, its steps were essentially silent, which was quite strange for such arge being.


    Despite not havingnded a hit earlier, the monster''s confidence was as strong as ever.


    "Hahaha, you have some sort of inferiorityplex because of your age, don''t you? Frankly, even the people you would consider to be old grandpas look just like children to me, so no need to take it to heart, brat."


    Its club whipped through the air, which the little boy was confident to dodge. However, the corner of his lip quickly turned down as he watched the club fly through the air.


    It was heading for his chains, rather than him.


    The boy let out a grunt, trying to whip his chains out of the way, but it was simply too long. The club smashed against the chains, wrapping them around it. The de even ended up hooking itself onto it.


    The boy furrowed his brows as he felt the chains suddenly stretch taut. As for the club, it continued to snake through the air. At this rate, the weapon would be forcibly pulled out of his hand.


    Yet...


    "So you''re saying that you''re nothing but a feeble old grandpa, huh?


    A deafening bang resounded.


    The club was knocked away, while the chains were forcibly stripped off. A little girl pulled back a giant war hammer, nearly four meters in length. It looked quite strange given that it was several times her size, but that didn''t seem to bother her.


    She had fairly long purple hair that came down to just above her waist. There was a very simr bored expression on her face, which would make most connect the two that they were rted in some capacity.


    Her eyes also glowed brightly, but were blue instead.


    She definitely looked more muscr than most kids, but that didn''t change how slender her body was. Her child-like features were still what stood out most.


    Yet, the way that she easily wielded the hammer, that fact almost seemed like an illusion.


    The boy let out a soft breath while twirling his chain and scythe around in the air.


    "I almost thought you weren''ting, Lucy."


    Lucy clicked her tongue.


    "You were the one that always brags about being able to stand on your own, don''t you Oliver?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Oliver chuckled.


    "Ok, ok."


    The monster grunted while holding both hands around the handle of its club. It was straining its hands to regain control over the club, as it was flung to the side from Lucy''s strike earlier.


    The monster narrowed its eyes as it took a step forward, swinging its club once more.


    "You really think you have time to be arguing in front of me?"


    Lucy and Oliver suddenly split apart, letting the club swish through the air between them. They only had rags covering their bodies, with countless old tears and stains that seemed to have seen years of use. There were no wings, so their ability to fly seemed to directly stem from some sort of magical spell.


    On top of that, they swooped through the air more deftly than actual birds themselves.


    The monster scoffed before a cocky smile returned to its face.


    "Don''t think you can evade forever!"


    As Oliver glided through the air, he twirled his chain and scythe before sparing a nce at Lucy.


    "Hey, there''s another roach trying to take our kill."


    Lucy let out a sigh.


    "I already know that. I will take care of itter."


    Kairos quickly realized that they were talking about him. He snapped out of his stupor, realizing he had just been staring awkwardly.


    He waved his hand nonchntly.


    "Ah, I''m not trying to steal any kill. Rather, I''m trying to kill this guy with short blonde hair."


    Then, he tilted his head to the side slightly while holding onto his chin.


    "Ah, speaking of, have you seen that guy?"


    Oliver raised an eyebrow before pointing off into the mist, close to the direction that Kairos hade from earlier.


    "Darren? That asshole is right over there."


    Kairos turned to look, but could only see the mist.


    "You can see that far?"


    Oliver shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yeah, I''m not blind."


    Lucy clicked her tongue.


    "Oliver, you just gave out that information for free when we could''ve used it to our advantage!"


    Oliver rolled his eyes.


    "I don''t like that Darren guy anyway, and I''m toozy to kill him myself."


    After saying that, he suddenly dipped down, letting a club soar over his head.


    The monster ground his teeth noisily before shouting.


    "Dammit! Don''t ignore me!"


    As its club glided through the air, Lucy had already raised her hammer up high in the air and was just above the club''s trajectory.


    When it whipped around to her, she let out a grunt before letting her hammer m downwards.


    A deafening smash resounded, while the dungeon shook slightly.


    The club mmed down onto the ground, causing arge line of cracks to appear around it.


    At that time, Oliver shot towards the monster''s legs before letting out a soft sigh.


    "Finally."


    Kairos began running towards the location pointed earlier, but couldn''t help but turn back to look at their fight.


    Oliver whipped the chain in his hands forth, causing it to wrap around the monster''s legs. He ended up abandoning the end he was holding entirely, instead catching the other side as the scythe whipped around.


    The monster let out a deep roar.


    "This won''t work on me!"


    It began to struggle, trying to separate its feet. But while it was distracted in doing that, Oliver tossed the de of the scythe upwards. Somehow, it began to automatically extend itself, reaching up all the way to the top of the monster before starting to wrap around his neck.


    The monster realized that, and abandoned its club so that it could use both hands to cover his neck.


    The chains ended up wrapping around, while the de pierced through the monster''s flesh, but only its hands.


    Despite its predicament, the monster still seemed confident in itself.


    "This won''t work! It''s simply too weak!"


    It began to forcibly break out of the chains that wrapped both around its legs and hands.


    However, Oliver wasn''t panicked in any way. He had one hand on his hip as he called out to Lucy.


    "Hey, it''s my turn to get a point."


    Lucy rolled her eyes.


    "Yeah, I know."

 Chapter 95 Leave Nothing

    While the scythe had imnted itself in the ogre-like monster''s hands, right before they were about to pierce its neck, Lucy had soared through the air.


    And got next to the monster, with her hammer drawn back.


    The monster seemed to notice what was going on.


    "Wait!"


    Unfortunately for the monster, Lucy did not wait. Her hammer shot forth, mming against one end of the de with a dull thump.


    With that, the scythe pierced through the monster''s hands cleanly, before seamlessly going through its neck as well.


    The monster''s head and fingersnded on the floor with rather splotchy sounds while the body slowly tilted backward before mming down onto the ground as well.


    And the very moment they had killed the monster, both Oliver and Lucy had rushed over to one of the arms.


    Oliver pulled back his chain and scythe before grabbing one end to peel off the flesh that was on the monster''s body. Then from there, he split it in two, giving one to Lucy.


    Kairos had already somewhat expected what they were going to do, but was still surprised when he saw both of them nonchntly begin eating the flesh from the monster. As for the corpse that was on the ground, it rapidly began disappearing.


    "You uh... aren''t afraid of any drawbacks?"


    Oliver wiped his bloody mouth using his sleeve.


    "What? The drawbacks aren''t a big deal for us right now. This is the only way to actually have a proper meal."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "I suppose I can''t say too much as I''ve eaten some monsters before myself."


    Lucy chuckled. She smiled genuinely, but it looked rather creepy because of the blood sttered across her face.


    "And we''ve eaten people before as well. Before everyone turned into big red things."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...You did?"


    Oliver shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you care so much about what other people tell you is right, you aren''t going to survive very long."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "I guess that''s true..."


    With that, he turned around and began running in the direction that Oliver had pointed out to him earlier, the way to Darren.


    Kairos hardly held back, running swiftly through the mist. If it wasn''t for his future vision, he might''ve crashed into something along the way since he could only see one hundred meters ahead of himself.


    Though there were only asional rocks that appeared and were quite small, so at most it would be a tripping hazard.


    Kairos ended up traveling farther than he expected. He began wondering if he had missed Darren just barely, but that was when he saw a trail of blood.


    It rapidly disappeared just as he had seen it, but Kairos had seen it nheless.


    Since it led in the same direction he was already going, Kairos simply followed it.


    And eventually came across Darren.


    He was standing, but clearly in a pretty bad mess. The nails that he carried before were embedded into the flesh and organs of his own chest, which was already deformed from Kairos'' pulse spell.


    From the way he was slightly swaying and the blood all around him, Darren seemed to be on the verge of death.


    Nheless, he was still alive.


    In fact, Darren was working on slowly pulling the nails out of his body, using his trembling hands.


    Without too much hesitation, Kairos dashed forth, pulling back his spear like a sword.


    Darren noticed this practically immediately, while a rather distraught expression was on his face.


    "Wait, please wait!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow and was already on the verge of losing the patience he mustered up to listen.


    "What?"


    Darren coughed up blood, before hurrying to speak.


    "Please don''t kill me! It''s not like I can even do anything anyway! Just look at me!"


    Kairos was hardly moved, and Darren could clearly see that. As such, he quickly followed up with another plea.


    "I can use all of my points for whatever you want to get, I have five right now, so you can buy whatever you want with them."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, before remembering something he was able to do.


    There was a blurry status panel next to Darren. After that, he extended his future vision for a brief moment.


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 1]


    [Dungeon Currency: 11]


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Lying even when your life is at stake, huh? That must mean you are confident in taking revenge."


    Darren''s eyes widened considerably.


    "What? But how do you-"


    Before he could say anything more, Kairos'' spear swept forth and horizontally split the man in half.


    Darren''s eyes widened in horror as the top half of his body sttered against the floor.


    Then, they fell limp.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Bonus - 0.4 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 11 added]


    Kairos took a short nce at the system notifications before realizing that he now could gain more evolution points if he bought them. He felt a little awkward, since he resolved himself sopletely to nevere back, yet now he had a very good reason to do exactly that.


    Kairos sighed before roughly guessing the location of the exit to this ce before running there.


    Before long, he found himself back at the entrance.


    As for Ines, she was nowhere to be seen.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow and assumed he must''ve missed her. And now, he could''ve easily ran over to the ce with all the doors which was his initial goal.


    However, he was quite bothered by the feeling of having an enemy that was alive.


    With that said, Kairos also realistically felt her chances of making it out of this dungeon alive were also quite slim. Thus it wouldn''t be too big of a deal to try out the doors, and hopefully get out.


    Yet, as much as logic told him what he should''ve done, Kairos found himself turning around and going back into the bloody path, getting covered by the strange mist once more.


    He had no idea how he was supposed to find her other than running aimlessly, so he did just that.<novelnext></novelnext>


    And so, he traversed the misty ce blindly.


    After ten minutes or so of running, he couldn''t help but think about how sparse the monsters were in this ce. What he initially imagined was that there would be quite a few monsters, to the point where a swarm could happen.


    However, that was clearly not the case.


    As those thoughts were filling his mind, he ended up hearing the sounds of battle in the distance once more. He decided to go towards those sounds without too much thought, and by the time he got there, he witnessed another giant monster falling down to the ground.


    Its head had exploded, leaving only its body on the floor.


    And there were two people floating above it. Lucy and Oliver.


    Lucy spared a nce at Kairos.


    "Sorry, there''s no kill for you to steal here."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Ah, no... I''m just trying to find and kill this girl called Ines."


    Oliver blinked a few times.


    "Huh. You seem pretty vengeful. What could she have even done to make you want to kill her this badly?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "...I just don''t like keeping enemies alive."


    Lucy rolled her eyes.


    "You have such low confidence in your own strength and growth that you think they will eventuallye back and kill you?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s more the fact that I find it annoying not to tie up loose ends."


    Oliver looked at him strangely before pointing off in a direction.


    "Then just go there, and you''ll find her if you aren''t too slow."


    Lucy red at Oliver.


    "You didn''t even try to ask for something?"


    Oliver closed his eyes and turned away.


    "It''s a waste of time to wait, if anything."


    Lucy clicked her tongue.


    "Even so, giving help for free..."


    Kairos hesitated for a moment, before extending his future vision to see the status of the two before him.


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 1]


    [Dungeon Currency: 134]


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 1]


    [Dungeon Currency: 133]


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched when he saw such an exaggeratedly high amount of points. He guessed that there must''ve been quite a few monsters in this ce before, but these two twins must''ve killed nearly all of them.


    He shook his head, deciding to hurry off over to Ines.


    And just as Oliver said, he soon came across Ines, who was currently breathing heavily to herself. She was holding the side of her head with frustration, seemingly unaware that the ws were digging into her scalp.


    For now, Ines seemed unaware of Kairos'' presence.


    He saw an opportunity through that.


    Kairos stuck out his hand, keeping his four fingers together. Mana began gathering towards the tips of his fingers, charging up to be a gale spell.


    After a few seconds, the faint sound of whipping wind could be heard from his fingers.


    Combined with the spells he had casted previously, Kairos quickly found himself nearly out of mana.


    He decided that he needed to add points into his mana capacityter. Doing so right now might starve him to death, which he wasn''t really fond of right now.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, then released the gale spell.


    It hardly made a sound as it shot through the air, and other than a slight distortion in the mist, it waspletely invisible.


    Ines just barely noticed it in time, bringing her arm up to block.


    An ear-piercing crack resounded.


    Ines immediately cried out in pain, but immediately reigned it in. Her arm had bent severely, almost like it had another joint.


    She was still partially transformed into a monster, and when she turned to look at Kairos, her eyes told exactly the same story. Ines looked like her mentality hadpletely devolved into one of a beast.


    Though, her skin was still far from red, like how other monsters were.


    Kairos decided not to question it, instead rushing in to seize the advantage early.


    As for Ines, despite having her arm badly injured, she didn''t seem against it either. Lighting began to gather around her body once more, appearing as many tiny little arcs that jumped around her body. She crudely bent her arm, causing it to snap back in the proper orientation.


    If a normal person did that, it would probablye offpletely, leaving the person armless.


    However, the moment the arm was ced back into ce, it began to stitch itself together.


    Seeing Ines'' impressive regeneration ability, this only furthered his resolve to kill her. Kairos suddenly dashed to the side. As he did, Ines lunged to the spot where he just was.


    Kairos wasted no time in spinning around and thrusting his spear forth, piercing into the back of Ines'' heart.


    However, despite that, there was a frown on his face.


    He quickly pulled his spear out before taking a step backwards, just barely avoiding Ines'' strike as she suddenly whipped around.


    Despite not hitting Kairos, and only taking hits herself, Ines didn''t seem the slightest bit discouraged. She let out a deep roar before rushing towards him once more.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes before sweeping his spear at Ines'' feet, causing her to trip and fall onto the ground. His spear shot for Ines'' head, but he saw that she dodged.


    Despite shifting his trajectory with the information from his future vision, Ines was still able to move out of the way, perhaps with powerful instincts.


    Ines then grabbed onto the spear.


    Kairos frowned, not expecting this as he couldn''t see it while his future was warping to change. He then abruptly let go of the spear, while his eyes narrowed.


    Right when he did, violent currents of lightning suddenly came out of Ines, climbing up the spear despite the fact it didn''t conduct electricity before.


    A smile formed on Ines'' face as she tilted her head to the side. It was almost like she was mocking him.


    He had lost his weapon.

 Chapter 96 Blood And Feasting

    Ines held onto the spear like it was a stick and waved it around like she was a kid.


    From how her eyes weren''t truly focused, it seemed that most of her rationale had already disappeared.


    Kairos wondered if he should''ve let himself be electrocuted so that he could keep the spear, but quickly discarded that thought as holding on would''ve made him extremely susceptible to her attacks, and that this wasn''t really the time to be thinking of such things.


    Ines pounced towards him, prompting him to throw his body to the side.


    As she passed him, he could hear the clear crackle of lightning in his ears. Kairos quickly realized the big problem with his situation. If he tried to attack her, even if hended a sessful hit, his body would seize up under the lightning.


    Yet, he couldn''t defeat her if he never fought back.


    While stuck in this strange situation, Kairos continued to evade all of Ines'' attacks, whether they were swiping with her ws, biting down with her teeth, or using his own spear against him.


    During this time, he suddenly came to the realization that Ines wouldn''t be able to use her lightning ability forever. It should eventually run out. Considering she had been using it for quite a while before, and that she had cast another spell earlier, her mana must be rtively limited.


    And so, Kairos continued dodging.


    Ines wouldn''t do anything like a feint or even hold back with her attacks so that she could easily follow up with another one. As such, while it wasn''t the easiest to dodge a full power attack, on the whole, it wasn''t terribly hard.


    ? Kairos'' eyes narrowed slightly as he felt the spear brush by the top of his head, causing his hair to flutter.


    He then mmed his foot against the ground, forcibly twisting himself to avoid the w that shot toward him.


    Though it was close, Kairos was able to dodge everything with the help of his future vision.


    Yet, it seemed he was a little naive to believe that this situation would just consistently repeat itself. The lightning on Ines'' body had grown stronger by several times, to the point that the arcs of lightning began reaching out into the air and even began traveling up the spear.


    She might''ve seen through Kairos'' n of evading until she ran out of mana, or perhaps she had just be impatient.


    Regardless, Kairos was quickly put in a bad position.


    Ines swung the spear and Kairos originally had the intention of dodging. However, he was able to see in his future vision that even if he did dodge, the lightning would jump out into his own body.


    To make matters worse, his body would be restricted even more than usual, making him at least seventy percent slower. Perhaps even more.


    In that brief moment, Kairos'' thoughts raced, before bringing him to make a rather risky decision, to match the risky situation.


    He threw himself forwards, and slightly to the side.


    As he did this, the spear ended up ripping into his chest, brutally tearing up his flesh. However, Kairos had no time to think about that now.


    The lightning rapidly began traversing through his body, seizing control over it.


    However, before it fully took over, he slipped past Ines, before hooking his arms from underneath her armpits, almost like he was trying to stop a drunk friend from picking a fight.


    As the lightning rampaged through Kairos'' body, he could almost feel his entire body tearing apart. However, he was still not in the worst possible situation.


    The lightning forced his body to contract involuntarily, but he didn''t try to resist it, instead also trying to contract his muscles further. It caused his arm to squeeze together and ball his hands tightly in a fist.


    This way, he was able to restrain Ines, meaning it would be hard for her to fight against him.


    Kairos considered it risky to try and wrap around to restrain from behind, however, he figured it would be way worse to try and do it the other way, considering Ines would very likely bite his face off.


    Though, that didn''t mean she was unable to do so altogether.


    Ines strained her neck, forcibly twisting it to the side before biting down on Kairos. It was quite painful, though most of it was masked by the pain of lightning coursing through his entire body.


    Regardless, Kairos couldn''t just sit here and do nothing.


    After all, more than the problem of Ines biting through his arm, he had the bigger problem of the lightning slowly destroying his entire body.


    It was getting quite hard for his mind to even process basicmands, which made Kairos start to be a little desperate.


    Realistically, he only saw one way to attack Ines.


    And that was with his teeth.


    With nothing else to truly think about, Kairos slowly opened his mouth, resisting the force of lightning trying to contract it.


    Once he had opened it enough to take a proper bite, Kairos lunged forth, biting down on the back of Ines'' neck.


    Biting down was far easier than opening his mouth, especially since the lightning was now helping him contract his muscles as opposed to resisting it.


    Though this wasn''t the first time Kairos had done something like this, he still felt quite strange.


    Perhaps it was because Ines was a human, despite her various features that had be monsterized.


    Nheless, it was far toote to think about those things now.


    Red veins began to bulge in Kairos'' widened eyes. A strong taste of blood filled his mouth and eventually had nowhere to go other than down his throat.


    Until eventually, he bit off a chunk from the back of Ines'' neck.


    Yet... she was still alive, and very much still struggling, causing the lightning to rampage through his body and also tearing through his arm with her teeth.


    Kairos felt the lump of flesh in his throat and was greatly unsettled by it. He tried opening his mouth to spit it out, but he was only able to open his mouth so far and wasn''t able to make enough space for the flesh to fall out on its own.


    Kairos began choking on all the blood seeping down his throat, and in the end, that choking made him lose what little control he had.


    And so, the lump of flesh pressed against his esophagus.


    Kairos could''ve still resisted, but if he wanted to be able to breathe properly, then he would need to swallow. More blood began to pump to his brain, making his head radiate an ufortable warmth.


    As the adrenaline ran through his veins, Kairos made his decision.


    And swallowed the lump of flesh.


    ...It definitely felt strange and ufortable. For one, it was human flesh, and for the other, he really didn''t chew the lump of flesh at all, making it kind of hard to swallow in the first ce.


    Nheless, Kairos couldn''t contemte that now.


    He had already opened his mouth enough to take another bite when he was trying to get the flesh out of his mouth.


    And so now, he did not have to wait before biting down once more.


    Kairos felt his teeth push through the muscles until eventually getting caught on something. He quickly identified it to be the spine.


    As more blood continued to pour down his throat, he felt he was losing more of his sanity.


    It was moments like these that Kairos really hated the fact that he had his future vision, making him experience all of these things twice.


    His desperation grew as his teeth locked themselves onto Ines'' spine. From there, he began pulling.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Countless messy fleshy sounds rang out.


    Kairos pulled harder, until he felt the spine was breaking.


    Then, a strangely wet sounding crack resounded.


    As Ines'' head came off of her body.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Bonus - 0.4 points awarded]


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 2 added]


    The lightning stopped almost immediately, while Kairos ended up copsing to the ground, spasming violently.


    He still held onto the end of the head in his mouth, though he didn''t want to do so.


    It was only until a few secondster, and after an unknown amount of blood had traveled down his throat, was he able to finally let go of the head.


    Kairos immediately began gagging, trying to spit out the blood he had swallowed. However, he was only able to expel the blood in his mouth. It seemed that everything that went to his stomach had already been used up, and spread through the rest of his body.


    As this was all happening, there was a faint chuckle in the distance.


    "I thought you said you had done something like that before? From how it looks, this is your first time trying to eat someone else."


    Kairos'' vision was blurry, while he wasn''t really listening. However, he could still make out that Oliver was speaking to him.


    After spitting a few more times, Kairos sat up and began panting heavily.


    "...I just... choked."


    Lucyughed.


    "If anything, it looks like you couldn''t stand it, so you forced yourself to choke."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    He reached around, before eventually grabbing onto his bag of green orbs that he had dropped during the battle.


    Oliver spared a nce towards the bag, but soon lost interest.


    "Why were you even so insistent on killing Ines, anyway? Did she do something to offend you?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, slowly recovering.


    "She... decided to be enemies with me. And I don''t like having enemies."


    Lucy rolled her eyes.


    "So if we dered that we were enemies with you, then you would begin chasing us down?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...Maybe."


    Oliverughed, twirling his chain and scythe.


    "Even if that meant you would die?"


    Kairos fell silent.


    Though he wanted to say something back, he had to admit that he didn''t have the confidence to kill both Oliver and Lucy. If it was only one, then he could consider it, but otherwise it was simply too much.


    He coughed while wiping away the blood that had covered his mouth and began dripping down to his neck.


    "It weighs down on your mind when you have people that may turn against you. That''s why I said I wanted to tie up loose ends."


    Oliver raised an eyebrow.


    "And that''s why I said that you should at least have the confidence that you can grow faster than your enemies."


    Kairos'' face twitched.


    "But there are no guarantees."


    Lucy sighed.


    "Don''t you know that there will always be risks? Why are you being such a dummy?"


    Kairos'' face twitched. He had no clue why he was being lectured by some kids. Perhaps this was why Ines had referred to them as the ''dipshit twins''.


    He let out a long sigh.


    "I guess maybe."


    Oliver shrugged his shoulders.


    "Me and Lucy here have countless enemies. We were kids on the street with nowhere else to turn to. And because we weren''t just going to sit down and die, we stole a whole lot."


    Kairos blinked a few times, and continued to wipe the blood off of his body.


    "So... you made a lot of enemies."


    Lucy chuckled.


    "That''s an understatement. Sometimes I would even go out of my way to provoke people and find ways to beat them up."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "That sounds like going too far. You have to at least somewhat think about it, right?"


    Oliver smirked.


    "It''s because we have confidence in ourselves. We know that no matter what, we will get through it like we always have. That''s why none of our burdens weigh us down, because they don''t cause us to doubt."


    He shrugged.


    "If anything, it''s only proof of how far we''vee."


    Kairos couldn''t help but think of his past after hearing that.

 Chapter 97 Statuses

    Whenever Kairos had been picked on by other kids, he always found that they were quite relentless. It seemed that they saw hisck of resistance as weakness, thus found it only natural to bully him even further.


    It took Kairos quite a long time to realize that he had to fight back in order to prevent people from trying things on him.


    Though, his first experience in doing so wasn''t too pretty.


    He had broken the arms of three kids and had gotten himself expelled. Naturally, this made him get an earful from his parents who then told him he was supposed to avoid conflict like that.


    Because it was quite the serious matter, he was even forced to go through ''homeschooling'' by his parents, who forced him to write down the various things he wasn''t supposed to do countless times.


    And for Kairos, it was an extremely confusing experience.


    He was supposed to defend himself if he wanted people to stop bullying him, but he also wasn''t allowed to.


    It was then he eventually learned that what he was allowed to do was notify the teachers, and so that''s exactly what he did during middle school.


    Yet, most of the time the teachers couldn''t care less.


    And even the ones that did, barely did anything other than giving a few words to the people in question.


    Kairos eventually learned that there usually wasn''t a clear cut answer.


    And that was the case for nearly everything in life.


    Even in school, people were considered to be at different statuses based on their connections with other people. Though there was no true power over others, whether that was through their position or assets, that still didn''t change this difference in status.


    And frankly, Kairos didn''t like making friends.


    As such, it was quite natural for him to suddenly find himself at the bottom of the socialdder. Then it led to him being bullied by others at school.


    When Kairos had ''identally'' broken someone''s arm before, he still couldn''t help but feel he needed to go further. That if he didn''t, then he would end up being bullied once more.


    Though Kairos wasn''t sure if that was the case, he decided he wasn''t going to relent.


    And so, he found various ways to hurt the person that already had a broken arm even further, trying to make it so that he wasn''t responsible. One thing Kairos had learned was that if he dropped his pride and apologized profusely, while it wouldn''t do anything for the person he wronged, it would make other people think that he was being genuine.


    He abused both that, and also sneakily used more discreet ways as well.


    Such as... sneaking things into their lunches.


    Before Kairos knew it, he was essentially being the bully. Though, he never really cared about all that.


    Eventually, the person he was harassing all of the time transferred schools. Though, that still didn''t change the fact Kairos was at the bottom. If it wasn''t for the little trick he did with Chad, nearly every bully in the school would have tried to pick on him.


    As for his parents, they ended up hearing about some of the things that Kairos did, and although he proimed it was an ident, they didn''t believe him. Perhaps it was because of his track record of violently hurting others before, which made ones that appearedter seem like a pattern.


    Unfortunately, he was unable to convince his parents, forcing him to listen to more of their lecturing. Though, after experiencing it for years on end, all of their words went in one ear and out the other.


    He could no longer care about what his parents told him.


    Regardless, he spent all of his time just harassing that one person. That led to being isted even further, as instead of talking to others he was just plotting various little inconveniences and injuries. It soon came to the point that Kairos could no longer make any new friends even if he wanted to.


    The only person that was actually willing to be friends with him was Nicole.


    Kairos let out a sigh and massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "I suppose always getting rid of every single enemy isn''t the best solution, especially when nearly everyone wants to be your enemy."


    Oliver smirked, which ticked Kairos off a little bit.


    "Ha, exactly. It''s just a waste of time."


    Lucy put a finger on her chin.


    "If we had to get rid of every enemy we had made... there would be no time for ourselves."


    Kairos gradually stood up and waved his hand weakly.


    "...Whatever."


    Lucy clicked her tongue and rested the handle of her hammer on her shoulder.


    "You should at least thank us for saving you the time to find these guys."


    Kairos spared a nce back.


    "Thanks... Oliver."


    Lucy''s eyebrow twitched, but she didn''t say anything.


    Oliver chuckled.


    "You are now in our debt, alright?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Sure. I can buy you a sodater."


    Oliver didn''t seem overly concerned with his response, letting him go.


    Kairos didn''t want to waste time, but he also found that his body could barely even walk in the first ce. There was a rather ghastly bite mark on his arm that was still bleeding fairly heavily.


    Yet, despite looking fairly bad, it wasn''t nearly as close as the damage the lightning had done internally to him. While it wasn''t too easy to see directly, it wasn''t too hard to tell from how he moved.


    Nheless, Kairos pushed on.


    He wanted to quickly make his way to the ce with all the doors before consuming one of the green orbs to fix his condition. The biggest reason was because it seemed that the twins were able to easily see through the mist, meaning doing it in this ce would just reveal that fact to them.


    Since going to the ce with doors was a sort of taboo, he figured that it would be fine to go there.


    And so, like that, he began limping.


    He didn''t exactly make his way towards the entrance, but it was close enough so that it didn''t take too long. Nheless, it still took him roughly thirty minutes.


    Thankfully, it seemed his condition had actually improved during that time. He was no longer bleeding, though his entire body was still aching in pain.


    Withbored breaths, he stepped out of the bloody pathway, taking care not to fall down the spiral staircase.


    Kairos took a peek at thepletely dark pathway, and didn''t see anything, which wasn''t the craziest thing. He then slowly made his way to the hallway filled with doors, which was also his initial goal in the first ce.


    Yet, before he could make it there, he saw someone''s head poke out from the dark pathway in his future vision.


    Kairos pretended he didn''t notice, instead opting to straighten his posture and pretend he was casually walking on ahead. His speed had noticeably increased.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Once the person''s head poked out once more, he was able to catch that it was Alice.


    She didn''t call out to him, despite very clearly noticing him.


    And Kairos continued to walk into the hallway with doors.


    He felt a little anxious, but nothing ended up happening.


    Upon making it to the hallway with the doors, he didn''t feel reassured whatsoever, especially since the others had seen him enter this ce.


    Kairos continued to hurriedly walk through various hallways, taking various turns to try and get himself deeper inside.


    After traveling for roughly ten minutes, Kairos truly couldn''t take it anymore, mming his shoulder against a wall before slowly sliding down.


    His eyes were tightly shut, trying to subdue the pain that his future vision gave him.


    From there, he pulled out one of the green orbs from the bag before cutting it open with his spear. Kairos chugged it harder than someone shotgunning a beer.


    The sweet liquid rushed down quickly, and Kairos could feel the various pains of his body begin melting away. His injuries rapidly healed, while his mental fatigue had disappeared as well. His mana had restored fully and on top of that, he now felt quite full.


    One of the side benefits was that the taste of flesh and blood was overpowered by its strong taste.


    Kairos immediately opened up his status panel, now ready to put in points.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 492/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 51.4]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Though Kairos had expected it, he was still quite surprised by how many points he had.


    Nheless, he quickly diverted his attention to adding status points.


    After a small period of deliberation, he decided willpower was more important, as his mana capacity and magic affinity should be too big of an issue for now. Though he still didn''t really understand the benefit, he figured it wouldn''t be too bad.


    [Willpower - 4.9 -> 14.9 | Points - 51.4 -> 41.4]


    He felt his body heat up like before, except most of the heat was radiating out of his head. As the changes continued to happen, Kairos suddenly felt that his mind felt somewhat lighter than usual.


    He blinked a few times, getting used to the new change.


    Then, let out a small gasp.


    "...It no longer hurts to keep my eyes open."


    After thirty or more seconds, Kairos eventually felt slightly taxed from using his future vision, but it was nothingpared to before. At this rate, he predicted that he couldst roughly five hours before feeling too tired to continue.


    Though if he extended his future vision, it would probably be far less.


    He wished he added more points earlier, but it was toote to consider that now.


    Kairos wanted to continue adding points considering he already had so many, but found that increasing his willpower made him feel quite hungry again. He was slightly tempted to use another green orb to add more points, but decided against it.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh before standing up once more, now feeling refreshed, despite being covered in blood.


    He opened up the closest door to him before entering it.


    Kairos quickly closed the door in his future vision before examining what would happen in his future vision.


    He saw a couple arrows shoot towards him.


    Thinking that wasn''t too much to deal with, hemitted to closing the door before dodging to the side.


    Several clear thwacks resounded as the arrows hit the wall. Unfortunately, that wasn''t all, as more mana coalesced, forming arrows that continue to shoot towards Kairos.


    He continued to dodge them fairly easily, considering that the arrows were mostly just pointed straight at him. However, as time passed, the arrows began to shift their trajectories.


    Now, they weren''t directly aimed at him, but instead predicting the path that he would dodge.


    Kairos furrowed his brows. While the arrows were much faster than he could move, he was still able to dodge with the help of his future vision.


    He saw an arrow shoot towards his left, thus went right. Upon hitting a wall, he was about to dash away from it, but waited just a moment for an arrow to hit where he was about to go, then flew out of the way when another shot straight towards him.


    Kairos had held back his instinct to block using his spear several times. As much as he wanted to use it, the spear was simply far too thin. He had actually tried to block an arrow with his spear, but saw in his future vision that the arrow would only have its trajectory slightly shifted before continuing towards him.


    It wasn''t enough to warrant using it.


    And sooner than he expected... the arrows stopped shooting.


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 1 added]


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    It was easier than he expected, though...


    He began wondering over the purpose of this ce.

 Chapter 98 The Rooms

    Kairos frankly didn''t believe that the dungeon was made so that people could get stronger. There were just too many strange things that made it far too weird. First of all, participants had to pay for proper food. Assuming that cannibalism or eating monsters weren''t resorted to, that was the only realistic source of food.


    Yet, that food wasn''t really even food.


    Kairos furrowed his brows as he opened up the door, going back into the hallway. Out of curiosity, he tried to go back into the room he just was in and closed the door once more.


    However, nothing happened.


    Kairos didn''t think about it too much before going to another door, opening it up as well.


    He extended his future vision briefly before beginning to close the door.


    Once he did, Several beams of water suddenly shot toward him. He stopped himself from closing the door and blinked a few times.


    The beams of water weren''t directly aimed toward him. While one targeted him directly, the others instead shot towards his sides, trying to block off his path to dodge.


    Kairos couldn''t help but recall the time he was back on the very first floor, dodging spears to get through the hallway. At first, the spears simply shot toward him directly, but over time they began shifting.


    Like it was learning.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes before eventuallying to that conclusion. It seemed that this dungeon was some sort of method to learnbat techniques in a rather crude way.


    Pure trial and error.


    As for the bloody pathway with monsters, he was pretty sure that the dungeon was somehow using the flesh that it consumed after the corpse was dealt with. On the other hand, he couldn''te to any conclusions about the dark pathway.


    With the conclusion Kairos hade to, he wondered if he would be able to ''teach'' the dungeon incorrect ways of fighting. Though he doubted the effect would be too big, he still figured it was worth a shot.


    And so, Kairos closed the door.


    When the water beams shot towards him, he leaped upwards.


    With a dull thump, the beams of water mmed against the wall behind him, spraying droplets of water into the air. They obscured his vision slightly, but not enough to meaningfully stop him.


    Kairos mmed his spear into the wall behind him and clenched it tightly, flexing his muscles hard. His body then raised once more, dodging another beam of water that shot towards him andpletely avoiding the other water beams that shot towards his sides.


    Kairos found himself right next to the roof now, with no higher to go. He once again mmed his spear into the wall, this time throwing himself to the side.


    He just barely dodged a water beam that shot towards him. The beams of water hadn''t shot to either side of him. In fact, there was one that shot towards the roof, seemingly predicting that Kairos would be spiderman and crawl on the ceiling.


    The water beams that had been shot before were still active and continued to m hard against the walls. The droplets of water had gradually turned to even thicker mist. As for the water that had gathered on the ground, it disappeared as soon as it hit the ground, thus not making the ce flooded.


    Kairos furrowed his brows as he found the area he had to dodge had reduced considerably. Nheless, he had no time to wait.


    More water beams continued to shoot toward him while he was still in the air. Kairos saw that they only aimed towards his sides and above him. As such, he mmed his spear into the wall before flinging himself downwards, avoiding them all.


    However, it was now that Kairos found himself in an awkward predicament. To his left was a wall. To his right was a water beam that had been fired earlier.


    And above him, were the water beams that had just fired.


    In other words, he no longer had any space to dodge.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that one water beam would shoot towards his torso, while the other would go towards his legs. In response, he bit down on the bag of orbs with his teeth so that he could hold his spear with both hands.


    At the same time, he took an awkward position with his legs almost like he was a sumo wrestler getting ready to fight.


    Then, the water beams shot out.


    One mmed right below him, dangerously close to making him a eunuch. However, he had no time to contemte over that, as another one had smashed right onto his spear.


    Kairos stuck his arms out while holding onto his spear vertically. The beam of water struck the spear violently, before splitting into two separate ones that shot towards his side. Unfortunately, due to how thin his spear was, it was not enough to divert the trajectory of the split water beams enough to avoid his bodypletely


    As such, the sides of his rib cage were now being battered with a constant gush of water.


    The droplets of water had be so dense, that Kairos could no longer even see, making the other sensations of pain even more noticeable.


    He could feel the spear breaking through the skin of his palm, another disadvantage that came from how thin it was.


    Eventually, the flesh of his palm started to tear apart, forcefully pushed aside.


    Kairos could feel his mind spinning, as he gradually felt it was his very bones pushing back against the spear to divert the beam of water.


    There was even a point where Kairos forgot about the water beam below him, nearly causing his legs to buckle. However, the intense pain from his future vision reminded him of that clearly, making him keep his legs up even though they had begun trembling.


    And right when Kairos felt that this was going to be endless...


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 1 added]


    The water beams suddenly disappeared.


    Kairos began panting, nowpletely drenched. The ground was more or less dry, but the air was still incredibly humid.


    Blood began forming from Kairos'' palms, dripping down his spear. There was blood before, but it had been washed away by the water.


    He took several deep breaths beforeposing himself once more.


    "...That was much harder than thest one."


    Kairos slowly let go of the spear, letting it hit the ground, and wiped away the water in his hair with the back of his palm.


    For a few moments, only the sound of dripping was in the room.


    Kairos was intently paying attention to the wounds on his palms. The process wasn''t the fastest, but the bleeding had indeed stopped after a while. When he tried to pick the spear back up, it was quite painful.


    Kairos decided to take a small break. Resting against the wall with his eyes closed.


    Using a green orb for these kinds of injuries would be an overreaction. He still had eleven of them, but that wasn''t too much for Kairos. And so, he waited for his wounds to naturally heal a little before moving onwards.


    He couldn''t help but wonder what was happening with everyone else.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos still remembered that he had tossed Nicole his sses, and hoped that she kept them safe. He also began wondering what happened to the city that Tiana had created. And what the music trio, Eric, Nick, and Jenny had done during this time.


    Though, the only way he would ever get to know is if he got out of this dungeon.


    After a bit of time, he looked down at his palms, which had scarred over. Though it was ufortable, it was no longer painful to hold onto his spear.


    For Kairos, that was enough. And so, he went into another room.


    He once again used his future vision to see what would happen if he closed the door, and saw that a green gas would fill the room. Nearly immediately, his flesh would begin corroding and there wasn''t even a sensation of pain, as his nerves would die before they could process it.


    Kairos stopped himself from closing the door while beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.


    It appears that this was the reason why this ce was so taboo.


    While it could let one get points rtively easily if one was lucky, it could also kill the person in question.


    Kairos left the respective room before trying another one.


    This time, he was able to see a figure made out of mana appear, holding onto a sword.


    Kairos stopped himself from closing the door. He hesitated, as it didn''t seem to be the most dangerous. Though, thest experience made him a little more cautious.


    He closed his eyes for a few moments.


    Then, decided that there would be at least some risk no matter what, so he should take chances when he could.


    Once the door clicked shut, Kairos turned around to meet with the blue figure holding onto a sword. While the figure appeared to be conjured from manapletely, the sword it was holding appeared to be made out of metal.


    The figure did not move immediately, and neither did Kairos.


    They looked at each other for a few moments, before the figure appeared to lose patience and dash forth.


    Kairos also dashed forth, before suddenly stopping.


    The figure swung its sword and ended up missing Kairos. However, it twirled around right after, with deft movements, bringing it down once more.


    Kairos'' eyes widened, as he brought his spear up to block.


    A loud ng resounded as the sword hit the spear.


    Kairos pulled back before sweeping horizontally.


    The figure proceeded to dash backward, avoiding it.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow before continuing forth, thrusting his spear forwards. The figure seemed unprepared and was stabbed. Kairos noted that the sensation was greatly different from normal, almost feeling like he stabbed through water.


    As for the figure, it simply retreated once more after being hit.


    Kairos did not chase this time.


    "...How am I supposed to kill this thing?"


    He raised his hand and pointed a finger toward the figure.


    "Maybe..."


    A fireball coalesced at the tip of his finger. At this sight, the figure seemed provoked, rushing forth once more.


    Kairos ended up only having a brief moment to channel the fire spell, but he threw out the small fireball nheless.


    The figure was able to duck underneath it and quickly followed up by sweeping with its sword.


    Kairos slid back slightly to move out of the way.


    Despite missing, the figure still seemed prepared, bending one knee and shifting most of its weight on it before whipping around once more.


    Though Kairos wanted to counterattack, that strike was too fast, forcing him to block.


    Another ng resounded.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, trying to channel mana for a pulse spell. While it shouldn''t have been visible to the average person, the figure seemed to notice, suddenly increasing the strength from its sword several times over, forcing Kairos to disengage and leap away once more.


    He stopped channeling the spell which seemed to calm the figure.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "So no magic?"


    The figure did not respond, instead bending one knee slightly while raising its sword above its head.


    This was the same position it had taken earlier, though Kairos hadn''t noticed before.


    He decided to challenge it, opting to thrust his spear forth.


    Kairos saw in his future vision that the figure would deflect his spear and follow up with another strike.


    He thus stopped his spear thrust, instead opting to sweep with it.


    Then, the figure responded by suddenly flicking its sword downwards before bringing it up in a diagonal sh, deflecting his attack.


    Kairos stopped once again, narrowing his eyes slightly.


    He had somewhat sensed it before, but the figure seemed to have a sense of swordsmanship.


    Though it was a bit strange, since it seemed both practiced, yet also an amature at the same time.

 Chapter 99 Technique

    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he watched the mana figure in front of him move by slowly inching closer towards him. He didn''t really notice it before, but the sense of finesse had disappeared.


    For whatever reason, it seemed like the figure was extremely proficient at the techniques themselves, but was unable to chain them together properly.


    Kairos imagined that if in their several shes, the figure followed up with a strike like it did before, he would be in far more trouble.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case. Instead, the figure would awkwardly pause after each time.


    While he was thinking, the figure suddenly shifted its stance, raising its sword up and shifting the weight of its foot.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, before abruptly bringing his spear up, but not in the trajectory that the figure was swinging.


    That was when the figure''s swing suddenly shifted, twisting strangely.


    However, it ended up hitting his spear.


    Kairos backed up after blocking, to which the figure simply stared awkwardly. If the figure was actually a master, it would''ve just continued with its original strike since he had been wide open to the feint.


    As he stared at the figure, he gradually came to a conclusion about what the figure was.


    Kairos'' thinking shifted vastly. The person wasn''t actually some sort of conscious entity. Rather, it was a set of disjointed techniques.


    It seemed that the dungeon had somehow picked up on the moves of someone that was actually proficient with the sword. As for how, there were too many possibilities that Kairos could think of.


    Regardless, it seemed that the dungeon was experimenting with using those techniques, trying to see how to use them properly.


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up suddenly.


    He realized that this was actually a great opportunity.


    Kairos was a rtively normal high schooler if you didn''t consider his ability to peek into the future and his tendency to break arms.


    And... several other things.


    Regardless, he wasn''t the type of person that understood proper technique. In nearly every fight he has had, his moves were purely out of intuition. Though they were usually effective enough, they were also rather crude.


    It wasn''t as though he never had any fights with professionals. In fact, he has had quite a plentiful amount. However, the problem with professionals was that Kairos had to take them very seriously, even taking into ount his future vision.


    There was hardly a split second he could lose his concentration.


    As such, while he had directly experienced their techniques, he also had no clue what they had done.


    On the other hand, while this blue figure had the technique itself perfectly executed, it had no idea when to execute it or what purpose they were supposed to be used for.


    In other words, Kairos would have plenty of time to observe the actual execution of the technique.


    With those thoughts in mind, Kairos rushed forth towards the blue figure but abruptly stopped before getting too close.


    The figure took a long stride forward before bringing its sword down rapidly.


    Which missed entirely.


    Kairos tried to note the movements of the figure, but it didn''t seem like anything too special. Despite seeing it twice as well, he tried to remember all of the movements, but wasn''t able to catch them in their entirety.


    Kairos wanted to see it again and thus tried to back up before rushing in once more.


    However, this time the figure pulled back before lunging forth with the sword like it was a spear.


    This was easily dodged once more.


    Kairos furrowed his brows, trying to catch the movement from earlier, but his memory wasn''t so good that he could remember absolutely everything with just one demonstration.


    He attempted to repeat the same actions to get the figure to repeat the technique, but once again, the figure attempted to use apletely different one.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    After a few more attempts, Kairos eventually realized that the figure had almost never repeated any technique whatsoever. After thinking about it a little longer, he realized that for every attack he had dodged, the figure would never try the same one again.


    As for the ones he had blocked, while the figure would try them, it wouldn''t do so many times. In fact, he hadn''t seen it do the same technique more than three times in general.


    Kairos came to realize that this dungeon seemed to care more about results more than anything. That would be its first goal before anything else.


    In other words... if he were to get hit, the figure would probably do it again.


    Kairos'' thoughts began to divert into strange territory. He imagined that he should let himself get hit.


    It was thought that was quite different from what people would usually think.


    Though, considering he had used his future vision to feel the pain of stabbing himself with a knife before, it wasn''t too oundish.


    Kairos had the intention of letting himself get hit with the next strike, but at thest second, he suddenly dodged out of the way.


    Another consideration had popped into his mind. He could only let himself get hit so many times before it would be quite dangerous. Though he had the green orbs, that didn''t change the fact there was a limited amount of injury he could take.


    As such, he couldn''t just take injuries willy-nilly.


    If he had picked a technique that was extremely difficult to follow, then he wouldn''t be able to learn it quickly enough in order to learn how to execute it himself.


    Kairos hesitated for a moment before extending his future vision to two seconds. Although his increased willpower reduced his stress considerably, it didn''t change the fact Kairos felt it was very taxing on his mind.


    From there, he began examining all of the techniques that the figure would throw at him.


    The figure did a swing that caused its grip to suddenly shift, causing it to change from an overhead attack to a sweeping attack. Kairos dodged it, deeming it to be too difficult to learn.


    Then, the figure performed a swing that appeared to start from down low before suddenly going upwards. However, it was actually a sweep. Kairos dodged this one too, as he caught the fingers of the figure moving in a particr fashion.


    Though he wasn''t sure, he frankly did not think he could learn a technique that required his fingers to shift in a certain way to learn.


    The figure continued to do several more techniques, all of which Kairos felt were either too advanced or simply not that useful in general.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But eventually, there was one that caught his eye.


    The figure swung its sword forth while holding the handle in a reverse grip. It made it seem as though the sword was going to sh, as though it was getting ready to fling in that direction.


    However, the hand that was shifting directions suddenly stopped, before reversing and shooting toward him like a dagger.


    Kairos could''ve actually dodged this rather easily, just by standing still.


    However, he instead decided to pretend he was trying to get away from the sh and brought his arm up.


    A sharp bang resounded followed by a quiet dripping sound.


    The sword had pierced into Kairos'' forearm but was stopped by his bone. His blood began dripping down onto the ground, while the figure paused momentarily, seemingly shocked.


    Kairos backed up, while the figure immediately performed the same strike in an attempt to hit him once more, but he had already gotten too far away.


    The figure then rushed forth, moving its arms in a way that obviously showed it wanted to do the same thing again.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he stopped extending his future vision.


    It definitely hurt to get shed by the sword. And also the fact his palms were still scarred meant his previous actions with the spear also hurt.


    However, he couldn''t even really focus on them.


    Because there was a debilitating headache that he was experiencing, which was far greater than any pain he had experienced.


    Though Kairos had gone through various painful experiences, the worst part of them was actually the surprise factor. It wasn''t that they hurt less than his headaches, but the pain would eventually dull and go away.


    Instead, it was the constant pain on his mind that felt so much more taxing. Like he was being slowly tortured.


    However, that could finally be put to rest.


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly as he brought his arm forth once more.


    A sh resounded, soon followed by a stter.


    He had gotten hit once more. Quite a bit of his blood had sshed,nding on the floor. Though there was no mess made as it rapidly disappeared the moment it touched the ground.


    Kairos could feel adrenaline coursing through his body with greater strength.


    And it didn''t feel too bad.


    Regardless, he didn''t forget his original purpose, which was to learn the techniques. Thus that was exactly what he did.


    Kairos watched the figure''s initial position carefully. He didn''t just take into consideration how it held the sword, but also the positioning of its legs to know how it shifted its weight and bent its knees.


    Though, he did it all one at a time, focusing intently on the movement of a specific part and learning it first.


    Kairos had used the same arm to defend himself, taking more and more injuries that caused his bleeding to gradually speed up. It would''ve actually stopped if just a bit more time was given to heal, but he didn''t seem to be concerned about that.


    Instead, he slowly began learning.


    The grip he needed.


    At what point he should cancel the momentum.


    How to shift his body weight to prepare for the next attack.


    And the muscles that suddenly tensed to make a thrust.


    Caught up in the learning process, Kairos had taken far more injuries, almost making it look like his arm had been torn up by a wild animal repeatedly.


    His breathing had be heavy, and he was even panting.


    Yet, his eyes were shining brightly, filled with confidence.


    Before the figure could move, Kairos suddenly took a step forward while his spear was held behind him. It suddenly shot forth, prompting the figure to bring its sword up to block.


    Yet, right when the spear was about to hit the sword, it suddenly stopped.


    Then, Kairos twisted his body, before thrusting it forth and piercing the figure''s heart.


    Though there was no tactile sensation of stabbing a person, Kairos still felt that he had done the technique more or less correctly.


    Though, it felt like he was practicing on a block of water.


    Nheless, Kairos was about to pull back and was getting prepared to stop holding back to finish this thing off. Yet, he stopped himself.


    Because the figure gave him a look before disappearing all on its own.


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 1 added]


    Kairos took a deep breath before covering his arm. His muscles were torn pretty badly, while his bone was visible at most locations. Though he used his hand to cover the wound, it essentially did nothing as the injury was too big to stop the bleeding.


    Kairos closed his eyes, trying to ignore the slightly lightheaded sensation he felt.


    Though he thought that he might be able to minimize his injuries by using only his arm to block, he quickly found his thinking to be rather naive.


    It had be quite hard to move his arm, considering the very muscles needed to move it were shed apart.


    Not to mention, his excessive use of his extended future vision had effects stronger than he anticipated. Once the adrenaline from the fight hadpletely disappeared, he found himself in quite a bit of pain.


    Though he learned a new way of attacking, it wasn''t done in the best way.


    However, Kairos had no ns of stopping.


    If anything, he considered it to be a sess. Though, it could be optimized slightly...

 Chapter 100 Outside The Box

    Kairos decided to ignore the rooms that didn''t contain a blue figure within them altogether, considering them to be a waste of time. That meant he would even discard rooms that seemed rather easy toplete in favor of fighting those with actual techniques.


    This also meant he no longer cared enough to extend his future vision beyond two seconds while closing the door behind him. However, he ended up using it more in the end because he used it to give him a brief moment of time to consider whether or not he wished to learn the specific technique.


    The first time he found a room with a mana figure inside, the person in question was holding a spear. However, he also found that this particr person didn''t have the highest proficiency with said spear.


    While said skill was still above Kairos, it was quite rough and crude.


    This was where he found out that not all of these mana figures were created equal. Some of them had lousy techniques, making them not the most useful to learn from.


    For these, Kairos would simply fight as he normally would. After stabbing the figure nearly ten times, it had disappeared.


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 1 added]


    He continued on, trying to find more.


    Kairos hade across people holding all sorts of weapons, such as spears, swords, and daggers. There were also the asional strange ones, such as people holding wooden staffs and metal pipes.


    For the more obscure weapon holders, he would simply fight as he normally would. If there was nothing particrly interesting, then Kairos would eliminate them. Unfortunately, it was still quite a bother as he needed roughly ten strikes to kill said people.


    Considering that the first time only required two, it seemed that there was some rtion between how much he got hit and the number of times he had to hit the mana figure.


    Most of the rooms he went through didn''t end up having the mana figures within, and roughly half of the ones that did ended up being useless since there either was no technique, or it was on an obscure weapon.


    However, Kairos eventually came across one that he did find useful.


    It was a person holding onto a bow.


    The arrows that said person pulled back were created out of mana, which made Kairos rather nervous. After all, his impression of mana arrows was that they were rather scary, as Chase''s had been quite powerful all of the time.


    However, upon watching them fire, he realized his worries were for nothing.


    Though they were indeed made out of mana, they acted very much like normal arrows, flying through the air at a reasonable speed as well as being able to do a rtively small amount of damage.


    Out of all the tactics that the bowman mana figure employed, Kairos found himself most interested in how he leaped away while firing a shot.


    He was originally thinking of trying to see a new way to use the bow but was instead focused on that.


    Kairos decided to intentionally miss his attack every time the mana figure used that particr technique instead of letting himself get hit.


    And it worked out pretty nicely.


    Though the mana figure wouldn''t continuously use the same move, it would still use it rtively often, letting Kairos eventually pick up on it.


    He followed how the figure moved their knees and shifted their weight.


    By the end, he was still panting fairly heavily, fatigued from all of the strenuous movements he had been doing up till now.


    However, Kairos had figured out the gist of the technique.


    First, one would bend their knees while drawing back the bow. Then, at the point when one''s knee was bent enough, they would release the arrow before abruptly leaping in a direction.


    Since Kairos didn''t have a bow, he couldn''t imitate the exact movements that the person did. However, he didn''t intend to perfectly imitate it in the first ce.


    While several meters away from the mana figure, Kairos bent his knees and pulled back his spear.


    Then, a mana arrow fired toward him, prompting him to swing his spear before leaping to the side.


    He was able to dodge the arrow easily, however he found that his swing was a little awkward.


    Considering he was quite far away, it obviously didn''t hit, but that wasn''t his concern as of now.


    Kairos continued to practice doing the same thing, but each time he found it kept feeling quite awkward. Though, that was also quite reasonable.


    The way the bowman moved, made it so he had a split second of stability to properly fire the arrow. However, that brief duration didn''t really help the swing as there was more to it than just releasing the arrow.


    And so, he found himself trying over and over again, trying to find that missing piece.


    Kairos suddenly threw his head to the side, letting a mana arrow fly past.


    His brows were furrowed, but not because of the attack. In fact, he wasn''t even really paying attention to the mana figure in general.


    Instead, he was just mulling over how he could properly apply the same movements for the sake of using a melee weapon.


    Kairos was sure there had to be some way to do so, but kept finding himself stuck because of the fundamental difference between the two.


    His eyes zed over slightly, but as his vision focused on the bow, he couldn''t help but be reminded of another time, when he was with Nicole.


    Kairos was with Nicole, in his room. Nicole was in his bed, kicking her feet leisurely. She had a piece of paper on top of a textbook and was drawing random doodles.


    As for Kairos, he had the textbook open in front of him as he sat down at a desk. Though it was a math textbook, there was this random sectionbeled "Thinking Outside The Box". Within, contained a question.


    With nine dots shaped in a three-by-three square, how can one hit all of the dots with four straight and continuous lines?


    At first, Kairos didn''t think much of it at all, imagining the answer to be quite easy if anything. However, the fact that the four lines had to be continuous made him stumped.


    If they didn''t have to be continuous, he could easily just use three lines to do that problem, but that factor made it so that he was always missing one or two dots.


    This frustrated Kairos greatly. He felt like this question was somehow challenging his pride.


    And so, he worked at it, trying out variousbinations that seemed to make intuitive sense to cover more ground. However, they all failed.


    Then, he decided to try and brute force it, trying every singlebination he could think of.


    And before he knew it, he had spent nearly three hours just trying to solve that problem that looked so simple, without even being able to solve it in the first ce.


    Kairos frustratedly leaned back into his chair and let out a sigh filled with distress.


    Nicole perked up slightly, before turning to look at Kairos.


    "What happened?"


    Kairos took a peek behind him, seeing that Nicole had drawn a picture of his room, with him sitting at the desk. He didn''t care all that much, and let out a sigh.


    "I can''t solve this problem no matter what I do. There isn''t even an answer section for this question, so I can''t even find out if there actually is a solution."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Hm... what if I try to do it?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You can try, but I''m pretty sure it''s just an impossible problem."


    Nicole rolled off the bed and hopped up to her feet.


    "Hup!"


    She then looked over Kairos'' shoulder, taking a peek at the problem.


    After staring for a few moments, she ced her pencil on the corner of the dot. Then, she began making a few lines. However, by the time she reached her fourth line, one dot still wasn''t covered.


    Kairos shook his head.


    "See? It''s just a problem to confuse you, when there isn''t really a solution."


    Nicole didn''t respond. Instead, she decided to erase the pencil marks before trying once more.


    Except this time, she began tracing the line outside of the box, to Kairos'' surprise.


    That allowed her to make a line that would catch thest dot.


    By the end, Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "Hm... it kinda looks like a bow. Don''t you think?"


    Kairos'' jaw dropped. He stared at the problem for a few moments, before looking at Nicole.


    "Wait but... you can''t draw the line outside!"


    Nicole looked at him with innocent eyes.


    "Eh? But it doesn''t say that anywhere."


    Kairos stammered awkwardly.


    "But... but..."


    Nicole giggled.


    "Look, it even says to think outside the box as the title!"


    Kairos opened his mouth, but slowly closed it right after. He was in denial, but knew logically that Nicole had gotten the problem he had been stuck on for three hours in just a few seconds.


    He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.


    Nicole couldn''t help butugh at his disy.


    "How long were you doing the problem? This is why you should try more than once, you know?"


    She then took a peek at the papers underneath him, which had countless variations of the nine dots. There were countless erased marks along with eraser bits all over the ce.


    Nicole blinked a few times, slowly taking it in beforeughing.


    "It looks like I''m way smarter than you!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. He was in deep shame and tried to change the subject.


    "...You wrote in my textbook, when we aren''t allowed to."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Ah! Sorry, I didn''t even think about that!"


    She began erasing the pencil marks she made, but couldn''t get it offpletely. Upon pressing a little harder, she even identally tore apart the page.


    Kairos looked at her, while she turned away while severely blushing.


    Nicole coughed awkwardly.


    "S-Sorry!"


    She then scampered out of the room, like a mouse running away from a cat.


    Once she left the room, Kairos sighed.


    "...That''s the person who just outsmarted me."


    He put one hand on his head.


    "It looks like I need to stop making assumptions about everything."


    With how much of an impact this time had on his mentality, Kairos worked out a method so that he wouldn''t get caught in the same trap once more.


    The reason why he got stuck on the problem for so long was that he made an assumption. That the line wasn''t allowed to go outside of the box.


    However, by making that assumption, he made it impossible to solve the problem.


    So he had to list out the assumptions he made before discarding them to open up new possibilities.


    And that is exactly what he did as he stared down the mana figure in front of him.


    First, was the assumption he needed to bend his knees.


    Though, that seemed to be quite an integral part, so that might have to stay.


    Second, was the assumption that he had to jump afterwards.


    However, that was also the whole point of the technique, so if he no longer jumped, there would no longer be a point in executing the whole thing in the first ce. If anything, it would be apletely new one.


    It was quite discouraging to question extremely basic things, just to find out that they were indeed basic and required.


    However, he then thought about another assumption he made.


    The fact that he had to attack, right when his knee finished bending.


    Kairos tilted his head to the side, dodging an arrow.


    And his eyes were wide open, because he had finallye to the answer he was looking for.

 Chapter 101 Alice

    Kairos felt himself slowlye to a conclusion.


    He didn''t have to begin the swing when his knees were fully bent. Rather, he could begin the swing beforehand, and use that brief moment of stability in order to uratelynd a hit.


    Then, immediately after the hit was made, he could jump away in whichever desired direction.


    And so, he tried doing just that.


    He pulled back his weapon, then began swinging it as his knees began bending. Then right at the moment he felt it mattered most, his knees suddenly stopped, while the spear in his hands had thrust forth. It had only hit air, but Kairos felt that it was a sess nheless.


    After that, he abruptly jumped to the side, dodging one of the mana arrows the mana figure fired.


    Kairos couldn''t help but smirk, as nearly all of the awkwardness had disappeared. Instead of a faulty forced technique, it was an actual viable one, which he could truly use.


    With those thoughts in mind, he decided to do exactly that.


    Kairos rushed towards the bowman, sidestepping to the left and right to avoid the various arrows.


    Then, his knees began bending while his spear shot forth.


    The mana figure attempted to leap to the side, but that was when Kairos suddenly stopped bending his knees before shifting the trajectory, stabbing right where its heart should''ve been.


    The mana figure had actually been using the same technique, and thus was able to fire a mana arrow at Kairos.


    However, he had expected that, and easily dodged out of the way.


    Then, the mana figure disappeared, despite it being his first time striking it.


    [Dungeon Currency Transfer - 1 added]


    Kairos let out a soft sigh. He was fatigued both physically and mentally, but since he didn''t have any injuries, he figured that he could continue on without consuming a green orb.


    And so, that''s exactly what he did.


    Kairos continued scouring the ce for rooms, eventually finding a ce with a skilled swordsman.


    He eventually found a technique that he liked, before letting himself get hit by that same technique to make the mana figure continue using it.


    Kairos also tried to push the boundaries on how many times he could dodge before the mana figure would stop using the attack, and it seemed that just a single dodge was enough for the mana figure to begin cycling between other attacks as well.


    In the end, Kairos just let himself get hit by that same technique several more times to force it into continually using the same one. He frankly wasn''t sure if his short-term memory was strong enough to slowly take in bits and pieces of said technique after several long breaks.


    As such, he figured that he would pay each showing with the price of blood.


    This time, Kairos didn''t make the mistake of only having one part of his body be injured. Instead, cuts began appearing all over his body, save for the more important areas such as his neck, eyes, and chest.


    Kairos did eventually learn the technique.


    But by that time, he was also horribly bloodied.


    He then took out one more green orb, consuming it quickly as well to quell his fatigue and injuries.


    When Kairos felt himself feel quite full once more, he opened his status panel again.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 492/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 41.4]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 9.0


    Magic Affinity - 7.2]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    He had gotten quite close to being able to evolve, though he was still a tiny bit away. Kairos couldn''t think of any method to increase his evolution energy for that sake.


    ...Well, he could definitely think of one, which was eating a monster.


    Or even a human for that matter.


    However, Kairos didn''t really want to eat anything rted to a person right now.


    As such, he just forgot about it.


    Instead, he focused on the only stats that weren''t maxed out, his magic. Though Kairos had no ns of using it any time soon, he figured it was best to be prepared.


    [Mana Capacity - 9.0 -> 14.9 | Points - 41.4 -> 35.5]


    [Magic Affinity - 7.2 -> 14.9 | Points - 35.5 -> 27.8]


    Like usual, Kairos felt that his body had heated up quite tremendously. On top of that, he could also feel the sensation of mana bing far clearer. It began feeling he had actually been deep under the ocean, but now took a breath while above the surface.


    Kairos immediately felt quite hungry once again, but did not think much of it as he imagined he was going to use another green orb soon. Though, there were only ten left.


    He rubbed his chin before telling himself that he would use the green orb for every two techniques he had mastered.


    And so, with that in mind, he left scouring for even more rooms.


    He used his entire body to take on attacks from techniques he wanted to learn. As such, it didn''t take long for his clothes to be badly ripped apart, and wet blood to soak every inch of it.


    It looked rather disgusting, to say the least.


    However, it was in this state that Kairos continued to look for more rooms, before eventually finding another in which he took on attacks again.


    He found it was much harder thanst time and almost suicidal in a sense.


    Kairos pushed him further, just so he could learn the technique. Even when his mind was getting muddled from all the pain signals firing, he continued to push on.


    He could feel the de pierce into his skin again and again, but he always kept his focus on the technique, which helped in distracting himself from some of the pain.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel he was back to the times when he would stab himself with a kitchen knife in his future vision.


    In all honesty, Kairos had somewhat forgotten the reason he had even begun to do such ''training'' in the first ce. His reason for continuing was that it would be beneficial for his overall survival.


    However, when he tried to think about why he even started to use this method in the first ce eluded him. Though, that was fairly reasonable since those memories were from a very long time ago.


    As such, it would be naturally difficult to remember.


    While treating it like the time he had stabbed himself with the knife, the pain suddenly had a different meaning to him. It was a sense of progress.


    Kairos continued forth almost like a machine, repeating this bloody process over and over.


    Until eventually, he had used up four of the green orbs, leaving him with only six more.


    Despite losing quite arge amount of a precious resource, Kairos had also gained plenty of knowledge in return, which he deemed was worthwhile.


    And even if he wasn''tpletely focusing on the other techniques that all the mana figures had used, they gave him impressions of the types of moves one could pull off. Though he wouldn''t be able to execute a perfect copy, he could get a general idea.


    That was something he took from each of his fights, though Kairos also felt these experiences were tainting him slightly.


    It was making some of hisbat experience unrealistic, since the dungeon obviously didn''t know how to fight properly. As such, he also tried to purge any bad instincts he had picked up while fighting against these things, but that was easier said than done.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After finishing up with another room, he left it with heavy and wet steps. Wet with blood. His clothes were badly torn as well, nearly making him look a little perverted as most of his skin was revealed. Though embarrassing, he decided not to think about it too much.


    Kairos'' breathing was heavy, almost making him sound like a beast. Though that was pretty natural given his condition. Despite his wounds, he couldn''t really notice them because he was intently focused on continuing. It was a strange mood that he also had while stabbing himself with a knife that let him push on.


    Yet, if someone else looked at him right now, they would think he was on the verge of death.


    And while he was in this state, he suddenly froze in the middle of the hallway.


    Because a few meters away in front of him was a familiar face.


    Alice.


    She was standing alone, with her hands innocently behind her back. Nheless, Kairos was pretty sure the karambit was on her.


    He never dropped his guard around her for a second and had no intention of doing so now.


    "...What do you want?"


    Alice smiled a little bitterly.


    "Um, big bro-"


    "Don''t call me that."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "I don''t even have any siblings, alright?"


    Alice tilted her head to the side.


    "But... that doesn''t mean you can''t get one in spirit."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "But I also don''t want one."


    Alice pouted and looked down at the ground.


    "Ok... Kairos."


    Kairos sighed.


    "What do you want? I''m busy."


    Alice shifted ufortably.


    "Kairos, could you... help me deal with Aria and Kyle?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Help you deal with them? What do you mean exactly?"


    Alice began licking her lips, like she was hungry.


    "...We kill them, then we can split the meat."


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little speechless.


    "You mean eating them?"


    Alice tilted her head to the side.


    "I''m just... so hungry, Kairos."


    With a sigh, Kairos couldn''t help but wonder why everyone here seemed to want to eat other people. Even he unintentionally got caught up in it.


    "Frankly, I don''t really care, alright? Deal with it yourself."


    Alice''s lip began trembling.


    "But... I''m really scared."


    Kairos found his interest dipping to a low that he didn''t even know was possible.


    "Wow, that''s great."


    He then began to walk away, searching for more doors to open.


    Alice shouted.


    "Wait!"


    Kairos paused. He initially had no ns of even acknowledging this girl''s existence. Yet, for some reason, he ended up turning around.


    "What."


    Alice blinked a few times.


    "I never wanted to join them. The moment I reached here, they essentially forced me, just like they did with you."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Ok?"


    Alice took in a deep breath.


    "I think... they are going to try and kill us."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "So you''re basically saying they are the exact same as everyone else."


    Alice slowly brought the karambit knife from behind her, holding it in her hands gingerly.


    "I don''t know if I can defend myself with just this. I am not a strong person."


    Kairos nodded.


    "And I''m not very strong as well, so it seems we should just separate and hide."


    Alice furrowed her brows.


    "When you came here, there were five people we knew that had died. Four of them were by the doors. As for thest, he had provoked the twins. Then, he was killed and eaten in front of everyone."


    She swallowed.


    "Now... everyone can''t stop thinking about trying the same thing on someone weaker."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s nothing I can do about it. Look at me and all my wounds."


    Alice''s eyes shone with determined light.


    "No, that''s not true at all. You killed both Ines and Darren. You went through countless rooms here, despite nobody else surviving past the third one."


    She took a deep breath.


    "And the way you look at me, doesn''t contain a single ounce of fear, despite the fact you don''t even slightly trust me."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Alright, I''m a strong person. Why in the world should I help you?"


    Alice bit the bottom of her lip.


    "I..."

 Chapter 102 Traitor

    Alice appeared to be quite ufortable, stammering over her words. Then, her eyes began to widen, to the point it was a little creepy.


    Kairos didn''t think too much of it, but he still couldn''t help but feel a little unsettled.


    That was when Alice slowly parted her lips.


    "I... was raped."


    She stared at Kairos with eyes that resembled a dead fish.


    "...I just don''t want it to happen again."


    Kairos felt a little speechless. However, he still mustered up the words to respond.


    "...Sorry, but I''m not helping you."


    The corner of Alice''s lip twitched.


    Her head tilted to the side. Then, she dangerously brought her karambit against her neck, letting a line of blood drop to the ground.


    "Then... could you at least watch over my body and stop it from being defiled?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "No."


    Alice''s eyelid twitched.


    "...You are an awfully cruel person."


    Kairos held out one hand.


    "If you have to mourn every single person in this world that dies, then you would have to mourn for your entire life and still be severely behind. And that holds true for times of peace."


    Alice blinked a few times.


    "But I''m not asking you to mourn for everyone, just to watch over my body for a few moments."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "That would be hypocritical then. Plus, how are you so sure that I wouldn''t defile you?"


    Tears began overflowing from Alice as she slowly removed the knife from her neck.


    "...I see. It seems I didn''t make a correct judgment of your character."


    Kairos turned around and began walking away.


    "Frankly, I don''t think anyone has made one of those yet."


    He didn''t even spare another nce as he continued walking down the hallways. The only reason Kairos didn''t push open the doors next to him was that he thought that Alice might try to close them while he was inside.


    Then when Alice was clearly out of sight, he began exploring the rooms once more.


    Eventually, he was able to find another one of the rooms that had a mana figure with decent techniques. As such, Kairos once again did the usual and fought with it.


    His injuries had gotten pretty bad at the end, with him profusely bleeding.


    However, right after killing it, Kairos pulled out a green orb and drank it.


    As his senses gradually returned to him, he came to notice that there was a bright blue beam at the center of the room.


    Kairos blinked a few times, before putting away the shell of the green orb in his pocket.


    After shaking his head, he once again looked at the shining blue pir in the center of the room. It looked pretty much exactly like the pir from the first floor that led him to the second.


    Kairos rubbed his chin before turning to the door behind him. He tried to unlock it, but it remained locked shut. He tried to put more force, but it didn''t even slightly budge.


    Kairos pulled back his fist before abruptlyunching it forwards.


    A dull bang resounded in the room, while the door waspletely unharmed.


    It seemed that there was no way to turn back now.


    After brushing off his fist, he counted the green orbs in his bag, which amounted to five. He also kept a tight grip on the handle of his spear, before diving headfirst into the pir.


    A familiar sensation came to him, like he was being wrapped around with water that wasn''t wet.


    And when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a room.


    There was a familiar projection standing at one side of the room, right next to him. However, there wasn''t a single system notification, despite Kairos expecting to see several.


    Though that was far from his main concern.


    After all, there was some rather loud screaminging from the other side of the room.


    Well, it wasn''t really a room.


    Because it wasrger than a kilometer wide.


    Currently, two people were engaged in a rather intense battle on the other side of the room.


    There was a man with a head full of red hair, staring down... a rather grotesque being.


    The man had gathered arge amount of mana, which had coalesced into the form of a giant ball of red lightning. He held it out with his hand. However, it seemed his body ended up suffering bacsh simply from channeling the spell.


    His arm was terribly wounded, with many gashes that were bleeding profusely, while the hand holding onto the ball of lightning seemed to be reduced to mush.


    Arcs of lightning constantly discharged, hitting the ground and singing it, showing how unstable and powerful it was. Though, the ground did heal immediately after.


    On the other side... was a monster. Except, the eyes had shone with clear wisdom.


    There were countless wounds over its body, some of which looked to be infected and even leaking pus. However, the expression on its face waspletely calm. Along with that, fiverge bones extended out from its back.


    They looked awfully simr to fingers, just erged and almost seemed to be trying to grasp the monster.


    The man with red hair yelled as his hair began floating up as though he were underwater.


    "I will avenge all of my fallenrades, even at the cost of my life!"


    As he spoke, the corner of his mouth began tearing open because the overall integrity of his body had dropped considerably. Yet, the man continued to speak, even as blood filled his mouth.


    "Die, monster!"


    The giant ball of lightning suddenly burgeoned beforepressing into a small dot. And from that dot, a strong torrent of lightning suddenly burst out.


    As for the monster, it used the five bones jutting out from its back and wrapped its body within.


    A deafening bang resounded once the lightning mmed against the monster. Even after, the crackle of lightning continued, sounding almost like a dragon roaring.


    The monster was blown away, smashing hard against the other side of the wall. As for the lighting, it sprayed out in a cone, causing massive damage to the nearby walls, shown by thick, erratic scorch marks.


    The spell gradually began to lose power, while the man that had casted the spell now looked like he had been burnt.


    His body was charred severely, seemingly the effect of just being near the magic that he had cast. The arm he used to hold out the lightning had disappeared, only leaving an awkward stump.


    As for his eyelids, theypletely burned away, leaving his eyes wide open.<novelnext></novelnext>


    There was originally a neutral expression on his face, but as the lightning cleared, it gradually became one of despair.


    He seemed to want to speak, but could only make awkward gurgling sounds before falling over.


    The damage caused to the walls rapidly healed, as though it never happened. And from thest remnants of lightning, a body rose up.


    The five bones unwrapped from the monster''s body to reveal that his body had been charred, but not nearly to the extent that the man''s had been


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    The man seemed to have died simply from the excess lightning going over to him, which also showed the power behind them. However, he didn''t seem to have those same problems while casting the fire spell despite the fire being so close it should''ve burned him.


    Though Kairos felt he was onto something, he decided to think about itter, as it wasn''t really time to be pondering over the mechanisms of magic.


    Just taking a nce around him, he could see a few other dead bodies. Most of them had already been mostly consumed by the dungeon, so he couldn''t really make out anything of them as they sank.


    The only one that was still more or less intact was the one next to him.


    It was of a woman with dulled eyes.


    Her lips were slightly parted as she mumbled something to herself.


    She had carried a wooden staff in one hand, but there was a crack that caused the bat to hang awkwardly. As though to match that, her body was badly bloodied.


    Kairos walked a little closer to hear her mutters.


    "Hopeless. It''s hopeless. Why did we even try? I knew it would end up like this. I always knew."


    Her body let out a faint tremble, before suddenly freezing.


    "...That thing can''t be killed."


    The woman''s body slumped over and then was slowly consumed by the floor underneath.


    Kairos cast his vision upwards and saw what looked like a massive diamond hovering near the ceiling of the room, right at its center. It was slowly rotating, as faint blue pulses continuously came out from it.


    It was at this point the monster slowly turned towards him.


    Kairos panicked, immediately heading to the projection behind him.


    "Open the shop."


    A familiar set of items appeared, but he didn''t care about that now. He pressed the more option before selecting the one that would let him trade his currency for evolution points.


    [Dungeon Currency - 35 -> 0 | Points - 27.8 -> 62.8]


    Then, Kairos opened his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 493/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 62.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos frowned. Though he now had many points, he also couldn''t use them for anything. His stats were already maxed out, while he still didn''t have enough evolution energy to evolve.


    Kairos found this somewhat ironic, as his original main concern was that he had too much evolution energy, which was caused by eating those monsters.


    However, it turned out that the tower ended up giving him an extremelyrge amount of points, making the entire problem turn on its head. Kairos had to admit that while the dungeon felt rigged in many ways, it still gave a massive boost in his strength.


    Yet, as he watched the monster slowly walk towards him, he couldn''t help but feel it wasn''t enough.


    Although Kairos had trained hard to learn techniques, the biggest problem here was that technique probably wasn''t going to help him beat the thing in front of him.


    He cursed internally, wondering what the point of this floor even was.


    Without much other option, Kairos began channeling the mana for the pulse spell. It was a good opportunity while the monster didn''t seem to care that much for charging toward him.


    He wasn''t sure if it would work, considering the previous lightning attack hardly hurt the thing just from it bundling up.


    However, there wasn''t really any other option.


    The mana for the pulse spell gradually gathered towards his palm while the monster began walking closer.


    Kairos strangely felt a sense of familiarity when he looked at the monster in front of him, but couldn''t put his finger on exactly what made him think that way. Just as he was about to cast those thoughts away and focus all his attention on the spell, the monster spoke.


    "You... are... same..."


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he suddenly recalled who this monster was, taken back to the time he first heard the monsters speak.


    It was one of the cult members.


    Under The Red Priest, who led what he called the church of evolution. From what Kairos could surmise, this was one of the disciples, but this one didn''t directly see him attacking The Red Priest.


    Betting on this fact, Kairos spoke, trying to dy for time.


    "Ah, I think we know each other from somewhere."


    The monster stopped in ce.


    "Yes..."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "So uh, I wonder where it''s from. Do you recall?"


    The monster didn''t seem to notice his words. Instead, his lips slowly parted.


    "...Traitor."

 Chapter 103 Another Eye

    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "...Shit."


    He realized he had been found out by the monster a while ago. In the end, he only had a few seconds to channel the pulse spell. While it would still create quite arge impact, Kairos doubted it would be enough to kill the monster.


    The only chance he had was to channel it topletion. From his predictions, that would take roughly ten more seconds.


    Though, it looked like the monster had no ns of giving him those ten seconds.


    It abruptly rushed forth, charging towards Kairos with the five bones stretched taut behind him.


    The monster swiped forth, while the bones also made their varying shes.


    There was no way Kairos could block all of them, so the only natural course of action was leaping away.


    He was able to dodge the strikes, before immediately turning tail and running away.


    Unfortunately, despite having maxed out his agility, the monster somehow seemed to be a decent amount faster. Kairos peeked behind him as he fled, and was able to catch the monster using the bones jutting out of its back as extra legs, to further propel him forth.


    Kairos cursed internally as he saw arge bonee crashing down on him. He brought up his spear to block by a narrow margin.


    A crisp bang filled the air.


    Kairos tried his best to use the recoil force to further push him ahead, but most of it pushed him down. It caused his knees to buckle just for a moment, which was enough for the monster to sh at him with its ws.


    A fresh wound ripped into Kairos'' back, tearing the only part of his shirt that was still somewhat intact. Bright red blood poured out of the several gashes that had appeared.


    Kairos grit his teeth and pushed onwards, continuing to run as best he could.


    Thankfully, it seemed like attacking made the monster slow down, thus giving him a tiny bit of reprieve.


    Though, that didn''t change the fact that the monster was right on his heels.


    Kairos was forced to block again, but this time it wasn''t an overhead strike, allowing him to move a little more freely. He stuck out his chest just enough to avoid the follow-up sh that came for his back.


    Right afterwards, he spun around, thrusting his spear towards the part of the monster where its leg and foot connected.


    With a snap, it pierced through, prompting him to then twist, causing several cracking sounds to resound. This was one of the techniques he picked up by paying the price in blood.


    However, despite hitting the monster, he immediately turned around and continued running. The monster tripped and fell, while its foot appeared to have been pulled out. Yet, it reconnected nearly instantly, letting it continue to chase.


    Kairos pressed his eyelids together tightly.


    The time left for his pulse spell was about eight seconds...


    Like this, he slowly counted down the seconds while being chased by the monster behind him.


    During this cat-and-mouse chase, the monster''s attack seemed to be dyed. Just as Kairos began wondering, he saw arge bone shoot out to his front before ripping into his chest.


    His instinct was to back up to dodge, but he knew that would be a terrible idea. After all, to dodge one bone, it would make him go towards four more and even the ws.


    Kairos grit his teeth and pushed on with bloodshot eyes.


    As expected, the bone mmed into his ribcage, threatening its integrity. Right afterwards, it slid off before piercing into the gaps between the bones.


    With a loud ssh, his blood sshed out.


    A hole was torn in his lungs, not only making his breaths painful, but making it hard to even do so in the first ce.


    However, Kairos pushed on. He took inrger breaths topensate for the hold in his lung, despite how much it hurt. Simply because he was not a person afraid of the pain. He had been familiarized to it in more ways than one.


    Faint blue mist began coalescing around his hand as it glowed faintly.


    Five seconds...


    Kairos soon saw another bone shooting out, trying the same thing asst time, but just on the other side. He grit his teeth as he twisted his spear around, mming it onto the side of the bone.


    With some force behind it, he was able to not only push the bone away from his chest, but also divert it to m into the monster''s own skull. Kairos hade up with this move at the spur of the moment, based on another technique.


    He was initially feeling quite proud, but quickly noticed that other than a thin line of blood that dripped down from the monster''s forehead, it waspletely uninjured. The only thing it did was slightly dy its next attack.


    Kairos clicked his tongue before continuing his desperate escape.


    He remembered that this particr monster was the one that had particrly strong bones. Though, that much was obvious at this point.


    But more importantly, there were only two seconds left for the pulse spell.


    His hand was now bright blue, and some of that had even snaked up onto his arm. It trembled ever so slightly, as though the power within could hardly be contained.


    The monster had caught up, attempting to swing its bone once more.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, throwing his body to the side. Though he was able to dodge the attack, by doing so to the side gave the monster a great opportunity toe closer, which it immediately took.


    However, Kairos had no intention of distancing himself.


    He spun around, meeting the monster face to face.


    As he got a closer look, he noticed that the monster only had one eye, while its face seemed to have a neutral expression.


    Yet, despite that expression, its rage was shown clearly in the way its ws reached out to tear into Kairos'' flesh. Along with that, the five bones closed in from behind, wanting to pierce through him like a skewer.


    Using his future vision, he was able to hold off the bone that went for his neck and the one that went for his heart. Though, he was still stabbed in three other areas.


    However, Kairos could hardly focus on all that. While his body was being mauled, he stuck out his glowing blue palm, pressing it against the center of the monster''s chest.


    His palm was vibrating so violently, that even the monster began vibrating as a result.<novelnext></novelnext>


    And then, the pulse spell was released.


    A deafening bang resounded.


    Kairos felt his mind go nk for a moment.


    Cracks suddenly snaked out, crawling up towards every part of the room as fast as lightning bolts.


    The monster''s body streaked through the air like a bullet before mming hard against the side of the wall, lodging itself inside and further embellishing the cracks lined up in the walls.


    Debris from that explosion shot up into the air, causingrge amounts of dust to cloud the air, blocking vision.


    Though, Kairos'' eyes were hardly even functioning at the moment, so that hardly affected him. His breaths werebored, while his body was trembling slightly.


    Underneath him, a massive crater had formed, while quite a bit of blood had fallen down into it.


    Kairos initially couldn''t hear anything, but a ringing sound seeped in, before continuing to grow louder and louder, until it felt like he was a machine releasing some sort of rm.


    However, Kairos didn''t focus on that now. He blinked several times, clearing up his vision slightly.


    The bag with green orbs inside had been torn open, causing the contents to spill out. However, all five were still not too far away from him.


    Though he hadn''t gotten directly injured from his spell and the indirect injuries were minor, he was still badly hurt. The monster had ripped into him several times after all.


    Kairos immediately grabbed a nearby green orb and cut it open with his spear.


    After tilting his head back to drink, he let the fluid nourish his body once more. He hadn''t even realized that his chest felt extremely tight fromck of mana, but once it was restored, Kairos felt he was being brought back from the dead.


    His wounds rapidly recovered to restore his state to be more or less optimal. As for his mana, it unfortunately wasn''t enough to restore itpletely, but it was still able to give him half.


    At this point, the dust from the debris began to settle. The severe damage the ce had taken gradually repaired itself, almost like time itself was rewinding.


    Kairos suddenly felt the air around him felt... strangely clear.


    Which was quite ironic considering how dirty it was right now.


    He looked up into the air and saw many glittering shards slowly falling down from the air. His eyes widened as he realized what happened. The diamond slowly rotating near the ceiling had shattered.


    Now, its pieces were falling down.


    And... Kairos'' mana was quickly being restored.


    When it was originally half, he could feel it go back to full naturally in just a matter of seconds. The density of mana outside seemed to be extremely strong, which then forced itself into his body.


    It was slightly ufortable, but there was also a refreshing feeling that came with it.


    Kairos took his focus off that, focusing forwards as the dust had cleared enough for him to see. He noticed that the monster''s body was still lodged into the wall. The bones from its back were still sticking out awkwardly, andrge spiderweb-like cracks extended out from it.


    Kairos was breathing fairly heavily, but it gradually calmed down once he noticed the monster wasn''t moving.


    As more dust settled, Kairos was able to make out most of the monster''s flesh was directly blown off of its body.


    The bones of its limbs were visible in most ces while many of its internal organs were visible from the outside.


    As for the monster''s face, it was essentially peeled off. However, the single eye that it had remained. Along with that, none of its bones even had a scratch on them. However, so long as the thing was dead, Kairos could care less about the bones.


    Although the tenacity of living beings had skyrocketed after the red sun rose, these kinds of injuries were still far too great for even exceptional things to survive.


    That was why Kairos initially assumed it was dead.


    But there was a bad feeling in the back of his mind like he somehow jinxed it.


    His eyebrow twitched.


    And at the same time, the monster''s body twitched.


    Kairos cursed once more, before gathering the nearby green orbs and stuffing them into what was left of the bag, and tying it together in a makeshift way.


    The monster''s body popped out of the wall before mming into the ground.


    Kairos hesitated, wondering if he should rush forth.


    However, the monster''s body simplyy there motionless. While Kairos was wondering if it was actually alive, the monster''s body suddenly rose up into the air.


    Without anything to support it.


    What was left of its limbs dangled in the air as it rose as though picked up.


    And then, it fell back down onto the ground.


    Yet, the five bones from earlier were still hovering in the air.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    He was trying toprehend what exactly was going on.


    Upon closer observation, he had to admit that the five bones now separated from the body really did look like a hand altogether.


    And as he was thinking that, the bones suddenly bundled up, like they were a hand clenching.


    After that, another set of bones began peeking out, gradually creating another set of five bones. They both clenched hard.


    Then, the very fabric of reality began tearing open, revealing a massive bright green eye behind it.

 Chapter 104 Forced Evolution

    It was at this point that Kairos remembered.


    If he didn''t see the system notification, that meant he didn''t kill the enemy. Although the body he thought he was fighting was now lying motionlessly on the ground, That thing seemed as good as dead.


    However, he gradually came to the conclusion that the body was never actually alive in the first ce. Rather, it was only something controlled like a puppet on strings.


    As for the thing controlling it...


    That would be the owner of the giant eye that was currently staring at him.


    From what it looked like, the tworge bony hands began peeling away the fabric of reality, slowly revealing that the eye was part of a skull. This thing also only had one eye, just in a different socket from the other body.


    Peeling back further, the full skull was revealed, while part of the background was also shown, which looked awfully simr to the static one would see in a tv without reception.


    Kairos frowned as he watched the hand continue to stretch out the fabric of reality to reveal the massive skeleton behind it.


    After making a holerge enough, the skeleton took one step through, before bringing out the top half of its body.


    Kairos took off, trying to increase the distance between the two of them. However, there was only so far to run in this enclosed space. He decided to stay roughly ten meters away from the wall just so he wasn''t backed up against it.


    As for the skeleton, it finally pulled its other leg out from the ce filled with static before letting the ce shut.


    The skull slowly turned around to Kairos, until its one green eye began staring straight at him. It was over twenty meters tall and simply stared at him as though observing.


    During this time, Kairos had noticed there was also a blurry status panel next to it, like with the other yers.


    He extended his future vision for a brief moment to see what it looked like.


    [Status]


    [Floor Level: 2]


    However, it would turn out that the information was as good as nothing. Kairos furrowed his brows, deciding it would be better to not think about it for now.


    It was fairly clear that the skeleton would be extremely durable. After all, it was only a hand earlier on, yet his pulse spell was unable to damage it whatsoever.


    Because the mana density of the surrounding area had skyrocketed, having mana wasn''t going to be an issue, but the problem was that there was nothing to truly do with said mana.


    He simply couldn''t cast spells strong enough to harm it.


    Suddenly, the skeleton began running towards him.


    Kairos'' mind abruptly went into overdrive, processing countless thoughts in just a brief moment. He began thinking about every possible option he could use to survive this encounter.


    Kill the monster.


    But there was no way he could in his current state.


    Escape.


    But there was nowhere to go within this enclosed area. In fact, he had no idea what this floor was even supposed to be. Other than appearing in a room, there was nothing else for him to do.


    Perhaps that was just the way this system was, being awfully vague of whatever he was supposed to do.


    And as such, that option didn''t really exist.


    There was also another option.


    Make peace.


    However, he doubted that was possible. Although the monster was intelligent enough to have rational thought, it didn''t change the fact he was technically a traitor, so their rtionship was already extremely bad.


    No matter how he looked at the situation, they all seemed to go to dead ends.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    He attempted to expand his thinking, not wanting to be weighed down by the assumptions he made.


    Why didn''t fighting work?


    Because he couldn''t cast a spell strong enough.


    But what if there was a way to cast a stronger spell?


    Kairos'' eyes widened.


    If he evolved, that meant he could increase his magic affinity and therefore increase the power of his spell. He was only a few evolution energy away, but there was no easy way to get that evolution energy.


    That was when a sudden thought filled his mind.


    If he ate the body of the monster, then he would be able to gain evolution energy easily. It would definitely be a rather ufortable experience given that it was not only the flesh of a monster, but it had been charred by lightning and also mushed up by his pulse spell.


    Though, he already had considerable experience in this regard.


    Which was quite the strange thing, now that he thought about it.


    Kairos quickly snapped out of his stupor as he heard the thumps of the footsteps the skeleton was taking toward him.


    He hade up with his solution, though it wasn''t the prettiest, it was also the only chance Kairos saw that would let him survive this situation.


    First, he had to get to the body.


    The skeleton rushing towards him wasrge, there was nothing to say about that. It had hunched over and spread out its arms so that it could easily snatch Kairos up.


    Looking at this, Kairos could tell there was no way he could get past the sides of the monster. The main reason being, it was simply far toorge. Even if it was much slower, Kairos doubted he would be able to.


    Yet, it was nearly at the same speed as him.


    Though he would''ve considered going above the skeleton, he also didn''t have a single ability that contributed to flight in any fashion. The gale spell sounded promising, but it acted more like a bullet than anything else.


    That only left...


    Going underneath.


    For some reason, Kairos couldn''t help but think of the past at this point.


    He remembered the time that a teenager with short blond hair stopped these two kids from bullying him. Though he appreciated the gesture, it didn''t turn out the best way afterwards.


    The two kids instead brought their older brothers, dering that this was only fair since someone older had helped him before.


    They wanted to beat him up, but Kairos didn''t want to be.


    As such, he decided to fight back against them.


    One of the older ones rushed right at him.


    The way he towered over felt an awful lot like this time. Though it wasn''t that exaggerated, the size difference felt huge as a kid. As for the situation he was in right now, the skeleton was over ten times his height.


    As such, this time the difference was actually huge.


    Kairos rushed forth, seeing the older kid''s image ovepping with the skeleton.


    The adrenaline pumping through his brain made him feel lighter and even took part in boosting his confidence. He saw the older kid reach for him with both of hisrge arms.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But Kairos twisted to one side, evading one arm, before twisting to another, avoiding the second arm.


    Then, he slid down, grossing through between the skeleton''s legs.


    Kairos was able to make it past.


    However, he obviously did not stop there.


    He continued running to the sound of his steady footsteps pping the ground. Steady breaths came in and out of him, while some sweat poured down from his hair that was dancing in the wind.


    Kairos heard the lumbering footstepsing from behind, pressuring him to go faster. Thankfully, it seemed turning was quite hard for the skeleton, letting him get to the body without too much trouble.


    Then, Kairos remembered what he did.


    He decided to punch the kids that were his own size first. His logic was that way he would be able to lessen the numbers, making the fight easier. And naturally, that meant he had to attack the weaker targets.


    Though it would turn out even if they weren''t the older kids, it was still quite hard to fight two on one. Despite having his future vision, he was only able to get a few hits off on each of them before one grabbed onto his arm, locking him in ce.


    That was when the other kid did the same, essentially locking him down.


    Those kids had realized that they only needed to stall for time so that their brothers could do all the work for them.


    Kairos had be quite desperate at that point.


    But not for one moment did he consider calling for help.


    Sure, there was the teen that had helped him before, and he was grateful. But in the end, that didn''t change his situation. In fact, it only made it worse.


    Almost nobody had tried to save him before, yet the only time that someone had, wasn''t beneficial.


    It made Kairos feel isted, like he was the only person he could rely on. It was him against the entire world.


    That''s just how it was.


    And so, while both of his arms were locked up, Kairos fought using the only option he had left.


    Kairos'' mouth opened wide, before suddenly lunging forth.


    And then he bit down on the neck of the kid to his side.


    He was able to just barely pierce through the skin. Unfortunately, it was tough.


    Kairos could feel strong signals of paining from his teeth. As fragile as humans were, their flesh was still surprisingly tough while they were still alive.


    Kairos shook his head.


    Though, the corpse he was currently feasting off of was dead. However, it was still quite tough from how it was charred by lightning. As for the pulse spell, it broke it up into pieces, but those individual pieces seemed to bepressed.


    Kairos frowned as he continued forcing himself to eat the flesh, as disgusting as it was.


    He had felt like he was degrading back into the mentality of an animal.


    Kairos shook his head.


    It also seemed like the kid he had bitten was feeling that same way, screaming at the top of his lungs while trying to push Kairos away. However, hetched on like he was a dog, refusing to stop until he had torn a piece of flesh away.


    He wanted to continue, but the sounds of footsteps behind him told him to run.


    And so, after scaring the two kids, he was able to break free of their grasp and run free.


    Kairos shook his head.


    He opened up the status panel, hoping that it was enough.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 503/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 62.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos smirked as he pressed the evolve button.


    [Use 10 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 15 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for Water Spell or Frost Spell? Water/Frost | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    Kairos had quickly picked yes for every option avable, as despite the situation he was unwilling to give up on any of those options. As for the choice between the water spell and frost spell, he made it in a split second, deciding to go with water.


    It was more so because it had a stronger impression on himpared to anything else.


    Then he clicked confirm.


    He felt a strange feeling course through his entire body like his very being was getting reassembled. However, Kairos did not have the time to sit down and enjoy it, as his main focus was currently to run away as fast as possible.


    Before he even felt the changes settle down, he attempted to open the status panel.


    [Unavable during evolution process]


    Kairos clicked his tongue, figuring that would be the case. Nheless, he continued trying to call for the status panel, prompting that notification to appear several more times.


    Until finally, it opened.

 Chapter 105 Betting Everything

    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 3/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Water Spell (E), Alone (E), Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    He was now at the D rank. However, he really couldn''t find it in himself to celebrate with the giant skeleton behind him. Though, maybe if he was a bit more open, he could''ve considered the possibility that the twenty-meter tall skeleton was rushing over to celebrate with him.


    Not that it was true, but it''s not a good thing to be close-minded.


    Kairos considered for a split second to increase his physical stats, but quickly discarded that possibility from his mind. After all, just the wind from the skeleton missing was nearly enough to lift him up off of his feet.


    There was no way double, or even triple his strength would help out right now.


    Which meant the only natural conclusion was to add to his magical affinity. And because the mana was so dense around him right now, he couldpletely forego mana capacity but still cast the needed spell.


    While running away from the monster, Kairos'' finger rapidly jostled back and forth to continually add points into his magic affinity, using the full extent of his 14.9 points in agility.


    [Magic Affinity - 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points - 27.8 -> 12.8]


    In the few seconds he was adding points into magic affinity, he saw that his natural ability was called Alone. Ignoring the negative connotation that came with the name, he focused on other things for now. He could instinctively tell that the spell was a passive one, though he wasn''t exactly sure what it did.


    Kairos also noticed that it was rank E, along with the water spell. In all honesty, he was expecting the spells to be at the F rank. One thing he had noted was the water spell seemed to trade upfront offensive ability for the sake of being able to constantly pressure the opponent.


    Yet, that was not exactly the most useful to him right now. In hindsight, he would''ve gambled on the frost spell had he known the spell would be at E rank.


    Unfortunately, there was no way to take back that decision now.


    Though, there was one strange thing that Kairos noticed. Next to the skills in his status panel, there was now a plus sign.


    Though it wasn''t exactly the situation to be experimenting with, he couldn''t help but want to confirm his suspicion.


    [Upgrade Water Spell to D Rank with 100 points? | Yes/No]


    The option to click yes was grayed out, probably because he didn''t actually have that many points. He was a little startled by the grandiose amount of points needed, but quickly shifted his attention to the pulse spell.


    [Upgrade Pulse Spell to E Rank with 10 points? | Yes/No]


    This time, he had enough points to evolve the ability. This would probably give him a decent amount of extra force behind his attack, meaning it might be the deciding factor between being able to kill the skeleton or not.


    However, he couldn''t help but hesitate.


    Thest time he casted the pulse spell at nearly max strength while having lower physical stats, his body was wrecked pretty badly. Originally, he still felt pretty safe since he had nearly 13 points to put into endurance.


    But if he went through with upgrading the pulse spell, he would only have 2.8 points to add to his endurance.


    The magnitude of difference between his magical affinity and physical stats would increase several times over. Which naturally meant the bacsh he would face would be far worse.


    Kairos couldn''t help but hesitate for a moment.


    He then instinctively leaped up into the air, letting a giant skeleton hand whip by him, blowing strong currents of wind his way.


    It was then Kairos remembered.


    He was on his own.


    There was nobody else to rely on.


    If he couldn''t even endure this tiny bit of pain, then he would never be able to survive.


    And so, Kairos clicked yes, upgrading his pulse spell.


    [Pulse Spell (F) -> Pulse Spell (E) | Points - 12.8 -> 2.8]


    From there, he added all of his remaining points into endurance.


    [Endurance - 14.9 -> 17.7 | Points 2.8 -> 0]


    As the changes urred through his body, he could feel his stomach be a hollow pit, begging for food. Though, there was no time to acquiesce to its demands now.


    Kairos could feel new information sprouting into his mind about the pulse spell.


    He was now able to either widen the radius, which would reduce the power, or he could make it thinner, like a cone, which would increase its power.


    From what he could tell, he could decrease the radius by roughly fifty percent and also double the radius.


    And so, Kairos immediately began channeling the pulse spell, making it as thin as he possibly could.


    Misty mana immediately began forming around his hand as mana funneled towards it. The dense mana from his surroundings quickly refilled any mana that was depleted from his body, effectively giving him as much mana as he needed.


    Almost immediately, blue mist began forming around his hand.


    During this time, the skeleton continued charging toward him and attempting to swipe at him with its ws. Kairos turned around to look, but only in his future vision.


    This allowed him to leap out of the way without slowing down.


    With the additional wind provided by the skeleton, it gave Kairos an edge in running away.


    The skeleton was beginning to catch on to Kairos, leaping upwards and trying to attack above Kairos, so that if he tried to jump to dodge he would get hit.


    However, it only ended up passing by him harmlessly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Beads of sweat formed on Kairos'' forehead, but there was also a smirk on his face.


    He initially estimated that it would take thirty seconds to cast the spell, but found it flowed faster than normal. It would probably take not much longer than twenty seconds.


    However, another thing he noticed was despite only five seconds passing by, his hand was already glowing blue and trembling.


    Kairos could feel that the power behind this spell had already begun to overwhelm his body. It happened at a rate far greater than he expected, but he had already resolved to push himself to the very limit, thus he continued on.


    The skeleton once again swung at him normally, which Kairos leaped over likest time. Then it happened again.


    Kairos felt the wind brushing by him to be quite cooling, which was quite nice since his body felt like it was burning up a bit.


    However, he was quickly brought out of it when the skeleton instead went for a strike that was a bit higher.


    This time, Kairos would get caught if he jumped up. However, if he didn''t move, the bottom of its hand would still m against his shoulder.


    Still, this wasn''t enough to phase Kairos.


    He ducked down and hunched his back.


    The skeleton''s hand dangerously passed right by the top of his head, blowing his hair around violently. But in the end, the hand still missed.


    Despite getting away unharmed, Kairos began to grimace.


    That was because the pain he felt from channeling the spell began multiplying over. His hand was shining in a bright blue, along with part of his arm. The glowing continued to envelop more of his arm, going all the way past his elbow.


    There were still ten seconds left.


    The skeleton opted to stop attacking temporarily, instead focusing everything on running. Not only did it get much closer, but Kairos was gradually being forced towards a wall.


    He had been trying to move in a curve so that he wouldn''t end up facing a wall, but once the skeleton stopped attacking it began catching up. This made Kairos rather anxious, thus he ran a bit more straight.


    However, that would turn out to be a mistake.


    This time, the monster waited until it was close enough to use both of its hands to attack, one straight towards Kairos, and another just above him.


    Kairos grit his teeth hard. He leaped up into the air and swung his spear behind him.


    A frightening crack resounded.


    Once the skeleton''s hand collided with the spear, Kairos felt something breaking in his elbow and shoulder.


    He was flung forward and involuntarily let go of the spear.


    With a deafening bang, Kairos smashed into the wall. However, because he tilted the spear at an angle, he was able to force most of his momentum to be sideways. This greatly lessened the initial impact and also led to him sliding against the wall.


    Kairos'' skin immediately ripped away as he scraped hard against the rock.


    However, it was in this way he was also able to create some distance.


    By now, even parts of his shoulder began glowing bright blue. It felt as though his hand was on the verge of popping like a balloon, while he could no longer feel the tips of his fingers.


    But that still wasn''t its full power.


    There were still five more seconds.


    As the sliding gradually slowed down, Kairos was able to pry himself off of the wall, which was covered in his blood.


    He had made some distance from the giant skeleton, though from the way it was rushing forth, that wouldn''tst long.


    However, at this point, Kairos didn''t run away.


    There were only three more seconds, after all.


    His mind felt like it was spinning as it was disoriented from the earlier ''wallrunning'' along with the strong signals of pain.


    Yet, Kairos forced himself to stand and even run forth.


    The giant skeleton rapidly got closer.


    It swung its arm, which prompted Kairos to leap.


    All of the pain overwhelmed his senses, making it hard to think. But that had essentially be an advantage at this point.


    There was no more room for hesitation.


    He could no longer form any doubts.


    Because he focused everything on his next moves.


    While Kairos was still in the air, the giant skeleton swiped at him with its other arm. This time, it didn''t really look like there was anywhere for him to go.


    If Kairos could still think properly, he would probablyment over not having his spear. Though, he probably wouldn''t be able to use it with his arm that had been damaged so badly.


    That was when tilted his body and stuck out his feet in front.


    A bang resounded as the skeleton''s hands mmed against the soles of Kairos'' feet. He immediately bent his knees as the attack happened. The force was unbearably strong, causing concerning cracking sounds toe from his knees.


    He then slid his feet down slightly, so that they could wrap around the skeleton''s finger. Despite holding on as best he could, he still almost slid off purely from the momentum of the strike. But he was still on the hand.


    Kairos mmed his injured arm down despite how much it hurt to force himself up.


    From there, he began running up the skeleton''s arm.


    There were two seconds left.


    It was incredibly hard to stay one the bones, but with his future vision, Kairos was just barely able to manage. The skeleton tried to shake him off, but to no avail. It then swung at him with its other hand.


    But before it hit, Kairos leaped up once more.


    With a bang, the skeleton hit itself in the arm, which was now pointed downwards. It was no longer at a slope that Kairos could climb. However, he had nned it out.


    Kairosnded on the other arm and began running up it instead.


    There was one second left.


    And during that second, the skeleton had spent recovering from hitting itself.


    Which let Kairos get close.


    He lifted his bright blue hand and parted his lips slightly.


    "Die."

 Chapter 106 Lets Run

    Kairos'' entire arm was glowing with a bright blue, which had snaked all the way up to his torso and neck. Though he could hardly feel it, he still raised his hand up, pointing it towards the giant skeleton''s skull.


    Kairos wanted to aim for its eye directly, but found it was too difficult to move his arm in that direction, thus decided to just settle with the skull.


    The parts of his body that were glowing bright blue suddenly retracted, almost like it was rewinding.


    Then, there was a strange moment of silence.


    A deafening explosion resounded.


    Louder than the p of thunder.


    The very air seemed to be shaking.


    The twenty-meter tall skeleton was blown away like a feather in a hurricane. Its head snapped back before carrying the rest of its body along with it, mming into the wall and burying most of its body into it.


    Cracks farrger thanst time appeared on the surrounding walls, while pieces of debris directly broke off. Despite restricting it into a thinner cone than usual, there were still aftereffects from the surrounding terrain just from being near the spell.


    Massive cracks had formed, but they also began to split off, almost like a disastrous earthquake was happening.


    The very dungeon itself was on the verge of copsing.


    However, it just barely held on. The massive cracks were forced to stop in their ce, before slowly being brought together once more. Though because of how much damage the ce had suffered, it would probably take a decently long time.


    As for Kairos, he wasn''t exactly in the best situation.


    He could tell that the tips of his fingers had directly exploded, causing his fingernails to scatter into the air. He also had this strange sensation as though his entire body was ripping apart.


    And all of this was in consideration that his senses were heavily muddled.


    For an unknown period of time, Kairos could not truly process what was happening, despite being conscious. By the time he could finally gain semnce over himself, he found himself lying on the ground, with a headache like he just had a terrible hangover.


    Not that he would know what one felt like.


    He blinked a few times before slowly raising his head, despite feeling like he was twirling like a top.


    The first thing Kairos came to realize was the devastation on his own body.


    Earlier, he had used his spear to block a strike rather forcefully, which came at the cost of severely damaging his elbow and shoulder. Though, he also used his other arm to channel the pulse spell.


    And it had a few more problems than just broken joints.


    There was no longer any skin covering it, inly revealing his muscles. However, all of those muscles were badly torn apart, almost like they were made into mincemeat.


    He couldn''t find himself able to move it.


    It wasn''t because it was too painful to move his arm, but rather he no longer had the ability to do so in the first ce. Though Kairos knew he was going to get badly injured from casting the pulse spell that way or even die, this was not the kind he was expecting.


    Though, from how much blood he was losing, it was only a matter of time.


    However, the situation wasn''t the worst in the world, as close as it came.


    His vision was incredibly blurry, making it hard to see things from far away. However, due to the contrast in color Kairos could make out his spear just a few meters away from him, along with all four of the green orbs that were no farther than two hundred meters. Thankfully, none of them fell through the cracks.


    He could tell that if he didn''t use them, he would very likely die right here.


    As such, Kairos forced himself up to his feet, stumbling like a drunk upon doing so. He grabbed the spear with the arm that could still somewhat move and marched onwards towards the nearest green orb.


    He slowly limped, using the spear as a walking cane. asionally, he had to do a mini jump to walk over cracks and spilled blood everywhere as he walked.


    By the time he made it to a green orb, he stabbed it with the spear before letting it fall down, also falling down onto his own knees. It did not take him long to drink the entire thing before picking up the spear once more.


    His injuries definitely healed, especially so for the torn up muscles in his arm.


    However, it didn''t do as much as Kairos would''ve liked.


    There was still no skin covering his bones, while how weak his joints felt put a great deal of anxiety on his mind. At the very least, he wasn''t bleeding nearly as much now.


    Kairos continued forth a little faster thanst time, getting to another green orb. He did the same thing asst time, cutting it open and drinking it.


    The muscles gradually began to repair for the most part. As for his joints, they went from feeling like loose scattered parts, to stiffened bones. It hadn''t healed fully, but at least now Kairos wasn''t too worried about them suddenly falling off.


    The bleeding had fully stopped, though from theck of skin covering certain sections of his body, he still looked like a horror show.


    Kairos was honestly a little off-put by how damaged his body was, which only truly came into realization when two green orbs weren''t enough to heal him fully. Under normal circumstances, when he used them in what he considered to be a near-death state, they would heal him fully.


    If it wasn''t for the extremelyrge amounts of adrenaline pumping through his body, he probably wouldn''t have even been able to sit up from the ground.


    Before the adrenaline wore off, Kairos hurried off to another green orb, cutting it open before drinking from it as well.


    The skin that had been ripped off his body had returned. Other than the fact he was covered in blood, he was basically in optimal condition.


    There was still onest green orb, which Kairos rushed over to.


    As he bent down to pick it up, he couldn''t help but look over to where the giant skeleton was. Since his vision was no longer blurry, he could now see it quite clearly.


    It was embedded into the wall by several meters, with its head tilted back and embedded into the wallpletely.


    The skeleton was no longer moving, which indicated that it could''ve died.


    Kairos would''ve used the system notification to confirm whether or not it died, but if there was a system notification, he would''ve been too out of it to even notice.


    Though, an alternate way to check would be to see if he had gotten any points.


    Since he had used all of his points earlier, then having any points at all would indicate he had killed it. Though Kairos felt nervous, he knew it was better to act sooner rather thanter, thus opening the status panel immediately.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 3/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Clear Dungeon]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 0]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9<novelnext></novelnext>


    Endurance - 17.7


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Water Spell (E), Alone (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    When Kairos looked at how many points he had, he could not help but falter.


    It was zero. Meaning that the giant skeleton was still alive, even after the strongest possible attack he could possibly muster.


    A sense of weakness overcame him as the realization set in. As though it wanted to hit the point home, the giant skeleton began moving. It slowly pulled itself out of the wall, causing a few rocks to scatter along the way.


    Once it had returned to standing at its full height, it stumbled.


    Although it was still alive, it seemed that Kairos'' attack had dealt some damage to it.


    Kairos took a closer look, thinking that it might not be hopeless.


    The skeleton itself was unscathed, save for an extremely thin crack at the top of its skull. It was the kind most would miss if they weren''t paying close attention.


    A small sigh escaped Kairos'' lips.


    The amount of effort he went through just for that tiny scratch was far too great. If he really tried to replicate it again, even assuming that it was a sess, he would die.


    Kairos remembered now when he was fighting against some kids while he was younger. After being caught by the two smaller kids, he was able to forcefully wrestle his way out by biting down on them.


    This caused the two smaller kids to get quite scared, running away.


    However, there were still two other bigger kids.


    Kairos decided to try and fight them, using both his fists and teeth. However, the difference in strength was simply too huge. He might''ve been able to manage against one with the help of his future vision, but facing off two at once was simply too overwhelming.


    In the end, he wasn''t able to save himself.


    The only thing he could do was wait to die.


    Though, he couldn''t help but smile slightly when he remembered what happened when he had lost all hope. There was a teenage girl with short brown hair that rushed over to him.


    She grabbed his hand and shouted bravely.


    "Let''s run!"


    Then like a courageous warrior, she dragged Kairos away from the kids, turning tail and running away. It was an experience that made quite the impression on him.


    In reality, he was never one that liked fleeing all that much. However, it was that girl that taught him he didn''t always have to face everything.


    Sometimes it was ok to just run away.


    He let out a soft chuckle as he looked at the giant skeleton gradually focusing its sight on him.


    And before he could truly ept his own death, an explosion resounded.


    The side of the dungeon wall sted open, scattering debris and dust in the air.


    "Kairos!"


    And behind the cloud of dust, was the voice of Ling.


    Kairos blinked a few times, hardly able to believe that this situation was even urring.


    "Ling?"


    In response to the sound of his voice, Ling rushed over. His footsteps slowly got closer until he pushed aside the cloud of dust and revealed himself.


    "You''re still ok!"


    Ling looked quite different from before. The de of his saber he held was slightly bent, while the shaft looked like it was barely being held together by cloth.


    His clothes were also messed up and bloodied, but it didn''t evene close to Kairos, who basically only had his underwear left on him.


    Though all of that wasn''t what stood out the most.


    Rather, it was the fact Ling had one eye tightly shut, which was dripping out blood even now. It was the eye that had partial heterochromia and the one that had let him see mana.


    Ling had a slight frown on his face.


    The previous innocence that he carried with him wasn''tpletely swept away, but it was clear that he had seen the world for what it was.


    Ling''s eyes widened when he saw Kairos'' condition.


    "Are you hurt? Was it by some sort of enemy?"


    Kairos waved his hand.


    "I''m not hurt, but..."


    As the clouds of dust began to clear, it began to just barely reveal the giant skeleton.


    Ling ended up turning to look at it before sucking in a cold breath.


    "...I will try to kill it."


    He took a stance and even got prepared to rush towards the skeleton. However, Kairos grabbed onto his wrist before he could and gave him a soft look.


    "Let''s run."

 Chapter 107 Im Not Going Back

    Kairos dragged Ling before he could say anything, running towards the hole in the dungeon wall.


    Ling seemed quite surprised, but remained confident.


    "Don''t worry, I can protect you!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Come on, look at how big that thing is. Are you really sure you can beat it?"


    The corner of Ling''s lip twitched.


    "Well... I didn''t think I could do a lot of things before, but I found out that I actually can do it. I want to at least try."


    Kairos sighed, but he couldn''t help a smile from forming on his face.


    "Don''t be dumb. I get that you want to challenge everything because you got through some challenges earlier. In fact, I''m like that a lot too."


    Against Ling''s will, he dragged him out before leaping through the hole in the dungeon wall.


    "But sometimes, you can just run away."


    It was at this point Kairos'' confident smile froze on his face.


    Not because of the giant skeleton. It rushed over towards them, but just as it was about to reach the hole in the wall, it had stopped. It simply began observing them and there also seemed to be quite a bit of hatred in his gaze.


    Rather, the thing that made Kairos a tiny bit ufortable was that they were a few kilometers in the air.


    As in, below him, he could see a thickyer of clouds. And the gaps between those clouds was the ground below.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Since when did I get so high up?"


    Ling looked towards him with slightly widened eyes.


    "Eh? Did you not climb up the mana crystal?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Well, sort of. But there was some teleportation involved that probably made me go far higher up than I imagined."


    They began to free fall, slowly speeding up as they went.


    Both of their hair fluttered wildly, while the winds began to howl in their ears.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Say, how did you even get up here in the first ce?"


    Ling didn''t seem to be paying full attention. His breathing was quitebored, while his brows furrowed in pain. It seemed that the air was quite thin, making it hard for him to concentrate.


    Kairos definitely found it harder to breathe, but it wasn''t too big of an issue for him. It seemed that the added stats could even help for things like this.


    As the speeds got quicker, Ling eventually shook his head,ing out of his stupor. Then he spoke. However, Kairos could not hear despite being really close because of how loud the winds had be.


    "What? The winds are way too loud, you gotta speak up."


    Ling strained himself to take in deeper breaths and shout.


    "I... got a spell called free bird... it lets me fly really fast."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That makes sense. You can use it to slow our fall, right?"


    Ling continued to take in more breaths.


    "Yes... but I don''t have too much mana... I used almost all of it getting up... but I got some mana from somewhere."


    Kairos recalled that he had shattered some sort of crystal in the dungeon which then releasedrge amounts of mana. If they had stayed in that room a little longer, then Ling would''ve had a chance to charge up on a bit more mana.


    Unfortunately, it was a little toote for that now.


    Ling closed his eyes tightly as they continued to shoot down towards the ground.


    They shot past a cloud, which felt like almost nothing. During this time, Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little rxed, which was not what he was expecting. Despite the fact he was essentially skydiving, it didn''t really shoot his veins full of adrenaline.


    When he thought about it, Kairos still found it was more frightening to face off against the giant skeleton, where getting directly hit even once would at least cripple him, and if it hit him the wrong way, it would just kill him.


    In the end, the difference between the immediate threat of the situation made it feel rxing. And that was although Kairos was acutely aware of the fact that they would probably be unable to get out of this unscathed.


    On the other hand, Ling seemed to be struggling intensely.


    There was a forest of many tall trees below them, and they were rapidly approaching. Eventually, when Kairos saw that there were only maybe five seconds left before they hit the trees, he spoke up.


    "Hey, I think you should use your ability now."


    Ling immediately opened his eyes after hearing that, though they were bloodshot from the wind pressuring them. Using less than a second, he confirmed that they were indeed very close to the floor and activated his ability.


    Kairos suddenly felt a strong tug on his arm, yanking him upwards, though it was not enough to stop their downward momentum.


    There were no winds or anything at all that seemed to gather around Ling to exin his sudden experience of lift. If it weren''t for the fact the two of them were still falling really fast, Kairos would''ve thought he was superman or something like that.


    Though, before he could''ve thought about it any further, they mmed into the tree branches. A loud cacophony of sounds resounded, consisting of snapping, rustling, and cries of pain.


    Ling continuously used his spell for a few seconds, continually slowing down their fall. However, they were still cut and bruised badly as they mmed past the branches.


    At one point, Lingnded hard on one of the bigger branches. He had the wind knocked out of him, while a cracking sound came from the branch. However, it held on.


    Ling draped himself over the branch with powerless limbs. Though, he still gripped onto his spear fairly tightly. The ground was just below him, not even a meter away.


    As for Kairos, he hadnded down on the ground, knocking up a great deal of dirt and creating a miniature crater. However, while some concerning cracking sounds hade from his knees, he was more or less fine.


    Ling found himself unable to breathe, which made him panic.


    Kairos looked up rather obliviously.


    "Hey, you ok?"


    Ling didn''t respond, though that wasn''t out of his own choice. If it was the him of just a few days ago, he would''ve probably remained there, hoping that Kairos would help him. In fact, even if Kairos wasn''t there, he would probably just remain there, too afraid of the pain.


    But Ling was a vastly different person now. Instead, he jostled his body back and forth. He had a pretty bad wound on his stomach, meaning that jostling was severely painful. Yet, Ling simply grit his teeth and continued.


    Kairos was a little confused as to what Ling was doing, but he seemed to have it under control, thus didn''t do anything.


    Ling slowly increased the speed of his rocking until it was enough to directly fling himself off the branch. Hended onto the ground below with a soft thump, after which, he forced himself to breath in.


    Kairos looked at the green orb in his hand, then at Ling. Inplete honesty, he was quite reluctant to give it, but considering that Ling had quite literally saved his life, it was more or less deserved. Though, Ling was the whole reason he was even separated from the others and in this situation in the first ce.


    But Kairos decided to ignore that.


    "Hey, you should use this to heal your injuries."


    Ling slowly looked up to the green orb before shaking his head.


    "I don''t need it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Well, maybe not need, but it would be quite useful for you. I have enough stats to heal from these injuries in a matter of hours, while the scarring process for you will probably finish after a day."


    Ling wanted to speak, but ended up coughing up blood before he could talk. After shaking his head, he continued.


    "Sorry, when I said that I meant I don''t want it."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Didn''t like the taste?"


    Ling took in a controlled deep breath before shaking his head.


    "I want to face this pain instead of getting rid of it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I can understand where you''reing from, but that''s quite the stupid thing to do."


    Ling pouted slightly and did not respond.


    After a few seconds, Kairos let out a sigh.


    "How did you even find me anyways?"


    Ling tilted his head to the side.


    "I remember seeing really bright blue lights in that direction."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Didn''t you say it was always bright?"


    Ling nodded.


    "But it was shing to be even brighter. I just felt like it had to be somehow rted to you."


    He gently reached over with his free hand towards his tightly shut eye that was still leaking out blood.


    "I remember seeing an unbelievably strong sh of light, which made my eye... break."


    Kairos raised both eyebrows.


    "...Oh, so that''s what happened to you."


    Ling scratched the side of his head.


    "Yeah, my mana vision doesn''t really work properly after that now. I can only see mana faintly if it is really strong."


    Kairos lowered his head slightly.


    "Sorry, I''m probably responsible for that."


    Ling shook his head.


    "It helped me find you, it''s ok. When I flew up there, I saw a hand made out of mana through the walls, which made me realize it was you. If it was like normal, then the light would be too bright for me to see anything."


    He scratched the side of his head.


    "So I''m d."


    Kairos was a little surprised he was taking it so well. After all, the kid basically just lost their eye.


    "You''ve changed quite a bit, haven''t you? And it''s only been maybe... a day or two?"


    Ling let out a faint hum.


    "It should be about three days."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up slightly.


    "Regardless, you went through a rapid shift of character."


    Ling shrugged his shoulders.


    "I just... realized some things."


    There was a moment of awkward silence. Kairos let out a grunt and put both arms high in the air to stretch.


    "Well anyways, we should try to find a way to get back to the others. It''s been quite a while and they are probably worried about us."


    He began walking, but Ling did not follow. After taking a few steps, he turned around to look at Ling, who was still on the ground, sitting up. His eyes were on the floor, not looking at anything in particr.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Do you need a break to recover?"


    Ling shook his head.


    "No, I''m fine."


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "Then... do you n on getting up any time soon?"


    Ling looked up.


    "Yes. But not to find the others."


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "...What are you talking about?"


    Ling shook his head.


    "I''m not going to go back."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Why not? Instead of just dealing with me, you''ll have your grandpa to support you and even Chase because he took a liking to you for some reason."


    Ling shook his head.


    "I can tell that they look down on me."


    Kairos looked at the kid deeply before sighing.


    "I am grateful that you have saved my life, but I''m not going to hold my tongue. Looking down on you is only natural for your actions."


    Ling nodded.


    "I know."


    Kairos didn''t know how to respond to that.


    After a moment of silence, Ling spoke softly.


    "Do you want to hear a story?"

 Chapter 108 Different, And The Same

    "A story?"


    Kairos walked back over to Ling.


    "Will it be a long one?"


    Ling shook his head.


    "Not too long."


    Kairos sighed and sat down in a cross-legged position.


    "Alright, then tell me about this story."


    Ling tapped the ground a few times before speaking up.


    "For almost everything, my parents would always tell me what to do. And I would just follow what they said. Sometimes I wonder why I just followed it all just like that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, they are your parents."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "Though, there are definitely times I wished I didn''t listen to mine."


    Ling looked up at him.


    "...Did you know you were the first person to thank me?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Really? I doubt that''s the case, you probably just forgot the other times you were thanked when you were younger."


    Ling let out a softugh.


    "No, I''m sure."


    Kairos leaned back slightly and ced his hands on the grass behind him.


    "Huh. What kind of life do you have that makes you so certain?"


    Ling found his mouth drying up.


    "Everyday, I would do whatever anyone else said. I think I spent more time doing things other people wanted than sleeping."


    His eyelids drooped slightly.


    "Or even what I wanted to do."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "So is that why you helped me out? Just because that''s what you were used to?"


    Ling took a deep breath.


    "The first time, yes. But... the second time was different."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.


    "Because I said thank you?"


    Ling smiled slightly.


    "That''s part of it. But it''s mostly because I just wanted to. You did save my own life."


    He closed his eyes.


    "If it wasn''t for you, I wouldn''t have even tried to think for myself. Then, I would probably die without ever finding out why I feel... so tired."


    Kairos spoke after a few seconds.


    "That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration."


    Ling simply chuckled, and moved on.


    "Did you know I saw my parents get killed by monsters right in front of me?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I''m sorry you had to see that."


    Ling shook his head.


    "Don''t be."


    He opened up his palm and stared at it.


    "I didn''t feel anything when I saw their bodies get torn up."


    Then he slowly balled his hand up into a fist.


    "Nothing at all."


    Kairos was a little baffled, not knowing what to say. He thought of himself as a rather cynical person, but he was very confident he would feel many different emotions seeing his parents get torn up in front of him.


    On the other hand, Ling was just a child that had hardly grown up.


    Ling let himself tilt back, letting himselfnd in the grass.


    "I didn''t really understand why that''s how it was at the time. Even when my grandpa had saved me, it was still like that."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders a little helplessly.


    "Well it''s a bit unfair to be ungrateful, as your grandfather really didn''t have to sacrifice anything to help you. Yet, he decided to."


    Ling pressed his lips together.


    "Maybe..."


    He shook his head.


    "Regardless, I''m not going back. It wasn''t a long time that I''ve been on my own, but it feels like this was the first time I made a decision on my own."


    Ling looked up to Kairos.


    "It was the first time I''ve been forced to make a decision on the spot so that I didn''t die."


    The corner of his lip turned upwards.


    "It was the first time... I felt appreciated for what I did."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Just so you know, me saying thank you is basically just creating sound waves in your direction. It''s really not that big of a deal."


    Lingughed.


    "Even then, you also gave me a gift."


    His eyes narrowed into slits.


    "I never really understood what a birthday meant before."


    He paused.


    "Because I''ve never got to celebrate one."


    ? Kairos looked at him a bit strangely.


    "Your parents... never celebrated?"


    Ling shook his head.


    "...You know, the day you gave me that green orb was actually my birthday."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Wow, what a coincidence. Happyte birthday then, I guess."


    Ling took a deep breath.


    "Thanks."


    Kairos brushed back his hair.


    "I don''t really understand what you have gone through with your parents but... I guess I''ve had a bit of a problem on my end too."


    He shut his eyes as he began to recall his memories.


    "It was never like my parents were bad people. They took care of me properly, fulfilling all of the obligations like a parent would."


    Kairos sighed.


    "But that was all they really did. I could tell... they never cared all that much about me. They more so cared about each other."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not that caring about each other was an unreasonable thing... but it kinda felt like they forgot about me most of the time."


    Ling scratched the side of his head.


    "It never felt like mine forgot about me.


    He pressed his lips together.


    "But it did feel like they only remembered me as a robot."


    Ling clenched his fist.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "No matter what I did, they would either just be silent, orin that I didn''t do a good enough job. It never mattered how hard I tried."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "When my father found me, he couldn''t even bring himself to ask if I was ok. Instead, he began worrying about my mother."


    The smile on his face slowly disappeared.


    "And when my mother did finally meet with me... she took away my father, without sparing me another nce."


    He shook his head.


    "Though, I guess that''s an unfair way to judge them since the apocalypse had affected them in different ways."


    Kairos'' eyelids fell slightly.


    "Though... it wasn''t like it was any different before either. Even when we celebrated my own birthday, they spent most of the time talking with each other, almost like I didn''t even exist."


    His head tilted to the head slightly.


    "The only time I could really attract their attention is if I stirred up some trouble."


    Ling blinked a few times.


    "Hm... it sounds like our lives are different, but it''s also kinda the same."


    Kairosughed.


    "I guess."


    As an awkward silence rose up, he ended up speaking to try and break it.


    "Say, how did you break the wall of the dungeon?"


    Ling tilted his head to the side.


    "Ah, you mean the mana crystal? I ended up using the green orb to save my life, which left me with only a tiny marble. But I remembered how you made it explode before, so I tried filling it up with mana.


    He scratched the side of his face.


    "Then it blew up like that."


    Kairos'' eyelids jumped slightly.


    "...I see."


    The fact that he had eleven of those now felt pretty nice. He somewhat regretted not picking some of them up while he was nearly dead. He had justpletely forgotten about them at the time, more focused on surviving.


    Ling stood up.


    "Anyways, I was actually able to find the direction where we came from. It was a little difficult, but I found it in the end."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, so you didn''t follow me because you actually knew the direction?"


    Ling scratched the side of his head.


    "Actually, you were walking in the right direction."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "So... you are really leaving? Don''t even want to say goodbye to everyone? Chase went through hell just to save you, don''t you remember?"


    Ling turned around.


    "It just... feels more right this way. This was the decision I made, and I intend on sticking with it."


    Kairos gave him a long look.


    "So does that mean you are leaving on your own now?"


    Ling didn''t speak for a while.


    "Well... yes. Unless you want toe with me."


    Kairos sighed as he looked at Ling''s slightly hopeful face.


    "I''m sorry. Although there are many ws and grievances I have with the people I''m with, I have no intention of abandoning them."


    Ling opened his mouth before closing it a few times. Until eventually, he spoke.


    "I get it. So... is this goodbye?"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "I guess so."


    Ling didn''t speak for a few moments. But eventually, he slowly opened his closed eyelid. It revealed a rather horrific sight, with a mushed up eye.


    His hand slowly went towards it, prompting Kairos to furrow his brows.


    "Hey, what are you doing?"


    Ling didn''t respond. Instead, he suddenly shoved his hand through his bloodied eye. Almost immediately, Ling cried out in pain.


    Kairos frowned, but didn''t move to stop him.


    Although it was quite the strange act, it shouldn''t be life threatening now that Ling was quite a bit stronger than the average person. Not to mention, it wasn''t like he could use that eye.


    For the next ten or so seconds, Ling continued to move around in his eye. He couldn''t help but hunch over as blood began dripping down his hand.


    But then, he pulled something out. It was a small light green crystal that glowed.


    Ling panted heavily as his trembling hand slowly extended outwards.


    "You can have it."


    Kairos was slightly speechless.


    "Um... what is it?"


    Ling calmed his panting slightly.


    "It''s where my ability to see manaes from."


    Kairos'' eyes widened.


    "...Should you keep it? I''m not even sure if I can use it."


    Ling shrugged his shoulders.


    "It hardly works anymore, so I don''t care about it that much. Just think of it as my way of saying thanks for what you''ve done for me."


    Kairos blinked a few times, and couldn''t help but question his logic.


    "Didn''t you save my life though? And I imagine it would be quite hard to live without your mana vision after getting used to it for so long."


    He thought about his own ability, being able to see into the future. It had caused him tremendous amounts of pain, but Kairos also knew that after living with it so long, suddenly having it removed would cause several unknown side effects.


    But Ling didn''t seem to notice all of that.


    "This was the decision I made. You''re much smarter than me, so you can probably find a way to use it again."


    Kairos looked at him strangely before carefully taking the small glowing crystal from his hand.


    "You know, I really didn''t understand your actions before. And that''s even more so now."


    Lingughed.


    "Well... maybe I just wanted something for you to remember me by."


    Kairos nodded.


    "...I see. Anyways, I guess this is goodbye."


    Ling gave a small smile.


    "I guess..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Right when we got back together too."


    Ling points at him.


    "But that doesn''t mean it will be thest time we see each other. I promise I will live, so that we can see each other once more."


    Kairos looked at his finger for a few seconds before turning around.


    "Sorry, but I don''t make promises, as I don''t know if I can actually keep him."


    He walked a few steps before stopping.


    "But I''ll definitely want to see what you be after more time if this is the change after three days. So I guess I''ll probably try."


    Then, he continued walking.


    Ling let out a muted chuckle and watched Kairos leave for a few seconds. Then, he turned around and began walking in the exact opposite direction.


    Kairos continued walking for quite a while, looking at the small glowing green crystal in his hand. He was a little off-put by the fact this directly came from someone''s eye, but decided to just ignore that fact.


    The forest was rather calm at this point in time, as not even insects seemed to be nearby. Perhaps it was the explosions from the dungeon that sent them away. It also made him wonder what happened to the dungeon after he had left it.


    But Kairos quickly got rid of those thoughts, focusing once more on the green crystal. There had to be a better way to use it other than sticking it in his eye, right?

 Chapter 109 Survivors

    Kairos let out a soft sigh as he continued to run through the forest. He tucked away the green crystal for now, deciding that he would try to experiment with it after. If things came down to him really needing the ability to see mana, then he could try thest resort and stick it into his eye.


    Though, he knew from experience that would be quite the unpleasant experience, which was why he decided to hold off for now.


    At first, there was only the sound of his footsteps hitting the grass. But as time passed, Kairos could begin hearing the buzzing sounds of insects.


    He was initially concerned about having to deal with evolved insects which would probably be quite annoying. However, he couldn''t quite catch a glimpse of any of them. In fact, whenever he got close to any of the nearby sounds, they would suddenly disappear.


    It almost made him feel like he was imagining those sounds, but they would appear behind him right afterwards, like they were making fun of him.


    Kairos didn''t harp on that fact, but there wasn''t much to think about as he continued to run through the forest. At some point, he caught a glimpse of an insect scampering off, just barely in the corner of his vision.


    This immediately reminded him of the other time he had seen monsters that were afraid.


    It was due to the presence of his mother, which was fair enough given how exaggeratedly strong she was. But this time, it was his presence that seemed to deter the insects away.


    They seemed to have an instinctive way to not only detect beings with a high rank, but a built-inmand to run away from them. Kairos wondered why he could never feel anything like that though.


    There were definitely times when there was a nearby high-ranked being, but he did not hold that sense that told them where they were. If he did have that, then he wouldn''t have been unaware of his mother''s presence until she inly announced herself.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued to run.


    It seemed to be an ability that normal humans didn''t have ess to, as none of his party noticed any danger either. He wondered if there was a way for him to gain that ability without turning into a monster.


    As he was thinking about this, he noticed that the surrounding trees and foliage had begun to thin. Then all of a sudden, he came to a clearing that showed a city in the distance.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how Ling was able to find this ce when it was quite far away. He originally believed it was quite close, but taking into ount how long he had walked, it was at least a couple of kilometers.


    While it wasn''t too big of a deal for him to run that distance with his stats, it shouldn''t be nearly as easy for Ling to scout this far. From the looks of it, Ling had probably spent quite a bit of effort in those three days to track down the ce that they came from.


    That meant he originally wanted to return with the others, but somewhere along the way, he changed.


    Or Kairos was misinterpreting it and Ling just used some special way to find this ce.


    As he got closer to the city, he noticed certainndmarks he remembered in the distance. It was one of the apartment buildings still standing. The reason why it stood out was that many of the other tall buildings around it were either knocked overpletely, while some of the others were heavily damaged.


    Kairos could generally pinpoint the direction he was initially separated from everyone but decided against it. After all, they were probably gone by now.


    He instead guessed the general direction of the city that Tiana resided in before heading off there.


    The one week deadline to return was getting close, and if he was to reunite with everyone else, that would probably be the best ce to do so.


    And so, he made his way into the city and went in that general direction.


    Along the way, he met a few monsters that were out and about on the streets. Upon noticing him, they rushed towards them with a roar. Kairos noted that they didn''t seem to be afraid of him before performing a horizontal sweep with his spear.


    With a light whip, it streaked through the air and cleanly decapitated the few monsters that rushed towards him. Their heads soared in the air before smacking onto the ground along with their bodies.


    Kairosmented over the fact he acquired no points in the process, but that was one of the natural disadvantages to ranking up he was just forced to deal with.


    He continued to move forth, but that was when a child-like voice called out.


    "Please help us! We-"


    The voice was suddenly cut off, as someone anxious begged the person to be quiet. Although they did so in the ent of a whisper, it was actually almost as loud as the shout from earlier. Though, the person doing so didn''t seem to realize.


    "You''re going to get us killed!"


    Kairos spared a casual nce to where the voice hade from. He saw that there was a girl several stories up in an apartment, sticking her hand out of the window and waving. Behind her, was a woman who wrapped one arm around the girl''s torso and used the other to cover her mouth.


    The two were desperately fighting each other, one trying to pull forwards and the other back.


    Kairos could tell from their movements that they were very weak.


    He instinctively thought that they were faking it, but quickly discarded that thought process. After dealing with powerful people for so long, he forgot that there were also others that were just trying to survive.


    Kairos watched their struggle go on for a few more seconds.


    He couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Is there really a point to continuing? I''ve already seen you."


    The woman holding back the little girl suddenly trembled, unable to put any strength into her arms anymore. This let the little girl break free letting her wave her hands in the air and boldly speak out.


    "Yes, yes! Please help us! You are so strong, you must be able to!"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "It is true that I could help."


    The little girl nodded excitedly.


    "Yeah!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "But I could also get myself some food by breaking into your ce to steal all of it."


    The little girl''s expression froze on her face. On the other hand, the woman couldn''t help but express her distraught in an ugly, deep frown.


    "Please, you can''t do that!"


    It was at that point a third voice came from behind.


    "We can''t negotiate anymore, we have to escape now!"


    Hearing that, the woman did not argue, instead grabbing onto the little girl and dragging her back.


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "That''s a good n, but there''s one small problem with it."


    As he said those words, his knees bent slightly. Then, he pushed off the ground hard, letting him shoot up into the air.


    His foot mmed into the window sill and he used one hand to grab onto the side of the window for bnce.


    On the inside, was a little girl, a woman, and a teenage boy. They all looked at him with expressions of both shock and fear.


    Kairos gave a small wave.


    "Hey."


    They remained rooted to the spot for a few seconds.


    That was when the teenage boy suddenly rushed forth, closing both of his eyes with his hands out in front of him.


    "Run away!"


    The woman cried out. She grabbed onto the boy''s shoulder.


    "No, don''t!"


    The boy turned around with a frown.


    "You have to run, don''t worry about me!"


    However, the woman refused to let go.


    "No, your father said we all had to live, remember?"


    Tears formed in the boy''s eyes.


    "And for you to live, I will have to give up my own!"


    He ended up breaking free.


    "AHHHHH!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The little girl cried out


    "No, big brother!"


    With both eyes closed and his head lowered, the boy ran towards Kairos and shoved him.


    ...Unfortunately, Kairos hadn''t moved back whatsoever. And that was including the fact he hardly exerted any strength.


    He coughed awkwardly.


    "So have you got it out of your system yet?"


    The boy slowly opened his eyes and looked upwards. He was clearly filled with fear.


    "I-Impossible."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "I just jumped up several stories andnded right in the window frame. You couldn''t have expected that a light shove would be enough to knock me down, right?"


    The boy fell onto his rear.


    "No... it''s all over."


    The woman and little girl also had expressions of despair.


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, if all of you are at F rank, I can bring you to a farm to work on."


    The three of them froze in ce, having difficulty processing the situation.


    The little girl was the first to recover.


    "So... you came to help us?"


    She had a wide smile on her face, forgetting all of the fear she just held onto earlier.


    Kairos shook his head, making the girl cringe. But before they plunged into despair, Kairos spoke.


    "First off, you have to be F rank. If that is the case, then I can give you the choice of working on a farm. Though you must note that ny percent of all you harvest will be collected by the city."


    Both the boy and the woman began to calm down after a while.


    While they were working up on the words to speak, Kairos took a casual nce around and couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    "This ce... smells as bad as it looks."


    There was trash strewn about everywhere, with a room even half ajar with trash spilling out of it, while the washroom seemed to have feces spilling out too.


    Kairos had definitely gotten used to smelling bad things from the amount of blood he smelled along with interacting with several people that hadn''t showered in a while.


    However, the smell here was still far worse byparison.


    "How can you even live in this ce?"


    The little girl''s smile drooped slightly.


    "We don''t have another choice."


    Kairos nodded.


    The boy clenched his fists hard.


    "We... we are F rank. How much food can we get from working on the farms?"


    Kairos shrugged.


    "Ten percent of everything you grow. It will be enough if you work hard enough,"


    The woman frowned.


    "We... we can''t ept leaving this ce."


    The little girl stamped her foot.


    "No! I''m not staying here anymore!"


    The boy''s breathing got a little heavy.


    "Give us... give us twenty percent and we will go!"


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Look, I made you an offer based on how that ce works out of consideration for your situation. Frankly, I really don''t need you toe."


    The little girl rushed to Kairos and hopped on the spot.


    "We will go! We will go!"


    The woman bit her lip.


    "No! It''s not safe to leave!"


    The boy seemed hesitant, but then he took a nce at the ce he was in. It was practically a wastnd.


    "Mother... we have to go."


    The woman looked down.


    "But-"


    "We can''t survive here!"


    The boy shouted with clenched fists. A sad frown was on his face, while his voice softened considerably.


    "This is our only chance..."


    The woman froze on the spot, but slowly nodded a moment after.


    "Ok... ok, ok..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright, hurry up and pack whatever you want to bring. I won''t wait for long."


    The three anxiously went to pack their things upon hearing that.


    At that time, a window slowly slid open.


    "Um, could we take part in your deal too?"


    A young man poked his head out of the window and timidly spoke.


    Kairos casted a nce.


    "F rank, and ny percent will be given to the city."


    The young man nodded quickly.


    "Thank you! I will get ready now."


    Then... several other windows slid open, revealing even more people.

 Chapter 110 Scientist

    "Wait, me too!"


    "C-Could Ie as well?"


    "I know more about farms, take me instead!"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he watched the various windows of this building open.


    "It seems like there''s a party going on over here."


    Everyone seemed to get even more anxious after hearing that.


    "I''m stronger than everyone else, I can work the farm better!"


    "No, I''m more hardworking, I won''t ck off at all!"


    "Wait, I''m naturally a small eater so I can pay even more taxes."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, I never said that there were only so many that coulde."


    Everyone seemed to calm down somewhat.


    Kairos sighed.


    "But I can''t guarantee that all of you will get in. Let''s first get there and we will see, alright? Pack up fast, I''ll be waiting at most ten minutes on the ground floor."


    Upon hearing that, all of them anxiously rushed to do their own things.


    Kairos leaped off,nding back on the ground floor. He then began waiting, counting down the individual seconds needed for ten minutes. Though, he couldn''t help but count a little bit on the faster side since he didn''t really want to wait for that long.


    Yet, as he was waiting, he heard a screaming from the inside.


    It was then Kairos realized that there were probably monsters in the hallways of the apartments, and these people were essentially sheep against them.


    His eyebrow twitched.


    "...I should probably help."


    With that in mind, he searched for the entrance of the ce, which he found after just turning a corner. There were windows in ce, letting him easily see the inside.


    There were countless pieces of furniture blocking the doors, stacked up so high that he could only make a few slivers through the tiny cracks.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    It seemed some people were courageous enough to block the ce off. Though... they were probably also dead. From what Kairos could tell, this person was brave enough to help in creating a barricade, but that kind of thinking also meant that they were a coward.


    They weren''t the kind to prefer direct confrontation, thus probably didn''t kill many monsters.


    In other words, this kind of person was brave, and also weak.


    With those thoughts in mind, he pushed against the ss door casually, seeing if it would open. The furniture stacked up creaked loudly, on the verge of snapping. However, they didn''t get pushed back.


    Assuming that the furniture itself wouldn''t break, then this barricade would hold.


    Kairos wondered if this was a coincidence, or if someone actually did such a thing. He pulled back his fist all the way, before suddenly letting it loose.


    With a loud crash, he shattered the ss door into pieces and destroyed all the furniture in front of him. Various wooden legs scattered into the air along with the stuffing of cushions.


    Kairos continued walking forth, and immediately found the ce smelled quite bad. Though, it still wasn''t nearly as bad as the room he saw before. Despite the debris from the wrecked furniture covering the ground, it was still fairly easy to see quite therge amount of dried blood stter across the ce.


    Kairos pushed on a little further, and found himself getting a little lost.


    He didn''t exactly know where the staircase to go up was, and he was not even going to bother trying the elevators. The ce was in so much of a mess, it was basically impossible to tell what the ce originally looked like. After a bit of searching, he found a door and decided to try and push it open.


    Yet, it only gave slightly, along with the sound of creaking furniture.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow with interest. It was the same kind of barricade blocking the original door. Though he could tell it was only made out of a few pieces, thus just pushed a little harder, causing the furniture to break apart.


    With several loud snapping sounds, the door slowly gave in.


    As Kairos pushed, he found that this was actually a janitorial closet. His original intention was to give up as he pushed, but there was the smell of blood inside, which made him curious.


    He continued to push it open most of the way, and in the corner of the room, was a man in the corner. There was a small puddle of blood underneath him, while his head hung limply.


    His body looked quite terrible, especially considering he was basically just skin and bones. His hair was bright yellow, while his clothes were casual ones, though they were ragged and bloodied now.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "...What kind of idiot locks themselves into a closet and dies there?"


    That was when the man''s head slowly turned in his direction.


    "An idiot... that trusted...."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Wow, you''re actually alive despite looking like that."


    The man slowly closed his eyes.


    "I might as well be dead..."


    He took in a slow breath.


    "After all, all my friends are."


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "Well, the monsters are pretty scary in the apocalypse."


    The man shook his head.


    "It was by the people here... We took care of all the monsters in the building..."


    Kairos rested his spear on his shoulder.


    "...So you helped them and then they killed you?"


    The man smiled bitterly.


    "Some of them wanted to hold power over the situation. Since everyone looked up to us, we had to go."


    Kairos nodded.


    "So that''s why they are all holed up in their own rooms. They can''t even trust each other."


    A smile slowly formed on his face.


    "That means they are perfect for the job."


    The man was surprised by his words, so much that even being on the verge of death, he had to ask.


    "Job? What job?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Farming."


    The man furrowed his brows.


    "What? How does that even..."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "They are the kinds of people that are led by their emotions. Scare them a little bit, and they will do anything you ask. They can hardly think for themselves, and won''t dare to challenge someone stronger than them."


    The man fell silent.


    Kairos didn''t n on ending the conversation just yet though.


    "Say, you were the one that made this barricade and the one in the lobby too, right?"


    The man let his head droop, hitting the wall next to him. He didn''t bother answering.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, considering there''s only one way into this ce, it must''ve been you. Are you a scientist or something?"


    The man shook his head.


    "...No."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Are you lying to me?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The man shook his head firmly.


    "No. I was never employed as a scientist, even though I graduated with a PhD."


    Kairos couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Sounds like you are a bad scientist."


    He was expecting this to poke at the man''s pride, causing the man to re up. Yet, his facial expression didn''t change at all.


    After a few seconds of silence, the man spoke.


    "Yeah, I am."


    Kairos was confused. He couldn''t help but feel intrigued.


    "Hey, do you want toe with me?"


    The man weakly scoffed.


    "I don''t want to farm with those people."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "What if it wasn''t farming you had to do?"


    The man slowly looked up.


    "...What do you have in mind?"


    Kairos raised a finger.


    ? "How about you help out in making things like this barricade you have here?"


    The man did not respond for a few seconds, thinking about it.


    "You mean like the research department of apany?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Pretty much."


    The man slowly got up to his feet.


    "Then... I''ll try it."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Alright, well I would give you some food if I had any on me, but I don''t. I guess your first trial will be getting to the city I take you to first."


    The man slowly nodded.


    "Alright."


    Kairos let out a small gasp.


    "Ah, right. Do you know where the stairwell is?"


    The man pointed weakly in a direction.


    "There."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    As he walked in that direction, the man called out to him.


    "By the way, my name is Quinn."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Kairos."


    Then, he continued walking to the stairwell door. This one was also barricaded, but Kairos just did a simple shove and was able to push it aside.


    What was revealed was a stairwell, like he expected. Though, there was also a bit of fresh blood dripping down from above.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow before walking up the steps to see what was happening.


    "What the hell are you going to do? You''re just going to die anyway, why are you even trying to get to the farm? That''s the job we should rightfully have!"


    There was a fight in the cramped stairwell. A few people had knives in their hands and were preventing anybody from getting past the second floor.


    The dead bodies at their feet was proof of that fact.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Rightful position, is it? Since when did you think you somehow earned that rightfully in any fashion?"


    A man blocking the stairwell turned around with a deep frown on their face.


    "How dare you-"


    Yet, before he could speak any further, the woman next to him covered his mouth. She smiled awkwardly.


    "S-Savior, this isn''t what it looks like!"


    The man was initially confused, trying to pull off the woman''s hand by force, but quickly stopped once he realized what had happened.


    A small smile formed on Kairos'' face as he took a step forward.


    "Alright, if it isn''t what it looks like, then what exactly is it?"


    The woman was at a loss for words. That was when the man began pleading.


    "We were just taking care of people that were going to die anyway! It would''ve made the journey less of a burden..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I just care about farmers. You don''t need super strength to do that. The only thing I see, is you wasting my time."


    After a few moments of awkward silence, the woman changed the way she moved to be more sultry. The woman even leaned over so that her chest was more visible.


    "Savior, you don''t have to take the man next to me, but you will at least take me, right? I can... provide things he can''t."


    The man immediately freaked out.


    "You bitch! How could you-"


    But before he could say anything more, the woman stabbed a knife into his stomach. The man''s eyes widened, and could no longer find the strength to scream. Instead, he fell down to his knees and slowly bled to death.


    Kairos slowly walked up, with a wider smile.


    This in turn made the woman smile as well.


    Kairos'' head tilted to the side slightly.


    "You know..."


    Then, he grabbed onto the woman''s head causing her to freeze in ce.


    "...I always hated it most, when a girl tried to convince me in that way."


    The woman opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Kairos'' gripped suddenly tightened.


    And he directly pulled it off.


    His thumb pierced deeply into the woman''s eye, which would''ve caused her to scream if she was still connected to the part of her body that allowed her to do that.


    It was only a few secondster that she died.


    Everyone in the stairwell froze in ce, now deathly afraid.


    Kairos took in a deep breath, before shouting at the top of his lungs.


    "I gave you all this opportunity because I thought it was something I could do along the way, that wouldn''t take too much time. But if you''re going to waste my time with bullshit like this, then it clearly means you don''t respect me."


    He paused for a moment, with a small frown on his face. And this time, he spoke as though he was ordering food at a restaurant.


    "And naturally, that means I have no obligation to respect you."


    With that, he dropped the head, letting it smack into the floor, before walking back down the stairs.

 Chapter 111 Refuge

    Kairos shook his head before walking back down the stairs. The people were still stunned for a few moments, but quickly recovered themselves when they remembered what he had said.


    Not to waste his time.


    Naturally, they couldn''t keep standing there, and also rushed down the steps, not even caring about the fact that they were stepping directly over fresh corpses.


    At the entrance of the building was Quinn, who was weakly pushing the door open with a hunched back. Unfortunately, the door was hardly moving, despite him putting in all of his strength. With the way it was awkwardly bent, not even a normal person would be able to push it out of the way.


    Kairos let out a sigh as he walked over.


    "I''ll get it."


    After forcefully deforming the door to move it aside, Quinn gave him a quick nce before continuing on forwards.


    There were many whispersing from the crowd.


    "He... helped open the door for him."


    "Did the weakling bribe him?"


    "I don''t know, but it looks like we can''t mess with him!"


    Kairos was able to hear their conversation despite the fact their voices were still hushed. Though he didn''t really care about it much. It did make him feel a little better to know that the people he was leading were just as he thought they were.


    All of them began filing out on the street,ing up to roughly fifty people.


    Kairos couldn''t help but scrunch his nose slightly, disturbed by the terrible smell, like he was in a washroom that was never cleaned. If he had decided to hole up in his own house, he probably would''ve be like that too.


    Kairos thanked himself before refocusing on what he sought to aplish.


    "Is everyone here?"


    There was no reply.


    After waiting a few seconds, Kairos figured that while ten minutes hadn''t passed yet, it was close enough. And so, he waved to get their attention.


    "Alright, let''s go then. Follow behind me and tell me if a monster ising from behind. Don''te too close."


    With that, he began walking towards where he remembered the city was, while the others followed. However, infighting almost immediately broke out, with people wanting to be closer to Kairos. Though, nobody dared get too close, keeping at least five meters between themselves and him.


    As for Quinn, he simply walked from two meters behind Kairos. It almost made a few have the courage to also walk closer, but the general consensus was that Quinn had some sort of status advantage to him that let him stand that close.


    Kairos wasn''t walking all that fast. Even Quinn with his severely weakened body was keeping up, albeit barely. Yet, the other people were even beginning to fall behind.


    Eventually, Kairos stopped and turned around. His eyes widened while his pupils constricted.


    "I said I would take care of any monsters that appear behind. If you''re so concerned about staying alive, then make sure not to piss me off. Frankly, I''m a bigger threat to you than the monsters could ever be."


    Like another spell, everyone fell silent once more.


    Quinn couldn''t help but look at Kairos a little strangely, and muttered under his breath.


    "...Is this how dictators were before?"


    Kairos pretended that he didn''t hear that and continued walking.


    The people following from behind rposed themselves and didn''t shove each other even if they were ufortable with their spot.


    Just a minute or two into their journey, a group of fifteen or so monsters had gathered up ahead, blocking the road. Kairos raised an eyebrow, feeling that these numbers were umon at this time of day.


    Some of the people at the back began faltering. Not all of them had seen Kairos easily behead the few monsters earlier, and to them, fifteen monsters looked like a giant horde.


    As such, many began crying out in despair.


    "Why are there so many?"


    "W-We''re doomed!"


    "I''m not sticking around for this!"


    One man began running away, and that seemed to be a signal for several others to run away. Even some of those that had seen Kairos deal with the monsters so easily couldn''t help but lose faith as well, deciding to leave.


    Kairos didn''t stop them. After all, it wasn''t as though they were particrly important. He continued to walk up ahead as the monsters recklessly charged toward him.


    He obviously knew that they weren''t a threat, as his stats were simply too high for them to do anything to him. Thus he was naturally very casual as he walked up, almost like he hadn''t even seen them.


    A little girl suddenly called out.


    "Watch out!"


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "I know."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Once the monsters were all a meter away, his spear suddenly tore through the air, beheading five monsters all at once. It almost seemed like he was harvesting crops. The rest of the monsters proceeded fearlessly, but with just a few more swings, Kairos was able to take care of the rest.


    They were unable to even get their ws near him.


    Kairos then continued on.


    The ones that were either hesitating or decided to stick with him all let out a sigh of relief, and also began to understand that Kairos was on apletely different level than they could''ve ever imagined. Practically everyone here quieted down and shuffled behind him.


    A few people that had been running away saw this disy as they looked over their shoulders and couldn''t help but stop in ce. It was so insignificant to Kairos that he didn''t even have a second thought about it, but to these people, it was quite insurmountable.


    After all, one monster was usually more than enough to kill one regr human. That group of fifteen would easily wipe out the fifty normal people even if they were united and fought with high morale.


    They weren''t exposed to how strong people could really be.


    Kairos continued forth, and gave a casual nce backwards. This intimidated the others, but it only made them walk faster.


    Kairos then rubbed his chin.


    There were still roughly thirty people, which was enough to be worth to continue leading them to the city. Otherwise, he would just pick up Quinn before ditching everyone else.


    He then raised his eyebrow as he looked back.


    That was because Quinn was observing his spear rather closely with his brows furrowed deeply.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Um, is there a problem?"


    Quinn forced himself to stare at the spear even when he could hardly keep his eyes open.


    "...That spear has unbelievable toughness. It''s almost like an indestructible object that showed up in a video game due to a poorly coded game engine."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Of course, why would I hold on to such a thin weapon otherwise."


    Quinn began speaking as though he was perfectly healthy.


    "I believed you were holding onto it for the sake of its flexibility, but that''s clearly not the case. There is no material I know that is actually that durable and can be forged in this way."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yes, though there are definitely stranger things considering there is an apocalypse and all that."


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "Yes... yes..."


    With that, Kairos continued on while the others naturally followed. Almost all of the monsters approached from the front, making it quite easy to deal with all of them.


    But eventually, someone ended up screaming out loud.


    Kairos turned around and leaped up into the air while channeling mana to form a gale spell, pointing it back. As he expected, there were a few monsters behind them.


    After channeling for about a second, he released it.


    Several people cried out in despair as they saw the monsterse close. Once they lunged, most of them had already given up hope.


    "Help me, please!"


    Then, the monsters all blew up, sttering to be a bloody mess.


    Kairos thennded back on the ground and turned to face forwards once more.


    "Alright, the monsters are dealt with, let''s continue."


    Everyone was quite astonished, including Quinn, who began muttering to himself about various numbers.


    There were no big surprises along the way, only monsters that Kairos could easily deal with. And soon enough, they were able to make it to the city.


    Several people eximed with surprise and happiness. They weren''t exactly the most shocked by the thirty meters in height that the walls had, because they were used to seeing those kinds of heights in the city.


    However, this was obviously much more unnatural considering its extensive width and the fact that this was something that was clearly made after the apocalypse. In reality, people were mostly holding onto a fantastical hope, without much faith that it would truly be a good ce.


    Yet, it was even better than their wildest imaginations.


    As Kairos slowly walked up to the front of the ce, the wall suddenly rose, revealing the inside.


    And he saw some familiar faces.

 Chapter 112 Reunited

    "Wait, he''s still out there, he must be out there!"


    Nicole was reaching out, while Chase was holding her back, though clearly seemed to be struggling in the process.


    He clicked his tongue as he pulled.


    "Of course he''s still out there, he isn''t the type to just die like that. If we just wait, he will naturally show up."


    Nicole''s lip was trembling.


    "But... but... what if he''s in trouble?"


    Kairos coughed awkwardly and gave a weak wave.


    "Uh, hello."


    Chase looked up with a bit of surprise.


    "Oh, hey you''re back."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Nicole was frozen on the spot when she initially saw him. Then momentster, she uncontrobly broke out into tears. She slipped out of Chase''s grasp before running towards him.


    At that moment, Chase furrowed his brows and looked down at his own hand.


    "Eh?"


    Kairos let out a sigh and gave a small wave.


    "I''m fine, I''m fine. You can calm down now."


    Nicole still rushed towards him, which made Kairos feel a little awkward. He could see that she was going for a hug, but didn''t really want to do so right now.


    As Nicole got closer, Kairos decided to just ignore her for now, and just let her do as she wished, as embarrassing as it was. It would probably lower his image of a ruthless leader to the rest of the people, but he could find a way to work around itter.


    But then, his eyes widened.


    Because he saw everything went ck once Nicole got near. The sensation of someone colliding into him never happened. A momentter, his vision came back, but Nicole wasn''t there.


    From behind him, he heard Nicole''s voice.


    "H-Huh?"


    Kairos turned around and saw that Nicole was actually behind him. He quickly pieced various things together before realizing that she must''ve somehow phased through him.


    Nicole stared at her empty hands for a moment, before turning around to look at Kairos with a gaze of despair.


    "I... I''m dreaming?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose, quickly realizing this was gettingplicated.


    "Nicole, Chase, go to my room for now, alright? I''ll see you there soon."


    Chase broke out of his confused stupor first and headed back to the center of the city. As for Nicole, she had still convinced herself she was somehow in a dream and began muttering to herself about something.


    Kairos tried to reach out to her, but his hand phased right through her shoulder.


    He then let out a resigned sigh.


    "Get to my room, alright? You can worry about stuff there. Just go. Oh, also try to get Tori and Sydney there too."


    Nicole slowly looked up with teary eyes. It was fairly clear she still believed that the Kairos in front of her was an illusion. However, she still got up to her feet and began walking back toward the center of the city.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    Before turning around to look at the rest.


    "Come with me, since you''ve made it here you all have to be assigned to one of the plots ofnd to farm."


    With that, he also walked towards the center of the city.


    Though, he couldn''t help but stop, because Quinn was mumbling something to himself like a crazy man.


    Quinn''s eyes were on the wall, looking directly at him. However, his eyes were also unfocused, showing that he was actually deep in thought.


    "The wall... can move on its own. But how? What is making it move?"


    He then pressed his hand against the wall.


    "It is clearly durable, made out of some kind of tough material. But doesn''t that also mean that it''s quite heavy? Is this the work of some hydraulic forces acting on the door? Or maybe it is because of some sort of material. Though it could also be hollow on the inside..."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Um, shouldn''t you be worried about the fact you''re starving to death first?"


    Quinn broke out of his stupor, with fluttering eyelids.


    "Oh, righ..."


    He abruptly cut himself off, before falling down like he was blown over by a gust of wind.


    Kairos caught him by the back of his shirt before he fell. With a small sigh, he began dragging him along, almost like he was carrying a dead body with him.


    The others began following without saying anything about the situation. They gazed around the ce curiously, and also had faces filled with hope.


    The various farmers working on the fields ended up looking at them curiously, wondering who these new people were.


    But as much staring as people did, nothing major ended up happening.


    Upon reaching the center apartment, he held out his hand.


    "All of you wait here, I''m going to talk with someone who can work on you all getting assigned."


    With that, he walked in while dragging Quinn along with him.


    As he was going down the hallway, off to go into Tiana''s room, he found himself running into the person in question.


    She appeared a little surprised seeing him there, and let out a small gasp of surprise.


    "Oh, you''re finally here. I know I said you could, but I didn''t think that you would actually leave for about a week beforeing back."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I didn''t n it either, but a few things came up that dyed me by quite a bit."


    Tiana nodded, before taking a nce at Quinn, who was being dragged around while unconscious.


    "Um, is there a reason you need to drag that around? Or are you trying to find a way to dispose of a body?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "It''s just someone I picked up. He may not be strong, but he seems to be quite smart. I want to give him a chance to try and be useful with his head."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Ah, alright. He definitely looks like he''s going to need something to eat though."


    Kairos shrugged.


    "Seems like it."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "Then do you need another room for him?"


    Kairos opened his mouth with the intention of saying yes but ended up closing it soon after.


    "Well... there''s no need. He can take Sam''s room for now."


    Tiana''s lips parted slightly, about to ask a question, but she tactfully stopped herself.


    "I see."


    Kairos waved his hand.


    "Anyways, do you need any extra people to begin farming? I brought quite a few over here."


    Tiana put her hands together.


    "Oh! You didn''t need to, but there are quite a few plots ofnd that aren''t taken. I can get someone to assign those people."


    Kairos nodded.


    "They are just outside the building. I gotta talk to some people for now, so I''ll see youter."


    Tiana reached out one hand to gesture him to stop.


    "Ah, I need to talk to youter about some things rted to the city, pleasee to my room after you''re done."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Alright, I''ll be there soon enough."


    With that, he first put Quinn into where his father''s room was beforeing back down to open the door to his own room. Despite this not being the first time inside, he still was a little dazzled by how luxurious it all was with the multiple couches and floors.


    At the moment, Tori was lightly bouncing up and down on one of the bigger couches.


    "Wow, why is his ce so much better than mine?"


    Chase waved his hand.


    "Well, he''s the one that girl cares most about, so that''s only natural."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Nicole was hugging her knees sitting on top of the couch, lightly sobbing to herself. Chase shot her asional nces, clearly confused as to why she was so sad. On the other hand, Sydney seemed to be quite lost, not really thinking about anything.


    Kairos closed the door behind him and waved.


    "Hey, sorry for the wait."


    Tori immediately turned to look at him and raised her arm to wave, but cringed in pain before letting it fall back down again.


    "Agh... Hello!"


    Chase leaned back into the couch he was sitting on and rested his arm on the back.


    "Hey, I was waiting for a damn while for you toe."


    Sydney slowly turned to look at Kairos and let out a small gasp.


    "Kairos... you''re actually back?"


    Nicole first looked at Kairos, then at the other two.


    "You guys can... see him?"


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Um, yeah? Can you not?"


    Nicole blinked.


    "It''s... not a hallucination?"


    She slowly got up to her feet and walked over to Kairos. She slowly brought one hand up to Kairos'' face before lightly touching it.


    "Wh- you''re real!"


    In response, Kairos sighed.


    "Yes, I''m real. I''m a little confused about what happened earlier, but I think that might be your natural ability at y."


    Nicole wasn''t really listening, and instead threw herself at him, giving him a big hug.


    "I was so scared!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes but didn''t fight it.


    "Alright, alright, I''m here now. You can calm down."


    He gently patted her back with his free hand, waiting for a few seconds before Nicole eventually let go.


    Nicole looked a little dazed.


    "Wait, so earlier... that wasn''t a hallucination?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Do you not know what your own natural ability is? Of course not."


    That was when Chase spoke up.


    "Um... but I''m pretty sure she''s still F rank, right? How would she have an ability?"


    Kairos'' eyes widened when he heard that.


    "What?"


    When his gaze suddenly darted to Nicole, it made her jump slightly.


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Are you really F rank?"


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "Y-Yes?"


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "Can you open your status panel?"


    Nicole did as told, but still looked quite confused.


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: 98/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 90.5]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Inborn Abilities: Lost (F-)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos'' eyes widened in surprise for multiple reasons.


    The first was that Nicole''s evolution energy was dangerously high. From what he could surmise, if that reached one hundred, she would start transforming into a monster. And that was obviously a bad thing.


    The other was how many evolution points she had. Kairos didn''t remember exactly how many points he got from the dungeon, but the number should be quite close to the amount she had now.


    Though the biggest thing was definitely the fact her inborn ability that used to show ''Lost (Null)'' now showed ''Lost (F-)''.


    In other words, this was the activation of her inborn ability that somehow unlocked.


    Kairos opened his mouth, about to question her about it. However, he decided it would be better to talk about that in private. Instead he asked something else.


    "Why are you still at the F rank?"


    Nicole looked at him curiously.


    "Um, I thought it would be better to wait for you to help with the evolving since you can give extra options. Also it would give more points when killing monsters, right?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Of course, but there are also disadvantages. Naturally people will get stronger, so you also need more strength for that. But also, having a higher rank gives you more resistance to transforming into a monster."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Really?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Let''s do the evolution right now, just in case."


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched.


    "Um, could you help me out as well after?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Sure."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "Ok... what options do I have?"


    Kairos pressed the evolve button for her, and saw a variety of options.


    [Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 5 points for Frost Spell or Lightning Spell? Frost/Lightning | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    He rubbed his chin.


    "There''s either frost or lightning?"


    Kairos expected her to ask for his opinion, but to his surprise, Nicole made her own decision.


    "Could I have the frost spell?"


    Kairos slowly nodded and after selecting the various options, he pressed confirm.

 Chapter 113 Misunderstanding

    As the evolution process started, Nicole began to panic slightly. As her body heated up and reddened by quite a bit. However, the process itself wasn''t actually painful, so she quickly calmed down.


    Nicole took in a few breaths, with fairly shocked eyes. She raised her hands and looked down at them, almost like she didn''t recognize them.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Could I see your status panel?"


    Nicole broke out of her stupor.


    "Ah! Yeah."


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: 98/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Obtain 402 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 70.5]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.1


    Magic Affinity - 0.1]


    [Special Abilities: Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Lost (F-)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brows. The evolution itself waspletely normal, with everything expected happening. However, he couldn''t help but feel the ability she gained was simply too strange.


    ''Afraid Spell (F)''


    Was being afraid somehow supposed to be a beneficial spell?


    Kairos couldn''t imagine it. However, he decided it would be better not to judge it by the name, but by the actual function. Nicole also seemed rather apprehensive of the ability, while the other three didn''t seem to have much of a different opinion.


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Anyway, we should test out that ability."


    Nicole stammered.


    "U-Um, which one?"


    Kairos pointed at her status panel.


    "The one that says afraid spell."


    Nicole looked a little embarrassed but slowly nodded.


    "O-Ok."


    She closed her eyes as mana began flowing throughout her body. For a moment, the embarrassment seemed to disappear as she channeled the spell.


    Though, Kairos had to say it was taking much longer than expected.


    Even after ten seconds had passed, nothing seemed to be happening.


    Kairos couldn''t help but cough.


    "Um, is the spell over yet?"


    Nicole abruptly opened her eyes.


    "N-No, I''m still casting it. Sorry for being slow."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Ah, then whatever. Just tell us when you are finished with that spell."


    Once a total of sixty seconds had passed since her initial channeling, she finished the spell. Nicole opened her eyes.


    "It''s done!"


    At first, nothing happened, which made everyone feel a little awkward. However, her body had suddenly be translucent. It was now possible to see the couch behind her body.


    It was almost as though someone used a photo editing software and set her opacity to fifty percent.


    Then, after a couple seconds had passed, the changes stopped, making her revert back to her normal self.


    Nicole eximed.


    "Eh? Did anything happen? I feel... really tired"


    Kairos rubbed his chin with great interest.


    "It seems that ability is able to make you partially see-through."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "That doesn''t seem like it would be that useful."


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "...and it also takes so long to cast the spell."


    Chase had his hands sped together as he seriously stared at Nicole.


    "But the ability has potential."


    Nicole was initially feeling distraught upon hearing the other''s words, but Chase''s gave her a little bit of hope.


    "It does?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "A lot of potential, in fact. This was how it was with the bare minimum mana capacity and magic affinity. I imagine increased mana capacity will give you more time in this state, and logically magic affinity should be able to make you more invisible."


    Chase slowly closed his eyes.


    "Being invisible... has far too many advantages. Though, it seems that ability can''t provide true invisibility for now."


    Nicole squirmed a little bit in ce.


    "So my ability is useful?"


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "You will have to get a little creative, but yes it should be."


    He then turned to Chase.


    "And you are also still at F rank?"


    Chase smiled with a bit of resignation.


    "Honestly, if possible I would like to remain at this rank so that gathering points isn''t as much of a pain. Though, that''s only the case if I don''t transform into a monster."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, show me your status panel then."


    Chase did as told while keeping his smile on his face.


    [Status]


    [ID: 734513523564]


    [Rank: 89/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 76.7]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 4.9


    Magic Affinity - 4.9]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Inborn Abilities: Hero (Null)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Say, where did you guys get so many points from?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "After you were taken away, we tried to clear out the monsters in order to make our way to you. While we were all able to take care of quite a few, there were simply too many for us to deal with. In the end, we had to retreat back to the city."


    Kairos nodded as he pressed the evolve button.


    "Fair enough."


    [Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 5 points for Earth Spell or Thunder Spell? Earth/Thunder | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    Kairos promptly stated the two options he saw.


    "Earth or thunder."


    Chase spent a few seconds deliberating over it, before confidently stating his choice.


    "Thunder."


    Kairos didn''t say anything more and clicked the various options required. Before pressing confirm.


    Chase braced himself, but quickly lost that initial tension. He slowly let out his breath as his body heated up and his skin reddened. His eyelids slowly closed as he felt the process take over. During this time, Nicole took out some food and began snacking on it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Something that Kairos noticed was that his veins seemed to be bulging out of his skin, which wasn''t something that didn''t happen with other people. It would''ve been something he just brushed off, but the color of the veins were red, not blue like it traditionally was.


    Though he was slightly concerned, Chase looked like he was rxing at a spa, so Kairos just ignored it.


    After a few moments, the effects subsided and Chase''s eyes slowly opened.


    Without waiting, he opened up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 734513523564]


    [Rank: 89/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Obtain 111 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 56.7]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 5.0


    Magic Affinity - 5.0]


    [Special Abilities: Crystal Heart (F), Thunder (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Hero (Null)]


    [Hide]


    Chase muttered to himself after looking at his stats.


    "...Crystal heart?"


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "Perhaps it is rted to your mutated heart?"


    Chase closed his eyes.


    "I think... it''s a passive skill. It''s a little hard to tell right now, but I''m pretty sure that it is somehow changing how the mana feels around me. Hold on, let me try casting a spell."


    He held out his hand as though he was holding onto a ball before channeling mana to cast the thunder spell.


    In just a second it finished casting.


    Then, a deafening crack resounded.


    Everyone was shocked, instinctively backing up and widening their eyes. Kairos had a little difficulty keeping hisposure because of the fact he saw it one second into the future.


    Everyone remained stunned for a few seconds because of that spell.


    However, they also came to a realization that other than that loud sound, the spell didn''t do anything.


    Chase furrowed his brows.


    "Hmm... it appears that the thunder spell only creates a loud sound. At the very least, it seems I''m able to push where the sound originates from away for a certain distance. As for the crystal heart ability, I can tell that it has dramatically increased my mana regeneration."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "That sounds pretty good then."


    Chase nodded to himself.


    "Yes... it is definitely not bad... not bad at all."


    Tori gave a few ps and frowned a little yfully.


    "Now I''m not the strongest one anymore!"


    Chase rolled his eyes.


    "Strongest? Does it really count if you can only do one attack before bingpletely crippled?"


    Tori let out a frustrated hum.


    "That still makes me the strongest!"


    Kairos shifted his gaze towards her.


    "...Did you not properly bnce your stat points still?"


    Tori shifted her gaze to the side.


    "I did a little bit."


    Kairos then looked down at her arms, which had light red scarsced across due to ripped skin. Especially so around the wrists.


    He let out a disappointed sigh.


    "Show me your status panel."


    Tori puffed up her cheeks.


    "Um... it''s not really important, and I um... also have something to do."


    She stood up, but Kairos put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to stop. With a bit of force, he pushed her back down to sit on the couch.


    "Show me your status panel."


    Tori''s eyes darted around, but she did eventually cave in to Kairos'' gaze and opened up her status panel.


    [ID: 133543657645]


    [Rank: 232/1000 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Obtain 268 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 0.0]


    [Strength - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 6.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Wind Spell (F), Wing Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: N/A]


    [Hide]


    Kairos let out a sigh as he looked at them.


    "Why is your endurancegging behind your other stats so much? If it''s like this, then you will easily end up killing yourself before you kill the enemy."


    Tori crossed her arms and looked to the side.


    "Hmph! But this way I can hit really hard!"


    Kairos felt a headacheing on.


    "What''s the point if you be crippled after"


    Tori''s hands clenched a little tighter.


    "...but this way I can still be useful."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "If you want to be useful, then you have to survive after your initial attack, or else you''re no better than a consumable."


    Tori bit the bottom of her lip.


    "Then I''ll just be a consumable."


    Kairos stared at her for a few moments, wondering why she was being so stubborn on such a strange thing. After a moment of deliberation, he decided to let her go.


    With a sigh, he backed off while massaging his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Alright, whatever."


    He then shook his head.


    "Sorry, but could everybody here except Nicole leave? I need to talk to her about something."


    Tori immediately stood up and stormed out of the room, while Chase casually left without too much care. As for Sydney, she seemed a little curious, but decided not to ask and left as well.


    As for Nicole, she couldn''t help but flinch. Her face began flushing red, even more so when she was in the process of evolving. She couldn''t help but look down and sp her hands together tightly.


    Even her body began squirming around like she just couldn''t getfortable.


    Kairos was initially looking at the door for the others to leave. When he turned back to Nicole, he immediately realized that she had the wrong idea.


    Kairos slowly raised his hand and cleared his throat.


    "Um, could you please calm down, I''m talking about something serious here that will have a significant impact on your future."


    Nicole jumped once more, holding onto the side of her face with her palm.


    "M-My future?"


    Her face flushed even further, while her pupils began darting in every direction erratically.


    "I... I..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    He couldn''t help but think he further deepened the misunderstanding, but he didn''t understand how.


    "Um, make sure to keep your voice down, the reason I sent the others away is because this is a secretive matter."


    Nicole''s breathing got a little heavy.


    "S-Secretive? I didn''t think that you would want it like that... but I''m ok with that as well!"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. Though her voice didn''t go down at all, he decided it was better to get to the point.


    "I want to talk about an ability that doesn''t show up in your status."


    Then, Nicole blurted out.


    "I ept!"

 Chapter 114 Enlightened And Bold

    Kairos looked at Nicole rather strangely, wondering if he could somehow salvage this situation. Though, he couldn''t exactlye up with anything on the spot.


    As for Nicole, she slowly started to rey the events that just happened in her own mind, before realizing that Kairos did not say what she thought he said.


    For whatever reason, Nicole thought that the conversation was building up to be a confession. She thought that it madeplete sense. They were separated for so long, and it was an apocalyptic scenario. Surely that would mean once they were reunited, the feelings were strong, right?


    So... why was it like this?


    Nicole coughed awkwardly.


    "Um... what did you say?"


    Kairos kept a straight face, pretending not to hear anything.


    "I said we had to talk about an ability that doesn''t show on your status panel."


    Nicole continued to cough violently, and in a very unnatural way.


    "O-Oh..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Anyways, this is a serious matter, so I hope you will pay attention closely.


    Nicole quickly shook her head as though she were casting the unnecessary thoughts away.


    ? "Yes!"


    Kairos spoke slowly.


    "You should''ve realized it by now. You have somehow acquired the ability to phase through objects."


    Nicole used a finger to scratch her cheek.


    "T-That was me?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "There are some people that have seen it happen before, but from now on, if you find yourself having to exin your ability to phase through things, say that it is rted to the Afraid Spell you have. Thankfully, the ability names are ambiguous, so that shouldn''t raise much suspicion."


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "Um... what about Chase?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "He isn''t the type to b, and will be able to pick up rather easily. There''s no need to worry about him."


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "Hm... this ability sounds so scary. What if I go through the ground and can''te back up?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "There seems to be some inbuilt mechanisms that prevent that from happening. Or, you just instinctively just stopped yourself from doing that. On top of that, your clothes seem to be counted as part of you for both that ability along with your invisibility."


    He raised a finger.


    "The ability to both phase through walls and be invisible can be extremely powerful together. The potential for scouting is astounding, as you could gain information without being noticed. Even if it wasn''t for the sake of scouting, your ability to reposition is also extremely valuable."


    Kairos then narrowed his eyes slightly and brought his face closer.


    "However, above everything else..."


    His voice softened considerably.


    "The ability to assassinate people."


    Nicole tensed up considerably after hearing that.


    "A-Assassinate?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "If there is a battle, you could directly take out themander, or the best spell caster. It could also be more covert, allowing you to directly take out the important figures while they aren''t paying attention."


    Nicole''s eyes lost focus, as she gradually realized the possibilities.


    "T-This feels like a lot of pressure. I will probably mess it up..."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That is understandable as you don''t have much experience. So you should start practicing. Although it will be hard to practice the actual assasination, it won''t be too hard to start with your control over both skills. Try your best to keep your ability as secret as you can, alright?"


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok. So should I practice in my own room?"


    Kairos looked left, then right.


    "Yes. But make sure your windows are covered and the door is locked. For now, try to use your ability to phase through things right here."


    Nicole stood up quickly.


    "Alright!"


    She reached over to the couch underneath her slowly. After a few moments, her hand touched the cushion. Her finger pushed it down, causing it to deform.


    Nicole blushed and quickly pulled back her hand.


    "I''ll try again!"


    Then, as she dered, she tried to phase her hand through the couch once more. Unfortunately, the same thing happened once more. Nicole let out an embarrassed grumble.


    "I... I don''t know what I''m doing wrong."


    Kairos stood up and got next to her.


    "Try to calm down. Think about how you felt and what you did when it first activated. If I remember correctly, it activated the moment you slipped out of Chase''s grasp."


    Nicole muttered to herself.


    "What I did..."


    Her face that had just calmed down from blushing had reddened up once more.


    "I... I don''t know if I can replicate that!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Just think about what kind of actions you took at that time and try to replicate it. Think about the feeling of moving mana. It is more than just your physical actions, but the way your mind maniptes the rest of your body."


    He was fairly confident that this would help, as that was how he extended his own future vision.


    Nicole shut her eyes and tried to do exactly that. Yet, when she reached to touch the couch once more, her hand did not phase through.


    Kairos sighed.


    "How about we try and reenact exactly what happened?"


    Nicole suddenly straightened up.


    "E-Eh? You mean..."


    Kairos walked a few steps away.


    "Run over and try hugging me. Maybe that will help jog your memory."


    Nicole had difficulty looking directly at him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "O-Ok."


    After hesitating for ten or so seconds, she slowly walked over and wrapped her arms around Kairos. Unfortunately, her ability didn''t activate.


    Kairos remained calm despite it not working.


    "Alright, that didn''t work. Maybe it''s because you did it far too slowly and without as much force. Try it again."


    Nicole hurriedly let go of him.


    "A-Ah! Ok!"


    She backed off until she was back into her original position. From there, she calmed down her breathing, and closed her eyes to try and reset her mental state. She decided it would be best to stop with the half-hearted attempts and truly try to activate her ability with all she could this time.


    Nicole took over thirty seconds just to try and prepare herself mentally for this.


    Kairos did not protest, and was not annoyed by this fact. In reality, he was actually thankful she seemed to be taking this seriously.


    Nicole then rushed towards him, with her eyes wide open. Then, she wrapped her arms around him with all her might.


    ...And didn''t end up phasing through him.


    Nicole truly tried her best, but it still didn''t work out. Now, she couldn''t help but feel a little awkward as she was now hugging onto Kairos. Nheless, that didn''t mean she was willing to give up.


    Her mind couldn''t help but start to rx as she felt the heat from his body, but she quickly snapped to attention and then hugged him even tighter.


    Though, the only thing that did was make it even more awkward.


    Nicole slowly looked up to Kairos with shifty eyes.


    "Um... sorry."


    Her mind was feeling a little fuzzy from hugging him so closely.


    Kairos sighed and took a step back to break free of the hug.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine. Learning is a process, so I''m sure you''ll be able to get it eventually if you continue practicing. This is enough for today. I still have something else to do, so I should hurry on to that."


    He began walking towards the entrance to the door, but suddenly froze in ce.


    "Ah, before that, do you have my sses and backpack?"


    Nicole suddenly jumped, but nodded vigorously.


    "I kept them in my room. Um, I really wanted to carry them with me, but I was scared that I would drop or break something."


    Kairos waved for her toe over.


    "Alright, thanks for taking care of my stuff. Could you take me there?"


    Nicole hurriedly rushed out.


    "Yes!"


    She led the way up the stairs, with Kairos following closely behind. Nicole eventually made it to her own room, taking out a set of keys before unlocking it.


    It was a rather humble looking room. Though, that was only inparison to what Kairos was given. Just the living room was essentially the same size as one for a normal house.


    There weren''t many things in the ce, though that was natural since Nicole didn''t exactly have much to put.


    Upon stepping in, Nicole locked the door behind her, seemingly out of habit.


    Kairos gave a quick gaze before raising a question.


    "Is my stuff in your room?"


    Nicole nodded.


    "Yes."


    She led the way and opened the door to her own room. Inside was a bed that had several fluffy pillows on top. Next to it was a wardrobe that had Kairos'' sses, resting on top of a handkerchief.


    The lenses were crystal clear. He could tell that they had been cleaned very thoroughly, as it used to be smudged in lots of blood.


    Though Kairos took the time to remove the blood, it was still inevitably stained.


    As for his backpack, it was ced on top of a chair. It also seemed like it was partially cleaned, though some stains didn''t seem like they woulde off. Kairos reached for his sses first.


    "Thanks for cleaning them, but you really should focus on improving your strength first."


    After putting on his sses, he felt a wave of relief. Kairos didn''t really notice the stress that was slowly piling up, but now that it was finally gone, he felt much better.


    Nicole didn''t speak, though it looked like she had a lot to say. Her eyes seemed to be drilling a hole into the ground, while she nervously fidgeted.


    Kairos noticed this, but didn''t really care. He slung his backpack on his shoulders and got ready to leave the ce. Yet, he suddenly froze in ce.


    Nicole had a small smile on her face.


    "You... you know that I''ve liked you. Actually, you''ve probably known for a long time."


    Kairos didn''t know what to say. Though, it didn''t look like Nicole was waiting for a response.


    She continued.


    "I should''ve realized it a long time ago... but for some reason, it only happened when I misinterpreted that you confessed to me."


    Nicole had a dreamy look on her face. The muscles all over her body were rxing.


    "But I guess that there was always a part of me that knew that. I always knew I was bad at hiding how I felt. Especially when it was you that I tried to hide it from."


    Sheughed.


    "You probably realized I liked you before I even knew it."


    Nicole then paused, drawing out her next words.


    "But... despite knowing this, you''ve never decided to push me a little bit further. All you had to do was tip me over with the softest of a touch, and I would be yours."


    Kairos remained in ce, without saying a single thing.


    Nicole brushed through her hair with her fingers.


    "I guess that means... there is some sort of gulf between us that keeps us apart. I don''t really know why... but it seems you don''t want to be in a rtionship with me."


    She seemed to be on the verge of crying, and even sniffled a bit. After taking a deep breath, she continued.


    "If I confessed to you, I would get rejected, wouldn''t I?"


    Kairos didn''t respond. He was at aplete loss because of Nicole''s sudden enlightenment and boldness.


    Nicole lifted her head and looked deeply into his eyes. Despite Kairos''ck of a response, she seemed to have gotten her answer.


    She shook her head and gingerly reached over to Kairos'' bag, slowly pulling back a zipper that revealed a pack of strawberry gum.


    Nicole''s eyes zed over.


    "But you still have this. I don''t know if it is just a coincidence, but seeing this makes me remember when we were kids. Surely it''s not only me that thinks that way, right?"


    She pressed her lips together.


    "You''re probably gonna reject me, but... seeing this pack of gum, gives me hope."


    Nicole smiled brightly.


    "I love you. Do you... feel the same way?"

 Chapter 115 So Thats Why

    Kairos found himself not knowing what to say. He had honestly never expected to be in this situation.


    To have Nicole confess to him.


    It wasn''t as though he was unaware of her feelings, he just never thought that she was the type of person to do such a thing. It was honestly somewhat jarring for him to see her suddenly be so daring.


    Nicole''s beady eyes widened as she stared straight into his. Kairos did not look away, staring back at her. Though, just from the look on his face, Nicole was already losing hope.


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "Nicole, do you really think a rtionship between the two of us would even work?"


    Nicole clenched her fists tightly.


    "I-I can be stronger! And braver too!"


    Kairos shook his head before facepalming.


    "No, that''s not what I meant."


    Nicole appeared distraught at his words.


    "W-What do you mean?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s the kind of people we are. Haven''t you thought about it?"


    Nicole furrowed her brows slightly.


    "Am I... not good enough?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "You don''t seem to get what I''m saying. Think about our personalities. They just don''t mesh properly. The only thing getting closer is going to do is further exacerbate the problems that already exist because of them."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "I don''t see any problems..."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "You don''t? What about the fact our interests arepletely different? Our mentalities divergepletely, making our goals different. Not to mention how we can''t trust each other for anything."


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "I-I can trust you. And even if you can''t fully trust me, I will always try my best!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Oh really. Don''t you remember the number of times I canceled the ns you madest second without even telling you? Not to mention, you are way too unpredictable, so I can never truly predict your behavior."


    Nicole scratched the back of her head awkwardly.


    "Well... it did make me a little sad when you never showed up even when I would wait for hours. But I always know that you at least thought abouting."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh? And how in the world would you know that?"


    A small smile formed on Nicole''s face.


    "Because... you would always apologize to me the next day."


    Kairos'' face twitched.


    "...Ok, but that just shows how you can''t trust me."


    Nicole averted her gaze slightly.


    "Well, I know how hard it is for you to get outside the house and do something with me. When I said I trust you, I meant that I can always trust that you tried your best."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    He couldn''t really understand the logic behind that statement. Trusting the intention, rather than action was rather pointless. After all, it would still be random in the end.


    Which meant it wasn''t reliable at all.


    Nicole took a step closer.


    "These problems you mention are so small, you know? Of course things aren''t going to be perfect between us, but that''spletely normal! It was never supposed to be perfect in the first ce."


    Kairos opened his mouth but closed it right after.


    He couldn''t think of any words to say.


    Nicole took another step closer, which prompted him to take a step back. Seeing this, Nicole couldn''t help but smile bitterly.


    "It seems that... there''s still some distance between us. Like always."


    She then tilted her head to the side.


    "Well... not always. When we were still kids, I remember we were as close as ever. But one day... it changed."


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "And when we got even older... it got even worse."


    Kairos let out a long sigh.


    "That''s because we naturally aren''tpatible with each other, and growing older showed that."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "No, no..."


    She kept walking forwards, making Kairos walk back. However, he quickly found himself at the wall. Nicole used this opportunity to grab onto his arms.


    "It was something else. I just... don''t know what it was."


    She bit the bottom of her lip.


    "I always... tried to figure out what it was. But it didn''t seem like anything I did would help."


    Kairos was honestly a little shocked. It seemed Nicole was a little sharper than he let on.


    "...So that''s why you were always doing weird things."


    Nicole let out a quiet cough.


    "Um, yeah."


    She looked up at him, staring with wavering eyes.


    "I guess... I should just ask. What was it that made us grow apart? Was it something I did?"


    Kairos didn''t want to say anything. In fact, he would almost rather ept her confession than answer her question honestly. However, there was a part of him that could respect people that overcame their fears and acted bravely.


    Whether that was saving someone from a burning building, or something as small as stepping out of theirfort zone.


    Which was what was happening right here.


    And so, Kairos decided he should at least be honest.


    "I... I''m a petty person."


    Nicole''s lips parted slightly, focusing on his words. She seemed a little confused, but remained silent.


    Kairos continued.


    "I felt bitter that you didn''t help me when I was being bullied."


    Nicole flinched.


    She slowly let go of Kairos and backed up slightly. Then, she got down on her knees and pressed her head against the floor.


    "I''m sorry. I was... too scared."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger. This was not what he wanted from her.


    "I get it, I get it. Just stand back up."


    Nicole did not get up.


    "I will be braver next time! I swear!"


    Kairos knelt down and grabbed her arm.


    "Yes, I know. Just get up already."


    Nicole did not budge. Though Kairos could put more strength into his hand, he knew that it had a fairly high likelihood of severely damaging her wrist.


    Nicole slowly looked upwards, with teary eyes.


    "I... I will stand up for you now, so please... please don''t leave me..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos'' grip softened.


    "I''ll try my best not to, so stand up, ok?"


    Nicole used her free hand to grab onto his arm.


    "Promise?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I can''t promise anything, because I don''t know what will happen in the future."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "Promise... promise that you will try to stay?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "...I promise."


    Nicole abruptly got up from the ground and hugged him tightly.


    "Then it''s a promise!"


    There was a bright smile on her face, but it soon turned bitter.


    "But... it stills seems like there''s something else you''re not telling me."


    She closed her eyes.


    "You don''t have to tell me now. I just hope that you will someday tell me."


    Kairos did not respond.


    He didn''t really realize it at first, but now that Nicole pointed it out, he found that there really was something else.


    Because Kairos already forgave Nicole after that apology.


    No, he had already forgiven her long before.


    While he still remained unmoving, Nicole slowly let go. She kept her eyes on him for a few more moments.


    "Sorry, you said you had something to do. I''ll get out of your way now."


    She stepped out of the room, letting him get out when he wanted.


    Kairos slowly walked out, but couldn''t help but grab onto the side of his head as he did so. Not understanding his own emotions set off many rms within him. As a person that was very logical, that fact made him a little off-put.


    This was because many calctions could be thrown off the mark if he didn''t understand them properly.


    Kairos slowly walked out of Nicole''s room and ended up standing in the hallway like a statue.


    He knew that he had something to do, but he wanted to sort this out first. He knew how emotions affected people. The way Kairos always subdued the effects of emotions on his own actions by realizing them, finding their sources, and understanding how they changed his motives.


    The distance he felt from Nicole was something he always thought he knew, but it turns out that was something he made himself believe.


    He decided to go through his memories once more, slowly piecing them all together.


    As Nicole said, Kairos really did find his memories in childhood to be fond ones. They were practically as close as it gets.


    But once he was left to his own against those that bullied him, it truly made him feel quite bitter. And he was like that for quite a while.


    With each time that he was abandoned, it just grew.


    Kairos didn''t like recalling any of these memories for several reasons, but he forced himself to. After speeding through, he eventually reached high-school. He couldn''t help but feel a little unhinged after recalling so many painful events, and was quite surprised he didn''t find any shift yet.


    Kairos thought he might''ve missed it, but just the thought of highschool made him remember another scene.


    "Wow, you aren''t wearing any make-up?"


    "No way! I don''t believe it!"


    Kairos was sitting at his desk, trying to pay attention to the lesson. It was one of the more important math lessons, so much so that the teacher said that beforehand. Unfortunately, the chatter next to him was making it hard to catch it all.


    His seat was at the very back and at a corner. Since his vision was good, there was no problem in seeing what was written on the ckboard.


    Next to him was Nicole.


    She was also trying to focus on the lesson, but two girls were talking to her despite that fact, overly excited.


    Nicole didn''t want to be rude, so she continued to talk with them.


    "Really, really! I don''t use any make-up at all. Is there a way to check that kind of thing?"


    One of the girls unabashedly rubbed her finger against Nicole''s face.


    "Oh my god! There''s actually nothing here?"


    The other mmed both hands on the desk.


    "Seriously? But you are almost as pretty as the school belle!"


    Nicole smiled awkwardly.


    "Hehe... I wouldn''t say that."


    One of the girls directly pulled out their make-up kit.


    "If you put some on, then you would definitely overtake her!"


    Nicole put her hands up.


    "No, no. I want it to be like this."


    The girls both seemed confused.


    "Eh? How does that make any sense?"


    "Just try it!"


    Nicole shook her head.


    "...I prefer it like this."


    One of the girls scoffed.


    "Come on, you would look so much better! Your name is already getting spread around school, imagine if you added just a bit more mor."


    A small smile formed on her face.


    "Maybe... but the person I care most about likes it more when I don''t have make-up on."


    The girls were both taken aback.


    "Eh? You have a boyfriend? He''s definitely just saying that to tter you."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "No, n-not boyfriend, just a normal friend."


    She couldn''t help but take a peek at Kairos.


    One girl looked over Nicole''s shoulder.


    "Eh? Don''t tell me it''s that loser."


    Nicole abruptly stood up and mmed her hand on the desk.


    "He''s not a loser!"


    Both girls suddenly had aplete shift in attitude, feeling disgusted.


    "...Oh dear god, how much did he have to pay her to say that?"


    Nicole clenched her fist.


    "Shut up! He didn''t pay me anything, he''s a better person than you two could ever be!"


    It was at this point the teacher walked up to the back with a strict expression, staring right at Nicole.


    "If you don''t want to pay attention to my lesson, then leave. Don''t stir up such a fuss when others are trying to learn."


    Nicole sat back down, but the way the teacher looked at her still showed quite a bit of resentment.


    One of the two girls muttered to herself.


    "Don''t get involved with this whore..."


    Kairos then came back to the present moment.


    "Ah... so that''s why."

 Chapter 116 Meeting

    Kairos had forgiven Nicole quite a while ago, back when high school started. Though he didn''t say anything, he couldn''t help but feel a little reassured when Nicole loudly dered to the girls that he wasn''t a loser.


    When in reality, he was.


    That fact by itself wasn''t a reason to cause Kairos to distance himself. Realistically speaking, it should have been the opposite.


    However, by defending him, Nicole ended up alienating herself from the rest of the school. With her personality and appearance, she easily would''ve been one of the most popr people there.


    That much was obvious to even the two girls from earlier and wasn''t something that Kairos had missed.


    Because of him, Nicole could not make any friends, when she should''ve had plenty.


    Although it wasn''t really Kairos'' fault, he couldn''t help but feel responsible. And as such, before he knew it, he wanted Nicole to distance herself from him. If she was no longer with him all the time, then she could live a normal high school life.


    No, an ideal high school life.


    Kairos subconsciously got the idea that if he and Nicole weren''t together, then he could go on with his own life, while Nicole would be able to live better without him. He could only see himself as a weight that was holding Nicole down.


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "...I''m really pathetic, aren''t I?"


    He thought abouting clean to Nicole about this, but decided that he wouldn''t do so right now.


    Not because he was stalling or anything...


    It''s not like Kairos was really embarrassed after realizing that fact and didn''t want to reveal it to make himself even more embarrassed.


    No, Kairos was a rational and logical person. Something like being led by his own emotions would never be something that happens.


    Totally.


    Kairos shook his head and decided to check up on Quinn since the room he was sleeping in was nearby.


    He opened the door and then looked towards the couch, where he had put Quinn.


    Quinn was stillying there, hardly moving. Except his eyelids were fluttering slightly. His arm moved slightly but fell limp right after. It was as though he was trying to get himself to move, but didn''t have the energy to do so.


    Kairos called out to him.


    "Want something to eat?"


    Quinn forced his eyes open, just enough so he could see.


    "...Some water first, please."


    Kairos walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There were several things he didn''t recognize, but he could still see several bottles of juices.


    "Huh, I guess even rich people drink juice."


    Arbitrarily taking one, he brought it over.


    By the time he was back, Quinn was sitting up, though he still looked like quite the wreck. There was a tea table in front of the couch, so Kairos set the bottle down there and unscrewed it.


    Quinn slowly reached for it and began drinking.


    While that was happening, Kairos went back to the kitchen to get some stuff to eat. He found that there were some chips in a cab, so he brought those over.


    Though it had only been a few seconds, Quinn was just about finished drinking the juice, holding it up to the sky to get thest few drops within.


    Once Kairos set down the bag of chips, Quinn immediately opened it and began eating.


    At first, it was quite rushed, but he immediately slowed himself down.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Does it taste bad?"


    Quinn shook his head as he took the time to chew the food.


    "I couldn''t care less about the taste right now. Eating food too fast after starving can easily kill you. Anyone that finished studying in high school should know that."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose. But that doesn''t mean it would be easy to stop yourself from eating."


    Quinn waited until he was finished chewing more chips before responding.


    "Of course, it isn''t exactly easy, but dying by overeating is a rather stupid way to go."


    After eating roughly half the bag, Quinn dusted off his hands before standing back up.


    "Alright, I should be ok now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You don''t feel hungry anymore?"


    Quinn clicked his tongue.


    "I feel just as hungry as when I started eating. However, my stomach obviously shrunk because I didn''t eat before. There''s no point in eating any more. I spent so much time chewing just to lower the burden on my stomach."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Alright then."


    Quinn suddenly stood up, and began wobbling. He hurriedly caught the edge of the table.


    "I... I''m good now. What do I need to do?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Well, there''s nothing for you to do right now, I still have to find a way to incorporate you in a position. I''m just going to meet up with another person to talk about how to manage the city."


    Quinn stabilized himself.


    "Ah, well alright. Why don''t Ie with you? I can provide some suggestions as well."


    Kairos hesitated, but decided it shouldn''t be too big of a deal.


    "Well, alright."


    Quinn took a second to gather himself before beginning to walk out of the room. Considering he was starving to death not long ago, it was quite a feat. Kairos couldn''t help butment on that fact.


    "Your resilience is quite impressive."


    Quinn shook his head.


    "My brain numbs all my senses considerably, so the actual pain I experience is far less than what a normal person would. As such, it isn''t that big of a deal."


    Kairos didn''t think too much of it, walking down the hallway.


    "If you say so."


    The two walked down the steps and reached the room of Tiana. Kairos gave the door a few knocks, which opened soon after.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You really kept me wait-"


    Tiana originally had a yful smile on her face, but it froze when she saw Quinn.


    "Um... who is that?"


    Kairos pointed towards his head.


    "His name is Quinn. Although he is pretty rude, he still has a pretty good head on his shoulders. I can''t say for sure he won''t run his mouth, but it shouldn''t be a big deal to share the basic logistics."


    Quinn nodded.


    "That''s a pretty urate assessment."


    Tiana hesitated for a moment.


    "Alright, but after I would like to have a private meeting with you to discuss other matters."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Tiana made way, gesturing for them to enter.


    The two went in, and immediately found the room not to be as he expected. Since the room was on the same floor as his, it had the same overall structure. On top of that, since it seemed like Tiana was a rich person, she would be ustomed to living a rich and spoiled life.


    Yet, the room was actually rather cramped. There was arge amount of papers that littered the ce. There were several whiteboards in the ce, set up in such a way that one could look at all of them at once. And on top of them, were various diagrams that described the city in various ways.


    One of which was a map, detailing each of the sections in depth. Another had various charts, most of which describing things rted to food and water.


    On top some of the tables were long lists of papers, detailing who owned which plot ofnd.


    In the middle, where several couches were supposed to be, was reced by a set of six folding chairs along with a table in the middle, with arge sheet of paper covering it.


    The cost of such an arrangement was the once luxurious room was now extremely cramped. One of the whiteboards directly blocked off the way to the staircase too, essentially negating that.


    Kairos couldn''t help but reevaluate how he thought about Tiana, but decided not to focus on that right now. As for Quinn, he didn''t seem fazed, thinking that a ce like this waspletely natural.


    The three of them sat on the folding chairs, facing one another.


    Tiana let out a soft sigh once they were seated.


    "Alright, the main thing that I''m currently concerned about is how to deal with the sewage. At first, I believed it was enough just to bury it underneath the soil, but just in a few days, this proved to not be enough. The amount of waste that is being produced is beginning to be quite overwhelming."


    She pinched the bridge of her nose.


    "It''s still alright now, as I opened up the underground sewer system. Now, I''m having the people dispose of it that way which should stillst quite a while. Unfortunately, it''s not a permanent solution, and since I figured it would take a while to find a permanent solution, I wanted to bring it up as soon as possible."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Hygiene is very important. Although it only seems like a smelly problem at first, it is very easy for disease to suddenly spread among people if it is not properly taken care of."


    Kairos rubbed his chin as he pondered over it.


    "Well, things like toilets and sewer systems didn''t always exist, but people back then were more or less fine. That surely means there is at least some kind of solution to it."


    Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "I don''t remember learning anything about the middle ages in my history sses."


    Quinn raised a finger.


    "Well, if that''s the case then either you weren''t paying full attention, or the school you went to is quitecking."


    Tiana''s eyebrow twitched, but she did not stop him from talking. And as such, Quinn continued.


    "The solution that the people in those times came to was to dump it into the river, and have it be washed away like that. This wasn''t always how it was done, but those that didn''t dispose of their waste properly quickly learned their lesson once sickness spread among them."


    He sighed.


    "Unfortunately... there are no rivers nearby whatsoever."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "Does that mean we have to create an artificial river?"


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "That sounds... difficult."


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "It will be difficult, because it requires us to find tworge bodies of water we can create a channel between. On top of that, there must be a significant difference in elevation so that water actually flows between them."


    He took a deep breath.


    "Building the actual structure shouldn''t be terribly difficult, considering the extra strength people have gained due to the apocalypse. The toughest part is being lucky enough that two bodies of water are nearby. However, the biggest issue is actually after it is built. Chances are, the structure would be prone to sabotage. It is probably impossible to guard the entire channel. That means any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get in the way and clog it."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s almost like you already built it, with how much you''re predicting."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "Ah, sorry. You both probably already thought of that, right?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Even if we did, it''s better to make sure we are on the same page, so no need to hold your thoughts back."


    Quinn nodded.


    "That fits my thoughts exactly, which is why I stated the obvious."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched, somehow feeling that he was both smart and stupid at the same time, which was abination that didn''t make much sense.


    "...Well, I believe I can think of a method to create an artificial river. Though, I''m still not sure if there is a method to prevent others from interfering with the river."


    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "How were these walls created?"


    Tiana narrowed her eyes slightly.


    "Why do you want to know that?"


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, if you can recreate the walls near an actual river, we can avoid all those problems."


    Kairos raised a finger.


    "Wait, I think I have an idea."

 Chapter 117 Sanity

    Kairos raised a finger.


    "The reason why we are creating this river is in order to carry away the waste, right?"


    Quinn nodded.


    "Yes, unless I''m terribly mistaken."


    Kairos rubbed his chin slowly.


    "What if we clearly make it appear that the water is polluted? Perhaps if we pollute the body of water with corpses, then the only water that flows here will not be worth trying to even touch."


    He scratched the side of his head.


    "It''s not like we are drinking from that water or anything, we just need the flow of water to take the waste away."


    Tiana''s face twitched.


    "Um... maybe we shouldn''t do that."


    Quinn scratched the side of his head.


    "Oh, are you relying on the groundwater near the water table?"


    Tiana looked quite ufortable and let out a resigned sigh after a few moments.


    "Well... yes. This ce obviously requiresrge amounts of water for farming and drinking, which is supplied by a certain spot that is underground."


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "And if severely polluted water seeps into it... that will pollute the water you need for the city. Of course, it would happen very slowly, but that doesn''t change the fact that it does happen."


    Kairos felt a headacheing on.


    "...It doesn''t seem like there is any easy solution then."


    Quinn leaned back into his folding chair.


    "Hm. Well, perhaps we are thinking in too limited of a way. After all,mon sense has been flipped on its head, introducing countless strange things. I don''t doubt that there might be an answer that is more rted to magic."


    Kairos tapped the armrest of his folding chair a few times.


    "Perhaps we need more information toe to a proper solution."


    Quinn narrowed his eyes.


    "Well, what if we can simply create a bedrock-like substance? If it performs the job of bedrock and is situated underneath the polluted water, none of it should seep into the actual groundwater."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "But that would be several times more difficult. The amount of that material required would be tremendous, right?"


    Quinn put his elbows on his knees, hunched over slightly, and sped his hands together in front of his mouth.


    "Yet, these walls that definitely weren''t here not too long ago are now towering over this ce. If it was a normal construction team, building something like this would take a year. And that is even considering that if it was during times of peace, where it is realistically far easier to create."


    Tiana did not speak for a few moments.


    "It is indeed possible for me to arrange something like that. However, not any time soon. It may be further dyed depending on the quantity of material required."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, so perhaps after scouting out two bodies of water, we will know the general scale. Then, after however much you need, I will begin creating the artificial river."


    Quinn looked at Kairos a little awkwardly.


    "Um, the way you are saying things implies that creating a river won''t be too big of a problem for you, but realistically speaking-


    "Don''t worry so much about it."


    Kairos cut him off while waving his hand dismissively.


    "Anyways, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"


    Tiana nodded.


    "Well, yes. It''s about the three musical bunch you brought in."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Who?"


    Tiana stared at him rather speechlessly.


    "Um, Eric, Jenny, and Nick."


    Kairos gave her a nk stare.


    "Sorry, I still have no idea who you are talking about."


    Tiana sighed.


    "Er... there is a teenager with white hair, a girl with blue hair, and one with green hair."


    Kairos thought for a few moments, before graduallying to a realization.


    "Ah, right. The three that I originally came here with. For some reason, they were obsessed with bing famous with their music, and haven''t given up despite it being an apocalypse."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Yes, yes. Well, it''s just that those people requested a plot ofnd... only to turn it into some sort of stage. And they have been performing there for at least several hours every day. I don''t doubt that it is annoying, or at least distracting many people, which is probably not good for the farming progress."


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "Ah, sorry about that..."


    Quinn tilted his head to the side slightly.


    "Well, actually I wouldn''t say that it''s necessarily a bad thing."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "What do you mean?"


    Quinn raised a finger.


    "Well, it would depend on how many people actually enjoy listening to the music that they make."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Well, yeah. I suppose it wouldn''t be too big of a problem if everyone liked it."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "As long as a decently sized amount likes it, and the three are willing to y, then what you consider a problem is actually a solution to one of your other problems."


    Tiana felt that Quinn was a little presumptuous, but thought it was better this way.


    "What problem are you talking about?"


    Quinn raised a finger.


    "The general sanity of the people here. The apocalypse has probably shaken their mentality tremendously. That is not to say they are all ticking time bombs, as the tall walls provide a great deal of reassurance, even if in practicality they aren''t that strong."


    Tiana''s eyebrow twitched.


    "Are you saying these walls are weak?"


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t know the strength of the walls, I was just pointing out that its strength doesn''t matter in terms of reassuring people."


    His eyes narrowed slightly, appearing angry, but not at anyone in particr.


    "After all, it''s not results that concern people the most, but how things look."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright, so we have to be concerned over their sanity?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Quinn nodded.


    "This is not a pressing issue, as the relief of being within these walls should still keep everyone''s spirits up for a while. However, as time passes, their mentalities will gradually deteriorate. I heard that they have to give up ny percent of their harvest, which would mean they are going to work themselves to death."


    Tiana furrowed her brows.


    "Are you telling me to make the taxes more lenient? I frankly believe the conditions I provide are more than ideal for them. Plus, if I lower them, then there won''t necessarily be enough food for the people that matter, and increasing the taxester on will inevitably cause me to face lots of bacsh!"


    Quinn raised an eyebrow.


    "When did I say any of that?"


    He pointed to one of the charts on a whiteboard within the room.


    "From the data you''ve nned it out all quite nicely, even ounting for the increasing appetites as people get stronger. However, you didn''t give yourself a realistic buffer. From what I learned, this error range is incredibly dangerous, as it is very likely you won''t have as much food as you are expecting and may even need more."


    Quinn lowered his hand onto the table.


    "If anything, you should''ve had higher taxes from the start. Of course, some people will inevitably be worked to death, but there should be plenty of people willing to take their ce during peacetime."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "...That is efficient, I guess."


    Tiana opened her mouth, then closed it. After a few seconds, she spoke softly.


    "It seems I misjudged your character."


    Quinn sighed.


    "Don''t worry about it, most people do."


    He tapped a finger on the table.


    "Anyway, back on topic. People of peacetime are frankly quite used to having an easy life, where they work a bit, and y doing whatever for the rest of the time. The sudden shift of that lifestyle deteriorates their sanity by a decent amount."


    Quinn cracked his neck.


    "As such, several facilities that let them forget the apocalypse is happening will greatly stabilize them."


    Kairos leaned back into his chair.


    "In other words, we have to serve them up a lie."


    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "That is one way to put it, yes."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "So you mean to make the three perform music to help with their sanity?"


    Quinn raised a finger.


    "It can solve part of the problem. There will also be people that don''t like the music, and music by itself can only stabilize itself for so long."


    Tiana let out a resigned sigh.


    "Why do we even have to care so much about their sanity anyway?"


    Quinn let out a soft chuckle.


    "Because people are shallow."


    Kairos gave him a nce.


    "I would prefer if you exined yourself rather than speaking in riddles."


    The corner of Quinn''s lip turned up.


    "Remember? I said it before. More than anything, people care about appearances."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You''re still doing it."


    Quinn clicked his tongue.


    "Alright, alright. Let me start from the top."


    He held out his hand, almost like he was holding onto something.


    "From what I''ve seen, people have both a sane and insane side to them. There''s never really anyone that''spletely insane or one that ispletely sane. This means even if someone is incredibly unhinged, their sane side can pull the reins on their actions."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "After all, even if they are insane, most still want to live. As such, they must keep up the appearance that they are normal. However, once they no longer care for their life, their actions go overboard and they be incredibly aggressive. That''s why there''s a saying about cornered animals and all that."


    He sighed.


    "But that shift is generally quite sudden,ing out of nowhere. All of that wouldn''t be too much of a problem itself, as you probably have elites that can directly eliminate them before the situation gets too serious."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "But once people notice that even their seemingly harmless fellow farmers are willing to jump out at them, paranoia begins to set in. Then, the once safe ce is no longer safe. The paranoia makes people act rashly, further exacerbating the situation. And soon enough, mass hysteria sets in."


    Kairos looked at him a little strangely.


    "You seem to know quite a bit about insanity..."


    Quinn didn''t respond immediately.


    "There were... certain readings that I did in my postgraduate studies that let me gain a grasp on them."


    Kairos gave a small nod, though that didn''t mean he believed it.


    "I see."


    Tiana crossed her arms.


    "Alright, so the gist is to let them keep ying and create other things like it?"


    Quinn shook his head.


    "No, the fact that is a disturbance may do more harm than good."


    Tiana''s eyelid twitched.


    "Then what the hell was the point of all that talk earlier?"


    Quinn cracked his neck.


    "Simple. Create a room made with soundproof walls for them to y inside. You will have to dedicate arger portion ofnd for that to happen, but it keeps the benefits and gets rid of most of the demerits."


    Tiana took a deep breath and began writing on a piece of paper.


    "Alright then. So to conclude, the tasks required is to first scout out the scale required to create an artificial river and create it once I am able to create a bedrock substitute. The second is to give morend and create a soundproof room for the musical trio. The third is to think of other facilities that will stabilize the overall sanity of the city."


    Quinn nodded.


    "That''s more or less it."


    Kairos chuckled, prompting Quinn to question him.


    "Is something funny?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Not really. I just never expected you to be this kind of person when you were sitting like that in the corner."


    Quinn rolled his eyes.


    "The fact I talked to you and walked all the way despite being on the verge of starvation should''ve shown you enough."


    Tiana cleared her throat.


    "Anyway, Quinn, was it? I wish to talk to Kairos privately, so could you leave?"

 Chapter 118 To Be Saved

    Upon hearing Tiana''s request to leave, Quinn wasn''t even slightly bothered.


    "Ah, that''s good timing. I actually was thinking of eating something."


    He stood up, and without tucking his chair in he left the room.


    Tiana let out a small sigh once the door shut.


    "That man... really is a handful. Though it doesn''t seem like he will be a burden at the very least."


    She smirked.


    "I suppose I should''ve had more trust in the people you''ve decided to recruit."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Honestly, he somewhat surprised me too. The only reason I brought him was that he was able to create a really nicely engineered barricade and thought it wouldn''t be too much of a burden."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "But it turns out he''s one of those smartasses, and has a Ph.D to prove it. Though it is somewhat weird he never became a scientist."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "It''s a good thing someone like him didn''t be a scientist. Or at least, it would be a good thing if the apocalypse didn''t happen."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Why do you say that?"


    Tiana stretched her arms.


    "Well he clearly does not even slightly care about human life that isn''t directly rted to him. He is one of those that are so insanely logical, that it makes one wonder if he even has emotions left. A scientist like that surely would have found a way to do some shady experiments."


    Kairos scoffed.


    "I don''t see how that''s a bad thing. He would be the only scientist in recent times brave enough to actually do a meaningful study."


    Tiana smiled.


    "Well, I wouldn''t call it useless..."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I guess it''s a little unfair to me the scientists, when it''s really the system itself making things difficult for them."


    Tiana chuckled.


    "You seem to know quite a bit about the processes."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Yeah, one time I was curious about a lot of things. But anyway, more importantly, you wanted to talk to me about something?"


    Tiana nodded and also lowered her voice.


    "Yes."


    Kairos waited, but she did not speak. After a minute or so, he couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Um, do you n on starting to talk any time soon?"


    Tiana let out a soft sigh.


    "Hm... I just... wanted to say that you can look at the charts I have here to get a grasp on the overall state of the city. After all, that''s your job as the one that handles logistics, right?"


    Kairos''s face twitched.


    "Um, ok. I''ll take some time to go over it."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Go ahead then."


    Kairos turned to look at the charts, but soon turned back to face her.


    "But for now, could you tell me why you really wanted to have this conversation?"


    Tiana let out a quiet chuckle.


    "You aren''t letting me go, huh?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It''s a waste of time if you don''t tell me now. It can''t be that bad, right?"


    Tiana did not respond for the next few seconds, instead opting to look up at the ceiling as though there wasn''t a white ceiling, but a vast sky.


    "Well let me first ask you this."


    She looked back at him with a cordial smile.


    "Do you find me trustworthy?"


    Kairos instinctively found himself replying, lying as though he were breathing.


    "Yes."


    However, in his future vision, he saw that the butterfly attached to the back of her hair abruptly glowed red. Kairos immediately stopped himself from telling that lie. He took a deep breath.


    "...No."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow in interest as a smirk spread across her face.


    "Hmm. I totally expected that you would lie, as that seems pretty natural to you."


    Her eyes became a little curious.


    "But it seems you suppressed that urge somehow."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Alright, so what does that have to do with what you wanted to talk about?"


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "It seems you are in quite the rush."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "It''s you that''s wasting time purposely."


    Tianaughed.


    "I suppose so. I''m not exactly sure how to say this exactly..."


    She sighed once more.


    Kairos was beginning to lose his patience, but held on for just a little bit longer. And that was when Tiana spoke up.


    "I feel like I''m going insane."


    Kairos calmed down, then took a look at all of the papers around him.


    "Well, that makes sense with how much work you''ve done. Maybe you can assign some of the stuff to other people."


    Tiana slowly shook her head.


    "No. I''m not losing it because I''m overworking myself."


    A strange smile formed on her face.


    "Rather, I feel the only time I''m at least somewhat sane is when I''m focused on work. So that''s what I''ve beenmitting to."


    Kairos found it hard to respond.


    "...Oh. That''s not good."<novelnext></novelnext>


    The corner of Tiana''s lip turned upwards sarcastically.


    "Come on, can''t you be a little bit moreforting?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "That''s not my specialty. Honestly, I don''t really know how to reassure people."


    Tiana held on the side of her face with her hand.


    "Ha. I feel that''s more you are unwilling to do so."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Well, I can''t deny that''s part of it, but I''m actually bad at it, alright? You should''ve found someone else to talk about these problems with."


    A hollow smile formed on Tiana''s face.


    "Remember how I asked if you thought I was trustworthy? Well, I think of you in the exact same way, a person I can''t trust at all."


    Kairos adjusted his sses.


    "It seems like quite the dumb idea to confide in someone you can''t trust at all."


    Tiana leaned back in her chair and sighed.


    "Exactly. I''m doing so because I don''t have another choice."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "You surely had another choice, there were seven billion people in the world before. Although many have died, there are still more than enough."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side slightly, which would''ve been cute in normal circumstances, but instead gave her a bit of a strange air.


    "Seven billion people, but not a single one of them was my friend. The only people I could somewhat confide in are my parents."


    Kairos opened his mouth, but quickly shut it after. He remembered that Tiana told him her parents were dead.


    Seeing hisck of response, Tiana continued.


    "Hearing Quinn talk about the importance of preserving sanity reinforced my realization that I need to manage my own."


    She began smiling, but this time it became creepy.


    "I easily understood what he meant, by the sane side reigning in the other. Because I know that a part of me is craving violence. I am sure that before I was a rather peaceful girl, that was disturbed simply by the sight of blood. But now..."


    She raised her hands and began sping them with much more strength than required.


    "Whenever I see a person, I immediately think of all the ways I can painfully kill them. Tearing out their eyes, ripping apart their intestines, breaking all of their limbs. Even just imagining eating human flesh gives me a strange euphoric sensation."


    Tiana then took a deep breath, putting her hands back down.


    "There is an extremely powerful desire within me to act upon those urges, but the logical and sane side of me always ties it down in the end."


    Her eyes slowly began to widen, and also appeared bloodshot.


    "But I can''t help but think that eventually, the sane side of me will just give up. It will no longer desire to stop me from performing these actions. And honestly... that doesn''t even sound too bad right now."


    Kairos became serious, staring at her silently as she exined everything.


    "...I honestly had no idea those were your thoughts from how calmly you were speaking earlier."


    Tianaughed, but it sounded somewhat like a serial killer''s.


    "To be honest, I was fooling myself into thinking that I was perfectly in control of my actions. That''s probably how I got by so easily."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "You do realize this makes me see you as a huge threat, giving me a reason to kill you, right?"


    Tiana suddenly calmed down, as an empty look came to her eyes.


    "Look, I didn''t want to confide all these things to you either. But there''s nobody else. Nobody else would understand."


    Kairos frowned.


    "...You say that I would understand so confidently."


    Tiana grabbed onto the sides of her face. From the way her knuckles were whitening and her face was distorted, it was clear she was using excessive amounts of strength.


    "Yes, but there''s a kind of realization thates when you be like this. For whatever reason... it bes super easy to sniff out people just like you."


    Kairos sped his hands in front of his face and didn''t respond for quite a while.


    "...I''m no longer like that."


    Tiana grabbed onto the sides of her head, as her eyes widened fully, giving her a fully-fledged insane look.


    "THEN TELL ME HOW YOU SAVED YOURSELF."


    Kairos shook his head, which immediately sent Tiana into a rage, prompting her to m the desk in the middle, causing it to split into tiny pieces. She then lunged towards him, grabbing him by the cor of his shirt and bringing her face right next to his.


    "What? You aren''t going to tell me?"


    Her voice was no longer loud, and was in fact pretty quiet. But it was also shaking, as though in tune with how unstable she was right now.


    Kairos was immediately surprised by Tiana''s strength, because he could tell that it was higher than his own. However, he wasn''t really focused on that.


    With an unconcerned expression, he sighed.


    This set Tiana off even more, as her smile grew unnaturallyrge.


    "You think I''m a fool, don''t you?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It''s because I never saved myself."


    Tiana froze in ce, not fully understanding his answer.


    Though Kairos found this position ufortable, he decided to continue.


    "Honestly, there was a time where I was quite close to bing a serial killer. What you said was eerily familiar to my experiences. When I saw my mom chopping a watermelon, I couldn''t help but see her chopping up my dad''s head and eating it."


    Tiana flinched when she heard that and rxed her grip, though was still holding him up.


    Kairos continued as though he was casually talking with a friend.


    "Pretty much everything in my life was shit, which made me see everything as hateful. However, there was one contradiction to that."


    A small smile formed on his face.


    "That contradiction was called Nicole."


    He closed his eyes, almost like he wasn''t right next to someone incredibly mentally unstable.


    "No matter how I treated her, she stayed with me. And I did some... pretty nasty things too. Yet, she was always the one that forgave me."


    Kairos sighed.


    "It made me realize that I was bing part of the world that I hated so much. It''s not like that psychopathic part of me ever disappeared. Actually, ites in quite handy in some situations."


    He raised a finger, despite their awkward position.


    "But there''s also a part of me that still enjoys living, so I fully intend on doing that. Because as shitty as it is, those few flickering moments are worth it for me to continue on."


    Kairos somewhat regretted being so open to Tiana, but there was a part of him that pitied her, making him do so before he realized it.


    Tiana''s grip gradually weakened, but out of nowhere, it suddenly strengthened.


    However, Kairos didn''t do anything, despite the dangerous situation.


    Tiana''s grip only continued to tighten, but right when it seemed like his life was in danger, tears began to spill out from Tiana.


    "Then... what am I supposed to do to be saved?"

 Chapter 119 Pretend

    Tiana continued to sob while holding onto Kairos.


    "Who will save me? I have nobody... nobody..."


    Kairos felt like there were appropriate responses, ones that would toe around the truth and increase his probability of survival. However, he decided that he didn''t really care all that much.


    "I don''t know. I honestly have no idea what you can do at this point."


    Kairos found it a little difficult to do so but reached over to gently pat her head.


    "To be honest, I don''t even really understand how my mentality stabilized. So the only thing I can really say, is good luck."


    Tiana was still crying, but gradually suppressed it. After a few moments, she had calmed down enough to speak.


    "My father used to say that a lot... good luck."


    Kairos blinked a few times, not sure why she was telling him this.


    "I see."


    He coughed.


    "Sorry about that."


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "Sorry about what?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows slightly, confused by how she suddenly became quite calm.


    "Um, reminding you about your father?"


    Tiana smiled.


    "Then if you''re sorry about that, then shouldn''t youpensate?"


    Kairos leaned back slightly.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Tiana took a deep breath.


    "Well... if you reminded me of my father, it''s only fair that you pretend to be him, so that remembering doesn''t hurt as much."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. Despite the fact he heard her say that twice, he still couldn''t help but think that he somehow misinterpreted it.


    "What?"


    Tiana let go of him and tidied his cor before backing off.


    "Exactly like I said. I pretend that you are my father, and you pretend that I''m your daughter. You respond just the way you imagine it would be like."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "What the hell is the point of that?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side, as her calm demeanor began to break down once more.


    "For the sake of my sanity."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "No matter how convincingly we do it, you will still know logically that it''s all false. Will it really help you then?"


    Tiana flung her hand to the side, then whipped out a finger pointing at her head.


    "It''s not to appease the sane side of me in the first ce. It doesn''t have to make logical sense to work in the first ce."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Are you kidding me? I''m sure as crazy as you are, you can still understand this doesn''t really fix the problem. It''s only dying the inevitable, like trying to stay awake to prevent tomorrow froming."


    Tiana kicked at the shattered remains below her.


    "Yeah, I already knew that a while ago alright? But I don''t care anymore."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Ok fine. But to be frank, I don''t care enough. No way in hell I''m going to pretend to be someone''s father. That''s messed up in more ways than one."


    He stood up from the seat, but abruptly froze right after.


    Tiana spoke tersely.


    "Stop."


    She tilted her head to the side.


    "You aren''t leaving. Not after I''ve already said so much."


    Kairos'' face twitched. He wanted to say that it was never like he wanted to listen, but felt that it would be bad for this situation.


    Tiana walked over the remains of the shattered desk, causing the wooden pieces to crunch underneath her feet.


    "You are going to listen to me, alright?"


    She had a wide smile on her face, while her eyes widened all the way.


    "I''m not sure if you already figured it out, but I''m way stronger than you."


    Her breathing became heavy.


    "You just got to the D rank not too long ago, right?"


    Kairos did not react when he heard that, but internally he was questioning how in the world she knew. Not to mention the fact she knew, clearly meant she must''ve been substantially stronger to say those words.


    Tiana giggled.


    "Let me show you I''m not bluffing in the slightest."


    She then opened up her status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 005312430000]


    [Rank: D-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 76.5]


    [Strength - 30.0


    Agility - 30.0


    Endurance - 30.0


    Willpower - 30.0


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 30.0]


    [Special Abilities: Ruler (D), Beyond Limits Spell (E), Earth Spell (E), Metal Spell (E)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos couldn''t help but curse internally after seeing that. Somehow or another, she had far more stat points than him despite the fact she was supposedly just sitting here the entire time.


    Though that was more than enough to convince him, Tiana didn''t stop there. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, before pointing towards one of the abilities on her status panel, almost like an excited friend showing him an interesting video on the inte.


    Tiana tapped on one of the abilities, causing it to expand outwards and disy its contents. This surprised Kairos greatly, as he remembered trying that before, but it didn''t work out like this.


    Yet, before he couldn''t help but focus all of his attention on the text shown in front of him.


    [Beyond Limits Spell (E)]


    [Temporarily gain the full power of the rank above you for one minute. After usage, lower all stats by half for one day.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Cost: 50 evolution points]


    Although a spell like that had quite arge cost, with both the period of weakness and cost of evolution points, it was most likely strong. Especially because it said "full power".


    Tiana turned to Kairos with a confident smile.


    "If you try to leave again, I will cast this spell. And I will use it to punish you."


    In response, Kairos sighed.


    "That''s way too overkill, and realistically just a waste. The consequences are undeniable."


    Tiana looked at him with an empty expression.


    "But you can tell that I hardly care about the consequences anymore."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Which means I don''t have any other choice."


    Tiana pouted slightly.


    "Well... it''s not like you don''t have a choice, I gave you two... It''s just that one of them is really bad."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Alright, I''ll try to cooperate."


    Tiana let him go andughed.


    "I knew you would listen to reason eventually."


    Kairos really wanted to say that wasn''t reason, but didn''t.


    "Look, I''m not going to be able to do this the best. I''m not an actor, and I don''t even really know how your father is. It''s going to be hard to replicate it."


    Tiana shook her head with a smile.


    "Just do whateveres to mind."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "You''re not even going to give me pointers on what your father is like."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin before the corner of her lip turned up.


    "Nope!"


    Kairos felt like his mind was malfunctioning, or maybe he was dreaming. Though, he was fairly confident neither of those things were the case.


    An exasperated sigh came out of him.


    "So you''re fine with doing it half-heartedly?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "Well... kinda. But if I see you stop trying, then I will activate that ability."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Alright, alright, I''ll try my best."


    Tiana smiled and hopped on back, her gaitpletely changing to be rather chirpy. She took a nce at the shattered wooden table and hurriedly kicked most of it to the side.


    Then, she turned around and was smiling. But this time, it was a normal smile. All traces of insanity hadpletely left her, making it seem as though she transformed into an innocent girl.


    "Dad!"


    For some reason, Kairos couldn''t help but feel that Tiana acting this way was even more creepy than when she was screaming or dangerously close to tearing him to pieces. Nheless, that showed how much effort she was putting into pretending.


    As such, he felt pressured to at least put in effort on par with that.


    Kairos forced himself to smile. It was quite unnatural at first, but remembering that Tiana was willing to throw all pretenses away if he messed this up, Kairos made it more natural and warm.


    "Tiana!... My princess..."


    Though he usually only had a slight frown on his face, he was also very skilled at controlling his facial expressions. It was something he practiced for the sake of fooling others more easily. Though this was thest situation he would''ve thought it woulde in handy for him.


    Tiana excitedly hopped over to him with shining eyes.


    "Look, I was able to make this city! It took a lot of work, but now there are so many people living under my rule. Aren''t you proud of me?"


    Kairos let out a soft chuckle while suppressing the urge to have his eyebrow twitch.


    "Yes, of course. You''ve worked so hard, Tiana."


    Tiana smiled brightly and jumped towards him.


    "Dad!"


    Kairos stopped himself from flinching, and instead spread his arms out. He even gave himself a new deeper voice.


    "My princess!..."


    Tiana wrapped her arms around Kairos tightly and began rubbing the side of her face against his chest. Rtive to Kairos, she was fairly short, making such actions more natural. It also helped fit the narrative that was happening.


    Kairos gently wrapped his arms around her, but his mind was rushing like no tomorrow, desperately trying to think of what a father was supposed to say.


    Tiana looked up at him with teary eyes.


    "Do you have any advice for me, dad?"


    Kairos sifted through moments he had with his own father. Though, he definitely couldn''t say that their interactions were normal. Even he could tell they were more like two strangers forced to talk to each other.


    Nheless, he still thought about them.


    And eventually, he was able to think about one of the few moments where his father gave him advice.


    "Listen, Kairos. Remember that the only person you can truly depend on is yourself. You can control your own actions, but you can''t control others. In the end, you will have to be prepared for them to disappoint you should you ever choose to rely on them."


    Kairos opened his mouth, ready to repeat that.


    However, he froze in the middle.


    Because he himself didn''t agree with it.


    Tiana seemed to notice him acting up, but didn''t say anything.


    Kairos thought about just saying it, but couldn''t bring himself to. He then sifted through more memories, trying to think of something else his father said. And then, he came across another.


    "Kairos. If you are truly capable, then you will never have to me anything else. Even when unlucky, you will still be able to seed. If you can''t achieve your goal because of your circumstance, then you simply didn''t work hard enough."


    Kairos got ready to say that as well, but once more, he couldn''t bring himself to say it.


    Tiana''s cheery expression gradually left her face as the awkward silence ensued, instead bing neutral.


    Kairos realized this, but he didn''t care enough.


    A bitter smile gradually formed on his face.


    "Listen, Tiana. Remember that the only person you can''t count on is yourself. You can control your actions, but there is only so much you yourself can do. In the end, you will have to be prepared to ask for help from others to finish some things."


    By now, his fake voice hadpletely reverted to his own.


    "If you are truly realistic, you will realize that you can''t be good at everything. Even when it''s something you are good at, sometimes you will fail, and that''s perfectly fine. It doesn''t matter if you never seed, as long as you don''t regret doing it."


    Silence lingered between the two of them for a while.


    Tiana''s cheery disposition disappeared, leaving her with the normal one. She slowly let go of Kairos and took a few steps back.


    "There''s no way my father would say that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And there''s no way mine would either."

 Chapter 120 State Of The City

    Tiana backed off and sat back down on a folding chair. She had a slight frown on her face. It made her look somewhat displeased, which made Kairos a little afraid he didn''t perform a good enough job.


    However, considering the fact she was just sitting down and not attacking him, it seemed as though it was enough.


    Tiana leaned back, even tilting her head back off the chair.


    "You weren''t joking when you said you were going to do it half-heartedly. It totally broke my immersion."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Come on, you were the one that wouldn''t help me make it more convincing."


    Tiana rolled her head away from him.


    "Ohe on, you could have at least done a slightly better job than that."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Look, I told you I wasn''t good at doing that kind of stuff. It''s not like I''ve trained for acting."


    Tiana raised her hand and waved as though she were trying to blow away a mosquito.


    "Whatever, just leave already. I still have things to do, alright?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Fine, I had no intention of staying anyway."


    With that, he walked out of the room. And while he did not m the door shut, he still used a little bit of excessive force. He was quite irritated for being forced to go through that and to even experience herining right after.


    As for Tiana, when she heard the door shut, she didn''t move for quite a while. Despite saying she had things to do, and that being the truth, she simply remained still. Her eyes slowly closed.


    Her arms hung limp from the sides of the chair, almost like she was dead or unconscious.


    However, she was as awake as ever.


    She let out a soft chuckle.


    "...That really was nothing like my father at all."


    A small smile formed on her face, while tears began seeping out from her eyelids.


    "Doesn''t matter as long as I don''t have any regrets, huh?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "...You might regret saying that to me."


    ...


    Once Kairos had gotten out of the room, he thought about what there was to do. The city seemed to be fine for now, but there seemed to be a few tasks that were still required, so long as it wasn''t now.


    He thought about leaving once more, to gain more points and also explore the area. Though, he was definitely quite tired at this point. Although physically, he was basically fine, there was the fact that the events he had gone through were quite taxing.


    And although he didn''t need to, he was beginning to miss the feeling of sleeping after so long.


    Though, he decided against it.


    Kairos walked out, to see the rest of the city. The people that he had brought earlier were mostly gone. For the ones that were still here, they were led by a few men dressed up in military uniforms guiding them to different ces.


    Kairos took a quick look around the ce and saw that the stage was there far off in the distance. As of now, the trio weren''t ying on it, though Kairos imagined he would see them there soon enough.


    As he took another look at the vige, he couldn''t help but find that the ce really did feel bare. This was located in the city that was a more high-end area, and there used to be many facilities that surely would''ve made the ce quite entertaining to be in.


    However, those ces had been knocked down already. The concrete floor had been ripped apart, andrge amounts of dirt covered it. Considering that this ce was in the city, there shouldn''t have been that much dirt. Kairos recalled that Tiana had the earth spell, so it might''ve been her that provided all the farnd.


    Though realistically, those facilities would have been a liability right now, he couldn''t help but wonder what they had been like. But that was pretty much it, as he didn''t really care that much.


    Kairos decided to take a look around the city, to see the general state that people were in. As he walked around, he found that most of them were afraid of him. That was pretty much what he expected, and also what he intended for them to feel.


    Without many thoughts, he continued to walk, seeing the general state of things.


    There were people that had dirty nkets spread out on the floor, and some of them were sleeping directly on them. This made Kairos quickly think of one thing.


    Nobody here actually had a house to live in.


    In other words, once the weather started to get bad, then many people would end up getting sick, or even die.


    But it was still currently spring, so there should still be quite some time to sort all of that out. The weather shouldn''t be that bad.


    That''s what Kairos thought, until he thought back to the time with red rain. If people didn''t have the proper shelter to deal with that, then they would all turn into monsters due to the excessive amounts of evolution energy.


    Kairos noted that he should bring that up to Tianater. Then, he continued to walk through.


    There were asionally people that were taking around pails, panting hard as they walked through the fields. Some of them were metal buckets, others were stic pails. They came in various sizes too, and those with smaller ones looked noticeably more tired than the others.


    The ce where everyone was getting water from seemed to be the center of the city. That made sense, but it also made Kairos realize those near the edges of the city were basically going to be worked to death, just bringing the water to their respective fields.


    He took note of that.


    There might be a way to make it easier. Perhaps if the river didn''t have to be polluted, then there could be some way to work a solution. He would worry about itter, as it wasn''t the most important thing.


    As Kairos walked, he noticed that most of the people here weren''t afraid of him, probably because this was his first time ever seeing them. Some of them had curious expressions.


    A few smart ones saw that he wasn''t bothered with farming, connecting the dots to realize he was an important person. They simply looked away, pretending they hadn''t noticed they saw him.


    There were also a multitude of people that looked at him in jealousy. This was because of how he lookedpletely fine, while everyone else was practically dying of exhaustion. Those people all made their own rationalization as to why he wasn''t tired.


    There was a woman that walked up, with a frown on her face.


    "What are you doing?"


    Kairos looked at her. Though he could easily tell her off, he decided to humor her.


    "I''m walking."


    The woman''s eyebrow twitched.


    "What? Look at you, you don''t even have a bucket of water."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes, you''re right."<novelnext></novelnext>


    The woman scoffed.


    "You should be working on the farm! What would your mother think of you if she saw you cking like this?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "...She probably wouldn''t even notice I existed."


    The woman stomped her foot, almost like she was a little brat.


    "Well, if you''re done watering your own farm, then you should make yourself useful."


    She then held out an empty metal bucket.


    "Go and water my own farm! Or are you going to reject my offer?"


    There were a few people that couldn''t help but look on to see the drama. Though, that was as far as it went, just looking. The few that understood what was actually happening simply looked away, praying that they wouldn''t somehow get caught up.


    Kairos smiled strangely.


    "Wow, you''re giving your farm to me? Ah, and your bucket too! How generous."


    With that, he snatched the bucket out of her hand and continued walking. The woman looked rather bbergasted, unable to respond immediately.


    Kairos gave her a nce.


    "Ah right, if you don''t have a farm, you''re not allowed to be in the city, so you should leave."


    The woman came to her senses hearing that, prompting her to rush up.


    "You brat! How dare you disrespect those older than you!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Hm? What do you mean?"


    The woman grit her teeth.


    "You should-"


    "Ah, I get it!"


    Kairos cut her off and raised a finger.


    "Since you gave me this farm and are now leaving the city, I should give you a hand."


    The woman furrowed her brows.


    "What? I-"


    Before she could say anything else, Kairos grabbed onto her arm. Then, his eyes suddenly widened, and the smile on his face disappeared.


    He pulled his arm back all the way. Then, he started to throw her.


    The woman let out a scream as she was lifted up into the air. A rather scary squelching and cracking sound resounded, while the woman was flung far away.


    The sound of her screams quickly disappeared as she was thrown.


    As for Kairos, he was still holding onto the arm of the woman, as it had broken off. Far off into the distance, the woman mmed against the wall. It was quite brutal, but from where he was standing, it looked like a little blood stter.


    Kairos'' grip on the woman''s arm was rather tight. In fact, there was the sound of shattering bones, because of his increasingly tight grip.


    Soon enough, the arms snapped from where it was holding, and the two parts fell onto the ground with a light thump.


    Everyone in the vicinity was absolutely terrified, along with everyone that had seen the woman who flew through the air like that.


    Which was a lot.


    It was dead silent around Kairos, and everyone looked quite terrified.


    After a short while, he sighed.


    "...I went too far this time."


    Though people should be intimidated by him, that didn''t mean they should be deathly afraid. Instead of obeying him, they would instead run or put up ast stand fight.


    Kairos knew his own sanity had been bing a little unhinged, but it had always been that way. The apocalypse definitely made it a bit worse though.


    There were also the various stressful events he had been dealing with earlier, which included his encounters with Nicole and Tiana.


    He didn''t originally n on being so malicious, only wanting to give the woman a little scare. But when she brought his mother up, he didn''t really care anymore.


    It wasn''t as though Kairos couldn''t stop himself from flying into a rage, as he was fully in control. This all reminded him of what had happened earlier, when Quinn had talked about insanity as well as when Tiana voiced her own concerns about her mental state.


    From what it looked like, his sanity wasn''t much better than Tiana''s.


    Kairos looked at the people around him, though nobody dared even somewhat look in his direction.


    He blinked a few times.


    "Sorry about that, my temper got out of hand. Can someone tell me thebel of this farm?"


    Kairos knew that the farms had specific codes assigned to them as he gathered that from looking at the charts posted up in Tiana''s room. Considering one of them was now open, he thought it would be best to inform Tiana so that one of the plots didn''t go unused.


    Unfortunately, nobody dared respond.


    Kairos sighed again.


    This was the problem with being too brutal. It makes people freeze uppletely.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "If someone tells me what farm this isbeled as, then I will leave. Otherwise, I will still be here."


    Once again, nobody did anything.


    Kairos felt himself getting a little pissed off, but quickly calmed down. When he thought about it, speaking to all of them at once would make them feel as though someone else could take responsibility, thus making them less obligated to speak up.


    So Kairos walked up to a specific person to single them out.

 Chapter 121 Fixing Crazy

    Kairos walked over towards a man, who was facing away from him and tending to his farm. He grabbed onto the man''s shoulder.


    "Hey, can you tell me what farm this one wasbeled as?"


    The man trembled fiercely. Though, he did slowly turn around.


    Seeing this, Kairos felt relieved, thinking that he would actually be told the specific arrangement.


    However, once the man turned around, he had a somewhat rebelling expression on his face, one that seemed angered.


    "I-I won''t tell you, monster!"


    Unfortunately, as valiant as the man wanted to be, his fear made it difficult to truly act that way. Even just after he said that there was a look of regret on his face, that showed he regretted his actions.


    In the end, the man closed his eyes, as though waiting to die.


    Kairos was a little ticked off, but the whole situation was also his fault. He wondered what drove the man to do such a thing, despite the fact he was obviously not a brave person. Perhaps it was what they called, ''A Man''s Pride''.


    It was something that Kairos never really understood, but it was the kind of thing everyone else seemed to get as though it weremon sense.


    After letting out a sigh, he let go of the man and turned to another guy.


    "Since the other won''t tell me, why don''t you?"


    This time the person quite literally jumped, unable to contain his nervousness. Without even turning around, he responded while trembling.


    "I... I won''t t-tell.... y-you! Mon-Mon... Mother!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "If you''re going to spend that long to say something, at least say it correctly."


    The guy was quite afraid, and couldn''t speak up anymore.


    Kairos realized that since he showed he wouldn''t attack after someone said that to him, the others might''ve also assumed the same. Doing a direct approach was going to be a little tough.


    Kairos then pointed toward the man.


    "Alright, how about this. If you don''t tell me, then I''ll kill the man I''m holding onto."


    The guy froze up in shock when he heard that. As for the man, he flinched, but remained resolute.


    "I-It doesn''t matter if I die!"


    Kairos felt a headacheing on. He was thinking about performing something else, but stopped himself.


    A young girl spoke up.


    "Um, I don''t think the title of the farm matters this much."


    The man''s face twitched


    "But-"


    Then, thinking about what she said, he came to realize that it really didn''t matter. It wasn''t like it was private information or anything, and it really didn''t matter that much. The guy came to that same realization soon after and slowly began walking away, pretending that he was never there.


    The young girl spared a quick nce at the bloody arm on the floor, before looking back at Kairos.


    "I remember that plot of farnd is supposed to be E-150. Please go away, now that you know."


    Kairos let go of the man.


    "Thanks."


    With that, he began walking away, while everyone watched him from the corner of their eye.


    There was still the stage to check out, but he decided to wait for the trio to show up before dealing with any of that business. While thinking that, he came back to the center of the city, and headed back to Tiana''s room.


    He gave a light knock.


    After a few moments, Tiana opened the door, and was slightly taken aback when she saw who was on the other side.


    "Why... did youe back?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "Um, while checking out the city, I identally... killed someone. Now the farm E-150 is open, so I came to inform you about that."


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "You identally killed someone?"


    Kairos averted his gaze slightly.


    "Well, saying it''s an ident isn''t exactly correct. It wasn''t really my intention, but then I kinda got angry and then did that."


    Tiana didn''t respond for a few seconds, taking that time to process what she just heard.


    "Doesn''t that mean you not only have the same problem as me, but it''s far worse?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I already told you I don''t have that kind of problem."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "...It''s kinda confusing why my lie detector isn''t going off."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "So you can tell that I''m not lying. It was just me losing my temper a little bit."


    With that said, the way Tiana looked at him looked anything but believing. In fact, she was kinda ring.


    "Just because it''s not a lie, doesn''t mean it''s true."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh? You can''t be using me of..."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Yes, I am. If someone truly believes something, then it isn''t a lie. However, people believe wrong things all the time. In other words, you''re dumb."


    Kairos''s eyelid twitched.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "You know what I''m talking about."


    Kairos let out a long sigh.


    "I''m actually not crazy, alright? At least, not my definition of it."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "So you basically admit you''re insane, just not in the sense that you would describe it."


    Kairos raised a finger.


    "Just because I describe it a different way, doesn''t mean it''s wrong, alright?"


    Tiana put two fingers on her forehead and sighed with frustration.


    "Whatever it is, you''re basically at my state of craziness, or even worse. If we don''t do something about it, then you''re going to start doing things like that again."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...You don''t really have to worry about that too much. Frankly, everyone is going to be at least a little on edge because of the apocalypse."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Then we should bring ourselves further from the edge."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I mean, there''s a reason why some people are paranoid and things like that. Being a little crazy is an advantage when you are in an extremely dangerous situation. It''s simply an evolutionary response to help us survive."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "So how was killing a random person supposed to help you survive?"


    Kairos fell silent, unable to find the words for a few seconds. He cleared his throat awkwardly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Anyway, my point is that it isn''t necessarily a problem."


    Unfortunately, Tiana wasn''t having it. She forcefully grabbed onto him before dragging him into the room. Kairos saw iting and could''ve evaded her grabby hands. However, that wouldn''t have really done much since her physical stats were so much higher.


    Even if he dodged once, he would just be caught the second time.


    And so, he was dragged into Tiana''s room, after which she shut the door.


    After doing so, she let him go and crossed her arms.


    "Look, it''s going to be a hassle to stabilize you, but I still think that you are useful enough for me to go through this trouble for you."


    Kairos scoffed.


    "Thanks, I guess."


    Tiana stared at him for a few more seconds, but lost the original enthusiasm in her voice.


    "So... what would I need to do for you to get a hold of yourself."


    Kairos put a finger on his chin, thinking to himself. He was originally thinking of what would genuinely help him, though he was slightly reluctant. However, his thoughts eventually reached a random part, prompting him to ask a question.


    "Hey, how did you disy your skill information before?"


    Tiana''s eyelids fell slightly, making her look quite irritated.


    "Did you even hear what I said before?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, yeah, I was thinking of something, but I still want to know how to see the skill information."


    Tiana sighed.


    "You just tap it. It''s something you unlock after reaching the D rank. Don''t tell me you haven''t even tried it yet?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin in interest.


    "Huh. So it''s that easy?"


    He then tilted his head to the side slightly.


    "Say, how did you know I was at the beginning of D rank so confidently? I could''ve been at the beginning of C rank, for all you knew."


    Tiana coughed.


    "Well... I may be able to see your stats or something like that."


    Kairos gave her a nce.


    "...That''s kinda terrifying."


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "I was kinda surprised when I realized I could do that as well."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Guess there''s no point in hiding mine."


    Upon opening his status panel, his eyes moved to his abilities. Specifically, the onebeled "Alone". It was the one he had no understanding of, after all. Clicking on it, the skill description was disyed.


    [Alone (E)]


    [If there are no beings within one kilometer that are considered in allegiance with you, all magical spells have their power doubled. If not, then your mana regeneration will be halved.


    This is a passive skill.]


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    He was thinking that the pulse spell he cast while back in the dungeon was much stronger than usual. To double the power was quite strong. However, the mana regeneration aspect was quite annoying.


    It was the kind of ability that rewarded him for going out on his own and punished him if he stayed with his allies. Kairos didn''t really like this kind of ability.


    It was one thing if it only benefited him under certain conditions, but the fact that it could act against him ticked Kairos off quite a bit.


    With a sigh, he closed the panel.


    "Well, that kinda sucks."


    Tiana pouted.


    "What? But I thought that skill was pretty good..."


    She then gasped before pointing at him.


    "Wait, we are supposed to be finding something that will improve your mental state, not think about your abilities!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sorry, sorry. But... this is all for the sake of my mental state. After all, if I''m thinking about something else, I won''t be able to focus properly."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "You have a weird way of justifying things. But regardless, think of something, or I will think of something for you! I don''t have all day to wait."


    Kairos sat down in a chair.


    "Ok, I''ll try to think of something."


    After a few moments, he spoke up.


    "How about... I just sleep?"


    Tiana looked a little fed up.


    "Sleeping isn''t going to fix your sanity all on its own, it will only stave off the side effects."


    Kairos stretched a little.


    "Then I could justze around and do nothing."


    Tiana clenched her fist.


    "Is that not basically the same as sleeping? Are you even trying here?"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "Those are really the only things thate to mind."


    Tiana tried to keep her somewhat stern look, but quickly lost the will to keep doing so, instead looking a little sad.


    "Whatever then. In the time when you were thinking over useless things, I came up with some ideas as well. I can instead act as your father!"


    Kairos felt something within him reject that idea strongly, almost to the point that he would rather die.


    "For god''s sake, no. It was terrible enough to y the role as one, but to have a little girl be my own..."


    Tiana put her hands on her hips.


    "Come on, if you are just a little imaginative, then my acting skills will make you see no difference!"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Even if we pretend to be in a world where this somehow works out and you convince me that you are my father, the problem is I don''t really care about that kind of thing."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? You don''t care about your family at all?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "It''s not like I don''t care about them, but it''s not like-"


    He was about to say that they didn''t matter all that much to him but saw in his future vision that the butterfly on Tiana''s hair would glow red.


    Kairos was a little shocked and found himself freezing in ce.


    A cheeky smile formed on Tiana''s face when she saw that.


    "Heh, that means I''m right!"

 Chapter 122 Answers

    Kairos raised his hands up.


    "Alright, I guess you''re right, but acting out as my father is only going to creep me the hell out."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "What about your mother?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "That''s no better. Plus didn''t you forget that you''re shorter than me?"


    Tiana put her hands on her hips.


    "What? So you wouldn''t care for your mother if she was shorter than you?"


    Kairos looked at her strangely.


    "...Look, the point is that I refuse."


    Tiana pouted.


    "But it worked well for me! Though you really could''ve done a better job pretending to be my father."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "It''s not going to work for me. Just drop it."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Fine."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Why do you care so much anyway?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Well, I figured since you helped me out, I should help you as well."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Then just forgive me for randomly killing one of the people and we''ll call it even. I''ll try to think of something for my sanityter."


    Though a part of him thought about asking about something material, he decided he wanted to associate with her less. Plus, it wasn''t as though he could really ask for money since the whole currency system essentially broke down.


    ...But maybe it wouldn''t be a terrible idea to reestablish it as the logistics person. Perhapster, when things calmed down slightly.


    Tiana scratched the side of her head.


    "Wait, what if we try pretending that you had a girlfriend? You could try it out with Nicole, or if she''s notfortable then I could also try."


    Kairos felt like an aneurysm was forming.


    "That''s even worse."


    With that, he turned and began walking to the door.


    Tiana looked at him for a few more moments before pointing toward the board.


    "What about taking a look at the charts to better understand the situation of the city?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''ve already watched them for a bit, getting the gist of it."


    He had actually already seen all of the data on the charts. His brain was used to processing a lot of information at once, considering his ability to see through the future forced him to constantly be exposed to so much.


    Though it definitely wasn''t memorized, he did have a good grasp on the overall state of the city. Which, ording to the statistics presented, was fairly stable. Though, considering how many things could go wrong, Kairos wasn''t rxed about it just yet.


    However, Tiana thought he really just gave a short nce, not really caring.


    "Gah, whatever then."


    She went back to tidying up her own things, while Kairos exited the room.


    Upon reaching the hallway, Kairos took the time to think about improving his sanity, trying to take the problem as logically as possible, though he found his desire to act logically was waning.


    Kairos was unsure why, but couldn''t think of anything.


    Though, when he did think about logic, it made him think about Quinn, the scientist that wasn''t actually a scientist. He decided to go to him and check it out.


    He soon reached the room Quinn should''ve been in and knocked.


    From inside, azy groan resounded.


    "...Who is it?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It''s me, I came to talk about some stuff."


    Quinn mumbled.


    "Come in then..."


    Kairos pushed open the door upon hearing that and closed it behind him right after. Quinn was making faint mumbling sounds, and Kairos followed them to reach him. While walking, he noticed that the bag of chips from earlier was empty and crumpled up.


    Upon reaching Quinn, he saw him resting in the bed. The once clean sheets were dirtied pretty badly, but that was more or less inevitable. Kairos quickly realized that Quinn was sick.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You don''t look so good."


    Quinn mumbled while sweat poured down on him.


    "It doesn''t matter much, just a fever... I should be fine after a day or so, and it won''t affect my actual capabilities by much."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Then you don''t mind sharing your opinion a little bit?"


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t mind."


    Kairos nodded.


    "You talked before about the troubles of sanity. Do you know what kinds of actions would help with that?"


    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "I would tell you the kinds of facilities to create for the sake of stabilizing people in general, but it seems you wish to know something for yourself."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "How did you know that?"


    Quinn took in uneven breaths, but his voice was steady.


    "I felt that you were quite unsteady. It was almost like you were a kid that ate too much sugar trying to suppress the extra energy."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow. The slight frown on his face seemed to disagree with the ''extra energy'' statement.


    "Well, while it is for me, I sure don''t feel like I have too much energy."


    Quinn let out a weak chuckle.


    "Haha, I was just thinking about sweet things. More urately, you seem quite antsy."


    Kairos decided to take him seriously.


    "What do you mean?"


    Quinn shut his eyes.


    "It didn''t seem so bad earlier on, but you almost seem like an addict that is facing withdrawal."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "But I''ve never even smoked a cigarette before. How would I be facing withdrawal?"


    Quinn took a deep breath.


    "Do you think you have depression? Or at least, perhaps a mental condition that may not be ssified as such, but perhaps something that is a bit lighter."


    Kairos didn''t really get it, but decided to go along.


    "Uh, yes?"


    Quinn hummed.


    "People that tend to face many painful events, and very few happy ones tend to have their senses numbed. It''s one of the many things the brain automatically does to try and protect its host."


    He pushed aside the sheets to gesture with his hands.


    "However, it isn''t that rare for this numbness to go out of control, making it hard for the person in question to feel anything at all. The brain tends to go overboard many times. This is also shown through the actions these kinds of people tend to take, but that''s unrted so I won''t talk about it for now. Frankly, that situation is worse than just painful situations."


    He raised a finger.


    "In the end, the excessive numbness will make the person crave stimtion and extremely intense ones at that."


    Quinn fell quiet after this part. He seemed to hesitate slightly, but continued on.


    "This is why you hear stories of people cutting their wrists. It seems like apletely illogical thing to do. Perhaps something that only someone that has truly gone crazy to perform. Some people just scratch it off as that. But the mostmon reason is that the person is desperate to feel something."


    He sighed.


    "Anything at all."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "And what does that have to do with anything?"


    Instead of answering, Quinn asked another question.


    "I don''t see any scars on your body, but I assume that with the onset of evolution, those would have healed. Have you ever cut yourself?"


    Kairos did not respond immediately.


    In technicality, he never actually did. However...


    He had stabbed himself with a knife regrly before.


    "...Well, in a certain way, yes."


    Quinn seemed a little surprised. Though that response confused him, he decided not to ask about it.


    "And I assume you haven''t done so recently?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, realizing what he was getting at.


    "No."


    Quinn sighed.


    "I guess you understand now."


    He came to realize even the slight pain in his head was essentially gone while he had his sses on. That was something he wasn''t quite used to. Kairos was almost sure that was a good thing.


    But he was actually depending on the pain to stay sane.


    For the longest time, he thought he was stabbing himself with a knife because he wanted to train his pain endurance. And it wasn''t as though that was false, but there was another reason.


    For the sake of feeling something. That was why he did it so obsessively.


    When Kairos thought about it, he found that everything began to make so much more sense. He almost felt incredibly stupid for not realizing it earlier.


    But why?


    Kairos thought back to the time he made assumptions, locking himself out of answers, and came to enlightenment. He was making assumptions, but just in a different way.


    While he was good at always thinking in order to logically figure out his problems, after he assigned a solution or a reason, he tended to stop thinking about them entirely.


    It wasn''t as though he gave it the wrong solution or reason, but that things wereplicated. The world was aplex thing, meaning multiple reasons is far from a rare thing. These tiny slips of judgment also made Kairos stupidly think the reason for his distance between Nicole was that she didn''t protect him from the bullying.


    It seemed he would have to reevaluate many other things he believed to be true, but he decided there was time to think about thatter.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "So basically, I gotta stab myself?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "While the consequences aren''t as severe since you should be able to regenerate the wounds fairly quickly, it isn''t a realistic solution."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Continue exining please."


    Quinn cleared his throat, speaking through his sickness.


    "Things like depression exist because there are many downward spirals that just continue sending you deeper into it. Cutting yourself sets you right on track to one of them. By experiencing pain, the only thing it will do is make your brain further numb your already numbed body."


    He gave a nce to Kairos.


    "Assuming you survive your own cutting, even that eventually won''t be enough. And at that point, you will be an emotionless husk, unable to feel anything. At that point, you might as well not be a person. No, you probably aren''t even considered a living being."


    Quinn turned back to look at the ceiling.


    "In the end, you won''t even care enough to kill yourself. Though, chances are you will die soon enough, as even the feeling of hunger won''t exist. Maybe you would even forget to breathe, though that probably won''t happen."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Wow, you seem to know a lot about this, and even can formte it in a logical way..."


    Quinn shrugged.


    "It''s nothing special."


    Kairos massaged his temple.


    "So basically I need to feel positive emotions in order to shake off my numbness, is what you''re saying?"


    Quinn hummed.


    "It will take a while, and it will be especially hard during the apocalypse, but that''s the gist."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Sounds like a massive pain. The brain really likes doing useless things, doesn''t it?"


    Quinn let out a faint chuckle.


    "I wouldn''t say useless, but rather it goes overboard. Anyways, to start, I rmended doing exercise. It will give you stimtion in a more healthy way, so you don''t have to resort to cutting. On top of that, your brain will release serotonin, which is a mood stabilizer that is generallycking in those people with depression-rted symptoms."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That seems much simpler. And much less of a pain."


    Quinn yawned.


    "Indeed. Though just remember, while exercise is a great help, it is better to also reach out to others to improve your condition."


    Kairosughed.


    "Alright, I got it. That was a great help, thanks."


    He then walked out of the room.


    When Quinn heard the door click shut, he mumbled to himself.


    "If only I followed my own advice."


    A bitter smile formed on his face.


    "I wonder why, even when it seems like I have all the answers."

 Chapter 123 Running, And Not Running

    Kairos decided to go out and do some exercise. Considering that it was more or less safe near the city, he decided to go onto the walls. He could also do some pseudo patrolling that way.


    Though, he didn''t exactly know how people got onto the top of the walls.


    Nheless, that much wasn''t truly a problem for him.


    At first, he was walking towards the walls, but his pace gradually quickened. It became a brisk walk, before bing a run, then just a full on sprint.


    Because of how fast he was, it attracted quite a bit of attention. However, nobody raised too much of a fuss, since he was just going on the pathway. Other than scattering a bit of dirt, nothing happened.


    Once he got close to the wall, it began to rise, but as it did so, he leaped up,nding on the wall as it rose. He felt his feet press hard against it and focused on continuing to move upwards, climbing up the wall.


    He gradually felt himself losing momentum as he continued upwards, but was still getting close enough to the top.


    Kairos wasn''t exactly the best at running on the wall, and thus did quite a bit of wasted movements. However, with the help of his future vision, he was able to do enough to almost reach the top.


    Catching the ledge with his hand, he then pulled himself up.


    Upon reaching there, he was greeted by a surprised person wearing a soldier''s uniform.


    "Eh? How did you get up from there?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I climbed up."


    The person looked quite bbergasted but decided not to question it.


    "Er... I don''t think anyone is supposed to be here, but there isn''t much to see anyways."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "I see. By the way, how do you get up here?"


    The soldier hesitated slightly, but answered his question.


    "There is a part of the wall that acts kinda like an elevator, but Tiana only activates it when I am supposed to change shifts with another soldier."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I see. Well anyway, I will be running around this thing."


    Without another word, he began doing just that, leaving the soldier a little confused.


    At first, Kairos kept a moderate pace, which by normal standards was actually really fast, even faster than a car would normally go. However, Kairos found that his muscles were hardly fatigued from running at this speed.


    He gradually began picking it up, increasing the speed even further.


    Although he felt a slight burn, it was nothing that strong. Kairos somewhat felt like he was actually going slowly. However, from the way the wind was roaring past his ears, that definitely wasn''t true.


    Kairos continued pushing himself until he felt adrenaline coursing through his entire body. Slowly but surely, he sped up even further.


    It took quite a while, but he eventually circled around the entire wall, passing by the soldier. It caused the man to panic, and nearly fall off the wall because there were no guardrails, but Kairos caught him before he did so.


    Another dead person would probably piss Tiana off, even if she didn''t really care about the farmer earlier.


    However, he only spent the time he needed to stabilize the man. He continued running, without caring much about anything else. Gradually, he felt his muscles burning up in pain.


    Kairos found it quite valuable to know the extent of his physical capabilities, which seemed to be quite frightening after so many stat points. Although physical stats weren''t as shy or nearly as strong as magic, it stood to show how long it could be used.


    But that wasn''t really his focus right now.


    He was running to improve his mental state, and although he couldn''t say for sure at first, it seemed like it was beginning to improve, though not by much.


    Nheless, as small as it was, the feeling was nearly addicting. To the point that it made it hard for him to think about anything else.


    The person that was standing on the wall had already gotten used to him running across, standing somewhat near the ledge so as to not to get in the way.


    Kairos didn''t exactly know how long he had been circling around and around, but it didn''t take too long for his entire body to feel like it was burning up. This was different from the feeling of exercise he normally felt.


    Sweat poured out of his body quite violently, to the point that his clothes were soaked already. He was feeling very thirsty because of it. However, while that sweat helped with his temperature, it continued to rise further and further. Most of his sweat actually evaporated before it fell off of its body.


    Kairos finally stopped and felt that his body was literally burning alive.


    While he still had the stamina to continue going forward, the problem was his body''s temperature. It seemed like he was an overheatingputer.


    While in this state, Kairos slowly caught his breath. He made sure to takerge ones, but mostly for the sake of expelling the heat in his body. It was extremely ufortable, making him want to find something cold as well as something to drink.


    With that in mind, he leaped off the building and rushed back.


    Upon reaching his room, he wasn''t sure it would work, but was surprised to find the water in the taps were still running. He drank quite a bit of water from that and even doused himself with it.


    Quenching his thirst was quite refreshing, but the high temperature was still very hard to deal with. Though he was sure the water was originally cold, by the time it went past his throat, it had already be really hot.


    This reminded him of the time the first red sun rose. How the heat continued to rise. The way he dealt with it was by passing out, which helped as his body lost heat. However, he was pretty sure that it wouldn''t be able to help at this point.


    He was actually worried that if he rested now, something would catch on fire from the heat.


    While considering his options, he suddenly remembered that Nicole had the frost spell.


    In reality, he wanted to avoid her, especially after theirst encounter. However, he knew that wasn''t something he should be doing.


    And now, considering he had another reason to go to her, he decided that it was basically a sign for him to go to her.


    With that, he went towards her room and got next to the door. He couldn''t help but hesitate for a few moments, wanting to back out.


    But then, he knocked on the door.


    When he did so, he heard a loud thump on the inside, along with the sound of something ttering onto the floor. Then a few momentster, the door opened, revealing Nicole inside.


    She seemed a little shocked to see Kairos.


    Both of them were stunned for a second or so, but Nicole was first to break out of her stupor once she noticed Kairos'' condition.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Ah! Are you alright?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "Um, I think I''m overheating. I remembered you got the frost spell, so I was wondering if you could use it a bit on me."


    After a few seconds, Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "A-Ah, I increased my magical stats by quite a bit, so it shouldn''t be a problem."


    She held out her hand close to Kairos, her open palm facing forwards.


    A bit of mana began converging, and soon the air in front of her directly froze, bing ice. It continued and somewhat connected to Kairos. Yet, right when that ice touched him, it cracked before melting to be water.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    Even though it wasn''t much, he could tell it helped quite a bit.


    "Sorry if this is too much to ask, but could you do it on arger scale? Like a muchrger scale."


    Nicole hesitated slightly, but nodded.


    "Alright."


    This time, she channeled more than five times the original mana she did originally. She was afraid of hurting Kairos, which was why the first spell was so sparse. However, from what it looked like, it hardly affected him.


    This time, when the frost spell finished, a sh of ice formed.


    Kairos felt a cold wind blow over him, while his entire body was coated in a thinyer of ice. The floor and surrounding walls had some ice on them too, which appeared to be indirectly affected.


    The ice that had formed cracked just likest time before melting.


    Kairos was feeling a lot better, almost like he was taking a refreshing shower. For a moment, his exterior felt like it was freezing. Yet, just a few secondster, the excessive heat rushed out of him, causing him to begin sweating once more.


    He was honestly quite surprised that the heat was this bad. But then realized if the heat even affected him with his high endurance, then it must be pretty bad.


    Kairosughed awkwardly.


    "Could you do one with double that power?"


    Nicole shook.


    "But... that one froze you whole! I almost thought I identally killed you."


    Kairos sighed.


    "And look, I''m still sweating after that. It will be fine, just do it."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip, but ended upplying. With most of her remaining mana, she let her spell loose.


    Arge amount of cold air shot out from Nicole''s palm.


    Upon hitting Kairos, it caused arge amount of ice to form around him, making him look like a rather clumsily made ice statue. The cold air also ended up freezing the surrounding area, covering most of the hall and coating the doors.


    Kairos somewhat regretted telling Nicole to do that, as he really did feel extremely cold afterwards. While the inside of his body still felt like it was burning, the outside was freezing cold.


    However, as time passed, the heat died down, while the ice around him cracked and began melting. Soon enough, The ice around him cracked, letting him move.


    Now, he felt a little cold, but he preferred that far more than his previous state.


    Kairos took a quick nce at their surroundings as he shook off a few pieces of ice stuck on his clothes.


    "I probably should''ve told you to do this somewhere else, huh?"


    He kinda saw thising, especially because of his future vision. However, the heat really was bothering him.


    Nicole looked at her surroundings in surprise.


    "M-Magic is quite scary..."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "It can work against arge group of weaker things because of itsrge area of effect. It can also alter the terrain."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Eh? Ah, I guess that makes sense."


    She looked down at the floor and sped her hands together.


    "Um, so is that all you came here for?"


    Kairos didn''t respond for a few moments.


    "...I guess I might as well talk with you since I''m here."


    Nicole scratched the back of his head.


    "Hehe... then, should we talk in my room?"


    She walked inside, while Kairos followed. He wanted to close the door, but found it was stuck in ce due to the frost. He was fairly certain that he could force it closed, but was a bit scared of snapping the door off its hinges by ident.


    And so, he left it.


    Nicole brought him over to her own room, letting him inside.


    Kairos didn''t really feel ufortable because it was her room. In fact, he would probably feel morefortable being in Nicole''s actual room, because he had been there many times before.


    He honestly felt like he should''ve been more hesitant. But for some reason, now that he was here next to her, he didn''t really care anymore.


    "Hey, Nicole. I know I''m never really honest to anyone, even myself. But let me be that way now."

 Chapter 124 Truth Thoughts

    Kairos didn''t speak immediately, at a loss as to how he should start. It wasn''t as though he had no idea, but rather he had too many. He began hesitating, unable toe to a decision.


    Nicole looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going to say. She was honestly not very optimistic.


    Although Kairos tolerated her presence, he also hardly talked to her of his own volition. Even if she wanted to convince herself that Kairos wasn''t pushing her away, that probably wouldn''t be possible.


    And so, she was fully expecting to be rejected.


    Despite the fact this was more or less what she was expecting, she couldn''t help but feel a dark cloud over her head while she waited for Kairos to talk.


    There was a part of her that called herself a fool. After all, a rejection would inevitably impact their rtionship, even if realistically nothing should change. There would be an awkwardness that they would never be able to shake off even if they both tried their best to.


    However, there was another part of her that just wasn''t willing to hide it anymore, even if both of them actually knew. Perhaps she woulde to regret itter, but this was the choice that she made.


    Nheless, a small smile rested on her face.


    After hesitating for a few minutes, Kairos felt that he was just stalling at this point. Though he really didn''t know how to start, he just decided to say the first things that came to mind.


    "I still sometimes think about when we were younger. A time when we were still naive. When we didn''t really care about all that many things, or rather, we didn''t have to care."


    He blinked a few times.


    "Sometimes I wish I could just be as shameless as my younger self, a person that didn''t care about how my actions would affect others."


    Nicole seemed a little confused how this was rted, but nodded slowly.


    "Yeah, I think so too. Sometimes I wonder if I''m just too much of a bother, and if I should just give up."


    Her smile remained on her face, but it seemed a little sader.


    "But... even if I''m a bother because of it, I''m too selfish to stop."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Wow, you described yourself perfectly."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "Wh... I-I''m not talking about you!"


    Kairos averted his gaze slightly.


    "Well, I''m not trying to say you were ever a bother to me."


    Nicole''s expression gradually rxed.


    "...You don''t have to lie to me."


    Kairos coughed.


    "I''m not lying."


    Nicole let out an annoyed hum.


    "But... but you have to be lying! You can just tell me the truth. Even if it hurts, that''s for the best."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I''m seriously telling the truth."


    Nicole stared at him nkly.


    "...But how?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Ohe on, is that really so hard to believe?"


    Nicole hit the bed lightly.


    "Yes! Yes it is! Why would you... push me away whenever I try to do anything?"


    She scratched the side of her head.


    "E-Er, I guess it''s unfair to say that you always do so... because you never run away from my tackles."


    Kairos pointed at her usingly.


    "Just because I don''t fight back, doesn''t mean you should keep doing that. It actually hurt sometimes, you know? Why can''t you just do it normally?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "But... it''s not the same if I do it normally!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, anyway."


    Kairos grabbed onto her hand, prompting her to blush.


    "... It''s going to be a little weird to exin why I''m pushing you away."


    His eyes zed over slightly, as he recalled memories.


    "What I saidst time wasn''t a lie. I really was quite saddened when you ran away."


    Nicole couldn''t help but look down. She had a strong urge to run away, and might''ve even done so if Kairos wasn''t holding on to her.


    "S-Sorry."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "You don''t have to apologize for that."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "B-But I-"


    "You really don''t."


    Kairos cut her off. This made Nicole shiver, and tears began forming in her eyes.


    Kairos could sense the general state she was in. With his other hand, he reached over to Nicole''s chin, gently lifting it up to face him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Though Nicole didn''t want to see him, once she did, her face was colored with shock.


    Because Kairos was smiling.


    He continued.


    "But really, you were the one defending me, you know? Sure, maybe you were too scared to deal with the bullies, and realistically, you probably wouldn''t have been able to do anything either."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "But you would never let anyone speak bad about me without yelling at them, even if that didnd you in trouble many times. For some reason, for a person like me, you gave up your entire social life just to defend me."


    He pressed his lips together.


    "It would''ve been so easy for you to be popr. All you really had to do was smile and not provoke anyone, then you would''ve been liked by pretty much everyone. If you yed your cards right, you might''ve even had the entire school wrapped around your finger."


    Nicole blinked rapidly.


    "E-Eh? You have to be exaggerating... I was never a popr person..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Even if that''s what you really think, I know that''s not true. I was a well known loser at school. Many times, people told you to stop associating with me, and they surely would''ve gotten really close to you."


    Nicole frowned slightly.


    "Mm... but I don''t want to get close to people that tell me to stop being with you."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "And really, what benefit was there to being with me? The only thing I did was drag your name through the mud. Ironically enough, while you didn''t protect me directly, just being known as a person you cared about prevented many people from messing with me."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "What? Huh? How does that make any sense?"


    Kairosughed.


    "Even if you were with me all the time, many of the guys still wanted to have a chance with you, and it was pretty well known that if any of them did anything to me, you would never forgive me. And that was despite the fact many of them knew it would be hard to get with you if you were that attached to me."


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "W-What? You don''t have to give me falsepliments."


    Kairos sighed.


    "...You can''t really say that with the amount of confessions you got."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "But it''s normal for girls to get that kind of thing."


    Kairos'' face twitched.


    "...It''s not normal enough to get at least one confession nearly every week. I think there was only maybe five weeks where you didn''t get a confession in one way or another."


    Nicole scratched the side of her face.


    "I-I guess it was a little above average."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I guess what I''m trying to say is... I always felt inferior to you."


    This was when Nicole''s eyes widened the most. A gasp much louder than she intended escaped her.


    "H-Huh? What do you mean?"


    Kairos closed his eyes.


    "You were always really good with people. You never had trouble with being energetic, even if realistically you were tired. You always had a cheerful attitude, even if everything around you was gloomy. Somehow, you never gave up in making me at least a little bit happier, no matter how little of an effect it had, or even if I didn''t reciprocate your efforts."


    He paused.


    "And the only thing I ever did was ruin your rtionships with others because people knew you were friends with me. Because of me, you couldn''t have a school life filled with as many friends as you could ever want."


    Kairos let out a weak chuckle.


    "I guess... I thought that you were better off without me, so I kept trying to push you away. But at the same time, I could never really decisively separate from you. If I pushed a little harder, I surely could''ve ended our rtionship."


    His eyes slowly opened.


    "But... I was too scared of actually living a life without you. So I couldn''t in the end."


    Nicole looked at Kairos in shock, unable to trulyprehend the words he had been saying for the longest time. For quite some time, she remained rooted in the spot.


    And when she fully reyed the words in her head for the second time, she finally understood everything he said.


    The tears she had been fighting back burst out, while she wrestled out of Kairos'' grip in order to grab onto his shoulders tightly.


    "I... I never cared about those people! Ruining my rtionships with them... that only helped me! I don''t care about a highschool life filled with friends."


    Kairos still looked somewhat despondent.


    "But... the ideal normal life was taken away by me."


    Nicole began shaking Kairos. Although his stats were significantly higher, his body felt quite limp, causing him to be shaken quite fiercely.


    Nicole was on the verge of screaming.


    "I don''t care about friends! I don''t care about having a normal life! If I can just be with someone... someone I truly care about, then I don''t care about anything else! I could hardly care about the apocalypse going on around us because you''re here, you know?"


    Kairos was slightly taken aback, unable to say anything in response.


    Nicole continued, still shaking him.


    "And you''ve done so much for me! Maybe I''ve tried to cheer you up, but that''s nothing topare with what you''ve done before! Because of you, I got out of my depression when I was still a kid. I was just trying to repay it, even if all my attempts could hardly do anything."


    Though Kairos had more or less gotten the point, this hardly seemed like where she was going to stop.

 Chapter 125 Passionate

    Nicole took a deep breath.


    Kairos'' eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch, as he felt a strange foreboding sensation.


    Without warning, Nicole suddenly spoke up.


    "You... really are a good person. There''s no way you could be inferior to me."


    Kairos responded almost instinctively.


    "I don''t even have anything good about me."


    Nicole seemed personally offended, even when he was talking about himself.


    "That''s not true! It''s not!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...And how can you be so sure of that?"


    Nicole pulled him a little closer.


    "You are way smarter than I could be, with how you just seem to know so many things."


    Kairos couldn''t help but interject.


    "That''s because you''re an airhead."


    Nicole giggled.


    "That''s why you can''t be inferior to me! Plus... you''re so much stronger than me."


    She continued shaking him, almost like Kairos was actually a vending machine and the snack she bought wasn''t falling.


    "Plus you always nned things so well. When I forced you to go on trips with me, you were always the one that remembered what we would have needed. I still haven''t forgotten when we went camping, got lost, and you were the only one with a phone!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I think it''s more like you are forgetful."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Not to mention, you were always so brave!"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Well... I wouldn''t say that."


    There was a strange serious undertone when he said that, but Nicole didn''t catch on to that, thinking he was just denying it for the sake of doing so.


    She continued on, as excited as ever, almost like she was praising her own achievements rather than someone else''s.


    "Somehow you always remain calm no matter how scary it looks! And even crazier, is how everything always looks like it''s under your control, almost like you can see into the future!"


    Kairos'' face twitched, though he didn''t say anything.


    Nicole gotpletely lost in her ramblings.


    "And you were always a natural leader! Even when we were just children and had no idea what we were doing. It just seemed like whenever there was a decision to be made, everybody turned to you."


    She scratched the side of her head.


    "I-I almost thought that as you grew up, that side of you disappeared..."


    She then smiled brightly.


    "But it''s still you! With your lead, we were able to fight back against the monsters instead of helplessly dying to them."


    Kairos opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, Nicole cut him off.


    "And you are always so kind, tolerating people''s mistakes. And despite being so harsh to people verbally, you''re always looking out for them."


    Kairos was waiting for a point to cut in, but Nicole really just wouldn''t stop.


    "And even though you prefer being distanced from people, you are willing to close that distance when they needforting. Oh, and you always know how people are feeling! And you always respect that people may have been acting more on their emotions than rational thought!"


    Kairos got a little distracted when he heard thest part, wondering when Nicole had noticed that. At that time, the words she said began to start sounding a little strange.


    "And your hair feels so soft that I just want to rub it all the time, but I can''t really because I''m too embarrassed to. And your eyes are so sparkly, it makes like I''m staring into a starry sky when it''s the middle of the day. And you''re also so warm, especially when I wrap my arm around your shoulder, making me feel like I''m at home when we''re outside!"


    Kairos shook his head, breaking out of his stupor.


    "Stop, sto-"


    Nicole didn''t seem to hear him.


    "And you look really cool when you adjust your sses!"


    For both of their sakes, Kairos did his best to try and wake Nicole out of her strange state.


    "I get it! So jus-"


    Nicole seemed to forget he was there.


    "And you smell really really nice even when you''re all muddy!"


    Kairos began shaking Nicole rather violently.


    "Nicoleeeeeeeeee!"


    She had difficulty speaking, yet didn''t really realize that.


    "And when I held onto your shoulder, I would always sneak my hand in to touch your chest because it tur-"


    "NICOLE!"


    Kairos screamed rather loudly, which finally broke her out of her stupor.


    Nicole blinked a few times and was taking in deep breaths as though to make up for all the words she expelled. At first, she didn''t reallyprehend what was happening, but it did not take long for her face to flush red.


    Kairos wished that he took a more forceful approach before it came to this, but he was also too afraid of hurting her, even if he could stop himself after seeing the results in his future vision.


    Though, what surprised him was that Nicole didn''t look away from him despite obviously being incredibly embarrassed.


    Instead, she looked up at him and smiled.


    "So... that''s why you can''t be inferior to me. And... also why I love you."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I guess if you say all that, then I have to ept it."


    He took a deep breath.


    "If you really are willing to say all of that unabashedly... then I guess I have to say it."


    The corner of his lip turned up.


    "I love you too."


    Nicole immediately threw herself at him, hugging him as tight as she could. Kairos still didn''t feel thatfortable with a hug, but there was a part of him that rxed, which made it not as bad.


    The hug made him feel ustrophobic, which was how hugs always made him feel. However, it was also a little warm.


    Nicole whispered in his ear.


    "I''m so d..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "But..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    He pushed her a little back so that he could look at her face.


    "It''s not really a good time to have a rtionship. There are still too many things to deal with, especially with the apocalypse and all."


    Nicole looked at him with a bit of confusion.


    "Eh? But... we have these walls right? And there doesn''t seem to be a problem with food or water either..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It''s a little moreplicated than that. Frankly, the situation is far better than one should expect in an apocalypse. However, there are still many holes that need to be taken care of. Honestly, with the way the city is now, it will probably onlyst a month before the people working the farms won''t be able to take it anymore."


    Nicole scratched the side of her face, still slightly confused.


    "O-Oh. I still don''t really understand, but I guess it''s not a good time..."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Sorry. For now, let''s just keep it as friends. When the situation begins to calm down a little and we don''t have to worry about fighting, then maybe we can think about something else."


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "Alright. I will work hard on bing stronger in the meantime."


    She definitely looked dissatisfied, but was understanding that the situation wasn''t the best for a rtionship.


    Kairos patted her head.


    "Thanks."


    Nicole slowly got closer and hugged him once more.


    "But... I still want some hugs every so often, ok?"


    Kairos'' face twitched.


    "...Ok."


    Then, he also wrapped his arms around her.


    "Ah, this was where you were!"


    Out of nowhere, Tiana appeared, with one hand on the door. Her expression was quite serious.


    "Sorry that you''re in the middle of something, but I need your help. Something seems to be attacking the city."


    Kairos simrly put on a serious expression. He would''ve expected Tiana to at least tease him about it, but it seemed like she really wasn''t in the mood for it right now.


    He let go of Nicole, picked up his spear, and rushed out. While trying not to slip on the ice, Nicole called out from behind.


    "S-Should I help?"


    Kairos focused on running, but still took the time to respond.


    "You are too weak to contribute personally, but you can try watching from a higher floor to get a better idea of how battles go."


    Nicole slipped on the ice, but caught onto the side of the door before she fell.


    "A-Ah, I got it!"


    Kairos caught up with Tiana and asked as he ran.


    "What''s the situation?"


    She clicked her tongue in response.


    "For some reason, there''s a swarm of them being led by these giant ones rushing over to the city wall."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Seems like it was bad timing to exercise. At least my stamina wasn''t hit too badly."


    Tiana sighed.


    "I imagine you are going to be using your spells mostly in this situation, to be honest."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright. Should we get some other people to help?"


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "I don''t think anyone else will be that much of a help, but I called the other people you brought to. In fact, they are up ahead right now."


    Kairos saw a few faces he hadn''t seen in a while up ahead.


    Eric was running forth, but spun around to sh him a smile, running backwards. His striking white hair moved around in the wind, while he was still twirling the ball on a string in his hand.


    "Hey, after this you gotta listen to one of our newest songs!"


    After saying that, he turned back around and continued moving forward.


    Nick looked over his shoulder, flicking his green hair to the side, and waved using his microphone stand.


    "Seriously, it''s an actual banger."


    Jenny chuckled, turning to the side, causing her long blue hair to swish to the side. She stuck her tongue out slightly while ying with the paddleball, and stuck out one hand in the shape of a handgun.


    "It''s a song that inspired us to rise in rank!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Maybe for a little bit!"


    As he was running, he noticed a familiar old man working on a farm. It was Ling''s grandfather. When he watched the others rushing forth, he almost looked like he was going to join them, but ended up stopping.


    It seemed as though he didn''t have the will to fight anymore. And as such, he continued to tend to the farm he was working on.


    In the distance, deep and loud roars resounded, loud enough to be heard throughout most of the city.


    Quite a few of the people tending to the farms were shaken up, freezing in ce. They were quite afraid because they had never heard something like that before.


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Do you think that monsters might be attracted to arge number of people clustered together?"


    Tiana frowned.


    "...This isn''t the first time I had to fend off monster attacks, so maybe. If that''s the case, then this will probably be a huge pain for a long time."


    As they got closer to the wall, part of it expanded outwards to make a rough staircase. The individual steps were much taller than all of their actual heights, but it was still more than enough for people with their kind of stats.


    Kairos and the others hopped up with them, while above them Tori was carrying Chase, and flying through the sky with her wings. Theynded on the top of the walls, while the rest got next to them right after.


    Then, everybody got to take a look at exactly what they were facing.


    Nick muttered to himself, with a finger on his chin.


    "Crap... this reminds me of that one anime. Was it Assault on Titan?"


    There was arge swarm of monsters, numbering to be at minimum a few thousand. In front were three massive monsters, each at the height of ten meters.


    Eric let out a whistle.


    "What do these things eat to grow like that?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "Well, I''m not letting them eat the people in the city."

 Chapter 126 Another Vision

    The swarm of monsters that were normal-sized all seemed to be more or less regr versions. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn''t be too big of a deal. However, their numbers were simply too excessive.


    As for the three giant monsters in the front, they looked rather disturbing. They were each over ten meters tall, making their presence very noticeable. Instead of the traditional kind, their bodies almost looked like they were melting. The skin on their body seemed to bubble slightly, almost like it was boiling. Though it was quite hard to see from how far they were, the bubbles would regrly be bursting on their skin, causing a bit of blood to ssh out.


    This seemed to continuously happen, causing their entire bodies to be coated in arge amount of blood.


    There was also a distinctck of features. They did not have eyes, instead just hollow eye sockets filled with blood, while even their ws were no longer attached. Their overall form was still humanoid, but their bodies almost seemed to be smooth, like it was slowly bing jelly.


    Though, it was kinda hard to tell because of the blood covering them.


    Chase narrowed his eyes when he took a look at the monsters.


    "...It looks like those big ones arerge, but can hardly maintain their form at that size. They seem to be in a fragile bnce of destroying themselves and regenerating."


    Tori''s eyes widened slightly.


    "How does that even happen?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "How it happened doesn''t really matter right now. Let''s focus on the fight."


    Tori nodded.


    "Ah, alright."


    Kairos turned to Tiana.


    "Do you have any good idea to go about this?"


    She responded rather quickly.


    "Hm... it seems like it will still take the monsters roughly a minute or so before they reach the walls. Eric, Nick, and Jenny can do well in taking care of therge quantity of smaller monsters, but the big ones might be a little dangerous to them."


    She then looked toward Kairos.


    "If you are able to get far behind them, then you should be able to use that ability, which should let you deal a good chunk of damage to them. I will also help, and Chase could also give some support in killing the threerger ones."


    Kairos nodded. He then turned to Tori and pointed at one of the taller buildings far in the distance still standing.


    "Could you fly me over there? Right after, you should fly back, as my ability might hit you in the crossfire."


    Tori nodded.


    "Got it!"


    She hooked her arms underneath Kairos'' armpits before tworge wings sprouted out of her back. Tori did not dy in taking off, but before they got too far, Tiana called out.


    "Kairos, target the one that''s furthest in the back! We will get the other two."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Got it."


    Right after, he felt a strong tug on him, while the winds began to roar in his ears. Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little worried that Tori might drop him, because if she did, he doubted he would be able to survive.


    Maybe he would survive the fall, but there he would be caught in the swarm of monsters that would be far too much for him to deal with.


    This sentiment made Kairos feel a little light, as not having control over his own life was quite frightening for a person that relied on himself most of the time. Nheless, he didn''t believe Tori would actually try to drop him.


    And if she did, he would see it, meaning he would at least be able to take her down with him.


    Though, Kairos really was overthinking it.


    The giant monsters below reached out to the two of them, but they were simply too high up in the air for them to catch. They gave up soon after and focused once again on going towards the city walls.


    And soon enough, Tori had brought Kairos all the way to the apartmentplex he had been pointing to.


    The moment Kairos dropped down onto the pavement, he spoke out to Tori.


    "Go back to the walls. They might need you there."


    Though she felt her efforts were slightly unappreciated, she decided toply.


    "Mm... alright, but at least say thank you!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Thank you."


    With a smile, Tori soared back to the walls, tearing through the sky.


    Kairos observed the overall situation as he waited for Tori to get out of his range.


    The giant monsters appeared to be moving slowly, like lumbering giants. But that''s just how it looked. In reality, the giants were far faster than the normal monsters, outrunning them by several times. As such, that meant the huge swarm of normal ones weregging far behind.


    It was hard to see the situation on the wall, but Kairos was just barely able to see Chase was gathering mana, as it was quite shy. As for Tiana, she didn''t seem to be taking any action yet, but Kairos believed that she was at least nning on doing something.


    After all, she should at least show that she wasn''t a pushover as the ruler of the city.


    Kairos waited a few more moments and began to feel a little unsure of when his passive ability, ''Alone'' was going to activate. It would double the power of his spells so long as there were no people considered allies within a kilometer.


    But just as soon as his hesitation began, it soon ended. It was very very slight, but he could tell that the mana inside of him had changed somehow. It seemed as though it became denser, pushing out against the rest of his body.<novelnext></novelnext>


    When that sensation came to him, Kairos pointed toward the monster that was the furthest from the city, and a ball of fire gradually began forming.


    The mana violently rushed through his body, and through his fingertip to continually expand the fireball. Before long, it had reached several meters in diameter. Kairos already began feeling some strain, almost like he was being wrung like a rag.


    He ended up slowing down his channeling speed, so that his body didn''t feel like it was breaking.


    After ten or so seconds, the fireball had expanded to be fifteen meters wide. His entire vision was filled with the fireball, and he could feel the heat, causing him to sweat.


    Kairos felt that roughly half of his mana had been used to create this fireball. He considered channeling even more, maybe using up all the mana he had for this. However, his body began emitting various concerning creaking sounds.


    He was getting slightly light-headed.


    For the pulse spell, the actual channeling process had a rtively smaller burden on his body, but once it was cast, it would thoroughly destroy him. On the other hand, the fire spell was the opposite of this, arge burden while casting, but a much smaller one after throwing it.


    In the end, Kairos felt that if he continued, he was at risk of passing out entirely. As such, he let the fireball loose.


    At the same time, a massive mana arrow, with size on par with the fireball, also shot out.


    A deafening bang resounded.


    The mana arrow hit first, reaching the monster closest to the walls. The monster itself was thrown backward like a ragdoll, while a massive hole formed on its chest. Despite it being far away, Kairos could hear the sound clearly, a testament to the power behind it.


    As the monster''s body shot back, itnded in the horde of monsters, mming against them, and continued to slide through the horde. Countless of them died in the process.


    Soon after, Kairos'' fireballnded on the monster in the back.


    An explosion that shook the air reverberated.


    The fireball was originallyrger than the monster, while the explosion itself was evenrger. This time, the monster was thrown forwards, while nearly its entire body was charred ck.


    It mmed into the one in front of it, causing it to trip and fall down together.


    A few of the surrounding buildings were directly blown away, their charred fragments shooting off far into the distance.


    Along with that, a massive pool of fire now rested on the ground, almost like a part of hell had surfaced. It would be able to hold off the normal monsters for a decent amount of time.


    Their attacks were really powerful. In fact, Kairos felt that Chase''s arrow was a little too strong for being an E rank, but didn''t question it for now. Overall, the situation seemed to be in control, with all the giant monsters now on the ground.


    However, Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little unsettled.


    Because none of the three giant monsters had died.


    The one that Chase had shot with the arrow was still iling its limbs around. It was rapidly regenerating but seemed too injured to stand on its own. However, it was only a matter of time before it got back up on its feet.


    As for the monster that was hit with the fireball, it was unmoving, but because Karios hadn''t gotten the system notification, he knew that it was still alive.


    The monster that was pinned underneath the charred one struggled, but was able to crawl out fairly easily and continue towards the city.


    By now, it was just a few seconds away from reaching the city.


    It performed a charge that appeared to be rather clumsy, but the steps that mmed against the pavement still caused the wall to noticeably shake.


    Upon seeing this, Tiana raised her hands up into the sky.


    A massive metal spike suddenly shot out of the ground, skewering the monster and interrupting its charge. The metal spike itself was several times longer than the monster, which made it dangle in the air.


    The monster had a surprisingly strong tenacity like the others, and continued to struggle, moving its limbs around.


    Yet, a few moments after, many other smaller metal spikes shot out from the ground, piercing into the monster''s body almost like it was a pin cushion.


    Large amounts of blood flowed down from all the metal spikes, while the monster itself was essentially filled with metal. Yet, the monster still hadn''t kicked the bucket.


    It was now only able to twitch slightly, which seemed rather harmless. However, the smaller metal spikes began to crack.


    Tiana frowned and raised her hand in the air, before bringing it down.


    Metal spikes coalesced in the sky, before suddenly mming into the monster.


    Blood sshed around almost like a balloon filled with water had burst.


    The smaller spikes all cracked, while the monster slid down the massive metal spike. But this time, it was no longer moving.


    All of the conjured metal sunk into the ground, almost like they were melting.


    After all of that, the other two monsters appeared to have recovered. The one that Chase had shot, was now standing. Though, there was still arge hole in its chest.


    As for the one Kairos had hit with his fireball, it had also stood up. Arge amount of charred flesh had peeled off of it, making it look like an iplete sculpture.


    Nheless, it continued on.


    Kairos didn''t really want to, but decided to channel mana to create a fire spell once more. Yet, right when he pointed his finger forward, his mind suddenly went white.


    He saw a vision.


    It was himself, with a giant fifteen-meter fireball in front of him. However, right when he was about to release it, a small figure cloaked in all ck would suddenly appear behind him, then behead him with a small dagger.


    When Kairos came to, his entire body seized up. His breathing was heavy, while cold sweat began to fall from him.


    Kairos whipped his head around, trying to catch sight of someone.


    However, there was nobody there.

 Chapter 127 Back And Forth

    Kairos cursed under his breath.


    It seemed that his ability had saved him once more. Though it was quite a long while since hisst vision, it seemed that whenever his life was truly in danger, the ability would warn him.


    He decided to ignore the state of the city for now, as he was in far more trouble than them. His first fireball made his position more than obvious to whatever it was targeting him, and it didn''t take more than a few minutes for him to channel the fire spell to that state.


    In other words, that short figure not only knew exactly where he was, but was also nearby.


    Though he surveyed the area around him closely, he couldn''t even catch a sign of this so-called mysterious figure. It almost made him feel like he was just insane, like some overly paranoid person that was scared by nothing.


    However, he definitely had no ns of dropping his guard. This wasn''t the first time his future vision had warned him. He had heeded the warning every single time before and did not n to change that now.


    ...Though it really did feel like he was just being stupid.


    He moved to the center of the roof, so that he couldn''t easily just be pushed off the building, and make it a bit harder for anyone to sneak up on him. This continued on for several minutes.


    In the meantime, he saw a couple of system notifications.


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Lesser) - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    Kairos took a peek at the state of the city and saw that the giant monsters had gotten to the city walls. Because one wasunched back, it had to walk through the pit of fire that Kairos had created. As such, it was having trouble walking closer to the wall. Though, it was still moving forwards nheless.


    Along with that, it seemed like many of the monsters foolishly walked into the fire pit from the system notifications that Kairos was getting. That or the monsters had no choice but to move forward as they were pushed by the ones behind them.


    Unfortunately, it would only thin their numbers by a certain amount, as the fires were slowly being extinguished by the monsters throwing themselves in.


    But before he could think about it any further, he suddenly felt his neck, heart, and ankle get cut through with a sharp knife.


    It was the pain he felt from his future vision.


    Recognizing that, Kairos immediately brought his spear up and twisted it to cover both his neck and chest.


    Two heavy ngs rang out, along with the rip of flesh.


    Kairos was able to block the attack heading for both his neck and chest, but was unable to guard the ankle as well. While cursing himself for not watching out for this, he spun around to see his attacker.


    It was the small figure he saw in his vision. It was just barely taller than a meter, the same height a child would have. It was hard to make out whether the figure was a monster, human, or even a living being because its entire body was coated tightly by some ck cloth.


    The only thing that was uncovered were the two eyes, which were both in narrow slits to match the tiny gap provided by the cloth.


    In the cloaked figure''s hand was a small red dagger, and it clutched onto it tightly. From the way it was holding said dagger, it seemed to be very familiar with it.


    Kairos stared it down, not nning on making the first move.


    From what he saw in his future vision, all three shes happened in less than half a second. In other words, it was able to attack extremely quickly, and even from different angles as well.


    However, Kairos was honestly surprised he was actually able to block those strikes. Logically speaking, if the cloaked figure was able to sh that fast, it should also be able to divert those strikes too.


    But it didn''t.


    From that, Kairos guessed that the cloaked figure had used some sort of skill that allowed her to attack like that in a predetermined way, not in one where it itself was actually shing.


    It was a bit of a risky assumption to make, but if this wasn''t the case, Kairos wasn''t sure if he could deal with the thing''s agility. Especially because his ankle was shed through, impairing his movement.


    It was a very clean cut, and thanks to that, Kairos could feel that it was slowly healing. As such, he was willing to draw out this standoff.


    Though, it seemed that the cloaked figure realized Kairos'' ns, as it suddenly disappeared.


    Using his future vision, Kairos felt that his left arm, right shoulder, and lower back were all cut through. Along with that, he saw a small ck blur flit by his vision.


    Kairos bet on the assumption he made. He hunched over slightly, so that his shoulder wouldn''t be hit, while he twisted his spear at an angle that defended both his back and arm.


    Two ngs resounded, while Kairos felt some wind brush by his shoulder. It seemed to be as he expected. The cloaked figure really couldn''t change where it originally attacked.


    He couldn''t actually confirm that his tactics worked, because of the brief moment his future vision warps when he does something different because of it. That brief moment was enough for him to bepletely clueless as for what happened until it actually did.


    The cloaked figure backed off once more after another unsessful attack.


    Kairos turned to face it and remained still once more.


    His ankle was on the verge of healingpletely. In just a few minutes, it should be as good as new. It also felt quite hot, making him want to take off his sock to let it air out.


    Though, he wasn''t going to do something as stupid as that right now.


    The cloaked figure seemed to hesitate, not jumping back in to attack immediately.


    It seemed to be confused as to how Kairos was able to avoid all of its attacks. However, after a few moments of hesitation, it decided to go back in, shing at him.


    This time, it shed through his eye, lung, and liver.


    The pain rushed through Kairos, nearly enough to take off his focus for a split second. However, this was a pain that he was rtively familiar with from his self-stabbing sessions, and thus wasn''t fazed by it.


    He threw his head back, letting the de brush past his face, while his spear twisted at an awkward angle to block the ones going for his liver and lung.


    Once again Kairos deflected the strikes.


    This seemed to frustrate the cloaked figure. After a brief pause, it attacked once more.


    Kairos constantly twisted himself around and twisted his spear around, almost like he was doing some sort of entric dance as a street performer.


    Left ear, corbone, right hand, nose, right thigh, left foot.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos continued to either dodge or fend off the strikes. It was still quite difficult at first, but he was gradually getting used to it. The cacophony of shing sounds and whips of wind filled his ears.


    For some reason, he almost felt it sounded like a melody, with the steady three attacks, where a random two would hit against his spear.


    Though, he didn''t get immersed in it just yet.


    Kairos'' ankle had healed fully. It took slightly longer because he forced it to move, but it worked out in the end.


    At that time, the cloaked figure backed off once more, standing several meters back, staring at Kairos.


    Both of them seemed slightly fatigued.


    Kairos was beginning to sweat a little, but he would still be able to keep going for a while. With that in mind, he rushed forth to try and finally counterattack for once.


    Unfortunately, the moment he took a step forward, the cloaked figure easily retreated at double the speed. Kairos immediately recognized that it would be pointless, and thus gave up. Though, the cloaked figure didn''t seem to want to give up, rushing toward him.


    As it was charging toward him, Kairos swung his spear in an attempt to hit it, but it dodged the attack just as easily as before.


    Right after, the cloaked figure blurred before doing the same three attacks in session once more.


    Now used to it, Kairos was able to block or dodge all three.


    It seemed that his enemy was faster than the speed he could swing his spear, meaning it wouldn''t be the most effective weapon in this situation.


    But still, he had half of his mana, and three spells to use them on.


    While the cloaked figure was attacking him, he began channeling mana for the pulse spell. Since it had a quick charge time and had arge area of effect, it should be quite effective against this particr opponent.


    Blue mist began to form around his hand, and right that instant, the cloaked figure suddenly disappeared.


    Kairos furrowed his brow when he noticed this.


    He hadn''t even channeled it for half a second when it suddenly left. One way or another, it was able to tell that Kairos was channeling the spell.


    He stopped casting and held the spell. The mana slowly dissipated from his hand, until it was gone entirely.


    A few minutes or so afterward, the cloaked figure reappeared.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...You really aren''t going to make this easy, huh?"


    It did not respond. Not that he was expecting it to.


    If the thing was somehow able to sense the flow of mana, then Kairos wouldn''t be able to cast any spells without it noticing.


    However, he wasn''t going to make that assumption just yet.


    With how fast the cloaked figure was, the pulse spell would be best. However, it would preemptively flee if he prepared it. That then left the fire and gale spell.


    The fire spell would be even more useless, as it would simply be too hard to hit.


    As for the gale spell, it still had a fairly long channel time, but it was also really hard to see.


    Since there wasn''t anything else for him to use his mana on, Kairos decided to try it.


    The cloaked figure continued trying to sh at him, while he kept one of his hands down at his side casually.


    Since the only thing he needed to do to begin casting the gale spell was keep his four fingers together, it didn''t look like he was channeling at all. And while that was happening, the cloaked figure continued attacking Kairos, not noticing at all.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t go too well for him, as focusing on the mana for the gale took away a decent amount of his attention. That made dodging considerably more difficult.


    It wasn''t too bad at first, but then he slipped up, and the side of his stomach was shed open. A few momentster, his shoulder was shed as well.


    Several more cuts appeared all over his body, now making him a bloody mess.


    Though, none of them hit anywhere too important. Kairos would let himself slip on other areas, but focused intently on any areas that could directly lead to his death.


    After putting half of his remaining mana into the spell, he decided it was enough.


    Kairos'' focus sharpened several times over, as he predicted he would only have one chance to do this. If he missed, then the cloaked figure would definitely be on guard, and there was practically no way he would hit it.


    Kairos decided to do something rather brave.


    The cloaked figure attacked him once more, seemingly encouraged by the previous sessful hits. Perhaps the smell of blood from Kairos'' body energized it further.


    It attacked once more, one towards his leg.


    But that was blocked.


    Then, another to his right arm.


    But that was also blocked.


    Yet, right after that, it went straight for his heart.


    However, Kairos already knew that it would show up there, thus had his four fingers pointing right where it would''ve been.


    And then he released the gale spell.

 Chapter 128 Standoff

    Kairos felt his pupils constrict to a point.


    He had confidence that his gale spell would hit. After all, from what Kairos had seen, the cloaked figure was unable to stop itself once it had done those three attacks. Though he would''ve preferred to release the gale spell while it was in the middle of attacking, the cloaked figure simply moved too fast.


    Kairos would''ve had to take into ount the travel speed of the gale spell, which was one he had hardly used before.


    As such, this was the option he was left with. Releasing the gale spell right when the figure was in front of him.


    The sharp wind shot out from his four fingers, heading straight for the cloaked figure''s head.


    In less than a tenth of a second, her head would be pierced through. That was all that was required.


    Kairos could feel his focus sharpen even further, making time seem to slow down tremendously. From how the cloaked figure''s eyes looked, Kairos saw that it noticed the gale of winding towards it.


    Nheless, it was still very fast. The gale of wind pierced through the bandages, and then through its eyes. In just a few moments,rge amounts of blood would surelye out.


    But right when Kairos felt like the fight was finally won, the cloaked figure disappeared.


    Quite literally vanishing out of thin air, almost like it had never existed in the first ce. Though, a few drops of blood fell down, sttering on the ground. With that, Kairos was easily able to recognize it wasn''t some sort of illusion, but rather reality.


    He whipped his head around, but he couldn''t catch a glimpse of it.


    Kairos was feeling a little anxious now. His breathing was heavy, which was natural considering how badly he was injured. Though he was bleeding from the countless cut wounds spread all over his body, that was not his main concern.


    Rather, it was that his one opportunity to catch the cloaked figure off guard was used up. Now, it would be expecting that. And as such, it would be several times more difficult to do anything.


    Kairos doubted he would even be close to hitting the thing if he tried the same thing.


    His eyes did a swivel, as he spun around.


    But there was nothing to see.


    Once again, Kairos felt like he was a paranoid man, desperately looking around to catch sight of the monster. Like he was putting so much into looking at his surroundings that he didn''t even give thought as to what he would do upon catching sight of the monster.


    The mana in his body seemed to chill, almost as though it had been reacting to the monster.


    For some reason, despite not seeing anything around him, he couldn''t help but feel like a presence was gradually closing in on him, and it was definitely not one that had any good intentions.


    Kairos'' eyebrows seemed to dig into his skin with how hard they were furrowed.


    He kept looking again, and again, but he legitimately couldn''t see anything other than the bare roof. At some point, he felt he must''ve been imagining things. After taking an injury, the cloaked figure probably retreated.


    However, he still sensed something was getting closer, prompting him to continue looking. The two viewpoints shed in his mind, one telling him to look, and another telling him everything was fine.


    Kairos wondered if this was how paranoid people felt.


    Though, right as he was thinking that he felt a strange cold, and prickly sensation on the back of his neck. It strangely felt heavy, though he was sure there was nothing there.


    Though, this was all something he saw in his future vision.


    Nheless, he instinctively lunged forth and twirled around, to see the cloaked figure once again.


    It had its dagger raised up in the air, ready to bring it down almost like it was actually a hatchet. The appearance of the cloaked figure was quite unsettling, with a horizontal cut across its face, right where the eyes were.


    Under normal circumstances, people would instinctively close their eyes even if it wasn''t something that helped. However, this monster kept its eyes wide open, fully revealing cut open eyes.


    The insides of the eye looked red, while some clear gel that Kairos didn''t recognize was flowing out. If it wasn''t for its noticeable viscosity, he would''ve believed that they were tears.


    The cut across its face had torn the ck cloak, just barely some of the cloaked figure''s skin. And it was very clearly red, indicating that it was a monster. Though, it definitely seemed too intelligent to be the usual one.


    In the back of Kairos'' mind, he connected the monster to a few others he had seen before.


    The monsters under The Red Priest. Disciples, that man seemed to call it.


    But... it didn''t seem to be as strong as the other ones. From what he remembered, the monster with tough bones was far more terrifying with its size and unreasonably strong durability.


    Yet, right as he was thinking that, the cloaked monster in front of him suddenly blurred, before appearing behind him the next second.


    In his future vision, he felt his neck get cut through, prompting him to bring his spear up and block it.


    A clear ng resounded, while Kairos found himself stumbling forwards.


    Though, he had no time to rest, as he immediately felt a knife pierce into his lung.


    Kairos once again repositions his spear to block it.


    It was only after the ng resounded did he realize that cloaked monsters appeared to his side. But right after, the figure blurred once more.


    This continued for quite a while. Kairos was getting fatigued quickly, as the wounds on his body were weighing him down pretty badly. He then decided he may as well extend his future vision to two seconds.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He didn''t really want to use it, as he knew that the resulting headache would strain his focus badly, but now that was the least of his problems.


    Now that Kairos was able to see several seconds ahead, dodging became much easier, as he could even see the second attack while the first still had yet to happen. He wouldn''t be able tost for that much longer, but at least the situation was under control for now.


    Kairos began thinking about how he could escape this situation, but for whatever reason, he suddenly found that he couldn''t see the cloaked figure at all.


    It surprised him quite a bit, but the pain from a knife shing through his neck immediately woke him. He quickly blocked it so that the knife didn''t sh through his neck in reality.


    Kairos looked at the ce where he felt the knife collide, but didn''t see anything at all.


    He couldn''t help but sweat slightly. If it wasn''t for his future vision, he honestly had no idea what he would do against this kind of enemy that could just turn invisible at will.


    Nheless, he was still able to manage. Unfortunately, this meant he would have to wait for the feeling of pain from a sh before reacting.


    Perhaps if someone saw him right now, they would think he was doing some sort of mime y, or like some sort of kid pretending he was in an epic fight. Though, maybe it wasn''t that simr, considering how much blood was pouring out of him right now.


    While he was still thinking of a way out of this situation, he saw in his future vision that despite blocking, the attack cut through his arm.


    He immediately recorrected himself again, holding the spear at a different angle.


    Thankfully this time, the knife hit his spear with a ng.


    ? If his future vision wasn''t extended to two seconds, he wouldn''t have noticed it still shed him until it happened in reality. But from this, he realized a problem. He had no inkling of the actual trajectory of the attack since it was invisible. If he messed up twice in a row, then he would be hit directly.


    As he felt his body beginning to strain, he ended up messing more and more.


    He messed up again, but was able to block it in the end. But right afterwards, he messed up a little too much.


    The dagger mmed into his liver in reality. Kairos cursed internally, before getting out of the way and continued blocking.


    As for his options to get out of this alive, he could only think of two. The first one was jumping off the building, then improvising from the way there. The second was dying for Tori toe save him.


    If he did choose to jump off, it would be quite difficult for Tori to find him, thus he decided he should just stall for time.


    But as he messed up a little too much one more, receiving a sh on the side of his face. His entire body felt like it was on fire. No, he had to change something if he wanted to stall for time. At this rate, he would be done for in just a few more minutes.


    Kairos forced himself to calm down. There had to be something, just not what he was thinking of right now.


    Then after calming down slightly, was when he noticed a very faint whistling sound. It was the sound of the dagger moving.


    Kairos twisted his spear to block it, and sure enough, he was able to deflect the blow on his first try. He felt a little relieved with his small victory and continued on this way.


    Yet, something strange happened right after. He could hear the whistling of winding from two separate directions.


    It made him confused, but he didn''t question it for now and moved his spear to block one. In his future vision, he saw that his arm was shed, while his spear hadn''t hit anything. Quickly correcting it, he twisted it the other way in reality, then blocked it.


    Sweat began forming on Kairos'' forehead once more.


    Heined internally about how unfair this was, but continued blocking. It was far more difficult, but the increased adrenaline just barely let him continue on without taking too many hits.


    Then, he could feel one going straight for his neck.


    He felt one gust of winding from his left, while another came from the right. He attempted to block the one on the left, but saw in his future vision it was a dud. Ignoring the pain from getting shed in the neck, he changed it, blocking the right instead.


    But then his neck got shed again.


    It was at this moment Kairos realized the sh actually came silently from the front, while the other two were diversions.


    There was no longer any time for him to block with the spear, so he reached out with his hand, blocking it roughly that way.


    The knife pierced through his hand, making his palm appear to suddenly burst out with blood. Right afterward, he gripped the invisible dagger as hard as he could, despite how it was ripping it apart his hand.


    He then used his other hand to forcefully stab the invisible figure where it should''ve been, but unfortunately, he only hit the air.


    He continued to try and swing his spear, and from the jostling he felt from the dagger, the monster was definitely moving, he was just unable to hit it.


    The situation had quickly be worse.


    Kairos still had one green orb left, and truly wished that he could use it, but knew that if he tried, he would be killed while doing so. He thought that maybe if he injured it, then he would be able to take advantage of the brief moment if backed up.


    But he just... couldn''t hit it.


    Kairos gradually felt himself sinking into despair as his hand split apart further and further.


    At this rate, it would get to his neck.

 Chapter 129 Escape

    Kairos fought back against the cloaked monster desperately. He didn''t know when, but at some point, the invisibility from it was dispelled. That kinda made sense, as it didn''t really matter at this point, now that they were in this deadlock.


    Unfortunately, that deadlock was going to be broken soon, and not in a way that was advantageous to Kairos.


    The dagger continued to split his hand apart, and soon, he wouldn''t be able to hold on anymore. Despair was settling in the back of his mind, but he hadn''t given up just yet. His thoughts were chaotic, to the point it felt like he was scrambling for any solution he could get.


    More and more of his muscles were being cut through. Eventually, he no longer had the confidence to hold onto the dagger, feeling that it would slip at any moment now.


    His thoughts got even more chaotic.


    But then... they suddenly stopped.


    At that moment, Kairos'' hand rxed, unable to keep his grip on the dagger anymore as the remaining muscles were too weak. But before his neck got shed apart, the cloaked monster suddenly jumped backwards.


    And once it did, a clear smash resounded on the ground, forming a few small cracks on the roof.


    Kairos gradually widened his eyes in surprise.


    A translucent figure gradually became more visible, until it revealed Nicole. The moment she reappeared, she fell to her knees and began taking in breaths as though she had just been drowning.


    He walked over, but didn''t go down tofort her. Instead, he held his spear up and stared down the cloaked monster. He wasn''t going to let his emotions get the better of him and make a stupid decision. As confused as he was, the questions were forter. Right now, he needed to defend Nicole.


    Though she was the one that saved her, the fact was that she was still only at the E rank.


    The cloaked figure''s eyes were clearly damaged, but that didn''t seem to impair its vision at all, as it stared directly at the two of them.


    It seemed hesitant, and eventually leaped off the roof, fleeing resolutely.


    Kairos did not drop his guard immediately, still looking around himself in case the cloaked monster was trying to sneak up on them. Though he did feel like the presence had left, he still wasn''t too sure about it, especially not after the thing proved it could create fake sounds of wind, and make the actual attack silent.


    He decided to stop extending his future vision so that he wouldn''t tire himself out.


    As for Nicole, she was gradually recovering. Amidst a little bit of choking, Nicole finally began to speak.


    "A-Are you ok?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes. What about you?"


    Nicole held onto her neck lightly.


    "I... I think I''m fine."


    Kairos continued to slowly survey the area while continuing to talk to her.


    "How did you get over here, anyway?"


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "I... I just had a bad feeling. I was watching from a room that was really high up, then without really thinking, I ran out, then passed through the wall."


    Kairos'' eyes widened.


    "...You didn''t feel scared at all?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Hehe... I guess I didn''t really think about it."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He wanted to chastise her, but he didn''t want to stifle her confidence, even if it made her do really strange things. He preferred someone that would at least try, even if it was not the smartest. Those that at least tried would learn, while those that cowered in fear would always be useless.


    "How did you even get here in the first ce?"


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "Um, when I phased through the wall, I thought I was going to fall, but then I just kept moving forward. I continued moving forward through the air, which was a little scary, but it was bringing me to you, so I felt a little relieved!"


    She let out a small hum.


    "But I couldn''t breathe the entire time while that was happening, which made it really hard."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, it seems that''s a limitation of your ability. However, the fact that it will literally let you ignore gravity is quite a powerful strength of it."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "A-Ah, yeah!"


    She then raised her finger.


    "Oh, I was also practicing turning invisible, so I wasn''t seen the entire time I got over here, then after seeing you in trouble I swung my ask at the kid attacking you!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright. It seems everything is ok on our end..."


    He then turned to look at the city walls once more.


    From what he remembered, there were two giant monsters that were still alive, albeit injured. When he looked towards the city walls, he noticed that one of them had their head blown open, probably by Chase. However, there was still another one that was currently banging against the walls.


    Overall, Kairos wasn''t too concerned. He knew that if the situation got really bad, Tiana could easily deal with the monsters if she was willing to put a bit more strength into it. Not just mentioning her stats might be enough for her to directly take the monster on in a physical fight, she still had the ability that one ability that would let her use the power of a rank above her.


    Just the gap between F rank and E rank was quiterge, but the difference was even bigger between E rank and D rank.


    As such, it would be natural to expect that the power granted from boosting up a rank should be enough to wipe out all the monsters. Obviously, since the cost was great, using both 50 evolution points and experiencing the period of weakness would not be the best.<novelnext></novelnext>


    By now, the normal monsters have more or less gotten next to the wall as well.


    They were smashing themselves into it, making loud banging sounds that were just barely audible to Kairos from where he was. As for the walls, they seemed to be holding up more or less, but it looked like they were slightly damaged, from dents and such.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...I think I still have enough mana to do one more spell. But... will I need itter?"


    Yet, right after, he realized a problem.


    The ''Alone'' skill wasn''t going to be activated if Nicole was next to him. In other words, the power of his spell would be lowered by half, meaning it would more or less be useless.


    He then turned to Nicole.


    "How much mana do you have left?"


    She jumped slightly.


    "Um... I think there''s enough for me to be invisible until I get back to the city."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Then try going back."


    Nicole furrowed her brow.


    "But... what about you?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively. Though, that was the hand that was nearly torn apart, making it look a little jarring.


    "I''ll be fine."


    Nicole puffed her cheeks up.


    "But you were very clearly not fine!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He didn''t really know what to say to that, since it was true.


    "...Um. I guess that''s right, but it seems like the city isn''t in the best condition right now."


    Nicole grabbed onto his arm.


    "Then let''s get over there and help them!"


    Out of nowhere, Nicole tugged on Kairos hard, prompting him to question just exactly what the heck she was trying to pull off. He initially intended to go with it slightly, so that she wouldn''t have trouble moving his arm.


    Yet, for some reason, it felt like Nicole''s grip was even stronger than steel, like something invulnerable. In fact, it even hurt him physically.


    She didn''t seem to realize this as she leaped off the edge of the building. Kairos was pulled along almost like he was actually a purse, hanging off Nicole''s hand. Seeing them defy gravity surprised him quite a bit.


    On the other hand, Nicole looked to be in bad condition.


    She was furrowing her brow intensely, and even gritting her teeth. It was fairly clear she was under intense amounts of pain, but she was ignoring it.


    Her mouth moved, like she was trying to talk, but she couldn''t do it anymore. At least, not in this state. Once Nicole realized this, she frowned slightly in frustration, but continued maintaining this form.


    As they continued forth, Nicole''s body gradually became transparent, though it did take quite a while. As for Kairos, he continued to feel the tight grip drag him on ahead. He also tensed his own muscles as hard as possible to maintain his own hand.


    However, the ce where Nicole was grabbing was still reddening significantly. In fact, the skin had been torn off, almost like it was actually a wrapper.


    While Kairos was being dragged along, he should''ve been more concerned about the condition of his wrist, but he couldn''t help but think of the potential offensive power that this ability had secretly brought Nicole.


    He didn''t really understand how, but it seemed like she had technically be unbreakable, in a sense, which meant she could potentially be the strongest weapon. Or at least, it should let Nicole ovee logical restraints as she was wounding him despite the difference in stats.


    Kairos couldn''t help but grit his teeth as this continued. Although the wounds from being cut also hurt, this was a different pain he was not used to. He could feel his flesh getting pulled off his bones, while his muscles felt like they were being pulled off his bones.


    But he made sure not to bring it up to Nicole. He doubted she could even hear him in this state, but just in case, he remained as quiet as possible so that she wouldn''t notice.


    After all, she might just end up dropping him in a panic, which would definitely be way worse than getting a little injured.


    And so, Kairos was continually dragged all the way back to the walls. By the time people noticed him, it just looked like he was somehow flying awkwardly with his hand raised in the air. Despite being covered in cut wounds, the pulled up flesh near his hand was still most noticeable, as it looked quite grotesque.


    The people standing on top of the wall couldn''t help but look at Kairos with bewilderment and confusion. Tori had the ability to fly, but she didn''t even think about it as she witnessed the strange scene in front of her.


    Almost like he was on a conveyor belt, Kairos was moving at a constant speed. Then, once he had gotten above the top of the wall, Nicole''s figure gradually appeared, and the two of them began falling.


    Chase turned to Tori.


    "Hey, catch them!"


    With that, she snapped out of it, bringing out her wings and flying upwards. She spread her arms out, and caught the two, but was quickly weighed down by the force, rushing downwards rather quickly.


    The three of them soon mmed against the ground fairly hard, but none of them sustained any bad injuries from the fall.


    Nicole began desperately gasping for air, while clutching her head tightly with both hands. Mixed in with her desperate breaths, were also her cries of pain.


    As for Kairos, he felt a little dizzy, but still forced himself to stand up. The wall was shaking, which nearly knocked him off bnce, but with his future vision, he was able to keep standing.


    Though it wouldn''t be too strong because his Alone skill wasn''t activated, he pointed his finger towards the giant monster smashing the walls and began channeling a fireball. He had a little difficulty keeping his eyes open, but did it anyway.


    "...This...probably won''t be enough...you guys do something."


    The corner of Eric''s lip turned up.


    "Of course, I haven''t been waiting all this time just to sit on my ass!"

 Chapter 130 Cleanup

    Kairos pointed his finger towards the monster underneath him. A fireball gradually began to form. He put as much mana as he possibly could in order to make it asrge as possible, but it was only able to have a measly few meters in diameter.


    Of course, it wasn''t as though that was small, butpared to the fireball that wasrger than the giant monster itself, it was quite underwhelming. Not to mention, that fireball from earlier still wasn''t enough to kill said monster.


    While he was doing that, not everybody just sat there waiting.


    Eric tossed his ball connected to a string up into the air, and it rapidly began expanding into arge ball with a giant maw, lined with arge number of teeth.


    Then, thatrge ball came down with its maw wide open, heading straight for the giant monster''s head.


    It crashed into the monster, sinking its teeth deep. It covered up the majority of its head and seemed on the verge of directly biting through half of it. Unfortunately, it seemed like something stopped it after biting through somewhat.


    Nheless, Eric didn''t seem panicked.


    Nick lifted his microphone stand up into the air, and it slowly changed to be a giant sword without a hilt, and with a long chain at the end. He threw that sword up, in a simr way to Eric, before gripping hard onto the chains before flinging them.


    The unhilted sword drew an arc and swept downwards before cleanly mming into the left side of the monster''s neck. Yet, just like the ball with teeth, it was unable to pierce that far into the monster.


    Upon seeing this, Nick turned to Jenny.


    "Your turn, yo."


    Jenny blew out of her mouth, making a sound that somewhat resembled a fart.


    "My style ain''t suited for these fatties, y''know?"


    However, despite saying that, she pulled back her paddle all the way. Then, she mmed against the ball with all her power, causing it to shoot out and expand rapidly. She then grabbed onto the string as it descended downwards, causing it to suddenly shift trajectories, and m hard against the right side of the monster''s head, causing it to tilt exaggeratedly.


    At the same time, Eric let out a grunt before tugging hard on the string with both hands. He even got down on one knee and leaned backward just to get a little bit more strength.


    The giant ball that was attached to the head began to pull hard, causing the monster''s head to tilt even more.


    It was at this point Eric looked a little unsettled, but more or less retained hisposure. He shot a nce to his side.


    "You''re up, Kairos!"


    Kairos had more or less used up most of his mana to create a fireball that was four meters wide. He was honestly extremely dizzy at this point, one of the reasons being his mental exhaustion, another was his injuries, and the final one was being devoid of mana nearly made him feel like passing out.


    In fact, he hardly even heard what Eric had said. If it wasn''t for his future vision reying it twice, he would''ve been unable to decipher its meaning.


    However, he held on.


    It was his turn, or so Eric said.


    Kaios wasn''t exactly sure what the three were doing, and wasn''t paying all that much attention. However, he intuitively felt it upon seeing the monster''s head tilt.


    He aimed his fireball at the right side of the monster''s neck, which was readily exposed from the other three''s efforts. Then, he let it loose. The fireball shot through the air, leaving a light trail of smoke.


    A loud explosion resounded.


    Upon crashing into the side of the monster''s neck, it exploded. The monster was forced to jerk to the right even more because of the force, causing it to push into the sword that was embedded in its neck on the left.


    Because of that, the neck was forcefully cut through.


    The entire time, Eric did not give up on pulling up the monster''s head, which began giving after the explosion from the fireball. And soon enough, when most of the neck was cut through, the head was ripped right off, soaring upwards until it reached up high into the sky.


    It was almost like that head was a trophy.


    [Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]


    A sh of surprise colored Kairos'' eyes when he realized he was the one that was credited for the kill, but didn''t care too much about it. As for the others, they didn''t seem to notice or even care.


    Jenny couldn''t help but let out a suave whistle when she looked at the head flying up into the air. As for Nick, he let out boisterousughter, and Eric had a proud smirk on his face.


    As for Tiana, she let out a relieved sigh.


    "Nice work."


    The monster''s body copsed onto the ground, causing everything to rumble.


    Afterwards, the head mmed down onto the top of the wall, next to them. It was quite a grotesque sight, to say the least. The head released ufortablyrge amounts of heat even though it was dead, and there was even a faint sizzling sound that came with it.


    The regeneration of the head began to slow quite quickly, while the bubbling did not stop. This caused the head to rapidly deform, quickly bing a mass of blood and pieces of flesh.


    Eric let out a chuckle.


    "Looks like I caught a big one!"


    Nickughed in response.


    "Is that why it stinks so bad?"


    Jenny clicked her tongue and put her hands on her hips.


    "That''s why I said bigger isn''t better!"


    Tiana cleared her throat.


    "Sorry to interrupt, but there are still many monsters down there to take care of."


    Eric waved his hand dismissively in response.


    "Ey, chill gal! We gettin'' to it."


    While he was saying that, he walked over to the ledge, but was facing backward. Both Nick and Jenny did the same, as though they perfectly understood his intentions.


    Then, all three of them did a synchronized and cheeky salute.


    They gradually began to fall, starting off by slowly tilting before rapidly falling. Right before they were out of vision, Eric shed a smile.


    "Seeya!"


    Chase smiled bitterly.


    "They are... quite excessive."


    Tori had a smile on her face.


    "But they seem so fun!"


    As for Kairos, he wasn''t really paying attention to anything else. His condition was really bad, making him want to fall asleep then and there, right on top of the wall. However, he forced himself to remain awake and checked up on Nicole.


    She was no longer screaming, however, she was still on the ground, writhing in pain with both hands on her head. It almost seemed like she was a baby throwing a temper tantrum if it wasn''t for her deathly pale and pained expression on her face.


    Nicole still seemed to be suffering from the aftereffects of using her ability.


    Kairos kneeled down next to her, trying to keep his focus to see if her situation was too serious. He considered using the green orb, but noticed that Nicole gradually seemed to be recovering, thus deemed it to be overkill to use it here.


    After a bit of hesitation, he put a shaky hand on Nicole''s shoulder, wondering if that mightfort her. This caused her eyelids to flutter rapidly. Then, without warning she reached out with both hands and grabbed onto his arm, pulling it down. After that, she even wrapped her legs around it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was as though Nicole was drowning, and his arm was the only thing she could hold on to if she wanted to stay afloat.


    Nicole''s breathing was quite ragged, but gradually calmed down as she held onto Kairos'' arm. Eventually, she calmed down even to slowly open her eyes.


    She slowly came to realize the situation she was in.


    "A-Ah, sorry."


    Nicole reluctantly let go of Kairos'' arm, and seemed to want to get up, but fell back down on the ground. Seeing this, Kairos let out a small chuckle.


    "You really overdid yourself out there. I thought I told you just to watch from afar."


    Nicole pouted.


    "And I''m d I didn''t listen! Why were you even so far away from the city like that?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It was a requirement for one of my spells."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "That was still too dangerous!"


    Kairos scratched the back of his head, but still smiled weakly.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    Nicole dropped the angry expression almost like she was bipr, before breaking out into a smile.


    She then caught sight of the ghastly pulled up wound from his wrist.


    "Ah! Your... hand. How did that happen?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t worry about it so much, you just held on a little tightly."


    Nicole blinked several times with surprise.


    "I-I did that?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess?"


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "S-Sorry..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You were the one that saved me, remember? Why are you now fretting over a little wound?"


    After saying that, he used his other hand to slowly pull down the flesh that had bunched up. His expression twitched slightly in the process, and once it waspletely pulled down, it hardly covered half of where it was pulled up.


    In the end, the wound didn''t look that much better.


    Nicole covered her face.


    "...Sorry."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I told you it''s fine."


    He then ced his hand on the back of her head and tried to slowly bring her up. Nicole was more or less cooperative, but once she was on her feet, she stumbled, falling onto Kairos.


    "U-Um... I don''t think I can stand right now."


    Kairos nodded before setting her back down on the floor.


    While the two of them were doing that, Eric, Jenny, and Nick were all doing their best to eliminate the excessive amount of normal monsters still charging towards the city walls.


    Eric had his ball expanded out like normal, with its giant jaws swallowing up as many as it could. But despite that, if any monster came close, he didn''t hold back in hitting them in the face with his fist.


    As for Jenny, she also let her paddle and ball loose, causing the giant spiked ball to rip through the pavement and m into all the nearby monsters. She also was making a finger gun with her other hand and shooting invisible bullets to take out even more.


    As for Nick, he was mming his microphone stand on any monsters that came near, sometimes uppercutting them and sending them up into the air. He was also flinging his microphone around, wrapping the cable around a monster''s leg before sending them up and mming them back down.


    Altogether, they were killing many monsters, but if it was just by themselves, they would still get overwhelmed due to the sheer numbers there truly were.


    But thankfully, they weren''t the only ones fighting them. While still standing on top of the walls, Tiana was still helping out. She had her eyes closed tightly, and was even sweating slightly from the concentration she was putting in.


    Every second, roughly ten thin metal spikes would shoot out of the ground and pierce into the various normal monsters, before sinking into the ground. Once the metal spikes did sink into the ground, the monster it had pierced would soon copse as well.


    Like this, the four continually killed all of the monsters rushing toward them like a mob.


    In the middle of this process, Tiana couldn''t help but mutter to herself with a bitter smile.


    "The amount of points for killing is hardly anythingpared to the basic management of the city."


    Despite his muddled state, Kairos caught onto that. From that statement, he quickly came to realize how Tiana had gotten so strong despite seemingly staying in the city all the time.


    Simply managing the city gave her points...


    As he was thinking about that, Tiana let out a sigh.


    "...It''s finally over. Those three really did their fair share."


    She took a deep breath.


    "Let''s go back."


    Nicole smiled awkwardly.


    "Ah, I can''t... stand, still."


    Kairos proceeded to carry her by her back.


    "Alright, then I''ll just carry you."


    Nicole couldn''t help but blush.


    "O-Ok..."

 Chapter 131 Getting Some Rest

    With one hand on her back, and another holding up her legs, Kairos held Nicole up.


    After a few moments, the trio from earlier leaped back up the wall, some of which had to get some assistance from Tiana to get up, as they were unable to jump all the way.


    From there, the group gradually descended from the top of the walls, as a section of it lowered itself at a steady rate.


    Tiana held onto the side of her head.


    "Is there any way to prevent these monster attacks?"


    That was mostly a rhetorical question, but she got some responses anyway.


    "Uh, maybe get rid of all the monsters?"


    Nick lifted his finger up as he proposed the idea, not even questioning for a second the actual feasibility of getting rid of every single monster.


    Tiana held onto her face with a bit of resignation.


    "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"


    Eric shrugged his shoulders.


    "Slowly but surely!"


    Tiana sighed.


    "Sorry, just forget I ever asked."


    There were a few seconds of awkward silence, but Kairos soon spoke up after.


    "Actually, I think that''s the right idea."


    Tiana turned to him with a look of bewilderment.


    "Huh?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "This is gonna need a bit of context to exin, so get ready to listen to a monologue."


    Tiana slowly nodded.


    "Alright, let''s hear it."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he recalled the past events.


    "Just in the first few days in the apocalypse, I remember me and my group just so happened toe across a strange basement that expanded outwards, filled with rock that had red veins on them."


    Jenny pointed towards the spear he had on his back.


    "Like that thing?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes, I got the spear from them before, but that''s not rted right now."


    He continued to recount the story.


    "Upon walking further into the ce, we discovered several monsters. I believe... there were six at the time. All of them were extremely differentpared to normal ones. They did not lunge out at us immediately, and seemed to possess a great deal of intelligence."


    Tiana couldn''t help but look rather disbelieving, and even opened her mouth, about to protest. However, she soon shut it after looking at Nicole''s despondent and slightly frightened expression.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Though, the strangest part of them all to me, was the fact that they could speak, albeit broken up and hoarse sounding. They told us about passing some sort of trial, and we decided to ept it. Each of us battled until we gained the recognition of the other monster, who all had strange abilities."


    He furrowed his brow.


    "Unfortunately, if it was an actual duel or spar, none of us would''ve won simply due to the sheer difference in ability."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Hey, I broke the shield of the spellcaster fairly easily."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "If they were really fighting to the death, how sure are you that you''d win? What if they continued to cast even after the shield broke?"


    Chase''s eyelid twitched.


    "Ha... I suppose so."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Anyway, after beating that trial, we were taken to meet the person behind it all. He calls himself The Red Priest, part of some stupid religion called The Church of Evolution. He has some sort of red bead that seems to be able to jumpstart the evolution of others, transforming them into a monster. However, I''m not sure whether it''s from the red bead, or if it''s some sort of ability he has but..."


    He paused.


    "...The people he transforms all retain a startlinglyrge amount of intelligence, and they all obey him like he''s their savior or something."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "...Huh. A crazy cult leader."


    Kairos shrugged.


    "He attempted to convert us as well, but we were lucky enough that there was an active teleportation circle they had, and we tricked him into teleporting away."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "So... how does this rte to what we were talking about earlier?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "I''m not sure, but I think that they are behind this monster attack."


    Tiana''s eyes widened.


    "What?"


    Kairos continued.


    "When I was dropped off on that faraway building, I waster attacked by a small monster covered in a ck cloak. Although it never spoke once, it showed intelligence that was higher than most normal people. It attempted to stop me after noticing that I had casted that fireball, which is also why I didn''t support you guys after that."


    Tiana bit the bottom of her lip.


    "...Were you able to kill that monster?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Not even close. It was far too fast, and wouldn''t show itself if I started channeling any shy spells. If that thing was focused on escaping, then I doubt any of us could do anything about it."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "...So we just have to get stronger faster and then take out this church?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "That''s the gist of it, but... it''s honestly kinda unfair."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "What do you mean?"


    Tori frowned.


    "I remember that red priest guy had some weird power that hurt a lot."


    Kairos nodded.


    "It does severe damage depending on how much you''ve evolved, I believe. Nearly all of us were crippled, and that was when we were F rank."


    Tiana sucked in a cold breath.


    "...What if we focus on taking out the others?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Even if we assume that the red priest won''t just make more somehow, they are all way too strong."


    Tiana didn''t seem to understand the gravity behind what he was saying.


    "Well, we are strong too, no?"


    Kairosughed.


    "Rtive to the average, maybe..."


    He then closed his eyes.


    "When I was gone on my own before, I ended up encountering one of the monsters from that church. It was one known for its durability. I''m not sure how, but it crawled out of some space, revealing itself to be a giant skeleton."


    From his words, nobody was that fazed. After all, they had been dealing with giant monsters already.


    Kairos cringed slightly.


    "Due to special circumstances, I was able to cast a spell that had the same power as one with sixty points in magical affinity, and was able to cast it at point-nk range."


    He paused.


    "...But the only thing I did was nick the top of its forehead slightly."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Everyone seemed a little surprised, but couldn''t really conceptualize it.


    However, Tiana herself had seized up, as she had a fairly clear understanding of how strong that was.


    "...I can hardly believe you. You have to be joking, right?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "This isn''t something I would joke about. I hardly even joke around in the first ce."


    Tiana pressed her eyelids together tightly.


    "So basically, you''re saying we''re fucked?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Kinda. Basically, we gotta hope for some kind of miracle."


    Nick chuckled.


    "Ey, don''t need to take it so hard, yo."


    Eric raised one finger into the sky.


    "It''s not about how damn impossible the goal is, but whether or not you believe in yourself."


    Tiana crossed her arms and sighed.


    As for Kairos, he rolled his eyes, but was smiling.


    "I guess so. That will be way more believable once you be a famous band."


    Jennyughed.


    "Then just you wait. The whole damn world is gonna know our band."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Alright, I''ll be waiting."


    By now, the group had descended down to the ground and began walking into the city.


    Though the sight made them all a little bit surprised.


    Every single one of the farmers, without exception, were on their knees and bowing in their general direction. It was eerily silent, with none of them even daring to sneeze.


    Tiana blinked several times.


    "What''s going on?"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "Guess they are just grateful that we defended them."


    Eric rubbed his chin.


    "Hm... butst time we defended this ce they weren''t like this."


    Nicole smiled slightly.


    "Maybe they realized how scary the things are, and now understand the safety of this ce."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Ah, maybe it was because you lifted that giant head up in the air, Eric."


    Eric let out a hum.


    "Ha, seems like I''m something of a genius myself."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Come on, you didn''t even think of that, how are you a genius?"


    Eric simply began humming a tune,pletely dodging the question.


    It was actually just as Kairos had said. The people didn''t exactly understand how terrifying the monsters on the outside were, so when they saw the headnd on top of the city walls, and how big it waspared to the tiny people standing there, they immediately realized what kind of protection they were receiving.


    Though the ones near the other side of the city didn''t fully understand what was going on, just the explosion from Kairos'' first fireball was enough to scare them.


    One of the farmers began kneeling before they knew it, and soon enough everyone else followed that example without a word.


    And so, the group walked back to the center of the city.


    Upon getting back, Nick couldn''t help but raise his mic stand up in the air triumphantly.


    "That felt so cool! So many people were in awe of us!"


    Ericughed.


    "But it will be nothingpared to when they do that because of our music!"


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "It feels as though I''ve been taken back to the times of aristocracy."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "I... didn''t really like it."


    Chase looked at her and raised an eyebrow, but didn''t say anything more.


    Nicole weakly spoke to Kairos.


    "Um, could you take me to my room? I''m really tired."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Sure."


    Though he struggled slightly, he was able to bring himself up to the third floor. The ice that had been there earlier had somewhat melted, but it was still quite slippery.


    Though Kairos felt like he might be able to trek through this icy ce, that was only in consideration he had his future vision. But even if he felt it was possible, it was probably going to be a huge pain considering the current state of his body.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Um, maybe your room isn''t the best ce right now."


    Nicole pouted.


    "...then how about your room?"


    Kairos nodded. That was the most logical conclusion.


    "Alright."


    He brought her back down to his own room and brought her in there. Since Kairos had never been in the bedroom before, he had to check a few rooms before finally getting to it. Surprisingly enough, despite being a ce meant for one person, there were two king-size beds in the room.


    Without really thinking about it, he pulled off the covers and set Nicole down on it. Then when he was going to put the covers back on, he found himself unable to.


    Because Nicole was still clinging onto his arm.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What are you doing?"


    Nicole blushed slightly.


    "W-Well we agreed that we could still have hugs, right?"


    Kairos stared at her nkly.


    "I don''t see how that''s rted."


    Nicole puffed her cheeks up.


    "You need to rest too, right? We may as well hug at the same time, then... it''s time-efficient!"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "But neither of us have showered for over a week now. It''s not going to smell nice."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Come on, it won''t be anythingpared to what we''ve smelled before. If anything, it would be better for us to get used to bad smells."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Howe you''re suddenly so smart now?"


    Nicole giggled.


    "...Well, logic seems to be best when ites to convincing, so..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "...I''m probably going to regret this, but alright."


    Nicole smiled happily and essentially dragged him in. Then, she immediately wrapped her arms around him tightly.

 Chapter 132 Pervert

    Kairos could tell what Nicole had been trying to do because of his future vision. Though, he decided not to show any clear resistance, even if that was what he felt in his mind.


    And as such, he was easily dragged into the bed with Nicole, who promptly hugged him tightly. Kairos didn''t immediately hug back, but it seemed like Nicole didn''t actually mind all that much. She hooked her chin onto his shoulder and closed her eyes, and let out a soft sigh.


    Kairos felt a little ufortable, for multiple reasons. One of them being that he felt ufortably hot. By now, all of the cut wounds on his body had sealed up to be thin scars. The only ce that was still injured was where Nicole had pulled up his flesh. However, despite being mostly healed, it seemed like a byproduct was the heat released.


    Though, before he could even think aboutining, Nicole acted on her own, casting the frost spell. A thin nket of ice covered them, before gradually melting away. Now it was a little damp, but the ufortable heat had disappeared.


    The two of them didn''t really talk.


    Nicole was content with just being near him, letting out soft breaths. Kairos couldn''t see, but she had a slight blush on her cheeks. After a few seconds, despite already being right next to each other, Nicole tightened her grip a little more, pressing against him tighter.


    Kairos felt especially strange this entire time.


    There was a part of him that decided to ept this, and it did feel somewhat nice. However, there was also a part of him that was absolutely disgusted with it. The conflicting emotions were honestly quite the hassle to deal with, making him want to get out of this situation.


    But that would be quite unfair to Nicole. Especially considering she basically saved his life not too long ago.


    In the end, what he settled on was waiting for Nicole to fall asleep, after which he would get off and sleep in the other bed. Unfortunately, it seemed as though she wasn''t going to do so any time soon.


    Nicole gradually rxed her grip slightly, but then wrapped her legs around his before tightening once more.


    Kairos was on the verge of speaking out. A part of him was begging him to say something to stop Nicole. He really wasn''t used to this kind of intimate contact with other people, especially because of the... soft feeling against his chest.


    The difort was essentially at an all time high.


    However, in the end, he shut the idea of saying something down fast. He recognized that if it wasn''t for Nicole, he would''ve probably given up on living a long time ago. Though Kairos looked to be as cold as steel and extremely resilient, the fact was he was actually pretty fragile.


    If Nicole was gone... he would probably break apart.


    Kairos didn''t think he would throw some kind of tantrum, or start sobbing. But rather, he would probably feel empty.


    Because he didn''t know if he could find some other reason to live.


    Even going through extreme amounts of pain and constantly dancing on top of the edge of a knife wasn''t enough to even phase him. Yet, that one weakness would cause him to copse immediately.


    It was almost like he was Hercules and Nicole was his Achilles Heel.


    This wasn''t actually something he knew back then. It was only something he came to slowly realize just recently. Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how he would react if Nicole actually did die back then.


    He would probably continue going on as he had been before, but as time passed, it would probably be more and more dull. Until eventually, he wouldn''t even care to fight anymore.


    Maybe he would even die without knowing what caused thatck of motivation.


    With all of those thoughts running through his mind, Kairos just couldn''t shake her off or tell her to calm down. In the end, he even gently ced his hand on her back with his own hand, before closing his own eyes.


    Yet, despite having that sort of conviction, he still couldn''t help but feel resistant once more. Because the moment he ced his hand on her back, Nicole began to squirm. Almost like she was restless, she would constantly adjust the positioning of her limbs and shift her body around.


    It was perfectly normal to feel ufortable in certain positions, especially if it was one where the person in question was entangled with someone else. That was what Kairos thought. However, Nicole kept squirming, doing so for far longer than anyone would reasonably need.


    He didn''t know if it was just him imagining it, but Nicole seemed to be purposely rubbing against his skin. Kairos couldn''t help but furrow his brow.


    ...For some reason, he felt his pride was being attacked, though he wasn''t sure how. If he had to put it into words, he didn''t really feel like a person right now, but more like a tool.


    As for Nicole, her breaths were gradually getting a little deeper.


    Then... they became a little louder.


    In fact, the rate that Nicole was rubbing against him was gradually getting faster, which made Kairos so ufortable, he considered killing himself for a brief instant.


    Nicole''s breathing also seemed to match that increased speed, while her body began to heat up.


    Kairos had a small suspicion of what was going on, but decided to block that possibility out of his mind, decided to try and give her the benefit of the doubt. However, as Nicole began to get rougher and rougher, he soon began really being unable to stand it.


    He had to experience it all twice, after all.


    Soon enough, Kairos couldn''t take it anymore, and was about to push her off.


    ...But then Nicole suddenly stopped.


    Her entire body rxed, though she was still retaining her grip around him. However, it seemed like she had calmed down, as her breaths suddenly became quite light.


    Kairos was wondering what was going on, but then heard a very faint snoring sound. One that almost seemed like a gentle gust of wind passing by, gently caressing everything it touched.


    This was a sound he was somewhat familiar with from the times they had sleepovers.


    Nicole had suddenly fallen asleep. It seemed that exhaustion had quickly caught up to her, making her suddenly lose consciousness. Now realizing that she was no longer awake, Kairos calmed down considerably.


    He then thought about how he could tactfully pull away without waking her.


    ...But despite the fact she was asleep, Nicole had coiled around him like she was a snake. If he cared about her sleep, then there wasn''t much he could do. And even if she wasn''t really wrapped around him, he was also feeling quite sleepy.


    If he really wanted to, Kairos could probably remain awake simply due to his high stats. However, the exhaustion from Nicole seemed to be contagious, making Kairos also feel quite tired.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He became quitezy, not really wanting to get up anymore.


    Even the difort he felt from Nicole gradually began disappearing. He didn''t really recognize Nicole as another person right now, but rather just a soft and warm pillow.


    Kairos found that his arms naturally wrapped around her, while his mind was gradually swallowed up by the vortex known as sleepiness.


    ...


    He had a dream.


    It was a memory from his younger days. There was a time when he had lost his sses, which were really important to him. He ended up spending a long time searching for it, and the entire time, his headache gradually worsened. Thatbined with the gradually rising anxiety nearly made him feel like he was dying.


    His resilience to strain his future vision brought back then was still quite a bit worse than it was now. However, the kid Kairos from back then continued to search for those sses for hours, even when night started toe.


    He attempted to close his eyes to reduce the stress slightly, but closing his eyes meant that he couldn''t search. Because of his anxiety, he kept that to a minimum.


    Kairos wanted to get home as fast as possible, but also didn''t want to give up on the sses. These conflicting emotions made him do quite stupid things.


    In the end, he wasn''t able to find his sses even after the sun had set.


    Kairos knew that was past his bedtime, but he was unwilling to go back without the sses. That only made his anxiety rise even higher, and without the sunlight, it would be even harder to search for them.


    While relying on the lighting from the asionalmp post on the street, he searched. He continued to search again and again.


    But in the end, therge amounts of pain caught up to him.


    By the time he realized he should just go home anyway, he was far too dizzy to walk all the way back. Nheless, he attempted to do so. Unfortunately, after just three steps, he cked out, probably copsing to the floor quite painfully.


    When kid Kairos felt himself waking up, he felt really warm, along with a few weak rays of sunlight brushing against his face. However, there was also a strong sense of despair inside him, as he felt the sses he had lost getting farther and farther away.


    As he gradually came to his senses, he realized that he wasn''t in the middle of the street, where he had passed out. In fact, he wasn''t even in his own room.


    Rather, it was Nicole''s room.


    He tried to get up, but realized there was some sort of weight pressing against him. When he looked, he saw Nicole. She had copsed on top of him out of exhaustion, and in her hand, was a very familiar pair of sses.


    Kairos reached out to the sses, and gently tugged on them. However, despite being asleep, Nicole still kept a tight hold on them. He couldn''t help but smile bitterly in response to that.


    After seeing that, he ced his head down on the pillow once more and held onto Nicole''s free hand before going back to sleep.


    Heter found out that Nicole had called his parents, telling them he was having a sleepover, getting him out of trouble, and spent nearly the entire night searching for his sses on his behalf.


    His dream gradually faded as Kairos began to wake up.


    Though, there was a really strange sensation that he felt while waking up. It caused him great difort, though he didn''t really get what it was.


    As Kairos gradually came to, he then realized what was happening.


    Nicole... was feeling his chest, just like how a lecherous pervert would. She was so into it, that she didn''t even notice that Kairos had already awakened. Her gaze was fixated on that part of him, almost like a ma.


    Kairos stared at her, unable to find the words for a good amount of time.


    On the other hand, Nicole wasn''t speaking either. Because she was focused on doing something else. Her cheeks were flushed, while her breathing was abnormally heavy.


    After several minutes of that, she eventually seized up. Then, she slowly raised her head to meet Kairos'' gaze. It took her quite a long time to notice that he was awake, but despite the fact, she still had her hands pressed against him.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Isn''t the guy supposed to be the person that does that kind of thing?"


    Nicole blushed even harder.


    "...W-Well, then I guess you can do it in return."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "Uh... no thanks."


    Nicole didn''t say anything for a few seconds, but suddenly... squeezed his chest a little.


    "Are you sure?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "You really are a pervert, aren''t you?"


    Nicole let out a weak cough.


    "Well... maybe a little..."

 Chapter 133 Safe

    Nicole looked a little nervous, wondering if Kairos was at all mad because of her strange actions. She found that his emotions could be quite hard to read at times, considering that his facial muscles hardly respond to what he felt.


    After a second of hesitation, she gingerly retracted the hands that were holding onto his chest. From how Nicole looked, she was clearly quite reluctant, and also looked like she could suddenly reach out at any moment.


    Kairos smiled bitterly when he saw this.


    There was a part of him that wanted to reprimand her, but he just couldn''t bring himself to do so. Instead, he gently brought Nicole into an embrace, like she was iparably fragile.


    Nicole''s eyes widened when he did that. For a few seconds, she didn''t even really understand what was going on. Because this was the first time she felt that Kairos hugged her because he actually wanted to.


    Though, he did end up pulling back soon after.


    There was a small smile on his face as he looked at her.


    Nicole looked back for a few moments, but then she pulled up the bedsheets and looked downwards with the expression of a troublemaker. Then, she pulled her gaze back up and looked at Kairos with a bit of despondance.


    "Um... do you not find me attractive?"


    Kairos let out a small chuckle.


    "What are you on about?"


    Nicole coughed.


    "Erm... I just want to know, and please be honest!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I do find you attractive. If you mean by how you look physically, then my opinion might be a little invalid."


    Nicole blinked rapidly.


    "Eh? W-Why?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I''ve never really had an eye for what makes things look good. To be honest, I think you look a bit pretty, but I can''t really give you any specifics about it. From what I''ve heard from others, you are apparently beautiful."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t really understand it, I guess."


    Nicole squirmed slightly, thinking about other things.


    "Is it... possible you... um, like guys?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "How did you get to that conclusion?"


    Nicole pulled up the covers once more and peeked downward like a kid peeking into a cookie jar.


    "Well... you don''t seem very excited."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...You really are a pervert."


    Nicole blushed and frowned at the same time.


    "But... the things I did should''ve made you feel excited, right?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Under normal circumstances, yes, that physical stimtion would generate a certain level of arousal due to how humans are biologically programmed."


    Nicole pouted.


    "You didn''t have to put it like that..."


    Kairos ignored herint.


    "...Anyway, the human body generally is not excitable if it deems that there is some greater priority, such as being in danger, such as being on the verge of starvation."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Then you''re just hungry?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, I do feel quite hungry, but that''s not the point I''m trying to make here. If you feel like you''re in danger, in most cases you won''t feel that sort of thing. That is going to be the case most of the time during an apocalypse."


    Nicole scratched the side of her cheek.


    "So you feel like you''re in danger right now?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "I guess you could put it that way."


    Nicole grabbed onto his arm with both hands.


    "So... you don''t feel safe even now, with me right next to you?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "It''s not your fault, or something like that. If I had to say, then I guess I feel the safest when I''m with you."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "But... you still don''t feel safe?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Rtively speaking, I do."


    Nicole gave him a concerned look.


    "Does that mean you never feel safe?"


    She said that, but was honestly quite confused on how that was even possible. And that was a very reasonable thing to be confused about.


    Because even in the apocalypse, it wasn''t as though they were always afraid. Even those with paranoia will have it settle down at certain points in time, even if they weren''t frequent.


    However, what Nicole didn''t know about was Kairos'' future vision. The excessive amounts of information forced his brain to process more than usual. Although his brain had adapted to it to a certain extent, it wasn''t made to experience such things in the first ce.


    And so, that constant pain made it so that his body was always in a constant state of tension. It could be likened to people that had anxiety issues.


    Kairos wondered if he should exin all of that. But he felt a little too tired. Instead, he pulled Nicole in for another hug before speaking softly.


    "I guess it does mean I never feel safe. But... it''s been getting better."


    Even after he pulled back, Nicole still had a concerned expression, almost like she was told that Kairos had incurable cancer. In fact, she was unable to even properly process that she had been hugged.


    "T-Then... then..."


    Kairos held onto her hand.


    "You don''t have to worry so much about me. I''ve lived my entire life like this, so it''s not that big of a deal now."


    Nicole pressed her lips together, seemingly still not satisfied with the answer she had been given.


    "Maybe if I... if I..."


    She directly pulled off her shirt, unabashedly exposing herself. Right after, she even reached towards her pants. However, Kairos grabbed onto her arms before she reached them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He spoke calmly.


    "There are many problems out there that you can''t fix immediately. You need time to slowly mend the cracks."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "But... but..."


    Kairos softly pressed his forehead against hers.


    "Nicole, can you trust me on what I''m going to say next?"


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "O-Ok..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "You''ve done more than you could possibly imagine for me, even if you didn''t really try to."


    Nicole''s face became bright red.


    "R-Really?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That''s why you don''t have to try so hard. Just by being you, you''ve done more than enough."


    Nicole gradually rxed.


    "I-I see..."


    With that, Kairos let her go and got out of bed. As for Nicole, she put her shirt back on and also got out, though she was curling her hair with the tip of her finger.


    Kairos stretched a little.


    "I''m going to go and help out with the city''s management. I guess you should continue practicing your control over your spells."


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Alright."


    Kairos began walking out. Though, he stopped once he crossed by the fridge. He really was quite hungry, and thus decided it was better to eat something first. One thing he noticed was that there were quite a few things stacked up around the fridge, and they were all different kinds of food.


    Upon opening the fridge, he found that it waspletely filled up with even more food.


    It seemed that Tiana had gotten food sent to his ce at a steady rate, and it had built up to this state by now. His eyes surveyed everything that there was, and he gave a good guess on which ones would go bad the quickest and pulled out all of those.


    It turned out to be an assortment of various mismatching foods, but Kairos didn''t really care about that right now.


    As he was setting them down on a nearby table, Nicole walked by.


    She was about to leave, but then stopped by.


    "Um, could we eat together?"


    Kairos turned to her. Though a part of him felt like she was reaching out for excuses to stay next to him, it wasn''t that big of a deal, nor was it a waste of time. As such, he epted it rather readily.


    "Sure."


    The things that Kairos had brought out were all ones that didn''t need to be cooked before eating, which consisted of quite a few dairy products like milk and yogurt.


    After a bit of rummaging around, he found where some tes, spoons, and cups were and set those down as well.


    Nicole sat down on the opposite side, and didn''t start to do anything immediately. As for Kairos, he opened up the milk carton and poured himself a ss of milk. Then, he opened up the packaging of the other foods.


    Nicole scratched her cheek sheepishly.


    "I''ve eaten so much cheese and milk, that my stomach feels a little sick at the sight of them."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "That may be so, but soon you won''t be able to eat anything dairy-rted for a long time. If you do get sick of it, that will probably only be beneficial forter, so that you don''t begin wanting it any time soon."


    Nicole chuckled.


    "That''s a really weird way to put it, but I guess it makes sense."


    She also began drinking some milk and eating the things that Kairos had set down on the table.


    It did not take too long for the both of them to finish everything that Kairos had put down on the table. He had felt full for a brief moment. However, his stomach acids worked quickly in breaking down the food, making him feel hungry once more.


    As such, he went back to get some more stuff.


    There were still a little more in terms of dairy-rted things, but he knew it wouldn''t be enough to make him full. After searching through the various things he had, he then pulled out the vegetables.


    After a bit of searching, he got out a frying pan, set it on the stove, and reached out to turn the knob. However, he froze soon after.


    "...Say, where is the electricitying from?"


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "I remember that Tiana said there was a really big backup generator that should be enough to power mostly everything. But she also said that there wasn''t too much gas, so we should only use the power for keeping the fridge running."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    He pulled the frying pan away and began thinking more about the general sustainability of the city. The fact that the ce had a backup generator was a huge boon, especially because it could refrigeraterge amounts of food.


    However, it wouldn''t be able to run forever, meaning that they had to find some other way to preserve their food.


    Salt was one of the first things that came to mind, but in the end, that was also quite limited in supply. Kairos honestly didn''t know any good way of acquiring salt. Though, Quinn might know something.


    Remembering how that guy seemingly knew everything, he decided to postpone these thoughts until he got to meet with him.


    Kairos looked around the ce and eventually settled on snapping a few of the chair legs off to act as makeshift supports. Then, he got a metal tray and propped it on top of the supports he made earlier.


    After that, he quickly left to get some rubble outside, and put the various stones in a circle underneath the tray, making a tiny fire pit.


    Finally, he took parts of the now broken chairs to use as burning material, then set it on fire by channeling a tiny bit of mana into the fire spell.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "This... should probably work."


    It was a makeshift stove. He wasn''t entirely sure if it would work that well, but he could just consult Quinnter.


    Nicole was next to him, observing. She let out a soft gasp when it all came together.


    "You are so resourceful!"


    Kairos looked at it awkwardly.


    "...I''m not sure if it even works."


    From there, he set the frying pan on top, poured in some oil, then tried to fry the vegetables.


    Though he definitely felt it was a little weird because he didn''t know how hot it was, it more or less worked.


    Nicole tilted her head to the side as he worked at it.


    "Hey, how about we gather everyone together to eat?"

 Chapter 134 A Talk

    Kairos thought about Nicole''s proposition to get everyone together. In all honesty, he felt that it was unnecessary, but it had been a while since the group had gotten together. Perhaps it wouldn''t be too big of a deal to gather everyone.


    After setting down the vegetables that had been cooked, he let out a soft sigh.


    "Well, this definitely won''t be enough for everybody. But I guess we can work something outter."


    Nicole sped her hands together.


    "So we''re inviting everyone?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess so. Let''s go up to the third floor to do that."


    Nicole nodded with a smile.


    "Ok!"


    The two of them walked up to the third floor. By now, the ice had reduced considerably, though the amount that remained was quite small. The ice around the doors had been chipped down, probably so that the door could be opened. Kairos was honestly quite surprised that the ice had remained even until now.


    That made him gradually think of an idea.


    If the ice from the frost spellsted so long, then it could work well for the sake of preserving food. Though, he doubted that just Nicole would be enough to preserve food for the entire city.


    However, he cast that thought away for now.


    Nicole began knocking on a door, prompting Kairos to go on another and knock on it as well. The two of them gradually got through the doors with people.


    Chase, Tori, and Sydney all responded to the call and agreed to show up in Kairos'' room. As for Eric, Nick, and Jenny, they didn''t show up after their doors were knocked on. Either they were still asleep, or out doing something.


    Regardless, Kairos felt that there was no reason to force it.


    Nicole had thought that they were done, but Kairos went to onest door. It was one that was still frozen over. After cracking the ice at crucial points, Kairos forcefully opened the door.


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "Why are you checking this room?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "There was someone I specifically brought that should still be in this room."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? Who are they called?"


    Kairos responded promptly.


    "His name is Quinn. He seems quite smart."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "You brought someone solely based on their intelligence?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Pretty much, I guess."


    Sydney didn''t look too approving.


    "...What good is being smart in an apocalypse?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Look, he has a bit of smarts, and only needs a bit of food. It''s not like he''s joining our team or anything. The guy probably wouldn''t join even if we begged him, opting to remain in the city."


    Nicole nodded


    "Ah, that does make sense!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''m just going to check up on him to make sure he''s ok. He had a pretty bad feverst I saw him. You guys can go to my room first."


    Nicole looked slightly reluctant, but didn''t resist.


    "O-Ok."


    The rest of the group went down, while Kairos got inside.


    It seemed fairly normal overall, but upon walking into the bedroom, he found Quinn lying on the floor, resting his head on top of the sheets. Despite seeming quite out of it, Quinn was still awake. He gave Kairos a short nce before resting his head on the pillow once more.


    "Ah, you''re here."


    Kairos took a second to respond.


    "You didn''t even sleep in the bed that was right next to you?"


    Quinn coughed.


    "Well, I went to get a ss of water, but it seems like I overestimated myself. By the time I got back, I wasn''t even able to get myself onto the bed. The only thing I could really do was pull the sheets down to me so I could still sleep."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "So basically, you''re feeling worse?"


    Quinn shrugged.


    "Maybe a little bit. After a few more days I should be fine though."


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "If you say so. When you''ve recovered, I want to talk to you about things. Juste to my room and give the door a knock. If I''m there, I will probably answer. Specifically, it''s on the first floor and the second room to the right when you walk down the stairs."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Want some help getting back up on the bed?"


    Quinn coughed.


    "Could I instead get help to be put on the couch?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Find that thingfier?"


    Quinn shook his head lightly.


    "No... it''s just that I will recover faster if I change where I sleep rtively frequently."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "How in the world does that work?"


    Quinn took a deep breath.


    "Basically, whatever is infecting me will get scattered about on the bed I was just on, while it will dieter, it will probably still be active for a bit. If I continue sleeping there, I will be in the middle of that stuff making me sick. However, if I change where I sleep, there won''t be that problem."


    He blinked in a daze.


    "In a sense, it''s like spreading the disease around to my surroundings, so that it remains off of me."


    Kairos rubbed his chin with interest.


    "Huh, I never knew it worked that way."


    Quinn yawned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I guess. Anyways, could you help me move to the couch?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    With that, he picked the man up rather easily and set him down on the couch. To help him out a little further, he even got some food and water for him. After setting it down on the table, Quinn weakly chuckled.


    "Thanks, though you didn''t need to do so much."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You''re acting like it''s actually a big deal for me to spend a few seconds grabbing some stuff. Anyway, I''m leaving now. Focus on recovering."


    Quinn sighed.


    "That was the n."


    With that, Kairos left, and got back down to his own room. Upon entering, Nicole excitedly rushed up to him.


    "Ah, you''re back! We decided to bring some other food so that there was enough for everybody."


    Kairos looked inside and saw that Sydney was using the makeshift stove he had earlier, and was cooking up some meat. He began wondering if that food could''ve been saved to eat untilter. Though he also realized he was being a little too picky, thus didn''t talk about it.


    Chase and Tori were both sitting down on the couch. Chase had his eyes closed, clearly not wanting to talk. However, those signals were not caught by Tori at all, who kept badgering him with pointless chatter.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "It''s almost like... the apocalypse isn''t really happening."


    Nicole had a small smile.


    "...Yeah."


    Sydney caught onto the sound of footsteps and turned to Kairos, shing a small smile.


    "Ah, hello. You made a nice stove here, but if you use it you have to put out the fire afterward, and also open a window while you use it. Otherwise, the fire might run rampant, and the smoke will pollute the room."


    She then pointed towards a nearby window, which was open.


    Kairos gave a nod.


    "Alright. I will keep that in mind for the future."


    Although there were quite a few of them, the dining table in the room was quiterge, with more than enough seats for all of them. It did not take too long for Sydney to finish what she was making, before she proceeded to set it down on the table.


    "It''s all done!"


    Chase got up, and Tori followed from close behind, still talking about some random thing she could think up of.


    Nicole and Kairos didn''t wait, and also made their way there.


    The amount of food that was set on the table would''ve normally been enough for all five of them, and there probably would be leftovers after as well. But that was only in consideration for the normal appetite of people before the apocalypse.


    Now, this would probably only be enough for three people, assuming none of them were particrly hungry. However, there wasn''t really much to do about that, as there was only so much space on the table.


    And eating wasn''t really the main point of the gathering anyway.


    Nicole cleared her throat.


    "Um, is everyone doing well?"


    Tori nodded nonchntly.


    "I''m doing fine."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you don''t count the overall state of the world after it was plunged into an apocalypse, then yeah, I''m fine."


    Sydney smiled.


    "Haha, you really know how to joke! I''m also doing well, my daughter. All of us are alive, no?"


    Nicole''s eyebrow twitched when she heard that. Kairos also stiffened up, while Chase pretended that he didn''t hear anything. As for Tori, she waspletely oblivious to all of that.


    The reason for all this being, they weren''t all alive. As though to poke fun at that, there was one missing seat.


    If Kairos'' dad was still present, that one would be filled, and it would be a little easier to overlook. But regardless, it didn''t change the fact that Harold had died. Kairos wondered if this was ok, as he didn''t think denial was good. Though at the same time, he didn''t want to make the situation worse.


    Thoughts quickly shed through his mind before he decided to divert the topic.


    "Hey, Tori. We never really got to know that much about you. How about you share some stories with us?"


    Kairos tactfully decided to choose to speak to her because he figured from her actions earlier, she shouldn''t be averse to speaking. And as he expected, Tori responded quickly, and even with a bright smile.


    "Ah, of course!"


    Yet, right after she said that the smile gradually began disappearing from her face.


    Kairos felt a little taken aback.


    "...Is something wrong?"


    Tori scratched the side of her head andughed awkwardly.


    "Um, there isn''t much to talk about, as I haven''t really done much."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    What in the world happened to the person that was so talkative just moments ago?


    "...It doesn''t have to be the most exciting thing, or memorable. Frankly, any random thing could work. You aren''t presenting on stage or something, after all."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "T-That makes sense..."


    Originally, Kairos just wanted to divert the subject. But now, he was a little curious as to why she was so reluctant. The curious part of him couldn''t help but want to pry just a little.


    And to do that... he first had to make Tori a little morefortable with sharing her ideas.


    "My own life isn''t all that eventful, but I guess I can tell you about it. I was just an average kid most of the time, and when I was young, I would usually go out to y and do random things."


    He then nced at Nicole.


    "That was when I met her, and we''ve been friends ever since."


    Nicole seemed both pleased and a little irritated when he said that. It seemed that the word "friends" wasn''t one that she appreciated all that much.


    But to this, Tori gave a small nod.


    "Oh. Then for me, I spent a lot of my time when I was younger in the dojo. My father spent quite a bit of time every day making me practice using the katana. While I did like using the katana, doing it all day was a little too much for me."


    She scratched her cheek.


    "...So, I would sneak out a lot when I was young, and I would try to find people to talk to when I did."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Ah, what kinds of people did you meet?"


    Tori looked down at the table.


    "Well... most people didn''t really want to talk to me."


    But then, a small smile formed on her face.


    "But there was one that did."

 Chapter 135 Toris Friend

    Kairos raised an eyebrow, not out of any sort of annoyance, but rather interest.


    "There was only one that was willing to talk with you?"


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "Hehe... I guess I was a little weird when I was younger, so most people didn''t really like to talk with me."


    Chase''s eyebrow twitched. It seemed that he wanted to say that she was still weird now, but decided to keep quiet instead.


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "Mm... it happened a really long time ago, so the memories are all fuzzy. But I remember it was a kid a bit younger than me. He was kinda... barbaric, always wanting to solve his problems through violence."


    She giggled.


    "I opened him up to other methods."


    Chase raised an eyebrow in interest.


    "You taught him how to deceive?"


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? No, I taught him the art of running away!"


    Chase''s eyebrow twitched.


    "...I see."


    The brief interest he had almost instantly disappeared.


    Tori scratched the side of her head, trying her best to recall what she could.


    "I remember he was always encouraging me to meet with his other friends, but I was too afraid to actually ever meet them because I felt like they wouldn''t like me."


    Sheughed awkwardly.


    "The thought of getting new friends was so exciting, but the thought of losing my only friend because I was unlikeable was far scarier."


    Kairos rubbed his chin, feeling like the story was tugging on him somehow, though he didn''t exactly understand how.


    "So you never met with that guy''s friends?"


    Tori averted her gaze.


    "Well... I kept giving excuses whenever he brought it up."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh. If he had other friends and you refused to join the group, then I can''t imagine he spent all that much time with you. After all, a person only has so much time."


    Tori smiled bitterly.


    "Hehe, well he would always make the time to meet me whenever I snuck out. Though, I guess it wasn''t much time in the first ce."


    Nicole rested her head in her hands and stared curiously.


    "Eh? How much time did you have?"


    Tori hummed softly.


    "I think... in a week, I would usually be able to sneak out two times for a few hours each."


    Nicole gasped.


    "Eh? Your parents were that strict with you?"


    Toriughed awkwardly.


    "Um, I got caught up in something when I went outside on my own before. Ever since then, my father would only let me go out if I was with him, but he was so busy that there was almost never an opportunity to do so."


    Sydney furrowed her brows.


    "...That is simply bad parenting. Part of being a responsible parent is teaching the child what they need to know in the outside world and let them explore. How are they supposed to grow up otherwise?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "I think you gave Nicole a little bit too much freedom though."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks and jabbed at his side.


    "Hey! It''s because of that we met, ok!"


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "It is indeed unfair to put a child in a prison."


    Tori looked a little exasperated.


    "E-Eh? Well, my father did make a lot of mistakes, but he always had good intentions."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Good intentions aren''t enough. If the result is only bad, then they are simply worthless."


    Tori couldn''t help but frown slightly.


    "...I guess. But I never really hated him."


    Sheughed.


    "In the end, he was always trying his best to make sure we had enough money to put food on the table?"


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Ah, your family didn''t have that much money?"


    Tori sighed and stretched her arms out onto the table.


    "My mother... left my father. Apparently, we were originally quite wealthy, but she found a way to take most of it and even leave my father with a lot of debt."


    A silence fell.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "That is a cold woman..."


    Tori shook her head.


    "I don''t really care about all that. My father said that he had already long forgotten about it. He said that instead of hating, we should do the best with what we have now."


    Chase closed his eyes.


    "...He should''ve fought against the woman to get back some of the assets. If wrongdoings go unpunished, it will simply happen again."


    Tori didn''t get at all mad after hearing that. In fact, she even chuckled.


    "That''s what I thought for a while too. But then... my father told me that he still loved her, so he didn''t want to try to get his assets back, even though it wouldn''t be hard to."


    Her voice became quite soft.


    "I guess... it opened my eyes quite a bit."


    After a few moments of silence, Kairos spoke.


    "...So that''s why you run."


    Toriughed.


    "I guess. I always tried to convince my one friend that running was the best, but I never seemed to be able to get through to him."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "That sounds like quite the boring thing to talk about."


    Tori crossed her arms.


    "That''s not the only thing we talked about!"


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "Then what did you talk about with him?"


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "Mm... now that I think about it, I guess it was mostly him that talked. Hehe, I was kinda shy at the time."


    She brought her head to the side as a small smile formed on her face.


    "There was never really anything specific that he talked about. Most of the time it was random things, but to me, it was really exciting. My most memorable moment was when he was talking about the vors of gum he liked, and I was absolutely confused."


    Sydney looked at her questioningly.


    "Confused?"


    Tori took a deep breath.


    "I never even knew the existence of gum before he told me because my father was really strict with what I was allowed to eat and things like that."


    She raised a finger.


    "When I told him that, he was really shocked, and offered to bring me lots of things. But at the time I felt like a pack of gum must''ve cost a lot, so I didn''t want to burden him. Yet, at the same time, I also wanted to at least try it, so I asked for one."


    Tori smiled.


    "He brought me a lime-vored one that was supposed to have a longsting vor."


    She sighed.


    "But... it ran out of vor pretty quickly."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "It isn''t umon for brands to lie."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Nicole''s expression seemed to get a little softer when she heard the word gum.


    "How long did itst?"


    Tori closed her eyes.


    "I remembered that I chewed it pretty quickly... but I couldn''t really feel any vor after about five hours."


    Nicole was slightly taken aback.


    "Eh? Itsted five hours?"


    Chase tapped his chin with a finger.


    "Huh. It''s probably because the gum lost the vor, but she tricked herself into still tasting it."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "I... stayed up at night to chew it, thinking that the vor might return if I just kept trying."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "That''s... kind of sad."


    Tori took a deep breath.


    "Haha, even though it was my first time with gum, I already figured that the vor wouldn''te back, but... there was a part of me that still decided to hope."


    Chase sighed.


    "...It''s better to let go. The pain is less that way."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Maybe, but that is basically giving up on happiness, you know?"


    Chase scowled.


    "Sometimes giving up is just the natural answer when there''s none to have."


    Nicole furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Um... are we still talking about gum?"


    Tori shook her head.


    "Anyway, my father eventually found out that I was sneaking out, so he took even stricter measures to keep me in the house. It... didn''t feel good. I wanted to at least tell my friend that I wouldn''t be able to see him anymore. I hope he doesn''t think I abandoned him."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It doesn''t really matter now that you haven''t seen him since then, now does it?"


    Tori pouted.


    "But... I still don''t want him to think of me badly."


    Chase rolled his eyes.


    "You might be overthinking it. Chances are, the person had already long forgotten all about it."


    Tori looked down at the ground.


    "Hmm... I''m not sure if I like that more."


    Chase sighed.


    "That''s because you''re selfish. Not that there''s anything wrong with that."


    Tori puffed up her cheeks.


    "You''re selfish too!"


    Chase nodded.


    "Yes. Yes, I am, and I intend to keep it that way."


    Kairos sighed.


    "You seem to have a weird obsession with kids though."


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched.


    "...I am just concerned about children because they are the most vulnerable."


    Kairos smirked.


    "Seems like you aren''t that selfish depending on the person''s age."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "It''s just unfair to judge a child when they haven''t realistically done anything."


    He then slowly looked to the side and saw Tori looking back at him with starry eyes.


    "You''re so inspirational! You aren''t too different from my friend. Maybe it was actually you?"


    Chase sighed.


    "Did you not say he was younger? If anything, I''m older than you."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "Mm... then how old are you?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "Twenty-three."


    Tori pouted.


    "Mm... I''m twenty-one. Maybe you were really short when you were younger?"


    Chase blinked several times.


    "I wasn''t. Plus, do you really think I was the kind of person to talk with random obscure people like that?"


    Tori smiled cheekily.


    "I mean, you''re doing that right now, no?"


    Chase''s eyebrow twitched. It seemed like he couldn''t think of a response to that. He decided to divert the subject.


    "Well, the point is, I''m not that person."


    That didn''t stop Tori from smiling though.


    "I guess, but no matter what, that doesn''t change that you''re my friend!"


    She proceeded to grab onto his arm, like they were actually life-long friends. As for Chase, he just sighed in defeat, trying to pretend he had no rtion to her.


    Tori was giggling to herself and swaying his arm back and forth, acting nothing like her age.


    "Friend~"


    Chase seemed clearly displeased, but also didn''t have the heart to wrestle his arm out of her grip. He then looked at the others, thinking of a way to divert Tori''s attention.


    "...Do any of you have any of your own stories about friends when you were younger?"


    It was a casual question, but both Kairos and Nicole looked quite diforted by that question.


    Sydney smiled casually.


    "Ah, I surely have some-"


    "There are a few I''m willing to share."


    Kairos interrupted her. He thought that Sydney might have a breakdown if she started recalling her own memories.


    Though, after he said that, Nicole looked at him a little strangely.


    "Um, I-I could share some instead. I mean, we spent most of our childhood days together, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess so."


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "W-Well... I remember when I was really young, I decided to walk outside because I just wanted to take a walk. Then, I met Kairos."


    Tori let go of Chase and looked at her curiously.


    "Ooh! What was he like? I imagine he was pretty serious."


    Nicole giggled.


    "Actually, he was the most energetic out of all of us. He was always bringing us to new ces that he found."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh. I can''t imagine that at all."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "People change a lot from when they were children."


    Tori narrowed her eyes slightly and put a finger on her chin.


    "But what do you mean by all of us? Was it not just you two?"


    Nicole froze on the spot.


    "U-Um... w-well..."

 Chapter 136 Old Friend

    Nicole was at a loss for words, unable to respond to Tori''s sudden question. Kairos was a little annoyed that Tori had a sudden burst of intelligence allowing her to find the small nuances in what Nicole had said.


    Kairos decided to speak up.


    "Yes, there was another person that was also with us."


    Nicole looked at him with a worried expression.


    "U-Um, but it''s not really important."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "So it wouldn''t be a big deal to talk about it, right?"


    Nicole averted her gaze.


    "U-Um."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It isn''t that big of a deal. I was more familiar with our friend, so I can describe it better."


    Nicole looked down.


    "But..."


    Chase spoke up.


    "Is there a reason why you can''t share it so readily?"


    Nicole interlocked her fingers and remained silent. As for Kairos, he simply sighed.


    "It''s just we probably aren''t considered friends anymore with that guy."


    Chase slowly nodded.


    "I see. There''s no need to talk about him then."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It''s all in the past, and it''s not exactly a memory that haunts me. I''ll just tell you."


    He gestured casually to the side.


    "His name was Edward. I actually met him before I met Nicole, and quite a while before too."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he dug deep into his past memories.


    "I''m not exactly sure when or how I met him, but I remember we just naturally fit together. There was just some sort of strange connection between us, almost like we were puzzle pieces."


    He shrugged.


    "We did dumb things that most people would think are boring or even annoying, but for some reason, we both enjoyed it a lot. Our sense of humor was also really off, but that just meant we found each other funny despite making really bad jokes."


    Nicole let out a softugh.


    "Honestly... I was kind of jealous because of how close the two of you were."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "That couldn''t be helped. We already knew each other a few years beforehand, and we didn''t really know you."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "B-But... we spent so much time together, and you two were always a little bit closer! I don''t think it had something to do with time... there was just something I didn''t have, that you two did."


    Kairos let out a dry chuckle.


    "Honestly, we probably both set a bad example for each other, making us both be a little weirder than we already were."


    Tori let out a soft confused gasp.


    "But you''re so serious now..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "How many children have you seen that are actually serious? People grow up and be different people."


    Tori scratched the side of her cheek, as though wondering why she hadn''t "grown-up" as well.


    "O-Oh..."


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "And it seems that growing up also caused the two of you to separate."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Er, I wouldn''t say it''s exactly that, but I suppose it is in a sense."


    He sighed.


    "By the time we were close to graduating from middle school, Edward was avoiding me quite a bit. Once I got to high school, hepletely alienated himself from me, and even took the side of those that picked on me."


    Nicole clenched her fists.


    "Mm... I still can''t believe he did that!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t say that. He wasn''t a bad guy. After all, he never actually did anything to me."


    Nicole frowned.


    "But a real friend would at least try to protect you!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, I didn''t tell you about this, but there was a time that he did."


    He narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "This was before the two of us had grown distant, but there was a time when we decided to go out camping together."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "W-Without me?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "I''m pretty sure you were unavable at the time."


    Nicole frowned.


    "O-Ok."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Anyways, the ce we went to wanted to give us an "authentic" experience, letting us go into an actual forest. The two of us didn''t actually know that, thinking it was just a normal camping site."


    He took a deep breath.


    "And while we were joking around, we suddenly caught onto some strange rustling sound in the distance. I said that it was probably a wolf, but didn''t really mean it. Yet, just a few momentster, an actual wolf appeared."


    Tori gasped.


    "I-I''m never going to go camping!"


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "Um, I don''t think you really can now. And I feel that the monsters are probably more of a pressing concern."


    Chase furrowed his brows.


    "...Wolves usually don''t attack humans, unless desperate."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I remembered it looked rather weathered. It seemed like a lone wolf that was kicked out of his group, and desperately lunged at us because it was starving."


    Nicole''s eyes widened.


    "W-What happened?"


    A small smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "He stood in front of me, blocking the wolf, and told me to run away."


    Chase tapped a finger on the table.


    "The kinds of people that would actually give their life for someone else are far rarer than you think. That also means the connection between the two of you must''ve been quite strong."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That''s what I mean by the fact he wasn''t a bad guy."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "W-What happened after that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Not sure. I didn''t see what happened, but it all worked out. After all, he''s still alive, no?"


    Chase''s gaze suddenly snapped to him. He opened his mouth, but closed it soon after.


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Ah..."


    Tori put a finger on her chin.


    "Did he scare off the wolf? That must''ve been terrifying!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    Chase continued to look at him strangely, without speaking. Kairos noticed that gaze, but pretended he didn''t. Though, Kairos doubted he fooled Chase. But really, his only goal was to make sure the others didn''t notice.


    Thankfully, Chase kept silent.


    There was a main suspicious point in the story that Chase had caught onto.


    Why would Kairos not know anything?


    As a person directly involved with the incident, it was likely that he at least had an idea of what happened. Assuming Kairos ran away, then he must''ve at least inquired about the situation afterwards.


    On top of that, the rtionship between the two had to have been incredibly close. It was the kind that wouldn''t just be distant unless a very long amount of time had passed. Even if Kairos did run away, that shouldn''t have caused the two of them to suddenly be distant, as Edward was the one that told him to do so.


    From what Chase gathered, Edward probably would''ve been relieved if Kairos ran away. Else, he wouldn''t stand up in front of the wolf, risking his life to save his friend.


    Something else must''ve happened.


    And Kairos was probably directly involved with it.


    The only part that Chase was unsure about, was if Kairos had been lying about the events themself, which would change things considerably. In which case, the entire theory would fall apart. But he stopped specting over it, as there wasn''t enough information for him toe to any real conclusions.


    Chase then stopped looking at Kairos, instead picking up some utensils to eat.


    As for Kairos, he followed suit.


    This ended up prompting everyone else to do so as well.


    It did not take the group long to finish everything that was there. Though everyone was still somewhat hungry, it wasn''t as though they had to eat right away.


    Tori coughed awkwardly.


    "Um, should we go out again?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "Mm... I didn''t really like what happened when we went out next time."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "But don''t we have to get stronger? Those guys from the church are really strong and also don''t like us. If we don''t hurry up and get more points, then won''t we die because of them?"


    Kairos closed his eyes.


    "...Since they have let an army attack the city, it seems that they have some sort of reason to inconvenience it. However, it doesn''t seem like they care all that much, because if they just sent a few of those unreasonably powerful ones they could probably easily raze this ce to the ground."


    He took a deep breath.


    "It also seems like they haven''t realized that we are currently residing in this city, though if that one monster that attacked me really was from their side, then it is possible we will be found out soon."


    Chase smiled bitterly.


    "That wouldn''t be good."


    Kairos opened his eyes just a sliver.


    "However, I don''t believe we are their top concern."


    Sydney looked at him questioningly.


    "Eh? How do you know that?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I told you about how I randomly encountered one of their stronger ones before. Their forces seem spread out, almost like they have some sort of goal they want to aplish. I have no idea what that is, but it seems that while they want to get revenge on us and get back what we stole, it is one of their lesser priorities."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "So for the time being, we are safe. Though, if what those guys are doing is trying to im even more power, then we might be in a very bad position if they do end up attaining that power."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "But it''s not as though our responsibility is to fight those guys. Perhaps we can just run away."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I believe we will have to do that quite a bit in the future. Their rate of growth is simply too unreasonable. In the end, regardless of what we do, it will be a gamble. Whether it is fighting back, or running away."


    He held onto his chin with his hand.


    "But regardless, I feel that we should keep a good rtionship with Tiana, the person that created this city."


    Tori nodded.


    "We don''t have to worry about food then!"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "Seems like it''s still pretty good right now."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes. But the most important point is that Tiana holds arge amount of individual power. After all, she was the one that created those walls. If we are truly in a bad situation, she could provide crucial support."


    Chase tapped his chin.


    "Hm. It is quite unlucky that we got directly involved with them."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "But maybe it''s a good thing, because now we know of the people we should be scared of!"


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Alright. All of you are currently at the E-rank, right?"


    After seeing everyone nod, he continued.


    "Currently, I am at the D-rank."


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Ah, you have quite a bit more points than us."


    Kairos turned to look at her.


    "How many more points until you can evolve?"


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "I think all of us are pretty close. We got a lot of points from killing those monsters during nighttime."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "There wasn''t too much danger, right?"


    Chase shook his head.


    "I wouldn''t say so. Other than that creepy monster that took you away, there were only normal ones. Especially with Tori, she could save anybody that really got in trouble."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Then how about you all get ready to go to the same ce and continue killing the monsters for points? It won''t really help me, as my rank is too high for me to get many points at all from them."


    Tori frowned slightly.


    "But... what if someone gets taken away again?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "That''s just an inevitable risk. You will just have to hope nothing goes wrong."


    Chase looked at him strangely.


    "Say, what will you be doing in that time?"

 Chapter 137 New Abilities

    The rest of the group looked at Kairos curiously, wondering why he was sending off everyone else. It wasn''t as though they were suspicious of him or anything, but they were simply used to going together.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "There is something I want to try, and there isn''t much point in being with others for it."


    Nicole pouted.


    "W-What is it?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "My own way that I think might boost my power. I can''t get many points from killing monsters now that I''m a rank higher than them after all. I''ll leave that for when most of the monsters out there be D-rank."


    Chase nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    Kairos stretched.


    "I suppose you don''t have to go right now, as it seems they are only super active at night. Though you should still prepare, so you don''t waste timeter. And... that''s pretty much it."


    Tori stood up from the chair.


    "Alright! I''ll go prepare right now, thank you for having me!"


    Sydney let out a soft chuckle and got up as well. As for Chase, he was still sitting at his seat, waiting for Tori to move. However, Tori was simply staring at him, also waiting for him.


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Are youing?"


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "...I suppose."


    He reluctantly got up, and Tori practically dragged him out. Sydney did not hesitate much in leaving either. As for Nicole, she remained in her seat along with Kairos. After a moment of silence, she reached over to grab his arm, then hugged it with both hands.


    "You... aren''ting with us?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "...There''s also another reason. One of my abilities has a drawback of lowering my mana regeneration. At the current rate, I won''t be able to have enough mana to contribute significantly. If I do join, it can at most be every other day."


    Nicole pouted, then rested her head on his shoulder.


    "Then... could I stay with you instead?"


    Kairos lightly patted Nicole''s head.


    "Sorry. I told you this before, remember? Until the apocalypse settles down, we''re friends. Otherwise, things will getplicated."


    Nicole let out a small groan, like she was a kidining about not getting the candy they wanted.


    "...Ok."


    She held onto his arm a little tighter.


    "Then... just let me stay like this a tiny bit longer."


    Kairos sighed.


    "...Not for too long, ok?"


    Nicole''s voice became soft and sheepish.


    "O-Ok."


    And so, they spent a few minutes like that in silence. Eventually, Nicole spoke up out of curiosity.


    "...Do you really not hate Edward at all for what he did?"


    Kairos let out a soft chuckle.


    "I really don''t."


    Nicole puffed her cheeks up.


    "I still don''t get how you can be so forgiving."


    Kairos rolled his eyes and brushed through her hair.


    "Yet you are so forgiving whenever it''s something that concerns you."


    Nicole blushed slightly.


    "T-That''s because they don''t really matter."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, regardless, you''re just trying to stall for time aren''t you?"


    Nicole averted her gaze and tightened her grip.


    "W-What? I was just trying to have a conversation."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I must admit, I''m quite impressed you spoke up right when I was about to tell you to let go. But still, we can''t remain like this forever."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "I know..."


    Despite saying that, it still took her another minute or so until she finally reluctantly let go.


    Nicole began walking away, but took several nces backwards, as though double-checking that Kairos hadn''t changed his mind. There was a part of him that did want to give in to that pleading gaze, but he knew it wasn''t the time for that.


    Originally, he was concerned about the well-being of the people in general. However, the most important thing for them was if those that protected them actually had enough power to do just that.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos slowly pulled out a small, glowing, light green crystal. It was the one that Ling had given him a long time ago by forcefully pulling it out of his messed up eye, and was what gave him the ability to see mana in the air.


    He turned it over a few times in his hand, and still felt quite unsure about how to use it. Originally, he was just going to put it off more or less indefinitely, but the continuous pressure to get more and more power made him think of this.


    Although it wouldn''t directly increase his strength, it would still help him tremendously, like his future vision. Though it probably wouldn''t be as strong as his future vision, finding a way to acquire this ability would still have undeniable boons.


    In the end, the first and most ring conclusion he came to was sticking the crystal into his eye.


    It was just the one that made most sense, as it worked for Ling while it was inside of his eye. However, Kairos was somewhat traumatized by the pain of sticking something in his eye.


    There was a time when he waspletely overloaded with anger, and in a reckless attempt to stifle them, he stabbed himself in the eye with a knife, though it was only in his future vision.


    Nheless, it was extremely painful.


    Kairos knew beforehand that stabbing at the organs behind his ribcage was also extremely painful and tactfully avoided that ce after that reasonable discovery. Though, when he did stab it, it wasn''t too far deep.


    However, when he did so with his eye, he pierced through the entire thing and into his flesh.


    That was his most memorable experience of physical pain. The phantom pain afterward stuck with him for several days, which prompted him to check in the mirror several times, just to check whether or not he actually stabbed his eye.


    Though, now that he had experience, at least he could prepare himself.


    Kairos held the crystal up next to his eye and got ready.


    His n was to extend his future vision to two seconds, stick the crystal in his eye, then quickly try to figure out if it actually let him see mana. Though, regardless of the oue, he was going to stop himself, as he didn''t want to destroy one of his eyes for the sake of seeing mana. This was more so just to see if it worked that way.


    Kairos took a deep breath, while his pupils constricted. He slowly took off his sses and extended his future vision to two seconds.


    The crystal was quite small, but right now it looked strangelyrge.


    Then, without thinking about it too much, Kairos shoved it in his eye. The immediate pain was expected, but not nearly as bad as before thanks to his increased willpower stat. Nheless, it was still pretty bad.


    However, that was not his focus. He only had two seconds to check if he could actually see mana, and realistically it was shorter than that. Pushing through the pain, he tried to focus, and he was actually able to see very faint traces of mana.


    Kairos then quickly stopped his hand, which was just about to shove the crystal right through his eye. He felt a bit of sweat form as he looked at the glint the crystal gave off.


    Then, he set it down on the table in front of him.


    His original conclusion was correct. If he did put it inside of his eye, it would give him the ability to see mana.


    Unfortunately, that would lead to his eye being destroyed, and from how faint the mana looked, Kairos felt that it was also wasting the potential of the crystal. If he could find some way to meld it into his eye, like it was for Ling, then he should have that same ability. Unfortunately, that didn''t seem the most feasible.


    It made Kairos wonder how in the world this crystal got into Ling''s eye in the first ce, and if he was born with it.


    After a bit of deliberation, he decided just to try things, even if they seemed a little stupid.


    First, he tried to put it towards the side of his eye. Unfortunately, that was just painful and didn''t even let him see mana. Then, he tried directly embedding it into his arm, and directly in the path of one of the veins, thinking maybe it could work by affecting his bloodstream.


    But all that did was stter blood across the ce.


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "...There has to be a way."


    He continued to lodge the crystal in various ces across his body, despite knowing that it probably wouldn''t work. And eventually, that led him to try to do so for his heart.


    At this point, Kairos really felt like he was just being stupid. However, he nheless did it.


    The pain was immediate, however, like the time when he had shoved it into his eye, he was able to see mana. And on top of that, it was even clearer than before.


    Nheless, Kairos quickly stopped himself from actually doing so, as he didn''t want to damage his heart. Though he was fairly confident he could survive, he probably would die in the process of trying to pull the crystal back out.


    Though, he was tempted just to do so once he found that solution.


    However, there was something he saw in that brief moment he could see mana.


    Somehow, he could just sense where the mana was in his own body. He could generally tell that it circted through him in a simr fashion to blood, but was far thicker.


    But there were two ces where it had gathered most noticeably.


    The first one was right where his heart was. It seemed that mana also depended on the beat of his heart to circte through the rest of his body.


    The second one was at the center of his forehead.


    The mana here was thergest. At the very edges of that collection of mana were his eyes.


    Kairos connected the dots, realizing that if the crystal was directly in contact with arge amount of his mana, it would let him see mana more clearly.


    ...So if he put it in his forehead, then it should give him the ability to see mana as clearly as possible.


    After a bit of hesitation, Kairos made a small wound in the top of his forehead using his fingers, then ced the crystal there.


    Almost immediately, his entire vision filled with bright blue streamszily moving through the air. Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    He actually figured out a way to use it.


    In truth, he truly doubted that he would be able to find a way. At least, not any time soon.


    Yet here it was.


    Kairos felt that if he shoved the crystal through his skull, then the mana vision would be even clearer, but that was probably just a bad thing overall.


    He remembered before that Ling felt pain from seeing excessive concentrations of mana, meaning that seeing too much would probably just be bad. Having his future vision made him quite familiar with drawbacks like that.


    Nheless, because it was just embedded into the skin of his forehead, it wouldn''t be too big of a deal to pull it back out if he needed to deactivate it.


    Kairos got up from his chair and walked towards the window, looking out towards the rest of the city.


    It felt like an entirely different world seeing all of the mana flow through the air. They seemed to gather into streams as they flowed around, randomly making many lines in the air. They almost looked like the strokes of a paintbrush.


    Despite the innate randomness, there was also a sense of beauty that Kairos admired.


    But soon after, he shook his head.


    Although things were far ahead of schedule, that didn''t mean he was done testing just yet.

 Chapter 138 Testing Magic

    Kairos looked down at his own body, observing how mana naturally cycled through it. Akin to blood, it flowed throughout his body. However, the two main differences were that it flowed far faster, and instead of many tiny andplicated blood vessels, the mana consisted ofrger and simpler veins.


    Kairos found it to be quite strange, as there was no physical sensation of the mana flowing through him, but he could definitely see that it was going so fast, that it was basically rampaging through his body.


    Though he did remember when he attempted to put more power than he should into spells, his body felt the pain in response.


    His n now was to try casting spells and observing how the mana moved through his body. Though, he figured that his room might not be the best ce to do it. He didn''t n on actually casting the spells themselves, but idents were bound to happen at some point, so it was better to be safe.


    Kairos rubbed his chin and mulled over it.


    On top of the walls sounded good, but there was also a guard, and he didn''t want random people watching while he was doing experiments. That led to him thinking of the roof of the building. Though he wasn''t exactly sure if Tiana had that reserved for anything. With that in mind, he got out of his room and walked to Tiana''s room.


    Upon knocking, he only had to wait a couple of seconds before the door was opened.


    Tiana opened the door and raised an eyebrow.


    "What''s the problem?"


    Kairos lost his thoughts temporarily but quickly recovered himself.


    "Is it alright if I go to the roof? I want to test some spells."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "Ah, sure. Do you mind if Ie with you to watch? I''ve been needing a break because of the work piled up."


    Kairos nkly stared back.


    "I would prefer to be alone."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "Just so you know, the work piled up is because of a certain someone that I delegated work to is cking a little."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Can you even really put all the me on me? You were the one that said I only had to show up once a week."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "The leniency was a sign of respect! I didn''t expect you to actually take advantage of me like that!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yeah, yeah..."


    He then proceeded to walk up the steps, while Tiana followed behind him.


    Upon noticing this, Kairos paused to turn around.


    "You''re actually following me?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Didn''t you implicitly give me permission?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    ? "...I don''t remember ever doing that. I assumed you were joking abouting up with me."


    Tiana walked on ahead unabashedly.


    "Well I wasn''t, let''s go!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh before following after her. Tiana went at a rtively brisk pace, and Kairos decided to match that. Since there were quite a few floors to this building, it took them a decent amount of time to get all the way to the top.


    Once they got to the roof, Kairos let out another sigh.


    "Why do you even want to watch me, anyway?"


    Tiana put both hands on her hips.


    "Because I''m taking a break from working! Didn''t I tell you already?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Surely there''s something else more entertaining to do, right?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "Well I can''t think of any!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He didn''t exactly know what there was to do either, as Tiana didn''t seem to have any people she could consider friends here, and it wasn''t as though there was the inte.


    "...Then could you at least sit a bit farther away from me?"


    Tiana pouted.


    "Tsk. Alright."


    Kairos did think that Tiana was going to be a bother in general, but there was actually another reason why he didn''t want her to be here. Because when he looked at her, he could see a nearly blinding amount of mana around her. But even more than that, was the fact countless strands of mana were gravitating towards her, almost like she was the center of a spider web.


    Kairos had also noticed that one of the strands appeared to being from his heart, and towards Tiana. It was a very small one and something that Kairos ignored because it fit with the general random strands of mana everywhere. But now, he noticed that there was some sort of link Tiana had put onto him, and seemingly everyone else in the city.


    As of now, he was on the fence. It definitely made him ufortable, but he didn''t know if it was actually something bad for now. If it really was something controlling, then it would give even more reason not to act up, as it appeared like Tiana had no hostile intentions for now.


    Kairos let out a sigh as he walked across the rooftop. It was t, while the ground was rough. There weren''t any guardrails at all, probably because people weren''t supposed to be there in the first ce.


    There was a light breeze that blew by, but other than that, there was only an empty blue sky.


    That is, if you didn''t ount for therge amount of mana flowing in the air because of Tiana.


    Kairos took a deep breath. Observing mana in this state was like trying to observe the natural flow of ake while it was raining hard.


    Nheless, Kairos felt he might be able to do it, thus decided to focus on what he came to do in the first ce.


    To start things off, he began casting the pulse spell, and intently watched his arm as he cast it. The mana in his body flowed rapidly, bunching up in his hand. The mana began topress and shine even brighter as it continued to coalesce there.


    Then, Kairos stopped channeling the spell.


    By doing so, he felt a fairly strong pain in his hand. He could also see the cause of it, the mana he had brought towards his hand now began rampaging around wildly, before slowly flowing back into his body.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Then, he decided to try it once more, but this time, he began casting as though he intended to narrow the cone of the pulse spell. An ability he gained because he upgraded its rank from F to E rank.


    This time, it was quite simr. The mana bunched up like usual, except it was thicker at the base of his arm and narrowed down by the time it reached his hand.


    Kairos stopped casting the spell once more, which caused the mana to begin rampaging around wildly. He attempted to calm that down, but could only do minimal prevention as he didn''t really understand how to manipte mana. Though, he was trying to learn how.


    He cast the pulse spell once more, but this time he cast it as though he wished to widen the cone. As Kairos expected, the mana was thinner around his arm but spread out more when it reached his hand.


    Then, he once again canceled the spell while fighting to control the chaotic mana.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t much more proficient in controlling the mana than he wasst time. As a result, his hand was now iparably sore from all of the bacsh.


    Yet, Kairos didn''t stop. He then had the intention of casting one of his newly learned spells, the water spell. However, he suddenly stopped himself before continuing, as he realized that the spell essentially had no cast time.


    By the time the channeling process started, was when a beam of water would shoot out. This spell was different from the others, because the actual channeling was when the spell would activate.


    Kairos instinctively knew that he would be able to both make the beamrger or smaller as well as increase the volume of water that would be shot out of his hand.


    He decided that if he really didn''t get a grasp on manipting mana nearing the end of this session, then he would try using that one as well.


    Kairos switched hands, and began casting the fire spell. When he saw a fireball appear at the end of his finger in his future vision, he stopped himself from casting.


    This time, the mana began circting at where his wrist was, almost like a gear in the middle of a system. Afterwards, there was bacsh like with the pulse spell, but not as bad.


    After that, Kairos began casting the gale spell.


    This time, the mana began to gather at his fingertips. As Kairos continued channeling, he began to realize that the mana wasn''t actually inside him at this point, but coating over the tips of his fingers.


    He then attempted to stop the channeling, but he was unable to retrieve the mana. In the end, it scattered about into the air. Kairos found it a bit annoying, but at least it wasn''t that much mana he lost.


    He let out a soft sigh, realizing the journey ahead of him wasn''t going to be easy.


    Kairos wanted to learn how to manipte mana, thinking that if he understood how mana worked, then he should be able to cast any spell he wanted. However, just the spells he casted now, were far moreplex than he imagined.


    It was almost like a student in high school thinking that math couldn''t possibly get much harder, then were hit with the problems from a prestigious university.


    Although they had a rtively simple overall pattern, there were many tiny things that Kairos didn''t understand.


    Not to mention, he didn''t even really understand how to manually manipte mana in the first ce.


    "So... when are you going to start?"


    Tiana was off to the side, awkwardly watching on as Kairos essentially did nothing but move his hands in certain positions.


    Kairos let out a sigh when he heard that.


    "I told you there were more entertaining things."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "But you haven''t even cast any spells yet!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "That''s because I''m not actually casting them. I''m trying to observe how they act while being channeled, then cancel them before they are actually cast."


    Tiana furrowed her brows.


    "That sounds difficult."


    Kairos nodded.


    "It is, but I n on eventually learning it, even if it takes a while."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "But if you don''t fully go through with the casting process of the spell, you won''t be able to see everything that happens, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well yes, I suppose so. But at the same time, there''s only so much mana that I have. For now, worrying about how it looks after being cast isn''t the biggest concern if it prevents me from observing in the first ce."


    Tiana let out a soft hum.


    "Then... what if you didn''t have to worry about mana?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And how in the world would I be able to do that?"


    Tiana raised her finger.


    "One of my abilities lets me share mana with certain people! That way, you can cast without worry."


    Kairos'' lip twitched. From all of the mana around Tiana right now, he was fairly sure that was true. However, he still posed a question as though he was oblivious.


    "But you only have a limited amount of mana as well, no?"


    Tiana smirked.


    "Heh, don''t worry! I have more than you think. One of my abilities helps me with that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Then I guess we can try it?"


    Tiana nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Kairos observed the mana tethering him together with Tiana. Out of nowhere, it began expanding unnaturally, while mana from Tiana''s body entered his.


    Originally, Kairos only had slightly over half of his total mana capacity.


    But in a matter of seconds, he already couldn''t hold anymore.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...Wow. I guess we can get started then."

 Chapter 139 Friends

    Kairos didn''t probe further on how Tiana was able to provide him with mana and instead began casting the one spell he had yet to cast, the water spell.


    He pointed two fingers in the air and controlled the water spell to be a thin cone with the minimum output rate. Two spirals of mana rushed up his arm before meeting at his finger.


    Then, a weak beam of water shot out, almost like a broken water fountain.


    Tiana looked at that with a bit of confusion.


    "Eh? Is that the spell?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "There''s no point in recklessly casting spells if the point is to observe them in the first ce."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "But if you want to tell what''s happening, isn''t it easier to do so when you put more power into it?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I suppose so."


    That was a logical conclusion toe to considering Tiana didn''t know about Kairos'' ability to see mana. Though, regardless, putting more power into it would also help him both see and feel how it moved. Plus, he didn''t have to be concerned about his mana since Tiana could conveniently just inject him with it.


    With that in mind, Kairos pointed two fingers into the air once more. Except this time, he expanded the beam of water to have a diameter of half a meter and increased the flow of water to half the maximum speed.


    A torrent of water proceeded to shoot up high into the air like a geyser.


    Kairos carefully observed how the mana appeared to be flowing from the body, and also how the mana acted at the tips of his fingers, before turning into the water rushing out of his fingers. Being able to view the mana in a rtively stable state was quite enlightening, like a math problem made simple by a good tutor.


    In the middle of his observation, Tiana coughed.


    "Um, I think it''s going toe back down."


    Just a few moments after she said that, the water mmed down onto the roof, covering Kairos, and sshing violently enough to get Tiana covered in water as well.


    However, despite the ufortable situation, Kairos continued to channel the water spell. He narrowed his eyes because of the water, but still kept them open enough so he could continue watching the flow of mana.


    At first, he was just observing to understand the pattern, but as he continued to do so, he realized that the point where the mana transformed into the spell was quite strange. It almost appeared as though the mana was dispersing into the air like sakura blossoms in a strong wind.


    Kairos began to wonder exactly what that meant. He then took a closer look at the beam of water that was shooting up into the air.


    It was hard to tell due to the natural surrounding chaotic flow of mana, but there were tiny remnants of mana still within the water that gradually dispersed.


    In other words, it appeared like the mana wasn''t exactly transforming into water.


    Aftering to that realization, Kairos stopped channeling the water spell, cutting the beam off. Though, water still continued to pour down on them for quite some time before finally disappearing.


    Tiana used her hand to brush the water off of her face, though it didn''t do that much.


    "...Was that really necessary?"


    Kairos coughed awkwardly.


    "Well, on the bright side, it now feels quite cool, don''t you think?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "I suppose so."


    She stood up, and when she did, quite a bit of water dripped down from her clothes. As for Kairos, he remained standing there, as the water gradually sttered on the ground around him. Tiana brushed her slick hair back.


    "Well, did you at least learn something?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "...I''m not sure if it''s enough toe to a conclusion, but I think that when we cast spells, mana isn''t consumed to be the specific thing we are creating."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Eh? ...You mean mana is acting like a catalyst of some sort, while the actual spell itselfes out of... thin air?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "I think so?"


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "Although magic as a concept sounds ridiculous, that theory on how it works also doesn''t really make sense. After all, howe something be created out of nothing? Unless mana is somehow acting as a portal transporting whatever spell is from some special realm."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "...Yeah, you''re right. It doesn''t really make any sense."


    He stood still like a statue, still mulling over it.


    However, he wasn''t able toe to any conclusions even after thinking for quite some time. His thoughts gradually split into two. There was one part of him that felt like he was really close, that the answer was just barely out of his grasp, even if he had no idea what it was. Then there was another part of him that thought it was ridiculous to try and apply logic to mana.


    After all, it could work offpletely differently from known logic. Perhaps thews of physics didn''t even properly apply to it.


    In the end, he simply sighed.


    "Maybe the answer wille to meter."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "You got us both wet, and you didn''t evene to a conclusion from that?"


    Kairos continued walking without looking at her.


    "I didn''t force you toe with me."


    Tiana furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Hey, I was the one that lent you mana to cast that spell!"


    Kairos continued down the steps without responding. That didn''t appear to discourage Tiana though.


    "Is that really it? You''re not going to do anything cool, and instead just drench us both?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "It wasn''t supposed to be cool in the first ce. I was attempting to understand magic better."


    Tiana smirked.


    "Oh really? And you just had to do it with the water spell? I bet you did it just so you could make my clothes transparent and peek, you pervert!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I didn''t even look at you."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Damn. So you really didn''t look at all?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "So you were trying to get me to?"


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "Not exactly. I just didn''t see you peeking at all, and thought that you must''ve done it while I wasn''t looking!"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Then you have your answer, I didn''t look."


    Tiana fell silent after hearing that. The two continued to walk down the steps. It was quiet except for the sound of water dripping down onto the stairs.


    After a minute had passed, Tiana randomly spoke up.


    "You really didn''t peek?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "No.


    Tiana pouted.


    "You didn''t even try to?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Even if I really wanted to see those kinds of things, I wouldn''t have to resort to you, alright?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Tiana let out a gasp when she heard that.


    "What? Are you trying to say I''m ugly?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It''s not a matter of whether or not you''re ugly, but rather the fact I don''t have to use those measures to be a pervert."


    The corner of his lip twitched.


    "...I''m sure another pervert would be more than willing if I asked."


    Though, right after he said that, he put a hand on the back of his head.


    "Well, I guess that''s exaggerating it a little... and taking it too far."


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "Eh?... Who are you even talking about?"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "Just forget about it. I shouldn''t have said that."


    Tiana''s lips gradually parted.


    "Are you... talking about Nicole?"


    Despite saying that, it sounded as though she couldn''t believe the words herself. As for Kairos, his eyelid twitched.


    "...Please don''t tell her I said that."


    Tiana''s eyes widened in shock.


    "She doesn''t look like the perverted type. Why did you even assume that about her?"


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "...Uh, I''m just being an asshole. That''s why."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side in confusion.


    Silence fell once again, but this time it was quite awkward. Eventually Tiana broke the silence once more, but seemed quite hesitant as she spoke.


    "Is it possible... that Nicole confessed to you?"


    Kairos didn''t respond, and continued walking down the stairs as though he didn''t hear.


    Tiana looked down at the ground.


    "...I see. How did you respond to her confession?"


    Kairos stopped walking down the stairs and closed his eyes.


    "Well, it''s not too important."


    Tiana stopped next to him and spoke gently.


    "If it''s not important, then it wouldn''t be a big deal to satisfy my curiosity."


    Kairos let out a drawn out sigh and put a hand on the wall.


    "Honestly, I was originally nning to turn it down if Nicole ever did confess to me. I didn''t exactly view her as a person all that important to me. Yet, when it really happened, it made me think of things."


    He gradually opened his eyes.


    "Then I realized that Nicole had slowly won me over, before either of us even knew it. The carefree and oblivious parts to her that I thought I disdained somehow became... lovable."


    A small smile formed on his face as he let out a light chuckle.


    "Guess I was easier than I thought."


    Tianaughed softly.


    "That does make sense. There always was some sort of connection between you two, though I wasn''t sure how far it went."


    With that, Kairos continued walking down the steps, and Tiana followed after him. It was silent once more, and was somehow even more awkward thanst time. Then, for the third time, Tiana broke the silence again.


    "I guess that''s why you wanted to distance yourself from me."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh? How''s that rted?"


    Tiana was taken aback.


    "Eh? But... if you get close to me, surely that would hurt Nicole''s feelings."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I''m sure Nicole would have her doubts, but she knows me well enough not to doubt me. Having friends isn''t cheating."


    Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "But I still don''t think it''s that good, right?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "The people that can''t be friends with people of the opposite gender are just shallow."


    Tiana paused.


    "...Huh?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''m sure that most people wouldn''t agree with me, but sometimes there are some people that just want a friend. If you understand what that means to some people, then something like that wouldn''t concern you. I''m sure countless people were left alone because of those stupid concerns."


    He shook his head slightly.


    "I know Nicole understands that too, even if she is a bit of an airhead."


    Tiana couldn''t find the words for quite a while.


    "...Huh. I never thought you were the kind of person to say that."


    Kairos responded curtly.


    "Frankly, if there was someone that would say that, then it would probably be someone like me."


    A small smile formed on Tiana''s face.


    "Haha, I really don''t get that."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Anyway, it doesn''t matter. The point is, I''m not pushing you away because I''m in a rtionship or something. It''s more so I''m just the kind of person that pushes everybody away."


    He gave her a nce.


    "If you want to be friends, that''s fine with me. Though, you''re just gonna have to ept me neglecting you a lot. And I''m probably not going to be a great friend either."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "But in the end, I''ll be a friend."


    Tiana stopped in ce. Kairos walked a few steps forth before stopping as well. He turned around.


    "...What are you doing?"


    Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "I guess... I''m realizing that I''m shallow."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh?... Look, you don''t have to be friends with me if you don''t want to. It was just a proposition."


    Tiana slowly nodded.


    "...Yeah. I''m not taking it."

 Chapter 140 Even More Complicated

    Kairos looked at Tiana strangely.


    "Alright. Well, it was just an offer."


    In response, Tiana pouted.


    "Why did you offer to be a friend to me of all people?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Well, for starters, I don''t think you''re a bad person. And second, I kinda felt you were isted. I don''t know, maybe you just wanted someone to talk to."


    Tiana paused.


    "Well, I feel insulted."


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "My bad then."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "Well, I guess I can kinda take your offer."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What in the world is that supposed to mean?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Like... half friends. How does that sound?"


    Kairos stared at her nkly.


    "I have no idea what that''s supposed to mean, but if that''s what you want, sure."


    Tiana smiled after hearing that.


    "It''s not thatplicated! Like just think of friends, but then half of that."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You only made me more confused."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Come on, just think about it a little."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He attempted to think about it, but really didn''t understand how a friendship could be halved, when it wasn''t really a quantitative thing.


    As for Tiana, she didn''t really understand what she was talking about either, so she just put up a strong front and pretended she perfectly understood.


    By now, the two of them were close to reaching the ground floor.


    Noticing this, Tiana spoke an offhandment.


    "Just think about what it means. I''ll talk to youter."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Alright then."


    Though, despite saying that, he didn''t really n to think about something like that. It was basically a concept Tiana made up, so chances were only she really understood.


    He then went to his own room while Tiana did the same.


    Upon entering her room, she contemted her weird actions. She gradually began to realize that being friends with Kairos strangely made her feel quite painful. Yet, at the same time, she also really did want to be friends with him.


    It was perhaps that strange dynamic that she had tobel their rtionship as half friends.


    As for Kairos, he took a quick shower and changed into new dry clothes. From there, he searched his room until he found some paper and a fountain pen. From there, he began drawing diagrams of how he saw the mana flow while casting spells.


    Though Kairos wasn''t sure if that would be helpful, he decided to try anyway.


    Since he saw things twice with his future vision, it wasn''t too difficult for him to recall the memories of what happened not too long ago. That let him make rtively detailed diagrams.


    Unfortunately, one tiny problem was that Kairos was pretty bad at drawing. As such, he found himself frequently needing to discard what he had drawn due to it essentially being inurate. These inuracies wouldn''t actually be noticed until he had gotten quite far in drawing, which was quite frustrating.


    In the end, he became more and more careful with how he drew.


    Time quickly passed as he toiled away.


    Then soon enough, he finally finished a diagram he was more or less satisfied with for the basic pulse spell, which was also the easiest one to draw. But by now, it was already night.


    Kairos deliberated over it for a moment before deciding that sleep was unnecessary due to the high stats he had. At least, not for now.


    And so, he continued drawing as it got dark. Using two candles he had found for light, Kairos continually worked at it. He felt the sun gradually rise, which was only notable because the lighting from his window gradually brightened.


    In the middle of his drawing, he heard a knock on the door.


    He set it down without too much hesitation and got over to the door to answer it.


    And on the other side, was Nicole.


    She scratched the side of her cheek.


    "Um, some of us got enough points to rank up. Do you think we should do it?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Were there any difficulties when you tried to kill those monsters earlier?"


    Nicole shook her head.


    "Um, it felt even easier thanst time, because we kinda knew what to expect. None of us was really a clear leader, but we all made suggestions when we felt it was right and it mostly worked out in the end."


    The way she had put it made Kairos a little curious, but not curious enough to ask.


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, if there are no difficulties, then there''s no need to rank up so quickly. Getting points at a higher rank is far more difficult, so I would take advantage of this while you guys can."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Ok."


    There was a moment of silence. Nicole had finished with what she needed to say, but wasn''t willing to leave just yet.


    She cleared her throat.


    "U-Um, could Ie in?"


    Kairos had an inkling that Nicole didn''t have any real business here, but in the end he relented.


    "Alright, sure."


    He stepped out of the way, and Nicole timidly stepped in, almost like this was actually her first time being here.


    She followed Kairos, who just decided to sit on the couch, prompting her to follow suit next to him.


    Nicole turned to look at him.


    "You... took a shower."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I was testing spells, and one of them was the water spell. I got all of my clothes wet in the process, so I decided to take a shower."


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "I-I see."


    There was a brief moment of silence. Nicole furrowed her brow slightly.


    "Um, but didn''t you say that you were trying to save up mana?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That was the original n, but it turns out that Tiana can use some sort of ability to give me mana. I''m not sure about the cost, but she didn''t seem that unwilling to use it."


    Nicole''s eyes brightened up slightly.


    "So... that means you cane with us?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Perhaps, but it sounds like you all have it handled, so maybe it''s not necessary."


    After he said that, Nicole proceeded to hold onto his arm.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "...But I really want you toe with us. What if something bad happens? We will need your help."


    Kairos blinked a few times. She did have a point. Although everything was finest time, that didn''t mean they could just push their luck again and again. If he told all of them to remain at the E rank so that they could gather more points, it would also leave them in danger if something truly dangerous did happen.


    Kairos let out a helpless sigh.


    "Alright, I will join you guys from now on."


    Nicole smiled brightly before burying her head onto his shoulder.


    Another thing that Kairos had thought about was that he could observe how mana flowed when other people casted spells, allowing him to make more sense out of things.


    Thus it wasn''t really a waste of time for him either.


    Nicole suddenly retracted, before sping her hands together tightly.


    "Um, I will be gone for just a moment!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Alright."


    He assumed she needed to use the washroom.


    Once she left, Kairos realized that he was getting really hungry, thus began eating a lot of the readily avable stuff he could find.


    After roughly an hour had passed, there was once again a knock on the door.


    Kairos went to answer it promptly, and behind the door was Nicole once more. Except this time, she had clearly taken a shower, and put on a change of clothes.


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "You didn''t have to be concerned about how you smelled. Weren''t you the one that said we should get used to bad smells?"


    Nicole was already blushing by the time the door opened, but only did so harder after he said that.


    "W-Well, it''s still not good to neglect showering all the time! Hygiene is important..."


    She brushed her hair.


    "Plus, it was really ufortable with how rough my hair was getting."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, alright."


    Nicole stepped in and closed the door behind her before grabbing onto Kairos and bringing him to the couch once more.


    They were once again seated there. Nicole spoke up rather quickly this time.


    "Um, can we hug?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It''s pretty weird for two friends to be hugging all the time, right?"


    Nicole puffed her cheeks up.


    "No! That''s totally normal! I''ve seen so many people like that."


    Kairos let out a light chuckle.


    "Alright."


    Before he could even reach his arms towards her, Nicole had already mbered on top of him before wrapping her arms around him tightly.


    Kairos was slightly taken aback by how different it feltpared to thest time. Because of how dirty the two of them were before, the contact between them was quite rough, and the smell was also a little off-putting.


    Kairos was able to put up with it until he fell asleepst time, but now, he was overwhelmed almost instantly. The smoothness of skin wasn''t something he was used to, making him feel quite ufortable. On top of that, the smell of shampoo from Nicole was very clear, along with her natural scent.


    Kairos realized now why Nicole wanted to shower. Although it was only rtive cleanliness, that got in the way of their contact considerably. At the realization of this face, he regretted taking a shower. He would rather stab himself in the liver than experience this difort.


    On the other hand, Nicole''s embrace was only getting tighter, which quickly made Kairos feel more rmed.


    After perhaps only thirty seconds, he spoke up.


    "Um, Nicole?"


    Nicole had her eyes closed and muttered in response.


    "Mm?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "Er, could you get off of me for a second?"


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "Why?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Um, there''s something I want to talk about."


    Nicole muttered in acknowledgment.


    "Then just tell me like this."


    Kairos pressed his lips together.


    "...It''s something that will only work if you get off me."


    Nicole furrowed her brows.


    "...Ok."


    After a few seconds, she reluctantly got off of him and sat down next to him. There was a drowsy expression on her face, like she could fall asleep at any time now.


    "What is it?"


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately. He really didn''t want to say that he just wanted her to get off of him. Though he wasn''t sure why, he felt that it would hurt his pride in some way. And perhaps more than that, he was sure that it would make Nicole cautious around him, which was also something he didn''t want, as he knew Nicole was the type to overthink things.


    Kairos'' thoughts quickly raced. Dots began connecting one after another as he gradually came to an excuse.


    "I can see mana."


    Nicole rubbed her eyes, and gradually shook off her sleepiness.


    "Hm? What do you mean?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "Er, I would like to see how mana moves around in your body when you cast the spell that makes you invisible."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Um, ok. It will take a little bit before it activates though."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That''s not a problem."


    With that, he stared at her intently, while Nicole began casting the spell.


    Yet, while Kairos was originally just feeling relief from being saved with a believable excuse, his eyes widened in surprise.


    "Are you casting the spell right now?


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Um, yes? Why do you ask?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "...Do you feel any strong emotions right now?


    Nicole stammered.


    "E-Eh? What is that supposed to mean?"


    She began blushing.


    As for Kairos, he sucked in a cold breath.


    His new discovery would mean that learning how to cast spells was even harder than he originally thought.

 Chapter 141 Top One Hundred

    Kairos was intently staring at Nicole. Or more particrly, her forehead. He saw the mana twist to be some strange diagram as it flowed downwards and to the rest of Nicole''s body.


    In other words, the most difficult part of understanding how spells were cast was actually figuring out what kind of strange diagram the head would shape into.


    There was a part of Kairos that was just hoping the mana reacted to Nicole''s emotions, but even when she started to blush, the mana did not budge slightly. On top of that, he could not even begin to understand how it was circting around within.


    Kairos held up his hand.


    "Wait, wait, hold on."


    Nicole stopped channeling the spell and looked back at him with confusion.


    "Um, did you see something?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "I realized that spell was way too hard for me to learn. Could you try casting the frost spell instead and do it slowly?"


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "Um, ok."


    She did as told, causing the mana around her forehead to flow in a different way. While it was stillplicated, as Kairos expected, it was far simpler. As he watched how it twisted, he quickly brought out a paper and pen nearby and began recreating what he saw.


    His strokes with the pen were rough, but after drawing them all night, he had gained some proficiency in it. Though, if it wasn''t for his high agility stat and future vision, he would''ve messed up far more.


    Nicole really did cast slowly, which was still faster than Kairos would''ve liked, but it would''ve been unreasonable to ask her to cast any slower.


    After getting a rough sketch down, Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, I think I got the gist of it, thanks."


    Nicole curiously stared at the paper, which had a variety of lines sweeping around that made no sense to her.


    "Did you figure out how to cast spells?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Not even close, but that''s what I''m trying to do."


    Nicole scratched her cheek and took another look at the drawings he made on the paper.


    "Um, I don''t really see the connection to the spell I was trying to cast and what''s on the paper though."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I don''t think you would be able to, because under most circumstances you can''t feel mana. What I''m drawing should be unknown to you."


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "It looks reallyplicated though."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Honestly, I''m not sure if doing this will even be worth my time. It''s pretty clear to me now that all of that studying I did in high school was basically pointless."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "Well it would''ve been important! It''s not like an apocalypse that screws that up is likely in the first ce..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I suppose. But even if what I''m doing right now isn''t the most useful, I can at least hope that it will be useful in some other way, even if it''s only my skill in drawing."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "You never were that good at drawing..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You don''t have to remind me."


    Nicole giggled.


    "But it was just so funny when you tried to draw me before!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "...I wouldn''t have done it if you didn''t ask."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Then what if I ask you to draw me after you''ve had some experience with this spell drawing?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "...Sure."


    It was at this point a random thought came into his mind.


    "By the way, could you try casting that one other ability you have?"


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Ah... the one that lets me pass through things?"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Yeah."


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "Hehe, I''m not really good at casting that, it''s kinda confusing."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "But you were able to cast it perfectly those other times."


    Nicole tapped her chin.


    "But... it''s more like a feeling."


    Kairos sped his hands.


    "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "When I use that, I''m not really thinking of using it. It just happens automatically. If I try to do it, nothing really happens."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So... what if you stop thinking about it and use it."


    Nicole stared at him nkly.


    "Eh?"


    Kairos tapped the table a few times.


    "Let me rephrase. What if you empty your head of thoughts before you try using it?"


    Nicole paused.


    "Hm... I think I understand."


    Despite how vague Kairos'' instructions were, she had a look that seemed to say she saw through all of it.


    She stood up and faced in an arbitrary direction. Her eyes gradually lost focus as her expression disappeared. Her lips gradually made a soft frown and parted ever so slightly, like she was on the verge of saying something.


    In this way, she almost looked like Kairos, a generally neutral countenance, but one with a sad undertone.


    It was almost as thoughyers of her were being peeled off, revealing a true self within.


    Then, like a dollmanded to walk forward, she began moving. Her feet still remained above ground, but her body phased through the table in front of herpletely. When she made it to the other side, she stopped in ce like a disciplined soldier.


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he watched this.


    The mana in Nicole''s body had not moved at all despite the fact she used a supposed ability. In other words, it was an ability not tied with the usage of mana.


    Though, when he thought about it, that made sense as his future vision ability never used mana either.


    As he was absorbed in his thoughts, Nicole''s knees suddenly gave way. She caught herself on the table with one hand, while the other held onto her head.


    "...Ow. It doesn''t feel good to use it."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Well, I''m going to try and memorize the diagram I drew. Maybe that way I will be able to cast that spell as well."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Can I watch?"


    Kairos opened his mouth, then closed it. He was on the verge of declining without a second thought. But he decided to relent.


    "You have to keep quiet and not be distracting."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Alright!"


    Kairos picked the pen back up before refining the details of the sketch he drew. As he continued to deepen the details, the image of the spell gradually became clearer in his head.


    Though at some point, further refinements were pointless as the mistakes he had done in his sketch were a bit too ring to ignore. Thus he set the paper to the side, and using that paper as reference, he began drawing it from scratch.


    One thing that Kairos was rather hooked up on was continuing on something after it was started. After all, it simply felt too wasteful to give up on something one hadmitted time to.


    This was something that Kairos had stuck with for quite a while in his childhood, making him a stubborn kid. However, he realized that this mentality was more so an excuse to bezy. Not to mention, it would also have consequences.


    He remembered one time he and Edward were off on their own. They weren''t exactly sure of the way backward, but after a bit of consideration, Kairos pointed to one way decisively. The two of them followed that general direction, crossing streets, passing by people, buildings, and cars again and again.


    The further they continued, the easier it was to tell that it was in fact the wrong direction. Edward wasn''t exactly sure, but proposed the idea that they might need to turn back. However, Kairos didn''t listen, thinking that if this was the right way, then they would waste so much time going back.


    And so, they kept going and going.


    Until eventually, they were so lost, they didn''t even know which direction was turning back.


    It was purely by the help of other people that they were eventually able to get back home, but it was a journey that nearly took a day. That time pped Kairos rather hard, making him realize that he couldn''t arbitrarilymit himself like that, else he could suffer quite dearly.


    It was also around this time that he decided never to make a promise for simr reasons.


    And so, Kairos didn''t feel anything as he started anew, drawing another diagram from scratch despite the fact only tiny improvements could be made from each version. In fact, there were several times when he did a worse job than thest drawing.


    However, he continued despite how much time it took.


    Nicole rested at his side, watching him do a monotonous task over and over. It wasn''t exactly the most entertaining thing, but Nicole didn''t feel all that bored.


    She kept to her word and didn''t distract him. Other than leaning on him, she didn''t do anything else.


    As time passed, her eyelids gradually fluttered and she fell asleep.


    With that, the only sounds in the air were the sound of writing along with light snoring. Quite a few hours had passed.


    For some reason, having Nicole by his side made him more focused, like he didn''t have to think about anything else. And with that focus, he found himself more or less memorizing the diagram.


    It definitely wasn''t perfect, but it was enough to give Kairos confidence to try casting it himself. He first attempted to manipte the mana around his body, trying to bend it in the same way as he had drawn.


    After getting a feel for it, he closed his eyes and manipted the mana within his head as best he could. After roughly thirty seconds, he was somewhat confident that he properly shaped the mana in his head properly, then began pushing it through the rest of his body.


    The entire process took nearly a minute, but it all worked out.


    And at the very end, the mana coalesced at his palm, before bing a few crystals of ice. The ice slowly dispersed, covering his palm and arm in a thinyer of ice.


    Kairos continued to stare at his hand in surprise for a few minutes. He used a spell that wasn''t even his.


    Granted, before he could even start channeling, it took nearly a minute. On top of that, Kairos could feel his control over the spell was very shaky. If he tried to continue channeling the spell, he wasn''t confident that he could keep going, like it could copse in an instant.


    The actual practicality was nothingpared to one of the spells he had already learned from evolution, but it wasn''t as though he could learn as many spells as he wanted that way. But through this, as long as hemitted time, he could begin casting other spells he wished to as well.


    To get it to a usable level may take quite a bit of practice, but the point was that it was possible.


    Kairos let out a long drawn-out breath.


    Then, out of nowhere, a notification popped up.


    [First One Hundred To Decipher A Basic Elemental Spell (First - By ID: 345315364923) - 250 points awarded]


    Kairos'' eyes widened when he saw this and genuinely lost hisposure. Namely, because of the extremelyrge amounts of points provided. As he gradually calmed down from getting so many points, he then thought of something else.


    Normally, notifications happened immediately, perfectly suiting those that craved instant gratification. However, this one appeared not just seconds after, but full minutes.


    ? Kairos muttered to himself.


    "...It seems like learning spells manually wasn''t supposed to be possible."


    A smirk gradually formed on his face after this realization.


    "I guess this system doesn''t actually have everything nned out. I wonder if there are other things that it doesn''t expect..."

 Chapter 142 Near Death

    After seeing such arge amount of pointse to him, he truly began to realize howrge of an advantage he had over other people. Being able to see mana truly was a powerful ability. It was to the point that he might''ve been unable to decline Ling''s offer if he had known.


    In fact, he might''ve gone out of his way to steal it.


    Nheless, he had it now, so there was no point in dwelling over it.


    The thing he was more curious about was if he could create his own original spell. Granted that he had the ability to see mana, it wasn''t a stretch to say that he would probably be the first to create his own.


    Though, those were more like fantasies for now. He could just barely replicate a spell he had seen right now, understanding the actual principles behind it and creating a new one was too far away for him now.


    But it wasn''t unreachable.


    Kairos cast aside those thoughts for now. He took off his sses and opened up his status panel as it had been a little while since hest did so.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 11/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 4989 Evolution Energy]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 250.8]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 17.7


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Water Spell (E), Alone (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos was incredibly tempted to just add points into his stat points right away, but didn''t want to do so right away since they could also be used for the sake of increasing the rank of his abilities.


    That was when his eye caught onto his inborn ability, Shattered Truth (F).


    He recently found out that he could not only look at the descriptions of his abilities, as well as increase their rank, but did not think to do so for his inborn ability. He simply thought of that ability as a part of him, rather than an actual add-on like the spells, causing him to not group the two.


    Kairos was a little surprised that it slipped his mind.


    The first thing he did was attempt to bring up the skill description of his inborn ability.


    [Shattered Truth (F)]


    [______________]


    His eyelid twitched when he saw what came up. It wasn''t exactly the most enlightening thing to say the least. With low hopes, he tried to increase the rank of the skill.


    [Upgrade Shattered Truth to F+ Rank with 100 points? | Yes/No]


    Kairos felt a little strange looking at the text in front of him. Although it was a good thing he could upgrade it with just points, looking at both the amount as well as how little improved gave him a bittersweet feeling.


    It definitely wasn''t going to get any cheaper from here, that much was clear.


    If Kairos really wanted to invest in his inborn ability, the costs would be staggering very quickly. Although he had juste upon a huge boon, he couldn''t help but still feel quitecking.


    Though it would hurt to invest in his inborn ability, the fact was it had saved his life far too many times, both before and after the apocalypse.


    Kairos didn''t doubt that it would be worth it in the long run, though it would slow his stat growth considerably.


    There were three main things he wanted to do with his points right now.


    The first and most obvious one was to increase his stats, as that was what they were traditionally for. Though, from what he had realized before, there was a direct rtionship between his willpower and how easily he could use his future vision. Because of that, his willpower was actually his main priority.


    The second one was to increase the rank of his inborn ability. He imagined that the burden on his mind would increase, but if he did increase his willpower, that shouldn''t be too big of a deal.


    The third one was actually to increase the rank of his Alone ability. Although he was quite annoyed by the drawback it had, the fact was it basically doubled his magic affinity, and since it used the same amount of mana for double power, it basically doubled his mana capacity too. By putting points into it, the effects would surely increase considerably enough. Going this way would mean he should probably increase his mana capacity as well so that he could make better use of it.


    After noting all of that down, Kairos found that he had enough points to go through every single one of those upgrades due to getting a top one hundred achievement.


    Though, he would neglect his physical stats in the process.


    After a bit of hesitation, he decided to go through with it. His current abilities didn''t really suit a warrior type ofbat anyway.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    [Upgrade Alone to D Rank with 100 points? | Yes/No]


    [Alone (E) -> Alone (D) | Points 250.8 -> 150.8]


    His body tensed up, almost like it was being stretched thin. It was almost like he was hardening to stone, but the fresh pain from his muscles told him that was not the case. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as a small frown rested on his face.


    He didn''t expect there to be physical side effects to upgrading a skill, as thest time when he did so with the pulse spell nothing happened. Kairos thought it over and realized it somewhat made sense considering that his alone ability was more of a passive one, meaning it likely involved his body in some way.


    Once the pain eventually subsided, he could feel his body gradually rx.


    Then, he checked on the changes.


    [Alone (D)]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [If there are no beings within one kilometer that are considered in allegiance with you, all magical spells have their power tripled and resilience to magical bacsh is doubled. If not, mana regeneration is reduced by a quarter.


    This is a passive skill.]


    Kairos couldn''t help but nod after seeing the changes. He was slightly unsure whether or not it was a good idea to blow one hundred points on a single ability, but it was enhanced in so many ways.


    The main purpose of it was increased tremendously. Now it tripled his magic affinity. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn''t be the most useful if his body couldn''t bear the stress, but since his resilience to magical bacsh would be increased then it wasn''t nearly as bad.


    Though, the fact it was only double and not triple was a bit annoying. It was almost like the ability wanted to make him overexert himself to cast stronger spells.


    The drawback of the spell decreasing too was also a nice little add-on.


    Then, he increased his mana capacity.


    [Mana Capacity 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 150.8 -> 135.8]


    Kairos watched the strands of mana around him suddenly be attracted, getting absorbed into his body. It was a nice refreshing feeling, though there was an elusive resistance that pushed some of the mana away, probably due to his Alone ability.


    Kairos then wanted to increase the rank of his inborn ability, but got a little scared. He remembered a while ago some random guy appeared in his dream and forcefully increased the rank. Which was incredibly painful.


    He gently pushed Nicole to the side, then got up from the couch. Then, Kairos walked over to the fridge and opened it.


    After that, he held his hand to his forehead, before casting the frost spell. It was quite the shaky cast and was very weak, but ice now coated the top of his head.


    Then, Kairos increased his willpower.


    [Willpower 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 135.8 -> 120.8]


    The thinyer of frost on his head immediately melted, causing some water to drip down from his hair. Heat very clearly radiated from his head, while his head felt a little dizzy. Without waiting for the hunger to kick in, he began eating whatever he could.


    Just when he was beginning to feel full, he felt extreme hunger and continued to eat voraciously. After going through a decent chunk of the food in his fridge, he finally felt normal again.


    With a sigh, he closed the fridge.


    He couldn''t increase his willpower any further, so this was as prepared as he was going to get. Kairos set his sses aside, thenid down on one of therge carpets before opening his status panel.


    Then, he upgraded the rank of his inborn ability.


    [Upgrade Shattered Truth to F+ Rank with 100 points? | Yes/No]


    [Shattered Truth (F) -> Shattered Truth (F+) | Points 120.8 -> 20.8]


    At first, it didn''t feel so bad. His eyes felt incredibly itchy and they also hurt. However, it wasn''t anything Kairos couldn''t deal with. However, as time passed, the pain rapidly ramped up.


    He reached towards his eyes with his hands, but forced himself to stop, as he knew that pressing against them wouldn''t help his situation. Nheless, he instinctively wanted to do just that, and that urge was only increasing by the second.


    Kairos pressed his fingers against his eyebrow and other parts of his face just around his eye. The force he used continued to increase, even when the skin was ripped apart.


    Not too long after that, he could no longer hold in his voice and began screaming out loud. Originally, he thought that he would''ve been able to keep it in, but that turned out to be a naive thought.


    Kairos curled up as he thrashed around. He gradually lost sense of everything around him and wasn''t even sure of what he was doing anymore.


    Yet, that wasn''t the end of it. The pain increased even further. By now, the rest of his body had gone numb, and nearlypletely lost sensation. At least, that was what Kairos thought was happening. It may very well be that the rtive difference between the pain and the normal sensation that made it hard to notice.


    Kairos eventually nked outpletely.


    By the time he gradually recovered enough to have coherent thought, the first thing that popped into his mind was how pointless increasing his willpower felt. There was still so much pain that it didn''t matter that his tolerance had increased.


    In the next few seconds, he could feel himself being gently shaken, along with something wet hitting his face.


    As his hearing came back to him, a loud ringing sound filled his ears. It gradually died down to reveal the sound of crying.


    "Kairos! Kairos!"


    Kairos slowly opened his eyes and saw Nicole''s blurry figure above him. His body felt strangely empty. Then he realized he wasn''t breathing.


    With that realization, his body immediately forced him to draw in a deep breath.


    He continued to take one ragged breath in after another as though he had just been drowning. Tears began involuntarily forming in the corners of his eyes, not out of any sadness, but simply due to the stress his body was experiencing.


    As he gradually came to, Kairos felt Nicole hug him tightly.


    "I''m... trying to breathe..."


    Nicole let go in a fluster. Her eyes were very red, and tears had fallen down.


    "I-I thought you died..."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "This was... the effect of using points to improve one of my abilities..."


    Nicole bit her lip.


    "Then don''t do it anymore!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It''s inevitable that this strength will be needed, so there''s no helping it."


    Nicole clenched her fists.


    "But you weren''t breathing for so long!"


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    Not being able to breathe truly was quite the scary thing. He almost couldn''t believe that he almost died just from increasing the rank of an ability. He wondered what would''ve happened if Nicole wasn''t there to shake him awake.

 Chapter 143 New Abilities

    A bitter smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Sorry, I''ll be more careful from now on."


    Nicole let out a relieved and defeated sigh.


    "...You better."


    Kairos sat up and began wondering what kind of change warranted such arge side effect.


    The most obvious thing there was to do was try extending his future vision. He attempted to extend his future vision as far as possible. Pain quickly festered in his mind, but since he was only doing it for a moment, he just pushed through it.


    It went from two seconds, to three seconds, then suddenly jumped to five seconds.


    At this point, Kairos could intently feel a burning sensation in his head like it was on fire. He could tell that this was the farthest it would go.


    He was about to cancel it, but then caught onto something he didn''t expect.


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 82.1]


    [Strength - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    He could see Nicole''s status panel. Once he stopped extending his future vision, the status panel soon disappeared. Kairos held onto the side of his head, but instead of focusing on the pain, he had to confirm something.


    "Did you open your status panel just now?"


    Nicole rubbed her eyes.


    "Eh? You told me to do that before I fell asleep..."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I see."


    He then tried to get up, but Nicole pushed him back down. She looked a bit angry.


    "You just did something so dangerous, and you already want to push yourself, don''t you?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What? Since when was I pushing myself?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "You stopped breathing for at least ten minutes! If that isn''t pushing yourself, then I don''t know what is!"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "I suppose that is true."


    Nicole grabbed onto his hand.


    "At least go to bed and take a nap."


    Kairos'' lip twitched. He was clearly a bit reluctant.


    Nicole then gave him a re.


    "You''re going to take a nap."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Alright, just let me get up then."


    Nicole got off of him before helping him up. From there, she dragged Kairos, not letting him go anywhere else. They eventually reached the bedroom, and Nicole pushed him onto the clean bed.


    From there, she casually slipped in as well.


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Was this your n all along?"


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "Regardless of my ns, you should be resting!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I suppose I am a bit tired."


    Uponying his head down on the pillow, he actually did feel quite tired. On the other hand, Nicole had taken a nap not too long ago, so she couldn''t sleep even if she wanted to.


    Kairos'' eyes gradually closed shut as he fell asleep almost immediately.


    As for Nicole, she was a little surprised he fell asleep so quickly.


    "Kairos?"


    He was already unconscious, thus didn''t respond.


    Nicole pouted.


    "...You already fell asleep?"


    She looked a little annoyed.


    "U-Um, this is what I wanted. Yeah, I just wanted you to have some rest."


    Kairos began snoring.


    Nicole looked a little despondent.


    "...You''re really asleep."


    She puffed her cheeks up.


    "That''s unfair."


    She then looked around the room, as though making sure nobody was peeking.


    "Well if you''re asleep..."


    ...


    When Kairos fell asleep, he suddenly found himself having a dream. However, it was an extremely strange dream. For starters, he could very clearly tell that it was a dream as he remembered falling asleep. Another thing was that the sensations were very realistic, to the point he almost thought it wasn''t a dream.


    As for what was happening, he was simply sitting at the top of a building, with his legs hanging off the ledge. He was watching over Chase, Tori, Sydney, and Nicole all killing monsters below during the night. There was only the faint glow of moonlight, but it was still enough for him to see everything fairly clearly.


    It was a rather uneventful dream.


    He also didn''t feel that in control of his actions. It wasn''t as though he couldn''t move himself, but if he tried to do so, there was a clear feeling of resistance. Simply out of curiosity, he decided to force himself to move.


    Then, all of the resistance suddenly disappeared.


    He jumped off the top of the building before mming into the ground. Several monsters rushed to him, but with a simple swing of the spear, he was able to kill all of the nearby ones.


    Kairos arbitrarily went through the monsters killing them.


    Eventually, he made it next to Nicole, who looked at him in surprise. She raised an eyebrow.


    "Eh? Didn''t you say you were just going to watch? I thought you said you almost get no points from killing the monsters."


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "...Did I say that?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Nicole shed with her axe, killing a monster that was jumping toward her.


    "Um, I think so. Are you ok?"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he continued to fight off the nearby monsters.


    "Could you tell me everything that has happened today since I woke up?"


    Nicole blushed slightly, but didn''t stop fighting off the monsters next to her.


    "Erm, you gave me an angry look when I woke up."


    Kairos stared at her nkly.


    "What did you do?"


    Nicole coughed.


    "Hehe... I might''ve been groping you."


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately.


    "...what happened after that?"


    Nicole''s expression rxed a little.


    "Um, it was almost night time, so I told you toe with us since the monsters would all being out soon."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Then what happened after that?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Um... we just got here and started to kill the monsters. Did you want more details?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It''s alright. I''m pretty sure that I''m dreaming right now."


    Nicole looked at him strangely.


    "Eh? B-But it doesn''t feel like a dream."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes, it really doesn''t."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "If my guess is correct, then I''m actually dreaming of the future."


    Nicole looked quite confused.


    "Huh?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Don''t worry about it. Just focus on what you''re doing right now."


    Nicole stammered.


    "O-Ok."


    He rubbed his chin with interest before leaping up towards one of the buildings. He climbed up to the top and began channeling mana for one of his spells.


    Unfortunately, his dream ended right there.


    Upon waking up, he felt a familiar strange sensation. And just as expected, Nicole was feeling him up.


    Kairos spoke up immediately.


    "You gotta stop doing that."


    Nicole flinched.


    "A-Ah, you''re awake!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "...Why do you have to do that?"


    Nicole averted her gaze.


    "But if you''re asleep, then you don''t feel it!"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "But I still end up feeling it when I wake up. At least restrain yourself a little bit."


    Nicole coughed.


    "A-Alright."


    She then got out and looked at the window.


    "Ah, it''s getting a little dark! We should go meet with the others. It''s about time for us to go kill the monsters."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Things were happening just as the Nicole in his dream had said. Though, he still wasn''t sure if his prediction was correct. After all, he could''ve just had a dream about what he thought was going to happen. He waited to see if they would go to the same ce.


    The group gathered together and headed out of the city. They seemed to already have a location in mind as they headed in that direction.


    They took care of the monsters along the way and eventually reached a spot that was quite familiar to Kairos.


    He looked at one of the buildings and scaled up. It was the one that he was sitting on in his dream. Once he got into the same position, he saw nearly the exact same thing in his dream. The only thing was that the lighting was a little bit off. But as the sun gradually set, and the moon rose, it became practically identical.


    Kairos'' eyes narrowed slightly.


    "...It seems my inborn ability is strongest while sleeping. That''s a little annoying."


    He shook his head as he came to the realization. It seemed that he gained three main things from increasing the rank of his ability. The first was the ability to extend his future vision to five seconds. The second was the ability to forcibly see someone''s status panel if he did fully extend his future vision. And the final one seemed to be the ability to have dreams of the near future.


    Kairos didn''t really know what he was expecting, but he wouldn''t have been able to guess that this was what he got out of it. Regardless, it was still quite useful, though it may not be the most reliable as it seemed to just give him a random snapshot of the events.


    Kairos cast his gaze downwards.


    The monsters were beginning to flood the streets. From his observation, most of them wereing out of the buildings. From the number that wasing out, it seemed like the monsters must''ve crammed themselves in there.


    He then put his focus on his own group, observing how they killed the monsters.


    Nicole had the red watch around her wrist, and was going off on her own, but was still within sight of the others. Although she was basically only shing through the monsters normally, she was still able to kill them with rtive ease.


    As for Sydney, she stood her ground as the monsters rushed over to her. She had given up on using a weapon, instead using her hands and teeth like the other monsters, trading blow for blow.


    The monsters would rip her apart, but her body would quickly regenerate that damage right after.


    Behind her, were both Chase and Tori.


    Though Sydney wasn''t holding back, there truly were too many monsters, so many slipped by. Tori was the one that took care of those. As for Chase, he would pull back a mana arrow and release it into the horde, killing countless monsters. Though he wasn''t able to do so frequently, it was enough so that they wouldn''t get overwhelmed by the sheer amount.


    What interested Kairos the most, was Chase. Because of his ability to see mana, he could generally gauge the amount of mana in everyone''s body. Tori, Sydney, and Nicole weren''t using any of their spells, thus weren''t consuming mana.


    On the other hand, Chase was using it quite recklessly.


    From What Kairos could tell, he was using roughly a third of his mana with every arrow shot, but did so with confidence. Then, the mana around him would begin funneling towards him at an unnatural speed.


    In roughly a minute, all the mana he used would be restored, and he would be drawing back another arrow.


    Kairos dug to the depths of his memories and remembered Chase got the ability called "Crystal Heart". It seemed that it was a passive one that rapidly sped up his mana regeneration.


    Another thing that he saw was how the mana flowed in Chase''s body and bow.


    The mana woulde out of one of his hands to make an arrow, but it was alsoing out of the other hand, funneling into the bow.


    The bow would automaticallypress mana and seemed to be casting some sort of spell that was also discharged when the arrow was released. In other words, the bow was essentially taking on the burden of the spell for him.


    In that respect, Chase could freely increase his magical stats, without worrying about his physical ones. After all, if he didn''t face any bacsh, then the durability of his own body didn''t matter much.


    His potential was high.


    Though, Kairos wasn''t sure how strong his allegiance to them was. He began thinking of a test to see if Chase would really be an ally in tough times.

 Chapter 144 Understand

    Kairos pondered over what he could possibly do in order to test Chase. Realistically, he could think of quite a few things. However, most of them would at the very least hamper Chase''s trust in him, or his teammates instead.


    Most of the ns he came up with would also irreversibly shift their views of him if he decided to carry them out. There were a few that he would almost go through with, but at the end of the day, he would have to put everybody through a fake crisis.


    Kairos had no ns of outright lying to the others, so if he did such a thing he was definitely going to tell them afterwards. And at that point, when they faced another crisis, there might be a seed of doubt in the back of their mind, that it might just be another test.


    And that might very well be enough for them to let their guard down just a little too much, and let something terribly bad happen.


    Realistically speaking, Kairos was just overthinking it, and he felt that he was doing so a little bit as well. However, he couldn''t just take those concerns out.


    Regardless, he was doing this because he felt Chase had the potential to be a crucial part of their team, but Kairos had serious trust issues, so he was unwilling to fully entrust his back to him.


    Kairos let out a sigh. He was also wondering about something else.


    There was Chase''s inborn ability, "Hero". Although it was locked, it would surely be strong if it was eventually activated, if Nicole''s and his own were anything to go by.


    That made him wonder what exactly allowed Nicole to activate hers. Though, he doubted that she would know herself.


    The only thing he could think of was some sort of mentality shift to unlock it. He doubted it was rted to raising one''s rank, as he had gotten his before the apocalypse, while Nicole just randomly got it at some point.


    That meant the most likely thing was some sort of event triggering it.


    Kairos grabbed onto the side of his head and closed his eyes tightly. He was trying to think if there was a time when he actually didn''t have his future vision, and it was some sort of event in his childhood that activated it.


    Unfortunately, his memories just didn''t go back that far. He could hardly even remember the times before he got his sses.


    As Kairos was getting more frustrated, he had a sudden enlightenment.


    "...Ha. Good thing I''ve been a little bit more open with my thinking recently."


    He realized that if he could see future events in his dreams, then he could just test Chase in those dreams. Even if the things he did rubbed some people the wrong way, none of it actually would happen.


    And on top of that, Chase wouldn''t even be able to know that he had been tested.


    For whatever reason, Kairos felt like there might''ve been something wed with his thought process. That doing something like that could be morally wrong in some way, using his future vision to do what he wanted without repercussions. But after just a few seconds of thinking down that path, he discarded it.


    He was not a philosopher.


    And it wasn''t as though he cared about being morally correct in the first ce.


    Kairos continued to watch over the rest of his group killing the monsters, but his thoughts were somewhere else.


    In the end, nothing too big happened. After a few hours, everyone was beginning to run out of stamina. Chase was also beginning to run out of mana. It seemed like whatever ability that increased his regeneration wasn''t permanent.


    And so, Kairos led the group back to the city.


    Upon getting back, they all separated, except for Nicole and Kairos, who were still in their room.


    The very first thing that Kairos did was go to the table and continue observing the diagram he had previously drawn. Though he was technically able to cast the frost spell, it was still not to the point of being practical. His goal was to learn enough to make it at least usable.


    However, before he sat down, Nicole couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Kairos?"


    He turned to her.


    "What is it?"


    Nicole looked down to the floor.


    "Um... I don''t think we really feel like a team."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "When all of our lives counted on it before, I felt like we all had each other''s backs. But now that we are strong enough to hold them off, and we even have this city to fall back to..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Just say it bluntly. I won''t take offense."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "I-I mean, everyone immediately broke off after we finished with our business. Nobody even offered to stay for a little bit longer. My own mother even treats me like a stranger."


    Kairos stared at her nkly.


    "...Huh? Isn''t that normal? We finished with business, so then they can just do whatever they want with their time."


    Nicole clenched her fists.


    "That''s not normal! Maybe it isn''t too strange for Chase and Tori since we only met them a little while ago, but my own mother is alienating me!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Isn''t that taking it too far? She just left to her own room."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "How is that normal? She would always be the type of person to do fun things with me and... Dad. When my rtionship with my dad was really bad, it was my mother that patched it up by having us do random fun things together!"


    Kairos couldn''t respond for quite a while.


    Nicole red at him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What? Don''t tell me your parents always just shut themselves into their room all the time!"


    Kairos furrowed his brow and didn''t respond.


    Nicole was about to confidently announce her victory, that she was right for once. But then she noticed something off about him. It was definitely a look that seemed defeated, but it just... felt a little too sad to her.


    "...H-Hey, um, we can just forget about it."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No, I have no ns of hiding behind a pretense that all is well. I''ll tell you."


    He took a deep breath.


    "I do remember when I was very young, I talked to them a little bit, but most of the time I was on my own. I would only see them asionally if we decided to eat together, though they wouldn''t really talk to me unless I forcibly inserted myself into the conversation."


    He tapped his chin several times.


    "Back then, I wasn''t allowed to leave the house, and other than a few old children''s books, I had nothing else to do. So... I just sat on the ground during those times. I remember trying to knock on their doors to get their attention, but they got really mad at me for that. I then decided just to stay outside the door so I could overhear their conversation, but that made them mad too. Though I guess that''s fair enough, since nobody wants an eavesdropper."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Thankfully, it didn''t feel too boring at the time because I didn''t really understand what being not bored was like. And soon enough, my parents eventually let me go outside on my own, so I went out for nearly the entire day all the time."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "I quickly got familiar with the entire neighborhood and even met with a few other people. I don''t exactly remember, but I know Edward was one of the earlier ones. I remember spending a lot of time with him back then."


    He crossed his legs.


    "Then as I got older, I would usually only see my parents when they were leaving oring back for work. We didn''t eat together anymore. My parents offered to leave me stuff to microwave in the fridge, but I decided to cook myself instead so I could have fresher stuff, and I ended up taking the job of cooking their meals as well."


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Ah, but that''s a little inurate to say. Whenever I got in trouble with the school, my parents would scold me, so I would also see them at those times. I guess my parents were a little less talkative to me, so I''m more used to istion, but what''s happening right now is still more or less normal, no?"


    Nicole stared at him in bewilderment.


    "...No, no. Your parents... how could they?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You make it sound like they beat me for all my life or something. Sure I got hit sometimes for doing dumb things, but it''s nothingpared to all those kids that get beat and yelled at every day."


    Nicole frowned.


    "That... the fact you think that''s normal... no wonder you..."


    She began mumbling to herself like she had gone insane.


    Kairos stared at her nkly, feeling like she was making a big deal out of something that didn''t really matter.


    "Look, your family was definitely way more involved with each other than normal, so you feel like this level of istion is weird, when really it isn''t too far from the norm. Remember, this isn''t a time of peace, but rather an apocalypse. People do different things while stressed."


    Nicole slowly shook her head.


    "Maybe. Maybe I''m the one that''s wrong, but I know my mom. Before dad died, she might have been afraid during the apocalypse, but she would still try her best to keep the group together, smoothing out problems that nobody even realized existed!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I suppose she is still grieving."


    Nicole grabbed onto his shoulders.


    "And I''m still grieving too! Do you think I can just forget about it? I can''t!"


    Kairos gently closed his eyes.


    "Sorry."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "But even though I''m still sad, I didn''t lose myself. I''m still trying my best, and a big part of that is probably because of you."


    Kairos was about to respond, but she spoke up before he could.


    "I know you said before that I''ve already done a lot for you, and I shouldn''t worry so much about it, but I really didn''t! Now that I look at everything, it all now makes so much sense. The reason why I always felt a bit of resistance when I touched you was because you weren''t used to someone touching you."


    She began panting.


    "The reason why you never invited me to anything was that that concept was foreign to you in the first ce. The reason why you never let yourself get just a bit closer to so many people wasn''t that you were putting up walls, but because you never understood what it meant to be close to a person."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Sorry, this is my fault. I probably glossed over a lot of details that made the situation seem a lot worse than it seems. My parents really didn''t treat me that bad. People tend to remember the bad things more than the good anyway."


    He couldn''t help but think of Ling. He was a person that saw his parents get eaten by monsters right in front of him. Yet, he said that the only thing he felt was emptiness. Though Kairos was unsure of how exactly Ling''s parents treated him, it was at the very least enough to shed all familial love that he felt.


    Though it seemed like Ling only realized that fact when his parents died in front of him, he must''ve been treated very badly to feel that way.


    As Kairos wasmenting on others, Nicole grabbed onto his hand tightly.


    "...I will help you understand. There are other problems, but for now, this matters most."

 Chapter 145 Plans

    Kairos let out a sigh to Nicole''s deration to make him understand.


    "What is that even supposed to mean?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "W-Well... first up should be getting you used to physical contact."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh? I don''t get that at all."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "Then hold my hand and tell me how you honestly feel."


    She reached her hand out to Kairos, waiting for him to voluntarily grab it. After a bit of hesitation, heplied. His first instinct was to lie about how he felt, but he decided to try his best to be objective.


    "...I feel ufortable, but it''s not that bad."


    Nicole frowned.


    "Don''t you think it''s a little weird to feel ufortable just from skin contact? Maybe it would be normal if it was someone you didn''t know, but I''ve been with you for so long, and you still feel apprehensive."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I suppose so... but isn''t that just who I am?"


    Nicole was taken aback.


    "What does that mean?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess it is slightly abnormal for me to feel this way, but this is pretty much how I''ve been for most of my life. At the end of the day, it''s essentially be a part of who I am."


    Nicole frowned.


    "But it''s still a bad thing!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Maybe... but I don''t think that''s something that will change any time soon."


    Nicole seemed to be on the verge of tears.


    "But... but...that doesn''t mean it shouldn''t be fixed!"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Maybe. You''re probably right when you say that. But still, even if it''s something that can be fixed, it''s not something you can do just like that. That is unless you rip out a fundamental part of myself."


    Nicole blinked in confusion.


    "Then..."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''m sure it will get better with time, especially since you''re here. This is another thing that you just can''t rush."


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Ok..."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Anyway, what were you talking about earlier? Do you really think there is a problem with our group?"


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "Y-Yes!... It''s just that it doesn''t seem any of us can truly trust each other. Although it isn''t too bad on the surface, none of us can really trust each other. There is... distance that shouldn''t exist between a true team."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "I guess so, but... there''s no helping that."


    Nicole fell silent for a moment.


    "What do you mean?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "We were a team formed by circumstance. If it wasn''t for the apocalypse, all of us would probably still be in our homes doing our own thing. If we passed by one another on the street, we wouldn''t even give the other a second nce."


    Nicole stamped her foot.


    "That was then, but now is different! I want all of us to be able to depend on each other! Just like... just like..."


    She bit the bottom of her lip.


    "Like when the three of us were still together."


    Kairos wore a despondent look.


    "That''s just... not possible."


    Nicole furrowed her brow.


    "Why? Why! It was possible before!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "When we were children, none of us really had ulterior motives. It was only us. But now that we''ve grown older, there are too many things that remain hidden in the dark. If interests conflicted while we were younger, it would be something along the lines of stealing someone''s candy. But now, it involves whether or not we survive."


    He looked out the window.


    "Even if you are willing to risk your own life, the other person has no obligation to follow."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "I get it."


    She sped her hands together.


    "I get that it will be hard, maybe impossible."


    A small smile formed on her face.


    "But I don''t want to give up just like that."


    Kairos didn''t know how to respond for a few moments. He was honestly thinking of a simr problem and was nning to test everyone in his future sight dreams. But he was beginning to think maybe Nicole''s way was better.


    Instead of testing, they could make a bond with each other.


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well... it''s definitely going to take a long time, so we should get started as soon as possible."


    Nicole blinked a few times in surprise.


    "A-Ah! Yes!"


    Without thinking about it too much, Kairos called everyone over to his room once more. Everyone was more or lesspliant, and the group sat down while looking at one another awkwardly, wondering what this was all about.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Alright, I was thinking about it, and I believe we shoulde up with a n that allows us to work better as a team."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "That does make sense. Having a n is better than none, but I believe most of us are still quite good at improvising."


    Tori tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? What does that mean?"


    Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "Whenever we''ve been in tense situations, nobody just freezes up cluelessly. It may not be the best action, but I''ve seen that everyone at least attempts to do something that''s somewhat reasonable."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes, I''ve thought that too, but I still feel it may be better to have a proper structure to it."


    Nicole gave him a few nces, as though wondering what this had to do with what they were talking about earlier.


    Kairos gave her a short nce before clearing her throat.


    "First off, let''s talk about Chase. You are able to use your arrows to deliver powerful strikes from far away. However, your weakness is when you get surrounded by monsters on all ends."


    Chase slowly nodded.


    "But that doesn''t mean I''m hopeless in that situation."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes, but it is still what you are least apt at. On the other hand, Tori doesn''t have the same ranged strength, but she has high mobility and is able to carry people. She can help make up for your weakness if she carries you away from danger whenever needed."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Tori pped softly.


    "Oh! That makes a lot of sense!"


    She smiled to herself.


    "I guess it can''t be helped, I''m the white knight in shining armor after all."


    Chase let out a soft sigh.


    "...But it''s the guy that''s supposed to be the knight."


    Tori giggled.


    "But I have short hair, and you have long hair like a princess! I''d say it''s close enough."


    The corner of Chase''s lip twitched.


    "Just because a guy has long hair, doesn''t mean they are feminine."


    Tori pouted.


    "Ehhhh? Are you sure?"


    Kairos coughed, interrupting them.


    "Anyway, regardless of how you look at it, the two of you have a lot of potential. Perhaps if Chase was able to shoot arrows while being in the air with Tori, then many new strategies could open up."


    Tori brightened up.


    "Wow! That sounds really cool!"


    Chase sighed bitterly.


    "I suppose if we did practice enough, it could turn out to be quite useful."


    Kairos then looked at Sydney.


    "As for Sydney, due to the nature of her abilities, she has... a lot of defensive capability, since she can regenerate damage. That allows her to take the front without too much concern. However, just being able to regenerate isn''t enough. If it is paired up with significant offensive power, or the ability to protect others, then it can be meaningful."


    Sydney listened attentively.


    "Ah... I see."


    Kairos continued.


    "If I recall, you have the earth spell, am I right?"


    Sydney slowly nodded.


    "Yes..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I don''t believe that spell has too much offensive capability, but perhaps you can practice creating a sturdy wall to protect the others."


    Sydney smiled bitterly.


    "I suppose it can''t be helped..."


    He then turned to Nicole.


    "You have the ability to turn invisible. Your role will probably be a bit more detached, as we will probably rely on you to take out the enemy that is most heavily protected. Because of the nature of your job, it will be a bit harder to practice, but you can still work on getting familiar with your invisibility ability."


    Nicole nodded promptly.


    "Got it!"


    Kairos rested his hands on hisp.


    "And that leaves me. If I am far away from the group, then my spells will be several times more powerful. In situations where we need that power, I will likely break off from the rest of the group, but otherwise, I will be the spellcaster, ying a simr role to Chase, but midrange."


    Chase nodded.


    "That all makes sense. Should we all head off our separate ways to practice?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No, we should do so together. Seeing each other perform their abilities lets us be aware of their limitations and capabilities. It''s best that we practice together to be more familiar with that."


    Nicole looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. It seemed she had realized what he was doing.


    Kairos stood up from the couch.


    "Then we can do it like this. In the morning, we have a practice session, and at night, we go hunt monsters. Does anyone have any objections?"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "None from me."


    Sydney spoke up.


    "I think it''s fine..."


    Tori smiled.


    "I like this arrangement!"


    A small smile was on Nicole''s face.


    "I do too."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Then we can agree to meet up next morning and do that."


    Everyone except for Nicole left to go to their own rooms again, but now they had ns to meet up in the morning. Nicole pressed the tips of her fingers together.


    "I see what you did. But... isn''t this a little indirect?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "At the end of the day, this is also something that needs time. Just by working together, it will slowly improve our rtionship. In time, I''m sure our rtionship will be a little better."


    Nicole nodded.


    "I see."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Anyway, since it''s night, you should go to your room now."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "But we have to start working on getting you used to contact, right?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "...I guess?"


    Nicole cleared her throat.


    "Then... you can just do whatever you were nning to, but I will be next to you, alright?"


    Kairos looked at him strangely.


    "Well, alright."


    With that, he continued to work on memorizing the frost spell diagram, trying to get a better grasp on it. The entire time, Nicole just rested on his side. This didn''t actually distract Kairos all that much, because he was used to Nicole wrapping her arm around his shoulder.


    For whatever reason, this sort of contact was just different to him.


    And so, the two of them remained in this way for quite a while.


    After making decent progress, Kairos felt he should sleep. However, the sun was going toe up in a couple of hours. He was unsure if his sleep schedule waspletely ruined, or if he even needed to sleep in the first ce.


    After some deliberation, he just decided to stay up the entire time.


    With that, he continued to practice until morning came. Once it was more or less time, he woke up Nicole, and the two of them went down to the entrance of the central building.


    Tori was already there, but Chase and Sydney weren''t there. It was still fairly early in the morning, so Kairos decided that it was fair enough. The three of them waited for a couple minutes.


    Chase came down at around that time and apologized for beingte, but clearly wasn''t sincere.


    Then, as they were waiting for thest person, another person came down to meet them.


    But, it wasn''t Sydney like they were expecting.


    Rather, it was Tiana.


    She waved to them.


    "Hey, what are you all doing here?"

 Chapter 146 Practice

    Kairos wondered if he should make up an excuse to send Tiana away, but before he could think of anything, Tori spoke up.


    "Ah, we are going together to practice our team coordination!


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "Oh! Then why don''t I join in?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "But you n on staying inside the city for most of your time, no? I don''t think there''s much point."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "I don''t n to stay in the city forever, you know? I want to explore the rest of the world as well."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...But someone will have to stay to guard, right? That will probably mean we will have to stay, so we will be working independently anyway."


    The rest of the group seemed a little confused as to how Kairos'' point made sense. After all, although they saw Tiana as rtively powerful, she was also only one person. Yet the way Kairos was talking made it seem like she was at least on par with all of thembined.


    However, while Kairos hadn''t seen Tiana truly fight her hardest, he knew that she would be quite terrifying to deal with. Even ignoring her trump card, which would allow her to temporarily raise her rank, there was the strange mana connection that she had with everyone.


    From what he could tell, she was able to use it to transfer mana between people, meaning she had ess to all of the mana from people within her city.


    Even if the farmers each only have a few points in mana capacity, she could probably get a total mana capacity that reached the thousands.


    Kairos was unsure if it would work if she was far away from the city, but with how strong spells were, it would allow her to do quite a bit. The only real drawback to spells in the first ce was how limited mana was, but once that was taken away, there was little to stop them.


    Tiana gave him a strange smile that seemed to see through all of what he was thinking.


    "It''s not ready now, but soon I will be able to leave the city and still be able to protect it easily."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...It seems like with just a bit of time, you can do anything."


    Tiana smirked.


    "Heh, you''d be surprised just how far I can go."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Whatever. I guess you cane if you agree not to make too much interference."


    Tiana crossed her arms.


    "Che, I''m going to help you out more than you can imagine."


    Amidst their conversation, Sydney walked in.


    "Hm? What''s happening?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Tiana decided that she''sing as well. Since all of us are here, we might as well go."


    With that, the group began walking out of the city. In the corner of Kairos'' eye, he caught onto a ratherrge stage that a few people were building. It seemed like Tiana had taken Quinn''s suggestion to make a room for the musical trio to perform in.


    He wondered what else she nned on doing.


    Perhaps she would also call him up to actually do something for once.


    Once the group had exited the city, Kairos spoke up.


    "Since it doesn''t really matter where we practice, we might as well do so here. However, for the sake of being adaptable, we won''t permanently be using this ce."


    He then raised a finger.


    "For starters, Tori and Chase, the two of you should try to learn how to work together and shoot at faraway things while flying. If you see any monsters, just do that. Sydney, you should begin just trying to create a wall of earth. Nicole, try to use your invisibility to sneak up to me and tap my shoulder. Try your best to avoid getting noticed by me."


    After saying all of that, the others went to do their thing. Though, Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "So what should I do?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Watch, I guess?"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "You assigned everyone else something, but not me? This is obviously singling me out."


    Kairos sighed.


    "I also don''t understand what your powers, strengths, or weaknesses are. How am I supposed to devise any sort of n?"


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    He was discreetly implying that she would have to exin all her abilities, but Tiana didn''t seem to want to disclose that information. A small smile formed on her face.


    "Then I''ll juste up with something myself!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Alright."


    Right after he said that, Kairos suddenly took a step back. Nicole let out a surprised gasp.


    "Y-You saw me?"


    She gradually became visible in front of him. Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Last I remember, it took quite a while for your invisibility to activate."


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "W-Well, I found a way to sort of prepare part of the spell beforehand. I can''t cast other spells that way, but the frost spell doesn''t seem to be that useful for fighting anyway."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Hm... well done."


    Nicole pouted.


    "But could you tell me how you saw me?"


    Kairos coughed.


    "I could faintly hear your footsteps."


    Nicole pressed her lips together.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Mm... I couldn''t even hear them though."


    In reality, Kairos was lying. He hadn''t noticed any of the physical signs, but because he was able to see mana, and the spell was unable to cover up mana, he was able to vaguely distinguish Nicole. There was also a mana cord connecting Tiana and Nicole, which made it a bit easier.


    On top of that, there was even his future vision, so if he did end up letting his guard down he would still be warned anyway.


    He purposely wanted to make it really difficult for Nicole, because taking on the role of an assassin was extremely risky. If one was found out, they would be surrounded on all ends by enemies. At the very least, the person holding the frontline would have allies to fall back to. As for an assassin, they werepletely on their own.


    Nicole put on a determined expression.


    "I''ll try again!"


    She went off into the distance and began turning herself invisible once more.


    Tori hooked her arms underneath Chase''s, while wings sprouted out from her back. She then took to the air, flying quite fast. The position was quite awkward for Chase, making it hard for him to draw his bow back properly, but Tori also made adjustments to help out.


    There was a monster far off in the distance, so Chase aimed at it. He put a little bit of mana into an arrow, pulled it back while aiming the best he could, then released it.


    It was quite off, but he curved the arrow so that it hit its target anyway. Chase''s archery definitely wasn''t bad, and with his increased agility he was far above his peak. However, Tori was not only flying at a fast speed, but not in just a single direction.


    Kairos noticed that Chase had used his curve to hit his target and called out to him.


    "Don''t rely on your curving ability to hit your target! What if you need to use it afterward to adjust?"


    Chase clicked his tongue and shouted back.


    "If it wasn''t for the unstable flight pattern, I could easily do this!"


    Kairos was unforgiving.


    "The flight pattern will always be unstable if you need to dodge an enemy''s attack, just work on it!"


    Chase let out a sigh.


    "Fine!"


    He drew back another arrow and began aiming once more.


    As for Sydney, she was standing in between two buildings and had cast the earth spell. The ground pavement underneath suddenly broke apart as a thick wall of earth began rising out of the ground.


    It took roughly five seconds for her to create a wall between the two buildings that was three meters high and a meter thick. She couldn''t help but look at it with a bit of shock. Sydney hadn''t used her spell before, thus didn''t really understand it. Nheless, she felt it was quite strong.


    Kairos called out to her.


    "Move to the side, I will test its durability."


    He pointed two fingers towards it before releasing a strong torrent of water. With a loud bang, the water beam mmed into the wall. It held on for roughly a second, but in that time it was deformed greatly. Then, the beam pushed through the wall and broke out the other side.


    After that, he promptly stopped casting the spell.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "You need to work on two things. Try to make the wall faster, and also make it sturdier."


    Sydney blinked a few times.


    "Eh? But... I''m not sure how to do that."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "You''ll just have to continue trying. Experiment with things."


    Tiana was just watching and couldn''t help but speak up.


    "You seem to have unreasonable standards."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I know they won''t be able to do the best job at first, but their goal should be reasonably high. With how strong our enemies are now, and how some monsters are, this much will only be the start."


    Tiana let out a small chuckle.


    "...You actually expect them to be able to fight those kinds of things?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. It seemed like despite living inside the city the whole time, she was still aware there were things out there that couldn''t be provoked.


    "...I''m not sure if they will ever be able to, but it doesn''t hurt to try."


    He couldn''t help but think of his mom, with her unbelievably unfair power of stopping the time of the things around her. Kairos was unsure if there was even something stronger than her that currently existed.


    Though, that kind of standard was just too unfair topare with. But when Kairos began thinking of the church of evolution, he still felt that they would be unable to defeat even just one of their so-called disciples.


    Kairos remembered one of them simply had hard bones before and was essentially a shield. But in just a short amount of time, it had be a nearly invulnerable giant skeleton.


    And then there was the one with way too many eyes on its face, able to possess other people if they just looked at one of the eyes it created.


    Kairos pulled out the red prism and stared at it. Currently, it waspletely dull and nearly ck in color. The main source of conflict between his group and the others was the object in his hand right now.


    They didn''t really need walls anymore with the city, so it didn''t serve that much use to them. He considered the possibility of handing it over to cut ties with that group.


    Yet, Kairos also felt that was the wrong path.


    He wasn''t exactly the most honorable person, but something he knew from experience was that there was only so much one could run before one had to face the problem head on.


    And if one was going to face the problem anyway, it was best to do so while they were at their strongest, not after they gave up what they had to run.


    Kairos put the red prism back into his pocket.


    Tiana looked at it curiously, but wasn''t interested enough to ask about it.


    Kairos randomly twisted himself to the side, while Nicole let out another surprised gasp. She let out a soft sigh.


    "I seem to be doing this wrong..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It''s your first time doing such a thing, so getting it wrong is quite normal. There is a reason why we are practicing in the first ce."


    Tiana tapped her chin a few times as she watched the others.


    "Hey, I have an idea of what I can do."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "And what is that?"


    Tiana giggled.


    "...You all fight me."

 Chapter 147 Sparring

    Kairos stared at her nkly.


    "And why did you suggest that?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "It seems like most of you aren''t really into it. Maybe if it''s a semi-real fight, then you all will get more into it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What makes you say that?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "Then let''s watch them for a little bit longer and see."


    Kairos slowly nodded, then turned to look at the others with her.


    Chase no longer curved his arrows, but now that he did so his hit rate was abysmal. He aimed at targets that were at least five hundred meters away, and his actual arrow was at most ten centimeters off their mark, but he was missing nheless.


    As for Sydney, she had her brow furrowed. She created another wall, but it was practically the same as thest one. After casting, she only seemed more lost and clueless. The only thing she found herself able to do was cast the spell once more, to little sess.


    And finally, Nicole recasted her invisibility spell and attempted to approach Kairos. However, before she got that close, Tiana walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.


    "Found you!"


    Nicole gradually became visible, revealing a distraught expression on her face.


    "E-Eh? How did you find me!"


    Tiana giggled.


    "You weren''t sneaky enough."


    She then turned to Kairos.


    "See? They aren''t putting their all into it!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It''s going a little overboard to expect the best results when people are just starting."


    Tiana let out a sigh.


    "Yes, it''s overboard, but everything that the apocalypse brought has been overboard. If they just progress at a normal pace, they will be unable to do anything."


    Kairos didn''t know what to say for a moment.


    "Fair enough."


    He then pped his hands rather loudly.


    "Change of ns!"


    Chase and Tori flew back down, Nicole came back out, and Sydney turned to look at him.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "We are going to be doing the same thing, except we will be doing it while fighting against Tiana."


    Tiana smirked.


    "And your sole goal is to have someonend a single hit on me. Do it before all of you get exhausted, and that''s considered your win!"


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "Sounds like you n on getting really into this."


    Tiana let out a soft hum.


    "Well, I wouldn''t say that."


    She walked to be roughly ten meters away and raised three fingers into the air.


    "Alright, we can start after a countdown from three!"


    Tiana smiled.


    "Three!"


    She lowered one finger.


    "Two!"


    Then another.


    "One!"


    And then the final finger.


    "Go."


    The instant she said that she instantly shot upwards on a metal pir, going up rapidly. Everyone else seemed a little unprepared still but didn''t wait before getting to work.


    Tori flew up into the air while carrying Chase, and he drew back an arrow.


    As for Sydney, she hesitated for a few moments before casting an earth spell, elevating her, Nicole, and Kairos. It was nowhere near close to the speed that Tiana was going up, but it would at least close a bit of the distance.


    Nicole turned to Kairos with a confused expression.


    "Um, how am I supposed to get close to her?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "You will probably have to scale up one of the nearby buildings, then try to get to her from there, though it will probably be pretty hard. If you think you can use that ability, then just try it. It seems to preserve your initial momentum from the moment you cast it, so take advantage of that."


    Nicole nodded.


    "Got it!"


    She gradually turned invisible, then went to scale up one of the buildings. Although it wasn''t something she was the most used to, she had been able to climb trees before, and the increased stats helped her do it smoothly.


    Sydney turned to Kairos at a bit of a loss.


    "What should I do?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, just try to protect the others. You probably won''t be able to match the rate Tiana can raise the ground, so you''re gonna have to just climb up the buildings as well."


    After saying that, Kairos leaped up onto the side of a building before scaling it, and Sydney followed after without much hesitation.


    As they were going up, metal spikes shot out of the building, interrupting them. With the help of his future vision, Kairos was able to easily evade them. However, Sydney was caught, getting one of her hands impaled.


    She furrowed her brow before ripping her hand out forcefully and continued climbing upwards. Her hand was heavily damaged in the process, but it was also regenerating quickly.


    There were several more metal spikes going her way, and she was able to dodge some, but not all of them.


    As for Kairos, Tiana gave up on trying to stop him entirely, giving him a rather smooth journey upwards.


    Once he got to the top, he looked over to his side to see Chase pulling back a mana arrow while Tori was carrying him. It was a much smaller mana arrow than normal, which was to be expected since it was only a spar, and they just had tond one hit on her.


    However, that didn''t mean they would have it easy. The metal pir underneath Tiana expanded out, creating several metal spikes. They then detached from the pir before shooting toward Chase and Tori.


    With quick reflexes, Tori was able to fly out of the way of the spikes. However, the jostling was so intense that Chase had a far harder time trying to aim his arrow. He let one loose, which shot through the air quickly and curved towards Tiana. However, Tiana herself was quite agile, and the metal pir underneath her could also move rather freely.


    She was able to dodge Chase''s arrow easily and further provoked him with a smug smile.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chase clicked his tongue before pulling back another arrow.


    As for Kairos, he raised two fingers and pointed them towards Tiana, nning on using the water spell. While he thought the gale spell would have a higher chance of working, he wanted to save using that spell for a decisive moment.


    A thin, but fast beam shot out from Kairos'' finger towards her, which Tiana was also able to dodge quite easily. Kairos almost immediately figured that he would be unable to hit Tiana with the water spell under normal circumstances. However, because of its beam-like nature, while it didn''t hit her, it was able to zone her out, reducing the areas she could dodge.


    Chase took note of that and continued to let more mana arrows loose.


    Unfortunately, Tiana was just a tad bit too slippery, allowing her to get away unscathed. Despite having his future vision, Kairos was having difficulty in zoning her properly. The biggest problem was that Tiana could both raise and lower the metal pir she was standing on very easily. That meant she could go either under or over his beam of water if she wanted.


    Tiana had also been shooting metal spikes in his direction. Although none of them hit him, they were enough to make positioning his beam properly difficult.


    This continued for several minutes, until eventually Tiana directly created arge metal wall on the building Kairos was on, preventing his beam of water.


    He turned to Sydney, who was right next to him.


    Could you elevate the tform so I can continue attacking?


    Sydney promptly nodded and did as he said. It took a couple seconds, but Kairos was back to shooting a beam of water at her.


    Chase felt that he wasn''t going to be able to hit her despite having Kairos'' help in restricting her movement, thus he decided to do something simr to him and also restrict Tiana''s movement, hoping that someone else would do something.


    He let out an arrow at the side of Tiana, stopping her from going in that direction.


    Tiana simply remained where she was to avoid it.


    Then out of nowhere, she conjured a wall next to her.


    With a m, something hit it. Nicole gradually revealed herself on the other side with blood dripping down from her forehead. She began freefalling and desperately mbered onto the side of the walls to slow her fall.


    At the same time, Tiana snuck a metal spike in Tori''s blindspot, causing it to m into Chase''s stomach, causing him to cough up blood.


    Then, she took her time creating several metal spikes around both Kairos and Sydney. In a panic, Sydney created earth walls all around the two of them. Unfortunately, the metal spikes mmed right through them.


    Some of them impaled Sydney, but Kairos jumped up out of the way.


    Tiana looked at Kairos with a confident smirk.


    "Want to keep going?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "There''s not much point in continuing further."


    Tiana put her hands on her hips.


    "Heh, seems like I won."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "That was to be expected."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "You could at least be a little encouraging."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "You could at least be a little less cocky."


    Tianaughed.


    "Ah, fine."


    She proceeded to get rid of all the metal she conjured during the fight, letting it sink into the ground.


    Kairos slid back down the building along with Sydney. The group met back up again, though they had all sustained injuries. Though they would be life-threatening to a normal person, just a bit of rest would let them mostly recover.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Guess that''s the end of today''s training session."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Yes. But there''s still something else..."


    She narrowed her eyes.


    "For now, everyone but Kairos will go back into the city."


    Kairos turned to look at her with curiosity.


    "In case you''re wondering, I have no ns of sparring against you myself."


    Tiana waved her hand dismissively.


    "It''s not that, just stay with me here for a moment."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Alright."


    Though the others seemed a little confused, they went through the opening in the city walls that Tiana created without muchint. They also wanted to get some rest after their injuries.


    Once they were all gone, Tiana took a deep breath.


    "Alright then. Now it''s time to deal with a few hyenas."


    Without saying anything more, she pointed her index finger upwards.


    The ground broke apart in a certain location, while a metal tform raised. That tform then whipped in a direction,nding right in front of Kairos and Tiana.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Ah, I see what you mean by hyenas now."


    There was a group of four people on the metal tform in front of them. They all had startled expressions on their faces and appeared a bit panicked upon realizing they were exposed.


    Tiana put one hand on her hip.


    "And what exactly were you all doing here?"


    A man at the front with short blonde hair recovered first and put on a stalwart expression as though they hadn''t been caught just now.


    "We are simply a group scavenging the area for supplies."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "So, basically people that are too weak to actually win any fights on their own, and thus take advantage of people after they are exhausted from battling."


    The corner of the man''s lip twitched.


    "We have no such intention! We are just a friendly group trying to survive."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "Yet, this friendly group was slowly getting closer once they noticed a fight was going on."


    Kairos caught onto something as Tiana was talking. He noticed that four strands of mana were slowly sneaking their way toward the four respective people.


    He was a little confused as to what her intention was, thinking that maybe she wanted to convert them into allies. Though her attitude right now seemed quite antagonistic.


    Kairos decided to remain silent and watch.

 Chapter 148 Youre Cruel

    A small smile formed on Tiana''s face as she looked at the four in front of her.


    "So, do the four of you understand your positions right now?"


    There were awkward expressions on all of their faces, like they had just eaten something bitter. A girl near the back spoke up.


    "I-It''s not like we had any bad intentions!"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Oh really? To me, you just look like some rats."


    At first, Kairos brushed it off as a lie. But then, he remembered that the butterfly clip in Tiana''s hair would glow red when someone lied. Nheless, Tiana looked like she didn''t even slightly believe it.


    He wondered what exactly their goal was.


    The man at the front raised his hands in an attempt to pacify her.


    "Look, we will just leave and won''te back, alright?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "And you think I''m going to let you do that after dragging you over here."


    The man in the front frowned.


    "Then what do you want?"


    Tiana rubbed her chin and looked to the side yfully.


    "I don''t know... what could I want?"


    She raised an eyebrow.


    "Maybe... all of your supplies?"


    The man nodded rather readily.


    "Alright, we''ll give it to you."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes, and a faint glint passed by them.


    "Oh? It seems like you all don''t have much on you. Not even backpacks. It seems you didn''t take much with you, perhaps because your secret hideout is somewhere nearby?"


    The man in the front looked a little perturbed.


    "...Ok, we have a ce like that, but it''s really far away, alright? It would be a huge pain for all of us. It''s not like we have nothing on us, we still have a decent amount to give away."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "You didn''t even try to fight when you were asked to give it up. It''s almost like you know what you had wasn''t worth much."


    The man raised his hands in the air.


    "It''s just because we don''t want any trouble! Look, there is no real grudge between us, you know?"


    Tiana scoffed.


    "What makes you so certain of that?"


    The man let out a defeated sigh.


    "How about this? We''ll give you everything we have on us, then we wille back to give you something worth your while."


    Tiana chuckled.


    "So just let you run away? Not a chance."


    The man took a deep breath.


    "Alright, alright, you can hold me hostage, and I''ll have the other three get it."


    Tiana smiled.


    "Just you? But what if you were to be a sacrificial pawn, then we wouldn''t get anything out of it, would we? What else can I expect from a bunch of thieving rascals?"


    The girl in the back looked offended.


    "We''re not-"


    "Be quiet Jessica!"


    The man in the front shut her up immediately. Then he stared at Tiana nkly.


    "Then what do you want?"


    Tiana raised two fingers.


    "Well, for one, what if we hold three of you hostage and thest one goes back, or you bring us to this ce and we take what we want?"


    The man shut his eyelids tightly.


    "...Alright, you can take three of us hostage."


    The other people in his group looked rather apprehensive, not sure if they really wanted to go through with this. The man seemed to notice this but did not back down regardless.


    Tiana raised a finger.


    "Ah, but if the person doesn''te back within an hour, I''m killing all three hostages."


    The man''s expression twitched.


    "...Now that''s too unreasonable, it will take more than an hour to get there and back."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "Then I suppose you''ll just have to bring us!"


    The man looked a little desperate.


    "Look, can''t you just wait for a day? It won''t take more than that, you can just leave us to starve too."


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "Sure, I can wait."


    The man let out a relieved sigh.


    "Thank you."


    But then, a rather sadistic smile formed on Tiana''s face.


    "I''ll just kill the three hostages."


    The man grimaced.


    "What?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Can you hurry up?"


    He let out a soft sigh.


    "I mean, you''ve already got them wrapped around your finger now."


    Tiana chuckled.


    "Oh, you can tell?"


    Kairos rubbed his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "That much is obvious."


    What he was really talking about was the mana cord Tiana extending out. She had sessfully connected them to all four of them without being caught at all.


    Another guy frowned when he heard that.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    The man in the front scowled.


    "Be quiet, Jacob!"


    The guy looked away after he heard that.


    On the other hand, Tiana let out augh.


    "I suppose you''re right, Kairos. It''s time to get serious."


    A strange smile formed on her face.


    "Now, let''s have you four tell me why you''re really here."


    The man furrowed his brow.


    "We''re just here exploring."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "So you''re scouting out the ce?"


    The man paused.


    "...Yes, we just wanted to get ay of thend."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "Lookie here, children. You can either choose to stop stepping around the truth, or die a painful death. It''s your choice."


    The man frowned.


    "But we''re really not-"


    Tiana clenched her fist, and immediately afterward the guy that was referred to as Jacob fell to his knees, clutching his chest.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What... is this..."


    His eyes bulged out of his sockets, while he began breathing like he was drowning, but despite taking in deep breaths one after another, his condition wasn''t getting any better.


    The man immediately reached out to hold him up and furrowed his brows.


    "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side slightly.


    "Making him die painfully."


    The man held out his hand.


    "I''ll tell you! I''ll tell you, alright? Just stop!"


    Tiana''s smile grew a littlerger.


    "Ah, but you see I''m a person that keeps to her word. And I said that he was going to die painfully."


    The man looked furious.


    "You bitch! Stop it!"


    Jacob continued to gasp desperately. Tears and snot had already begun to spill out plentifully, though the person himself didn''t seem to realize it. He began to give up on breathing and simply cried out painfully, writhing in agony so hard that the man was unable to keep a proper hold on him.


    The man tried to hold him up, but Jacob only wed at him in return, though it didn''t seem like he even knew what he was doing. Jacob began mming his various limbs and even head on the ground. The man desperately tried to restrain him, but it was like trying to restrain a bull.


    Jacob continued to m his limbs into the ground until they cracked and began twisting in strange directions. Soon, they began to hang limply, almost like they were the arms of a doll.


    His skull cracked the second time he hit it against the ground, while brain matter began to leak out by the fifth time. He continued to m his head even in this state, until his skull directly shattered, after which he stopped moving.


    The man had his eyes widened with shock, having a hard time believing what he was seeing.


    Tiana let out a soft sigh.


    "If only you told me, then he would still be alive. But you still have a chance to save your other two party members if you begin telling me the truth."


    The man''s eyes were filled with rage.


    "As if I''ll-"


    "We are a scouting team."


    The girl in the back spoke up. Her eyes were unnaturally widened, while her breathing was heavy. It seemed the scene from before shook her up quite a bit.


    The man narrowed his eyes.


    "You..."


    The girl swallowed and looked at the man with upromising eyes.


    "I don''t want to end up like that."


    The man frowned.


    "But what about everyone-"


    "I don''t care."


    The girl''s eyes almost seemed hollow.


    "The town never did anything enough for me to give up my life."


    The man fell silent.


    As for Tiana, her half-clenched fist rxed. She then pped.


    "Alright then, tell me all about this town."


    The girl took a few breaths after another.


    "There are maybe about two hundred people in that town, and it''s roughly fifty kilometers away behind us."


    Tiana gave a small nod.


    "How strong are the people there?"


    The girl spoke promptly.


    "There are quite a few strong ones, the leader is already at the peak of rank D, while there are at least twenty other low tier D ranks as well."


    Tiana let out a soft hum.


    "How much does that town have then?"


    The girl took a deep breath.


    "T-They seem to havee across some sort of food stockpile, letting them have that many people there, so there should be quite a bit"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you hiding anything from me?"


    The girl panicked.


    "No, no!"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "So you''re saying there''s only food?"


    The girl furrowed her brow.


    "Um, um... t-there might be more! I remember there was this ce in the middle that they wouldn''t let us enter, so there''s probably something there!"


    Tiana nodded.


    "And how is the overall state of the town? "


    The girl blinked a few times.


    "S-Sorry, what do you mean by that?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "Are they happy? Sad? Afraid?"


    The girl paused for a moment, thinking.


    "...Most of the people are satisfied, but they are all a little afraid of the ruler."


    Tiana nodded.


    "And that''s all I needed to know, goodbye."


    She then clenched her fist, causing the remaining three all to copse. There was a disbelieving expression on the girl''s face. As she began to writhe, she looked up at Tiana in despair, only to see that there was only a smile on her face.


    The three of them proceeded to kill themselves unintentionally while writhing just like how the first one did.


    Once they all gradually became quiet, Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "You really are cruel, aren''t you?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "Like you would''ve acted any different."


    Kairos did not respond immediately, just blinking a few times.


    "You hardly even gave them a chance to speak before killing one."


    Tiana smirked.


    "If you don''t act upon your threats, then they''ll think they can just talk their way out of the entire thing. Acting lightly is just giving them hope to escape. Many people make the mistake of not acting strongly in the beginning."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Whatever. So are you going to attack that town or something?"


    Tiana waved her hand dismissively.


    "Not now, at least. It doesn''t sound like they have much to take in the first ce."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright."


    A moment of silence lingered between them.


    Kairos eventually spoke up.


    "Say, you can do the same thing you did to them, to all of us, can''t you?"


    Tiana didn''t respond for quite a long time.


    "...Perhaps."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    He had seen what had actually happened since he was able to see mana. Tiana directly extracted all the mana out of their bodies, before preventing more mana from getting back to them.


    The act of desperate breathing actually did have a point, as it seemed to vaguely influence the surrounding mana streams to enter their bodies, but Tiana held them all back. Then, before they could die from theck of mana, they killed themselves, escaping from the pain they experienced.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel ufortable knowing that there was now another way for him to die. That seemed to be why mana and magic affinity were automatically added upon evolving, as the person in question would die without it.


    Tiana smiled at him.


    "Come on, let''s go back"


    Kairos nodded, but in his head, he had changed his first priority to learning a countermeasure.

 Chapter 149 Mana Manipulation

    Kairos and Tiana went back into the city, pretending that nothing had happened. They walked back to the center of the city without catching too much attention.


    Once they got back to the center of the city, Kairos spoke up.


    "Hey, don''t you think those people will be concerned once their scouting team doesn''te back?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "There are countless things that could cause them to die in the apocalypse."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Then maybe we should''ve dealt with their corpses?"


    Tiana shrugged.


    "It doesn''t matter. It''s not like you''re afraid of them, are you?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "The girl said there were about twenty D ranks, that''s a lot more than us."


    Tiana scoffed.


    "That just means they have a bunch of idiots that ranked up way too early."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Both of us are also at the D rank."


    Tiana sighed.


    "Well, I imagine you had your reasons, while for me there was no point in staying at a lower rank."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "...I suppose."


    Tiana chuckled.


    "I never imagined you would be so scared."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I wouldn''t say scared, from how it looks like their little town isn''t sustainable."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "What makes you say that?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "If they have that many at the D rank, I doubt that they have enough farmers to sustain themselves if it''s just two hundred people. There must be some sort ofrge food supply they have if they are sustainable for now, but I doubt it will remain that way soon."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "You sound so confident. What if they have some magical renewable food source?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Well, it sounds like the ruler of that ce likes to rule by fear, but is also one that cares about appearances. Those kinds of people are the ones that are as shallow as it gets. Frankly, I doubt that kind of person has even thought about any of the long-term consequences of his actions."


    Tiana stared at him strangely.


    "That is quite the conclusion to jump to with how little information you were given."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Maybe..."


    Tiana went back to her room, while Kairos did the same. Though, when he opened the door, he saw that Nicole was there again. She was fairly bruised, with a small frown on her face.


    "U-Um, hi."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Uh, hey. What''s wrong?"


    Nicole scratched the back of her head.


    "I... I''m sorry for being really bad at sneaking."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s not like you''re a trained ninja, you still have to practice it."


    Nicole looked down at the ground.


    "But still... I felt so ipetent. Both of you were able to see through me so easily."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. In reality, Nicole didn''t even do that bad of a job. Rather, the biggest problem was that Kairos could actually see the mana in her body, letting him find her, and Tiana had some strange mana tether that also let her know exactly where she was.


    It was never a fair fight in the first ce.


    He deliberated over telling her, but decided not to in the end.


    "It''s better that you fail when it doesn''t matter and get practice for when it does. The point is to learn new ways, you know?"


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "I... I guess."


    She still looked quite despondent, which made Kairos sigh.


    "Since when did you care so much about these kinds of things anyway?"


    A small smile formed on Nicole''s face.


    "I-I just felt that you had quite high expectations and I couldn''t fulfill them."


    Kairos sighed.


    "If that''s what you''re worried about, you should be working on improving yourself rather than sulking."


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "A-Ah! You''re right!"


    She began to walk out. As she did, Kairos called out after her.


    "Plus, it''s not like you''ve betrayed my expectations yet."


    Nicole snuck a nce backwards.


    "R-Really?"


    Kairos gave a small smile.


    "Really."


    With that, Nicole straightened herself.


    "O-Ok!"


    Kairos then closed the door to his room and searched for a ce for him to lie down. He shifted some things around and found a carpet. From there, heid down with his face up.


    "...I guess it''s time to get started."<novelnext></novelnext>


    He was nning on finding a countermeasure to Tiana''s ability to take away all the mana around him. That was why he sent away Nicole.


    As for the reason why he wasying down, he nned on extensively using his future vision, to the point he may be abusing it.


    After all, if he did end up seeding in reality, that may trigger Tiana in some way, possibly making her kill him. If she really wanted to kill him, it wouldn''t be that difficult with her current abilities.


    He shook his head and focused.


    "...First I have to check if I can even move mana outside my body."


    Kairos looked at a strand of mana that wasn''t attached to anything and tried tomand it to move. Unfortunately, it didn''t even slightly work.


    The side of his face twitched.


    He did expect this possibility, but he couldn''t help but think that there was also some way if Tiana was able to do it so easily. Kairos clicked his tongue and continued to try.


    He didn''t exactly know what he was supposed to do and felt like a child trying to activate telekic powers.


    After a few moments, Kairos let out a defeated sigh.


    He decided to try starting with what he could do, manipting mana in his own body. From there, he began to casually circte the mana in his body manually. Nothing really happened from it, but he found that his control over the mana in his own body was still quite rough.


    It was as though he was trying to use a mouse that continually cut out every few seconds. While there was some semnce of control, he also regrly lost it. Nheless, Kairos continued to work at it, trying to figure out what exactly gave him the ability to move the mana in the first ce.


    It took him quite a while, but he eventually came to a realization. His heart was where mana pushed through the rest of his body. While focusing on there, he attempted to move the mana once more, and found that he had far more sess in that aspect.


    However, it still felt like something was missing.


    Kairos thought back to how there was an excessive amount of mana in the head. There must be some reason for that. He guessed that being next to the brain was an advantage somehow. Perhaps because it was formanding mana to the rest of his body.


    Kairos focused on the mana in his head.


    Though it was a little awkward to watch visually since it was technically behind his eyes, he could still tell that it was swirling underneath. Unlike the mana he controlled through the rest of his body, it was extremely easy to manipte the ball of mana in his head.


    From here, he decided to extend his future vision to two seconds in order to check what he could do by manipting the mana within his head.


    He did various experiments that were purely based on trial and error.


    Kairos kept stopping himself from acting out his actions in reality. He wasn''t sure if he was just being overly cautious, but he figured that he might as well.


    Most of his maniptions ended up doing nothing at all, but he did eventuallye across something that seemed to work. He attempted to spin the mana within his head as fast as he could, making it revolve. It put even more burden on his mind as manipting mana also seemed to be rted to willpower.


    However, with all of that struggle, the mana in the air seemed faintly attracted, but not enough to substantially matter. Despite only doing it for less than two seconds, Kairos doubted he would be able to rotate the mana in his head any faster.


    However, he was still feeling a little better as he came across a lead.


    It was very indirect, but he was able to manipte the mana around him. It seemed that while it was very difficult to physically interact with mana, it would be substantially influenced by itself.


    As Kairos came to this conclusion, he wondered if he could just cause all of the mana in his body to rotate like it did within his head, which should have a strong pull on the mana if his logic was correct.


    Kairos extended his future vision to three seconds to test this.


    Although it was a little rough in the first second, he caused all the mana in his body to rotate in a circr direction, which influenced all of the other mana strands. By the next second, he refined how the mana rotated, while the mana strands got closer.


    In the third, he could feel the mana actually going into his body, though there was definitely a feeling of resistance.


    Kairos quickly stopped himself from doing that in reality.


    He let out a long sigh.


    "...I identally stumbled across a pretty useful technique, but..."


    A bitter smile formed on his face.


    "If the mana is already extracted out of my body, then there''s nothing I can use to pull it back in."


    He lightly ced his palm onto his burning forehead and sighed.


    This new discovery couldpletely change everything, as it meant he could speed up his own mana regeneration. The only problem was that it relied on mana already being in his body.


    Against Tiana''s ability to directly extract all of the mana from one''s body, it was essentially useless.


    Kairos wanted to continue experimenting to see if he could find another solution, but his head hurt too much at this point. He decided to go to bed instead.


    This time, he did not have any dreams.


    When he woke up, he looked out the window and saw that it was still in the middle of the day. He then began eating before preparing to continue working on learning mana maniption, but then there was a knock on his door.


    He went to answer it, assuming that it was Nicole, or maybe Tiana.


    But to his surprise, it was Quinn.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, you recovered from that headache?"


    Quinn nodded.


    "Well, the effects haven''tpletely disappeared, but it''s essentially gone. You could consider it a hangover."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I see. Well, there were things that I did originally want to talk to you about, but now my priorities have shifted."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "We could instead talk about whatever your new priority is."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Well, I was originally going to talk about the state of the city, but right now I''m more interested in manipting mana."


    Quinn raised an eyebrow.


    "I have no experience in mana, but perhaps we can still talk about it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Well, I don''t really understand how to move mana properly, especially if it is outside of my body."


    Quinn raised an eyebrow in confusion.


    "But I recall seeing you cast spells before. You seem to understand it well enough."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Ranking up gives you the ability to cast spells, but it doesn''t teach you how to manipte mana."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "Huh. So like instinctively understanding how to walk, but unable to describe the exact muscle contractions in the process."


    Kairos nodded.


    "More or less, yeah."


    Quinn tapped his chin a few times.


    "Hmm... perhaps you can try to exin what you know about it, and I can try my best to figure something out."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I guess there''s nothing to lose. For starters, there are the spell diagrams there."

 Chapter 150 Quinns Observation

    Kairos led Quinn to where he kept the spell diagrams, then spread them all out on the table.


    Quinn raised an eyebrow as he observed them.


    "What in the world is all this?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "I''ve been trying to keep track of how mana moves within a person''s body."


    Quinn turned to him with a bit of confusion.


    "Couldn''t you have drawn them a little cleaner? These are all rough sketches."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...I''m not that great at drawing."


    Quinn sighed and ced a finger on the drawing.


    "Is mana represented by each little line you drew here?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, no. It''s a little rough, but the gist of it is there."


    Quinn shook his head disapprovingly.


    "It is there for you, but not for me."


    Kairos sighed.


    "What is that supposed to mean?"


    Quinn silently took a piece of paper and pencil before roughly sketching a circle. He then set his pencil down on the sketch.


    "When you look at this, you see a circle, correct?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Quinn tapped his drawing with the pencil.


    "That''s because you are automatically correcting what you see in front of you to make a circle. However, this may not actually be what this sketch is trying to represent."


    He then used the opposite end of the pencil to erase certain sections of the circle. What originally looked like a normal sketch now had a strange wavy pattern.


    "From what you know, it looks like a circle, but what I could''ve meant was actually this pattern. Of course, it''s close to a circle, but not exactly the same."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Is it not quite close though?"


    Quinn rolled his eyes.


    "If someone screws up a single number in rocket science, the entire thing explodes. Getting as close as possible is far more important than you could imagine."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Well, the fact is I can''t draw like a printer, alright? There''s no helping it."


    Quinn sighed.


    "Then how about this, I''ll try to recreate your drawing, then you correct any mistakes in my interpretation. And I want you to be as exact as possible."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Quinn picked up the pencil, but he did not start by drawing a new sketch. Instead, he attempted to recreate the outline of the body, using Kairos as the temte. His strokes were sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but all of them were very clean.


    As he was doing that, Kairos couldn''t help but remember this was the frost spell he had seen from Nicole.


    "Um, by the way, this temte isn''t of me."


    Quinn turned to look at him.


    "Then who in the world is it?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It was Nicole."


    Quinn let out a sigh.


    "Alright then."


    He erased his initial outline before making it far more feminine. Kairos couldn''t help but speak up.


    "You don''t need to actually see her recreate her outline?"


    Quinn shook his head.


    "I already met her once in the hallways. There''s no need for that."


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "...But wouldn''t you still need a reference?"


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "The first thing I do whenever looking at someone new is analyze them. Understanding their general body shape is just one of the few things I memorized."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "That makes you sound like a hardcore stalker."


    Quinn let out a dry chuckle.


    "Guess I''m stalking everyone then."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Ah, sorry. That means you''re the king of stalkers then."


    Quinn cracked his neck.


    "Well, I may not be a scientist, but at least I''m a king in some respect."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Congrattions to you then."


    He watched as Quinn drew Nicole''s outline. He couldn''t help but be surprised at how urate it was. It was far quicker than he did, filled with confidence and very neatly made.


    Kairos couldn''t help but speak up.


    "You seem to have practiced this a lot..."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''ve drawn many recreations of many things for the sake of experiments. It has to be as urate as possible, and there generally wasn''t much time to waste. With that kind of pressure, it''s only natural to have this level ofpetence."


    Kairos felt that logic was somewhat wed, but didn''t question it.


    "I thought you said you weren''t a scientist?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "Being trained to be something and actually getting the role is different."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Looks like at least the world of art has been missing out without you in it."


    Quinn shook his head.


    "Art is more about creativity and making a picture that inspires interpretation. Recreating things we see in real life is generally not popr in art."


    Kairos blinked a few times.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I see."


    Quinn tapped his pencil on the paper twice.


    "Alright, does this seem urate?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Honestly, a little too urate. You even shaded some parts of Nicole..."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Alright then, time for the hard part then."


    He took another piece of paper and recreated the outline he had just made on it. From there. He closely studied the rough sketch that Kairos had made. For at least ten or so minutes, Quinn hadn''t even put the pencil onto the paper, just staring at the rough sketch like he was lost in a trance.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel he was taking this a little too seriously, but decided not to talk about it.


    Eventually, Quinn raised his pencil and set it down on the paper.


    Unlike when he was frozen like a statue before, his pencil almost moved like lightning. Kairos couldn''t help but wonder if he secretly had a super high agility stat, though that was probably not the case.


    With how fast he was going, it definitely seemed like he would make a mistake sooner orter, but each line was both crisp and made with confidence.


    In roughly a minute, the entire picture was recreated into a clean outline. From there, Quinn took a few more minutes to do some basic shading, giving the picture more depth and also rifying how he believed mana to be shaped.


    Quinn set down the pencil and let out a sigh.


    "Alright, take a look at it and point out any inconsistencies."


    Kairos picked up the paper and brought it up to his face. He was immediately quite surprised, since it looked like a printer had made this, not a person. At first nce, it looked urate, but since Quinn had put so much effort into it, he decided that he should be through as well.


    He closely inspected each part one by one beforeparing it to what he had seen in his memories. After roughly five minutes, he set it back down.


    "Most of it is essentially dead urate, but the near the hands the mana bes more spread out. As for the heart, it is morepressed, while the mana in the head is more scattered."


    Quinn sighed.


    "You could''ve told me that earlier."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sorry, didn''t think of it. Ah, and also one more thing. Mana in general doesn''t look like blood. It isn''t as solid as it appears in the drawing, but more... like it''s on the verge of dissolving."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Alright then, let''s try this once more."


    He took another piece of paper and immediately began sketching once more. In a matter of minutes, he finished drawing it all. There was far more shading in this one, showing quite a bit of depth to it all."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "...I can''t seem to find any inconsistencies with this one. You did this rather fast."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "Normally it only takes one try, but it took me multiple, so I would say it''s rather slow."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. He wondered if Quinn even realized he was bragging, and decided to remain silent.


    "Anyway, is there anything you can find out from the drawing?"


    Quinn let out a soft hum.


    "I won''t be able toe up with much since there won''t be any cross-referencing with one example, but with a few assumptions I can make a prediction."


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "Then hit me with it."


    Quinn spoke promptly.


    "Alright. Assuming that the spell starts at the head, it appears that the mana there is being prepared, as say some meat would be before it is put into the oven. Then, in the heart, I assume that''s where some sort of conversion process takes ce, simr to when meat is heated up. Then, that mana is sent outwards to the rest of the body, ready now to cast. When it reaches the hands, it seems some sort of reaction happens for the spell to be cast."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Huh. That sounds about right, and you''ve never even cast a spell before."


    Quinn leaned back into his chair.


    "Making predictions is only natural if you want to be a scientist. Could you show me an actual representation to see if I was correct?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright. It may take a while though because I''m not very proficient in casting this spell."


    Quinn looked at him strangely.


    "Didn''t you say you automatically learn how to cast the spell, but not learn the specific processes?"


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "...Well, I figured out how to cast the spell without actually learning it."


    Quinn stared at him for a good few seconds.


    "I don''t exactly know how it is to cast a spell since I haven''t done it before, but that doesn''t sound like something a normal person can do."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Just those drawings aren''t something a normal person can do either."


    Quinn shook his head.


    "No, they can. The point here is practice. Many people see someone do something proficient and chalk it all up to talent. In reality, even if that''s the case, quite a bit of work has to be put behind it. However, the apocalypse hasn''t started that long ago, yet you''ve already been able to cast spells without actually learning them. That means you either got lucky, or you''re somehow able to learn this kind of thing rapidly."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I guess so. I never thought about it that way."


    Quinn rolled his eyes.


    "Whatever."


    Kairos looked at the diagram that Quinn had drawn and began casting the frost spell. It was considerably easier thanst time. Following Quinn''s exnation of what was actually happening, he supported the process with the right intention. In this way, it took roughly a minute to finish the casting process.


    It was still a far cry from the nearly instantaneous casting of someone that had been given the skill, but it was far better than before.


    He even had confidence to channel to spell, thus did so ever so slightly.


    Kairos then walked to the fridge and unplugged it. Afterwards, he opened up the fridgepletely before releasing the frost spell within.


    A fairlyrge wave of mist shot out and coated the interior of the fridge along with its contents in a rtively thickyer of ice. It had also spread out to the outside of the fridge, making it a little awkward to close the door as it was now frozen in ce.


    After a moment of deliberation, Kairos just decided to leave it like that.


    As for Quinn, he was rubbing his chin the entire time.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Get any new revtions?"


    Quinn let out a hum.


    "Only being able to see the effects truly does make it hard to notice. But I do feel as though I understand it better."


    He tapped his chin a few times.


    "Say, how can I learn how to cast spells as well?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "If you evolve while having enough spare evolution points, you can also pick a spell to learn. I suggest you make sure you have extra points even after that though, as the evolution process itself needs evolution points."


    Quinn clicked his tongue.


    "I see... no helping it then. Guess I''m breaking a promise."


    He then opened up his status panel.

 Chapter 151 More Visions

    [Quinn]


    [ID: 701584234432]


    [Rank: F+]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 40.3]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.0


    Magic Affinity - 0.0]


    [Special Abilities: N/A]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    After opening his status panel, Quinn pressed onto the evolve option without much hesitation.


    [Use 5 points for Wood Spell? Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    Kairos considered telling him that he could help give him more options if he was the one that did it, but he doubted that Quinn would care much about offensive power anyway, and didn''t seem to be the type of person to care about fighting.


    Though, considering the points he has now, he seemed to have fought quite a bit in the past.


    Quinn clicked yes for the wood spell and proceeded to press confirm. He then closed his eyes, as his body began to redden and heat up.


    After a minute or so, he opened his eyes once more.


    "Hm... it really is quite a strange feeling. I''ve learned the spell, yet haven''t at the same time."


    He opened his status panel once more.


    [Quinn]


    [ID: 701584234432]


    [Rank: E-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 20.3]


    [Strength - 4.9


    Agility - 4.9


    Endurance - 4.9


    Willpower - 4.9


    Mana Capacity - 0.1


    Magic Affinity - 0.1]


    [Special Abilities: Replicate (F), Wood Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Without thinking too much about it, he maxed out his mana capacity, sending it straight to 14.9, and increasing his magic affinity with the rest, sending that to 5.6.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Say, you said you were going to break a promise, but I don''t see you doing anything particrly strange..."


    Quinn casually shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, it was a casual promise, more than a real one."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "And what is that supposed to mean?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "To exin it, I''ll have to backtrack slightly. I was in a group with a few other people, and we all decided to take care of all the monsters inside the apartment we were in. In that way, we worked together to take care of several monsters. Although there were close calls, all of us were able to make it out of every fight alive."


    He blinked a few times.


    "And so, we eventually got some points and were also given the option to evolve. One of our party members did it without hesitation, but when he did it, his body began contorting strangely, almost like he was a ragdoll. We hadn''t seen someone evolve before, so we thought that it might''ve been normal."


    He let out a faint chuckle.


    "Unfortunately, it turns out it was very much not normal. One of our strongest party members had turned into a monster, and we faced heavy casualties before finally putting him down. We originally had the full support of everyone in the apartment, they believed in us fully, that we would be able to protect them all. However, once they found out one of us had transformed, the treatment had reversed fully."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "After thinking about it for a while, I figured that there must''ve been a solution to properly evolve. Considering that it was possible to spend points in order to acquire new abilities, I figured that points would also be useful for the evolution process itself. I proposed this idea, but it was immediately shot down by everyone, even when I volunteered to be the experiment. One of our more emotional group members made us all promise we would never evolve."


    Kairos paused for a moment.


    "I see."


    Quinn shook his head.


    "In the end, our biggest threat wasn''t the monsters, but the people that had lost their trust in us. They began trying to kill us, and with most of the party heavily injured, it was nearly impossible to fight back. All of them ended up dying, and I holed myself up in that closet you found me in."


    Kairos nodded.


    "...I imagine you don''t like those people you protected then, especially since they backstabbed you."


    Quinn let out another sigh.


    "...Well, a small part of me does. But I also understand the reason they did all of that was just how human emotions work. People rarely ever think about logic, even if they think they do. In reality, humans are just things led around by their emotions."


    He smiled bitterly.


    "I guess it can''t be helped considering humans have evolved to use emotions to survive."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "...So, what did you get in your evolution?"


    Quinn tapped his chin.


    "Well, other than feeling quite hungry, I now understand two spells. Though, they are both quite strange."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Strange? In what way?"


    Quinn let out a small chuckle.


    "Perhaps it''s best I show you."


    He raised his hand before channeling mana into his palm. After a few moments, a piece of paper was gradually conjured into his palm.


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...I guess we don''t have to worry about paper anymore."


    Quinnughed.


    "Guess not. Though, I must say my other ability is far more intriguing."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos smiled.


    "Oh, now my expectations are up. Please show me."


    Quinn raised his hand, and a piece of paper conjured in it once more. Kairos was initially a little confused as to how this was different, but then he saw that the piece of paper looked exactly the same as the outline he had created earlier.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...You can just duplicate things?"


    Quinn shook his head.


    "No, it''s a little moreplicated than that. There are several requirements that I am sure of. In fact, it''s not really a duplication spell in the first ce. I have topletely memorize something, or I suppose visualize what I wish to create. Then, I have to alsopletely understand the processes behind how to actually create what I am imagining. From there, both the quantity andplexity cause it to use more mana."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "That is... indeed strange."


    Quinn looked at the pencil and raised his hand again. Then, another pencil slowly conjured on top of it. He furrowed his brow.


    "Hm... it appears I''m already out of mana. This ability is quite taxing."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Seems quite useful, especially for a person like you."


    Quinn clicked his tongue.


    "And what is that supposed to mean?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "It means whatever it''s supposed to mean."


    Quinn sighed.


    "Alright then."


    A strange expression formed on his face.


    "Though, one thing I must say is that I did not feel the flow of mana within myself at all. Most of my focus was actually on what was happening internally, but it wasn''t as though it was vague, but rather I couldn''t even catch it."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, that''s what I meant by knowing the spell but having no idea about the processes behind it."


    Quinn looked at him strangely.


    "Then that begs the question... how were you even able to create that diagram?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Because of special circumstances, I can see mana."


    He figured that he would have to reveal that sooner orter, though it wasn''t exactly the biggest secret to keep. It would be preferable if Tiana didn''t know about it, but maybe she didn''t know her execution ability was directly rted to mana.


    Though it was wishful thinking, Kairos just decided to hope.


    Quinn was rubbing his chin with great interest upon hearing that.


    "Hmm... no wonder your diagram was based on someone else rather than yourself."


    He looked at the diagram depicting the frost spell once more, then closed his eyes.


    After a few moments, he opened them again.


    "...This is quite annoying."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "What do you mean?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "Although I know where the mana is supposed to go, I have no idea how to manipte it properly. Since there is no indication of how mana flows through my body, it feels like ying a first-person shooter with the monitor turned off and without sound."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You yed those kinds of games before?"


    Quinn spoke tly.


    "When I was young, yes."


    Kairos stared at him strangely, with a look of disbelief. As for Quinn, he looked back and could tell what Kairos was thinking.


    "Look, people change when they get older. Is it really that strange?"


    Kairos paused.


    "...I suppose not."


    Quinn shook his head.


    "Anyway, your ability to see mana is honestly quite unfair. You should be able to learn many spells, while others willg behind tremendously in this aspect. In fact, I doubt they will even try, because they don''t even know that it''s a possibility."


    Kairosughed.


    "I guess so."


    Quinn stretched.


    "Anyway, I''m both hungry and tired so I''m going to leave. If you want to talk more about this stuff, just knock on my door."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Alright."


    And with that, Quinn left.


    Kairos leaned back into the couch, feeling that he had gotten a little sidetracked from his original goal, a countermeasure against Tiana''s strange mana execution. Although, when he thought about it, going down the path of learning spells was probably the only way he would find one.


    And realistically, there wasn''t any rush since while Tiana was cruel, she seemed to favor him along with the rest of his group by quite a bit.


    Nheless, it made Kairos feel ufortable.


    He shook his head and decided he might as well continue trying. One of his ambitions was to learn how to cast someone else''s natural spell, such as Nicole''s invisibility. However, one slight problem with that was theplexity was on another level. It wasn''t just twice as hard, or even ten times as hard. Kairos simply doubted that his maniption of mana could even do the correct motions required.


    This was what made him decide to take small steps towards that eventual goal. He would first learn more elemental spells and also master them.


    With that in mind, Kairos looked down at the frost diagram once more and began to practice casting it over and over, using the minimum mana for the spell to output.


    Later on, he was called to join the rest of the group to gather points, and he joined them.


    For a few days, he repeated this routine.


    In the morning, they would spar against Tiana. In the afternoon, Kairos would practice the frost spell. And at night, they would fight against the monsters.


    During this time, Tiana had notified him that she wanted to enact the n to create an artificial river in roughly a month. Along with that, Kairos also got Quinn to help him create an outline for other elemental spells.


    Soon enough, they were in the middle of the third week of the apocalypse.


    It was getting close to night on this day, so Kairos was wrapping up his spellcasting practice. By now, the fridge was coated in a very thickyer of ice. It would probably take a while for it all to melt.


    After putting away all the drawings Kairos stood up.


    Yet, right as he did so, he copsed to his knees, while grabbing onto the sides of his head.


    He had a vision.


    First, it shed to the city showing all of the farms, except all of the farmers were groaning in pain as they immediately transformed into monsters. There was a strange and concerning red glowing from the ground.


    Then, it shed to Tiana with a strange horrified look.


    Then, it shed to him walking in the middle of the city road with the others. There was a strange red glowing from the ground, causing the bottom of their shoes to begin burning to ash. Except, that was the least of their problems, as all of them were grabbing onto the sides of their head as they transformed into monsters. The process was far slower for Kairos, but it was happening to him as well.

 Chapter 152 In A Rush

    Kairos began panting as the visions stopped.


    He shook his head, and realized he had to act fast.


    Yet, right as those thoughts flitted through his mind, he copsed to the ground once more, groaning as even more visions shed through his mind.


    He saw that Tiana had broken down into tears while they were in the middle of the city, with countless monster corpses around them. She was saying something, but it was a little hard for him to make out. But from what she mouthed, Kairos was able to gather she was talking about something rted to food.


    And after that, he saw himself staring at his arm, which had taken the form of a w. It seemed that he was still in control of himself, but he was fairly certain that he had been irreversibly changed into a monster.


    Then it shed to him holding onto a red prism that was glowing with a bright red, indicating it was fully charged.


    Then, the visions ended.


    Kairos'' breathing was heavy, while sweat poured down his face. In total, he received six visions of the future, when normally he would only experience three or less. It seemed that upgrading his inborn ability had even more merits than he had thought.


    Nheless, that was not his focus. He took in deep breaths until he calmed down, then closed his eyes, gathering all the information he could.


    For whatever reason, it seemed that the ground would suddenly emit some sort of red light that would transform people into monsters, just like the red sun. Not only were all the farmers transformed, but also he and the people in his group were too.


    It seemed that because of his higher rank, he was able to withstand some of the effects, since higher ranks needed that evolution energy to evolve anyway.


    In general, that just meant he had to get everyone away from the ground.


    However, that was not all of what the visions showed him. Even after all the monsters were dealt with, Tiana seemed extremely perturbed by something else. If it was about food, that must mean that the red light somehow ruined the food.


    His first thought was the farm, and all the potatoes that were nted. Unfortunately, he didn''t think that those could be saved anymore. But as he was on that train of thought, he remembered something Tiana had said to him long ago.


    That there was some sort of backup food storage she had which made her super confident in supporting the entire city.


    And there was also charging the red prism, which was shown in his vision. He figured all he had to do was leave it somewhere on the ground, and then it would be fine.


    For one, he had to get everyone above ground. The second thing was that he had to somehow save the food supply.


    But regardless of which, he had to go to Tiana in order to do all that.


    He rushed out of his room. Nicole was walking down the hallway at that moment and waved to Kairos.


    "Oh, hey!"


    Kairos did not stop running, but did speak briefly.


    "Get ready to move!"


    He knocked on Tiana''s door rather loudly. He waited a few seconds, but nobody hade to answer.


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "...Is she not there?"


    Of all times for her not to be in her room, this was definitely the most inconvenient.


    Nicole looked quite confused.


    "I-Is everything ok?"


    Kairos clenched his fists.


    "Tell everyone else to get onto high ground."


    After saying that, he proceeded to rush up the stairs. He suddenly remembered that Tiana didn''t have any clear monster-like features across her body, meaning she was already above ground when all of that had happened.


    He didn''t know what the purpose of the second floor was, but he was pretty sure that Tiana would only be on the third floor if she was above ground. Upon getting there, he called out for her.


    "TIANA!"


    He did so very loudly, as there really wasn''t any time. A door opened, but unfortunately, the person behind it was Chase. He looked a little weirded out.


    "What happened?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No time to exin. Just get above ground."


    He massaged his temple with the tip of his finger. Tiana had to be somewhere, but he doubted that he would be able to check every floor of the building. And what if she wasn''t even in the building itself?


    Kairos'' eyes widened ever so slightly as he came to a realization.


    "...The roof."


    Though he doubted Tiana would be there, he could at least get a vantage point to check out the rest of the city. Perhaps she would be there.


    And so, Kairos left Chase who was still a little confused before rushing up the steps with all he had. In less than a minute, he had already reached the roof. He pushed open the door and got ready to scout out for her.


    But it turns out that she was just sitting at the top of the roof by herself, with her arms wrapped around her knees.


    She turned around curiously when she heard the door burst open.


    "Kairos? ...Why are you here?"


    Kairos gasped for air for a little while before shaking his head.


    "You need to get all the farmers above ground... and also move the storage of food."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "What are you talking about? Exin from the start."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Something is going to happen to all of the things at the ground level. Also... we need to move the food that you''re storing."


    Tiana furrowed her brow.


    "You know where it is?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No, but I''m assuming that it''s either underground or close to there."


    Tiana sighed.


    "And why exactly should I listen to you? If you need more food, you can just ask me."


    Kairos frowned.


    "This is not the time! I don''t know when exactly it''s going to happen, but the entire damned city is going to fall apart if you don''t listen to me. Are you really going to screw everything up now?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Tiana didn''t respond immediately. She stared into his eyes for a good few seconds. It was honestly a little hard for her to believe him. The first thing she thought of was that he was doing some sort of scheme once he realized she had the ability to directly kill people.


    The reason that Tiana let Kairos stay while she dealt with those people, was because she figured he was simr to her, if not the same type of person. Though, she wasn''t entirely confident in that judgment she had made.


    In fact, the reason she let Kairos even stay in her city in the first ce was that something within her told her that he would be crucial. She didn''t exactly understand that feeling, as it felt a little random.


    It was something she remembered she felt while she was still a child. That certain people would give her a strange feeling, and the stronger the feeling, the more capable they would be.


    She wasn''t the type to believe in supernatural things, so she ignored it for the most part, even though whenever she did have this feeling, that person tended to be quitepetent.


    However, Tiana had also felt that feeling for Kairos. Though, she really couldn''t see what was so good about a guy that had isted himselfpletely. That''s why she decided to watch him while in school.


    There was usually almost nothing special about him, other than perhaps his above-average grades. But Tiana didn''t value grades much anyway.


    Except eventually, she picked up on one of Kairos'' strange habits. Although it was rather subtle, in gym ss he would always be looking at where the ball was going to be, instead of where it actually was.


    Almost like he could see the future.


    Once the apocalypse had started, this feeling had be even stronger, to the point that she could feel someone approaching her city. It made here to the top of the walls, and when she looked at what was giving her that feeling, it was Kairos.


    For whatever reason, she was suddenly filled with strong emotions to bring him over to her side no matter what. After she did, it was always on her mind whether or not she made the wrong choice.


    But she had to at least give this strange instinct of her a chance, along with Kairos.


    And so, she nodded.


    "What do you need from me?"


    Kairos couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief when he heard this. He wasn''t sure what made her have that sudden change of heart, but he didn''t care anymore.


    "You have to get all of the farmers far above ground soon, and also move all the food you have higher above ground too."


    Tiana furrowed her brow.


    "...If I can spread the message, then I can raise all the farmers up onto the wall if they get close to it, but... it will take at least hours for us to move all of the backup food supply."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "What? Why?"


    Tiana frowned.


    "It wasn''t a ce initially made to be a food storage area. Instead, it was supposed to be one to do various illegal things. There is only a tiny trap door that leads to the inside, and if the floor above is broken, there is a mechanism to cause the entire room to copse in itself."


    Kairos cursed under his breath.


    "...For now, show me the ce. Maybe I''ll be able to think of something else."


    Tiana nodded.


    "It''s in my room, let''s get down there."


    Kairos was going to go for the stairs, but Tiana directly leaped off the side of the building. It was quite the fall, but Kairos realized that this would be way more efficient than the stairs anyway, thus jumped off after her.


    The two of them rapidly fell down.


    Kairos lightly pressed his hands against the wall so that the friction would slow him down, though Tiana was inplete freefall, not caring at all.


    Right before shended, a metal tform was conjured underneath her.


    With a bang, she mmed into it and cracked it.


    Soon after, Kairosnded as well.


    Tiana called out to the nearby farmers.


    "Everyone go to the walls right now! Make sure to tell the rest to follow!"


    The farmers all looked quite confused, but slowly began walking outwards after setting down their tools.


    Tiana and Kairos then entered the building.


    Inside, Nicole was talking to both Tori and Sydney.


    "Um, I think we should go up, because Kairos said we should."


    Tori pressed her lips together.


    "But I want to get more points! Isn''t that what we were supposed to be doing?"


    Kairos sighed when he heard that.


    "All ns have been canceled for now. Everyone needs to go higher up."


    Sydney looked concerned.


    "Eh? Why?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No time to exin."


    Tori tapped on her chin.


    "...If it''s everyone, then what about the farmers?"


    Kairos was about to retort but froze in ce.


    "...Actually, could you all convince the farmers to move to the wall as fast as possible? Tiana will then raise you all up."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Yes, please do. Use force if you must."


    Without waiting for their response, Tiana and Kairos rushed forth.


    Though Nicole, Tori, and Sydney were all a little bewildered, they recovered soon after and went outside to do as told.


    It was at this point that Tiana took Kairos into her room. She then opened her closet, which made Kairos rather confused, but she then pushed open a hidden door behind it. The two of them then went inside to find another set of rooms. Tiana went into one room to find a bedroom. The bed was just a mattress and nket on top. Tiana yanked that bed to the side, revealing a trapdoor.


    She opened it, showing Kairos the inside.


    "...What now?"

 Chapter 153 Starting

    A clear frown formed on Kairos'' face.


    "...Is it true that the room will copse if we try to remove the roof?"


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "I believe so. At least, that''s what I was told."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "So you don''t understand the mechanism behind it?"


    Tiana shook her head.


    "No idea."


    Kairos bit his thumbnail. Tiana really wasn''t lying when she said that there was a backup food supply, as the amount here really wasrge. The room was dark and dreary, with stone walls. However, it was also huge. With how it was now, it was essentially a warehouse and there were all kinds of foods stacked up on pallets inside.


    Though Kairos wasn''t that good at judging numbers from a nce, he could still tell that this really couldst them for several months if they weren''t reckless with how they used it.


    Unfortunately, the trap door itself was incredibly small. If they couldn''t destroy the roof, then the amount they could actually save would be far too smallpared to how much was here.


    Kairos was just about to say that they should cut their losses and get what they could before heading up. It was at the very tip of his tongue.


    But what then?


    All of the potatoes they had been working hard to grow were probably all ruined now, meaning if even this food storage was ruined they would have to abandon the city and everyone in it.


    There simply wasn''t enough to support everyone.


    Kairos'' bite on his thumbnail got harder. He closed his eyes for one second, deliberating over it. The red light... it seemed quite different from the red sun, because it was more of a glow. Though the energy behind it was probably the same, the heat was enough to begin burning the soles of his shoes.


    While the red sun was also hot, it was not nearly enough to begin burning things like that.


    Kairos decided to take a gamble.


    He pulled on his thumbnail hard, biting half of it off.


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "What are you doing?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "If I start running out of mana, then give me some. Also, don''t go down."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "...Alright."


    Kairos leaped off,pletely ignoring thedder under the trapdoor.


    Right afternding, he held both his hands out as though he was reaching out to grab something. Then, he closed his eyes as he began casting the frost spell.


    Although he had also gotten documents on how to cast other spells, this one was still his main focus. It was still quite rough, but now, he only needed roughly forty-five seconds to cast it. On top of that, he was fairly confident in channeling it, so long as he didn''t go too crazy with it.


    During those forty-five seconds, Tiana was quite confused as to what Kairos was trying to do, but decided that since she trusted him before, she would trust him now.


    And so, that time passed by slowly. Kairos felt a little annoyed, but didn''t lose hisposure. Eventually, came the time for channeling.


    The mana began building up near his palm, in the form of a pure white crystal, slowly growing in size almost like it was a nt.


    After channeling for roughly twenty seconds, that white crystal spread out covering his entire palm and even began crawling up his hand.


    Kairos felt the chill from it was incredibly cold, to the point it was painful. He found it strange considering even his own massive fireballs hadn''t hurt him before. But now, he gradually realized that the strange protection that came from the spell wasn''t activating as much as it should be.


    While he worked on refining the spell itself, he didn''t ount for the aspect of the spell that protected the user.


    A frown formed on Kairos'' face. Though he believed he could channel a bit longer, he wasn''t sure if there would be any problems if he decided to continue. With those thoughts in mind, he released the frost spell and shot out a dense white mist.


    Almost everything in the room was nketed in a sheet of ice immediately, and the thickness of that ice was rapidly increasing. While that was happening, Kairos leaped upwards and climbed up thedder, so that he wasn''t frozen along with them.


    Tiana''s eyes widened considerably when she saw this.


    "Is that part of the water spell?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Not exactly. It''s a littleplicated."


    He looked down as all of the white mist gradually settled. The scene below looked as though the ice age had settled, with everything covered in an extremely thickyer of ice. However, Kairos felt it still wasn''t enough. Although the ice from the frost spell seemed stronger than normal ice, that red light was no joke either. He held his hands out and began casting the frost spell once more.


    Tiana looked at him with a bit of shock.


    "Eh? You''re doing it again? But it''s all thoroughly covered already!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Just making sure. It''s not like being frozen will cause it to spoil."


    Tiana hesitated, but slowly nodded after a moment.


    "I''ll just trust you then."


    Kairos slowly did the whole process over again. After a while, the white crystals in his hand expanded and began spreading onto his hands again. He released it at this point once more, sending another nket of white mist to cover the ce.


    The ice thickened several times over, to the point that it was getting quite close to the trapdoor.


    Tiana looked at him.


    "Is that enough now?"


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "I''m not sure, but casting again wouldn''t help much. The entire thing is essentially filled with ice anyway."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Then what now?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Actually, you should just go up to the roof now and raise the walls so everyone will be safe. I''m going to double-check just to be sure."


    Tiana shook her head.


    "I can raise the walls from anywhere, and I''m able to generally tell where they all are. I''ll go when you do."


    Kairos sighed.


    "This is no time for arguing. Using your eyes will help you tell as well, it''s best that nobody gets screwed over by this, alright?"


    Tiana let out a soft sigh.


    "Ok, fine."


    She then left the room, leaving only Kairos. After waiting for a second, he pulled the red prism out of his pocket.


    He definitely nned on getting it charged by whatever was going on, but a thought suddenly urred to him. Last time, he charged it up by using the red rain that hade down, and in that process of charging, the red prism caused the redness of the water to reduce by a considerable amount, like it was diluting it.


    In other words, if he set the red prism down with the food, then it could absorb some of that red energy in order to further protect it.


    Now that it was dead empty, this was as good of a time as ever.


    Kairos climbed into the room once more and stepped onto the solid ice. He set it somewhere out of line of sight, so that if the ice did melt, the red prism should end up behind one of the stacks of food. He then actually double-checked to make sure the whole ce was covered before going back up.


    And with that, he got out and began going up the stairs.


    Once he reached the hallway, he saw that Tiana was at the stairs. She looked over her shoulder with her eyebrow raised.


    "If it was going to be that short, there was no reason to shoo me away."


    Kairos sighed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It was double-checking. If there was a problem, it would''ve taken far longer, but because there wasn''t it was fine."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "Fine, fine, whatever you say."


    She waited for Kairos to get there, then the two of them began rushing up the stairs. After going up several flights and were near reaching the top, they met someone else.


    It was Quinn.


    He was taking in heavy breaths one after another as he went up.


    Kairos called out to him.


    "You''re winded just from a little running?"


    Quinn clicked his tongue.


    "I still haven''t recovered most of the muscle I lost while starving, alright!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, there''s no rush now, because you should be more or less safe."


    Quinn raised his eyebrows.


    "Huh? But I was told I had to make it to the roof quick if I didn''t want to die."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Who told you that?"


    Quinn was silent for a moment.


    "...Chase."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Ah, he must''ve just misunderstood when I told him. You need to be a bit above ground, but it''s an exaggeration to say you need to make it up to the roof.


    Quinn''s panting gradually slowed down.


    "...Ah."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Well, I''m going to the top anyway. You might as welle to."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Yeah, I''ll be walking though."


    Tiana and Kairos then continued up to the roof. Once they got there, they met up with Chase, who nced at them the moment they got up.


    "Hey, where''s everyone else?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "They should be fine."


    Chase slowly nodded.


    "Alright. Anyways, what is the danger anyway?"


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "I''m not exactly sure, but I''m fairly certain that staying near the ground will kill us."


    Chase turned to Tiana, who shook her head.


    "Don''t look at me like I would know. I just went with whatever he was saying."


    This made Chase even more confused.


    "What makes you so sure?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes and walked close to the edge of the roof.


    "Let''s just wait and see then."


    Chase followed him with a small frown.


    "It''s not as though I don''t believe you, I''m just quite curious, is all."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Then let''s just say it''s magic."


    Tiana raised her hands up like she was trying to lift the world.


    Along with that, countless farmers near the edge of the wall were brought up onto it, though about half were still left behind. Tiana made the part she rose shake slightly to prompt those that were on to get off, then lowered the walls once more.


    Most of the people were quite hesitant to step onto the metal tform once more, but Nicole, Tori, and Sydney were both loud and encouraging enough to get almost all of them up.


    For a few, they ended up using force to drag them up, but that still left one person down on the ground.


    Tiana decided not to wait for that one person and lifted everyone up once more.


    She let out a small sigh.


    "One of them is being a stubborn fool. I really don''t want to go back for him."


    Chase scoffed.


    "Let him die then. He was definitely given ample warning."


    Kairos looked at the tiny dot that was still on the ground with his eyes narrowed.


    "I can''t help but wonder what''s going through his mind right now."


    Chase smiled.


    "He''s probably justifying his actions right now, while being afraid by the fact that he''s all alone down there."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh. I was thinking that he''s probablyining about how he wanted to work on his farm at this time."


    Tiana tilted her head to the side.


    "I actually remember something like that. There was a guy in one of our rivalpanies that died from a fire because he refused to leave his post despite the rm."


    Chase looked at her with bewilderment.


    "...So he thought it was a drill?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "Guess so."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "But don''t they mention that it''s not a drill over the inte?"


    Tiana tapped her chin with a finger.


    "...I wouldn''t know."


    Chase leaned over a bit and narrowed his eyes.


    "Ah wait, looks like it''s starting."

 Chapter 154 Stockholm

    Both Kairos and Tiana looked over the edge of the roof to see what Chase was talking about. Tiana narrowed her eyes when she saw this.


    "...You were right."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess so."


    The ground began to glow red ever so slightly. As for the person that remained down on the ground, he began spasming strangely, while his skin reddened significantly. It was hard to tell exactly what was happening since he was quite far away, but it was fairly easy to assume that he was turning into a monster.


    Chase let out a soft hum.


    "It seems the one that stayed behind served as a good example. I doubt many will disobey now that they have seen what happened to someone that didn''t."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "That does help."


    Tiana sucked in a cold breath.


    "...Thankfully you saw thising. If not for you, all of the farmers would''ve be monsters."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I just had a strange feeling. I wasn''t one hundred percent sure it was happening now, but I felt that something bad was going to happen soon."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "That''s... quite convenient."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yeah."


    After the person had fully be a monster, it looked around for a moment, beforeying down on the ground, almost like it was trying to sleep. Though, it didn''t seem to be the mostfortable position as it was face down on the hard ground.


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Is it normal for monsters to do that?"


    "It''s probably trying to absorb more of that red light."


    Quinn, who had gotten on the roof just a moment ago, spoke up. He wiped the sweat off of his brow before continuing.


    "It appears that once someone turns into a monster, their first instinct is to get more of whatever the red light is. My guess is that it forcibly makes them stronger, but it appears that either the red light or sudden increase in strength has side effects."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "That does make sense. I remember when I fought against the traditional kinds of monsters, they all seemed extremely unintelligent."


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well that much is obvious. They clearly do everything by instinct."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No, but it''s not only that. Other than a few exceptions that don''t count as normal monsters, I''ve never seen one of them do any sort of deception."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "They''ve devolved to the point that they became an animal. Isn''t that just natural?"


    Kairos furrowed his brow intensely.


    "No, even animals are smarter than that. Sometimes they do feints, or even try to circle behind their target to attack at a different angle. These monsters seem to be incapable of that, just attacking whatever they see in front of them. A betterparison would be a rabid animal."


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "Yes. I''m actually quite surprised you know that."


    Kairos stared back at him strangely.


    "Really? It seems like all knowledge to you is elementary."


    Quinn sighed.


    "Elementary knowledge are things people should be able to naturallye to understand in their life. Understanding how predators act is different because most people haven''t even seen a single one. Even those that have, rarely see them often, meaning they can''t extrapte much."


    Kairos spoke after a brief pause.


    "...Yeah, alright."


    Chase turned to look at Quinn.


    "Are you always like that?"


    Quinn stared back nkly.


    "Like what?"


    Chase didn''t know what to say for a moment.


    "...Nevermind."


    Quinn didn''t mind and just continued.


    "Anyway, I don''t think that intelligence is the only thing that these monsters give up when they be like that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What makes you say that?"


    Quinn closed his eyes.


    "I remembered how it felt when I evolved and increased my physical parameters. I can tell that it''s not only increasing the strength of our body, but also slowly changing our brains at a fundamental level."


    He raised a finger.


    "In normal circumstances, we are prevented from using the full capabilities of our muscles for our own sake, because if we do, then we will cripple ourselves. This is made most clear when you hear about parents lifting up cars to save their children. It''s an impressive feat, though most don''t hear about how those same parents are now unable to move their arms."


    Quinn took a deep breath.


    "I could tell that as my points increased and as I evolved, that prevention measure was shaved away ever so slightly."


    Tiana sighed.


    "And what does that have to do with the monsters?"


    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "It''s because I believe the same thing is happening to the monsters, just on a farrger scale. Their hearts and pumping blood to the very limits, they don''t seem to be able to feel pain, meaning it''s very likely they are filled with adrenaline. While evolution points appear to be giving us strength, the red light appears to forcefully change your body for that strength."


    He paused for a moment.


    "I believe that''s why all the monsters emit so much heat. It''s not that they''ve be a different species entirely, but rather they are essentially overheating just like how a machine would."


    Kairos spoke softly.


    "That... would exin those monsters."


    Tiana turned to him.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Chase smirked.


    "The giant monsters that attacked the city not too long ago."


    He lowered his head a little.


    "From what I recall, the very surface of their skin was boiling, causing bubbles to burst every few seconds. They somehow got an extremelyrge amount of the red light, forcibly transforming their bodies. If not for their strong regeneration, they would''ve imploded on themselves just by existing."


    Quinn raised an eyebrow.


    "...I never thought it would go that far."


    Tiana scratched the side of her head.


    "So basically, that red stuff is bad."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "However, we also need a little bit of it if we want to evolve."


    Quinn narrowed his eyes.


    "...That''s what I was suspecting too."


    A moment of silence lingered between them. Chase looked down at the ground which was still glowing red with a bit of impatience.


    "How long will we have to stay up here?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos sighed.


    "I have no idea, but it doesn''t like it''s going to die down anytime soon."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Guess we''re just going to stay here for a while?"


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "It''s probably way better than being down there and transforming into a monster."


    Quinnid down on the ground without any qualms.


    "Might as well get some rest then."


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "That doesn''t look veryfortable."


    Quinn rolled his eyes.


    "It isn''t as bad as you think."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "I think I''ll just stay up here until it dies down."


    Kairos thought about sleeping, but he also wanted to retrieve the red prism as soon as he could. He didn''t want to even be slightly dyed.


    "...I will too."


    Chase nced at Quinn.


    "I would join your slumber party, but I also took a nap not too long ago, so I''m probably not going to fall asleep any time soon."


    Quinnughed.


    "I doubt I''ll fall asleep anytime soon either, so for now I''m going to be awake."


    Kairos kept his gaze outside, but talked to Quinn as well.


    "Do you know any techniques to fall asleep?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "Unfortunately, the ones I do know aren''t the most applicable here."


    Kairos ced one hand on the ground behind him.


    "Come on, I''m sure you''ve got something. How about you exin why you never became a scientist?"


    Quinn did not speak for a moment. Though he sighed soon after.


    "I suppose venting could help."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "I don''t imagine venting would help me fall asleep."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "That''s not anything absurd. We are different people."


    He took a deep breath.


    "After all, as simr as people are... they are also fundamentally different."


    A small smile formed on his face.


    "And in the end, it seems like I was a little too different for the scientificmunity to wee me."


    Kairos responded casually.


    "What do you mean?"


    Quinn spoke tly.


    "While I was still working towards getting a PhD, I was also going out of my way to conduct many other experiments. Generally speaking, most of my reports were epted, though not many cared about them."


    The corner of his lip raised.


    "That is, until I did one experiment."


    Chase tapped his chin.


    "You screwed some people up from the experiment?


    Quinn shook his head.


    Tiana spoke up soon after.


    "You found some ground-breaking discovery and someone wanted to steal it from you?"


    Quinn shook his head again.


    "That''s happened quite a bit to other people, but nobody really wanted a part of my discoveries. Rather, it''s what the results of my experiment suggested."


    He was in no hurry to speak, leaving the others silently waiting.


    "...It was about parental love."


    Chase spoke disappointedly.


    "That sounds rather boring."


    Quinnughed.


    "Honestly, that''s what I thought too. But the idea came to me when I noticed that parental love is seen as something sacred. This isn''t something just in our culture, but more or less worldwide. There is this strange worship of familial love that made me feel like it was essentially fanatical."


    He closed his eyes.


    "I decided to look at it objectively and came up with an experiment. Are you all familiar with the term Stockholm Syndrome?"


    Chase gave a small nod.


    "I can''t imagine one of us doesn''t know about it. How is that rted?"


    Quinn responded calmly.


    "To be specific, Stockholm syndrome is when someone that is taken hostage or kidnapped develops trust or affection towards their kidnapper. It can get to the point where they defend them with their own life. When you look at it logically, doing such a thing makes no sense."


    He chuckled.


    "For quite a while, I wondered about what could''ve caused this, until I eventually saw some parallels between parenting and kidnapping."


    Tiana''s eyelid twitched.


    "I never thought I''d hear something like that."


    Quinn continued without the slightest worry.


    "Well, in both instances, one authoritative figure provides food to another. And obviously, food is quite important to our survival. When I look at it from an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense for people to develop affection for those that provide that food, as that is the person you are depending on to survive. That''s just how our ancestors lived."


    He paused.


    "And that instinct is so strong within people, that it can cause them to develop affection for those that are realistically endangering your life. But kidnapping is not my focus here, but rather family. If even adults can suddenly be attached to those endangering their lives, then what about children?"


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "The conclusion I came to was that even if a child was subject to an extreme amount of abuse, they would still think fondly of their parents, simply due to instinct. That''s what I wanted to test."


    He smiled.


    "But of course, abusing children obviously wouldn''t fly. Instead, I had some children asionally talk with someone more or less agreeable and some others with someone rude and aggressive. Then, I further divided the group into those that received meals and those that didn''t. Finally, after several months, I had the children rate the person they were talking with."


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "There was almost no difference between the children that were provided meals, both near a 9.4 out of ten rating. For those that were agreeable, they were given a 6.1 on average, and those that were rude were given an average of 2.7."


    He closed his eyes.


    "When I tried to publish this discovery, they refused to ept the results. Instead, they imed that I purposely abused the children to skew the results."


    Kairos nced at him.


    "...So what if a child doesn''t like their parents?"

 Chapter 155 Bad Parent

    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "If a child doesn''t like their parents?"


    He shrugged.


    "It''s not like that''s anything strange. I suppose it would depend on what you refer to as not like, as practically every child has hated their parents at one point or another."


    Kairos closed his eyes, then thought about Ling. He was a kid that imed to see his parents die in front of him and only felt empty afterwards. Kairos didn''t really understand how that felt, because his own parents were still alive, even if one was some sort of eldritch monster, and the other seemed to be half dead.


    There was always a part of him that thought Ling might''ve been lying, or maybe Ling himself misinterpreted his own feelings. But then Kairos remembered how his eyes looked when he looked at him at theirst meeting.


    Ling dug into his own eye, but the entire time, his other eye was unflinching, just staring back at him like it was hollow. It almost seemed like he had already given up on his identity as a human, though Kairos wasn''t sure what that would make him.


    Kairos tapped his chin a few times.


    "I guess to put it simply, what I mean by a child not liking their parents, is when they saw their own parents die in front of them, but felt nothing from it."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you talking about yourself?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "My parents are still alive. The person I''m talking about... is a kid we met on the outside once. His name was Ling."


    Chase slowly turned to him with furrowed brows.


    "...Ling? As in the child that ran off on his own?"


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Ah, right. He didn''t actually die."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "...Then why did you keep quiet about it? If he isn''t dead, then where in the world is he now?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "He had no ns of going back. I imagine he didn''t want to see his grandfather''s face ever again."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "And he told you all of that?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "You don''t have to believe me if you don''t want to."


    Chase frowned.


    "He''s just a child. If it wasn''t for us saving him, then he would''ve died when he ran off the first time. Yet you let him just run off like that? Chances are he''s dead now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Yeah, he''s probably dead."


    Chase gave him a nce.


    "...You knew, but didn''t even try to stop him."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah."


    Chase fell silent, deciding not to speak anymore.


    As for Quinn, he let out a soft sigh.


    "Well anyway, if the kid himself said it, chances are it''s true. Feeling empty is much easier to tell then anger, love, sadness, or whatever. Emotions are usually not on their own, meaning the conflicting emotions can make one confused."


    He paused.


    "However, if he truly felt nothing, then that''s something very hard to misinterpret. So I doubt his judgment was wrong."


    Quinn closed his eyes.


    "...And that means several things."


    Kairos gave him a nce.


    "Are you going to tell us?"


    Quinn waved his hand dismissively.


    "Yeah, just give me a second."


    After a few moments, he slowly lifted up one finger.


    "One possibility is that he wasn''t actually taken care of by his parents, but by someone else. Though, that doesn''t make much sense. If he saw them die, then it''s very likely he had lived with them. On top of that, it was a notable enough event for him to bring up, meaning that feeling that way was at least somewhat surprising to him."


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "I do think I remember him saying that he wasn''t expecting to feel that way or something like that."


    Quinn sighed.


    "I can''t exactly say I know what the parents did to that child, but it must''ve been pretty bad."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "As in, how bad?"


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "To be honest, I''m not so sure. Even if children are treated like animals, it''s too difficult for them to understand they are being mistreated, thus they will love their caretakers anyway."


    He narrowed his eyes.


    "For a kid to feel nothing... it means they no longer see their parents as their parents, if that makes sense to you. They''ve be something like strangers to them, but that isn''t exactly the best analogy."


    He paused for a moment.


    "Because if a kid saw a stranger get killed in front of them, even if horror is their primary emotion, they would probably still feel some pity for the person that had died. In other words, the kid sees their parents as something less than strangers."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Really?"


    Quinn rubbed the side of his face.


    "I don''t know what else it could be."


    Chaseid down on the ground as well.


    "...Kairos, you really weren''t lying about that?"


    Kairos helplessly sighed.


    "That''s what I heard. I can''t be for sure, because Ling might''ve lied to me, but I don''t think that''s what''s going on here."


    Chase narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "...Then did he tell you why he just left like that?"


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "I''m not entirely sure, but I believe he wanted to make his own decisions. Even if they weren''t the best ones, or ones that would cause him harm. He just wanted to think for himself and take responsibility for it. That''s the gist."


    Tiana interjected.


    "So basically, he became as stubborn as a rock."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Basically, but is that really so bad?"


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "I guess he understood that working with others wasn''t going to fly with that kind of attitude. Sounds like a smart kid."


    Chase looked up into the sky with aplicated expression.


    "Smart, huh?"


    Quinn stretched.


    "Well anyway, I told you about it. I''m going to try to sleep now."


    Hours continued to pass. It was currently night at this time, and the full moon was out, shining down upon them with a faint glow.


    The person that transformed into a monster was stillying on the ground, while the red glow emanating from below became more distinct. Tiana narrowed her eyes and stared off into the distance.


    "It seems like monsters from all over the ce are doing the same thing."


    Kairos turned to her.


    "Sprawled out on the floor like a fish?"


    Tiana nodded.


    "Yeah."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "That sounds like it would be quite easy to kill them then."


    Kairos turned to him.


    "Perhaps you could take a shot from here?"


    Chase didn''t speak for a moment.


    "...I think I''ll pass."


    Kairos found it hard to respond.


    "But you were the one that suggested it."


    Chase cracked his neck.


    "I never suggested it. I simply thought of it."


    Kairos looked at him strangely.


    "...Suddenly have sympathy for the monsters?"


    Chase let out a scoff and smiled.


    "It''s nothing like that."


    Tiana put a finger on her chin.


    "Then what is it?"


    Chase didn''t speak for a few moments.


    "...Well, what if I end up hitting someone?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "If you hit someone while they are on the ground, then you hit someone that was transforming into a monster anyway. How do the specifics even matter that much to you?"


    Chaseughed.


    "Honestly, I don''t know."


    Kairos gave him onest look before continuing to look off in the distance.


    "I guess it can''t be helped then."


    Chase smiled bitterly.


    "...Though if I had to put a finger on it, I guess I just don''t want to be the direct cause of a child''s death."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Wow, you sound so noble. You do realize that killing them before they turn into a monster would probably only make them go through less pain?"


    Chase nodded.


    "Yeah. I don''t really care about what''s optimal for them. I just... don''t want any to die by my hand, even if they were going to anyway."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I don''t know if you''d be a good or bad parent at this point honestly. How you view treating children... is just so strange to me."


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "I suppose it''s not really the child that I care about, but rather whether or not I can me myself for their death."


    A moment of silence lingered between them.


    Kairos shook his head with the corner of his lip turned up.


    "Nevermind. You would be a terrible parent."


    Chase nodded.


    "Yeah, you''re right."


    Tiana looked between the two, clearly a little lost as to what their conversation even meant. Though, she was not curious enough to ask.


    Nobody seemed to be in the mood for talking after that, so they just let time continue to pass. Quinn eventually began snoring at some point, while the group began to feel a bit of heat despite being so high up.


    In the middle of the night, the red light became its strongest, bing visible across the horizon. But from there, it gradually began to die down. After some time, the sun gradually beganing up.


    And with that, the red light was beginning to disappearpletely.


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Are these strange red light disasters just going to keep happening? I doubt there will be many more survivors if this bes a regr thing."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "For those people that evolved to D rank, they would probably be able to withstand the red energy for long enough until they got to somewhere safe."


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "...So it may be better to raise your rank just for the sake of surviving the red energy."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Perhaps. But I''m guessing that even if they do retain their rationality, at least part of their body might be monsterized. In the end, the best measure is preventing contact in the first ce."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "What made youe to that conclusion?"


    Kairos didn''t speak for a moment.


    "...Intuition."


    Chase looked dumbfounded.


    "Huh?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Anyways, do you think the potatoes will still be edible after all of that?"


    Tiana frowned.


    "...Probably not. They would be far too dangerous to try in my opinion."


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "Then we can just get other people to try for us."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "So now we''re going to be the kidnappers that provide food. I wonder if any of them will get Stockholm syndrome."


    Tiana rolled her eyes.


    "That''s only if they somehow survive and don''t turn into monsters."


    Kairos looked down at the ground intently.


    "...Anyway, I think it''s finally over. We might as well check on things now."


    The sun was just barely peeking over the edge, casting its rays. As for the ground, the distinct red glow had left. With less hesitation than he should''ve had, he jumped off. Tiana did the same, and the two mmed onto the ground after falling for a bit.


    The ground was still hot, like coals, but it wasn''t so hot that it would begin burning anything.


    Kairos looked at Tiana.


    "You check on the potatoes, I''ll see if the food is still fine."


    Tiana looked at him strangely.


    "Don''t want to be with me?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "This is more efficient, isn''t it?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "Alright, alright. I''m still checking after you though."


    Kairos then walked over to Tiana''s room, and opened the door behind the closet. He was immediately greeted withrge amounts of steam. The entire space had be ufortably humid, but Kairos ignored that.


    He saw that the trapdoor was wide open despite being closed when he left it, and went down.


    The heat was fairly strong here, but nothing unbearable. He then quickly went to the spot where he left the red prism and retrieved it.


    It was glowing bright red when he saw it. Just from a nce, Kairos could tell it was fully charged.


    He picked it up and sighed.


    "...Now, are the food supplies still good?"

 Chapter 156 Verifying

    Kairos put the red prism away into his pocket, then looked at the state of the food on the shelves. It wasn''t the most clear-cut since everything was packaged, but he decided to first check their outer containers.


    After a quick inspection of everything on the outside, Kairos was able to determine that there was almost no differencepared to thest time. Except, when he looked at some of the things at the very bottom, there were definitely some that almost seemed rusted, just instead of actual rust, it was some strange glowing red stuff.


    Kairos frowned.


    After a moment of hesitation, he quickly broke open one of the cans to peer at what was inside, but only in his future vision. In the brief moment he got to look in the can, he saw that it was ham with a strange red color. It seemed that despite him casting the frost spell and the red prism absorbing the red energy, it still wasn''t enough to protect all of the food.


    He clicked his tongue before checking on the things that were stacked a little higher.


    Using the same tactic with his future vision, he opened up the can without actually doing so to check what was inside. This time, he saw corn that looked normal. As for whether or not it was affected, Kairos was not sure. However, it was still a good sign.


    Only the ones at the bottom were definitely affected by the red light. Though, Kairos couldn''t help but wonder if there was a chance the food was still edible. In the best-case scenario, the food would forcefully give some evolution energy, meaning that he and other higher rank people could eat it without too many problems.


    Kairos cursed under his breath before mbering back up thedder.


    At the very least, it seemed they had salvaged most of it, meaning that the city still had a chance. However, all of the potatoes that had been farmed were aplete other story. Not only were they buried in the ground, but there were no measures done to preserve them. Not that there really was much they could do with so little time anyway.


    Kairos made sure to securely close all the doors he came from before exiting Tiana''s room and reaching the farms.


    The first thing that he noticed was that the one person that transformed into a monster was now resting atop a tall but thin metal spike, almost like it was a statue. Kairos gave it a nce but ignored it soon after.


    He saw that Tiana was frowning deeply as she was inspecting one of the nearby farms.


    Kairos called out to her.


    "How does it look?"


    Tiana sighed.


    "...No idea."


    She slowly lifted up one of the potatoes that she had taken from the farm. It looked evenrger than the traditional potato and had a strange red hue.


    Tiana furrowed her brow.


    "The potatoes weren''t supposed to be finished yet. There should''ve been at least one or two more weeks for them to grow, but right now it looks just asrge, or evenrger than a fully grown potato."


    Kairos let out a dry chuckle.


    "At least it seems that the red energy helped grow the potatoes then..."


    Tiana took a deep breath.


    "...They don''t look the most edible though. They also seem to be radiating a constant stream of heat, which doesn''t feel like a good sign."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Perhaps they are still salvageable."


    Tiana grabbed onto the side of her head with frustration.


    "...Maybe."


    She bit the bottom of her lip.


    "How were things inside that ce?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "The stuff at the bottom definitely changed to be something weird."


    Tiana''s expression twitched.


    Kairos spoke calmly.


    "But at the very least, it seems the rest wasn''t affected. At least, it looks normal."


    Tiana''s breathing got a little heavy as one of her hands clenched into a fist.


    "...This situation isn''t good, but it could''ve been so much worse."


    She let out a long sigh.


    "Thanks for saving the city."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, I live here now too. If it was lost, then I wouldn''t have much toe back to."


    Tiana smiled.


    "Haha, guess so..."


    She stared at the potato she was holding onto intently, almost like she would be able to find out some sort of secret if she continued to stare.


    "It seems that these strange red light natural disasters are going to continue. That probably means normal food, in general, will soon be so scarce that it will be impossible to find."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "...That''s right."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "I guess that means we''re going to have to find a way to eat things like these at one point or another."


    Kairos walked up to take a closer look.


    "However, we don''t have to take that risk right now. We can take out time in learning how."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "But I have no ns of using the backup food supply to support the farmers, so what are they supposed to eat?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I suppose we should start experimenting now. If we can capture people that survived, then we can start using them. If we need more then... I guess we''ll just have to use the farmers."


    Tiana let out a soft sigh.


    "I guess that makes sense."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "...I think it will be better if I just take Chase with me."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Well, you don''t have to tell the others that you n on kidnapping them for testing."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It''s not like I n on dragging them here with my hands. I need someone that knows what they''re supposed to say and when they should stay silent. The only one with the proper requirements is him right now."


    Tiana pressed her lips together.


    "I guess you can get started as soon as he gets down here then. I''ll handle the aftermath that I can on this side."


    She raised her hands up to the sky, intending to lower the metal wall so that everyone coulde back down. Kairos noticed this and called out to her.


    "Wait. Don''t let the farmers down right now."


    Tiana turned to him and raised an eyebrow.


    "What''s the problem?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "They are probably going to mess things up. There are simply far too many of them."


    Tiana smirked.


    "After we''ve saved their lives like this, then they''ll surely obey us like drones."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "You don''t understand. People influenced by emotions are stupider than animals. They won''t want to disobey, but at the very least half of them are going to do something stupid. Keep all the farmers up there."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "Then what about the rest of your group?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you can get only them down, then sure. But do it after I''m out of the city. If the farmers get distressed about being unable toe back down, just tell them we were testing to see if it was safe to be back on the ground."


    Tiana nodded.


    "Sure."


    Kairos turned around and went back into the building, intending to walk up the stairs to exin to Chase, but he was right there.


    He seemed a little winded but had traversed down all the stairs.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Why did the two of you jump off like that? Is there some sort of emergency?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Not an emergency, but there isn''t time to waste. Come with me."


    Chase nodded without much concern.


    "Alright then."


    Kairos took the lead and the two of them walked to the entrance of the city.


    Chase blinked a few times.


    "How''s the situation?"


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "Not all was lost, but all the food that was growing has mutated in a strange way, bing red andrger. We are trying to figure out whether or not they are edible."


    Chase''s face twitched.


    "But..."


    He cut himself off as his eyes widened ever so slightly.


    "Ah, I see. So that''s why we are getting out of the city."


    Kairos smirked.


    "You already know?"


    Chase narrowed his eyes.


    "We are going to capture people to test the food on them."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes. I n to keep them for at least a few days to see if the effects are not immediate too."


    Chase gave him a nce.


    "The others aren''ting?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "They will be staying here for now."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "So you''re bringing me along for the dirty work."


    Kairos nodded.


    "That''s the n, yeah."


    Chase rubbed his chin as a small smile formed on his face.


    "Then what''s my pay looking like?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "How about not dying?"


    Chase paused for a moment before slowly nodding.


    "...That is an offer that is definitely hard to deny."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Then I assume you''ve taken it. Wee, new employee."


    Chase sucked in a cold breath.


    "Even minimum wage workers don''t get this kind of treatment."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Considering that they are just barely getting by, I''ve more or less given you the same offer. Given it''s the apocalypse, it''s an even better one than normal."


    Chaseughed.


    "Guess I can''tin, huh?"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "You can, but it''s not going to change anything."


    Chase took a deep breath.


    "...Well, that''s great."


    Once they made it to the wall, the metal began rising to let them through. As they walked through the newly formed entrance, Kairos couldn''t help but wonder if Tiana actually had to manually open the doors every time.


    That would probably be annoying.


    He shook his head after making it to the other side and focused on the site in front of him.


    "Alright... seems like this is going to be a little more difficult than usual."


    The streets were filled with monsters. Many of them appeared to be attempting to get into the building, or at least getting under the shade.


    Chase smiled bitterly.


    "These things are going to be a pain. Why did wee out so early?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, since it just ended, we know that the survivors are going to be above ground. It''s not like we''re going to have to fight them."


    As he said that, several monsters rushed toward him. With a sweep of his spear, he ripped apart several of them. Though, after doing that, he narrowed his eyes.


    "They are far strongerpared to before."


    He also took note of theck of system notifications.


    "And they''re also still at the E rank."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Still doesn''t look like a problem for you."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I had to put in almost my full strength for that. They seem to have simr strength to the peak of E rank."


    Chase clicked his tongue.


    "Then that''s probably not good for me. We also probably have to cancel our future ns of gathering points for now."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Yeah, I''ll just clear a path. Keep up with me."


    Chase nodded.


    "Alright."


    Kairos led the way, mming his spear at the nearby monsters that charged toward the two of them. The two of them made their way through the streets.


    Chase had his bow at the ready.


    "Where exactly are we going?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Up the top floor of one of the higher buildings. So we''re going to the highest one, which is just a couple blocks away."


    Chase sighed.


    "Got it."


    Soon, the two of them got to the building he was mentioning, but the entrance was swarmed with monsters trying to get inside. Kairos called out to Chase.


    "Climb up the side of the building."


    Without waiting for a response, Kairos mbered up, and Chase followed suit without muchint.


    As they got close to the roof, they could hear someone speaking.


    "No... I''m not a monster! I''m not!"

 Chapter 157 Monster?

    Kairos gave Chase a nce as they climbed up the building. He returned it with a skeptical look and nodded.


    Kairos double-checked below him at the monsters. They were reaching out their arms towards both him and Chase, but they didn''t seem to understand how to actually climb, and thus were unable to reach them.


    At the top of the building, a conversation ensued.


    "Get the hell away from me right now!"


    "W-What? But I''m just a normal person! I''m not a monster!"


    Kairos slowly mbered up until he was close to the top of the roof and Chase followed suit.


    "Just look at what you''ve be! There''s no way you''re human!"


    "No... no... that''s not what''s happening! You have to trust me!"


    "Why the hell should we trust a fucking monster? If you have at least some human part of you left, go jump off the building and die!"


    Kairos gave Chase a look before climbing up to the roof.


    "That''s a rather rude thing to say, don''t you think?


    Upon getting up there, he saw a group of five people that were all on the roof. Four of them surrounded another, holding up various weapons towards the person in question threateningly.


    Chase got up as well and had a casual smile on his face.


    "What''s going on here?"


    The four people holding up weapons tilted them as though they wanted to point them towards the two of them, but soon after they stopped, instead continuing to point them towards the man. It seemed that the moment they realized the two people were human, they determined that the two were a far less greater threat.


    Kairos rubbed his chin as he stared at the person in the middle.


    "...I suppose you are right in saying he doesn''t look human."


    The man in the middle was in a strange condition, to say the least, and was one that was even more disturbing than a normal monster. One of his arms burgeoned strangely, almost like it was infected by some alien parasite. The fact that it was bright red didn''t help either. As for his other arm, it looked like a normal human''s, but the hand had transformed into a very monster-like w.


    As for his face, one of his eyes resembled a monster''s, with no pupil and a slight yellow color along with blood vessels. Along with that, roughly a third of his teeth were also elongated and sharpened, as it was with monsters.


    On top of that, although his body was clothed, it was easy to tell strange bumps underneath that almost made it look like spores were growing on him.


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "To say that he is a monster isn''t exactly correct, as monsters can''t talk."


    He narrowed his eyes slightly after saying that.


    "...Well, most monsters at least."


    One of the men holding a weapon looked towards Chase and Karios questioningly.


    "Why are you here? We don''t have any problems with you, and you shouldn''t have any problems with us!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "We are actually part of a city, and due to a recent natural disaster, most of the farmers had be monsters. As such, we are trying to recruit other survivors to be part of the city to take their ce."


    The man that asked had calmed down considerably after hearing that.


    "...I see. So what did you do to the people that had be monsters? Killed them, right?"


    The partly monsterified man in the middle flinched when he heard that.


    Chase let out a helpless sigh.


    "Well, what else was there to do with mindless monsters that attacked anything they saw? The higher-ups of the city took care of it, killing them all."


    The man nodded.


    "So we should''ve just killed this monster then too!"


    The man in the middle raised both his hands.


    "Wait, wait! But I''m not a mindless monster attacking whatever I see! I''m still me, just a little different!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, I wouldn''t say a little different."


    The man got down onto his knees while keeping his hands up.


    "Ok, fine, it''s very different, but I''m still a human!"


    A woman holding up a weapon frowned when she heard that.


    "...I can''t say I know how to define what is human, but I highly doubt that you are one."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "If you im that you are indeed still human, then let''s put it to the test. I will ask you some questions to prove it."


    The man nodded hastily.


    "Yes, ask anything!"


    Kairos started off simple.


    "What is your name?"


    The man responded confidently.


    "Liam!"


    Kairos tapped his chin.


    "Alright, Liam. Can you recount when you started to gain these strange traits to appear on your body?"


    The woman holding up a weapon frowned.


    "Hey, you can''t actually believe that he''s really human?"


    Kairos put his hand up.


    "I don''t believe he is human, but maybe at least most of him still is. Now, can you recount the events?"


    Liam clenched his fists.


    "I know this! Um, I remember thatst night there was a strange red lighting from the ground. I immediately ran up and warned the others about it when I saw it, but my body began changing as that happened."


    Another man holding up a weapon scowled.


    "So you transformed into a monster like the farmers in that guy''s city!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Not necessarily. Let me continue with the questions. What rank are you?"


    Liam blinked a few times as though confused, but didn''t ask.


    "Um, I''m currently at the peak of E rank."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes. He was not fully expecting that as he thought someone that didn''t fully transform into a monster must''ve at least been at the D rank. Though, given how strongly the monster traits were on the man right now, he didn''t take it as that surprising.


    Kairos nodded.


    "Please answer this honestly. Do you feel like you are in control of your own actions?"


    Liam hurriedly nodded.


    "Of course I am!"


    Chase sighed.


    "At least take a moment to think about it. Are you truly in control of your actions? Is there anything urging you to do... something?"


    Liam shook his head.


    "Of course not! I''m confident that I am in control!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...Is that so? Well, can you tell me what thirty-five multiplied by thirteen is equal to?"


    One of the men holding their weapons frowned.


    "What does that have to do with anything?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Humans have intelligence, which puts us above animals and monsters. Being able to solve various math problems is just one of the byproducts of our intelligence."


    The man slowly nodded.


    "...Ah, that makes sense! If he can''t solve the problem, then he''s a monster!"


    Another man furrowed his brow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "But I can''t solve it... I was never really good at math."


    Liam was nearly having a breakdown with his w digging into the scalp on the side of his head, but when he heard that he grasped onto it like a drowning man.


    "Y-Yeah, just give me something easier and I''ll solve it!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Then what is eight multiplied by seven?"


    Liam''s expression froze as he began thinking. He took several deep breaths and lowered his head in thought. Everyone began waiting, but more than five minutes had already passed.


    The man that mentioned he was bad at math earlier furrowed his brows.


    "...Even if I''m bad at math, I already figured out the answer a long time ago. That''s definitely not normal."


    Liam nearly broke down.


    "No! No! It''s just too hard for me, give me something easier! Then I''ll be able to solve it."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "Then what is three plus four?"


    Liam began sweating, while his lips trembled.


    A man holding up a weapon scowled.


    "He can''t even do basic addition? He''s definitely a monster!"


    Liam held his hands up.


    "No, no, just give me an easier one! I''ll be able to do it!"


    Chase chuckled.


    "It doesn''t get much easier than that."


    Liam mmed his head into the ground.


    "No! Just something... something a little easier!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "...What''s one plus one?"


    Liam didn''t respond for a full ten seconds.


    "It''s two! Two! I know the answer, it''s two! See, I''m still human, right?"


    He answered with enthusiasm and looked around him at the others, as though expecting a warm response. Unfortunately for Liam, everyone only looked at him with more skepticism.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "It seems that you are definitely not purely a human."


    Liam looked at the ground with a despairing expression.


    "But I-"


    "Though it wouldn''t be right to say you arepletely a monster either."


    Chase looked at Kairos with a curious look, wondering what exactly he was trying to do, but stayed silent.


    Kairos raised a finger.


    "Since our city has a lot of manpower, we can attempt to save you, but you have to understand that your freedom will be heavily restricted."


    Liam hastily nodded.


    "Of course I understand. Even if part of me is a monster right now, my heart is still human. Please save me."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I don''t know how to save you. The only thing I can do is try."


    Liam ced his forehead on the ground.


    "That much is fine! I willply..."


    Kairos turned to the others.


    "That''s fine with you all, no?"


    A man frowned.


    "...Well, if possible I would like Liam to be transformed back into a real human. I don''t think he was a bad person."


    The woman slowly nodded.


    "If he really can be turned back fully into a human, then I''d ept it."


    Liam let out a sigh of relief.


    "I''ll definitely be human again, I swear it!"


    Kairos gave him a disdainful nce, but didn''t call him out on the promise he couldn''t even keep. He slowly shook his head.


    "Well, for the rest of you all, you can be regr farmers in our city."


    The other four people looked at Kairos with intrigue but didn''t jump the gun.


    One man spoke up.


    "What exactly is being a farmer like?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Basically, the terms are we protect you from the monsters, while you work on your farm. We will take half of what you grow, and you can keep the other half for yourself to eat. It''s a fair deal, no?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "There were actually people fighting to be farmers in the city, but we weren''t able to ept all of them just because there weren''t enough plots ofnd for that."


    The four of them looked at each other skeptically.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "You don''t have to ept it. It''s just an offer. We don''t n on keeping anyone that doesn''t want to, alright?"


    The woman slowly nodded.


    "I think we can do it then."


    The man furrowed his brow.


    "Are you sure?"


    Another man shrugged his shoulders.


    "If you don''t want to, then you don''t have to, right? The rest of us can go."


    This seemed to make the hesitant man anxious.


    "Ah, alright then, I''ll go too."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright then. You all can follow me now back to the city."


    Chase gave a smile.


    "Going somewhere new is always scary, but I''m sure all of you will get used to it soon."


    The woman gave a small nod.


    "I-I imagine so..."


    Kairos gestured with his head.


    "Alright then. Let''s climb down."


    A man looked surprised.


    "C-Climb down? But it''s so high up!"


    Chase shrugged his shoulders.


    "It can''t be helped. There are far too many monsters entering the building, so this way is actually much safer."


    The group seemed a little nervous, but theyplied in the end.


    If they knew what wasing to them, then they wouldn''t have. After all, even if it was an apocalypse, it could be far worse.

 Chapter 158 Testing

    The five that Chase and Kairos were leading were a little afraid, but there were noplications with climbing down the building. Liam had quite a bit of trouble, but he was able to manage to dig his ws into the wall as he fell.


    From there, Kairos led the way back. There were fewer monsters than before, so though he had to get a bigger group through, there was little trouble for them to get back. The biggest problem was that the other four were on the verge of stabbing Liam at any moment because of their distrust.


    Once they got close to the city, one of the men in the group let out a small gasp upon setting his gaze on the wall.


    "Wait, this couldn''t possibly be the city you were talking about, right?"


    Chase chuckled.


    "Of course, what else would it be?"


    The woman''s eyes widened.


    "I... I thought that some kind of monster made this! There was a city full of people this close by?"


    Another man rubbed his chin with confusion.


    "This... was this created by humans? But that''s impossible!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "We aren''t the ones that made it, but the one leading us did. She''s quite strong and can single-handedly protect everyone, though she also has some others doing that job too."


    Liam let out a faint gasp of shock.


    "Woah... I might actually be able to..."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Anyway, let''s go inside."


    The wall raised, which made everyone else surprised. The group proceeded to walk in. Though, there wasn''t a single person in sight, which unsettled them.


    The woman turned to Kairos.


    "U-Um, where is everyone?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Remember the red light from earlier? The farmers that survived were all evacuated to the top of the walls, and most of them are still sleeping on top right now."


    Chase pointed towards a section where a few people were standing up.


    "Just look over there. Some of them are currently up on the walls."


    The other five in the group narrowed their eyes to look, and there were indeed hard to see people in the distance, standing on top of the wall.


    The woman let out a sigh of relief.


    "Ah, that makes sense. This... is so much more than I imagined!"


    Chase smiled brightly.


    "Haha, we''ve heard that a lot!"


    Kairos took a quick look around and noticed that both Tiana and the other members of his group didn''t seem to be anywhere nearby. He cleared his throat.


    "Anyway, let me first show you four the rooms that you will now have. As for you, Liam, there will be special arrangements made because of your condition."


    Liam nodded.


    "I understand."


    Kairos gave a casual wave.


    "Now, follow me."


    He led them into the center of the building and began walking up the stairs. He remembered before that most of the floors seemed to be unupied if they were above the third floor.


    He nned on using some of the floors near the top. Upon getting to a floor close to the roof, Kairos paused.


    "Alright, you four can go in here and each of you can take a room on the left with an even number as those are the ones avable. Please stay in there for the time being. I wille back to discuss things with you."


    They gave small nods.


    "Thank you once again!"


    "...Wow, we even get our own individual room?"


    Kairos turned to Liam.


    "As for you, we will continue going up."


    Liam slowly nodded.


    "Alright."


    Once they walked up two more floors, they were now near the roof.


    "You will be granted the first room on the right. Just stay there for now, and be aware it may take a little while for me to get back to you. Make sure to be patient."


    Liam gave a small bow.


    "Understood!"


    After confirming that he went into his particr room, Kairos began walking down the steps with Chase.


    Once the two had gotten close to the ground floor once more, Chase gave Kairos a look.


    "Why did you decide to bring the one that was clearly a lost cause?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Although he may be a lost cause, I want to see if there really are any methods to reverse the effects of bing a monster."


    His eyes narrowed slightly as he began thinking about Sydney.


    "After all, one of our party members may end up being affected in the same way, and having at least some method of treatment could stop the problem before it gets... out of hand."


    Chase raised an eyebrow.


    "Truly thinking ahead I see."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Worst case scenario, I can just kill him and pretend he fully transformed into a monster and couldn''t be helped anymore."


    Chase chuckled.


    "I also noticed you made the four pick rooms that were all apart from each other."


    Kairos shrugged.


    "...Can''t have them talking to each other through the walls."


    Chase sighed.


    "So what''s your n for keeping them in the rooms after you start... doing things?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "I''ll get Tiana to handle that. For now, could you go find Quinn and bring him to the entrance of my room?"


    Chase gave a small nod.


    "Alright."


    He then went off on his own, onto the third floor, while Kairos went down to Tiana''s room. He wasn''t one hundred percent sure, but the mana seemed to be gravitating there, so that was his best guess.


    Kairos knocked on the door.


    "Hey, I need your help."


    Soon after, Tiana opened it.


    "You already got the people?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yes. Could you make sure they don''t leave their rooms? You can just directly change their doors to a wall of metal if possible."


    Tiana smirked.


    "Alright then. I''ll leave the experimentation to you."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Well, I''ll be outsourcing a little bit of help."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "And who exactly is that?"


    "I assume that will be me?"


    Quinn answered the question for him while rubbing the back of his neck.


    "So, what''s going on?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos turned to him.


    "Basically, the food that all the farms had been growing have mutated into strange red versions."


    Quinn narrowed his eyes.


    "I suppose bing a different variation makes sense because of that red light. And I assume you want my opinion on how edible it is?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Not exactly. I''m asking you to help me find a way to eat these with minimal side effects."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "And how am I supposed to know that?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''ve got four people that we can test it on. If they aren''t enough, then I can just find some more. In essence, it''s like an experiment, right?"


    Quinn stared at him for a good few seconds.


    "I believe that vites many ethical guidelines provided by the scientificmunity."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "And unfortunately, it doesn''t seem like you are a scientist, so why should you follow them?"


    Quinn gave him a long look. He silently deliberated over it for a minute before responding.


    "...Alright then."


    Kairos smiled.


    "Then let''s start."


    He went to one of the farms and took a potato from it. Then, he showed it off to Quinn.


    "This is what we''re working with. The heat that it''s emitting almost makes it feel like it was just cooked, despite the fact it''s freshly pulled out of the ground."


    Quinn frowned when he looked at the potato in front of him.


    "For all intents and purposes, I would not eat that, even if I was starving."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Well, you won''t have to. At least not for now. Do you have any ideas that could counter these effects?"


    Quinn rubbed his chin.


    "Well... first I would need to look at the effects of when it gets consumed under normal circumstances to understand the basics of the problem with it."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Alright,e up with me then and we will try just that."


    Chase gave a small wave.


    "Need me toe with you?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Don''t worry about it for now. Though, I may need your helpter."


    With that, Kairos and Quinn walked up the steps, all the way to the floors holding the four people. He knocked on one of the doors, which was opened promptly, revealing a man behind it.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Hello, we are here to provide you with something to eat."


    He handed the man the red potato. The man was initially expectant after hearing those first words, but looked worried when he saw what the "food" was.


    "Um... are you sure that''s safe to eat?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Several of our other farmers have already eaten it, and they were fine. If you don''t want anything to eat, please tell us soon, because this potato spoils rtively fast."


    The man furrowed his brow.


    "W-What? But just look at it, doesn''t it look strange?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Actually, if you noticed, most of the food in the world has actually already changed significantly because of whatever this red light has done to it. Realistically speaking, this potato may look weird, but it''s no different from any of the food you''ve already been eating."


    The man blinked a few times.


    "Eh? Really?"


    Quinn smiled bitterly.


    "Well, even if there are any long-term side effects, it''s not as though we can do anything about it. There is no longer food unaffected by the properties of the red light after all."


    The man frowned deeply.


    "...I guess so. Then I''ll take it."


    Kairos held it out, and the man took it with a bit of hesitation.


    After that, Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Because it spoils soon, I hope that we can see you eat it to confirm you haven''t wasted anything."


    The man blinked a few times.


    "Can''t I cook it?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Don''t you feel how hot it is? It''s already cooked."


    The man looked down at the potato.


    "Ah, I see now. Thanks."


    It took him a few seconds, but he eventually worked up the courage to take a small bite from the potato. Almost immediately, a frown formed on his face.


    "U-Um, are you sure this is cooked? It tastes weird."


    Kairos sighed.


    "In truth, it''s already past the expiration date, but this is the best we can do for now"


    The man furrowed his brow.


    "Um... I think I''ll hold off on eating it then."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "But you''ve already taken a bite out of it. The others wouldn''t want to eat something  that has been touched by someone else."


    The man scratched the side of his head.


    "T-Then I can cut off the part that I bit into and eat that, while the rest can go to someone else."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "But what if there is some sort of virus in your body that has spread into the food? Then it would spread that sickness. These kinds of measures are necessary to prevent a gue from spreading."


    The man grabbed onto the side of his head with distress.


    "...Then can I at least eat itter?"


    Kairos shook his head once more.


    "I told you before that it will spoil soon. We don''t have that much time to watch over you, so we would prefer if you ate the potato quickly."


    The man looked quite troubled, but eventually he gave in.


    "Ok... ok..."


    He took a big bite out of the potato, but the expression on his face clearly showed that it was unpleasant. Nheless, he kept going.


    Quinn observed him silently, but his eyes were hardly blinking. He was taking this rather seriously.


    By the time he was almost finished with the potato, the man''s body heated up considerably.


    "...I feel strange. Is this normal?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "It is a little spoiled after all."


    The man shook his head.


    "No... this is definitely not normal."

 Chapter 159 Result

    The man gradually became aggressive as he felt his body changing.


    "There''s... no way that this is real."


    His skin reddened. While no obvious monstrous traits had appeared from eating the potato, from what it looked like, he wasn''t all that far from bing one.


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t worry, it feels weird now but it will settle down soon."


    The man looked down at his body, which had turned as red as a beet.


    "...But it feels so weird. It''s not settling down at all!"


    Kairos spoke slowly and calmly.


    "You''re overreacting. Don''t worry so much about temporary things."


    The man furrowed his brows intensely.


    "...Ok. W-When is it supposed to settle down?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It varies, but generally after ten minutes."


    The man''s eyes widened.


    "I''m going to be like this for ten minutes?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s a temporary side effect. You''ll be fine soon enough."


    The man slowly nodded.


    "...Ok."


    Quinn shot a few nces at Kairos, but eventually focused back on the man. Though he found this a little much for him, he also understood that the mutated food was a problem they would have to tackle sooner orter. Although the method was a little intense and maniptive, there weren''t many other better options.


    And so, he just stayed there, continuing to observe.


    The three of them remained in that room for quite a while, all not really sure of what was going to happen.


    While that was happening, there were other people discussing Kairos. Though, it would probably be thest person he expected to be doing such a thing.


    In a town far away from the city, a teenager with blonde hair and blue eyes was staring down at a blue crystal with a frown on his face. He was sitting on a chair, in a tall building.


    "...That is not the ideal situation."


    Another teenager across from him mmed the table.


    "What the hell is this? Not only was the scouting team killed, but this weird ass red light turned so many of our ves into monsters!"


    This boy was a bit on the muscr side visually speaking and had short brown hair. His eyes were emerald green, and a deep frown was stered across his face.


    A girl with long ck hair that reached past her face scowled.


    "We have to get revenge on them. Plus, they might have some people or resources to take in that big city."


    The teenage boy with blonde hair shook his head.


    "No. I''m not willing to fight against them."


    The boy with brown hair sighed.


    "Yeah. At the very least, with less mouths to feed our resources willst longer. It shouldn''t be all that hard to recruit more people. Just show them a little bit of food and they''lle running."


    The girl frowned.


    "...We kept our food supply on the ground floor."


    The boy with brown hair raised an eyebrow.


    "And?"


    The girl sighed.


    "I remember seeing what happened to the bananas I left out on the counter by the window. When the red sun shone on them, they began glowing red, bing far bigger. I didn''t know if the banana had somehow turned into a monster, but what I do know is that it didn''t look safe to eat."


    The boy with blonde hair kept his head down and remained silent. As for the other, he furrowed his brow.


    "What does that have to do with anything?"


    The girl pressed two fingers onto her forehead in frustration.


    "It means most of our food supply has been mutated into weird red versions. In other words, we no longer have food to dangle in front of people''s noses. That is unless people are going to be stupid enough to flock to bright red glowing mutated versions of it."


    The boy with brown hair fell silent.


    "...We have to attack that city."


    The boy with blonde hair spoke up almost immediately.


    "No. They are probably stronger than us. To be able to build something like that in the first ce is already a pretty big show of strength."


    The boy with brown hair raised an eyebrow.


    "You of all people are saying that? You''re one of the strongest people we got! Sure, we don''t have big ass metal walls, but that''s because we don''t want them. It''s not like we couldn''t arrange something like that. Plus what''s the point when you can just st them down easily."


    The boy with blonde hair furrowed his brow.


    "It''s not so simple... don''t you remember how our team suddenly just copsed and died? How are we supposed to fight that?"


    The girl rolled his eyes.


    "There are obviously limitations to those kinds of abilities. She spent so much time stalling and even brought the team right up next to her. As long as we aren''t stupid, I doubt it will have any effect on us."


    The boy with blonde hair frowned.


    "...I still stand by my view of not attacking."


    The girl looked at him strangely.


    "What the hell has gotten into you, Edward? Why are you even scared of others when it should be the other way around?"


    The boy with brown hair rubbed his chin.


    "That is quite strange..."


    Edward took a deep breath.


    "...I already know that while that girl is strong, she isn''t invincible. I''m sure I''d be able to contest her with the help from a couple other of the top ones."


    His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.


    "Instead, it''s the boy next to him that I don''t want to face."


    The girl looked at him strangely.


    "Huh? Him?"


    Edward blinked a few times.


    "His name is Kairos. The guy that never liked talking to other people. You should remember that much, N."


    N was lost in thought for a moment.


    "Ah... that person? Why the hell would you be scared of him?"


    The boy with brown hair furrowed his brow.


    "...Wait. He''s the one with all the rumors around him. Kairos, right?"


    N narrowed her eyes and turned to look at him.


    "Rumors? What are you talking about Collin?"


    Collin closed his eyes tightly as he thought to himself.


    "It happened a damn long time ago, but I remember. There was this one guy who went around taking money from as many people as he could. Ipletely forgot his name, but I remember him clearly."


    N clicked her tongue.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So now we''re scared of a kid that just took money from other kids?"


    Collin shook his head.


    "...No, it was that one kid who acted up really strongly when he tried to rob him. They said it was an ident, but the guy got his arm broken in one of their scuffles."


    N blinked a few times.


    "Now that I think about that, I can vaguely recall that incident. But this is the apocalypse we are talking about here, why the hell do you care about someone that broke an arm? Maybe it really was just an ident."


    Edward slowly shook his head.


    "It''s definitely not an ident."


    N looked at him strangely.


    "And how do you know?"


    Edward didn''t respond for a few seconds.


    "Because he told me how I could snap someone''s elbow, and how to disguise it as an ident."


    N fell silent after hearing that. As for Collins, he gasped.


    "Wait, then that probably means he really was responsible for that!"


    N clicked her tongue in annoyance.


    "What do you mean by that? Just say it directly!"


    Collins took a deep breath.


    "I didn''t see it myself, but some other guys were talking about how they saw someone in one school bathroom with all of their limbs broken, and torn off too. It was the guy that had his arm broken."


    N rolled her eyes.


    "Alright then, that''splete bullshit! I would''ve heard about and remembered something like that."


    Edward sighed.


    "The school was quick to cover it up. They sent hush money to the family involved, while all rumors about it were banned and considered misinformation."


    N furrowed her brows.


    "Someone dying like that can''t be covered up that easily!"


    Edward shook his head.


    "That guy fell into aa and went to a hospital. They made up the excuse that he had some sort of cancer which caused the urgent need for a hospital."


    N couldn''t speak for a good few moments.


    "...That still sounds really stupid."


    Edward slowly nodded.


    "I didn''t think death could be covered up that easily too. But apparently, the entire school was on the verge of closing down because there was another private school nearby that was far more popr. A scandal like that definitely would''ve gotten the government to close that ce down, and all the staff would be fired."


    N blinked a few times.


    "So you''re saying all the teachers were in on keeping it a secret?"


    Edward rolled his eyes.


    "All those teachers clearly weren''tpetent. They could just barely get a job teaching, so obviously they would go quite far to keep their jobs."


    Collins frowned.


    "...Yeah, I remember people would only whisper it to each other, but the general gist of it was to stay away from that gloomy kid. Several people told Chad that, but it seemed like he didn''t really care."


    Edward shrugged his shoulders.


    "Chad was clearly an idiot. And now he''s probably dead. Go figure."


    N took a deep breath.


    "Alright then. I get that this kid was dangerous before the apocalypse, but who''s to say he can do anything now? Sure he may be a little unhinged, but now with everyone having powers, it''s apletely different story."


    Collins gave a small nod.


    "Ah, right. That makes sense. Even the professional boxers aren''t in that much of an advantage now because of how dependent our strength is on evolving and our abilities. Some random kid like that should be in the same boat."


    Edward narrowed his eyes further.


    "Maybe, but I don''t think it''s something like that. Even when he was just a kid, he was already ruthless."


    N clicked her tongue.


    "I don''t realize how that counters the point I just made. Are you really going to be this hung up about some random guy?"


    Collin blinked a few times.


    "...Wait, you were his friend before. Is that why?"


    Edward slowly shook his head.


    "I wish I could say that was the reason."


    He leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.


    "But really, it''s because... I''m afraid of him."


    N clicked her tongue.


    "If you''re so afraid of him, then let''s go there and you can personally kill him! The only thing he did was just stand there."


    Edward frowned.


    "...I think he did that because he knew there were other people watching. He probably didn''t want to reveal his capabilities."


    Collins blinked a few times.


    "Ok, I somewhat agreed with you, but that''s just taking it too far. The crystal was embedded into his stomach, and neither of them could see it! They didn''t even check the dead bodies afterward."


    N sighed.


    "What? Did this kid poke you with a stick when you were kids, then traumatize you?"


    Edward smiled bitterly.


    "...Well, that''s not entirely wrong."


    N looked a little baffled.


    "Eh? Really?"


    Edward cleared his throat.


    "The poking with the stick part is wrong, but he definitely traumatized me."


    Collins raised an eyebrow.


    "What the hell? Did he threaten you or something? If so, that''s only more reason to go attack that city!"


    Edward let out a genuineugh that gradually tapered off.


    "...Ironically enough, he saved me."


    N mmed her fist on the table.


    "Can you be a little serious here? There''s no time for joking!"


    Edward lowered his head slightly.


    "...I''m not joking. Though I don''t really want to think about it, I''ll tell you guys about it."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "The gist of it is that guy does not care about the method, so long as there is a good result."

 Chapter 160 Wolf

    Collin looked at Edward strangely.


    "So he just does whatever he has to? I don''t exactly understand why that''s such a scary thing."


    N raised an eyebrow.


    "Though I don''t like agreeing with Collin, I really feel you''ve been stepping around this topic. Couldn''t you just tell us?"


    Edward blinked a few times.


    "That''s why I said I would tell you guys about it. Just... give me a second to remember it all."


    N leaned back in her chair.


    "Alright then. Don''t take too long."


    Edward muttered to himself.


    "It''s almost like he doesn''t even understand what he''s doing is cruel."


    While he was thinking to himself, Kairos was currently holding a man''s mouth shut.


    The reason why was because he could tell that he was going to scream loudly, thus he stopped him. This had actuallye out of nowhere. Although there were signs that the man began realizing what exactly was going on, he didn''t show any tant signs that he was going to scream.


    Kairos furrowed his brows slightly.


    "I didn''t expect that you would be smarter than you look."


    The man strained himself, twisting his limbs and even channeling mana to cast a spell. His struggle was actually a feint so that he would be able to cast the spell. However, it wasn''t exactly going to work on Kairos that could see mana in his body.


    As the mana flowed towards the man''s hands, Kairos ced his thumb against the man''s elbow, pushing it to the side, and then pinching it.


    A crack resounded in the room, while a muffled cry of pain came from the man. Kairos directly pulled off that arm and did hesitate to do it to the other arm either. The mana that had funneled towards his hand dissipated and fell to the ground.


    Quinn had aplicated expression on his face as he saw all this.


    "You really didn''t hesitate, huh? Was that really necessary?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "He was about to shout. Then after I stopped him, he tried to cast a spell. So I broke off his arms to stop him."


    Quinn''s eyelid twitched.


    "I... see."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Actually... he''s probably going to try to talk, isn''t he? It''s not like I can keep him quiet the entire time, but we still need him alive."


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "I guess that makes sense."


    The man continued to struggle and was beginning to tear up from the pain of losing his arms. Though, soon after, his eyes widened all the way from shock.


    Because Kairos had directly torn his lower jaw off, before tossing it to the ground.


    The man proceeded to let out various painful gurgling sounds. As he copsed on the ground. He then tried to run away, which prompted Kairos to grab onto him and rip off his legs.


    Afterwards, Kairos tossed the man onto the ground and let out a soft sigh.


    "It''s been a while since I''ve done something like this."


    Quinn looked at the man that was gurgling out in pain with a scrunched-up expression.


    "Did you not consider how loud he is? The others definitely heard that."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I already thought of that. There''s one of them called Liam that is currently in the process of transforming into a monster. I''m just going to tell them that the sounds came from him."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "You brought someone in just for that purpose?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, that was one of the reasons, but I still intend to experiment on him too."


    Quinn couldn''t speak for a good few seconds.


    "I see."


    Kairos looked down at the man.


    "He''s a little bloody now, but you can still observe the changes in him, right?"


    Quinn slowly nodded.


    "Yes, I will continue to observe him."


    The man was sobbing as he moved his stubs as though his limbs were still there, as though trying to deny he lost them. Though, there was only so much he could do beforeing to realize what had happened to him.


    Around this time, Edward slowly opened his eyes.


    "To start this story off, I suppose I should say that we were quite close friends when we were younger."


    Collins blinked a few times.


    "You chose to be friends with someone you were scared of?"


    Edward shook his head.


    "I wasn''t afraid of him at the time. Though I say we were close, I suppose I never really understood him. The point is, I''ve spent a long time with him. And for all intents and purposes, he may be a bit of an introvert at times, but he acts more or less like a normal guy."


    He shrugged.


    "Both of us didn''t really know what we were doing, but we went wherever the hell, going to new ces one after another. As time passed, we went further and further, to more obscure ces. Realistically speaking, it was a little dangerous considering how easy it would be to get lost, and we did get lost at times, but somehow it worked out in the end."


    He blinked a few times.


    "I suppose that''s what led us to eventually go to some obscure camping site together. In fact, now that I think about it, that ce probably wasn''t an actual camping spot, but some sketchy ce that imed it was one before sending people off into the forest for some free money."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "Being kids, I guess we never picked up on the dangerous aspect. Our excitement got the better of us and we went on a camping trip in the middle of the woods with just the two of us. If our parents knew, they would''ve been livid."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Edward leaned back into his chair.


    "Anyway, we set up all of the camping stuff we had and nned to stay there for the evening before going back home. We were there for such a short time that there shouldn''t have been any problems unless we were just really unlucky."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "But unfortunately, we were just that unlucky. A lone wolf had apparently sniffed us out and came to where we were camping."


    N frowned.


    "That''s quite the terrifying thing for kids to face. How old were the two of you?"


    Edward smiled bitterly.


    "If I remember correctly, we were about eight years old."


    Collins sucked in a cold breath.


    "At least wolves aren''t all that aggressive to humans."


    Edward nodded.


    "That''s true. But this one looked to be on the verge of starvation, so it didn''t exactly have any ns of letting us go. I remember when I saw it, my brain basically short-circuited. The only thing I could do was yell out to run away and take a few steps."


    N raised an eyebrow.


    "That''s already pretty good for a kid that age. Most probably would''ve just broken down and maybe started crying right there."


    Edward let out a bitterugh.


    "Well, honestly it wasn''t too different from that. In my mind, I thought that Kairos would run away at the very least because of my warning. But he didn''t. I remember quite vividly he shoved me to the side, moving me when I didn''t have the courage to. And right when he did, the wolf lunged, going right past me."


    He paused at this point.


    "At that point, I turned to him to yell at him to run once more. Yet, he didn''t once more. I remember his eyes were widened to the limits and were straight on the wolf. As he acted, he told me we wouldn''t be able to outrun a wolf. So... he picked up one of the sticks we were going to use for marshmallows and tried to fight it."


    Collins furrowed his brow.


    "What?"


    N blinked a few times.


    "Even an adult man has no chance against a wolf, yet a child was trying to be a superhero?"


    Edward smiled bitterly.


    "...At the time, that was my actual thought. That he was like some superhero. After missing the initial lunge, it continued running for a few moments before turning around to face us once more. From there, Kairos just stared at the wolf without making a single move, while the wolf just growled."


    He closed his eyes, as though wanting to visualize the scenario himself.


    "Then out of nowhere, he dashed to the side, right when the wolf lunged. On top of that, he had his stick right where the wolf''s eye was going to be."


    Collins clicked his tongue.


    "That''s just dumb luck."


    Edward shook his head.


    "If it was only one time, I would say it was dumb luck, but it wasn''t just that. The wolfshed out at whatever was nearby after getting stabbed by the stick. Kairos pushed me aside so that I would get hit, then got another one of the sticks that we were using, and was able to get it right into the other eye despite the fact it was iling its head around."


    N blinked a few times.


    "...So good reflexes."


    Edward cleared his throat.


    "Anyway, at the time I didn''t question how he did it, but was just relieved that the wolf was now blind. I called out to him one more time that we should just run away, but he was insistent. He was panting badly, but still got out the words to tell me that it would still chase us down with its smell. That the only solution was to kill it. I don''t know why, but I''m pretty sure nothing would''ve convinced him that there was any other option."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "I didn''t know how to respond to that. So I just stood there like an idiot, not even helping him. But I watched it all. I watched every single bit of it. The wolf continued to il around, destroying our tent and the other things we brought there. As for Kairos, he began picking up the logs that were used to make a fire, while the me was still burning on them, and began fighting the wolf with it."


    Collin visibly recoiled.


    "...Savage kid."


    Edward sighed.


    "The wolf was so fast. Each of its movements were a blur, definitely faster than what a normal person could react to. But somehow he was able to dodge every single one of them and was even able to burn the wolf with the logs he had in the process. The biggest injury he got was actually just the burns on his hands."


    He blinked a few times.


    "...But all of that is not why I''m bringing this up."


    N looked at him strangely.


    "It isn''t?"


    Edward paused for a moment.


    "Instead it''s just... he liked it too much. He liked fighting that way too much. It wasn''t too but what was initially panting instead beganughing. With the biggest smile I''ve ever seen on his face, he gradually began cackling like he had absolutely lost it."


    N sucked in a cold breath.


    "Sounds like aplete psychopath."


    Edward grabbed onto the side of his head with frustration.


    "I wouldn''t say that. Though I didn''t notice it at the time, while he was fighting, he was making sure that the wolf never got too close to me, even if it meant doing dangerous things in the process. Even as he beganughing his head off like that, he hadn''t lost it."


    Collins furrowed his brow.


    "Um, that sounds like you''re just lying to fool yourself."


    Edward shook his head.


    "Maybe I am. But that''s what I believe happened. Anyway, that''s not the point. It''s still a little hard to believe now, but he killed the wolf. Yet, even when it was on the ground and no longer moving, he continued to stab it with any sharp object he could find, just like he couldn''t stop his lust for blood."


    He tilted his head to the side slightly.


    "But when I told him to stop, he just calmly told me that he was making sure it was dead."


    Then, he spoke softly.


    "He has the courage of someone insane, but is somehowpletely calm at the same time. On top of that, he has some unbelievably strong intuition that stops him from dying. I just have this feeling if we do try to kill him... he''ll definitely know and be prepared."

 Chapter 161 Results

    Collin rested his chin in his palm.


    "Well, that''s a cool story and all, but I don''t think we have to go so far as to be that afraid of him. I mean, yes it''s kinda crazy that a kid fought against a wolf, but you also have to consider that same kid walked into a dangerous ce willingly where there was one. It''s not as though he has everything nned down to the detail."


    N rubbed her chin.


    "Though, he seems to be both decisive and able toe to the correct decisions rather easily. Assuming he''s the one taking the lead, then it definitely won''t be easy. However, there is a limit that tactics can do against sheer strength."


    Edward sighed.


    "Look, I get that a single story isn''t really enough to convince you, but I''ve seen that guy for a long time. I may not understand him well, but I know enough to know that he''s someone scary."


    He frowned.


    "For example, I don''t think I''ve ever seen him get injured. He never really trips or falls, and whenever I was about to trip over something, he would catch me. I get that none of that itself is really strange, but when it just keeps happening over and over again, it just starts to make it seem as though something else is happening."


    He tapped on the table a few times.


    "It''s not just attentiveness. It''s not just that he is calcting enough to understand what''s happening. There has to be something else going on. Or if it really is the case his intelligence is just that high, making him an enemy is just too much."


    N and Collin both looked somewhat convinced, but also a little tired of hearing what he was talking about. Collin let out a helpless sigh.


    "Well, if he''s really all you''re making him out to be, then why don''t we try to get him on our side? Or maybe work out an alliance somehow?"


    N narrowed her eyes.


    "A better question would be, did you be his enemy? After all, you''re not with him right now, but with us instead."


    Edward looked down to the ground.


    "...Honestly, more than anything, I was just scared of him. After that day, he actedpletely normal, almost like he didn''t almost just. Almost like he didn''t just kill a wolf without taking a single hit from the wolf itself. I just wanted to get away."


    He smiled bitterly.


    "In the end, this is where I ended up. I distanced myself to the point that we hadn''t even talked in years. Chances are, he probably hates me."


    N clicked her tongue.


    "In other words, you became this guy''s enemy?"


    Edward blinked a few times.


    "I suppose so."


    Collin facepalmed.


    "If that''s the case, that''s just more reason to attack him now early on in the apocalypse! We are definitely not weak. If that person really is how you say they are, then the threat that they will pose simply grows by the second!"


    Edward did not speak for a good few seconds.


    "I guess that is right."


    N stared at him straight on.


    "You don''t sound the most enthusiastic. There''s clearly something that you want to do, so just tell us then."


    Edward looked off into the distance through a nearby window.


    "You two never even considered the option of abandoning me? By being rted, you''ll be caught in the crossfire."


    N blinked a few times.


    "I suppose I''ve considered it. I mean, a guy saves you from a wolf despite risking their life, and instead of getting closer for protection, you push him away. But still, we''vee this far together. I don''t n on changing that fact any time soon."


    Collin shrugged his shoulders.


    "You make it sound like I''m giving up my life for you, which I''m for sure as hell not. I n on living. I n for all of us to stay alive. It sounds like you messed up or something with this Kairos guy before, but you were also the one that helped us."


    Edward took a deep breath.


    "Strange how I''m not even as loyal as you two are."


    N rolled her eyes.


    "I mean, it doesn''t sound like you hate that Kairos guy. Maybe if you just put in the tiniest bit of effort and exined the misunderstanding to him, you could patch things over."


    Edwardughed.


    "Well, this is kind of pathetic to say, but I''m still afraid of him. Even as a kid, I knew logically, he had nothing against me. If anything, it would be good to have someone like that be my friend. Yet, I was just too scared. He could talk to me just fine, but I couldn''t talk back the way we used to. He made all the same jokes, but none of them wereing to me either. He could still find fun in all the stupid things, but I couldn''t help but look at them for what they were."


    N crossed his arms.


    "So what you''re telling me is you genuinely have trauma from this guy?"


    Edward did not respond.


    Collin clicked his tongue.


    "If you have trauma, then the best thing to do is to confront it, right? If anything, having the chance to be able to confront it in the first ce is a lucky thing. That way, it won''t haunt you in the future."


    Edward did not respond for a good while once more.


    "It seems I can''t make any more excuses, huh?"


    N blinked a few times.


    "That''s what it was the whole time, really? You did all that just because you didn''t want to go meet with him again?"


    Edward smiled bitterly.


    "Well... that may have been the grand majority of the reason. But still, he''s not someone we should mess with."


    Collin rolled his eyes.


    "Then instead of messing with him, we can at least try to be allies, no? Though we can''t really afford to give food right now, it''s not like we have nothing."


    Edward''s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "...I suppose it''s worth a shot."


    Back on Kairos'' side, both he and Quinn had continued to observe the man for a while. It seemed that one potato truly was a safe amount, as he hadn''t suddenly be a monster from them.


    Kairos turned to Quinn.


    "Is this enough, or do you need him to eat more to get a better handle on its effects?"


    Quinn took a deep breath.


    "I did learn a decent amount from this. Further feeding him potatoes might be necessary, but might not be depending on how the other experiments go."


    Kairos gave a nod.


    "Alright then. Do you have any idea where to start?"


    Quinn sighed.


    "Well, my first impression is that eating that potato is obviously dangerous, if in high amounts. The red energy doesn''t seem to outright kill, but is something that should be avoided if possible. To make it fit for regr consumption, finding a way to neutralize most of the red light is the first thing we should be doing."


    He continued.


    "Because we have so little information about what this red light really is, then many things we try are going to be aplete shot in the dark. Though, the first two things thate to mind are either heating it up or freezing it, as those are the main ways people have traditionally used for food. If that doesn''t work, then we will have to start taking shots in the dark."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Alright then. The potatoes are already pretty hot on their own, do you think it will be possible to cook?"


    Quinn shrugged his shoulders.


    "Although it is indeed hot, it is not yet at the temperature that would kill the bacteria we want to kill. We might as well try."


    Kairos gave a small nod. He went back down to get another potato and began trying to cook it. First, he poured some water inside and was about to put in salt, but quickly stopped himself. After that, he just put the potato in and covered it. After waiting for a decent amount of time, he opened it up.


    Quinn was watching him, and once he saw what was inside, his expression warped.


    "...Are you sure you did this properly?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "If it was a normal potato, yes, but it seems that this works a little differently..."


    The potato in front of them had alreadypletely lost its shape, deforming into what looked like red sludge. The water that Kairos had put in became red, and the smelling from it was not the most pleasant.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It seems that some of the red energy has left at the very least. Though, it still doesn''t look all that good."


    Quinn nodded.


    "Then let''s try this with someone else."


    Kairos tried to salvage what he could of what was left from the red sludge, leaving the red water behind. Upon being put on a te, it looked anything but appetizing, but he ignored it.


    Upon bringing it to another one of them, Kairos made them eat it.


    The person in question was a little concerned about the screaming sounds that they had heard, but Kairos just told them that he was trying to save Liam, though it went a little wrong. He just said that he was waiting for Liam to calm down.


    Likest time, the person handed to food questioned it several times, as it really wasn''t something that looked appetizing. However, Kairos continually reassured the person that it was ok to eat, and that there were minor side effects.


    In the end, the person ate it, and the effects they received were rtively minimal. Though their skin had reddened, it disappeared soon after.


    Kairos then got another potato to do the same thing once more.


    The person in question didn''t see any problems the first time and was still pretty hungry, thus eating it more readily this time. However, the effects were now far clearer. After pretending that it was all fine, Kairos and Quinn went back to the ground level once more.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "It appears like cooking works, but that''s not really because of the heat, but because boiling it makes some of the evolution energy seep out into the water."


    Quinn nodded.


    "It seems we found a solution rather quickly. All we need is a sufficient amount of water, and most of the threat will be removed."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "But I still want to test how it will change if it is frozen."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "Is that really necessary? We have already found a solution."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "They are going to be frozen anyway to preserve them. It''s best we test the effects anyway."


    Though Quinn seemed reluctant, he nodded.


    "Ok..."


    Kairos used the frost spell to freeze a few potatoes. He then forced them to thaw by putting them above a fire, and when they were chilled, he brought them to the third person.


    The color of the potato this time was still red, but it was no longer emitting heat and the redness seemed to be somewhat subdued.


    After slowly convincing the person to eat two of the frosted potatoes, they found that his body had begun reddening significantly. He gave that person the same treatment he did to the first, crippling them.


    It seemed that while there was an effect from freezing it, it wasn''t as significant as letting it boil.


    Once they were done with that, Kairos used thest person to test out how a frosted potato that was then cooked would do. He cooked quite a few potatoes at once, as he wanted to see the extent of the effect.


    The person in question ate all of the potatoes, and there was almost no effect on them.


    After confirming this, Kairos went down to speak with Tiana.

 Chapter 162 Enact

    While walking down the steps, Quinn turned to Kairos.


    "It seems the solution was simpler than expected. Do you still need me then?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin before nodding.


    "Sorry, but yes. You''re going to have to work overtime too."


    Quinn blinked a few times.


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "You''ll see soon enough."


    He walked down to Tiana''s room and knocked on the door. It opened in just a second, revealing Tiana.


    "So, any results?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Although it isn''t a perfect solution, if the potatoes are first frozen, then boiled with a lot of water, they seem to be somewhat edible. However, if a normal person tries to eat it, then they''ll probably turn into a monster. The people that we experimented on were F rank after all."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "I see. So should I let everyone down now?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Do you have any good way to announce something to all of the farmers?"


    Tiana gave a nod.


    "Yeah, I already nned for how I would do that a while ago."


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Alright then. This is the n I have in mind. There was no good way to guarantee that the vigers would properly pay their taxes under normal circumstances, but this could also work. Tell them that eating the potatoes without proper treatment is very dangerous, because it is."


    He raised a finger.


    "But what they can do, is turn in those potatoes, and for every ten they hand in, they can get the points for one that will be treated in return. The way we will tabte the points is by first having people iming their plot ofnd, and they will also have their picture drawn to associate them with their plot ofnd."


    He turned to Quinn.


    "You will be handling that. And those pictures will be used to verify they are the proper person trying to im their points."


    Quinn stared back nkly.


    "That sounds like a pain, but sure."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "This seems like aplicated system. Is he really going to draw every single person? And I''m not even sure if a drawing is enough to dictate whether or not it actually is the correct person."


    Quinn blinked a few times and raised his hand.


    "Well, I can recreate a paper as though I had drawn it."


    After a few moments, a tough piece of paper had formed on his hand, and on top of it was a colored drawing of Tiana, with both a body shot, a close-up face view, and even a side view.


    Tiana''s eyes widened when she saw this.


    "Woah, you could do that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Ah, now that I think about it, your ability can be used like that."


    Quinn sighed.


    "Yes, but it takes quite a bit of mana. But I''m still confident that I can draw with a simr standard, though it won''t be colored."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "...What if you had as much mana as you wanted?"


    Quinn looked at her strangely.


    "Then I suppose that would make my job a lot easier. But I don''t-"


    He was about to continue, until he realized that mana was flowing into his body. Quinn cleared his throat.


    "Ah. It seems it won''t be that difficult after all."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Trying to replicate currency has many issues, as people can forge this currency, begin stealing it from others, and also the production of that itself. Although we can''t actually use credit cards right now, we can replicate that system by manually creating a database and using a person''s look as their identification."


    Tiana smirked.


    "It looks like you really thought about this."


    Kairos shrugged.


    "You did hire me for logistics, after all. Do you think that this would work?"


    Tiana gave a small nod.


    "I don''t see any issues. I''ll take care of it then."


    With that, Tiana left, and Quinn followed after her as his job wasn''t over yet. Kairos decided to just watch over, wondering what exactly she was going to do to announce it to everyone.


    He then watched as she shot up into the air by a metal pir, before forcefully bringing everyone on top of the walls closer by shifting the top of their tforms closer.


    Kairos blinked a few times as he stared at Tiana''s disy.


    "...I guess that''s one way to do it."


    From there, she began shouting out the new system that Kairos had suggested and gave everyone instructions on what to do. From there, she segmented the people into groups and had them go in order to have their information documented, then told the others to harvest their crops while they waited, but also to leave a few so they could use the potato sprouts to rent.


    Kairos watched as Tiana managed everything and tapped his chin a few times.


    "...Seems to be working out."


    The rest of his group along with the musical trio were let down first of all, as they weren''t farmers, and went back to the center of the building and met up with Kairos. Eric, Nick, and Jenny all gave their greetings as they passed by, and went back to talking about musical notes as they continued to walk in.


    Nicole directly jumped out to Kairos and grabbed onto his arm.


    "Kairos!"


    In response, he let out a sigh.


    "Why are you acting like we haven''t seen each other in years?"


    Nicole pressed her lips together.


    "B-But it was a long time!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It wasn''t even a full day since west saw each other. It''s not that big of a deal, right?"


    Nicole looked down at the ground.


    "But... it was really hard to fall asleep."


    Kairos responded bluntly.


    "Are you sure? If anything, I think it would be much easier for you to fall asleep."


    Nicole blushed.


    "I-It really does make it easier to sleep!"


    Kairos looked back at her, clearly indicating that he didn''t believe her in the slightest.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Alright then."


    It was a rather slow process, but it was done more or less as efficiently as possible. Tiana created a new building next to the one in the center and funneled all the farmers into it. Quinn was inside, and responsible for creating the pictures that were required, tirelessly using the same replication spell over and over again to create profiles of people with their code next to it.


    Tori scratched the side of her head as that was happening.


    "Um, so are we still doing the practice thing in the morning?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It looks like Tiana is going to be preupied, so probably not. Also, the monsters seem to be quite a bit stronger now, so at least for now I believe we should pause the trips we have at night."


    Sydney let out a soft hum.


    "So... we just do whatever we want then. That sounds nice."


    Without another word, she walked into the building. Kairos was a little concerned, but felt it was probably fine considering Sydney had been holding up fine for a long time now.


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um, Kairos?"


    Kairos turned to her.


    "Yeah?"


    Nicole coughed.


    "Um, are you tired?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Realistically speaking, I don''t think I feel tired anymore. I''m pretty sure that''s the same for you too."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "B-But we can still fall asleep! And if there''s nothing else to do, we might as well..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "How about this, you show me how far you''ve gotten with your stealth practice, then I''ll consider it."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Ah, alright! I''ve made a lot of progress!"


    The two of them went into the center building as well, leaving Tori outside twiddling her thumbs.


    "...I guess I can see what Chase is up to."


    Kairos and Nicole soon got to his room. From there, Kairos walked to the center of the room and then turned to her.


    "Alright, now try to sneak up on me."


    Nicole nodded.


    "This time for sure!"


    Her body gradually began disappearing, until there was nothing left. Though, considering that Kairos could see mana, it didn''t matter all that much. He decided not to be cheap, and closed his eyes, seeing if he could catch her without his vision.


    Kairos rxed his body, trying to make any sensation he felt clearer, while his breaths becamepletely silent.


    For quite a while, he didn''t hear anything at all.


    This went on for a minute, almost making him think that Nicole had just left, leaving him there to just stand by awkwardly. But then, he heard a floorboard creak. He opened his eyes and looked in that direction.


    "...Huh."


    But when he looked that way, he did not see the mana that resembled Nicole. He turned around and suddenly leaped backwards. Nicole, who was right behind him, gradually formed into view with a pout on her face.


    "How did you know that time? I thought I got you for sure!"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I guess not. How did you pull it off though?"


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "I found a cool thing I can do with my ability, then I did that!"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "That''s good."


    Nicole averted her gaze.


    "Is it good enough to..."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Well, you didn''t exactly catch me, now did you?"


    Nicole tapped the tips of her fingers together.


    "W-Well, you said to sneak up on you, and I did get really close! I just... didn''t get that close."


    Kairos let out a sigh. He decided to reluctantly agree, because he was actually fooled.


    "Alrig-"


    "Can youe help?"


    Tiana directly opened the door and called out to Kairos. In response, he looked at her strangely.


    "What? Don''t you have other people to handle all the paperwork?"


    Tiana shook her head.


    "No. There are people approaching the city, and they are not weak by any means."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...Perhaps we should''ve been a little nicer to the scouts."


    Tiana waved her hand dismissively.


    "It''s... probably not rted."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders and began moving forth.


    "Anyway, do you need anyone else?"


    Tiana took a deep breath.


    "I would call them, but they will probably only be a burden."


    Nicole''s lip twitched.


    "Does that include me?"


    Tiana turned to look at her.


    "Yes, sorry."


    With that, she left. Kairos gave a nce over his shoulder as he left too.


    "Don''t worry too much. We''ll be fine."


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "Ok..."


    Kairos and Tiana both ran until they reached the top of the wall, where the normal entrance was. When they looked down, they saw a group of five people walk up.


    And one of them was Edward.

 Chapter 163 Please, Stop

    Kairos looked down at the five people that had walked up. He couldn''t recognize most of them, but he knew for sure that one of them was Edward, beyond a shadow of a doubt They had simply been together for too long. Though they haven''t seen each other face to face for quite a while, it was like an instinctive feeling.


    His eyes narrowed as he looked down, not sure what to say.


    Edward also looked up, and just stared back at him silently.


    Neither of them had any expression on their face, making it seem as though the two of them had just met for the first time.


    Kairos also noticed something strange. The mana around them was acting strangely. In roughly a one hundred meter radius, the mana was unnaturally chaotic, seemingly vibrating and zipping about strangely.


    This was the first time he had seen something like this before and didn''t know what it meant. Even when Tiana was controlling mana, she couldn''t do it like this. It seemed like she could only vaguely influence mana that was directly connected to her.


    Kairos focused on where this distortion seemed to being from and noticed it seemed to originate from Edward. Though, not directly at his center. There seemed to be waves that rippled out from his pocket.


    He guessed that he was carrying onto something that would distort the flow of mana.


    Tiana called out to the people below.


    "And what exactly are all of you doing here?"


    Edward spoke up.


    "We are the leaders of the town behind the scout team from earlier."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow when she heard that.


    "Ah, came for revenge, now did you?"


    Edward slowly shook his head.


    "No, nothing like that. They overstepped their boundaries while scouting, and were naturally killed. It''s not their fault."


    Tiana blinked a few times.


    "Then why the hell are you here? Just to give an apology?"


    Edward cleared his throat.


    "That''s part of it. We were thinking that it may be possible to have an alliance with one another."


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "And why the hell should I ept an offer from a pathetic bunch like you?"


    The expressions of the other four distorted, but Edward responded without a change in tone.


    "Because we have something to offer as a sign of sincerity."


    He pulled something out of his pocket, the same one that Kairos had been suspecting earlier. Within, was a pitch-ck opaque stone. Just from looking at it, the stone didn''t exactly look all that impressive. If anything, it just looked like something a kid would pick up by a beach.


    Edward spoke slowly.


    "This stone can distort mana, making it so that people within about one hundred meters radius will be unable to cast spells."


    Tiana blinked a few times. Her expression softened slightly, but it didn''t seem to be a pleasant one.


    "...Oh really?"


    Edward nodded.


    "I can toss it up there and you can check to see if it works."


    Tiana''s expression twitched.


    "...Well what if it''s a bomb?"


    Edward stared nkly back.


    "Then maybe I should set it somewhere else, and you can get someone to confirm its effects?"


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "It seems you have this all thought out. Seems a little fishy to me."


    Edward didn''t respond for a few moments.


    "Then what do you suggest?"


    Tiana narrowed her eyes.


    "Hm... I don''t see why we should even agree to this alliance in the first ce. You haven''t given any terms."


    Edward blinked a few times.


    "I suppose the main thing is the proposition of trade, where we can agree on exchanging different items. On top of that, we can decide to support one another if one ce is attacked. As for how you decide to support or if you support at all is up to you. Other than that, we can negotiate for other deals depending on the situation thates up."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "So you''re just telling me to trust you?"


    Edward shook his head.


    "Trust is something that must be gradually built up. Right now, we are strangers, but I''m hoping to be allies soon enough."


    Tiana bit the bottom of her lip. She was having difficulty saying that she was against this proposition. The alliance itself wasn''t something she cared about all that much, but from what Edward had said about the stone, it seemed like it would interrupt her own ability that connected her to the others.


    As for Kairos, he wasn''t all that enthusiastic about making an alliance, but the ck stone was nearly an irresistible temptation for him. After all, he knew that its effects were probably real just from looking at how it distorted mana around it.


    That meant it would be able to stop whatever control Tiana had over him, and if he could get more of them, then he could give it to his other party members.


    But despite everything, he kept quiet.


    Perhaps if the person down there wasn''t Edward, he would''ve already spoken up and began negotiating. But when he looked at him, all words seemed to escape him.


    Tiana slowly turned to him.


    "...What''s your stance on this? Do you want to ept it?"


    Kairos did not respond. Instead, he continued to stare at Edward. Tiana seemed a little frustrated with hisck of a response.


    "I will assume that your silence just means no if you don''t say anything right now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "If I had to say, then I would want to ept this alliance."


    Tiana looked at him straight on.


    "...Why?"


    Kairos did not look at her.


    "I don''t really care about the alliance between people, but I want that stone."


    Tiana stared at him nkly.


    "Why do you want it?"


    Kairos hardly moved.


    "I think you know why already."


    Tiana fell silent for quite a while. After a few moments, she slowly turned to Edward. From the look on her face, it was fairly clear she was hesitating. But eventually, she let out a defeated sigh.


    "...I agre-"


    "Wait."


    Kairos raised his hand, cutting her off. Tiana looked at him strangely, but let him speak.


    "Edward. I''m sure you know who I am, right?"


    Two of the people in Edward''s group were Collin and N. Their expressions both distorted slightly when they heard that. As for the other two, they both seemed rather confused. From the looks of things, they weren''t filled in on the fact Edward knew Kairos, or why they were really making this alliance in the first ce.


    Edward looked up at Kairos with a passive expression.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yeah, Kairos."


    After that, there was a moment of silence. Collin and N both looked ufortable, while the other two of their group were discreetly whispering to each other, wondering if there was some sort of antagonistic rtionship between Kairos and Edward.


    Kairos eventually sighed.


    "I almost thought you would never respond to me again, even now."


    Edward smiled bitterly.


    "Honestly, I thought the same thing."


    There was another awkward silence, as everyone else in the group was wondering what exactly the rtionship between the two of them was.


    Kairos tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.


    "It seems like you decided to make this alliance because you knew I was on it, or is that just my ego speaking?"


    Edward shrugged his shoulders.


    "You''re right on the mark... like always."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You really want to be my ally? Are you sure about that?"


    Edward stared at him nkly.


    "I can''t really tell, to be honest. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have avoided you for so long."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "That makes sense. How about this then, I will let you decide whether or not we be allied. I want to hear from your mouth only, whether or not you want this."


    N and Collin both began whispering, but before they could say anything, Kairos shouted rather loudly.


    "I don''t want any interference. I just want to hear his genuine opinion."


    Edward took a deep breath.


    "I assume I''m not allowed to defer this decision to someone else?"


    Kairos spoke tly.


    "I just want to hear it from you. That''s it. Can''t you do just that much, Edward?"


    Edward looked up to him with a bitter smile.


    "Alright, Kairos. I would like to..."


    Kairos'' head suddenly darted to the side, and his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.


    "Nicole?"


    There was a figure of mana that appeared next to him, but no body to support it. That immediately made him think of Nicole. However, there was no response as the figure suddenly leaped off the wall, heading towards Edward.


    Edward furrowed his brows.


    "What are you-"


    He cut himself off once he saw that Nicole had suddenly formed in the air. She was casting the invisibility spell, but the ck rock ended up disrupting her spell, causing her to reveal herself. Her eyes were widened all the way, while she had an axe pulled back. With the way she was looking at Edward, it was as though nothing else existed.


    But not in a good way.


    Both Collin and Kara immediately stepped up, bringing out weapons to try and stop her. However, Edward simply remained in ce.


    Both Collin and Karaunched their attacks, and Nicole didn''t even try to block them. Her body was about to be sliced in half.


    But then, their weapons passed through, almost like she was aplete mirage. Both Collin and N were dumbfounded as they stumbled forth. They turned around to look at Nicole in confusion.


    Nicole made no sound as she hit the ground, and swung her axe towards Edward''s neck.


    Kairos frowned and shouted loudly.


    "Nicole!"


    Nicole froze in ce, with her axe just a few centimeters away from his neck.


    Edward hadn''t moved the entire time and just spoke casually.


    "Hello, Nicole."


    Nicole stared back with furious eyes that seemed to be filled with mes.


    "...Edward."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Stop, Nicole. Get back up here."


    Yet, to his surprise, Nicole remained rooted on the spot. Collin frowned when he saw this.


    "Hey! Don''t think we can''t kill you! Every ability has its limitations!"


    Nicole didn''t respond. Her head tilted to the side slowly, almost like it was a door that hadn''t been oiled properly.


    "You remember what I told you, didn''t I?"


    Edward slowly nodded.


    "As though it was just yesterday."


    N furrowed her brows.


    "If you dare touch him, you''ll regret it!"


    Nicole ignored herpletely, instead continuing to press.


    "Then you remember what I said, right? Yet you dare show your face here again."


    Edward blinked a few times.


    "Yes. Yes, I did."


    Nicole slowly lowered the axe, which made everyone else feel less tense, but Kairos frowned instead.


    "Stop it, Nicole!"


    Without responding, Nicole''s free hand suddenly shot towards Edward''s neck. She grasped on tightly and began lifting him up. Edward''s head tilted to the side from the excessive force, and the veins that suddenly appeared showed that the hold on his neck was far from light. Despite the fact blood began dripping down from his neck as the skin had torn apart, Edward did not fight back. He did not even lift up either of his hands.


    Collin and N both cried out. They tried to attack Nicole, but every attack passed straight through her.


    Collin cried out in frustration.


    "What the hell is this ability?"


    The other two people in the group tried to help as well, but were unable to do anything more.


    N had a look of despair on her face.


    "Edward!"


    Kairos crouched down before leaping off the roof.


    He mmed down on the ground with a crash, cracking the pavement. From there, he rushed to the opposite side of Edward so that Nicole could see him.


    "Please, stop."


    Nicole could not hear him as of now, but she was able to tell what he was saying just from the movement of his lips, despite not being a good lip reader.


    She bit the bottom of her lip.

 Chapter 164 You Can Tell Me

    Kairos stared at Nicole nkly, while she began hesitating. If she just tightened her grip a little more, then his head would end up popping off, then there would be nothing more. However, she couldn''t do it while Kairos was staring right at her like that.


    After a few seconds, she slowly let Edward go.


    The other four were still holding up their weapons threateningly, gripping them so tightly that they trembled slightly. As for Edward, he coughed a little and stumbled backwards, but after that, he stood up normally once more. If it wasn''t for the torn skin around his neck and bloodshot eyes, it would''ve looked like nothing actually happened to him.


    Nicole looked at her with a frown. It almost seemed like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.


    "Why are you here?"


    Edward looked down at the ground.


    "I''m not entirely sure myself."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...What the hell are you guys talking about?"


    Edward blinked a few times. He responded, but didn''t turn to face him.


    "Well, I made a promise, then ended up breaking it. So that''s the position we are in right now."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Didn''t I tell you before you shouldn''t ever make promises?"


    Edward chuckled.


    "Well, turns out you were right."


    Nicole clenched her fists.


    "Why are you taking this so lightly, Edward? The only reason you''re not dead... is because... because Kairos is here. I wouldn''t have given you a second chance otherwise."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Why are you trying to kill him in the first ce?"


    Edward spoke up weakly.


    "Because that was her promise."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    "...And what exactly is this promise?"


    Edward remained silent, while Nicole looked down at the ground.


    "...I-I guess I can tell it."


    Nicole spent a few seconds recollecting her thoughts before eventually retelling it from the start.


    She always knew that her rtionship with Kairos and Edward wasn''t as close as what the two had. That was simply because the two of them had spent more time with each other, and something that couldn''t be helped.


    Though Nicole was just a tad bit jealous most of the time, she suddenly realized that Edward seemed to be avoiding them. It was quite easy to notice, since they had essentially yed with each other every single day. So when it was only her and Kairos, she felt that something was off.


    While Nicole had no issues with just being with Kairos, she still wondered what was happening. On top of that, Kairos definitely seemed quite different from normal.


    He simply looked more despondent than usual. Keeping his head down, and showing none of the previous enthusiasm he previously had. They went to do the same things we usually did, but it was all so different. It was almost like Kairos had transformed into apletely different person.


    Despite asking about it, Nicole didn''t get any straight response.


    At first Nicole thought he might''ve simply had a bad mood over something small. Perhaps waking up on the wrong side of the bed. But the changes that happened to Kairos seemed permanent. Because as the days dragged on, he didn''t change at all.


    It nearly made Nicole despair. She wondered what it could''ve possibly been, then connected the dots. Realizing that the change happened when Edward had originally left.


    She brought this up to Kairos, trying to be subtle about it. But either because she was too subtle, or Kairos refused to talk about it, she got nothing out of him. This eventually led her to try and find Edward to speak to him.


    Nicole didn''t think that Edward was a bad person, so she thought that there must have been some sort of misunderstanding or extenuating circumstance. And so she tried asking, and did so quite bluntly.


    Though, her first few tries weren''t that sessful. Nicole was quite confused since when Edward avoided her, he seemed more frantic than anything. It wasn''t like he did anything wrong, but more like he was afraid of something.


    Nicole continued to press him both out of wanting to know what happened to Kairos and also out of concern for Edward.


    And eventually, Edward ended up telling her a story.


    About how the two of them were threatened by a wolf. He was scared for his life, and in the end, he ended up letting Kairos take all of the heat from the wolf. In other words, he had turned on his friend.


    Nicole was a bit shocked, as she never imagined it was possible that Edward could''ve turned on him. She continued to press for details, since Edward had left it incredibly vague. She thought that maybe it wasn''t really Edward''s fault and that they could all reconcile.


    But regardless of how much she asked, Edward would never budge on the details. In the end, she was never able to find out what had actually happened.


    However, if Edward had no intention of clearing his name, then that clearly meant he did something terrible and admitted that he turned on Kairos out of guilt. In other words, whatever happened, it had to be Edward''s fault.


    Nicole had already given the benefit of the doubt for too long and refused to continue doing so. She thought that she might''ve been able to let it be, despite how painful it was when she looked at how Kairos was acting. But one day, when the two of them crossed paths, they just looked at each other.


    Edward broke off the gaze without saying a word, then promptly left. Kairos did the same. Nicole felt anger burn within her once she saw that. Just the simple sight of Edward was enough to hurt Kairos.


    Sheter confronted him once more and made him swear to never approach Kairos ever again. Edward was reluctant to do so, but Nicole was quite violent and fervent when she said that. She threatened him multiple times and continued to do so until he agreed to the terms.


    And Nicole swore that she would make him regret it, should he ever break that promise.


    From there, Kairos ended up spending most of his time with Nicole, especially because she was practically always at his side.


    After slowly processing everything that Nicole said, Kairos couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "...Didn''t I tell you making promises would never be worth it?"


    Edward sighed.


    "I didn''t exactly have much of a choice there, now did I?"


    Nicole furrowed her brow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How... how can you still talk with him so easily?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Which one of us are you talking to?"


    Nicole clenched her fists.


    "Both of you! But... mostly you. How could you just forgive him?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, because there isn''t really anything to forgive him for. Though I did wonder why he had such an exaggerated reaction whenever the two of us got close. It seems like that exins it."


    Nicole''s mouth opened and closed.


    "What? But Edward must''ve done something to you! He must''ve done something terrible!"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Is trying to protect my life something terrible? I''m not saying that it isn''t, but at least speaking from my point of view it''s a pretty good thing."


    Nicole looked between both Kairos and Edward


    "B-But Edward said that he... he abandoned you!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Well, he''s a liar then. I was the one that pushed him aside and... fought off the wolf."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "What? If that''s all it was, then why would all of that happen? That doesn''t make any sense!"


    Edward spoke up softly.


    "I wouldn''t exactly say I lied. After all, even as I watched you fight that thing, I just stood by. I was too scared to do anything. At that point, I had essentially abandoned you."


    Nicole looked bbergasted.


    "What? I''m... so confused..."


    She looked like she was having trouble breathing, and from how she was having difficulty in keeping her bnce, it seemed she was quite dizzy as well.


    "All this time, was it just because of that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "To tell the full truth, it''s because I showed something to Edward. Something that I probably shouldn''t have shown."


    Nicole didn''t look any more sure, and was awaiting his exnation. As for Edward, he had turned away, looking off in the distance as though there was something interesting there. The other people around were simply looking at this scene strangely. Although they had some details, they were also getting quite confused about what they were talking about as most didn''t have proper context.


    Some of them didn''t even understand whether or not Kairos and Edward were enemies.


    Kairos spoke softly, just barely loud enough for Nicole to hear.


    "I showed him a bad side to me. A part of me that was probably a little scary."


    At this point, Nicole walked past Edward and up to Kairos, staring at him as though he was the only thing that existed.


    "What do you mean?"


    She slowly reached out with her hands, lightly grasping onto both of Kairos'' hands.


    "What bad side?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. He thought back to when he was fighting the wolf. It was quite far back, but despite the fact, his memory of it was hardly muddled. In fact, it would be better to say it was a memory that would be difficult to forget.


    At the end of the fight, he didn''t look all that bad. Although his hands were burnt and he was covered in some wolf blood, the wolf itself hadn''tnded a single attack on him. However, that obviously wasn''t the full story. No matter what, Kairos was still a kid.


    He couldn''t move faster than a wolf, that much was a fact.


    And to top it all off, Kairos was actually just as scared as Edward. If anything, he was less brave, because Edward was able to bring himself to get in front of him.


    The reason why Kairos had acted in the first ce, was because he saw Edward''s head get torn off by the wolf''s jaws. Seeing such a sight made the restriction from fear immediately disappear, thus making him push Edward out of the way.


    After that happened, he constantly felt the wolf tear into his flesh in his future vision, but he made sure to dodge it in reality before the wolf could kill him. Kairos'' body had been filled with adrenaline, and the stimtion going to the brain was practically making him go crazy.


    In fact, he couldn''t stop himself fromughing when that happened. Kairos didn''t really understand why he himself wasughing, as he definitely didn''t find the situation funny. It seemed that the stimtion was just far too much, and had to go out in some way.


    And that way ended up beingughing.


    Kairos'' memories of the actual fight were a little blurry, but that was mostly because his senses were hardly cooperating with him. Though one thing he was confident of was that he had beenughing psychotically for a very long time.


    By the end, he checked on Edward, who looked terrified.


    However, what he was looking at wasn''t the wolf, but rather him.


    The sudden alienation wasn''t the only thing that caused Kairos to change so much. After being attacked by that wolf, nothing seemed to really matter to him anymore. Everything just felt dullparatively.


    Kairos smiled bitterly as he stared at Nicole''s pleading eyes. She desperately wanted to know what he had meant by bad side.


    "You can tell me, please! I won''t judge you for it."


    Kairos nodded.


    "I know. I don''t think you are the kind of person that would. Though, it''s not very easy to exin. To do it in a way that would satisfy your curiosity, but also fit the current situation we''re in, I''ll just say this."


    He smiled.


    "I probably like killing too much."

 Chapter 165 Do You Still Think About Him?

    Nicole looked rather confused. She didn''t exactly understand what Kairos meant by liking killing too much. From her perspective, it didn''t really make sense.


    After all, she had never seen Kairos act up all that much.


    If it was supposed to mean that he was some sort of psychopath, then she felt Kairos must''ve been overexaggerating. If he meant that he enjoyed fighting things, she didn''t see a problem with that either. It wasn''t as though they could just stop fighting while in the middle of an apocalypse.


    Nicole felt like the whole thing was blown out of proportion when really the problem was small.


    She reached over to grab onto Kairos'' hand before bringing it close.


    "I don''t think... it''s nearly as bad as you think it is."


    Kairos looked her straight in the eye.


    "Maybe. It doesn''t have to be a bad thing, I guess."


    Nicole held his arm a little closer and said nothing more. Kairos looked at her for a few moments before looking at Edward.


    "Uh... so would you like to finish what you were saying earlier?"


    Edward slowly nodded.


    "Yeah, I would like to have an alliance with you, Kairos."


    He slowly reached out one hand towards him. Kairos shifted Nicole to the side a little before grabbing his hand as well. They shook hands, though Kairos noted Edward was quite tense as he did so.


    Kairos let out a dry chuckle.


    "Guess we are on the same team then. Hello, Edward."


    Edward gave a small nod as he retracted his hand.


    "Hello, Kairos."


    He took out the ck rock from his pocket before putting it into Kairos'' hand.


    "The offering we were going to give. I''m sure you can tell that it works, right?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, it definitely does."


    As he held the stone in his hand, he could feel the mana in that hand rumble violently. There was no way he would be able to cast a spell in that condition. Not to mention all of the mana around them was distorted significantly.


    Edward fished out another stone, but this time it was blue.


    "We can use this as a method of contact. It''s linked to another stone and will work as long as the mana around it isn''t disturbed, so it has to be out of the radius of that ck stone."


    Kairos gave another nod.


    "Alright then, thanks. Now that we are on the same side once more, is there anything that you want to do?"


    Edward shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose we could do a trade. Is there anything you are looking for?"


    Kairos looked at the stones he was just given.


    "It seems like you have a lot of these strange, but useful rocks. Are there any other variations you have?"


    Edward spent a few seconds thinking.


    "We do have a few others, but those are too much of a limited quality right now. In the future, we may have those to offer. As for the ones we just gave you, we could provide more if needed."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Alright then. Is there anything in particr you need?"


    Edward paused for a few more seconds before turning to N and Collin.


    "Do you still n on requesting that thing?"


    Collin had his weapon raised, but then slowly lowered it.


    "It''s not urgent. We can wait."


    N also had her weapon raised, simply out of instinct, then let it fall to her side. Though, she was still holding onto it tightly.


    "...It does appear that our food supply has suddenly gotten fairly low, but I imagine that''s the case for everyone."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "It isn''t as though we have that much, but it isn''t like we don''t have anything to spare."


    N furrowed her brow.


    "...I''m not counting the food that has be inedible due to the red light."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "From what we''ve tried, it isn''t as though the food ispletely unsalvageable."


    N''s eyes suddenly widened ever so slightly, almost like they twitched.


    "What is that supposed to mean? Have you already tried eating them?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...We made other people eat them."


    N''s expression contorted slightly, though Collin spoke up with a bit of enthusiasm.


    "And you found something out?"


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "I suppose you can consider this information a return gift. With the potatoes that we grew, after freezing it in ice and boiling it in a considerable amount of water, it bes rtively safe to eat. Most of the evolution energy disperses into the water when boiling, and it seems freezing also does something else to it."


    Collin furrowed his brow while rubbing his chin with great interest.


    "And how exactly do we know that''s true?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "To be honest, not even we know if it''s true or not. There may betent long-term effects we aren''t aware of. But at the very least, it seems to work for the short term. It''s not as though there are going to be many alternative options."


    N shook her head.


    "...How cold does it have to be? Also, how long do you have to cook it for?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "I used the frost spell for the sake of freezing them. After that, I just boiled it for about fifteen minutes. Most of the evolution energy will go into the water assuming you put in enough. The water won''t be safe to drink, but you''ll at least be able to eat it. As for other foods, we haven''t tested it yet."


    N slowly nodded.


    "I see... It sounds like you have a team behind this with how quickly you figured it out."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I wouldn''t call it a team, but I suppose it does work out."


    N and Collin gave each other nces and seemed to bemunicating through them.


    Collin cleared his throat.


    "We will ask for some sort of trade offerter. For now, we will be going back to our ce to think over things."<novelnext></novelnext>


    N nced at Nicole, before turning back to Kairos to give a small bow.


    "Thank you for epting. We will now leave."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Alright."


    Nicole went back to holding onto Kairos by the arm and was still staring at Edward with hostility. It seemed like she still didn''t ept the reason why Edward had left Kairos for so long. Nheless, it was still quite the improvement considering she was about to kill him beforehand.


    Kairos and Edward silently stared into each other''s eyes for a few moments. Then, Edward turned away and slowly left without looking back.


    The five people left, already gone.


    Kairos couldn''t help but ruminate over how much control Edward seemed to have over the others. He guessed that there were other people considered the leaders, but what Edward said had considerable sway.


    He took onest look at the stones before putting them in his pocket.


    As for Nicole, the hand she was using to hold onto his arm began to tremble. She seemed to weaken to the point that a gust of wind could just blow her over. Her eyes werepletely zed over, and her mouth hung open slightly.


    "K-Kairos..."


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "It looks like you overdid it with your ability."


    Nicole reached out towards his face weakly, almost like she was drunk.


    "My head... hurts..."


    Kairos grabbed onto her hand and slung it over his shoulder like how she would normally do it.


    "Come on, let''s go back."


    Nicole blinkedzily, almost like blinking was actually somethingplicated and difficult.


    "O-Ok..."


    Kairos helped Nicole walk back into the city. Tiana watched over them and remained silent. She hadn''t even moved during the entire negotiation process that urred between them. And from the way she looked, it seemed as though her thoughts were on something else.


    To put it inly, she felt a little hurt that Kairos took the ck stone, which meant she wouldn''t be able to suddenly kill Kairos. She felt that she had done enough at this point to be at least a little trustworthy. Logically speaking, Tiana understood that there probably wasn''t enough trust between the two of them for her to just have something that could end Kairos'' life immediately.


    In fact, with what she could glean from Kairos'' character, it was probably almost impossible to gain enough trust for such a thing.


    She understood it all. But understanding something didn''t mean she wouldn''t feel a little hurt.


    Kairos went into the city with the help of Tiana lifting the walls, all the while carrying Nicole in. Although Nicole was walking with him, she was also mumbling incoherent nonsense as they went.


    "Mm... do you think... what do you think?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "I think you need some rest."


    Nicole let out an annoyed mumble, trying to shake Kairos, but only shaking herself.


    "Noooooo!... Not about... I mean Edward!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "We can talk about this after you get some rest, alright?"


    He was a little surprised this was how Nicole got after using her inborn ability. From what Kairos could gather, it seemed that using one''s inborn ability was quite taxing on one''s mind. She had used it to both strangle Edward, but also let all the attacks that were thrown at her pass right through.


    It was quite an unfair ability, to say the least. But at the same time, it wasn''t like his ability was the fairest either.


    Nicole had hardly shown any reaction after she let go of Edward, leading Kairos to believe that perhaps Nicole actually had an ability that made her near invincible. But it would turn out to have simr limitations to his own.


    Nicole hung her head low and fell silent for a moment.


    "...Edward...do you still think about him?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well it''s a little hard not to when you bring him up."


    Nicole grumbled like a little kid.


    "You know what I mean! Like... do you think about him more than me?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Why would I think about him more when you''re right here next to me."


    Nicole pouted angrily.


    "Mmmh! You''re thinking about him, aren''t you! You are! You are! You are!"


    She began iling her limbs around like a spoiled child, with the exception of the arm slung around his shoulder, which grabbed on tighter instead. It was as though she was afraid Kairos was somehow going to slip out of her grasp. Kairos let out another sigh.


    "Ok, ok, I''m not thinking about him!"


    Nicole rubbed her face against his shoulder.


    "Lyingggg! You''re lyinggggg!"


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose with a finger and thumb.


    "Ok, I''m lying, but isn''t that what you wanted to hear?"


    Nicole suddenly quieted down.


    "...I don''t know."


    Although the farmers didn''t want to disrespect Kairos and rather mind their own business, they couldn''t help but look because of how Nicole was acting. Though, right after they looked, they quickly turned away and focused back on harvesting their potatoes.


    It took a little while, but Kairos was eventually able to get back to the center building. He thought of bringing her up to her own room, but decided to just go into his and let her rest there.


    Once they finally got next to the bed, Nicole sheepishly whispered to him.


    "Would you have wanted Edward to be the one that stayed with you instead?"


    Kairos looked at her silently for a few moments.


    "...No. This is just the way that things turned out, and there''s nothing wrong with that."


    Nicole pouted.


    "But if you could have whatever you wanted, then you would want him, wouldn''t you?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "There was a time... when I thought that."


    A small smile formed on his face.


    "But now, I can say that it would be you."


    Nicole fidgeted awkwardly for a few moments.


    "Really?"


    Kairos let her down on the bed.


    "Really."

 Chapter 166 Overestimate

    Nicole was smiling strangely. She grabbed onto Kairos'' arms and began humming to herself happily.


    Kairos looked at her inly.


    "...Go to sleep now, ok?"


    Nicole grumbled.


    "Only if you''re here with meeee...."


    She repeatedly tugged on Kairos, though it was incredibly weak, like a child. Kairos let out a sigh.


    "And why do I have to sleep with you?"


    Nicole shook her head from side to side exaggeratedly.


    "You haveee to! If you really think about me, then you have to! You have to, you have to!"


    Kairos massaged his temple with his index finger. He was wondering why he suddenly found himself dealing with a spoiled child. He couldn''t help but let out a helpless sigh as he let himself get tugged by Nicole. With a re, Kairos slowly spoke.


    "...Not as much groping, ok? Only a little bit."


    He felt a little strange that those words wereing out of his mouth, not to mention when he was a man. As for Nicole, she let out a soft giggle.


    "I just want a hug... no touchy touching for now..."


    To Kairos'' surprise, she kept to her promise, only wrapping her arms around him before letting it be like that. Kairos looked back at her with distrust, feeling that she was going to act up at any moment.


    However, she didn''t. Nicole was already quickly drifting off into sleep as she held onto him, doing so practically instantly. Kairos mumbled to himself softly.


    "I guess it does help you sleep."


    When he felt her gentle embrace, he couldn''t help but start feeling tired as well. Almost like everything would be alright. He began blinking intermittently, on the verge of falling asleep.


    And then he felt himself go to sleep.


    Kairos suddenly found himself awake. He was slightly confused, but he could eventually tell that he was in a dream. It was simr to what had happened to him before, which let him randomly peek into the future while sleeping. It was a little while since it hadst activated, making him wonder if it was real, but having it happen once more was reassuring.


    Though, the situation he was currently in wasn''t all that reassuring.


    ? He found himself and his group out of the city, attempting to fight against arge horde of monsters during the night. This immediately stuck out as strange to him, as under normal circumstances he was just watching over the rest of them, since he would rather observe the mana that flowed through their bodies.


    He wasn''t making much progress on understanding the abilities like Tori''s wing spell, but at the very least he was making decent progress on the elemental ones.


    Kairos simply swung at the monsters he saw in front of him with his spear, fending them off. But one thing that he immediately noticed was that he was actually having quite a bit of difficulty fending them off. His weapon was still holding on strong, but the monsters were simply much tougher than before.


    Despite knowing that he had more strength than them, he couldn''t help but feel pressured as the gap wasn''trge. In fact, he would probably get absolutely overwhelmed if he didn''t have a weapon he could rely on.


    In the middle of fighting these monsters off, he suddenly heard Nicole call out to him desperately, tearing her throat up in the process.


    "RUN, KAIROS! PLEASE."


    Hearing this, Kairos furrowed his eyebrows intensely. What in the world was going on? Then, he felt the ground tremble. As he lifted his head up to look, he saw a massive monster, standing at nearly fifty meters in height appear behind one of the apartments.


    The very first thing that Kairos thought was that it was unbelievably disgusting.


    At this point, whenever he saw a monster that was clearly powerful, he would connect it to those rted to The Church of Evolution. However, there was one aspect that made him feel like that wasn''t true. The monster consisted of countless limbs and heads, just a freakish abomination in general.


    Although the general figure had somehow be something like a humanoid, it looked like it could fall apart at any moment. Somehow or another, countless monsters had fused together, and the individual arms were still moving around, almost like zombies that moved when they shouldn''t be able to.


    Kairos ended up running, as Nicole begged him to. He saw that all of his group was running towards the city, but it seemed that they had made it quite a ways out. Chase was putting extensive amounts of mana into his bow tounch several arrows, trying to make a path. However, more than the sheer number, it was the toughness that the monsters had that made it too difficult.


    Sydney took the lead, fending off the surviving monsters with her body. As for Tori, she was whispering something to Chase urgently, but from the frown on his face, it was clear he was not having it.


    Kairos didn''t have much context in this situation as he was randomly put here, but from what he could tell, they weren''t going to make it back to the city.


    He sucked in a cold breath before turning towards the monster once more. Though he didn''t exactly understand what was going on, since this was only a dream, it was best that he used it to test exactly how strong this monster was.


    Kairos continued to backpedal, but was channeling his pulse spell as he did so. Though using a spell to its full potential would be terrible for his body, these events weren''t actually happening in reality, so it was fine.


    Nicole seemed to catch on to what Kairos was doing, and looked quite anxious.


    "We have to run! Fighting is too risky!"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Do you trust me, Nicole?"


    Nicole hurriedly nodded.


    "Yes, yes, so please hurry up and run away!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Then treat this as a dream."


    He could feel that his hand was on the verge of exploding. If a pin was pushed against it, he wouldn''t be surprised if it just popped like a balloon. His hand glowed a familiar blue, which began snaking up towards his arm.


    The monster in front of him seemed to notice what was happening the assorted limbs and heads burst out of its stomach, almost like a tentacle, and shot towards Kairos. All of the hands seem to reach out towards him, wanting to grab on.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes before releasing the pulse spell.


    With a bang, the assorted limbs and heads in front of him exploded into a mess of blood, sshing all around. Waves of wind rushed from the force, and the surrounding pavement and walls had cracked.


    And when that shockwave made it to the monster itself, blood sttered all around, severely damaging it. However, it began to absorb the surrounding monsters, forcefully grabbing onto the nearby ones and making them a part of the abomination. Kairos frowned as a sense of dread came down onto him.


    He coughed out blood due to the bacsh from the spell, while his hand looked quite deformed, almost like it was melting to be sludge. It was better than outright exploding, but not by much.


    The monster began charging toward Kairos once more, making him narrow his eyes. There were other ones trying to swarm him, but before he could even worry about them, they were grabbed onto and absorbed.


    Kairos clicked his tongue as he saw it approach even closer.


    He fished out a green orb out of his pocket. It was thest one he had, but since this wasn''t reality, he didn''t feel too bad about wasting it. And so, he quickly stabbed it with his spear and began drinking it. The ball rapidly shrunk to be a bead, and at this point, the monster was reaching out to him with its hand.


    Under normal circumstances, he would''ve either tried to run away or at least dodge.


    But right now, he wanted to test how badly injured he would be after taking on the attack of the monster head-on. And so, he watched as the various limbs reached out towards him, wanting to pull him in to be part of the conglomerate as well.


    Yet, before it could happen, he felt an incredibly strong tugging force on his arm that directly tore open his skin. It was Nicole, and she was using her inborn ability to directly pull him along whether he liked it or not.


    He could feel the wind whip into his face as both teeth and hands just barely missed him. With furrowed brows, he turned to Nicole.


    "What are you doing?"


    Nicole had a frown on her face that looked quite desperate.


    "Saving you! What else?!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Didn''t I tell you just to pretend that this was a dream?"


    Tears began forming in Nicole''s eyes and just barely spilled out.


    "Yeah, and if it was a dream then I would do everything I could to save you!"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he felt himself getting dragged along. It seemed that he wouldn''t be able to test it, as Nicole would pull him out of the way if he didn''t do anything. But despite that fact, she still wasn''t fast enough to have them escape. Those in his group at the front desperately tried to pave a way forward, but the monsters were simply too resilient now.


    As for Kairos, he didn''t do anything. He just watched.


    While still getting dragged along, he suddenly felt a strong tug on his leg. Several limbs had wrapped around it, and teeth had begun to sink in. Nicole refused to stop, deforming his arm and causing concerning cracking sounds toe from his shoulder.


    Then, his leg got ripped off.


    Kairos frowned deeply.


    He wasn''t sure if the green orb would be able to regenerate his leg assuming he took it. As he continued on, his other leg eventually got ripped off as well, once the monster reached for it.


    Though Nicole was facing forward, tears began streaming down her face as she sniffled. It seemed that she could tell what was happening to him, and just desperately wanted to make it out alive with him.


    Eventually, one of his arms got ripped off as well. Now, the only limb he had left was the one Nicole was dragging him with. Kairos watched as his limbs got absorbed into the monster before bing one with it, then moving around with a clearck of coordination.


    At this point, Nicole was screaming at the top of her lungs.


    "NOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"


    It was like she was screaming out while being murdered, though considering the situation it wasn''t too different from that. As for Sydney, although she was still regenerating, it seemed that she was beginning to reach her limits as she was slowly losing her flesh, and getting ripped down to the bone.


    Chase was constantly cursing over and over as he continued to pull back mana arrows, however, they were incredibly weak. It was apparent that he didn''t have the mana to continue. As for Tori, she bit the bottom of her lip so hard that it bled, before grabbing onto Chase.


    Chase immediately let out yells.


    "Stop! Stop it now, Tori!"


    However, Tori didn''t listen as she forcefully brought him up into the air, away from all of the other monsters. Chase continued to call out, both insulting Tori and telling them to go back, however, Tori just remained silent as she heard all of that. Her eyes were closed tightly as she continued to soar through the air as quickly as she could.


    Then, he watched as the various limbs and heads approached him once more. In fact, he could see that his own limbs were at the forefront.


    And as his head was getting torn off his own body, there was only one thought.


    That he had overestimated his teammates.

 Chapter 167 Soloed

    Kairos woke up, and the dream he had was clear in his memory.


    It seemed that if they decided to try and go out like usual to earn points, then they would end up dying.


    Kairos couldn''t help butugh. For whatever reason, it was Chase that wasn''t trying to abandon them, while Tori was the one that left without hesitation. He couldn''t help but be surprised as he didn''t think Chase had any good reason for that.


    At the very least, that was what the dream told him.


    He got up while holding onto the side of his head. Despite sleeping, he could still feel the phantom pain of having his head and limbs ripped off. Kairos patted his neck as though double-checking his head was still connected before trying to get up off of the bed.


    Though, Nicole was holding onto him too tightly for him to do so.


    Kairos tried to subtly pry her hands off, but whenever he began doing so, her grip tightened considerably. That was probably how Nicole was holding onto him the entire night. Kairos let out a sigh before patting her on the face.


    "Hey,e on. Let me go."


    Nicole mumbled to herself before her eyes slowly opened.


    "Mm... Kairos?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Yeah, let go of me now."


    He looked out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to set. Nicole let go and got up while rubbing one of her eyes.


    "Is it time to go out again?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "We''re canceling that for now."


    Nicole blinked a few times and seemed to fully wake up.


    "Eh? We''re canceling it?"


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "The monsters are too strong to fight against right now. It seems that these strange events with red light regrly happen, and whenever they do the monsters get stronger."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Oh... ok. So we can just stay here then?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess so. I''m going to go somewhere on my own though."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Eh? Then I''ll go with you!"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I already said that I''m going alone. That means nobody is going toe with me."


    Nicole''s expression contorted.


    "B-But why?"


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Don''t worry so much about it. I''m only going to be gone for the night. Not even a full day, alright?"


    Nicole looked at him for a few moments before nodding.


    "...Ok."


    As Kairos got up, he cracked his neck.


    "Oh yeah, can you let the others know that we aren''t going to be going out at night for now?"


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "Ok!"


    With that, Kairos got up to leave and left the ck stone that distorted mana behind. Upon leaving the center building, he saw that most of the people were sleeping. All of the fields had been more or less dug up, and now they had nothing to do but get some rest in. Even their snores were rather quiet, almost like they were too tired to even snore loudly.


    Despite there being so many people around him, the most audible thing was his own soft footsteps hitting the pavement.


    Upon reaching the entrance, Kairos was a little worried that Tiana was asleep, thus wouldn''t open up the wall, but he found it did, thus that concern was unnecessary.


    Kairos began thinking of the monster that he had seen in his dream.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It definitely wasn''t invincible, but it seemed like it could "regenerate" itself rather easily by using other monsters. That meant the best way to deal with that kind of thing was to directly blow it up with an attack so strong it would be able to regenerate in the first ce.


    This immediately made him think of one of his passive skills, Alone. It would both triple the damage, and also reduce the bacsh that he would feel in the process. If the effects were active, then he was pretty sure he could take on most things, assuming they weren''t that exaggeratedly overpowered.


    When Kairos made it out onto the streets, he could see quite a few monsters making their way out of buildings and scattering around. He avoided them before directly mbering up a building to avoid them. Though he was sure that he would be able to deal with them easily now, he didn''t want to waste his strength.


    The exhaustion he felt during the dream was still fresh in his mind, and he didn''t want to end up like that.


    Kairos continued leaping over buildings, and at some point, his entire body felt much lighter than before. The mana around him simply felt different, like it was calling out to him. There was no longer this faint resistance that he felt from it. He immediately knew what was happening.


    His Alone skill was active.


    Kairos continued to leap across buildings, going to the ce that they usually went. He figured the monster would be somewhere around there, and then he nned on taking it out.


    He searched for quite a while and didn''te up with much. And eventually, the moon began rising, showing that it had already gotten deep into the night. Kairos was currently crouched on top of an apartment building, looking down at all the monsters.


    He clicked his tongue, wondering how he was missing somethingrge.


    Yet, right as that thought crossed his mind, he heard the berserk cry of a nearby monster. And strangely enough, it wasing from directly below him. Kairos'' eyes narrowed before he suddenly leaped off the building, towards another.


    And as he did so, the entireplex broke apart, scattering brick and dust everywhere before revealing the monster he had been searching for this entire time.


    Right now, it looked like a mass of monster parts in a rod. However, it slowly expanded outwards to be the familiar humanoid shape that he remembered. The monster let out a cry before rushing towards the nearby monsters, attempting to consume them.


    From what Kairos could tell, it was only about thirty meters tall right now,pared to the dream when he saw that it was roughly fifty meters. In other words, this thing would only grow stronger as time passed.


    Kairos immediately began casting the pulse spell, wanting to kill it while the thing was still young. Almost immediately, he could feel the difference that the alone skill was making.


    He could feel the mana within him roiling, almost like it was fighting to get out of him. As for his body, there was a strange sturdy feeling that seemed to overwhelm the aggravated mana within him.


    The monster didn''t even seem to notice him on the roof of a nearby building. It simply continued to eat up the monsters nearby, continuing to expand itself.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath as he could feel his entire body reacting to the mana. His vision was starting to have a blue tint. He quickly connected the dots to realize that mana was literally pouring out of his eyes and evening out of his mouth.


    He held out one hand that was brightening to be a solid blue, that was gradually bing a blinding light. Kairos noticed that this shine was leaking out into his arm, forming a pattern that almost looked like veins snaking across his skin. After a few moments, he used his other hand to grab onto his wrist, trying to slow that mana from spreading.


    Kairos could immediately tell that the situation was getting dangerous. Unlike normal casting, the power of the spell was increasing three times as fast as normal, effectively meaning he was channeling three times faster.


    That would mean he would have to release it sooner rather thanter, or he might end up sacrificing too much to cast this one spell.


    With that in mind, Kairos leaped off the roof, finding himself above the monster.


    It was at this point he felt like the monster noticed him. Despite not having any clear eyes, its head tilted back as though looking at Kairos. At that point, it opened up its mouth before a horde of hands suddenly reached out toward him.


    Kairos knew from the dream that he would essentially be dead once they reached him as despite being a high rank, the strength of this thing was simply far too high.


    Nheless, he wanted to channel it for just a little bit longer in order to guarantee it. He also began narrowing the cone to increase the effect directly in front of him.


    Kairos'' eyes widened all the way as he watched the various limbs and heads rush up towards him, desperately reaching out to im his body for their own. The corner of his lip turned up as he let out a light scoff.


    Right as his vision was filled with heads and arms, he sucked in a cold breath to brace himself. Not from the monster, but rather the bacsh from his own spell.


    A massive explosion resounded, but Kairos only heard it for a split second. Blood and flesh sttered outwards, like a balloon filled with water getting popped.


    The shockwave continued forth, rampaging through the monster until it finally mmed into the floor, causing a crater to form. A few nearby buildings began tilting towards the crater, and some directly copsed after losing their bnce.


    As Kairos watched all this, he gradually felt his hearing return to him in the form of ring ringing sounds. However, he didn''t really find that it was the time to begin worrying about that, as that pulse spell actually ended up shooting him high into the air, letting him meet with the clouds.


    As he began falling back down, his hand trembled intensely. Casting thatst spell used up most of his mana. But thankfully, it seemed like his body wasn''t ruined because of it. Though the pain was bad, something like this was nothing new to Kairos.


    He began thinking of what he could do to slow his fall, as he doubted he would be able tond unscathed. He thought of a few methods, but the only real one would be to cast another spell.


    He frowned due to theck of mana, but then remembered a trick he learned earlier.


    He circted what little mana he still had left in his body, just like it was a tornado. Kairos saw the surrounding mana was pulled into him and did so rather easily. There was no longer the demerit of lessening his mana regeneration, meaning that it flowed rather easily to him.


    It almost made him feel like he was in an ocean, and directlymanded the water to move in the way that he wanted.


    By the time he was just about fifty meters above the ground, he could tell most of his mana had returned. From there, he pointed his finger down as a strong pir of water shot out, mming into the ground with a loud thud.


    His body tensed up as he felt his downward momentum gradually lessening.


    He didn''t know what had happened to the monster he hit, but he figured it was still alive since he hadn''t gotten a notification yet. This worked as both slowing him down and possibly interfering with the monster.


    Soon enough, he mmed down on the ground, causing water to ssh into the air.


    He looked around among the rubble, searching for anything that was still alive. He noticed that the nearby monsters were running away, clearly wanting nothing to do with what was going on here.


    That was when he set his eyes on a lump of flesh that was mostly buried in the rubble. He charged up the pulse spell for a second before releasing it, smashing the surrounding debris and revealing what was underneath.


    Kairos couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow when he saw it.

 Chapter 168 Strange Man

    Kairos observed the thing that crawled out. He also made sure to rotate the mana within him to increase his mana regeneration.


    Blood sttered, as thest few limbs and heads were punctured through. And from within, a weak monster crawled out.


    The monster had the same general figure as most, but unlike normal monsters, there were strange white bulgesing out of its body. As Kairos took a closer look, he realized that those were all mushrooms.


    To be specific, parasitic mushrooms.


    A frown formed on his face as he raised his hand for another pulse spell. While he channeled it, he noticed that the mushrooms were peeling themselves off of the monster, causing it to copse soon after. Then, they began bouncing towards Kairos, like they were very excited to try and infect a new host.


    Despite feeling a chill down his spine as the strangely gtinous mushrooms began approaching him. But he waited patiently for his pulse spell to charge up a little more. He sucked in a cold breath as he saw the mushrooms lunge towards him before he released the pulse spell, shredding several of the mushrooms in front of him into pieces.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 10


    Despite killing quite a few of the mushrooms, a frown was still spread out on Kairos'' face. That was because he noticed while all of the mushrooms ended up being blown away, not all of them died. He saw several of them creep into the cracks of rubble, making his face distort.


    He didn''t want those things to escape. Though Kairos didn''t understand exactly what their capabilities were. They could have great difficulty in replicating themselves and may have many limitations to infect others. However, if it was able to infect something rather easily along with reproducing, then that meant several of those abominations could form if any escaped.


    In fact, there may be several of them forming right now.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he began channeling the fire spell. A fireball appeared at the end of his finger. He began backing up as it formed, not wanting to get caught in the st radius.


    However, from how the debris was moving, Kairos could tell that the mushrooms would get away soon. Yet at the same time, if he released it too soon, then the explosion might not be enough to catch them.


    He furrowed his eyebrows intensely.


    After channeling for two seconds, he deemed that that was enough waiting. If he waited any longer, they would definitely disappear. And so he released the fireball, causing a rtively small explosion among the rubble that scattered arge number of mes in the area.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 5


    His eyes narrowed when he saw those notifications. Although he did end up killing more of them, he didn''t know how many were still alive after the pulse spell he casted. For all he knew, there could be dozens still alive underneath.


    While the fire was still raging on, he walked in to move aside the various debris that were still within. Thankfully, it seemed that he had some resistance to those mes, and thus didn''t have to worry about burning himself much. However, as he continued to remove the rocks from the top, the frown on his face only grew deeper by the second.


    Because once he had cleared it all, among the debris and mushrooms, were small holes. The mushrooms were somehow able to burrow their way out, avoiding the fire. Not to mention, there were quite a few holes and they traversed in different directions.


    Kairos felt a headacheing on as he grabbed onto the side of his head.


    "Did I just release something like a gue?"


    He clicked his tongue before pointing two fingers towards one of the holes. From there, he released the water spell, rushing forth until it reached the mushroom at the far end.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Kairos let out a cold breath before shiting where he was pointing towards another. And once again, a notification popped up.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    He couldn''t help but feel reassured, as he wasn''t too sure this method could work. It wasn''t as though he could burrow to chase after them, and probably wouldn''t have the time to. At the same time, most of his spells weren''t made to travel down tight spaces like these. As such, it made him go for ast-ditch attempt with the water spell, and it ended up working out.


    He repeated this process for every single one of the holes until he heard a notification.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 8


    [Multi-kill (Type - Normal) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos felt a little relieved as he went to cast the water spell in thest hole that he found. However, the strange thing was that he never got a notification even after casting the spell for several seconds. By now, he was beginning to run really low on mana.


    His eyebrows furrowed as he increased the speed several times over. As more seconds passed, he could feel his heart getting tight from theck of mana, while his head was beginning to get dizzy. With his alone spell, the effect of his water spell was magnified three times over, but for whatever reason, the thing he was targetting was still alive.


    Kairos didn''t want to give up, he still continued to try, even as he could feel his body begging him to stop.


    But then, he saw in the distance a geyser had formed. After connecting the dots, he realized something. The geyser had formed as a result of him casting the water spell. And if it was shooting up into the air instead of through the tunnel that was made, it would mean only one thing.


    That the mushroom had already escaped.


    Kairos cursed under his breath before stopping his channeling. He took unsteady breaths and circted what little mana he had left to slightly increase his regeneration. As it would turn out, having only a small amount of mana made it harder to pull in more, which he found a little counterintuitive, but there was not much he could do about it.


    Once he felt a little steady, he rushed towards where the geyser was. Though it was definitely a long shot, he figured that the mushroom might still be around there. As Kairos was rushing over though, he wondered if his effort even mattered.


    It wasn''t as though there couldn''t be other mushrooms like that already far away. Maybe it had already spread to the point that it would be impossible to stop.


    In fact, what if there were even greater threats than just these mushrooms?


    Actually, there definitely were greater threats.


    Kairos'' pace gradually slowed down as he began to think of something. The mushrooms definitely had a strong parasitizing power that allowed them to take control of quite a few monsters and be a dangerous abomination.


    However, they also provided quite a decent amount of points due to the quantity, and the fact that each one counted as the same rank as him.


    More than a threat, this was an opportunity.


    An opportunity for him to gain quite a few points.


    Kairos continued to walk in that direction, but he wasn''t in as much of a hurry as before. He scaled up on the side of buildings to avoid the majority of the monsters before slowly inspecting the area, trying to find a trace of the mushroom.


    For quite a while, it was unsessful, but all of a sudden he caught onto something white sticking out of a monster.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was the mushroom, which had embedded itself into the side of a monster''s head. It seemed that the monster didn''t even realize that its body was being taken over, instead just wandering aimlessly searching for something to eat.


    Over time, the monster''s actions became even more uncoordinated than usual and far stiffer.


    Eventually, the monster randomly attacked a monster that was next to it. After being attacked, that monster roared and attempted to retaliate. Yet, strangely enough, its head was easily ripped off.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly before concluding the mushroom somehow substantially increased the host''s power. From there, the monster began eating up its newfound corpse. A few nearby monsters were attracted by the smell of blood and attempted to get a bite as well, but the monster that was being parasitized killed any that came near, and began eating them too.


    This had a chain effect, bringing more and more hungry monsters over.


    As for the parasitized monster, it was eating ravenously despite having already eaten an unnaturallyrge amount. But as he was doing so, mushrooms slowly began sprouting out of its body, reminding Kairos of what he had seen earlier.


    At this point, he began channeling the fire spell, wanting to kill the mushroom before it startedbining with the countless monster corpses around it.


    The parasitized monster was none the wiser. By the time most of its body was covered in spores, it began reaching out towards the limbs underneath it, ripping them off the bodies before forcefully attaching them to itself.


    That was when Kairos released the fire spell, causing arge fireball to rush right at it.


    Another explosion ensued, causing a nearby building to directly copse and countless mes spread out, burning up all the corpses.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 25


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Normal) - 0.3 points awarded]


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I probably should''ve used less power."


    Without meaning to, he was pretty sure that he killed all of the mushrooms. Kairos simply wasn''t used to the increased power that the alone spell gave him, thus his control was a little shaky.


    The problem ended up being smaller than he thought. He let out a sigh before intending to head back to the city.


    Yet, when he turned his head around, he saw someone was staring right at him.


    It was a man with short green hair and blue eyes. His general attire looked rtively normal, but also like something that was more budget than anything. Though, considering its cleanliness, he probably wasn''t someone small in the apocalypse.


    There was a docile smile on his face as he looked back at Kairos. He spoke very slowly.


    "Why are you killing my creations?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Sorry, were those mushrooms your creations? I just thought they were something that naturally evolved."


    Though he looked quite friendly on the surface, Kairos could immediately tell that this person wasn''t someone he wanted to make an enemy of. Something about him just seemed... off.


    The man let out a helpless sigh.


    "I guess you''re right, I never did put my name on them... though I still believe I should bepensated for my loss, don''t you think?"


    Kairos stared back nkly for a few moments.


    "Would you like this spear? It''s been through quite a bit and still hasn''t broken yet."


    The man raised his eyebrow.


    "You are willing to give me your trusted weapon so easily?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It is valuable to me, but I assume those mushrooms were as well."


    The man let out augh.


    "Oh, no, no. I could easily recreate those if I wanted to."


    Hearing that made Kairos'' eyebrow twitch. He really wanted to ask if they were so worthless, then why was he asking forpensation. However, he kept his mouth shut. The man continued.


    "I was thinking that perhaps you could help me, rather."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "In what way?"


    The man let out a chuckle.


    "Oh, nothing much. I would just like you to help supply my farm with mana."


    Kairos gave a small bow.


    "Sorry, but I still have ces I need to be in."


    The man''s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.


    "Oh? Is that so? Then at the very least, could you give back the nature core you stole from my garden?"

 Chapter 169 Promotion Mission

    Kairos'' eyelid twitched when he heard what the man with green hair said.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    The man chuckled.


    "I''m sure you know exactly what I mean. You were the one that messed up my entire garden, weren''t you?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, realizing the man wasn''t going to be fooled. He actually did know exactly what he was talking about. Earlier on, he was captured by a strange monster with roots that brought him over to some strange ce with trees that had faces. It was in that ce that he killed the trees and then got the green orbs.


    He could tell fairly easily that whoever was managing the garden was someone that he didn''t want to mess with just from looking at it. Though, he didn''t regret taking the green orbs, as he really did need to use them if he wanted to survive the dungeon. But he really didn''t expect to meet the person behind it, especially not this soon.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Ah, hello there. I apologize for dirtying your garden, but I was dragged in there against my will. My only desire was to escape."


    The man raised his eyebrow.


    "You wanted to escape, but killed everything that was inside?"


    Kairos fell silent.


    The man let out augh seeing this.


    "Ah, well all that can be water under the bridge. We can work together, alright?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Alright then, what are you proposing?"


    The man''s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.


    "It appears you have some sort of mana to regenerate mana rather quickly. May I know what that is?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "If I tell you, then everything will be water under the bridge."


    The man chuckled.


    "Well, if it is some sort of item that allows you to do such a thing, then I must request to have that. But to show my sincerity, I won''t take it for free. I can even provide a few green orbs in exchange."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s not an item. I just figured out that if I circte mana in my body like a vortex, then it will naturally attract the surrounding mana as well."


    The man stared at him nkly, the smile on his face suddenly gone.


    "Don''t lie to me."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "I don''t really know what to say, because I wasn''t lying. It''s a little rude for you to just assume that."


    The man shook his head.


    "If it was that easy to regenerate mana, then everyone would be able to do it, fool."


    Kairos scoffed.


    "Then what how do you think I''m going it? I never said it was something easy."


    The man narrowed his eyes.


    "Then it''s one of your special abilities?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "You can look at it that way."


    The man rubbed his chin.


    "Then show me the skill in your status panel."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "It doesn''t show there. It''s not a skill granted by the system."


    The man frowned.


    "Then show me."


    Kairos blinked a few times. He didn''t really want to show his status panel, but there wasn''t anything too important in there so long as the man didn''t have an ability simr to his. And so, he opened it up.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 25.9]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 17.7


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    The man narrowed his eyes as he looked at each ability intensely.


    "...What does the alone and pulse spell do?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "One makes my spells a bit stronger, and the other is basically just a shockwave spell."


    The man clicked his tongue.


    "That does match what I know from names... wait, your mana capacity isn''t even at thirty?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...I can increase it if you want."


    Without too much hesitation, he increased his mana capacity. With the nature of how he regenerated mana, having mana would make it easier to do so.


    [Mana Regeneration 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 25.9 -> 10.9]


    After doing that, Kairos began swirling the mana in his body to rapidly regenerate mana, reaching his full mana capacity in just thirty seconds.


    "Still don''t believe me?"


    The man stared back at him inplete shock.


    "You understand thews of mana?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Understanding is overexaggerating it by quite a bit, but I do know a thing here or there."


    The man rubbed his chin with interest before holding out a hand.


    "Well, let me take a step back here. Hello there, my name is Kian. May I know yours?"


    Kairos looked back at his hand with a bit of skepticism.


    "I''d prefer not shaking hands, but hello Kian. My name is Kairos."


    Kian gave a small nod.


    "Alright then. Well, one of my main priorities is securing a method to collectrge amounts of mana. I do have a few options I know of, but securing them would end up being just a little too inconvenient for me."


    He gestured towards Kairos.


    "And since it seems you know a method to absorb quite a bit of mana, I would like to ask for your help."


    Kairos hesitated. He already felt how shaky Tori''s rtionship with them was when he saw her abandoning them in the dream. But at the same time, he made an alliance with Edward''s group despite not really trusting them either.


    Making allies didn''t mean he had to trust them with everything. And so, he slowly nodded.


    "Alright then. Should we start?"


    Kian narrowed his eyes slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I would prefer if your mana capacity was at thirty before we start."


    Kairos stared back at him with a nk expression.


    "Huh? Isn''t it close enough to thirty at this point? It''s only a tenth of a point away."


    Kian shook his head.


    "Ahaha, it seems you still don''t understand. When one''s stats reach the maximum, one will be given a promotion mission. Part of thates breaking through the limits of your stats."


    All of a sudden, Kairos'' mind shed back to what Tiana''s stats were. There were all at 30.0, not 29.9 like the limit he was currently facing.


    "That''s... strange. It sounds ratherplicated."


    Kian shrugged his shoulders.


    "It seems that you aren''t aware, but most people are fighting to be the first person to reach the C rank, especially because of the unnatural difficulty that ites with."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "What is required?"


    Kian paused.


    "It requires you to be ced on the leaderboards for limit-breaking stats. There are also custom missions along with... one more if you wish to be promoted."


    Kairos shot him a sidelong nce.


    "You mean those Top whatevers?"


    Kian nodded.


    "It seems you''ve been on a few of them, so it shouldn''t be too big of a problem. The only thing you need is some more points."


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "No helping that, it seems."


    Kian waved his hand over, as though calling someone over.


    "No problem with that. I can let you have some of my creations to speed up the process."


    Before Kairos could say anything else, he saw arge number of mushrooms rush over from the distance. They would jump onto whatever monsters they could along the way and drain their body in order to make more of themselves.


    Kian gestured towards therge wave of mushroomsing over.


    "Just kill them all, and you should have the points required to start the mission."


    Kairos felt a chill go down his spine. He felt a little foolish working so hard trying to get rid of all the mushrooms when the man literally had an army of them already. With a sigh, he raised one hand, pointing two fingers towards all of the mushrooms. Then, he let loose the water spell, crushing all of them into a muddy paste.


    As countless notifications shed by his screen, he turned to Kian.


    "Thanks for the points."


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Multi-Kill (Type - Normal) - 0.3 points awarded]


    The wave of notifications was beginning to make it hard to see, though despite there being a swarm, he could make out one that appeared quite different from the others.


    [Massacre (Type - Normal) - 5 points awarded]


    He only saw it appear maybe two times, but the amount he gained was substantially different, to the point that it was the same amount as just barely ranking in the top ten of one of those leaderboards.


    Eventually, Kian cleared his throat.


    "Alright, alright. I believe you have enough points now, am I right?"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "It should be, yeah."


    Though he did want it to continue, asking more from a person he initially stole from probably wouldn''t go too well.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 79.3]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 14.9


    Endurance - 17.7


    Agility - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 29.9


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos blinked a few times as he realized a problem.


    "...I don''t have enough food to support the stat increase I''m going to do."


    Kian scoffed.


    "You have that nature core, don''t you?"


    Kairos fell silent, making Kian sigh exasperatedly.


    "Consider this a down payment. By taking this, there''s no going back."


    Kian held out his hand as a bright green energy coalesced around it, before creating a familiar green orb, or to be urate, a nature core. He casually tossed it to Kairos, making him feel a little taken aback.


    Was it really something so insignificant to him that he was willing to give it up like that?"


    Kairos didn''t say anymore as he stabbed the nature core and began drinking from it. While he could feel his body get filled with energy, he hurriedly increased his stats.


    [Strength 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 79.3 -> 64.3]


    [Endurance 17.7 -> 29.9 | Points 64.3 -> 52.1]


    [Agility 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 52.1 -> 37.1]


    [Willpower 14.9 -> 29.9 | Points 37.1 -> 22.1]


    Kairos took a deep breath. He expected a far harsher bacsh from increasing his status points by so much, but other than his heated-up body there was essentially no pain. Right as he thought it was going to be painful, the effect of the nature core kicked in, enhancing his body tremendously.


    And right when he felt all the changes settle down, another system message appeared in front of his eyes that Kian didn''t seem to be able to see.


    [Promotion Mission]


    [Requirements -


    1 - [Broken Limits]


    Limit break each stat. Stats can be limit broken through using Prestige. These points are naturally acquired if one ranks on a global leaderboard (Dungeon Leaderboards do not count).


    2 - [Trademark]


    Upgrade one ability to the D-Rank. Any ability may be upgraded toplete this mission. If an ability was previously upgraded to D-rank, then this mission will automatically bepleted


    3 - [Proven]


    Kill a creature at the peak of D-Rank. The peak of D-Rank is ssified by any person that is currently working on their promotion mission.


    4 - [Custom - Istion]


    Spend thirty days alone in the Abyss Realm. Further information about the Abyss Realm may be found after all other missions arepleted.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes when he looked at all the missions. Though he didn''t fully understand it all, it was fairly clear that this mission was far from easy. The third mission in particr made him suddenly go on alert.


    He put his all into channeling the pulse spell as he dashed away from Kian.


    After all, with the third mission, it would make perfect sense for someone to grow a person to the peak of D-rank before killing them.

 Chapter 170 Abundant Mana

    Kian watched as Kairos leaped away with a nk expression.


    "Do you really think I need to do some sort of trick toplete that part of the mission?"


    Kairos continued backing away while charging the pulse spell, not trusting him even slightly. He even extended his future vision to three seconds, just to be safe. Though, he couldn''t but freeze in ce after a few moments.


    Kian smirked as he slowly raised up his hands.


    "I''ve long finished that part of the mission."


    His body ckened, while bright green veins appeared on top. As he did so, dozens of massive ck trees broke out of the ground around them, their leaves cking out the sky.


    Countless sharp branches shot out, but stopped before they got too far, making the entire ce seem like a giant iron maiden.


    Kairos looked around himself and began wondering if he would actually be able to fight against something like this. After a bit of contemtion, he realized that he should be able to survive for at least a few minutes by using his future vision and possibly turning it around. But that was also assuming that Kian didn''t go any further and bring out more of his cards.


    Kairos blinked a few times before slowly releasing the mana he was using for the pulse spell.


    "...Alright, I believe you."


    Kian gave a small nod.


    "If so, hurry up and increase your mana regeneration to thirty. Your prestige points won''t be visible, but so long as you have ranked in the leaderboards, you should see them."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the giant trees that formed around him. With his ability to see mana, he could tell that the mana within them was unnaturallyrge. It made him wonder how this wasn''t enough.


    "Are you sure you need more mana? These trees look good enough..."


    Kian shrugged his shoulders.


    "I can essentially store as much as I would like, so more isn''t going to hurt. Besides, it has been quite difficult for me to get a reliable mana source, which is why I would like your help."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Makes sense I guess."


    He let his sses slide off of his face slightly as he opened up his status panel so that he could look at them without his sses.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: 55/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 4945 Evolution Energy and Complete Promotion Mission]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 22.1]


    [Prestige: 256]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 29.9


    Endurance - 29.9


    Agility - 29.9


    Willpower - 29.9


    Mana Capacity - 29.9


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F+)]


    [Hide]


    It was then that Kairos caught onto how many prestige points he had. Though he didn''t fully understand the value of them, he still felt that it was quite a lot. It was more than what he expected despite knowing he finished first in a top two-hundred and fifty ranking.


    There was also a new plus sign to increase his stats that lighted up as golden.


    After a split second of hesitation, he pressed it.


    [Confirm using Prestige Points to Limit Break Mana Capacity? Yes/No]


    Kairos slowly moved his finger over to the yes button before pressing it.


    [Mana Capacity 29.9 -> 30.0 | Prestige 256 -> 255]


    At first, Kairos felt there was little to no change, almost like he quite literally just used a tenth of a point to increase his stats. But before he could question what the change truly was, he suddenly felt his instincts shift. For just a moment, he felt like he understood everything about mana, before forgetting it once more.


    He looked down at his body and saw that the mana was naturally being guided into every single gap within himself, and began snaking all over the ce almost like a disease. Previous, the mana within him was stored in a fashion that looked like solid rods.


    But now, it expanded out, almost like those rods had grown branches that expanded out into the rest of his body.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly as he realized his mana capacity had practically almost doubled. For a second, he was wondering if he could even manipte the mana that had moved away from the rest of his body properly, and to his surprise, it feltpletely natural.


    After understanding the effects, he closed the status panel. He wanted to upgrade the rest of them as well, but nned on holding off until Kian wasn''t nearby.


    Kian chuckled softly.


    "You seem to understand why I asked you to do such a thing."


    Kairos nodded slowly.


    "It really is... a different feeling."


    Kian waved his hand dismissively.


    "Regardless, now I ask you to supply me with mana."


    All of a sudden, arge branch broke out of the ground beneath them and began carrying them through the air. The trees that Kian had created earlier sank into the ground, like they were never there in the first ce.


    In just a couple minutes, they had arrived at their destination. It was a garden like the one that Kairos had seen before, but there were only three trees there at the moment. Though, there were countless corpses. These corpses were the ones of monsters, and ck branches came out of the ground bringing more out every single second.


    Kian let out a small sigh.


    "Under normal circumstances, I would use humans with mana to create these trees as I require a concentrated mana source to make one. However, with your help, I should be able to use these monster corpses."


    He shed a smile to Kairos.


    "We can work a deal out like this. For every three trees you create, I''ll provide you with one nature core. You''re doing the first three for free as payback for the one I provided earlier."


    Kairos blinked a few times before nodding.


    "Sounds fair enough."


    Kian seemed a bit surprised.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Not going to negotiate at all?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Your terms are fair enough. I''ll respect that and ept it outright."


    Kian let out augh as he raised one hand, causing a ck branch to grow out in front of them.


    "I''m d you''re so straightforward. You can start by injecting mana within this branch right here."


    Kairos looked at the branch for a few moments before grabbing onto it. From there, he began injecting mana into the branch. Although it was a little confusing at first, he found that it was simr to the process of casting a spell and got the hang of it.


    After funneling for about ten seconds, he stopped and began rotating his entire body to get more mana, and to his surprise, his regeneration rate had also increased after limit breaking his mana capacity. Another aspect was that he literally couldn''t see because of all the mana around him blocking his vision.


    And so, he went with it, channeling as much mana as he could into the branch before regenerating it back a momentter.


    Kian was observing silently at first, but his eyes couldn''t help but widen considerably after a while. He thought that Kairos was obviously pushing himself to get a strong start, but as it continued on, he couldn''t help but marvel at how fast it was.


    In fact, he even began to feel a little on edge.


    While he had a tremendous amount of mana in store, the problem was that it was limited at the end of the day. However, with how Kairos looked right now, he was essentially a bottomless supply of mana. That meant he could cast devastating spells one after another.


    Assuming he had some sort of ability that protected himself well enough, then even Kian didn''t have the confidence to face Kairos.


    What neither of them knew was that the moment any mana entered Kairos'' body, it had fundamentally changed because of his alone spell. So not only was his mana regeneration insanely quick, but the mana that was being outputted was also three times stronger than normal.


    After working at it for about ten minutes, Kairos frowned.


    "Is the tree still not done yet? How much mana do you even need?"


    Kian blinked a few times.


    "...Actually, I''ve run out of trees to grow for now. You''ve done a total of fifty-four already."


    Kairos looked back at him nkly.


    "Wait, really?"


    Kian slowly nodded.


    "...Well, as per agreement, I''ll let you have seventeen nature cores."


    He held up his hand as seventeen cores conjured out of thin air. Numerous tiny little ck branches grew out of the ground and were woven together to be a bag, which he put them all in.


    Kian tossed the bag to Kairos, who grabbed onto it with a bit of surprise.


    "Huh, you can do many fancy things."


    Kianughed after hearing that.


    "I can indeed. You''ve helped me out quite nicely, so I can consider everything in the past water under the bridge. In hopes that we can continue to cooperate in the future, I''ll also offer you this."


    He brought out a very tiny, but faintly glowing green seed from his pocket.


    "If you ever need some help, nt this into the ground and give it a bit of mana. I''ll arrive as quickly as I can."


    Kairos expected him to toss it, but this time he held it out, waiting for him. Kairos held his hand out, after which Kian slowly ced it into the palm of his hand.


    Kian smirked.


    "Don''t lose it."


    Kairos tucked it away.


    "Alright. Should I juste back to the same ceter on if I want to grow some more trees with you?"


    Kian shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sure, but wait a few weeks to give me some time to get ready."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Alright then."


    Kian put his hands behind his back.


    "I still have some things to take care of for now, so I''ll send you on your way."


    Kairos let out a soft chuckle.


    "See youter then."


    With that, the branch split off, sending Kairos rapidly back to where he first was. After being dropped off, he looked at the retreating branch once more before heading back to the city.


    It was now well into the night. He felt slightly dizzy because of channeling all that mana, but other than that he was fine. Kairos wasn''t really paying attention for the most part, and suddenly felt someone tap him on the shoulder in his future vision, causing him to dash to the side.


    Once he did so, he saw Nicole gradually be visible, stumbling over as she tried to reach for him.


    "Wha! H-How did you still dodge it?"


    Kairos blinked several times in surprise. Though it wasn''t as though he was looking out for it, he didn''t even catch the slightest sound as Nicole approached.


    Realistically speaking, it should''ve been fairly easy for him to catch her since he was able to make out the mana within her body, yet she still somehow slipped by. The only reason he was actually able to dodge was that he cheated by using his future vision, making him feel a little awkward.


    "Haha, to be honest, I almost missed you. I must say, you did much better than what I was expecting."


    Nicole couldn''t help but smile, but tried to hide it by averting her gaze.


    "I-I mean... you didn''t expect it this time, but I still was caught by you."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Well, the people you''ll be targeting won''t be expecting it either. You aren''t far away from being able to perform seamlessly."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side and giggled.


    "I''ll work hard on that then!"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Anyway, there''s something I''m going to be trying outter, so don''t mind me."


    Nicole put the tip of her finger on her chin.


    "Test what?"


    Kairos kept looking forward.


    "...Something called limit breaking stats."

 Chapter 171 The Person You Saved

    Nicole gave him a curious look.


    "What do you mean by limit breaking?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s not something you should worry about right now, but it''s something you can do after reaching the ranks."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Then maybe the rest of us should promote to the D rank as well!"


    Kairos tapped his chin a few times.


    "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."


    Nicole sped her hands together.


    "So should I invite everyone else?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "...We might as well take it slow. The promotion process takes a while, so it would be better to do it one at a time."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? But wouldn''t it be better if everyone got together? It''s not like there''s much else to do anyway..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Alright, but your evolution process will be hidden from the others. Ok?"


    Nicole looked back at him with confusion.


    "Eh? Why is that?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I know you want to trust everyone, but we have to do it slowly."


    Nicole stammered.


    "T-Then we can at least trust my mom too, right?"


    Kairos looked at her nkly.


    "...Under normal circumstances, yes. But I think something strange is happening with her. I have a n to fix it, but I can''t act on it right now."


    Nicole stared back at him with unsure eyes. She clearly didn''t like all this uncertainty and doubt, but Kairos was forcing it onto her. Though it made her ufortable, she nodded in the end.


    "O-Ok..."


    Kairos and Nicole walked back into the city, all the way back into the center building. Most people were just sleeping. Once he got back into his room, he opened up his status panel once more.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 22.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 29.9


    Endurance - 29.9


    Agility - 29.9


    Willpower - 29.9


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 29.9]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    Nicole couldn''t help but let out a small gasp.


    "All your stats are so high!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "How many points do you have?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Um... a little over two hundred. Wait, let me bring it up."


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: E]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 217.3]


    [Strength - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    The side of Kairos'' face twitched.


    "You... have a lot of points."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "But that''s because I''ve killed a lot of monsters with the red watch on. You haven''t been killing anything but you still have so many!"


    Kairos thought to himself for a long moment. He didn''t really think about the consequences of ranking up all that much. Though when he looked at it realistically, he had been doing so much, yet the real gap in points between the two of them wasn''t asrge as he thought it was.


    When he thought about it, Kairos definitely was underestimating how advantageous point-wise staying at a lower rank was. The only real exception were dungeons, but Kairos didn''t know when the next time he would see one of those was.


    Granted, it wasn''t as though he really had a choice in promoting himself at the time. He was in a rather desperate situation within that dungeon, and it was the only chance he had at survival. Nheless, this realization made his enthusiasm toplete his promotion mission fall considerably.


    After all, once he did reach that peak, growing further would be so much harder.


    Nicole let out a weak cough.


    "Um, are you limit-breaking your stats right now?"


    Kairos woke out of his stupor and gave a small nod.


    "Ah, yeah. I was doing that."


    From there, he began adding points to increase his status points past their limit.


    [Strength 29.9 -> 30.0 | Prestige Points 255 -> 254]


    Like with the increased mana capacity, he could hardly tell the difference at first, as it truly did feel like he only added a tenth of his points. Yet, just a few momentster, he could feel his muscles rearranging themselves. He could feel something changing with his tendons like they were wrapping around his bones even tighter.


    There wasn''t a realistic change in his muscle mass, but he could tell that it was rearranged in a way to be more efficient in a way that made sense for someone that had long left the realm of human limitations.


    Kairos didn''t stop there, continuing to increase all of his stats.


    [Endurance 29.9 -> 30.0 | Prestige Points 254 -> 253]


    This time, he could feel his skin get tougher, and seemed to wrap around his muscles themselves. He even felt his organs shifting within his body, in particr, his ribcage extended downwards slightly while his liver raised up. He could also vaguely tell that some sort of padding formed around his brain.


    After feeling the changes stop, he continued on.


    [Agility 29.9 -> 30.0 | Prestige Points 253 -> 252]


    He waited to feel the changes, but nothing really happened. After a bit of confusion, he tried moving his hand around in the air and noticed a difference. It was very slight, but he could feel that his hesitation had disappeared.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It sounded a little stupid to have hesitation in just moving his hand, but there was always uncertainty in his actions as he wasn''t alwayspletely sure about how it would end up. It was like people could jump, but they wouldn''t know how high they would jump. As such, if someone was performing something like hurdles, they would likely overshoot their jump by a decent margin.


    However, Kairos could feel that hesitation disappear. He would have the confidence to jump just enough for that hurdle.


    Nicole scratched the side of her cheek.


    "Is anything... happening?"


    Kairos couldn''t help but let out a small chuckle.


    "A little bit, yes."


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "I don''t understand... but it looks much nicer since all of the nines are gone."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess so."


    He couldn''t help but feel doubts over why he was even trying so hard to get stronger. Kairos definitely didn''t feel like he was cking much at all, and he hadn''t even been all that unlucky either if he took into ount his future vision.


    Yet, despite all of that, he was still so much weaker than so many others. The Church of Evolution was such arge looming threat to him, while Kian somehow just became some sort of nature monster that could easily create dangerous parasitic mushrooms. And to top it all off, his mother was probably the strongest thing out of all the things he had seen and was probably only stronger at this point.


    Not to mention, there were probably many other freaks of nature out there that he couldn''t even imagine.


    What was the point if there were so many things that overwhelmed him anyway?


    All that effort, only to be killed easily by something stronger than him.


    With that thought process, he reluctantly proceeded to upgrade his Willpower as well.


    [Willpower 29.9 -> 30.0 | Prestige Points 252 -> 251]


    There were no changes at first, but Kairos suddenly remembered something. It was back from when he was a kid, and a memory he had forgotten as it was something he didn''t really deem important.


    As a kid, he would frequently just be wandering around on the streets, as he didn''t really have anything better to do. He would meet with random people and try to talk, though most of them didn''t care enough to do more than greet. Others would hold superficial conversations, but give some excuse to him before going on with their own business.


    But to him at the time, he still found it exciting just to meet with new people, even if the interactions were brief and essentially meaningless.


    And one of those interactions was with a man strumming a guitar on the side of the sidewalk. He was ying a song and was asionally messing up the notes, but he was still ying enthusiastically.


    There were people that asionally stopped by to listen for a moment, but they would usually leave after hearing a few mistakes, not to mention the song wasn''t all that good in the first ce.


    Kairos had walked up to him and greeted him like he used to, and the man was rather friendly, giving a nod and saying hello back. To Kairos'' surprise, the man ended up asking him a question first, when it was usually him that did that.


    "Hey kid, you ok without your parents?"


    Kairos gave a confident nod.


    "Yeah! My parents said I''m allowed to go out on my own now!"


    The manughed.


    "Ah, you''re a big boy now!"


    Kairos smiled triumphantly.


    "Hehe of course!"


    The man nodded several times.


    "So, what are you doing?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Talking to people. I don''t really know what else to do."


    The man chuckled.


    "Ah, not knowing what to do, huh? I''m pretty familiar with that, haha. Do your parents not tell you what to do?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Um... they said that I shouldn''t be so picky when eating."


    The man gave a small nod.


    "I see, I see. I''m guessing you haven''t really thought about how things are going to be in the future, huh?"


    Kairos looked up at the man with confusion.


    "Ehh? But I already know what will happen in the future!"


    The man raised an eyebrow.


    "Oh really? Then what is going to happen?"


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "You''re going to stand there and do nothing!"


    The manughed.


    "Huh? But I''m not doing that now!"


    Kairos grumbled.


    "Well, you were but you changed it!"


    The man let out a sigh.


    "When I say future, I mean what do you think will happen years from now?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Eh? How am I supposed to know that?! It hasn''t happened yet!"


    The man nodded.


    "That''s true, but one day you''ll have to be something, you know?"


    Kairos put a finger on his chin and thought for a few minutes.


    "Ah, an adult! I''m going to be an adult soon!"


    The man smirked.


    "Of course, of course. But what kind of adult are you going to be?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side. He was able to see in the distance a father lifting up his child and spinning him around slowly.


    "Um... a super strong one that can lift people up!"


    The manughed rather loudly.


    "That will be rather hard, you know? Are you really sure you want to be someone like that?"


    Kairos gave a single nod.


    "Yeah!"


    The man raised up one finger with a smile.


    "Then remember, you will have to try very hard. There will be a lot of expectations on you if you do such a thing, and it may make you feel really pressured to do well. But you shouldn''t let those expectations shake you. Don''t do more than what you know you can''t do."


    Kairos nodded casually to himself.


    "That''s obvious! Don''t do what I can''t do."


    The man smiled when he heard that.


    "And most importantly, you need to protect yourself. If you aren''t alive, then how can you protect other people?"


    Kairos gasped.


    "Ah! So no dying! Never!"


    The manughed.


    "Yes, yes. If you see that you can die for someone to save them, even if it''s someone really important, you should still try to see if there''s another way."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "Eh? Why?"


    The man''s smile suddenly became a little sad.


    "Because it gets really hard for the person you saved."

 Chapter 172 Nicoles Mission

    Kairos stared at the man strangely.


    "Um... I don''t really understand what you are saying. Why is it hard for the person saved? Isn''t that a good thing?"


    The man blinked a few times.


    "...I''m sure you''ll understand it soon enough."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side with confusion.


    "Ok?"


    The man let out a soft sigh.


    "Basically, I''m just trying to tell you one thing. If there are people out there that care about you..."


    He raised up a finger slowly.


    "Don''t die. No matter what."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Er, I think I get it."


    The man opened his mouth to speak, but a woman suddenly rushed forth with a stern expression.


    "Hey! What are you doing to that kid? You better not be telling him to do anything bad! Children are too impressionable for that!"


    The man hurriedly picked up his guitar and ran away, prompting the woman to chase after him.


    "Hey! Get over here!"


    The man ducked down and coughed.


    "Uh, I didn''t do anything! You got the wrong guy!"


    The woman screamed a little hysterically.


    "Then why are you running?! Get back here!"


    And with that, Kairos watched the two of them run off into the distance. He never did end up seeing that man again, and he simrly forgot about the words that he had said. Yet, after upgrading his willpower that random memory had suddenly risen up to the surface.


    He blinked a few times.


    "I was a strange kid."


    Nicole raised an eyebrow.


    "Strange? I think you were great!"


    Kairos let out a chuckle and muttered to himself.


    "Don''t die no matter what, huh?"


    Nicole put the tip of her finger on her chin.


    "Hm? What are you talking about?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Nothing, nothing."


    He then went to upgrade thest ability that had yet to be limit broken.


    [Magic Affinity 29.9 -> 30 | Prestige Points 251 -> 250]


    This time, he couldn''t really feel the effects all that much since the ck stone in his room was interfering with the mana around him. Nheless, he still felt like the mana around him had changed in some respect. Or more urately, he perceived it in a different way.


    Now that he was done with limit breaking, Kairos couldn''t help but wonder what in the world he was supposed to do with the rest of his countless prestige points. Though, considering how hard they should be to get, it would probably be quite valuable for something else down the road.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "I can''t let down the kid version of me, now can I?"


    He thought about his promotion mission, causing a set of panels to pop up.


    [Promotion Mission]


    [Requirements -


    1 - [Broken Limits]


    Limit break each stat. Stats can be limit broken through using Prestige. These points are naturally acquired if one ranks on a global leaderboard (Dungeon Leaderboards do not count).


    2 - [Trademark]


    Upgrade one ability to the D-Rank. Any ability may be upgraded toplete this mission. If an ability was previously upgraded to D-rank, then this mission will automatically bepleted


    3 - [Proven]


    Kill a creature at the peak of D-Rank. The peak of D-Rank is ssified by any person that is currently working on their promotion mission.


    4 - [Custom - Istion]


    Spend thirty days alone in the Abyss Realm. Further information about the Abyss Realm may be found after all other missions arepleted.


    After scanning through all of them, he found that the next one on the list was the third one, as the other two had been finished. Though he would''ve thought about doing the fourth one, he didn''t really know what this ''Abyss Realm'' was supposed to be. Though it seemed like he would get an exnation afterpleting the third one.


    He blinked a few times.


    "Why did he call it a race to reach C-rank?"


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "What are you talking about? I''m so curious, exin it to me!"


    Kairosughed.


    "Sorry, sorry, how about we do your evolution right now?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "Mm... ok."


    She brought up her status panel and freely gave Kairos control over it.


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: 550/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Evolve]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 217.3]


    [Strength - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Lost (F-)]


    [Evolve]


    [Hide]


    He gave everything a quick nce before pressing the evolve button.


    [Use 10 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]


    [Use 15 points for natural ability? Yes/No]


    [Use 10 points for Growth Spell or Harvest Spell? Growth/Harvest | Yes/No]


    [Confirm]


    Kairos blinked a few times when he looked at the two avable options. He wondered if this was supposed to be a sign that Nicole''s true calling was actually farming.


    "...Um, you can choose between the growth or harvest spell?"


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "Which do you think is better?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I have no idea. I''ve never seen either of those spells before."


    His eyes narrowed slightly as he began thinking of Kian. There was an argument to be made that the growth spell might somehow synergize with whatever was going on with his garden, but there was also the consideration that he might eventually be an enemy.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Though he had no idea what the harvest spell did, he thought that it had the potential to maybe work against whatever spells Kian had.


    "...But the harvest spell does sound more interesting I suppose."


    Nicole pped.


    "Ah! Then choose that one!"


    Kairos proceeded to press yes to all of the options and selected harvest as the spell. The moment he pressed confirm, he noticed that Nicole''s body emitted quite the strong heat.


    She took in a deep breath and wrapped her arms around his as the changes gradually settled down. Once it was all over she looked over at Kairos with curious eyes.


    "Am I strong now?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, we can open up your status panel and you should be able to bring up the ability descriptions."


    Nicole let out a soft gasp.


    "Ah, ok!"


    [Status]


    [ID: 934783245676]


    [Rank: D-]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 192.3]


    [Strength - 14.9


    Agility - 14.9


    Endurance - 14.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 14.9


    Magic Affinity - 14.9]


    [Special Abilities: Decay (E), Harvest (E), Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    After looking at her abilities, Nicole pressed onto the one that was called Decay.


    [Decay (E)]


    [Only activatable with direct contact with an organism. Upon activating, the organism''s cells at the point of contact will die, and spread outwards to all other nearby cells at a rate that is dependent on channel time.]


    Kairos blinked a few times when he saw that.


    "Huh... that works with you really well."


    Nicole put a finger on her chin.


    "Does it? Wouldn''t it just be better to kill them with a de?"


    Kairos slowly rubbed his chin.


    "Maybe... but this could work much more easily. You only have to touch them for a moment, right? That would be much harder to detect than the swing of a de."


    Nicole pouted.


    "Hm... but what if they just cut off the part that I touched? Then they would still be alive!"


    Kairos gave a small nod, and was a little surprised that Nicole caught on to that caveat.


    "That''s why you do it discreetly. If you touch their back, right behind their heart, they might not be able to notice it fast enough before it''s toote to save their heart."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Ah, I-I guess!"


    She then pressed a finger on the harvest spell, wanting to figure out what that did as well.


    [Harvest (E)]


    [Damage to organic matter is increased by 150%. This is a passive spell.]


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...What? Isn''t that just basically a nket-wide damage increase? How is that even an elemental spell?"


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "Ooh, you were right! It does look pretty good. But... if we have to face something like the minigun from before, then it probably wouldn''t be too good."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It''s not like many people have guns here in the first ce..."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "But it still doesn''t work for everything."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "...Alright then."


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "Should I increase my stats all the way?"


    Kairos was at a loss as to what to say for a moment. In reality, he somewhat forgot that Nicole was actually someone that could hold her own if he looked at her abilities. In fact, he wouldn''t mind trading his abilities with her all that much, though he would still prefer his own.


    After thinking about it for a while, he always thought that he was going to be the one protecting the others, and not the other way around. The way he thought about them was more like baggage rather than anything else. It wasn''t something he consciously realized, as he simply didn''t really consider them to be on the same level.


    He spoke the next words slowly.


    "Alright then. For now, you can just increase all your stats as far as you can. But before you do that, drink this."


    Kairos took out a nature core, which Nicole looked at curiously. He never would''ve given her something like this before for something like this, but considering that he now had a semi-reliable source from Kian, he was willing to give up one to make the process simpler.


    Nicole coughed weakly.


    "E-Em, what do I do with this?"


    Kairos stabbed one end with his spear and held it up next to her.


    "Just drink it."


    Nicole was a little surprised, but did as told, drinking all of it. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed the effects of it already. She hurriedly brought up her status panel and increased everything to the highest level she could.


    That was when another panel popped up on her screen.


    "Eh? Um, what is this?"


    [Promotion Mission]


    [Requirements -


    1 - [Broken Limits]


    Limit break each stat. Stats can be limit broken through using Prestige. These points are naturally acquired if one ranks on a global leaderboard (Dungeon Leaderboards do not count).


    2 - [Trademark]


    Upgrade one ability to the D-Rank. Any ability may be upgraded toplete this mission. If an ability was previously upgraded to D-rank, then this mission will automatically bepleted


    3 - [Proven]


    Kill a creature at the peak of D-Rank. The peak of D-Rank is ssified by any person that is currently working on their promotion mission.


    4 - [Custom - Nightmare]


    Without ever making direct contact with or being noticed, make a peak D rank kill themselves from fear.]


    Karios looked through everything and found that the promotion mission was more or less the same as his, except for the custom one. Unlike his, this one was much clearer, described entirely in only one sentence. However, he couldn''t help but feel that the requirement was quite ridiculous.


    In the first ce, someone that reached the peak of D rank probably wasn''t some sort of pushover. Killing them was already a fairly difficult task, but forcing them to kill themselves out of fear sounded even more harder. Not to mention, she wasn''t allowed to be noticed or even make direct contact.


    He guessed that his custom mission wasn''t going to be all that easy either from the looks of things.


    "...It''s a mission you have to finish if you want to reach the C rank. As for limit breaking your stats, you''re going to have to find a way to get on the global leaderboard."


    Nicole frowned.


    "I don''t think I''ve gotten on any of those. What should I do?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly once he thought of one of hispleted missions that he ranked top 250 on. So far, nobody has taken second ce. But if he could guide her to be the second one...

 Chapter 173 Monsterified

    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Do you want to try to cast a spell? It should help you with theck of prestige points you have."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? But I''ve casted spells a lot."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I mean casting spells you haven''t learned yet."


    She blinked a few times.


    "How do I do that?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Well, you''ll have to learn how to manipte mana. I can try to help you with that."


    Nicole looked at him with a neutral expression.


    "But what about everyone else? Shouldn''t we sort out their promotions as well?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I could just do thatter, no?"


    A small smile formed on Nicole''s face as she scratched her cheek.


    "Um, I don''t know. It''s just that I feel like... you probably aren''t going to do it."


    Kairos was a little confused.


    "What is that supposed to mean?"


    Nicole looked down sheepishly.


    "Well, I don''t think you will really ignore itpletely, but it will probably be one of the things you don''t really care about. Then it will get shoved down from all the other priorities you have, and you won''t end up doing it for a really long time."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh? How did you gather all of that? What, you can see into the future now?"


    Nicole sped her hands together and smiled bitterly.


    "I dunno. It''s more like... I can just feel it. I can feel like that''s what''s going to happen, because that''s what ends up happening most of the time."


    Kairos looked a little dumbfounded.


    "What ends up happening most of the time?"


    Nicole let out a light cough.


    "Um, never mind. I''ll practice whatever it is you are talking about, but not right now. I don''t want it to get in the way of other things."


    Kairos looked somewhat estranged, as he felt this was quite out of character for Nicole. Nheless, he slowly nodded as it wasn''t something extremely important as of now.


    "Alright then. What do you think I should be doing instead?"


    Nicole put the tip of her finger on her chin.


    "I mean, I think you already know what that is, right?"


    Kairos paused for a moment, not getting what she was trying to say at all.


    "I guess that there''s something else that I wanted to do, but other than that there isn''t really much."


    Nicole pped twice.


    "Ah, then do that!"


    Kairos stared back at her with the same confusion he had at the start.


    "Um, alright?"


    Nicole gave a small bow.


    "Alright!"


    And with that, she left. Kairos wondered if something happened to her recently to make her different like this, but dropped it after a while. He let out a sigh before walking out of the room as well, then ascending up the steps.


    It was to meet with someone he left for a little while. A person called Liam.


    Once he climbed up all the flights of stairs, he eventually made it to the room he remembered Liam was in. Upon making it there, he could audibly hear several banging sounds within. After a few seconds, he pulled back his hand before mming it onto the door, forcibly breaking past the metal.


    He definitely messed up the door, but he also knew that Tiana probably couldn''t move the metal since the ck stone''s radius also epassed the ce he was at right now, as he ced it on the roof of this building. As such, there wasn''t much of a choice for him if he wanted to get inside.


    Though, once he got inside, he quickly found out that the mess he caused didn''t really matter. Because everything inside was torn up and broken. Almost like the aftermath of a dog that had too much energy left alone inside someone''s home. The only difference was the significance of the damage.


    Cabs were torn off from the wall, the furniture had been ripped to shreds, with the stuffing within thrown about all around the ce.


    In the middle of it all was Liam. He was making feral noises while frothing at the mouth. His hands were grabbing onto the sides of his head, while the majority of his body had been transformed to be a monster.


    Though, the moment Liam saw Kairos, he called out like he saw his savior.


    "Y-You finally came! You''re going to change me back right? I won''t be a monster anymore. I''ll be back to normal! I can be normal again!"


    Liam crawled towards him on all fours because he didn''t have the coordination to stand on his feet.


    When Kairos saw him crawl up, he simply let out a sigh and crouched down. With deadpan eyes, he stared at Liam, while slowly tilting his head to the side.


    "You yourself said so many times that you were still a human. But look at the state of the room."


    Liam looked a little confused.


    "W-What? I... I only did this because I was hungry! I was so so hungry, and I kinda just ended up breaking things. B-But that''s reasonable! You left me for so long!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "You think that''s normal?"


    Liam slowly nodded.


    "Y-Yeah!"


    Kairos let out an exaggerated sigh.


    "A civilized human wouldn''t end up tearing their surroundings up like this. Maybe they''d get a little angry, but just a few days without food isn''t enough to turn them into an animal."


    Liam flinched.


    "A-Are you saying it''s not normal?"


    Kairos slowly shook his head.


    "No, no. I do think that it''s normal."


    Before Liam could truly get relieved, Kairos followed it up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "For a monster, that is."


    Liam looked up at him with a fearful expression.


    "Monster? What? I''m not a monster!"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Then why are you begging me to change you back?"


    Liam bit the bottom of his lip.


    "I... I''m not fully a monster yet!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It seems I had too much faith in you. Originally, I believed that with time your human side could battle against the monster side of you."


    Liam looked confused.


    "W-What? But you never told me about that!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Isn''t that something you should obviously be doing if you supposedly want to be human? Or is it that discarding your humanity is actually what you wish?"


    Liam hurriedly shook his head.


    "What?! No! I-I want to be a normal human again."


    A drawn-out sigh escaped from Kairos'' mouth.


    "Unfortunately, it''s going to be a little difficult when so much of you has be like this."


    Liam trembled slightly.


    "A-Are the chances low?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Well, the chances may be low, but so long as there is more time, then there is hope that you could be saved."


    Liam slowly nodded.


    "A-Alright, so time. H-How do I get more time?"


    Kairos nodded to himself as though he had only just now thought of the solution.


    "I''m afraid the only thing we can do is forcibly remove the monster parts of your body to dy it. For starters, we should amputate one of your arms."


    Liam''s expression changed slightly when he heard that.


    "E-Eh? M-My arm?"


    Kairos let out a sad sigh.


    "It''s sad, but that''s the only real solution we have. The other option is that you turn into a monster, in which case I''ll just have to kill you outright."


    At this point, Liam grit his teeth intensely.


    "Dammit. I-It''s just an arm! I... I''ll do it."


    Kairos gave a solemn nod as though he was the one making the sacrifice.


    "I understand. You''ll have to bear with some pain though."


    Liam gave a small nod.


    "Ok..."


    With most of the furniture broken down, Kairos decided to just clear an area and have Liam lie on the floor. Although he did seem rather excitable, almost like he had severe ADHD, Liam did end up not acting out too violently.


    As for Kairos, he flicked his spear, which cut through Liam''s shoulder. Though it was a fairly clean cut, blood sprayed out, while Liam''spletely monsterified arm had fallen off. The arm that was amputated continued to move around for a few seconds, before gradually rxing.


    As for Liam, he did not even end up letting out a cry of pain. In fact, it seemed as though he didn''t even realize that his arm was amputated.


    Kairos looked at him strangely.


    "So..."


    Liam looked back at him with confusion.


    "C-Could you just do it quickly? I''m a little scared."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "Well, the only problem is that I''ve already done it."


    Liam looked rather confused. He looked to his side, and saw his severely reddened arm at his side, then screamed.


    "AHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO BAD!"


    Kairos looked at him like he was an idiot.


    "You clearly didn''t feel it before. I cut it several seconds ago."


    Liam''s breathing got really heavy.


    "What? But... but..."


    Kairos furrowed his brow.


    "Don''t worry about it too much. Just tell me if you feel any better. Less... monstery."


    After hearing that, Liam hurriedly nodded.


    "Ah, yeah! I feel much better."


    All of his cries of pain suddenly disappeared, which jumped out to Kairos as a massive red g. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he could feel like Liam was pretending to be a human, while in reality, he had already be a monster.


    Kairos wasn''t one hundred percent sure, but at this point, he confirmed that Liam was definitely pretending to be more human than he actually was. The real reason why he did all this was actually to see if a brute force method could work in reducing someone''s monsterification.


    He was actually trying to help, though he didn''t have any intention of actually saving Liam.


    But this tiny little discovery that he ended up finding sent chills up his spine. That there were people desperately trying to pretend that they were human. He couldn''t help but wonder about Sydney. Nicole did say that she was acting differently...


    Kairos continued to ask subtle questions to Liam again and again, trying to draw out certain responses and answers without being too obvious about them.


    The conclusion that he eventually got to was that either Liam was extremely good at acting, and was ying dumb, or that he himself wasn''t exactly aware that he was actually more monster than human.


    As Kairos thought about it further, it seemed that it might''ve been that Liam''s mind still considered himself as human despite changing to be more and more like a monster.


    Eventually, Kairos ended up directly killing Liam.


    He quickly realized that it was toote to even try to save him, as while his mind seemed to be functioning somewhat, at the core, his instincts were driving him to be more monster-like.


    At this point, Kairos began to have doubts. Not just about Sydney, but also himself. His body obviously wasn''t a normal human anymore, but what if his true self was slowly being reced by something else?

 Chapter 174 Finding A Peak D Rank

    Kairos closed his eyes for a few moments. After thinking to himself for a while, he decided that if he truly was bing some sort of monster, then so be it. Of course, he would prefer to retain his original personality, but not at the cost of his life. There was no helping getting stronger if he was going to be in the middle of the apocalypse.


    In other words, he needed to kill someone at the peak of D rank to get promoted faster.


    The only problem with that was the fact it wasn''t going to be easy to find those kinds of people, not to mention identifying them in the first ce.


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Well... nothing''s going to get aplished if I just stay in the city all day."


    He used the water spell to wash off a little so that he wasn''t just covered in blood. After that, he went down to meet with Tiana, to inform her that he nned on leaving alone.


    After going down all of the steps, he knocked on her door, after which it was opened after a minute or so. Tiana peeked her head out and blinked a few times when she noticed that it was Kairos on the other side.


    "Um, hello. What is it?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "I n on leaving the city for a little while. It shouldn''t be more than a week."


    Tiana stared at him for a few moments with a neutral expression before nodding.


    "Alright then. Could you first freeze all the potatoes though? They''re in the warehouse right now."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Got it."


    With that, Tiana closed the door, asking nothing more from him. Kairos then went to the warehouse, and found where the potatoes were being stored, which were definitely not a small amount, then he slowly cast the frost spell a few times to get it all.


    As he wasing back out, he ended up meeting with Nicole.


    She was in the middle of leaving the center building and jumped when she saw Kairos.


    "Ah! You''re here!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Uh, yeah."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um, I just wanted to say that I''m going to leave the city for a little bit."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Ah... alright then. I was actually nning on doing the same thing."


    She tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? Really?


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s not much of another way to finish the promotion mission."


    Nicole let out a soft giggle.


    "Ah, that''s what I was thinking of too!"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head. He was a little surprised that Nicole took the initiative here, as she usually cowered whenever something involved a moderate amount of danger. Though he wasn''t too sure about Nicole, her inborn ability should be more than enough for her to escape most situations.


    He cleared his throat.


    "It would probably be more efficient if we split up."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "...Are you sure? It would be safer if we both went."


    Kairos stared at her for a few moments.


    "But we don''t have to be that concerned about safety."


    Nicole frowned.


    "Don''t you remember all those things we saw before? What if you run into one of those!"


    Kairos was about to retort, but then he wondered about how Nicole would fare. He couldn''t help but remember the monster with far too many eyes across his face that was able to control anyone that directly looked into the eyes that it made.


    He had his sses, so he would be fine, but there was nothing Nicole could really do.


    After a second of thought, he nodded.


    "Alright, we can go together then."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Hehe, alright!"


    The two of them began walking outside, and as they did, they could overhear some singing.


    "My father told me, it''s a beautiful life."


    Kairos looked over and noticed the trio standing at the top of the building that Tiana had built for them to y inside. They were singing without a care in the world and decided to use the damn whole building as a stage.


    "So make sure you always open up your eyes."


    Nicole was also looking, and couldn''t help but smile when she saw them. She listened in.


    "Before you know it, you''ll be running out of time."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh. He didn''t say anything, but he felt like they definitely should''ve known that they weren''t supposed to do that, but they did it anyway. As he listened to them, he began wondering if he should stop them.


    "You should fight for who you want to be. Don''t look back on what it could''ve been."


    Though, when he looked at the rest of the people working on the farm, there was nobody that looked outright opposed to it.


    "You''ll find it. You can make your way across the sea, find new ces you''ve ain''t ever been."


    In fact, when Kairos paid more attention, he found that most of the people were listening in on the singing. There was a rtively small group crowded around the building, but most of the people were just sitting down and looking at the three singing in the distance.


    "Now I believe. I''ll live a life that''s filled with stories to be told.


    Kairos shook his head before looking forward again. Although they weren''t doing what they should''ve been, it seemed to be a good thing overall so he decided to overlook it. Though, as he saw the city walls rising once more, he couldn''t help but take notice of thest bit of lyrics that he heard.


    "I''ll make it through the darkness and make sure I''ming home. Even if I''m walking all alone, I''m alwaysing home, I''m alwaysing home."


    He gave one nce over his shoulder before he continued on with Nicole out into the rest of the city. Nicole gave him a nce.


    "Where do you think we should go first?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It doesn''t really matter. Though I imagine going to the ce Edward''s at is a little pointless as we shouldn''t kill our allies for the promotion mission. So... let''s just go to the right."


    Nicole nodded with a smile.


    "Ok!"


    Kairos mbered up a building, and Nicole followed suit. From there, the two of them began running across, ignoring most of the monsters that they came across. As he ran, he mainly paid attention to the mana he saw flowing through the air.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He remembered that Ling had found a dungeon with this power due to an excessive concentration of mana. Kairos tried to pick apart the mana he did see, trying to find anything like the dungeon or just something that might''ve been valuable.


    It was almost like trying to make out the various stars in the night sky, but it was currently the middle of the day.


    Unfortunately, Kairos wasn''t able to catch onto anything for quite a while.


    Though, they did eventually end up seeing some people in the distance. Kairos stopped and began wondering if any of them were at the peak of D rank. After all, the kinds of people that would go outside were either desperate, or the kinds that were actually strong.


    He narrowed his eyes and looked at the figure in the distance.


    The first impression he got was that they weren''t nervous, which meant they at least had the confidence to hold their own. Though, he wasn''t sure about whether or not that meant they were at the peak of D rank.


    ...But they at the very least shouldn''t be too far.


    Kairos gave Nicole a nce, to which she responded with a bitter smile. It seemed that she had already understood what he was thinking about.


    Kairos climbed up one of the higher buildings that were in front of the group of people, then called out to them.


    "Hey! What''s your business here?"


    When he looked down, he could see there was a group of ten people. One of them was standing at the front and looked far more confident than the rest. It was easy to glean that he was the leader of the others.


    The said leader raised his hand in the air and called out.


    "We do not intend on fighting, but if you''re going to get in our way, then we will retaliate."


    Nicole was behind Kairos and whispered to him.


    "U-Um, do you think that these people will work?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "They sound confident enough to be strong, but..."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "Someone that was also at the peak of D rank would probably be a little more aggressive, assuming that they were strong enough and hadn''t alreadypleted that part of the promotion mission."


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "So there''s no point?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "...Well, we might as well make sure."


    After saying that, he looked over the group once more and spoke out.


    "And why should I be afraid of your so-called retaliation? It doesn''t sound like any of you are all that strong."


    That was when a little boy in the back raised up his fist and yelled back.


    "We may not be that strong, but Chen will beat you up easily! He''s super strong!"


    Kairos scoffed.


    "Oh really, and what can prove this Chen person is all that strong?"


    A woman within the group called out as well.


    "He reached the D rank more than a week ago, before all of us! When were you able to reach the D rank?"


    The person at the front, presumably Chen, let out a sigh.


    "Well, promoting earlier hardly signifies strength, but I can assure you that I am no pushover."


    Kairos paused for a moment, pretending that he was mulling over it.


    "Show me your status panel then! If your stats are high, then I''ll believe you. That''s concrete proof!"


    A few people within the group were beginning to get pretty disgruntled.


    "Who does this guy think he is?"


    "Why are we even listening to this guy? We should just beat him up!"


    "Yeah, Chen can just kill him outright! There''s no reason why we should listen to him!"


    After hearing all of that, Kairos couldn''t help but get more interested. He began wondering if perhaps Chen was at the peak of D rank, but was just a cautious person that didn''t want to piss off any monsters.


    A smirk gradually began forming on his face.


    "If this Chen person really is so strong, then he should show his status panel! If not, then just fight me!"


    Chen furrowed his brows. It seemed that he really didn''t want to get into a fight for whatever reason.


    "Fine, I''ll show it to you. Will you be able to see it from up there? You probably don''t have that good vision if you''re using sses."


    After hearing that, Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little disappointed, as it didn''t sound like he had anything to hide.


    "...Just open it. If I can''t see it, I''ll get closer."


    Chen let out a sigh before opening up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 657623584253]


    [Rank: D]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 29.9


    Endurance - 29.9


    Agility - 29.9


    Willpower - 14.9


    Mana Capacity - 29.9


    Magic Affinity - 25.4]


    [Special Abilities: Mountain (E), Lightning Spell (E), Drain Spell (E), Water Spell (E)]


    [Hide]


    Though it wasn''t the easiest for Kairos to make out from the distance, he was able to manage. Using his twenty-twenty vision and filling in the nks for the letters he couldn''t make out, he deciphered what the status panel said.


    At first, he couldn''t help but feel disappointed that the man was in fact not at the peak of D rank. But at the same time, he was very very close to reaching it.


    In other words, all he had to do was follow him around and wait for him to reach that peak.

 Chapter 175 Blending In

    When Kairos began thinking about it, the situation that Chen was in was probably better for him than he thought. He was a person that wasn''t yet at peak D rank, but one that would reach it soon.


    Seeing it that way made the situation seem almost ideal, as someone that just reached the peak of D rank wouldn''t be too hard for him to get rid of.


    After all, they wouldn''t have the time to limit break any of their stats, and also wouldn''t be prepared to defend themselves against others that were hunting these kinds of people specifically.


    With this in mind, Kairos nodded to himself.


    "Wow! You really are strong Chen, do you mind if I join you then?"


    The people with Chen seemed a little annoyed with his suggestion.


    "What? You just doubted him so much, now you want a free ride?"


    "Get out of here! We don''t need someone like you!"


    "Who do you think you are? Scram!"


    Chen smiled bitterly when he heard all of that. He let out a light cough, which made everyone else fall silent.


    "It''s not that I particrly dislike you. I understand the need to distrust others, so I hold nothing against you being that cautious. However, you must also understand that we cannot be all that trusting of you either. As such, it''s simply too hard to ept you in the group."


    Kairos was somewhat disappointed, but didn''t find this situation expected. He put on a sad face, like a person that deeply regretted his actions.


    "A-Are you sure? Is there really no way that you would take me?"


    The group seemed to be in a consensus.


    "No!"


    "Impossible!"


    "Go away!"


    Chen shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''m fine with the team I have now. I''m not looking to get anyone else... unless they can prove their worth."


    Kairos exaggeratedly put a hand on his forehead.


    "Ah! Then what can I do to prove my worth?"


    Chen rubbed his chin.


    "Well, what are your capabilities? Can you fight, or do you have an ability that helps you locate resources?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly. He began wondering which one of his abilities he could expose that would be enough. However, most of the abilities were too offensive rted. As for his mana vision, he wanted to keep it secret.


    After a few moments, he coughed.


    "Um, I can fight a little bit!"


    The group did not seem pleased with that.


    "If you can fight, then why are you so scared of Chen then?"


    "I can fight too! I bet you wouldn''t be able tost long against me!"


    "Hah! I bet you aren''t even at the D rank yet!"


    Kairos put a hand on his chest as though he was offended.


    "I-I reached the D rank a little bit ago!"


    Chen shrugged his shoulders.


    "Even thetest person to reach the D rank was several days ago, and that was only because he wanted to earn more points while he was still a lower rank. If you''re only that strong, then I have no ns of epting you."


    A glint shed by Kairos'' eyes as he made a sad expression. He had lowballed himself a little too much and didn''t want to take it back now. After giving a short nce to Nicole, he spoke once more.


    "Ah, I see... but at the very least, can you take my friend, Nicole? She''s pretty strong and has found food before."


    After hearing that, and under Kairos'' gaze, she slowly stepped up so that the others could see her. She looked down curiously, wondering how strong this Chen person could be if Kairos seemed to be this willing to partake in his group.


    In her mind, it was possible that he had already reached the C rank.


    "U-Um, hello?"


    Practically everyone was quite attracted to her appearance. At this point in the apocalypse, it was pretty normal for everyone to be pretty messed up and dirty. This even went for Chen to a certain extent, but not a crazy amount.


    Nicole had ess to showers all the time and had a naturally good appearance, making her quite attractive even though it was from quite the distance. Although Kairos had ess to the same things, he also got covered by blood a lot recently and didn''t take the proper care to wash himself, so he blended right in.


    Once everyone saw Nicole, they were a little surprised, but still reluctant.


    "Mmm... should we take her?"


    "Well... we can''t just take any stranger."


    "But the poor girl doesn''t have anyone to defend her!"


    Nicole furrowed her brow when she heard that.


    "I have Kairos to protect me! I-I asked him to!"


    Hearing that, actually gave the opposite impression that Nicole was trying to set.


    "The poor girl only has him?"


    "She won''tst long if the only person protecting her is that guy..."


    "But should we really bring along a dead weight?"


    Chen seemed to hesitate when he heard what everyone else had to say. He let out a sigh and called out to the rest.


    "Alright, how about we hold a vote. If the majority wishes to take the girl in, then we will. It isn''t too big of a deal to just bring one more person on board. Raise your hand if you agree to take her."


    There was clear hesitation among the nine, but one after another people began raising their hands up. After a minute or so, six people ended up raising their hands. Seeing this, Chen nodded.


    "Alright then, it appears we are willing to take in the girl."


    He turned to Nicole and called out to her.


    "Hey,e with us! We''ll help keep you safe."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched as he couldn''t help but feel the double standards. He had to state something making him worth taking, while they were quite willing to take in Nicole despite her not even saying all that much.


    Kairos gave her a subtle nod and was about to whisper to her to kill off Chen once he reached the peak of D rank, but before he could, Nicole began freaking out a little bit.


    "What? If you''re taking me, that means Kairos cane along as well, right?"


    Chen shook his head.


    "I''m sorry, but we just don''t have that kind of space. Come on now, I understand how it feels to abandon someone you would consider a teammate, but we do what we have to in order to survive."


    Hearing this, Nicole clenched her fist.


    "What? No! No, I''m not going! If you aren''t going to take Kairos as well, then I won''t go!"


    The people in the crowd only became more sympathetic when they heard that.


    "She''s such a caring girl!"


    "Wow... she won''t even abandon a dead weight? I''m not a bad person, but I''m not sure if I could be thatpassionate."


    "We can''t let someone that sweet die!"


    Chen smiled bitterly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Girl, sometimes we have to make a choice. It may be a hard one to make, but I''m sure you understand what you have to do."


    Nicole frowned rather intensely.


    "I... I know what I have to do."


    Chen nodded when he heard this.


    "Then join us, won''t you?"


    Nicole slowly shook her head.


    "No. What I have to do, is stay with the person I''ve trusted. The person that I''ve chosen to be with! If that kills me, then so be it! I''m not someone so attached to living, that I''ll abandon the things that make me what I am!"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he watched her continue. He wanted to stop her but realized that this direction wasn''t too bad either.


    Upon hearing that, the group began letting out helpless sighs.


    "I guess... we have to take in the dead weight as well."


    "Someone that never abandons theirrades... that sounds like a great teammate to have!"


    "Maybe we should just do it then, we can just pretend the other guy isn''t a part of the group!"


    Chen looked a little disappointed with how things went. He looked up with a bitter smile and shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, looks like it''s your lucky day, Kairos, isn''t it?"


    Kairos smiled and tried to stop himself from looking too smug.


    "Yes, I''m very grateful for this opportunity you''ve given me. Chen, was it?"


    Chen nodded.


    "Indeed it is. Though, understand that your position will only be secure if you provide enough contribution to the group."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Understood, sir."


    With that, he backed off, and went to a door on the roof, nning to go down that way. Nicole looked rather confused by this.


    "Um... why don''t we just jump off? That would be much faster, right?"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Juste with me for a second."


    Hearing that, Nicole decided toply.


    Once they got into the building, they found it was rather decrepit and actually had a few monsters within. It seemed that they were sleeping though, so none of them were startled. From here, Kairos whispered to Nicole.


    "That Chen person is very close to reaching the peak of D rank. If we wait for him to get enough points to reach that point, then one of us could kill him for our promotion mission."


    Nicole blinked several times in surprise.


    "Eh? That was it? Then... Then why did you try and make me go with them?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I nned on letting you wait for Chen to reach the peak of D rank and kill him for your promotion mission."


    Nicole let out a soft sigh.


    "Ah... of course. You wouldn''t just send me off to someone random like that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Uh... yeah."


    Nicole smiled.


    "Haha, sorry for doubting you."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I didn''t make it all that clear. It''s fine that you misunderstood. What matters is getting this kill. Would you like to do it?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side and put a finger on her chin.


    "You can do it. I will get the next one."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Don''t tell me you''re too scared to kill someone now."


    Nicole slowly shook her head.


    "No, I understand. I''ve been thinking about it a lot ever since I killed a person on my own, and when you... killed others. It''s just something we have to do, and there''s no helping it. After seeing the promotion mission, it became even clearer to me."


    Her eyes widened ever so slightly.


    "That I have to learn to be cruel. Because that''s the only way I can be strong enough to protect you."


    Kairos stared at her strangely.


    "Not yourself?"


    Nicole smiled bitterly.


    "I suppose that too, but only because I can''t protect you while I''m dead."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "You shouldn''t value my life over yours so much?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "I... I know. But that''s just how it is. I can''t really change it anymore."


    She then smiled brightly. Kairos couldn''t say anything more when he saw her like that. The two of them walked down the steps silently, avoiding the monsters piled up in the halls, and eventually made it outside.


    Chen raised an eyebrow when he saw them.


    "What took you so long?"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "There were many monsters inside. We had to be quiet if we wanted to go down."


    A boy in the crowd raised his fist.


    "Then you should''ve just told Chen! He would''ve killed all the monsters!"


    Chen raised his hand, making the boy quiet down.


    "Killing monsters unnecessarily is just a waste of time. This works out anyway."


    Hearing this, Kairos couldn''t help but feel the need to interject. He coughed a few times.


    "Well, killing monsters will give points! So I think maybe it wouldn''t be a bad idea to try..."


    He did everything he could to hide the smirk that was threatening to form on his face.

 Chapter 176 Encounter

    At this point, Kairos recognized that his goal was to get Chen to gather more points to max out his stats. He couldn''t think of any easy way to get points as of now, so that was why he tried to encourage him.


    Chen scoffed.


    "Don''t you know that the monsters don''t give points anymore when you kill them at the D rank? You can''t be oblivious to even something like that."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "...Well, I heard from Nicole that if you kill enough of them, you will get points through a multi-kill."


    Nicole turned to look at Kairos a little strangely, as she had not said something like that to him before. However, she didn''t object to it whatsoever.


    Chen clicked his tongue upon hearing that.


    "Of course I know about that, but you only get a tenth of a point for killing twenty-five of them! That''s far too many to be worthwhile."


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "But if you just get a little bit more points, then you will be able to promote to the C rank!"


    Chen shook his head.


    "If I promote to the C rank now, I''ll probably have way too much difficulty getting more points from now on."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Yes, but if you think about it, there might be some super strong monster you encounter, and the only way might be fighting. In that case, you might need to do an emergency promotion for when the timees. Otherwise, you can stay at the D rank."


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "It doesn''t sound like a bad idea to have it avable."


    Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "I suppose that isn''t a bad thing. Alright then, if there are anyrge groups of monsters on the way, I will take care of them to increase the points that I have."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow when he heard that.


    "Ah, then where are you guys heading right now?"


    Chen shrugged his shoulders.


    "We''re just trying to find a ce that has some food. All of the edible food in the ce west were ended up ruined, so we''re off to find somece else."


    Kairos nodded several times.


    "Ah, but won''t it be really hard to find? Especially since it sounds like most of the food in the world has changed."


    A boy in the back called out with a bit of anger.


    "Hey! Why are you putting all of us down! That much is obvious already, you don''t have to say it!"


    The rest of the group also looked rather displeased and ufortable. It seemed that losing their entire food supply was quite the blow that they couldn''t really take. Chen also looked a little despondent as he looked up into the air.


    "But it''s not the worst thing in the world. One of our group members, Jake, has the ability to locate food if it''s within the range of about fifty meters. Though he may not be the best fighter, he''s still an invaluable asset."


    The boy, who was Jake, smiled proudly.


    "Heh, If you don''t want to starve to death, then you gotta protect me!"


    Kairos gave a small nod after hearing that.


    "Ah, that does sound great!"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "That... does sound convenient."


    She then let out a gasp, once she suddenly realized something.


    "Ah! I forgot to bring food!"


    Kairos gave her a nce and coughed a little.


    "What do you mean you forgot? All of the food we had was ruined by that red stuff, remember?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Ah... right."


    Chen chuckled bitterly.


    "It seems everyone''s in pretty much the same situation. I hope you guys know that if we do end uping onto food, we will prioritize feeding the people that were originally in the group if there isn''t enough. That much is reasonable, right?"


    Nicole frowned slightly.


    "Why would you do something like that? That''spletely unfair."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It can''t be helped. We''ll just have to hope that there''s more food avable."


    A woman in the group called out with a frown.


    "...But if there is enough food for everyone but one person, just know you aren''t going to get it, Kairos!"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Alright, I get it."


    Chen waved his hand dismissively.


    "Anyway, let''s move on. We already talked about this enough. If wee up on some food then we can talk about it further then."


    The woman grumbled.


    "Ok..."


    One thing Kairos noted was that they were going further and further from the city, which was definitely a good thing for him since the whole city situation might get a little awkward if they were to get there.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As they continued, Kairos got a little more cautious, as he was genuinely afraid that there might be some unnaturally strong monster that would genuinely threaten him and Nicole. They were very quickly entering territory that they hadn''t seen before.


    As they traveled, they did eventually encounter some monsters. There were roughly thirty or so monsters resting under the shade of arge building.


    Upon seeing this, Chen let out a sigh.


    "Alright, I said I would deal with them before, so I''m going to do just that now."


    He put both of his hands onto his sides and drew out a red knife in each hand out of what seemed to be nowhere. They were both rather small knives, enough to be considered pocket knives most people used to cut open boxes.


    But that didn''t make Kairos look down on them in any regard. After all, they were red weapons, and all of those seemed to have something strong about them or at least some value.


    Chen threw both knives toward one of the monsters while they were still unaware of what was going on. Both of the knivesnded squarely on the monster''s head, causing it to whip backwards.


    Right afterwards, like they were pulled by an extremely strong ma, they shot back over to Chen, handlesnding squarely in his hands. Without wasting a second, he pulled back his hands and whipped them forth with a grunt.


    Once again, both knivesnded on the same monster''s head and ripped it directly off its body, causing it to copse. By now, all the other monsters knew that they were being attacked. They ran towards Chen with fervor, with very clear hostile intentions.


    At this point, Chen rushed in with the knives and began shing the closest monster up rapidly. He shed at the neck several times, and messily beheaded it. Right afterward, he jumped to the side to avoid the attacks of a few monsters.


    From there on, he began shing at the monsters from any point he could, whether that was their arm, chest, or neck. The entire time, he would skirt around the edges of the monsters, backpedaling and going to the side so that they had a hard time hitting him.


    And it did work out, making it so that he didn''t get hit whatsoever. However, it did take a little long,pared to how aggressive Kairos and the others usually were.


    This made Nicole look at it with a bit of boredom.


    "...This is taking a while."


    Jake pouted when he heard that.


    "It''s because he isn''t using any of his mana! If he did, then he would be able to stomp through them, but it''s better to save mana for emergencies! Only fools would waste their mana."


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "Oh... I guess so."


    Chen continued to fight the monsters in the same way, but the way Nicole said that hurt his pride. It was ironically because it sounded like Nicole wasn''t trying to insult him, but rather just state her honest opinion.


    Once there were only five monsters left, he decided to be a little more aggressive. This time, he directly jumped into the middle of them and began shing all of the monsters while in the center. He ended up getting scratched several times as there were simply too many attacks to dodge.


    However, a purple energy suddenly began emanating around the daggers and whenever they dug into the nearby monsters, his injuries seemed to heal a little. In fact, when one of the monsters ended up getting decapitated, its body shriveled up and all of Chen''s injuries disappeared.


    This aggressive style let Chen kill the monsters much faster, ending the entire battle in a little over five seconds.


    Chen felt that he did pretty good with that and unconsciously smirked. He shot a nce over at Nicole to see if she was impressed, yet there was the very same look that almost felt like pity, but more so disinterest.


    On the other hand, most of the other group looked excited and pped. Jake, in particr, cheered for him.


    "You took care of all of them and didn''t even get injured!"


    Chen shook his head and put it past him, though he was a little disappointed. After coughing, he gestured to the group.


    "Alright, let''s go. We don''t have time to waste."


    Kairos rubbed his chin as they walked, wondering if this really did seem normal to most people. He wondered if he was just desensitized from fighting against and facing incredibly powerful things all the time, or if these people really just were weak.


    But after pondering over it for a moment, he found that it was too early to judge.


    After all, Chen clearly wasn''t overexerting himself for that battle. It seemed he casted a spell while fighting, but that was mostly just to speed up the battle a little bit. From the way he fought, it was also fairly clear he never took his fights lightly.


    Even if it was very easy, he was still cautious enough to fight in a way that he wouldn''t get injured. On top of that, even when provoked, he only did the slightly more risky move once there were a few left.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel like fighting against this kind of person in the future might end up being a huge pain, considering how safe they yed.


    Nheless, he didn''t say anything about this and the group continued on further on into the city.


    As they continued on, Kairos began noticing fairlyrge concentrations of mana in the distance. Though, since they were behind walls, he couldn''t make out what they were.


    But then he noticed they were moving around, like they were alive.


    Kairos thought about bringing this up. After a few moments, he thought of something that he could "provide" to the group.


    "Hey, I have a bad feeling right now."


    Jake scoffed upon hearing that.


    "What? Are you scared? I''m so many years younger than you, but I''m not!"


    Chen turned to look at Kairos skeptically, but was open to it.


    "A bad feeling you say? Why did you bring that up?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I mean, sometimes it''s just a false rm, but usually when I have a bad feeling, something goes wrong afterwards."


    Chen raised an eyebrow.


    "Really now?"


    Nicole put a finger on her chin, then nodded.


    "Ah, now that I think about it, that seems right! He helped me out a lot when I was about to trip onto stuff!"


    Jake frowned.


    "What? So one of us is going to trip over something and fall?"


    Chen narrowed his eyes.


    "Keen intuition, huh? Well, just to be safe, everyone bring out your weapons and get ready to fight."


    Most of the group didn''t seem to want to, but they begrudgingly followed hismands. Chen also pulled out his daggers and began to walk up slowly and quietly. Kairos noticed that three of these mana beings suddenly began moving faster, almost like they noticed they were nearby.


    They rushed backwards, and since everyone in the group was staying silent, they were all able to hear the sounds of footsteps.

 Chapter 177 Monsters With Spells

    At this point, Chen stopped, making the rest of the group do the same.


    After a few moments, a few figures suddenly made themselves known, appearing on top of buildings, just like how Kairos originally introduced himself to Chen''s group. Though, the only difference this time was that instead of trying to blend in with the group, they were monsters that were openly antagonistic.


    Four different monsters made themselves known on top of buildings roughly fifty meters away. They were able to make that distance because Chen froze, letting them go there.


    But what was strange about these monsters was that their skin was a noticeably different color. Compared to the normal red-skinned monster, these ones were pitch ck. If it wasn''t for the fact it was still day, it would be extremely difficult to see them at night.


    Though, that definitely wasn''t Kairos'' main concern.


    He closely watched the mana in their bodies begin to whirl around rapidly. In other words, they were casting spells. Kairos couldn''t help but be a little confused about how monsters were beginning to cast spells, but didn''t question it for now.


    "I think we have to move."


    After saying that, he dashed behind a nearby building, while Nicole did the same.


    Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, hesitating for a split second, but then dashed behind a building as well.


    The rest of the group didn''t really trust Kairos'' call, but once they saw Chen do that very action, they followed without hesitation. And as they did, several small fireballs burst out of the creatures'' hands.


    Unfortunately, Jake wasn''t fast enough and was sted by one of the fireballs.


    "GAAH!"


    He ended up making it into the alleyway, but tumbled down right afterwards. His side was charred badly, revealing arge ck splotch, where parts of his shirt melded into his ckened skin.


    Jake''s eyes widened all the way as he rolled around on the floor, letting out groans of pain. Kairos nced at it and couldn''t help but feel those cries of pain were fair, as the wound was ghastly. It looked like the fire had singed far into his body, it was a wonder if his internal organs were still ok.


    As for the street that they were just on, it waspletely lit aze by mes.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he continued on, trying to circle around behind the monsters. As he did, he muttered his concerns.


    "I don''t remember the fire spell being like that at all..."


    Chen, who was right behind him, raised an eyebrow when he heard that.


    "What do you mean?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I have the fire spell too, but I only know how to make the fireballrger. On the other hand, they were able to throw out a volley, and there was no clear sign they were casting the spell as well."


    Chen gave a small nod.


    "Alright then. It looks like these monsters are mages, so I''ll try to close in on them and kill them before anything else can happen. As for the rest of you, if you''re confident, try to sneak up on another one of the monsters, otherwise, just stay hidden."


    As he was talking, a strange humming sound wasing from above. A frown formed on his face as he suddenly smashed through a nearby wall. That turned out to be the right decision, as a ball of white mana mmed down onto the ground right where he was.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw this. It was a spell that worked without direct line of sight. He didn''t have any spells like that. It was definitely one he wanted to copy, but the only question was whether or not he would be able to in the first ce.


    He continued to skirt around the edges of the alleyway, getting closer to the monsters, but still with a building blocking direct line of sight. As for Chen, he was smashed through another wall and moved swiftly in an attempt to circle behind the monsters. Though five of the people in Chen''s original group were obviously not trying to fight, one of them being Jake who was hit, the other four were actually taking initiative.


    Kairos saw several of them run closer to the monsters through the alleyways, while one directly ran up a wall, facing the four monsters head-on.


    It was slow, but with Chen at the back, another at the front, and others directly approaching the monsters, it looked like the monsters wouldn''t be able to hold on for long. Kairos furrowed his brows upon realizing this, but decided to observe how the mana moved in their bodies anyway, trying to learn the one spell that could be sent over a roof.


    Thankfully, the monster cast it one time, causing Kairos to pay attention to it closely. By the time it finished, he heard a humming sound above his head, prompting him to move to the side. A ball of white mana mmed into the ground next to him, causing a miniature explosion.


    Several other monsters began casting that same spell trying to catch the people hiding away. As that was happening, the one that had climbed up on the roof yelled out.


    "They are trying to run away!"


    Like what he was saying, the monsters were definitely retreating. However, it didn''t seem like they were actually fleeing, because they were still casting spells as they moved. When Chen eventually did show his face, he found himself right next to the monsters. There was a small frown on his face, as he thought this would be enough to get behind them, but decided to make do.


    He rushed forward with both of his knives out.


    Seeing this, the monsters hastily retreated and retaliated with a barrage of fireballs. Chen let out a long breath before throwing his daggers at certain fireballs, causing them to explode, and making a small gap. He jumped and curled up into a ball, letting most of the fireballs go past him.


    As hended, both of his knives were in his hands once more. Unfortunately, there was also a fireball that he was unable to dodge, which ended up exploding on his chest. There was a frown on Chen''s face, but he didn''t seem concerned at all. Arge portion of his shirt burnt away, but his actual skin only reddened significantly, without getting burned.


    The monsters didn''t seem prepared for such a situation. One of them watched helplessly as Chen''s knives suddenly began gleaming with a bright purple energy, almost like they were on fire.


    He plunged the knives into the monster''s skull, causing it to wither up almost immediately. Chen''s reddened skin calmed down at that moment, almost like nothing ever even happened.


    The three remaining monsters got into sync, holding out their hands towards Chen.<novelnext></novelnext>


    However, he was fully prepared to take whatever spell they had head-on, boldly rushing forth to try and kill another. But to his surprise, he suddenly found himself getting blown backwards.


    Wild raging winds formed between them, pushing Chen back, and causing him to m into a wall. Not only that, but the three remaining monsters were pushed back, allowing them to retreat further.


    Chen cursed under his breath. On the other hand, Kairos let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, he thought that all of them would be wiped out immediately. He still hadn''t even gotten close to memorizing the spell, so them dying would be rather inconvenient.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath as he continued to follow after them, still wanting to observe their attacks. Chen and three other people also chased after them through the alleyways.


    There was another man that was also going after them, but was in no rush. It seemed he preferred keeping sight over the monsters from a safe distance, which wasn''t all that bad of an idea.


    Kairos kept watching as balls of white light were lobbed over the buildings before mming back down on the ground.


    Everything was going well at first, but someone eventually let out a cry.


    "FUCK! MY FOOT!"


    It was a woman that made that cry, and for good reason. Her foot was directly blown off by the spell. Although she had dodged, she was still just barely in the st radius and suffered for it.


    Chen shouted out when he heard that.


    "Just go hide somewhere for now! We''ll handle the rest!"


    The woman in question grit her teeth and hurriedly limped back. There was a rather deep frown on Chen''s face as he realized more of his group was getting injured. All things considered, getting injured was a normal thing, but the injuries his group usually dealt with were minor.


    But the power of spells was relentless, as expected.


    Chen clicked his tongue.


    "Damn monsters casting spells better not be amon thing."


    Using the full extent of his strength, his footsteps pounded on the ground, causing him to move so quickly that the monsters were unable to hit him with their strange spell. None of the others seemed to be able to keep up, leaving Chen on his own, but this time he ran until he was over twenty meters behind the monsters.


    From here, he popped out, intending to catch them in a pincer.


    This time, the monsters stopped running as they didn''t want to face off against Chen. They all began casting spells, causing another barrage of fireballs to shoot toward him.


    He threw his daggers toward some of the fireballs, but this time, they were more concentrated. Despite his attempts to dodge, he was hit by several. Once the explosions calmed down, it revealed himying down on one knee with his knives crossed in front of him.


    His shirt was in the state of rags, but he himself looked more or less fine. His skin looked red, but that was far better than having charred skin instead.


    He yelled out at this point.


    "Get them!"


    Two people jumped out from the buildings from different sides, leaping toward the monsters.


    The monsters seemed to panic, casting a wind spell which ended up repelling one of their attackers, but also pushed them into the other.


    The man that they were being pushed towards had a red bat in his hands that was pulled all the way back. With a grunt, he mmed it onto one of the monster''s torsos,unching it to the side.


    As for the other two, they mmed into him, and the three tumbled around before smashing into another building.


    The person that was blown away earlier packed themselves back up the moment they could. It was a woman holding onto some red scissors. The monster that was hit by a bat was crumpled onto the floor not too far from her, and was struggling to get up.


    She ran towards it and ran the scissors straight through the monster''s throat, decapitating it. Finally, it stopped moving once more.


    The entire time, Chen was still in the same position, but he saw everything that happened. With a frown, he yelled.


    "We have to save Bob!"


    With legs that were slightly trembling he rose up to stand. Then after a few seconds, he broke out into a sprint and rushed into the building. Kairos moved into a position where he would be able to see what was happening.


    He saw the monsters were in a tussle with Chen and Bob. The monsters stopped trying to cast spells and directly attacked with their ws.


    Bob let out a cry as a w ripped into his stomach.


    While that happened, Chen plunged his knives into the other monster''s torso, causing it to wither on the spot.


    Kairos bit his nail when he saw this, as thest monster was probably going to die at this point. He didn''t have confidence that he properly memorized the spell.


    He had to find a way to stall for time.

 Chapter 178 Leaving

    Kairos thought of many things, but found himself to be quite limited in stalling. After all, his spells were oriented tobat, and attacking Chen and Bob would be hard to excuse despite there being a monster there to hit.


    He didn''t want the monsters to die just yet, but didn''t want to make that clear.


    After thinking within a split second, he found his only real option was convincing Chen to avoid attacking the monster.


    "You have to save Bob!"


    Chen had his knives pulled back, ready to stab the monster, but hesitated upon hearing that. In the end, when he saw the monster''s ws going for Bob once more, he relented and picked him up, fleeing the moment he could.


    As for the monster, it did not try to chase. Instead, it continued to run away, but didn''t forget to cast its spell once more.


    Kairos let out a sigh of relief when he saw this, but then his expression froze. He noticed another invisible figure of mana approaching the monster. He bit the bottom of his lip, not wanting to say anything to weird the rest of the group out, but had a bad feeling.


    And unfortunately, it turned out his bad feeling was correct.


    Out of nowhere, thest monster''s shoulder suddenly began to turn gray, almost like it was turning to stone. The monster cried out once it noticed that it was beginning to gray, but before it could do anything more, its entire head became that strange gray color.


    Its entire body gradually froze up, bingpletely gray.


    Everyone was originally panicking a little, but they froze in ce when they saw that strange sight. It seemed a chill went down everyone''s spine at once.


    A moment after, Nicole''s figure gradually became visible next to the monster. She looked clueless, almost like she wasn''t the one responsible for killing the monster. After lightly tapping her chin with a finger, she looked around.


    "Are there any more of them to worry about?"


    Chen''s eyebrow twitched when he saw this.


    "Um, I don''t think so."


    In his arms, was Bob, groaning out in pain.


    "Damn... I didn''t think it would hurt this much. How bad are my injuries?"


    Chen looked down at Bob and frowned. He could see an ufortable sight, Bob''s internal organs werepletely visible to him. Many of his intestines were badly damaged, but at the very least it looked like none of his vital organs were damaged. Regardless, it was a rather bad injury. Chen didn''t know what to say.


    "...I don''t think it''s fatal."


    Bob let out a sigh.


    "Ah, that is good."


    Chen furrowed his brows.


    "But I''m not sure if we can save you."


    Upon hearing that, Bob fell silent. Before they could say anything more, two other people were carried over along with the rest of the group. The expressions of everyone else were rather grim.


    Jake had already fallen unconscious at this point. He wasn''t bleeding, and it seemed as though he was breathing faintly. However, whether or not he would survive wasn''t too certain. A woman carrying Jake seemed rather distressed.


    "A-Are there any doctors? We can''t have him die!"


    Everyone was silent.


    As for the woman that lost her foot, she limped over to meet up, though was clearly having a difficult time walking.


    "Is everyone ok?"


    Nobody responded for a good few moments. Eventually, Kairos decided to speak up.


    "Everyone is alive, but some people are injured pretty badly."


    The woman looked at Bob and Jake, who were both being held up by someone as they helplessly remained on the floor.


    Chen muttered to himself.


    "These damn spellcasting monsters... if only we weren''t so unlucky to meet with them, then we wouldn''t have these kinds of casualties."


    A man in the group grabbed onto the side of his head with distress.


    "Maybe... maybe we should''ve just ran away!"


    Chen grit his teeth.


    "I guess so."


    The woman with her foot blown off grit her teeth after hearing that.


    "Maybe if all of us fought, then this wouldn''t have happened!"


    Chen sucked in a cold breath.


    "Stop. Everyone made their judgments over whether or not they would be fit for fighting. Whether they were wrong or correct, none of us wanted to get injured. At the end of the day, nobody died, and we should be happy because of that."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What will you do about them? I don''t think they''ll be able to walk that effectively on their own."


    Chen closed his eyes and didn''t speak for a long while.


    "Although we haven''t gotten out of every fight unscathed, these are the worst injuries that we have suffered. I am not sure what to do in this situation."


    He then looked toward Kairos.


    "What do you think we should do?"


    Kairos looked back at him speechlessly for a few moments. What kind of leader just hands off the decision to someone else?


    Nheless, he decided to answer him anyway.


    "If they have any points, they should put all they can into endurance. It should help them recover greatly. Although it''s probably nothingpared to a monster''s regeneration, it should suffice."


    Chen gave a small nod.


    "Did you hear that Bob?"


    Bob slowly nodded.


    "Yeah, I got it. Though someone has gotta wake up Jake for him to do the same thing."


    The woman holding onto Jake called out to him, but it looked like he was out cold. Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Regardless, you guys need food, right? I think the best solution is to have a team to protect the injured as they heal, while the others go out to search for food."


    Chen furrowed his brows.


    "It does seem that is the only option we have. I suppose we have to assign the teams."


    He closed his eyes and thought for quite a while.


    "How about this? Kairos, Nicole, and Pablo wille with me, while everyone else will protect the people that are injured. Once we find a suitable amount of food, we''lle back to deliver it to you."


    The woman that had her foot blown off looked at Chen with a concerned look.


    "But are you sure you can trust those two? We just met them."


    Chen let out a soft sigh.


    "The reason I''m bringing them with me is that I don''t fully trust them. Leaving them with the injured would leave them too vulnerable if they were to chase us."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos raised an eyebrow and nodded.


    "Ah, that''s pretty smart."


    The woman furrowed her brows but gave a nod after ascertaining that the logic sounded correct.


    "Alright then. Be careful."


    A man stepped up and smirked.


    "Don''t worry about us, we will get some food ande back in no time!"


    Chen sighed.


    "Let''s go now. There''s no time to waste."


    The entire time everyone else was having their conversation, Nicole was silent. She figured that since she wasn''t too sure what to say, it would be better to say nothing at all. As for Kairos he cracked his neck and stood up.


    "Then let''s head out."


    He forcibly stopped himself from smirking, knowing that it wouldn''t fit the situation. It wasn''t intentional, but the situation ended up bing even more ideal for him. Now that Chen had fewer people with him, it would be much easier to pick him off once he got the necessary points.


    Not to mention, although Chen was talking about not fully trusting them, Kairos could tell he was already pretty trusting of them. After all, he even let Kairos make the decision and followed through on it.


    Kairos coughed.


    "Anyway, do any of us have any leads?"


    Chen sighed.


    "It doesn''t seem like it. Let''s just go. Even if we knew where a grocery store was, at this point it was probably raided for everything that was inside."


    Pablo narrowed his eyes and muttered.


    "Then where are we supposed to even find enough food in the first ce?"


    Chen shook his head.


    "We can only try our best."


    Kairos solemnly spoke as well.


    "I suppose we must hope."


    Though, his sadness was obviouslypletely fake. After all, if he really cared, he could just give them some of the nature cores that he had, and everything would be fine. But there was no way he would do something like that.


    And so, now the four of them began heading off, some searching for food, while others were lying in wait.


    The four of them progressed forth through the city, and they rarely spoke. It was almost like an awkward situation where the people in the group were friends of friends, but didn''t actually know each other. This situation continued on for hours.


    There were monsters along the way, but none of them were special so their path forth was unimpeded. Pablo had arge metal mace that he got from who knows where to deliver heavy blows to the monsters, killing them in one hit most of the time. When the monsters weren''t directly killed, they were more or less crippled.


    In the middle of their journey, Pablo suddenly spoke up.


    "It feels... kinda bad to leave them behind."


    Chen shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s no helping it. We need people to protect them, but we also need to leave to get food."


    Pablo sighed.


    "Yeah. If we were to abandon people though, I would''ve preferred to get rid of Kairos. But I guess that''s impossible if Nicole refuses to leave. And... keeping Nicole is definitely the best decision."


    Everyone in the group looked at Pablo with confusion. After a few seconds of contemtion, Kairos looked away as he came to an understanding. As for Chen, he looked at Pablo almost like he was trying to cut him with his gaze.


    "What the hell are you talking about?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "Yeah! Kairos isn''t weak!"


    Pablo raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh? Didn''t we make this arrangement to leave behind the burdens of our team?"


    Chen frowned.


    "Since when were they burdens? Each of them contributed in their own way, even if they didn''t do all that much."


    Pablo looked a little confused.


    "Yes, I agree with that, but as you said food is too hard toe by at this point. We simply can''t afford to share it with so many people that don''t provide enough contribution that would be worthy of it."


    Chen narrowed his eyes.


    "That''s no excuse to abandon people. Not people that we''ve trusted, and people that trusted us. They are waiting for us right now, and we''re going to go back to them once we''ve got food."


    Pablo looked down to the floor, and instead of angry, he seemed rather dispirited.


    "I don''t want to abandon them either, but do you really think we''ll be able to get enough food for all of them? I''m not sure if we can get enough to feed ourselves."


    Chen''s lip twitched.


    "...We''ll try our best. If we can help them, we will."


    Pablo gave a nod.


    "Alright then."


    It seemed like that was the answer he wanted to hear the whole time.


    Kairos wasn''t really paying attention to their conversation, but all of a sudden, he couldn''t help but notice something in the distance while they were talking. After a few moments passed, he confirmed it.


    There was an extremely strong concentration of mana. The closer they got, the more blinding it felt. Kairos felt clear difort just from looking directly at it, almost like he was looking directly towards the sun.


    He cleared his throat.


    "Um, give me a second. I''m going to go check something."


    Chen wasn''t really in the mood to argue, so he just nodded.


    "Fine. Be quick."


    Kairos went over to a nearby building. Nicole looked over with concern, putting a hand over her heart.


    "Should Ie with you?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "It''ll only be a moment."


    Upon entering the building, he took a deep breath and reached towards the center of his forehead, digging in to pull out the green crystal. He muttered to himself.


    "Now... I gotta convince them to go there. I wonder if it''s another dungeon."

 Chapter 179 Another Dungeon

    After pulling the green crystal out of his forehead, Kairos contemted for a moment before deciding to put it into the side of his head. He didn''t want to give up his mana vision, though it would definitely be a burden once he got too close to whatever that high concentration mana was.


    And so, remembering how the green crystal worked, he put it far away from the swirling ball of mana in his head. He noticed that the mana he had seen became incredibly faint, to the point that if he stopped focusing, he would miss the mana.


    However, when he turned to look at therge concentration of mana, it was still fairly bright, but bearable to look at.


    As for the injuries in his head, they healed over rather quickly, just bing reddened skin which gradually turned back to its natural color. Kairos was honestly a little surprised his regeneration had be this strong, but he definitely wasn''tining.


    After that Kairos got out of the building.


    Almost immediately, Nicole walked up to him.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I don''t know. I''m just getting this weird calling, like something wants me to go somewhere."


    Pablo raised an eyebrow when he heard that.


    "Isn''t that what the devil does? I''m pretty sure he calls out to you with fake promises and things like that."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Perhaps... for some reason though, it feels gentle. Am I going crazy or something?"


    Nicole grabbed onto his hand.


    "I believe you!"


    Kairos shot Nicole a nce. He didn''t know if she understood what he was trying to do, but regardless she was helping his case so he remained silent. As for Chen, he furrowed his brows deeply.


    "You said something or someone was calling out to you?"


    Kairos shot him a nce and hesitatingly nodded.


    "I guess so. Is this what schizophrenia is?"


    Chen rubbed his chin in thought.


    "Well, maybe we should go to it."


    Pablo frowned.


    "But what if it''s some sort of devil calling for him?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders, quickly speaking after Pablo had finished.


    "It could totally just be me losing it too. Maybe there''s nothing even there."


    Chen let out a soft sigh.


    "It''s not like we have any other destination. If it really is the devil calling out to him, then we will know not to follow wherever he is being called. And if we find out that it''s actually nothing, then we can just ignore it."


    Kairos gave a nod and spoke before Pablo.


    "That sounds reasonable."


    Pablo hummed.


    "But we have to be very careful. It could be something dangerous leading us to a trap."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Nicole looked down at the ground.


    "I think it must be something good. As long as I''m with Kairos, everything feels like it will work out."


    Chen let out a sigh.


    "Then let''s hope it works out. Lead the way man."


    Kairos gave a nod and began walking towards therge concentration of mana in the distance. As it would turn out, it was extremely far away. They had been walking for roughly an hour, yet they still hadn''t made it anywhere.


    Pablo scratched the side of his head.


    "I guess it really was nothing. There were no damn grocery stores here either it looks like..."


    Chen sighed.


    "Well, this path was as good as any."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "No, no. I can definitely feel it now. It''s definitely getting closer. It was weak before, but now I can hear it very clearly. It shouldn''t be too far away now."


    Nicole pped twice.


    "Oh, really? Then let''s go!"


    Before Chen or Pablo could protest, she excitedly began walking forwards. Kairos walked forth two, and in the end, the other two decided to follow along.


    As they continued to walk at a pace normal people would consider running, Pablo was continuing to lose patience every second, as was Chen, though he seemed to be more in control. On top of that, they were getting to the outskirts of the city.


    Eventually, Pablo let out a sigh.


    "How about we look inside nearby buildings as we go? We can find food along the way."


    Chen nodded.


    "That sounds good."


    Kairos shook his head before pointing up in the sky.


    "It''s fine to do that, but look over there. I don''t know what it is, but something is there."


    That was actually aplete lie. Because the thing he was pointing at was the top of what looked like a giant blue crystal. Something he was quite familiar with.


    A dungeon.


    It was perfect, as it would get Chen the points that he would need to reach the peak of D rank. In fact, perhaps even Pablo could get to that rank as well, then the both of them couldplete the third part of the promotion mission.


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "What is that thing?"


    Pablo blinked a few times.


    "That... is veryrge. I''m surprised you were able to make it out despite needing sses."


    Kairos coughed.


    "I''m far-sighted."


    Chen blinked a few times.


    "Though it doesn''t seem to be food rted."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I figure it probably has a better chance of having something than any nearby building. If there really isn''t anything, then we can just leave."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chen sighed.


    "I guess so."


    With that, the four of them got closer to the dungeon and went faster than usual. After a bit, they were able to make it. They saw a massive blue crystal in the center, and all around it were countless skeletons.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched, as hepletely forgot about that aspect of the dungeon. Seeing that probably would discourage them from going any closer. He also thought that perhaps he should let Nicole stay outside, but after a bit of contemtion, he remembered that Nicole''s inborn ability should help quite a bit in surviving.


    Pablo immediately spoke up after seeing all the corpses.


    "Fuck! This is definitely a trap! Look at how many people have died there."


    Chen shook his head.


    "It does look like a trap. We really shouldn''t test it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Maybe there''s some sort of monster guarding a treasure. Let''s get a little closer to see if there''s anything around. If that many people died, then there must''ve been something worth dying for nearby."


    He slowly walked forwards, hoping to get the others to do the same. He rememberedst time when he got within a certain radius of the dungeon, he was forced to go inside.


    Nicole happily went with him, slowly stepping forward. As for Chen and Pablo, they didn''t seem to be budging any time soon.


    Chen sucked in a cold breath.


    "I don''t believe that doing this is worth the risk."


    Pablo nodded.


    "I agree fully."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched when he heard that.


    "But aren''t you guys basically the strongest? I doubt there''s anybody above the D rank, and if there are, there must be incredibly few."


    Chen clicked his tongue.


    "It''s best not to underestimate other people. Especially when they are other people that are stronger."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "But both of you said before that we have to take risks. Whether we just want to survive ourselves, or if we want to bring back food to the others."


    Nicole pouted.


    "You did say that! Are you taking it back now?"


    Pablo frowned.


    "...But there''s a difference between taking risks and walking into a trap."


    Chen narrowed his eyes.


    "If... if we only scope out the general area, then I''ll ept it. Otherwise, I''m not joining you in this endeavor."


    Kairos internally let out a relieved sigh and nodded.


    "Of course. That was already the n."


    He steadily got closer, along with the others.


    Soon enough, he saw a notification appear before his eyes.


    [Please enter the dungeon. You have no other choice, so please hurry up.]


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He felt that this was definitely a different message from what he first saw. It seemed that whatever this system was, it was tired of him trying to be cautious.


    After a few moments, Kairos let out an exaggerated gasp.


    "A dungeon! We... we need to get to the center now!"


    Pablo began to panic.


    "What? Why the hell would we do that?"


    Kairos ran forth without waiting.


    "We have no other choice! I can feel it!"


    Chen narrowed his eyes before trying to back up, but found himself mming into a wall.


    "Damn!"


    Pablo pulled his mace all the way back and threw it forth without abandon. Unfortunately, after a clear bang, it rebounded.


    "Fuck..."


    Chen rushed towards the center after seeing that, and Pablo hurried after. Pablo yelled out with indignation.


    "I knew it was a god damn trap! We never should''vee here!"


    Chen shook his head.


    "It''s toote toin now!"


    By the time Kairos was right next to the crystal, he could see a strange green misting down from the air. He pressed his hand onto the crystal before it reached him, and he saw that Nicole did the same thing as well.


    His vision warped.


    It was quite different from what hest remembered, as his entire vision was filled up with strong concentrations of mana, making him feel quite ufortable.


    But eventually, that disappeared, and he found himself in a room. Looking around, he noticed the entire ce seemed to be made out of mana, as it was flowing through every single part.


    There was also a familiar holographic projection on one side of the room, with a corridor on the other side.


    [You have entered the first floor of the dungeon. You know the drill.]


    Kairos blinked a few times. He didn''t remember the system having that much sass before, but decided to ignore it. He didn''t even nce at the holographic projection before cracking his neck.


    "Alright then. Let''s get back to it."


    He extended his future vision to two seconds just to see what kind of traps would be in the corridors. When he stepped forth, he felt his leg get cut off by a gale spell.


    Kairos stopped himself and narrowed his eyes.


    "...That''s inconvenient."


    While he could use his future vision to get through, he would probably have to keep it extended to two seconds for it to work. The problem with the gale spell was that it was rather hard to detect. Other than a somewhat light whistling sound, there was nothing else to indicate that they existed.


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    He remembered how Nicole was able to sneak up on him. If it wasn''t for his future vision, she would''ve been able to kill him. As for the gale spell, while it was hard to detect, he probably wouldn''t die from it.


    In other words, his awareness was somewhatcking.


    He decided he was going to try to make it through the corridor without relying too much on his future vision. After ring down the corridor, he closed his eyes.


    And took a step forward.

 Chapter 180 Without Cheating

    As Kairos set his foot forth in the corridor, he heard very faint whistling sounds. Out of pure instinct, he tried to jump over it but saw in his future vision that it would just barely graze his heel.


    His first instinct was to jump just a little bit higher, but after a moment of thought he didn''t


    Kairos let the gale spell cut through his heel, causing a bit of blood to stter.


    He didn''t want to rely on his future vision. For at least this corridor, he decided that he wasn''t going to change his actions based on his future vision so long as it wasn''t that bad of an injury.


    Before he could contemte it any longer, he heard more whistling sounds. His eyes narrowed as he threw his head back. Unfortunately, he messed it up once more, getting the skin on the tip of his nose ripped off.


    More than anything, it was just inconvenient, but he was still a little peeved that he wasn''t able to dodge it. Nheless, Kairos continued with full confidence. He could feel things were immediately beginning to ramp up.


    This time, he heard whistling soundsing from both directions.


    He had already leaned back andmitted to it, directly performing a backflip while flinging himself forward. Two sharp gusts of wind passed over his torso and leg respectively.


    The moment his footnded, he hopped upwards to dodge another one. He was a little surprised as he heard a gale spelling from his front. He twisted his body to the side, letting it graze by.


    He then mmed both feet into the ground, avoiding a sharp gust of wind that came down from the ceiling.


    This time he ended up dodging all of thempletely, but there was still a frown on his face. That was because he was dodging them by a rtivelyrge margin, a little over a centimeter away. He preferred it when he was just barely grazed over dodging like this.


    Kairos decided to abandon his previous overly safe way of running forth andmitted to just barely dodging. He didn''t want to put in more effort than required. And so, more of his body was grazed again and again.


    He still looked more or less fine as most of the injuries healed over a few moments after they formed. However, Kairos was quickly finding the more gale spells he heard at once, the harder it was to decipher their location from sound alone. He was beginning to get grazed even harder.


    Then, he felt a gale spell m straight into his torso, cutting open his stomach. Kairos'' eyes widened all the way. He didn''t even notice that gale spell before it mmed straight into him.


    Kairos really wanted to change his actions based on what he saw in his future vision, but after realizing that it could only cut through part of him, he decided to ignore it. His blood sttered across the floor once more, but disappeared rapidly the moment it touched the ground.


    Kairos didn''t look down, but could tell that his insides were showing from the chilly feeling he got in his stomach area. With gritted teeth, he pushed on. He was used to this much pain, it wouldn''t distract him.


    Unfortunately, it was still more or less a trainwreck as he continued on. Multiple times one after another, he didn''t dodge properly, getting grazed over and over. He even ended up getting a ghastly gash on the side of his leg due to carelessness.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little depressed by these results. He thought that he was at least better than this without his future vision. Doubts began forming in his mind as he wondered whether or not he was more reliant on his future vision than he thought.


    Yet, right as those doubts formed in his mind, he shoved them right back down.


    If he really was that reliant, then he would stop being so reliant as of now. He was fully going to depend on his own senses. With that new mentality, he kept trying. And when he failed, he didn''t mull over it or get depressed. Instead, he saw it as learning.


    Every time he failed, was just a step he took towards learning.


    And he failed many times. He was grazed countless times and ended up getting hit directly several times, one for each limb. The sensation of pain was coursing through his entire body, but that only served to increase his adrenaline. Despite the number of times he messed up, that only made him feel more invincible.


    And at some point, he wasn''t getting directly hit by the gale spells anymore. He would still asionally get grazed, but even then, it wasn''t as serious as when he first got grazed.


    Then eventually, nothing could touch him.


    It no longer felt like he was attempting to make it through an obstacle, but more so he was just a part of the system, drifting through because that was supposed to happen. Nothing more, nothing less.


    He wasn''t able to bask in this feeling for all that long, because he did eventually make it to a room, which was a rtively safe space. After opening his eyes, Kairos looked down at his wounds.


    He was still bleeding a little, but after a few seconds, it all stopped. There were stillrge scars all over his body. They were closing up, but it still looked like he had quite a bit of trouble.


    Kairos sat down and waited for his condition to get a little better. He figured his current condition wasn''t the best, but it wasn''t worthy of using a green orb. Though he would probably feel hungry afterwards, his wounds would heal.


    As he was waiting for his wounds to heal, he heard soundsing from somewhere else. There were many metal nging sounds, but through all of it was the clear sound of someone roaring loudly.


    After a few moments, Kairos watched Pablo stomp into the same room and m his mace into the ground after doing so. He was cut in several areas and bleeding fairly badly, and he was also panting quite hard.


    Pablo looked over at Kairos.


    "Ah... you made it too..."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Seems like you had to deal with swords."


    Pablo raised an eyebrow after hearing that.


    "You had to deal with something different?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Some sharp wind."


    Pablo sat down and frowned.


    "I thought the exit would be here, but it turns out it''s just you."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Tough luck, I guess. At the very least, we know the exit isn''t on the path you came from. And it''s not the one next to me either."


    Pablo clicked his tongue.


    "...That still leaves two choices."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, we may find ourselves with even more choices after we go down one of these paths."


    Pablos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "It can''t possibly be that big, right?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Maybe. I don''t know."


    Pablo frowned.


    "I still don''t forgive you for making use here by the way. I got hit by some strange gas that hurt like hell."


    Kairos coughed.


    "Sorry. It wasn''t intentional."


    Pablo narrowed his eyes.


    "You tried really damn hard to get us to get closer to that thing though."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Come on, you can''t tell me you weren''t tempted by some treasure or something like that."


    Pablo let out a resigned sigh.


    "I suppose it isn''t the worst thing in the world. It seems we can directly buy points and even food. No idea how to get these damn points, but it looks like we can still get food for everyone."


    After hearing that, Kairos remained silent. From his memory, the food that was provided in this dungeon seemed fake. It tasted like food, and also gave him that feeling of fullness.


    However, the one thing it didn''t seem to provide was nutrition. Or at least, not as much as it lets on. The people running around the dungeon had a timer. They could buy food, but the majority of its effect was cebo rather than helping them survive.


    Kairos was not personally worried about this. After all, he had sixteen nature cores he could freely use that doubled as an emergency food source.


    Once Pablo''s wounds had more or less stitched up, he stood once more.


    "I''m going. If you want to stay here to die, then be my guest."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "You say that like you''re implying we go together."


    Pablo raised an eyebrow.


    "You sure you can make it through all by yourself?"


    Kairos shot him a nce.


    "Two people in a corridor with traps sounds like a recipe for disaster. The only thing we would do is get in each other''s way."


    The corner of Pablo''s lip twitched.


    "Fine then."


    With that, he looked between the two options that he or Kairos didn''te from. One of them was an extremely wide corridor, enough for five people to walk side by side and over five meters high. On the other hand, there was another corridor that one person could fit in if they stretched their hands out all the way, and was maybe three meters high.


    Pablo looked between the two of them and ended up settling for therger one, simply because it had more area to dodge, thus it would then logically be easier. However, Kairos honestly thought that choice was rather poor because he knew by this point the dungeon wasn''t just randomly created.


    If there was space like that, it was given for a reason.


    Once Pablo stepped in, nothing happened at first. He kept walking forwards with a pleasant expression.


    "Huh. It looks like not all of them are filled with traps."


    Yet, as he was saying that, a meter-wide fireball came barreling toward him. Pablo furrowed his brows and swung his mace towards the fireball. Kairos couldn''t help but feel that was quite the ridiculous response.


    The fireball exploded once the mace hit it, and reddened significantly. However, it and Pablo were fine. When Kairos looked a little closer, he noticed there was a faint blue barrier around him.


    It seemed that he had some protective ability.


    After that, Pablo began rushing through the corridor as severalrge fireballs were thrown at him. Like a barbarian, he swung his mace towards all of the nearby fireballs and kept going.


    Kairos looked as his figure got further and further in the distance before letting out a dry chuckle.


    "I guess that''s one way to do that."


    He had confidence in going down that same route, but the only slight issue was that confidence stemmed from having his future vision. Realistically, the fire spell was easier to detect than the gale spell, but if he was directly hit, then the injury wouldn''t be something he could just walk off.


    Kairos looked at the narrower pathway. He then got up and walked into it.


    And as he walked through... nothing seemed to happen.

 Chapter 181 Meeting Up

    Kairos was beginning to doubt himself. He was thinking that it would be ridiculous that there would actually be a situation where a corridor genuinely had nothing within it. But maybe, there was just randomly a corridor with no traps like what Pablo had said earlier.


    Yet, right as he was thinking that, he felt a stinging sensation on his neck from his future vision..


    Kairos'' eyes widened considerably as he threw his head back reflexively.


    Yet, the strange thing was that he didn''t see anything after doing so. His eyes narrowed intensely as he broke into a full sprint down the corridor. Nothing happened for a good few seconds, but then he felt a stinging sensation across his torso in his future vision.


    Kairos leaped upwards and nked in the middle of the air. Once again, he didn''t notice anything passing by at all, but decided to trust what he felt. Inside he was feeling a little bitter, as just now he tried so hard not to rely on his future vision, yet here he was dealing with this.


    Nheless, there was nothing he could really do.


    Kairos did not see or hear what he assumed was a spell. He couldn''t hear it, nor could he see it. Not to mention, the only way he could feel it is if it directly hit him. This confused him greatly, making him wonder what it was.


    However, one saving grace was that each attack was rather infrequent. It would only happen once, and happened every few seconds. The biggest problem was that for the life of him, Kairos wasn''t able to detect whatever attack that was.


    Yet, after a while, he found that this situation was actually rather advantageous to him, while it would be very deadly for others. Because of his future vision, he didn''t actually have to detect it, so long as he could feel the pain.


    In the end, he was able to get through it all rtively easily.


    He made it to another room and set his foot down in there. However, he couldn''t help but look back at the path he was just on, wondering if he could even survive something like that without his future vision.


    After rubbing his neck gently with his hand he looked forwards once more.


    And in the distance from another corridor was Nicole, simply floating through it. It was apparent to Kairos that she was using her inborn ability, which made it so that the traps didn''t activate.


    Nicole''s eyes lit up when they saw Kairos, and when she eventually did reach the room she ran up excitedly.


    "Kairos!"


    She pulled him into a hug without asking. It was almost like she was worried this would be thest time she''d ever see him.


    "I was so scared..."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "What do you mean scared? Your ability lets you just phase through things."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "I was worried about you! I had no idea where you went!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine. Anyway, we should focus on finding a way out of here."


    Nicole let go of him and gave a small nod.


    "Ok!"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "How many rooms have you checked now?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um... I think four? If I don''t include the one that I started in."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Huh. Well, what direction did you take each of those times?"


    Nicole let out a soft hum.


    "I just went one way, and then I eventually saw you."


    Kairos thought for a moment, thinking of what that implied. If he didn''t count the room he or she had started in, that would mean the length of this way was six rooms long. Assuming that this ce was in the format of a square, there would be a total of thirty-six rooms.


    His eyelid twitched when he thought about that. It seemed that his first run in the dungeon might''ve actually been quite lucky.


    Kairos shook his head and decided to stop thinking about it.


    "Whatever. Let''s start by going... that way."


    He assumed that the outer edges of this ce all led to dead-end rooms. Since he went in a line, and Nicole did as well, they were still at the edge, meaning one way was potentially one of those dead ends.


    And so, he chose the other one.


    As for Nicole, she didn''t question that logic whatsoever and went down the path. She didn''t end up triggering any of the traps, seemingly because she was using her inborn ability to walk through it.


    Kairos followed after and was immediately greeted by bullets. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he tilted his head forth, letting one glide past his neck. Though, there was no time to rx as the pace immediately picked up.


    In a matter of a second, ten bullets fired toward him, making him twist his body and slide out his leg in a somewhat erratic manner.


    The rate of bullets gradually sped up until there were roughly fifteen bullets firing at him each second. Kairos found this quite difficult. In the back of his mind, he couldn''t help but wonder why it was so unreasonably hard.


    Nheless, he focused on dodging. The bullets themselves seemed to move slightly slower than actual bullets. However, as he was just barely grazed by one, he could tell that their power was far greater than normal ones.


    The actual dodging process wasn''t too difficult, especially with his future vision, but the problem was that there were simply far too many bullets to dodge. He could see Nicole ahead looking back with concern.


    Kairos wanted to go faster, but if he wanted to dodge everything, then he would pause his steps frequently. Eventually, with the pressure of Nicole''s gaze, he couldn''t help but feel that it wasn''t worth it.


    Sure, he could dodge all of the bullets by a hair, but his main objective was still to get through the corridor. With this in mind, he grit his teeth and pushed forwards, knowing fully well that he would end up taking a hit for it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    A bullet tore through his thigh, sttering blood around and making Nicole look rather devastated.


    Kairos let out a sigh and continued on, ignoring her reaction.


    He once again got hit, this time in the shin. However, he also knew that would happen. With a frown on his face, he continued on with full conviction. There were usually one or two bullets that he wasn''t able to dodge each second, and all of them ripped through him almost like the bullets were actually a beast''s ws tearing him apart.


    Most of the injuries were on his legs, but there was asionally one that would pierce through other ces like his lower torso or shoulder.


    The entire time, Nicole looked like she really wanted to help, but also had no idea what she could do. Kairos made sure to put on asposed of an expression as he could to assure her that he was not in any real danger, though she still seemed rather scared.


    After a rather tiring ordeal, Kairos was able to make it to the other end.


    His legs were covered in abnormallyrge bullet holes, however, none of them were now that much of a big deal. When they did make it to the other side, Nicole and Kairos found themselves next to Chen, who was in the corner of the room panting to himself.


    He looked over to see Nicole who didn''t have a single hair harmed on her body and the bloody mess that Kairos was before letting out a sigh.


    "It seems like we shouldn''t have followed whatever it was that called out to you."


    Nicole was gasping for air, and the moment she could talk, she began freaking out.


    "Are you ok? D-Do you need a bandage? I can use my shirt!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''m fine, you can see that it has already stopped bleeding. Putting any kind of bandage over it wouldn''t help anyway."


    Chen nodded when he heard that.


    "Seems like you focused a decent amount of points on your endurance. Seems like that saved your life."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I suppose. How are you faring?"


    Chen sighed.


    "I need a little rest, but I should be able to go through the pathways pretty easily. Though, I have no idea which direction we are supposed to go in. Are we even actually supposed to be going anywhere?"


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "Probably. The system called this ce a dungeon, and in games, those are usually ces where you grind for stuff."


    Chen furrowed his brows.


    "But the original definition of a dungeon refers to something like a prison or cell."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Well, no point in waiting around. We have to at least try to get through. Though, I don''t rmend going through the path I just went."


    Chen rubbed his chin.


    "There were quite a few bullets. Hm... I''m going to test how strong they are."


    He then stood up and walked to the corridor they had just been in. Yet, surprisingly enough, bullets didn''t shoot out. But rather, a spear suddenly burst out of the wall. Chen was able to dodge it easily and got back in the room, but a confused expression was on his face.


    "Huh? That''s strange."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as well.


    "...It is."


    He stepped back into the corridor, and a bullet was fired in his direction. Kairos immediately got out of the way, letting it m into the ground and shatter into pieces.


    "The traps are different for different people."


    Chen gave a small nod.


    "That is indeed quite strange. Seems like we can''t scout for each other then."


    Nicole gradually calmed down when she realized that Kairos wasn''t even crying out in pain. Then, out of curiosity, she took a step into the corridor she had juste out of, and a spear burst out of the wall from the exact same direction that it did for Chen.


    "...Eh?"


    Chen raised an eyebrow.


    "That is strange. It seems only to be different for you"


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Ah, whatever. Let''s just focus on trying to find an exit. Where did youe from?"


    With the information, he predicted the reason why it was like this was because he hadpleted the dungeon once before. Naturally, he didn''t want Chen to mull over it any longer just in case he was really sharp.


    Chen looked towards a corridor and gestured with his chin.


    "That''s where I came from. I guess we have to choose between one of those two."


    Yet, as he was saying that, there were soundsing from one of the corridors. And the person responsible wasn''t Pablo.

 Chapter 182 Fragile Mental State

    Kairos, Chen, and Nicole all looked down the hall. They saw a girl that was leaping and somersaulting through the corridor like she was performing a gymnastics performance. And to apany that, she was dodging swords appearing out of the walls that were randomly swinging at her.


    It was a woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes. She was breathing steadily, like doing this was normal for her.


    With an impressively beautifulnding, the girl stepped into the room. There wasn''t a single scratch on her, nor was there any look of caution on her face despite jumping into a room with three strangers.


    She gave everyone a quick once over and realized that Nicole didn''t even seem panicked. Off this basis, she shot her a smile.


    "Ah, it looks like we have someone that can hold their own here, and it''s a girl too! Do you want toe with me?"


    Nicole was taken aback. She needed a few seconds before she could answer.


    "U-Um, sorry I''m not going."


    The girl let out a helpless sigh, but didn''t seem to care that much.


    "Pity."


    Chen furrowed his brows as he looked at her.


    "What the hell''s your deal? We aren''t in a yground right now."


    The girl raised an eyebrow and smirked.


    "Oh really? Well, I already know where the exit is. I''m just here to try out all of the different traps that this dungeon has to offer!"


    Chen''s eyebrow twitched when he heard that.


    "You already know where the exit is but you''re still here?"


    The girl let out a scornful chuckle.


    "It may be strange to you, but some people may not actually find this difficult if you didn''t know."


    Chen narrowed his eyes but didn''t respond. He seemed to be feeling some indignation, almost like he wanted to cry out that he didn''t actually find it difficult. However, it looked like he wasn''t hung up on his pride.


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "Do you mind telling us where the exit is then?"


    The girl put both hands on her hips and looked back disdainfully.


    "Oh? And why exactly should I do that?"


    Kairos couldn''t help but think of the times when he asked for directions as a kid. Although nobody ever explicitly said it, he felt as though all of the adults were thinking exactly that. He let out a small sigh.


    "I was just asking. If you don''t want to help, that''s fine too."


    The girl leaned in as her smile widened.


    "Oh? ying the tough guy now, huh? I''m sure with injuries like those you are soo desperate to get to the exit."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess so."


    He couldn''t help but wonder what this girl''s deal was. She acted like she didn''t want anything to do with him, but still stuck her nose in any way. The hypocrisy was rather jarring to him more than anything.


    From the way Chen was looking at her, it seemed he was basically thinking of the same thing.


    The girl clicked her tongue.


    "Well, whatever."


    She turned to look at Nicole once more.


    "Are you really noting with me? Last chance."


    Nicole shook her head without hesitating for a moment.


    "...I''ll be here."


    The girl narrowed her eyes when she heard that.


    "And why is that? Don''t tell me one of these guys is your boyfriend or something."


    After hearing that, Nicole blushed furiously. She held her hands together and looked down at the ground, unable to make eye contact any longer.


    It seemed that this somehow triggered something within the girl. There was a scowl on her face that seemed toe from genuine displeasure.


    "Ha? Girl, you can do far better, trust me. What? Is it that guy?"


    She pointed towards Chen.


    "Look, I get that he might be better than average, but if you''re really going to attach yourself to someone, it has to be a guy worth your standards! Don''t undersell yourself."


    Nicole didn''t respond. As for Chen, an awkward expression formed on his face as he shot a nce at Kairos. It seemed Chen really didn''t know what to say after hearing that.


    After a moment of silence, Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "She isn''t dating either of us. At most, it''s friends."


    Nicole''s gaze snapped to Kairos, and she had a betrayed look on her face.


    "E-Eh?"


    The girl now looked confused.


    "...What the hell is going on here?"


    Chen clicked his tongue.


    "Does it really matter? Why do you even care so much?"


    The girl put one hand on her hip.


    "Oh? And since when did I have to answer you?"


    Chen looked back at her with hostility.


    "If you can freely move around, then why are you sticking around here?"


    The girlughed.


    "Still ordering me around, huh? Do you really think I''ll listen?~"


    Nicole didn''t seem to hear their argument. She shyly tugged onto Kairos'' arm almost like she was a child.


    "H-Hey."


    Kairos smiled bitterly and whispered to her.


    "We agreed to only be friends, remember? Only when everything calms down."


    Nicole let out a disappointed hum.


    "Ok..."


    The girl''s gaze darted to the side.


    "Girl, tell me your name."


    Nicole looked at her strangely butplied.


    "Um, Nicole."


    The girl nodded.


    "Hello, Nicole. My name is Kaede. Now I would like to know why you seem so hung up on this man."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. If nothing else, he had to give her credit for being good at pushing one''s buttons. Nicole bit the bottom of her lip and seemed to get a little mad.


    "Why do you care! It''s my life, not yours!"


    Kaede shrugged her shoulders.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Our mothers always get mixed up in our lives and tell us what to do, no? But that''s just looking out for us. That''s what I''m doing."


    Nicole frowned.


    "Well thank you for your opinion. You can leave now."


    Kaedeughed quite hard, almost like it was a really good joke.


    "Ironic. So ironic. Don''t you know?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Know what?"


    Kaede sighed.


    "That''s the kind of guy that''s super nonmittal. He''ll just keep pushing you away no matter how hard you try. It''s not like he''s even any good either, just insecure as could be. The only thing he''s gonna do is leave you."


    Nicole''s breathing immediately became heavy. She began stumbling like she was losing her bnce. Her words were iparably weak.


    "N-No..."


    Then, she burst into tears. After seeing this near breakdown, Kairos got a little worried. He held onto her hand and spoke softly.


    "You don''t have to listen to her. I''m right here."


    Kaede seemed to be enjoying Nicole''s current state, on the verge of breaking apart. And so, she continued on.


    "What? It''s not like I told either of you anything either of you didn''t know. Both of you were just denying it, and I put it out in the open."


    Nicole cried out like she was being stabbed.


    "AHHHHHHH!"


    Like a waterfall, tears began falling from her face. Kairos was at a loss. He didn''t even really understand why Nicole was like this. After thinking for a while, he looked at Kaede with narrowed eyes.


    "What did you do?"


    Kaede raised an eyebrow.


    "I didn''t do anything, mind you."


    Kairos grit his teeth.


    "You... used some sort of spell."


    Kaede smirked.


    "Haha, as if. Nicole just knows that you''re going to leave her, and that''s that."


    Kairos took a step forward, getting in between Nicole and Kaede.


    "Leave."


    Kaede crossed her arms.


    "Make me."


    The two stared at each other for a few moments. And at that time, Chen wasn''t looking at either of them, but rather... Nicole.


    "She... stopped crying?"


    Kairos rxed when he heard that, thinking that Nicole had calmed down. However, that turned out to be wrong. Out of nowhere, Nicole threw herself at him, clinging tightly, wrapping both her arms and legs around him.


    Kairos felt a hot breath next to his ear. Nicole whispered to him.


    "You... you aren''t leaving me."


    This sent a chill down his spine. Kairos'' face twitched. He looked over at Kaede, thinking she was responsible. However, there was a genuine expression of surprise on her face. Kairos realized that he may have underestimated how fragile Nicole''s state of mind had be.


    Realistically speaking, that should''ve been obvious with her dad dying, then her mom''s personality inexplicably changing. But for some reason, Kairos didn''t catch onto it. Almost like he couldn''t see why that was a problem.


    He spoke slowly.


    "I never had any ns of leaving you."


    Nicole reached towards his chest and tantly began fondling them like a pervert, not caring for a moment that both Kaede and Chen were literally nearby.


    "But you''re going to leave, aren''t you? You... you''ll leave me. Leave me all alone. All by myself."


    Her grip around him became even tighter. It seemed that she was using her full strength, as it was quickly bing somewhat painful. Kairos slowly took in a breath.


    "I won''t leave. Seriously."


    Nicole''s grip softened a bit when she heard that.


    "...Really?"


    Kairos nodded and spoke softly.


    "Really."


    Nicole didn''t seem to be satisfied.


    "Really, really?"


    Kairos let out a soft chuckle.


    "Really, really."


    He thought she finally calmed down, but for whatever reason, both Kaede and Chen were looking at him like he was a ghost.


    ...No, that wasn''t it. They were looking at Nicole.


    Kairos slowly moved his head to the side and out of the corner of his eye he could see Nicole with an expression he hadn''t ever seen her make before. It was incredibly obsessive. The smile on her face made it seem like she was delirious, orpletely wasted off drugs.


    As for her eyes, they were opened all the way, and it seemed like she was actively trying to open them even wider than they already were to see him more.


    Kairos felt a foreboding feeling but ignored it. He attempted to salvage the situation.


    "Nicole, you can calm down. I''m right here."


    Nicole slowly nodded.


    "Yes... right here..."


    She mumbled something but didn''t say it loud enough to beprehensible.


    "Stay... you will stay."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "Ok. Are you ok with letting go of me?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side and stared at him like a hawk.


    "What? Y-You said you would stay!"


    Kairos spoke calmly.


    "Yes. I am staying with you. But we have to go together and we can only do that if you let go."


    Nicole violently shook her head.


    "No! We don''t have to go!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Nicole, we can''t stay here forever. We''ll starve to death. Come on, let''s go now. It''s better to do it sooner rather thanter."


    Nicole mumbled to herself. Out of nowhere, she began rubbing her head against the side of Kairos'', messing up his hair.


    Then, she spoke.

 Chapter 183 Choosing Not To Choose

    Nicole didn''t stop feeling Kairos up, even as she spoke.


    "I... I guess we can go. But I just want to hold on for a little bit longer."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And how long is that?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "U-Um, a few minutes."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "How many minutes?"


    Nicole froze when she heard that. After a few moments, she responded rather frantically.


    "F-Fifteen! Er- no thirty! N-No one hundred!"


    Kairos sighed.


    "That''s not a few minutes."


    Nicole became a little frantic, scratching the side of her face.


    "I-It isn''t?"


    Seeing this go down, Kaede slowly backed up towards the corridor she came through before running through it. Quite a few swords flew at her, but she was able to dodge all of them. Chen''s eyebrow twitched when he saw that.


    As for him, he just looked to the side, pretending that he wasn''t in the room.


    Kairos just smiled bitterly. He gently ced his hands under one of her shoulders before gently lifting her. Surprisingly, despite being so clingy before, Nicole didn''t resist and let him carry her. He got her off of him before setting her down to face him and stared her down.


    "Didn''t I tell you before? You''ve already be an important person to me. So you don''t have to worry so much. I have no ns of leaving you."


    Nicole simply stood there with a dumbfounded expression, almost like she couldn''t really understand what was happening. While she was standing there, Kairos gently hugged her, while she left her arms at her sides, almost like she had be a tree.


    Eventually, Nicole seemed to break out of her stupor and did so with tears.


    "I... I know. B-But I''m just so scared. I-If you were gone too, then I don''t know where I can turn anymore."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Well, that should start by working our way out of here. There''s not much point in lingering around. There''s no staying together if one of us dies."


    Nicole took in a shaky breath.


    "O-Ok..."


    Kairos nodded before looking in the direction that Kaede had left.


    "She said before that she wasn''t worried about being stuck here. That probably means the direction she came from is where the exit is. At the very least, it should be somewhere that way."


    Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "What if she was just making it all up?"


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "At the very least, it''s a path we haven''t been on. If she really was making it up, then I guess we''ll have to deal with it."


    He turned to Nicole.


    "Are you ready to go?"


    Nicole took several deep breaths before nodding.


    "Yes."


    By now, Kairos only had faint scars on his body, the only proof that his body had taken quite a beating beforehand. Without thinking about it too much, he began sprinting down the corridor, with Nicole close behind.


    Chen seemed to hesitate, but ended up following them.


    When Kairos stepped inside, he noticed that extremely thin wires would form just in front of him. If he didn''t focus hard, then he wouldn''t even be able to see them in the first ce.


    He noticed in his future vision that if he touched one of them, they would suddenly light on fire. He let out a sigh as he leaped over the wire, then went to the left to dodge another one.


    As for Nicole, she was directly walking through all of it, using her ability once more. Kairos wondered if he should''ve stopped her, but Nicole wasn''t crying out in pain unlike when she normally overused her ability.


    On the other hand, Chen was also performing swift movements to dodge swords. His eyes were wide open, and he was keeping up. He didn''t even actually notice the wires that Kairos was dodging, but thankfully for him, they disappeared before he coulde into contact with them.


    The wires gradually raised in number, making it hard for Kairos to even find a location for him to fit through, but he was still sprinting without abandon. He was nearly set aze, but he was able to catch onto the location of the wires before anything happened.


    In the end, he was able to make it without a scratch. As for Chen, when he got into the room there were a few minor cuts on his skin, but was otherwise fine. It more so looked like he got scratched by a cat, rather than getting cut up by swords.


    The moment they got back, Nicole began clinging to Kairos once more, but this time it wasn''t as obsessive. In fact, she ended up letting go on her own after a couple of seconds.


    "Did we find the exit yet?"


    Kairos looked down each of the corridors before noticing someone far in the distance going down another path. It was Kaede.


    He pointed towards her.


    "Let''s follow her."


    Chen rubbed his chin.


    "But didn''t she say she had no ns of leaving? Plus I don''t want to get involved with her anymore."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "She''s probably going to the exit at this point. I''m pretty sure she ducked out because she didn''t want to deal with us."


    Chen furrowed his brows.


    "Hm. That does make sense."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos did a quick scan.


    "It looks like everyone is fine. Do either of you need a break?"


    Chen and Nicole both shook their heads. Kairos looked down the pathway once more and saw that Kaede was simply slowly walking down it. This made him wonder what exactly was down that path, but he would find out the moment he walked in, so he just went down it.


    At first, absolutely nothing happened. In fact, they made it roughly a third of the way and it was just an empty corridor. Both Kairos and Chen were still looking around the room, not letting their guard down.


    However, Nicole noticeably seemed to rx.


    That was when Kairos felt everything suddenly turn ck. He froze in ce for a while, but decided to keep moving nheless. He could no longer see the corridor or his destination, but that wasn''t enough to discourage him. After a few moments, he was able to see himself, but he appeared to be a bright white for whatever reason.


    A secondter, Nicole also appeared.


    He saw white letters gradually form in the distance, which spelled out a sentence.


    ''You have a choice. You can choose either to kill the person next to you, or you can sacrifice yourself.''


    Just below it was the number sixty. Then, it turned to fifty-nine, then fifty-eight. It was a countdown.


    After seeing this, Kairos turned to his left and noticed that Nicole was simrly looking at him. From there, he simply turned his head forwards and kept walking, ignoring the whole choice thing entirely.


    Nicole watched him go up ahead, but then quickly ran up to catch up to him. As the two of them continued, the timer continued to count down, eventually reaching thirty seconds, then ten seconds.


    The entire time, Kairos'' expression didn''t change. He simply walked on ahead without worrying about it.


    Even more words began forming.


    ''Please choose quickly, or else both of you will die.''


    Kairos couldn''t help but smirk when he saw that. He continued on with even more confidence than before. Nicole nced at him a few times before continuing as well. As she walked, for whatever reason a silly smile began forming on her face. It looked as though she wanted to stop herself, but was unable to do so.


    As Kairos watched the countdown reach three, he felt even more confident in his decision.


    In reality, he had no idea what the hell was going on. This was nothing like the normal traps that he had seen before. As for this choosing one person to die type of thing, it shook him up a little.


    However, he remembered the memory he got after limit-breaking his willpower.


    He wouldn''t sacrifice himself. That was the decision that he came to. However, that didn''t mean he would sacrifice someone else for the sake of his own. If the both of them really did end up dying, then so be it.


    He refused to live on after sacrificing someone else and wasn''t going to leave Nicole on her own. Especially after she showed how badly she was relying on him. The strangest thing was that his biggest worry was that one of them would somehow end up dying randomly.


    However, after the white letters stated they would both die, Kairos'' steps somehow felt lighter.


    Then the countdown reached zero.


    Kairos stopped in ce for a moment to see if anything would happen. But then, the ck gradually faded away, revealing that he was in the exit room. There was a bright blue pir in the center, which he recognized as the exit. After looking around, he saw Kaede, who was crouched in a corner with both hands on her head.


    She was breathing erratically, clearly in the process of having a breakdown. Before he could think about it, Nicole threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.


    "I''m so sorry."


    Kairos looked at her strangely.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Nicole rubbed the side of her face against his.


    "I doubted you. I''m sorry."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Huh? What happened to you?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um... everything turned ck and it said that you would kill me if I didn''t kill you first. I thought it was all fake, but I still thought that maybe you would hurt me. But... you did nothing."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Huh. Mine was saying that I had to kill one of us. I didn''t do anything and we both seem fine though.


    Nicole let out a gasp.


    "E-Eh? You couldn''t decide?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Not choosing was my decision. If we both die because of that, then whatever."


    Nicole frowned.


    "You should''ve just sacrificed me! You... you can''t die!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I''m not going to do that."


    Nicole looked to be on the verge of melting down once more. Her fingers were jittering slightly, while her breath was getting a little heavy.


    "Why? Why? Why!?"


    Kairos took a deep breath, feeling how unhealthy Nicole''s mental state had gotten.


    "I don''t want to live a life without you. And I don''t want to leave you alone either, so that was my choice. You said not to leave, right? So no matter what, I will search for a way for both of us to live."


    Nicole took a second to process what he had said before calming down.


    "Ah... I get it now."


    She smiled before quieting down, but there were still other strange sounds.


    Kairos turned around to see Chen, just staring at his hands with widened eyes. He called out to him.


    "Um, are you alright?"

 Chapter 184 Upper Elemental Spell

    Chen didn''t respond when Kairos called out to him the first time. This confused Kairos a little, but he didn''t question it all that much. Instead, he coughed.


    "Um, I think we made it to the exit. Do you think we should search for Pablo or just go in?"


    Chen flinched, almost like Kairos had intruded on something personal.


    "N-No. We should just go. We should just go now."


    While saying that, he stumbled forth, but tripped over himself and fell to the ground. Logically he should''ve had the coordination not to trip, and even if he did he should''ve been able to recover rather easily.


    Yet, he fell t on his face.


    Nicole nced over curiously for a moment, but then turned right back to Kairos. As for Kaede, she shakily got up to her feet, but had her arms wrapped around herself almost like she was cold.


    Not to say that it wasn''t exactly cold, but for most people at the D rank, this would be afortable temperature. In fact, it may even be a little hot.


    Kaede gave a nce at the three that were there and quickly looked away. She didn''t say a single thing more before jumping into the blue pir in the center of the room and disappearing.


    As for Chen, he slowly pushed himself back up, but found himself unable to stand. In the end, he crawled into the blue pir, almost like he was running away from something.


    Kairos cast onest nce behind him before sighing.


    "Well, if Pablo gets here he gets here. If not, that''s a shame."


    He reached out towards the blue pir while mumbling to himself.


    "...We would''ve been able toplete both of our missions rather easily."


    Nicole was holding onto him, but then that sensation suddenly disappeared as he found himself in the middle of bright blue mana that strained his mind slightly. Thankfully, it was soon over, and he found himself in a confined room.


    [You have cleared the 1st Floor - 5 dungeon points awarded]


    [Please wait 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 13 seconds to ess the second level of the dungeon.]


    Kairos looked around himself and saw the holographic projection sitting in the corner staring at him nkly once more. After a moment of thought, he walked up to it and asked for the shop to be opened.


    [Shop]


    [Dungeon Points: 11]


    [Water and Rice - 1 point]


    [Orange Juice and Hamburger - 3 points]


    [Wine and Oysters - 5 points]


    [Pillow and Two nkets - 1 point]


    [Random Upper-Elemental Spell - 10 points]


    [Hide]


    Kairos raised his eyebrow when he looked at the options. It was different from what he remembered, that was for sure. However, the thing that he cared about most was avable.


    The random elemental spell.


    However, it seemed that in this shop, there was a better version. This interested him greatly and with less hesitation than he should''ve had, he bought it.


    [Dungeon Points - 11 -> 1]


    He felt a rush of information rush into his mind as a new spell gradually became clear to him. Then, he promptly opened his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 22.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 30.0


    Endurance - 30.0


    Agility - 30.0


    Willpower - 30.0


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 30.0]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Gale Spell (F), Darkness Spell (F)]


    [Hide]


    He raised an eyebrow when he looked at his new spell before checking out its description.


    [Darkness Spell (F)]


    [Afflict one intelligent being with a random mental weakness depending on channel time.]


    After reading that, Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "A mental weakness?..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    He couldn''t help but think of what he had just experienced. Thest trial required in order to clear the floor. His first guess was that it was something like that, if not the same thing.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how this was considered an elemental spell, but decided not to question it. He was a little annoyed though because there was obviously nobody for him to test it on as of now.


    Yet, right as that thought got into his mind, he realized that there was someone he could use.


    Himself.


    Kairos wondered if doing this was a stupid idea, but decided to do it anyway.


    After reaching out with his hand in the form of a w, he began channeling the darkness spell and immediately found that it was considerably more difficult than normal elemental spells, and may even be harder than some unique spells people had.


    Then he pointed the w at himself, channeling with the minimum amount of mana.


    After doing it, nothing seemed to happen. He wondered if he somehow messed up, but then he felt something feel loose on his face. Before his eyes, his sses fell off. Or at least, that''s what it looked like.


    In reality, his sses were still on his face, but a copy had fallen off of his face. Right as it hit the ground, the entire thing became purple and misty, before dispersing into nothing.


    Kairos couldn''t help butugh when he saw that. He actually was a little panicked when he felt his sses slipping off of his face, but he wasn''t really concerned about the lenses. Instead, he was afraid that the frame would break.


    From what he knew, the lenses were quite durable.


    He continued to think to himself, wondering if this spell could really be useful. After all, if he used it on someone and the degree of fear was their sses falling off, it wouldn''t be all that useful in a life or death battle. Especially because it couldn''t even directly cause harm to them.


    If anything, it would be good to use as a random prank.


    Kairos shook his head and decided to give the spell another chance. After all, it seemed that channeling more mana would somehow improve it. He channeled it for a few seconds, and as he was channeling, he found himself intuitively understanding the different ways he could increase its power.


    He was honestly a little confused as he didn''t remember this sensation, but then rted it back to limit-breaking his mana capacity.


    His eyes narrowed slightly once he found that he could increase his targets to two, but it would weaken the power of each individual effect by two-thirds. Naturally since there was only one person to use it on, he didn''t do that.


    Instead, he just channeled for a second, which caused a tiny ck ball to form in his hand, which appeared with glowing white eyes and a wide smile. And upon releasing the spell, that ck ball shot towards him rapidly.


    He saw part of his surroundings slowly darken before turning pitch ck. Then out of nowhere, a boy appeared. Or rather, a body with all its limbs broken off.


    Kairos'' eyes narrowed slightly. He didn''t say anything and just remained there. After roughly ten seconds, the corpse turned into a familiar misty purple before dispersing.


    He rubbed his chin in thought.


    "It doesn''t seem to bepletely useless..."


    From what he could tell, the afflicted person would have part of their surroundings turn ck depending on how long he had channeled, something that wasn''t shown in the spell description.


    After thinking for a bit, he set down his spear on one side of the room before beginning to channel the spell once more. Except this time, he continued channeling it for five whole seconds.


    The ck ball gradually expanded in size, while its eyes and mouth began looking more sinister with each passing second. By the time he reached the five-second mark, it had actually changed its form slightly, seemingly growing to appear more like a ghost with tiny stubby arms.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, but didn''t hesitate to throw it at himself once more.


    This time, nearly the entire room ckened. Kairos looked over at his spear and noticed that he couldn''t see it at all. He reached over to where he remembered it was and found himself able to pick it up.


    Seeing this, Kairos couldn''t help but think that the side effect of the spell made it all worth it. After all, the person hit by the spell would have difficulty making out nearby things. It seemed to purge both light and shadows, making it hard for anybody to make sense of anything nearby.


    Though, before he could think about it any longer, he saw his father in front of him with a stern expression. He was yelling at him.


    "Didn''t we tell you before not to be violent with your peers? This got you expelledst time! Are you really going to keep causing trouble for us like this? You have to learn that your actions are hurting other people!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly and mumbled to himself.


    "You''re one to talk."


    For the next thirty seconds, his father continued to yell at him for various different things, but eventually dispersed into a purple mist like all the other apparitions. His morale clearly was a little lower than before, but he still wanted to experiment to see how far this spell really went.


    After taking a deep breath, he began channeling the spell once more. This time, he nned on holding it for a full fifteen seconds. For the first five seconds, it appeared like a phantom with stubby arms. Though as he continued to channel it, the phantom elongated even further, and gradually took the form of what seemed to be a snake. As for the smile, it also grew wider and wider.


    Once Kairos did eventually release the spell, the snake-like phantom jumped at him and opened its mouth almost like it was the real deal.


    Almost immediately, the entire room became ck. Kairos immediately began swinging his spear around. He wanted to test if the spell had any effect on his actual mobility. However, from what he could tell, he waspletely unaffected.


    As he was swinging, Nicole suddenly appeared in front of him, and she was looking to the side. Kairos looked at her silently, wondering what the spell was going to show him this time.


    Would she die some sort of horrible death in front of him?


    Or maybe she would turn and begin yelling at him for no reason.


    For the next twenty seconds, he just looked at Nicole, who was just looking off at the side with a neutral expression. Eventually, she turned to him and scratched the side of her head.


    "Um, are you looking at me?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...I guess so."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side with an awkward expression.


    "Ah, sorry but do I know you?"


    Kairos stared nkly for a few seconds before shaking his head.


    "No, no you don''t."


    ? Nicole looked back strangely.


    "Er... ok."


    And with that, she began walking away, leaving Kairos with a strange hollow sensation in his chest.

 Chapter 185 An Old Face

    Like with all the rest, the apparitions eventually ended up disappearing. Kairos shook his head and didn''t think about what those things showed him any longer. Instead, he began thinking about the advantages that this spell provided.


    For starters, channeling it longer seemed to improve the distance for which someone''s surroundings ckened. On top of that, the longer he channeled, the longer it would end upsting. The final thing that Kairos didn''t put too much emphasis on was the mental weakness aspect of the spell, seemingly the phantom trying to pull at one of the person''s insecurities.


    Nheless, it didn''t do anything to actually physically hamper the person in question. Kairos let out a sigh, feeling a little sad that was the main effect of the spell, but at the very least whatever it decided to apparate could be a distraction.


    After all, despite using it on himself, he wasn''t exactly hampered much at all.


    He rubbed his chin and thought to himself for a few moments.


    He still had a little over twenty evolution points for him to use, along with a few spells he could upgrade to the E rank. Although it might''ve been a waste for him to spend them all recklessly, at the very least he would be able to get them back easily in the dungeon.


    With that in mind, Kairos opened his status panel once more and began upgrading his spells.


    [Gale Spell (F) -> Gale Spell (E) | Points 22.1 -> 12.1]


    The reason he wanted to upgrade the gale spell was that he couldn''t stop thinking about how the dungeon used the gale spell against him. He also remembered the attack he couldn''t detect, and was pretty sure it had to be somehow rted to the gale spell.


    [Darkness Spell (F) -> Darkness Spell (E) | Points 12.1 -> 2.1]


    As for this spell, it was already useful on his own, but he was quite curious what ranking up this ability would do. Perhaps the apparition could actually be a lethal threat instead of just a distraction.


    He closed his eyes as his mind suddenly gained enlightenment, understanding other ways he could use the spell. For starters, he became a little surprised about the gale spell. He found himself able to reduce the ability to detect it even further.


    After a bit of thought he tried doing so immediately, holding out four fingers.


    Kairos prioritized making it as silent as he possibly could, and while he was channeling there wasn''t a single sound. Unfortunately, something he could tell was that the power was rathercking.


    That didn''t discourage him though, as he continued to push more and more mana into the spell, and over the slow process of nearly thirty seconds, he finally found himself willing to release the spell.


    He held his breath as he released the spell, and a just barely audible sliver of wind was heard before an explosive bang mmed against the wall. A hair-line thin crack formed on the wall and quickly regenerated right after.


    But as thin as it was, the power was definitely there.


    Kairos rubbed his chin, wondering if he had done anything wrong. There was still a sound when he released the gale spell, which irked him. Though, to be fair, even just the sound of casual conversation would easily mask it. Perhaps even someone breathing a little heavy would as well.


    Nheless, it wasn''t the perfectly silent killer that he had imagined.


    Yet, at the same time, Kairos decided not toin. After all, it was only at the E rank. Perhaps if he upgraded it to the D rank, then he could make something that was nearlypletely silent.


    Kairos rubbed his chin and thought about the changes to the darkness spell. He could tell now that he could make an AOE radius that would encapste all intelligent beings within the spell effect. But naturally, it would have lower effectivenesspared to just targeting a single person.


    It was slightly disappointing to him, but he decided not toin about it. Surely it would have some sort of use down the line.


    From there, he rested on the cold ground, letting the time pass by. His expression softened as he got lost in his thoughts, and before he knew it, a sudden rocking sensation came from the room he was in.


    When he got up, he noticed that a corridor had formed on one end. After a bit of thought, he decided to get up and walk through the corridor. A familiar massive area was revealed to him. There were countless rooms lined up next to each other along the walls. When Kairos counted, he was fairly sure there were at least one hundred different rooms.


    At that same time, he heard someone call out.


    "Kairos! Kairos, are you there!"


    Nicole had run out screaming out loud like a child that got separated from their mother. And ironically enough, she was only a couple of meters away from him. Kairos let out a sigh and waved toward her.


    "I''m over here, don''t worry so much."


    Nicole''s head snapped to him before she ran towards him with open arms. After colliding into him and hugging him tightly she let out a sigh of relief.


    "I... I thought you might''ve been in trouble."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "You worry too much. I''ll be fine, alright?"


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "Alright..."


    A few momentster, both Kaede and Chen stumbled out of their rooms. They both seemed a little out of it like they were experiencing a hangover. However, they seemed to have gotten over the most of it.


    Chen looked over at the other two and called out to them.


    "Did you guys just get here as well?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Pretty much, yeah."


    Kaede looked over at Nicole, seeing that she was more or less stable before coughing.


    "Ah, hello again."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...Hi, I guess. What do you want?"


    Kaede coughed awkwardly.


    "Um, nothing. I''ll be on my way."


    She looked around the vast expanse for a little while, looking upwards at the ceiling, where a white crystal gave off some light, almost like it was the moon.


    From there, her eyes caught on the many rooms far away, leading her to walk over to them. After she walked away, Kairos refocused his attention on Chen.


    "Hey, you can use your dungeon points to get more evolution points, right? I imagine you should do that before anything."


    Chen looked back at him with confusion.


    "Huh? Since when were we able to do that?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Are you not able to do that?"


    Chen scratched the side of his head.


    "Er... I don''t remember being able to. I looked over all of the shop items."


    Kairos grabbed onto the side of his head with frustration.


    "What? Really?"


    Chen blinked a few times.


    "...I''ll go check again, but I''m pretty sure that it was never there."


    While Chen was saying that, Kairos went back to his own room to check out the shop, and Nicole followed from right behind.


    [Shop]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [Dungeon Points: 1]


    [Water and Rice - 1 point]


    [Orange Juice and Hamburger - 3 points]


    [Wine and Oysters - 5 points]


    [Pillow and Two nkets - 1 point]


    [Random Upper-Elemental Spell - 10 points]


    [Hide]


    And just like Chen had said, there was no option to buy evolution points. His eyebrow twitched when he came to that realization. How did he miss such a small detail?


    He hurriedly shook his head before pressing the back button.


    As for Nicole, she tilted her head to the side.


    "Um, Kairos, that''s just a projection! Not a real person."


    Kairos turned to her and nodded.


    "Yeah, I know that already."


    Nicole pouted.


    "...Then why were you staring at her so much?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "To look at the shop. What else?"


    Nicole looked confused.


    "I didn''t see anything though?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly as he thought. Then he came to a conclusion, only he could use the shop from here because it was his room. He coughed.


    "Um, let''s go to your own room. I think you''ll be able to see it from there."


    Nicole''s eyes widened ever so slightly, but rxed after hearing that.


    "Ah, ok."


    Upon entering Nicole''s room, she walked up to the projection and waved her hand in front of it a few times before jumping back in surprise.


    "Ah! It really is a shop. Huh... when did I get thirteen points?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Regardless, you should buy the upper elemental thing."


    Nicole hurriedly nodded.


    "Ok! Um, um... is it the one that says random elemental spell? I can''t find anything that says upper."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Oh... yeah, it''s that."


    He shook his head. If he thought about it, his being an upper-elemental was probably rted to this being his second dungeon. He should''ve thought about that earlier, but for some reason, it slipped his mind entirely.


    He took in a deep breath, realizing that the effects of those darkness spells may have been more than he expected.


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um, I got a vine spell. What is that?"


    Kairos shook his head, breaking out of his stupor.


    "Ah, I''m not sure. Why don''t you test it?"


    Nicole held out her hand in a rxed position after hearing that.


    "Ok!"


    Vines suddenly began forming from the ground, growing rapidly and reaching outwards like snakes. Nicole smiled when she looked at it all.


    "Wow! It feels like I have a bunch of extra arms!"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Seems like it."


    After that, they walked out, where Chen was looking around. Uponying his eyes on them, Chen walked up.


    "Yeah, I didn''t see it at all. Do we have different shops?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess so. But more importantly, we gotta clear this floor as well if we want to get out of here. The only thing we can hope for is that there aren''t too many of them."


    Chen sighed.


    "Yeah, but what exactly are we supposed to do for that? It''s not like the system even told us what we were supposed to do."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "That... is true."


    He looked around and noticed that there was a staircase in the distance. But instead of a spiral staircase. It was just a normal once that seemed to continue for quite a while. Kairos pointed at it.


    "That seems like a good start, doesn''t it?"


    Chen nodded.


    "Yeah, I guess we should go there first of all."


    With that, the three of them began walking toward the staircase. Soon enough, they reached the steps and started walking up them. However, as they did so, Kairos saw a familiar face walking down the steps.


    It was someone he had met in another dungeon before.


    Oliver.


    The giant scythe left a pretty big impression on him.

 Chapter 186 Ripe

    The first thing that Kairos felt was unease. After all, for all intents and purposes, Chen thought that this was his first time in the dungeon and that he was more or less a weakling.


    However, showing that he had already been in one of these dungeons would ruin this facade.


    In other words, meeting someone that had known he had been in a dungeon was a little bit inconvenient. His face tensed up as he decided it would be best to start the conversation so that he could lead it the way he wanted.


    Yet, right as his mouth opened, it closed soon after.


    Because he noticed several things off about Oliver. He was looking down at the ground almost like he didn''t deserve to look up. His eyelids were baggy, while the giant scythe with a chain was being dragged behind him.


    It looked like someone that hadn''t gotten sleep in a long time, but for people of his caliber, skipping a few nights of sleep wasn''t all that big of a deal. It seemed that whatever happened to him was rather bad.


    He walked slowly past the three of them, not even acknowledging their existence. In fact, he didn''t even put up his guard should one of them suddenly attack them.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly and decided just to let it be. That would be more convenient if he didn''t want to talk.


    Unfortunately, Chen was just a little too curious. He called out to Oliver.


    "Hey... are you ok man?"


    Olive slowly turned his head to cast a nce. He just barely spoke out, almost like he was on his deathbed.


    "No."


    From there, he turned around and kept walking. However, Chen didn''t seem to just want to stop there.


    "What did you do?"


    Kairos couldn''t help but think his terminology was a little strange. Instead of asking what was wrong, he simply asked what he did, assuming that Oliver had done something to end up in such a state.


    Though, from Oliver''s reaction, it seemed to be dead on. He stopped moving, save for his body which was faintly trembling. His eyes were dashing in all directions, almost like he was afraid of being seen for whatever reason. On top of that, his breathing had be erratic, along with the asional cough.


    Despite not being given a clear response, Chen continued on as though he was having a conversation.


    "Don''t be so hung up over it. After all, it''s not like we had a choice. Not a real one anyway."


    Oliver''s gaze slowly became a re.


    "...I made my choice. But sometimes, what you choose doesn''t matter. Not if they didn''t see your rtionship the same way."


    For whatever reason, Chen seemed to get triggered by that statement.


    "What? The hell are you talking about? Of course it''s normal to choose to live! Who wants to die? It''s not like we wanted to kill anyone!"


    Oliver blinked a few times.


    "I suppose that''s normal. But I chose to die. Because I thought that we would always be together."


    His expression twitched.


    "I just wanted... our farewell to be a little bit nicer."


    Chen grabbed onto the side of his head with a hint of insanity.


    "What? Since when?! You chose to die? What kind of person are you, are you insane?"


    In a fit of fury, he picked Oliver up by the cor of his shirt. He didn''t care at all that this child might''ve been a little more dangerous than what he looked like.


    Nicole leaned over to Kairos and whispered to him a little fearfully.


    "What is going on?"


    Kairos blinked a few times before muttering quietly.


    "...Chen is projecting and trying to justify his actions by seeing if others did the same. And that''s all the while knowing that his actions were wrong, which can''t be changed by whether or not others did as well."


    Hearing that, Nicole watched on a little pitifully. Chen began screaming at Oliver, and it seemed as though as time went on he forgot the reason why he was doing that himself.


    "It just makes no sense! It makes no sense! You''re lying to me!"


    Oliver stared back passively, but it was clear that he held a strong disdain for Chen.


    "Not everyone is like you. It may be stupid, but there are things I am willing to give my life for."


    Chen narrowed his eyes.


    "Oh yeah? Then why are you here right now, alive?"


    Oliver stared back with a in expression.


    "My sister and I were offered a choice. One of us would have to die. Over the years we had been together, I always looked out for my sister, getting enough food so that the both of us could live. Getting into the apocalypse surely was a big change for everyone else, but nothing really changed for us."


    The corner of his lip twitched.


    "I thought for a moment, and decided that I should be the one to die, but I wanted to say my farewells. Yet, before I could propose any of that, my sister attacked me, swinging her hammer straight at me. It hurt. But not wanting it all to end on a sour note, I defended myself while telling her I just wanted to say goodbye."


    Oliver gradually began smiling.


    "But she didn''t believe me. She kept attacking me. And that was when she showed what she truly thought about me all along. Despite all the time we spent together, she never saw me as arade. Apparently, I was a tool to her the entire time. Someone to use so that she could survive."


    His smile gradually died down.


    "No matter how much I tried to get through to her, she never listened. And in the end, while thinking I was defending myself, the de of my scythe ran through her throat. I didn''t even mean to kill her."


    Hearing all of this, Chen froze up, but he still seemed fairly angry.


    "Y-You''re lying."


    Oliver pushed Chen back, easily breaking free of the grip he had him in.


    "I don''t know what you did, but we are not the same."


    With that, he left, leaving Chen by himself. He seemed to be stunned. Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly, not really out of pity for him, but more so wondering if this would stop him from getting the points to be a D rank.


    "Hey, you don''t have to listen to him. I don''t know what happened, but if you really didn''t have a choice, then what else could you have done?"


    Chen blinked a few times before nodding.


    "A-Ah... yeah. That makes sense."<novelnext></novelnext>


    As for Nicole, she rested her head on Kairos'' shoulder and grabbed onto his arm.


    "That''s... so sad."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I guess having someone betray you like that is pretty sad."


    Nicole shook her head.


    "No, I mean that guy''s sister."


    Kairos looked back at her strangely.


    "Huh? What are you talking about?"


    Nicole spoke softly.


    "It sounds like she sacrificed herself and painted herself as an enemy so that her brother could move on. But the person she cared so much about doesn''t even know."


    Kairos was speechless.


    "How did you get that from the story?"


    A small smile formed on Nicole''s face.


    "I just... had a feeling."


    Kairos shook his head, not wanting to be hung up over the topic any longer.


    "Whatever, we gotta find a way out of this ce. Let''s see what we can do at the top of the stairs."


    In reality, his first thought was that this dungeon probably had monsters to kill like thest one. That way, there was a way for Chen to get some evolution points. Though, the person he wanted to get up there was still in a daze, standing around.


    He sighed.


    "Chen!"


    Chen flinched before looking over.


    "Ah, what''s up?"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "I don''t know what you''re thinking of right now, but first you gotta get out of here. There are people waiting on you, remember?"


    Chen seemed to rx greatly after hearing that.


    "Ah... right. I can''t stop now. There are too many people depending on me."


    And so, the three of them proceeded to walk up the steps, slowly making their way up to the top. It was a rather tedious process, but they did eventually get there. However, Kairos frowned deeply once he did get there.


    Because unlike the three different pathways that the first dungeon had, there was only an enormous cave that abruptly led to darkness. He remembered it was the one where fetching red crystals would grant you points uponing back out.


    At least, that''s what he imagined it would be.


    Nicole held onto Kairos a little tighter.


    "What is that? Will we be separated again if we go there?"


    Hearing that, Kairos coughed awkwardly.


    "I don''t think so. It looked like Oliver wasing from this ce, probably exploring it to also find a way out of here. We should keep a lookout for anything... especially any sounds we may hear."


    Without responding, Chen simply went inside, letting his body get enveloped by the darkness. Kairos went in as well, which led to Nicole doing the same as she was still holding onto him.


    His very thought was that it was going to be a pain to find any of these red crystals, especially considering how difficult it was when he had tried before.


    Yet, the moment he stepped in he could hear faint voices calling out to him from almost every direction.


    "I didn''t do it! I didn''t do it!"


    "Why? It''s not fair! It''s not fair!"


    "I didn''t mean to! I really... really didn''t mean to!"


    It was to the point that he thought about covering his ears. While they weren''t particrly loud, hearing so many people shout out as though they wanted people to believe him was quite the ufortable experience.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Chen! Are you there?"


    Though he said that, he was fairly certain of where he was, as he could hear heavy breathing in a general direction. Chen spoke up afterward.


    "Um, yeah. I hear you."


    Kairos coughed before trying not to sound suspicious.


    "Do you hear those sounds of people? I think it''s rted to something. Try to pick up whatever is making those sounds and bring them outside so we can take a look at them."


    Chen was none the wiser, thinking of something else.


    "Ah, alright."


    With that, all of them began collecting the stones that were emitting these strange voices. Kairos found himself a little limited in doing so since Nicole was still holding onto his arm and didn''t n to relent any time soon.


    Once the three of them got back out, they saw that they were carrying red crystals.


    [You have removed a red crystal - 1 point awarded] x 7


    Kairos'' eyes widened in surprise.


    Instead of dungeon points, they directly gave evolution points. He looked over at Chen, noticing he had gathered quite a few.


    It seemed the time wasn''t long now.


    The fruit was about to be ripe for the picking.

 Chapter 187 Nothing Suspicious Here

    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "Chen, do you have enough points to reach the maximum rank?"


    Chen blinked absentmindedly before responding.


    "Huh? Oh... I think so."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Ah, then why don''t you get ready for the promotion?"


    Chen furrowed his brows slightly.


    "I don''t have enough food to support the evolution anyway, why are you in such a hurry?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "Some of the people here are probably really strong. You saw that kid, didn''t you? He had enough strength to easily push you away. Maybe he''s even at the C rank already! I''ll even let you use my dungeon points to buy food, alright? The most important thing is staying alive."


    Nicole hurriedly nodded.


    "Staying alive is the most important thing..."


    Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. He seemed to ponder over it for a few moments before sighing.


    "Yeah, you''re right. If you''re really willing to go so far as to use your dungeon points as well, then I can''t say anything more."


    He opened up his status panel. Seeing this, Kairos began channeling the gale spell and made sure to do it as quietly as possible too. While that was happening, Chen began adding points without suspecting a thing. Nicole watched on curiously, but didn''t say anything.


    The process itself was a little tedious, so it took him quite a bit of time to aplish. This gave Kairos ample time to prepare the spell. It seemed that Nicole had an understanding of what was going on and wordlessly took a few steps back.


    The expression on her face wasn''t one that was concerned or fearful in any way. In short, it seemed as though she didn''t care about how they were killing someone they were working with for such a long time.


    Although Kairos didn''t want her to mope and whine about it, how little she cared was still a little off-putting to him. Nicole stared directly at Chen rather than looking away, fully intending to watch everything happen.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel her character has been more and more offtely, but decided not to think about it now. The most important part was finishing his promotion mission. He kept his eyes on Chen''s fingers as they tapped on his status panel.


    By the time he was about to tap his screen one more time, about to max out his stats, he sighed.


    "I''m not going to intentionally use up all your points, but I''m not going to lie, it probably won''t be enough even with them all."


    The corner of his lip twitched before he gave a careless shrug.


    "Yeah, but there''s no helping it. Maybe if Nicole is willing, she could hand over some points too."


    A bitter smile formed on Chen''s face.


    "Ah, whatever. The most important thing is surviving."


    Kairos muttered.


    "Yes... Yes, it is."


    As Chen upgraded the final point, he let out a sigh.


    "Anyway, let''s go back. I should be able to promote any moment..."


    He trailed off as he stared in front of him. From Kairos'' perspective, he didn''t see anything. However, he was fairly sure that the promotion requirements had appeared. Though he could''ve kept channeling the gale spell, he had already done so for roughly thirty seconds now and figured that now was as good of a time as any.


    Yet, when he released the gale spell at Chen''s neck, he saw in his future vision that while it would cut in, it wouldn''t cut in all the way through. However, he quickly thought of something.


    Out of nowhere, he suddenly threw his head back. At the same time, he sneakily released the wind spell at Chen. Before Chen had a chance to read the requirements for promotion, a sharp bang resounded from his neck.


    A scar that appeared on his neck suddenly formed.


    His eyes widened in surprise as he hurriedly covered his neck with his hand, slowing the bleeding. Kairos couldn''t help but internally marvel at his endurance, but on the outside, he acted like he was panicked.


    "Someone attacked! But where?"


    Hearing that Chen looked around himself like a lostmb, but there didn''t seem to be anything for quite a long while. Chen furrowed his brows intensely.


    "What the fuck? Where did thate from?"


    Kairos acted frustrated.


    "Whatever! Just promote already. Whoever is attacking us clearly isn''t some sort of a pushover!"


    Chen grit his teeth.


    "I can''t! There''s a bunch of missions that I need toplete first."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "What? The hell are you talking about?"


    Chen cursed under his breath.


    "That''s not important now, just try to find whoever''s attacking us!"


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath.


    "Fine!"


    As Chen looked around like a man with paranoia, Kairos followed suit. But in reality, the entire time he was just channeling for another gale spell.


    In the midst of their watch, Kairos spoke out, trying to keep Chen from figuring anything out.


    "Hey, I... I think this person is targeting me. Whatever that attack was, it was definitelying for me."


    Chen narrowed his eyes as a frown formed on his face.


    "It went straight for my neck. It''s clear that they''re targeting all of us. It was right after I had put in all my points too..."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "I... guess so."


    After channeling for another thirty seconds, out of nowhere he performed another exaggerated maneuver to dodge before releasing another gale spell at Chen. This time he was prepared, flicking his knives in the direction of the attack.


    An ufortably high-pitched shriek resounded.


    And right after, a series of cuts appeared on Chen''s chest and arms. They were small and all shallow, but it still caused damage to him. Kairos clicked his tongue before looking off into the distance.


    "I really think they want me dead for some reason!"


    Chen frowned.


    "It looks like it, but it looks like they n on hitting me if you dodge."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos nodded.


    "That makes sense."


    Internally, he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like Chen was following his logic. Thest thing he wanted for him to think was how suspicious it was that all of the attacks were going straight toward him.


    While they were continuing to act panicked, Chen eventually caught onto Nicole. She was just standing in ce, staring at Chen with more or less hollow eyes. This made Chen frown.


    "What are you doing just standing there? Look around for the person targeting us! You''re going to get hit if you just stand there!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. He coughed awkwardly, trying to salvage the situation.


    "Don''t worry about her! She''s fine, don''t you remember how she walked down all those hallways unscathed? She can remain invulnerable."


    Chen furrowed his brows harder, feeling something was off, but unable to put his finger on what..


    "...I guess so."


    After a few moments, he shook his head.


    "Staying here is no use! We have to close the distance and try to attack them."


    Kairos promptly nodded.


    "Ah, right! I didn''t think of that."


    And so, Chen rushed forth, where thest gale spell came from. As for Kairos, hegged behind, pretending he was really exerting himself. The expanse really was wide, meaning they had quite the distance to run if they wanted to go all the way to one side. But at the same time, it looked like Chen was willing to do so.


    That was when Kairos pointed the spell at Chen once more, releasing it.


    At the same time, he cursed and ducked down.


    "Shit!"


    The gale spell mmed hard onto the back of Chen''s head, sending him toppling forward and doing somersaults. But the strange thing was that despite being a spell that should instantly kill most, there was only a bloody bruise on the back of his head.


    Kairos began to realize that perhaps he had made a poor choice on the person he waited to grow. Although he knew Chen must''ve had some sort of skill that made him more durable, he didn''t think it would be to this extent. Though he was unclear about the power of the gale spell, he was fairly sure if he took the hits that Chen had, he would die.


    Yet a few momentster, he stood back, albeit dazed.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Fuck! They''re ying around with us! Why can''t I see them at all?"


    Chen let out a painful groan while a hand was on the back of his head.


    "Goddammit... goddammit... what is happening?"


    While he was doing that, Kairos swirled the mana around in his body in order to replenish his mana. And to his surprise, it happened rapidly. If he were topare it to the normal rate, this would be at least five times faster.


    He was beginning to prepare another spell when Chen called out to him.


    "Hey! You should add points to your stats now too! There''s no point in holding onto them in this kind of situation."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "Now is not the time! I''m going to get killed if I just stand around."


    Chen didn''t relent.


    "Their attacks are only happening every thirty seconds or so. Just do a little bit at least! That much can''t hurt."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "And what if it does?"


    Chen narrowed his eyes.


    "Then at least show me your status panel so I know what to expect from you!"


    Hearing this Kairos once again shook his head.


    "What? Just know I''m not that strong. Can you focus on the fight we''re having now?"


    A glint shed by in Chen''s eyes. The way he looked at Kairos was different. Out of nowhere, he lunged at him with the daggers.


    Kairos backed out of the way.


    "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"


    Chen scoffed.


    "I should be asking you that! Are you the one casting those spells?"


    Kairos was honestly surprised that Chen was sharp enough to notice something, but he decided to keep up the act regardless.


    "Huh? Since when? I haven''t even made the motions for a spell yet! Why are you targeting me?"


    Chen''s lip twitched.


    "...If it isn''t you, then sorry. But this is just to be safe! After all, surviving is the most important thing!"


    Chen seemed to pull two red daggers out of nowhere. Bright purple mes were emanating from said daggers. It was fairly clear that he had no ns of holding back any longer.


    Seeing this, Kairos narrowed his eyes. He released the gale spell once more, but this time he had only channeled it for ten seconds. Chen didn''t even try to dodge, letting it m into his chest and leave a bright red scar. At the same time, he yelled.


    "I knew it! I knew it was you!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes before channeling the pulse spell.


    "Took you long enough."


    Chen swung his daggers with conviction, while Kairos retaliated with his spear, though only used one hand to hold it, making it seem as though he was using a really long sword.


    Kairos'' knees bent down as he swiped forth, mming into one of the knives before he leaped back. Seeing this, Chen threw the other knife at him. The purple mes began dimming, but still showed to be pretty strong as they came towards him.


    In response, Kairos twisted his leg at a strange angle, forcefully bringing him to the side. Chen retrieved the knife before continually trying again and again. However, it quickly became apparent to him that Kairos was strangely good at fighting.


    Though he wasn''t perfect, the techniques that he picked up from thest dungeon helped greatly, making him seem like a pro.


    Chen grit his teeth.


    "...This entire time, you were pretending? For what?"


    Kairos didn''t say anything. Instead, he suddenly closed in. Chen took advantage of this opportunity, stabbing his knives into Kairos. But the strange thing was, Kairos didn''t even try to dodge, getting himself hit pretty badly.


    Chen''s injuries were beginning to heal, while Kairos appeared to wither. But before Chen could celebrate, he saw a glowing blue palm vibrating slightly right at his stomach.

 Chapter 188 The Real Use Of The Darkness Spell

    A deafening bang resounded.


    Chen was immediately blown away, taking his knives with him. He continued to m against the ground over and over, rolling over several times and even coughing up blood.


    Yet, despite taking all of that, he mmed his fist into the ground and forced himself to stand up. His eyes were wide open and bloodshot. It was clear that Chen wouldn''t go down without a fight.


    As for Kairos, he couldn''t help but find himself extremely impressed by Chen''s durability once more. Despite having the advantage of limit broken stats, he was still unable to fully suppress him. Once again, Chen had taken a blow that he was pretty sure would''ve killed himself, had he been on the receiving end.


    But regardless, he was still feeling pretty favored in this situation. Although his body was a little weary from taking on the drain effect of Chen''s daggers, it was still bearable for him.


    Chen slowly stood up on both feet before looking forth for a moment. From the way his eyelids werezily drooping, it wasn''t too hard to deduce that he was in a daze. At the very least, it seemed he sustained significant damage.


    Kairos rubbed his chin in thought.


    After a little while, he realized that Chen basically had no method of ranged attack. The best thing that he had was throwing his daggers, but there was no way those would hit even if he tried some tricks, especially not with Kairos'' future vision.


    This naturally led to him thinking of the darkness spell. If nothing else, it would greatly obscure his nearby vision, essentially rendering him useless.


    With that in mind, Kairos began channeling the darkness spell, holding his hand out like a w, and a tiny little ck ball with a strange smile formed on top. As for Chen, he was still looking at Kairos, but his vision gradually shifted to someone else.


    Nicole.


    She was still watching the battle, and from her expression, it seemed as though she was just waiting for Chen to die. She didn''t think it was possible for Chen to win, and was probably right in thinking so.


    This could be seen in the desperate look Chen was beginning to wear, as his judgment gradually faltered. Out of nowhere, he sprinted forth.


    Kairos went to the side, but it would turn out he didn''t need to, as Chen had no intention of running toward him. Instead, he wanted to get to Nicole. Seeing this, Kairos didn''t do anything other than continue to channel his darkness spell.


    Though there was a part of him that thought about helping Nicole, she really didn''t need it. As such, he just watched on as Chen ran towards Nicole like a crazy person, intending on capturing her to use as a hostage.


    Then phase straight through her, before copsing onto his face.


    His body was shaking rather violently. It seemed that this entire time, he had slowly beening to a revtion. The only way he would ever hit Kairos, was if Kairos wanted to get hit.


    Chen may not have been fighting long, but he could already tell that there was a gap between them. It didn''t feel like a quantitative gap, but for some reason, it felt so overwhelming anyway.


    He got up and looked at Kairos once more, but his gaze seemed quite different from normal.


    "I already know that I''m weaker than you. After looking at this promotion mission, I already understand why you want to kill me. But it doesn''t have to be me, right? I can... help you get someone else."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "What are you talking about? Sure you can help us take care of Pablo, but we still need to kill two of you. We both have toplete our respective missions after all."


    Chen looked rather confused.


    "W-What? Er... but surely there''s someone else! I could... I could..."


    Kairos sighed.


    "And why exactly should I make it more difficult for myself when you''re right in front of me?"


    The corner of Chen''s lip twitched.


    "I... I still have to make it back to help everyone! By killing me, you''ll be killing so many more people as well!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "...But it''s not like you really nned oning back for them, did you? At most, it was a lie you told yourself."


    Chen furrowed his brows intensely.


    "Huh? That was never the case! I was always going toe back for them. I... I would never..."


    As he was speaking, someone else called out from a distance.


    "What happened?"


    It was Pablo. He ran up towards them with a rather grim expression. He didn''t know exactly what was happening, but it was fairly clear that he was concerned about Chen''s condition. He was also in no rush, as the situation to him looked like they had gotten attacked, but were now fine.


    After all, they were just standing around rather than fighting.


    When Kairos noticed Pablo''s presence, the corner of his lip twitched. It would be inconvenient if he also joined the battle, but he imagined Nicole should be able to deal with him.


    However, Chen did something strange. Instead of calling out to Pablo to help, his eyes widened all the way.


    "What? Y-You... You''re alive?"


    Pablo furrowed his brows.


    "Yeah, did you really think thoseme traps could do me in or something? You''re underestimating me way too much."


    Chen grabbed onto the side of his head before shaking it violently.


    "No... no... you shouldn''t be alive."


    Pablo stared back only with more confusion.


    "Huh? Since when?"


    Chen tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.


    "I... killed you."


    Pablo furrowed his brows.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What? But I''m right here."


    Kairos came to understand what was happening rtively quickly. Chen also had one of those experiences like him, except he had to sacrifice Pablo in some capacity. And in the end, that''s what he did.


    The only issue was, that never actually happened.


    Pablo seemed toe to understand as well.


    "Ah, are you talking about that thing you had to go through to clear the first floor? That obviously wasn''t real. I mean, how would all of the others have even gotten in the dungeon in the first ce? They had injuries, remember?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed Pablo didn''t yet realize they had different experiences. He coughed.


    "Um, we all had different things to go through, you know?"


    Pablo blinked a few times as his gaze slowly shifted towards Chen.


    "Oh... wait, you killed me? But why?"


    The corner of Chen''s lip twitched.


    "I... I had to if I wanted to stay alive! Plus it wasn''t even real..."


    Pablo frowned.


    "You... you would sacrifice me?"


    Chen''s eyes widened with hatred.


    "Shut up! You were the one that wanted to sacrifice everyone else!"


    Pablo was taken aback, before averting his gaze. He did not respond to Chen, and from his expression, it didn''t look like he was going to be talking to him anytime soon.


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "You see, I''ve been trying to subdue Chen this entire time. As you can tell... he''s been losing it a little. I don''t think he''s going to rest until he dies though."


    Chen furrowed his brow.


    "What? You were the one that attacked me first!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "What are you talking about? We were attacked by another enemy, then you assumed that it was me and began attacking me."


    Pablo frowned further when he heard that. It looked like he had alreadypletely lost faith in Chen.


    "I... I always thought that you were a good leader. I never knew I was mistaken."


    Chen grit his teeth.


    "You clearly admitted to it!"


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "And now you''re making up excuses. It looks like you really are beyond saving..."


    As he was talking, he didn''t stop peeking at the growing ck phantom in his hand. By now, he had channeled it for fifteen seconds which was enough for him at this point. However, he felt it would be bad to release it now.


    While Kairos didn''t think Pablo wasn''t a threat, he also wanted him to grow to also reach the peak of D rank so that Nicole couldplete her part of the mission. Though her fourth mission would be significantly harder, he also figured that uponpleting the fourth one, she wouldn''t have "killed" her target, thus this was something she would have to do eventually.


    As for Chen, his expression suddenly fell. It seemed as though he came to understand something. His eyes narrowed.


    "...Fine then. See if you can find me."


    Hepletely gave up on trying to convince Pablo. In fact, the entire time he didn''t really care about convincing him, it was more so to convince himself. And once he felt the situation wasn''t recoverable, he decided to run.


    He turned around and rushed towards the expanse of ckness. At this point, Kairos'' darkness spell had been channeled for thirty seconds, creating a phantom that had be to look like a snake with two prominent horns.


    Surprisingly enough, it had actually shrunk in size rather than expanding, which made it a little more discreet.


    Kairos saw that Chen was running to that ce and couldn''t help but think this n was now rather wed.


    After all, if they all couldn''t see, impairing the vision was rather pointless.


    Nheless, Kairos released it without too much hope. The snake let out a hiss as it pounced on Chen. Chen hadn''t even realized it before it was toote. Upon making contact with him, it suddenly disappeared.


    And Chen froze in ce.


    Kairos, Nicole, and Pablo didn''t see anything. Instead, Chen just stood there strangely, almost like he had be a statue. Though Kairos remembered what effects it had before, and assumed that his surroundings had just turned ck.


    But that only made him more confused, as it wasn''t something all that strange. If anything, he should''ve reacted strangely after a few seconds.


    It was then that Kairos realized Chen was slowly looking up into the air as if there was something there. This only confused him further.


    What Kairos didn''t know was that the darkness spell could do far more than just scare someone.


    As someone already in an unstable mental state, and after channeling it for long enough, the spell had fundamentally changed in its purpose.


    Chen saw his surroundings darken. But there was more than just ck. Eerie structures gradually began forming out of the ground, towering over him. Chains hung off from several different ces, and within those chains were people, tied up like they were actually cocoons.


    And Chen saw those very chains begin shooting towards him.

 Chapter 189 Hints Of The Abyss Realm

    Chen saw several chains wrap around his body. For some reason, he couldn''t even think about struggling against the chains. All he knew was that he would die. And that it would be painful.


    He didn''t know why he had that strange instinctive feeling, however, he didn''t doubt for a single second. Despair began setting in along with deep fear. Desperation took hold like nothing before.


    Kairos and the others saw Chen clench onto his knife resolutely, and swing it. However, it was not towards anyone else. But rather himself.


    The expression on his face told of how desperate he was to kill himself right then and there. Yet, as the knife traveled towards his neck, it suddenly stopped. The extremely tense expression on Chen''s face disappeared out of nowhere, reced with one that looked hollow.


    Somehow, it looked even more lifeless than the face of a dead man.


    Kairos saw a notification.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    [Basic Promotion Missions Finished - Additional Information About Abyss Realm Avable]


    He gave it a nce, but refocused on what was happening with Chen. For the next few seconds, he just stood there petrified. It almost made Kairos wonder if the notification was somehow for something else.


    However, his doubt was washed away once he saw Chen gradually tip over and fall to the ground,nding on one of his daggers. If it wasn''t clear that he was dead before, the gushing blood from his neck made it clear that there was no way he was going to live regardless.


    Pablo watched the entire thing with aplicated expression.


    "What... what happened?"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he began thinking of what could''ve possibly happened.


    "He seemed to be a person who was really hung up on being a good person for whatever reason. The spell I used tends to make people face what they don''t want to, so he probably died over guilt for abandoning everyone."


    Although that wasn''t exactly what happened, this was his genuine prediction. After all, it didn''t really make sense to him otherwise.


    Pablo blinked a few times.


    "...Why does he care so much about the rest of the group? Didn''t he even say that he would sacrifice me despite how much I''ve contributed?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I dunno. I guess sometimes people just build their entire identity around something. I guess what Chen did was build it around being a good person."


    His eyes narrowed slightly.


    "And he ended up paying with his life for thinking that way."


    Pablo frowned.


    "And here I thought Chen was smart. How could he die in such a stupid way?"


    Kairos shot him a nce.


    "Everyone needs something to hold themselves together. Apocalypse or not."


    Pablo scoffed.


    "I don''t need anything like that."


    Hearing that, Kairos decided just not to respond. He gave a nce to Nicole, who was just looking at him passively the entire time. Eventually, he coughed.


    "Well, anyway... I''m going to go back with Nicole. We just collected a few red crystals in that cave for evolution points, so we''re done for now."


    Pablo''s eyes widened slightly.


    "Red crystals?"


    Kairos nodded.


    "Yeah, just go in there and get some red crystals and after youe back out you''ll get a point for each one you collected."


    Pablo nodded with a clear interest in his eyes.


    "Ah, then I''m going to do that."


    Without another word, he went inside.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh afterward and whispered to Nicole afterward.


    "I finished the first three parts of my promotion mission."


    Hearing that, Nicole smiled.


    "Ah, that''s great! What do you have to do next?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Let''s go back to my room first. I''ll have a look after I get there."


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "Ok!"


    The two of them went all the way back down the stairs. As they went back down, they ended up encountering Oliver once more, but he didn''t even seem to notice them so they passed by each other wordlessly.


    Once Kairos got back into his room, the holographic projection spoke up in a rather robotic-sounding voice.


    "You can use your evolution points to trade for dungeon points now!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "...Ah, so they changed the system like that?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? You make it sound like you''ve been here before."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "In particr, I''ve been to a dungeon before, yes."


    Nicole let out a gasp.


    "R-Really? But when?"


    Kairos waved a hand.


    "It was when that weird nt thing took me away. Afterward I got ended up identally triggering the dungeon, but it worked out in the end."


    Nicole let out a soft sigh.


    "Oh... that sounds scary. But at least you''re ok now."


    Kairos slowly nodded. He couldn''t deny he was at least a little frightened, especially when he ended up fighting an invincible giant skeleton, one of the disciples of the church. He shook his head.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Anyway, I''m going to take a closer look at what the final mission is all about."


    [Promotion Mission]


    [Requirements -


    1 - [Broken Limits]


    Limit break each stat. Stats can be limit broken through using Prestige. These points are naturally acquired if one ranks on a global leaderboard (Dungeon Leaderboards do not count).


    2 - [Trademark]


    Upgrade one ability to the D-Rank. Any ability may be upgraded toplete this mission. If an ability was previously upgraded to D-rank, then this mission will automatically bepleted


    3 - [Proven]


    Kill a creature at the peak of D-Rank. The peak of D-Rank is ssified by any person that is currently working on their promotion mission.


    4 - [Custom - Istion]


    Spend thirty days alone in the Abyss Realm. Further information about the Abyss Realm has been unlocked.


    The first three requirements were grayed out, as he had already finished them. The only thing left was the fourth one, which had a paragraph of additional text underneath.


    [Additional Information]


    [The Abyss Realm generally can only be essed once one of the beings of the lowest floor opens a gateway. However, this can be circumvented with a teleportation spell provided by the system.]


    [This teleportation will only be provided once. In order to fulfill "Custom - Istion" The teleportation must bepleted without any intelligent living organisms nearby. Otherwise, it will automatically fail. Afterward, once thirty days have passed, an automatic teleportation will allow you toe back up. In order to start the teleportation, arge amount of mana must be gathered first.


    Currently needed mana - 10.3x current maximum mana]


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he looked at all the information. The mana requirement wasn''t too big of a deal to him considering he could just recover mana from the surrounding environment. The only issue was that he felt a little reluctant about the thirty days requirement.


    From what it sounded like, he wasn''t going to be able toe back to this world for a long time. Thirty days might not be the longest time in the world, but it definitely wasn''t short. Especially not when so many people were rushing to get stronger.


    The only thing Kairos could hope for was that whatever this abyss realm was, there was still a way for him to get evolution points.


    Nicole scratched her cheek in curiosity.


    "Um, what is the mission? I can''t see anything."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I have to go somewhere for thirty days, it looks like."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Ah, then I''lle with you!"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched when he heard that. She probably wouldn''t take kindly to hearing that he would have to go alone. After a bit of thought, he slowly shook his head.


    "It would be better if you focused on your custom mission. It will be easier toplete it when we are separated."


    Nicole looked a little distraught when she heard that.


    "But... but... I can just do it with you, right?"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "How about this? We will firstplete the third part of your mission in this dungeon, then after I finish up some business I will go to do my own mission. If you can finish your custom mission before the thirty days are up, then you cane to me."


    This was a lie for the most part. Though he didn''t exactly know where this abyss realm was, from the sounds of things it was almost impossible to get there via normal things. However, he was pretty sure if he told Nicole the truth, she would probably have some sort of breakdown.


    Nicole believed this lie, but nheless, she didn''t seem to be willing.


    "I... I can do it really quickly! T-There''s no need for that."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "If you can do it quickly, then we basically won''t be separated. Then it will be fine, right?"


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.


    "I..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "Even if you don''tplete it in thirty days, I wille back to see you once those days are up, alright? But try your best to finish it within that month. We are separating to get stronger. That way we can spend time in the future together without worry."


    Nicole despondently looked at the ground.


    "...Ok."


    Kairos let out an internal sigh of relief.


    "Thank you for being so understanding."


    Nicole let out a sniffle and grabbed onto his arm with both hands, snuggling intensely. She let out child-like grumbling sounds too.


    Kairos sighed when he saw this.


    "Look, I''m not going right away. I''ll stay for at least three days before I go, ok?"


    Nicole nodded slowly.


    "Ok... but I''m not letting go for now."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Alright then, we can just sleep here then."


    Nicole smiled.


    "I''ll go buy the nkets!"


    Though it sounded like she was going off on her own, she ended up dragging Kairos to her own room in order to buy the nkets, then for whatever reason, she went back to his room toy them back down.


    After putting down the nket and pillow, she immediately got under while pulling Kairos with her. Then, without hesitation she wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to him almost like a spider.


    Kairos blinked a few times as he faced her clinging.


    He thought that it would''ve been easier to deal with this, as he had already dealt with this several times before. However, now it suddenly felt a little more unsettling. Before, even if Nicole was being overly clingy, it was in a very gentle way.


    Now, she was holding on a little more tightly than normal. Though it wasn''t painful, it felt a little different, which made it quite unsettling to Kairos. However, he decided not to worry about it.


    It was probably just because she knew they would separate soon.

 Chapter 190 Can I Come Too?

    While Kairos was asleep, he suddenly had a dream. It was one where he suddenly woke up to someone attacking him. The person who was sleeping next to him, Nicole, was severely injured in the process.


    The moment he registered what happened in that dream, his eyes flew wide open. His mind was muddled, but he forced himself to wake up instantly.


    Yet, when he looked around...


    There was nobody. It was only Nicole, who was still clinging onto him tightly even as she gently snored. However, that didn''t mean he would suddenly rx. That dream definitely wasn''t some random thing, but rather something that his future vision had warned him of.


    He couldn''t help butment over how careless he had been. How did he actually end up falling asleep with Nicole despite being in such a dangerous ce? Under normal circumstances, he probably couldn''t sleep even if he wanted to.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh before shaking his head.


    He decided to just let it go and resolve to be more cautiouster. But for now, there would be someone that was going to try and attack him and Nicole while they were sleeping. Of course, he could just wake Nicole up so that they wouldn''t get attacked, but he wanted to send a message.


    Since he knew that someone was going to attack, it wouldn''t be a waste of time.


    Kairos began channeling the gale spell, keeping it as silent as he possibly could. After that, he closed his eyes andid his head back down on the pillow. However, his hand that was channeling the gale spell was just barely under the cover, ready to peek out at any moment.


    Kairos kept channeling the spell until he eventually began doing so for a full forty-five seconds. He was beginning to feel a decent amount of strain in his fingers just from maintaining the channel. Under other circumstances, forty-five seconds might already be enough to make his hand burst, for example with the pulse spell.


    However, the gale spell naturally had a longer channel time which was further increased after keeping it silent.


    But thankfully, the power wasn''t diminished because of that.


    Once Kairos finished his channeling, he simply remained there. It would turn out nothing happened for the next hour or so, but he still maintained that channel anyway. During this time, he internally thanked himself for not trying to hold on for even longer and make the process even more painful.


    Regardless, it was still quite ufortable to keep holding onto this position. By the second hour, he was beginning to think of just stopping this and waking Nicole up, but before he could act on that he heard someone stepping into the room.


    Using his future vision, he opened his eyes to take a look at the perpetrator without actually doing so in reality.


    At that moment, he was able to find out it was a middle-aged man. From the brief moment, he got a look, it seemed that the man was quite nervous despite the two of them being asleep. His teeth were grit and it even seemed as though he was sweating.


    Kairos did the same thing once more and noticed the man had raised his hand, ready to cast a spell. Seeing this, Kairos suddenly moved his hand out from under the covers, all the while keeping his eyes closed.


    Then, he released the gale spell. Right after releasing it, he didn''t wait to see the results. His eyes flew open as he forcibly broke out of Nicole''s grip and raised his spear. However, it would turn out that he overreacted.


    An eerie crunch rang out, probably from the bones of the man.


    He had split into two halves diagonally, while his organs ended up spilling out randomly across the ce.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    Though Kairos had seen this death with his future vision, it was so unexpected to him that he didn''t even cancel his action. He only stared awkwardly at the body that was in front of him. Though, it didn''tst long as all traces of the man began sinking into the floor before disappearing altogether.


    Kairos was honestly in a bit of shock. He expected the man to at least have some sort of protection. Even if it might have not been as strong as Chen''s. His eyebrow twitched. It seemed that he forgot some people aren''t just unfairly overpowered.


    Nheless, it made him feel quite concerned about himself, as he had no abilities that directly enhanced his own survivability, save for his future vision.


    As he was thinking about it, he heard someone else call out to him.


    "Mm... what happened?"


    Nicole sat up and rubbed her eyes, letting out a yawn soon after. When she looked up at Kairos, she noticed the fresh bloodstains on his body.


    "Ah! Did someone attack? Do we have to fight?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Someone did try to get us while we were sleeping, but I took care of him. I ended up overestimating his strength a little and got him killed though."


    Nicole opened up her arms after hearing that.


    "Oh, then we can continue, right?"


    There was apletely innocent smile on her face as she said that, which made Kairos think of how ridiculous the apocalypse made the situation.


    "Y''know, if it wasn''t the apocalypse, it would be seriously messed up if you were that weing after I just killed someone."


    Nicole puffed up her cheeks.


    "Well it is the apocalypse! Stop thinking about it so much."


    Kairos let out a sigh before getting back down.


    "Alright, alright."


    Nicole immediately wrapped herself around him again, all the while nuzzling her head against the base of his neck.


    "Hehe..."


    Kairos rolled his eyes before looking up at the ceiling. He didn''t n on going back to sleep, at least not for now. As for Nicole, it didn''t seem like she did either, but that was for other reasons.


    She began feeling his body all over, though at the very least she avoided any of the more ufortable spots. Kairos didn''t particrly like it, but also didn''t hate it all that much either. She even avoided his chest which she was normally very aggressive with.


    Nicole constantly took deep breaths. There was a wide smile on her face as she asionally giggled. It almost seemed like she was on drugs, and maybe that wasn''t even far off.


    As for Kairos, he simply began sorting out all the things he wished to do after he got out of here.


    Naturally, one of them was going to this Abyss realm, but he wasn''t just going to suddenly leave without notifying anyone. The first person that came to mind was Tiana. Along with that, there was also the strange nt man, Kian.


    If he was going to some unknown ce for a whole month, he definitely wanted as many of the nature cores as he could get.


    Furthermore, there was Edward. He was definitely in the back of his mind and far less of a priority, but it was a thought nheless. After all, they were still technically an alliance. While thinking about that, Kairos took out a blue stone from his pocket. It was how they were supposed tomunicate with each other, though they still hadn''t talked after quite a while.


    He thought for a bit, but then put the stone back.


    Nicole noticed his behavior and looked a little upset.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I''m right here but you''re still thinking about other people?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "I''m thinking of what I''m going to doter."


    Nicole let out a dissatisfied hum.


    "But I''m right here! Did you even notice?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "I did, I did. I''m just trying to n things out while we''re here, alright? Normally I would''ve just gotten up and got to it, you know?"


    Hearing that, Nicole immediately retracted her attitude. She let out a few weak awkward coughs.


    "Um, r-right. Sorry."


    Kairos patted her twice on the head.


    "It''s whatever. Don''t worry about it."


    Nicole smiled brightly and closed her eyes to focus on the pat. Afterwards, her eyes opened slightly.


    "So um, why did you decide to stay here with me?"


    Kairos blinked a few times all the while staring at the ceiling. He didn''t respond for a good while, like a person that ghosted others all the time. But eventually, he did open up his mouth.


    "I don''t really know, honestly."


    Nicole put the tip of her finger on her chin, clearly quite curious.


    "Hm... I guess whatever the reason, it''s a good one."


    And just like that, she casted aside her curiosity before snuggling with him once more. Kairos only smiled bitterly because of that, before continuing to look at the ceiling, almost like the mostpelling movie was ying right there.


    After a few more hours had passed, Kairos decided it was enough.


    "Alright, we should get up now."


    Nicole looked rather distraught.


    "So soon?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "We''re not going toy there all day. Plus, aren''t you getting hungry? We have to get out of here and get some food soon."


    Nicole looked to the side.


    "Mm... I can still go on."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Well, we should first get out of here before sorting all that out, alright? We don''t know how long this will take."


    Nicole clearly looked displeased, but still went along with it.


    ? "Ok..."


    Once the two of them got up and out of the room, there was a clear crunching sound. Kairos looked over, expecting someone''s bones to be crushed in, but instead, it was actually Oliver. He was eating the shells of oysters directly.


    Kairos raised an eyebrow when he saw this.


    "Aren''t those like, expensive?"


    Oliver turned back to him with a gloomy look. He didn''t seem to want to answer, but forced himself anyway.


    "It''s actually the most cost-efficient thing to buy. None of the food actually helps all that much. However, the most expensive one is the most filling. It still isn''tparable to actual oysters, but at least it''s something.


    Hearing that, Kairos nodded.


    "Ah, thanks for the info."


    Oliver simply sighed.


    "Yeah, whatever."


    After that, he continued walking. From the direction, it was fairly clear he was going back to the caves to search for more of the red crystals. Kairos did a simple stretch before ncing at Nicole.


    "Well, let''s go too."


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "Ok!"


    Though, as they were about to set off, someone called out to them.


    "Wait!"


    It ended up being Kaede. She looked a little panicked and awkward. There was a forced smile on her face.


    "U-Um, can Ie along with you as well?"

 Chapter 191 Teacher

    Kairos turned to look at Kaede strangely, like he couldn''t believe what he just heard.


    "I''m sorry, what did you say?"


    Nicole wrapped both arms around Kairos'' arm as she stared at Kaede with a frown.


    "What are you trying to do!"


    Kaede held up both hands as an awkward smile formed on her face.


    "I-I just want to tag along!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Such a change of heart, huh? I thought you didn''t need anyone."


    Kaede began biting her nails.


    "W-What happened to the other guy then?"


    Hearing that, Kairos didn''t really know how to respond. However, Nicole seemed more than willing to speak back as a smile crept up on her face.


    "Kairos killed him. That guy tried to kill himself, but he wasn''t even able to do that. Can you do something like that?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. Honestly, he felt like he was giving more credit than he was due, mostly because he still didn''t really understand how Chen had died. It simply made him much more curious about the darkness spell, but he was definitely not going to test it on himself anymore if it could do something like that.


    Though what was probably more strange, was when Kaede heard something killing someone before they could even kill themselves, she didn''t seem the least bit afraid. In fact, anything, she looked relieved.


    "W-Well, couldn''t I tag along with you? I won''t do anything, I promise!"


    Kairos blinked a few times. Normally, even if he didn''t fully understand something, he could make a few guesses here and there. However, right now he had no idea what her motive was. In the end, he let out a sigh and pointed to Nicole.


    "Look, if she doesn''t agree, there''s no way you''reing, alright?"


    Nicole smiled brightly after she heard that.


    "Hehe... that also means you''re noting, if you didn''t know!"


    The color drained from Kaede''s face. She held out a trembling hand.


    "W-Wait, please! I''m really sorry for everything I said before, so..."


    Unfortunately for her, Kairos and Nicole had already stopped paying attention to her and began walking toward the staircase. Most of the reason was that Kairos was getting tired of dealing with Kaede, but it was also the fact he could feel eyes on him. It was hard for him to see from this distance, but he definitely caught onto some people peeking out of their rooms.


    All he cared about at this point was getting out of the dungeon, so he really didn''t want to waste his time with more fights.


    And so, they made it all the way up the stairs, right next to the giant void in front of them. Right behind them was Kaede. Kairos slowly turned around to look at her.


    "You''re still following us. Do you really think we won''t attack you?"


    The corner of Kaede''s lip twitched.


    "No, no, it''s not that! I just... happened to be here as well."


    Nicole held onto Kairos tighter, even unintentionally digging her fingernails into his skin. There was a fierce expression on her face.


    "Get away! You can''t have him!"


    Kaede was taken aback. She raised her hands to appear as non-threatening as possible.


    "What? I never had any intention of taking anyone! If anything, I''d prefer to go with just the girl alone."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.


    "...Why the hell do you want to go with us anyway? Do you really expect us to protect you for absolutely no reason?"


    Kaede''s eyes darted around the room. Seeing this, Nicole slowly raised her hand. There was a dull expression on her face, but there was no mistaking the hostility she was emitting.


    Kaede immediately spoke up.


    "W-Wait! I''ll tell you! It''s because... I don''t want to get vited, ok! I have the confidence to hold my own and not die, but I still have to sleep at some point..."


    Nicole blinked a few times, it seemed she had dropped that previous hostility. Kairos nced at her.


    "Is this something that happens rather often with women?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "Um... there was one time when someone tried to do something like that, but another person was nearby and helped me. There was also another time when someone tried to touch me, but I got out of the way."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "You''re saying it like that''spletely normal."


    Nicole shrugged her shoulders.


    "Some people are just... bad people."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Huh. I''ve never experienced anything even close to..."


    He cut himself off and then slowly turned to Nicole, who in turn was slowly averting her gaze. After a few moments, Kairos shook his head.


    "Well, I guess at least I''m not clueless about it."


    Kaede rxed slightly.


    "So... I cane with, right?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Normally, I''d just say no and be done with it, but if she wants you toe then I''ll just agree."


    Nicole smiled. This gave Kaede quite a bit of hope, but the words that came out of Nicole''s cheery expression shut her down.


    "Ah! So it''s a no."


    Kaede felt like she was on the verge of losing it. She had actually already checked up on most of the rooms here, and as far as she could tell there were only men. As for Nicole, she was definitely ideal and while Kairos was also a guy, he also seemed incredibly disinterested in things in general.


    As such, she really wanted to cling to them.


    However, it really seemed like it wouldn''t work out. Countless thoughts shed by her mind before she eventually stumbled on a stroke of genius.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Wait! I''ll teach you how to seduce guys better if you take me!"


    Hearing that, both Nicole and Kairos froze in ce, but for different reasons. Nicole blushed slightly, but then looked back at Kaede curiously.


    "So... how do I know it will work?"


    Kaede smiled confidently when she heard that.


    "Well, you can test it as soon as I tell you, can''t I?"


    Kairos felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Things were definitely progressing in a far stranger way than what he would''ve preferred. But after a bit of thought, he imagined a solution.


    "Whatever you''re thinking of, we have to enter this ce first."


    His natural thought process was that if nothing was visible, then it would be quite difficult to do anything too weird. Though Kaede only pped excitedly.


    "Ah, that''s great!"


    Kairos felt a little uneasy, but he decided to ignore it. With that, the three of them stepped inside. From there, Kaede began whispering, and from the sounds of it, she was a bit excited.


    "First, I would''ve introduced how you should position your bust and butt to be a little more prominent, but that will wait untilter."


    Nicole let out a dissatisfied hum.


    "So what are you going to show me?"


    Kaede cleared her throat.


    "The first thing you have to understand is the mood. If the man has even a little bit of reservation, they will be put off if youe on too strongly! And well... that guy has a little bit too much reservation."


    Nicole sounded skeptical, but was willing to listen.


    "Ok... so when is the right mood?"


    Kaede giggled.


    "The secret is you create the mood yourself!"


    Nicole sounded annoyed.


    "But you said they would be put off if youe on too strongly!"


    Kaede seemed to forget that she was begging toe with them, and eximed rather confidently.


    "First of all, you have to tease them, just a little bit. I''ll teach you how to unt yourself a little bitter, but other than that, there''s how you can touch them."


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Ehhh? But... that seems pretty strong, right?"


    Kaede sighed.


    "No, no. It depends on how you do it. You have to touch them very gently, caressing them. If you touch them somewhere normal, then it won''t feel too invasive, but the way you touch them matters a lot. When you do it, try to imagine that you''re incredibly delicate, like your entire body is actually made out of cotton."


    Shortly after she said that Kairos had a hand gently brush by his shoulder, and given how dark it was along with the whispers from the red crystals, it felt like something straight out of a horror movie. Kairos let out a small sigh after that.


    By now, Kaede was no longer whispering and in fact, was talking loudly. Though, Kairos could hear everything from the start. As for whether that was good or bad, he did not know. Instead, he just picked up a few red crystals as he went through.


    Though Nicole was focused on something else.


    "U-Um, do you feel anything, Kairos?"


    His eyelid twitched.


    "...It felt like a ghost touched me not too long ago."


    Nicole gasped.


    "A-Ah! Really?"


    Hearing this, Kaede quickly spoke up.


    "Oh no, that''s not how it should be. Agh, I should''ve given you more of the basics. When you do touch him, you also have to make it purposely seem like you''re touching him more than you need to. When youy your hand on him, start by just barely touching beforeying your entire palm and also subtly moving around."


    She giggled.


    "This makes it feel like you''re trying not to be obvious, but it''s clear that you want him. A lot of guys can''t really handle that."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "And how exactly will it work if I literally just heard the entire process behind it?"


    Kaede scoffed.


    "It doesn''t matter if you know. If I had to exin it... er, it''s more of a subconscious thing."


    Nicole let out a gasp of awe.


    "Wow! You really know a lot..."


    Like this, Kaede continued to coach Nicole on various ways to touch Kairos, which would be experimented on shortly after. In the end, it seemed the three of thempletely forgot about the passing of time as they went through the empty ck with no goal in sight.


    Kaede raised her finger in the air proudly, now talking rather loudly and quickly.


    "Also, make sure you catch when their mood begins to change. See if their breathing gets a little heavier. A good indicator of that is if they are breathing out their mouth instead of their nose. Their temperature will also rise a little, and they will probably end up looking at you if you properly attracted their attention. From there, you can move on to the next step."


    Nicole gasped.


    "T-The next step?"


    Kairos grimaced.


    "Um, Nicole maybe we should just-"


    "Wait, just let me hear this!"


    Nicole cut him offpletely. Kairos was beginning to regret his decision of not stopping her earlier.


    And seriously, why were the both of them treating it like he wasn''t just right there?

 Chapter 192 Friendzone

    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched rather violently. For the first time in a long while, he was told off by Nicole. And the reason for it was... one that made him feel rather indignant, to say the least.


    Kaede couldn''t help butugh as she continued on.


    "Hey, you aren''t getting ahead of yourself now are you?"


    Nicole let out a small gasp.


    "Eh? What do you mean?"


    Though none of them could see, it wasn''t hard to tell that Kaede was smiling.


    "I bet you thought I was going to coach you on how to do... that thing."


    Nicole coughed.


    "W-What? I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    Kaede snickered.


    "Don''t think you can talk your way out of this one girl!"


    Nicole let out an embarrassed hum.


    "What else am I supposed to think then?"


    Kaede let out a sigh.


    "Oh my innocent littlemb... After you get them in the mood, you can''t forget about forey! You gotta get their thing up all the way."


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath while this conversation was happening.


    "I''m right here. Just so you know."


    Kaede giggled.


    "Oh don''t worry, I know, little virgin boy."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. By now, she waspletely back to her cocky self, but at the very least she wasn''t being as rude as she had been before. Though she would make the asional insulting remark, it wasn''t really out of hostility. Nicole let out a clear hum, showing that she was thinking fairly hard.


    "S-So what kind of thing is forey?"


    Kaede cleared her throat.


    "In essence, it''s the same thing as getting someone in the mood, but just more intense. Unlike just touching them or giving them looks that imply things, you have to go a step further. Maybe tease them a little bit, call them your baby boy to demean that manly pride a little bit. On top of that, both of your hands should be all over him, unrestrainedly touching him everywhere."


    Despite already being unable to see, Kairos closed his eyes in an attempt to further himself from this conversation as much as possible. On the other hand, Nicole''s breathing got a little heavier, showing she was getting excited just from hearing that.


    "K-Kairos! Come a little closer so I can test it."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "This isn''t the most fitting time, don''t you think?"


    To his surprise, Kaede spoke up in agreement.


    "He''s right! From how he sounds, it''s fairly clear he''s not in the mood right now."


    Nicole let out a grumble.


    "B-But I already did so much touching!"


    Kaede sounded a little surprised.


    "Ah, really? Huh... that''s a little strange. Even if it''s the work of an amateur, I figured that with what we were talking about he should be at least a little into it..."


    Nicole took a deep breath.


    "Mm... he''s always been like this. I... I''ve touched him a lot before and um..."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "If you say it like that, it sounds way worse than it actually is."


    Kaede clearly seemed interested.


    "Oh? What exactly have you done in the past?"


    Nicole coughed sheepishly.


    "E-Em... usually I grab onto his arm and stuff. And also uh..."


    She trailed off, leaving Kaede sounding rather understanding.


    "Well if it''s just that, then as long as he isn''t aplete horndog, that''s normal."


    Nicole''s coughing got a little more violent.


    "Ah, that makes sense. I also touched his chest a little."


    Kaede didn''t respond immediately.


    "Huh. For a second I forgot that Kairos isn''t actually a female."


    Kairos let out a sigh, but didn''t say anything else. In the end, he lost focus on getting any of the red crystals. He doubted that the other two were even trying to do the same thing, so he didn''t really see the point in that. It was supposed to be a creepy ce with all the whispers, but Kaede''s energetic voice overpowered all of them, making it sound like they were actually at a slumber party.


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "E-Em, why would you think Kairos is a female?"


    Kaede let out a soft grunt.


    "Well, usually it''s the guy that''s trying everything they possibly can to get in the girl''s pants. You also say things like... an embarrassed but horny virgin guy."


    Nicole fell silent. As for Kairos, he felt a sudden impulse to join in on the conversation. A smirk formed on his face.


    "You don''t say. She has even groped me on many asions, which honestly confused me more than anything."


    Nicole became quite flustered.


    "Wha- I em... wait!"


    Kaede began howling inughter before pping Nicole on the back a few times.


    "Hey, hey, that''s a good thing, don''t be embarrassed! You have confidence, which was honestly the main thing I was worried about. Though if you''re just groping him, then maybe you have a little too much. It''s a little ironic to think I was going to have to work on your confidence when you''re even braver than me!"


    Nicole stammered.


    "I-It''s a g-good thing then!"


    Kaede pped.


    "Yeah! Sounds like the two of you have already gone pretty far..."


    Nicole seemed confused after hearing that.


    "Hm? But... he''s never really gotten into it."


    Hearing that, Kaede sounded even more surprised than before.


    "W-What? He really hasn''t gotten into the mood after that? Er... K-Kairos, sorry if this is a sensitive question but are you g-"


    "I''m not gay."


    Kairos immediately cut her off as he felt a headacheing on. Nicole let out a soft sigh.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I thought that before too, but it doesn''t seem to be that. It''s just... he''s always so unresponsive!"


    Kaede let out an inquisitive hum and seemed to be deeply lost in thought like she was actually thinking of the solution to world hunger rather than why Kairos'' thing wouldn''t move.


    It took her quite a while, but she eventually let out a gasp as though she hade to a revtion. The only thing missing was her screaming out eureka.


    "Nicole! Are you by chance childhood friends with him?"


    Nicole hurriedly nodded.


    "Y-Yeah!"


    Kaede quickly followed up.


    "Did you have a lot of contact with him while you were younger?"


    Nicole spent a second thinking to herself before speaking up.


    "I-It was a little more than average I''d say!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched when he heard that.


    "I wouldn''t say that..."


    Kaedeughed when she heard that.


    "I get it now! I know why all your advances aren''t working!"


    Nicole reached out until she was able to grab onto Kaede''s arm, like she was drowning and that was the only thing that could keep her up.


    "Really?!"


    Kaede spoke triumphantly and exaggeratedly.


    "Why, he''s put you in probably the worst ce ever! The dreaded and feared... friendzone!"


    Nicole let out a gasp, but froze up soon after.


    "Um... that doesn''t sound too bad. Why is it so scary?"


    Kaede tutted several times and waved her finger back and forth.


    "You don''t understand. If you''re in the friendzone, then almost all of your attempts to seduce the man will hardly work out properly! Any moves you make will only seem like you''re being friendly instead. Before anything else, you gotta shift how that man thinks of you!"


    Nicole sounded rather distraught.


    "Ah! How do I do that?"


    Kairos cleared his throat and began waving his hand around violently, though they couldn''t see that.


    "Hold on, hold on, hold on. First of all, I''ve already epted her confession, ok? We''re just friends for now, because we''re still in the apocalypse."


    Kaede let out a gasp like she was terribly offended.


    "Friendzoning her after epting her confession?! You''re evil!"


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.


    "How the hell is it friendzoning if I epted her confession? Sure I might be postponing the rtionship but it''s definitely not friendzoning."


    Kaede let out a sigh.


    "Maybe it wouldn''t be if you agreed to be a couple! Why are you even restraining yourself here?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "There''s no time in the apocalypse. Dering ourselves as lovers would just be fake because there really isn''t any time for us to spend with each other to justify that im."


    Kaede suddenly fell silent, which seemed a little random.


    "You... you can''t do something like that!"


    Kairos blinked a few times


    "What do you mean by that?"


    Kaede sucked in a cold breath, like she was in pain.


    "If you really epted it, then you would ept the rtionship! You wouldn''t break it off for something as stupid as not having time! Of course both of you have your circumstances, but that''s why you set those boundaries and... and..."


    She had run out of breath, leaving her gasping for air. By the end, she sounded quite desperate. Nicole spoke to her softly.


    "I-Is everything ok? I''m not that offended by how Kairos dealt with things. I mean ourbel is definitely friends but..."


    Even in the darkness, the sound of her voice made it clear she was smiling.


    "We''re basically a couple."


    Kairos coughed violently.


    "Wait, wait... we''re still friends. Still friends."


    Kaede took a little while to speak but she did eventually rather calmly.


    "Oh... well!"


    She cleared her throat and became cheery once more, which had startled Kairos a little bit.


    "The friendzone is more than just that! I think what''s happening here is that while on paper you think Nicole is your lover, in your mind you still see her as a friend!"


    And now, Kairos got his turn to be confused.


    "What? How does that make any sense?"


    Kaede pped repeatedly, moving past her little breakdown immediately.


    "Of course it makes sense! Why would you feel like that otherwise?"


    Nicole was mumbling something to herself before she tugged onto Kairos'' sleeve.


    "You... think of me as only a friend? I-I don''t hate it but..."


    Kairos let out a sigh as his headache got even worse. But then, he came to a sudden realization. They had been walking in this ce for hours without keeping track of where they came from.


    "Uh, hey does anybody remember the way back?"


    Nicole grumbled.


    "You''re changing the subject!"


    Kairos coughed. Although that was true, it was still a fact that they were indeed lost in this really deep cavern with no clear idea of where the entrance actually was.


    "That''s not important right now. We have to find a way to get back. I... wasn''t paying attention to where we were walking because I was focusing on the conversation."


    Kaede was rather nonchnt.


    "You''re overexaggerating the problem here, we can just walk back, can''t we?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It''s... not that simple."


    He remembered almost getting lost despite not walking that far when he first was in a dungeon. But then, his ear picked up on one of the nearby whispers.

 Chapter 193 Third Floor

    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he listened closely to the nearby whispers. There was one that seemed a little different, prompting him to reach out towards it until he picked that particr crystal up. Holding it up to his ear, the whispers became quite clear.


    "Brother, I''m sorry for deceiving you. Please forget about me and keep moving forward, the exit is deep in the void. As long as you keep walking, you''ll eventually reach the end."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow. For a split second, he was confused as he didn''t remember having a sister. But then as he thought about it, these whispers weren''t exactly targeted at him.


    His mind couldn''t help but sh back to thement Nicole had said a while ago. That Oliver''s sister hadn''t actually betrayed him, but rather tricked him into killing her. He didn''t exactly believe it, especially with how little evidence there was behind that im.


    Yet, the whispers of the red crystal he just picked up made him think differently.


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "This red crystal is saying that the exit is close by. We just have to keep going forward and we''ll eventually reach it"


    Nicole pouted, dismissing everything he was saying.


    "So... do you think of me as a friend or...?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess to put it simply, I don''t really know. The best way I can put it is that I see you as Nicole."


    Nicole pursed her lips together.


    "Mm... ok."


    She didn''t seem thrilled by that answer, but at the very least it satisfied her enough to stop talking as of now. As for Kaede, she was a little curious.


    "Wait, we''re close to the exit? Why are the red crystals helping you?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "It''s not that the red crystals are helping me. From what I can gather, these red crystals are simr to a person''sst thoughts as they die, or something simr to that. I guess for whatever reason, the dungeon doesn''t want these red crystals in here so it''s making us move them out."


    Kaede let out a small huff.


    "And here I was thinking getting out of this floor would be difficult! All we had to do was walk a little bit?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It''s not like we walked a small bit. If I were to give a rough judgment of the time, we were walking for at least a few hours. Going through a pitch ck ce like this is far too unreliable to do, especially as you get further and further."


    Kaedeughed.


    "You''re exaggerating! We hardly even moved,e on."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Sure, sure, whatever. Let''s just focus on moving. The exit should be close."


    With that, the group continued walking through the nothingness. Though, they didn''t do so quietly. After a short moment of silence, Nicole asked for more tips on how to "seduce" people, and Kaede happily responded. Once again, Kairos was subjected to things that he would rather not hear.


    Letting Nicole do this filled him with quite a bit of regret. He was a little worried about the person she would be after picking up all these... strange things Kaede was teaching her. It had gotten to the point that Kairos would verbally interject, but Nicole would just tell him to be quiet and the two of them would continue talking,pletely ignoring his existence.


    It was quite painful for Kairos. The entire time, he reassured himself into believing that they would get out of here soon enough, but as time continued to progress that didn''t seem to be the case.


    By the time an entire hour had passed, Kairos was beginning to lose quite a bit of hope. Were they really going to get trapped in a ce like this, left only to talk about... very unique things?


    But that was when he saw a faint light in the distance.


    Kairos'' eyes widened.


    "Hey, I think that''s the exit. We can finally stop... er, get out of here!"


    Kaede let out a surprised hum.


    "Ah, it really was so close by! Anyway, we can continue this conversation after we get to the next floor."


    Nicole sounded rather excited.


    "Alright!"


    As the group continued to approach the faint light, it got stronger, allowing them to see themselves and their surroundings better. Once they reached the bright blue beam, they were able to clearly see their surroundings. It looked like a cave, and within there were a multitude of red crystals all around the ce, letting out a nauseating cacophony of whispers.


    Kairos looked at the other two and noticed neither of them had picked up even a single crystal.


    "Hey, were you not even thinking about getting more evolution points?"


    Kaede shrugged her shoulders.


    "Well, we can just get these, right?"


    Hearing that, Kairos didn''t know what to say back. In reality, he just wasted his own time, because the crystals left here were more than enough. They wouldn''t even be able to carry all of them.


    Nicole scratched her cheek.


    "Will we have to go back to the entrance for that to count?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos sighed.


    "Well, I''m not going back there, alright? I''m done with this ce."


    With those words, he stepped into the bright blue beam of light. His entire surroundings were filled with blue once more, and a few momentster he found himself in anotherrge expanse once more.


    [You have made it to the third floor]


    It was familiar, as it was the room he was originally trapped in. The ceiling was incredibly high up, while a bright crystal was rotating up in the air, shining rather brightly


    The red crystals he was carrying all began disintegrating, turning into tiny pieces of dust and dissipating into the air.


    [Retrieved Red Crystal - 1 point awarded] x 34


    Everything looked just like what he remembered, but he noticed something near the center of the room. It appeared to be a status panel, but was muchrger than normal.


    [Be the only living creature in the room for over thirty minutes toplete the dungeon.]


    Kairos raised his eyebrow when he looked at it. Though, a few momentster it disappeared entirely. At the same time, two shes of blue light appeared next to him. That light quickly dissipated to reveal both Nicole and Kaede.


    The two of them looked around, taking in the scene around them. Nicole let out a sigh before scratching the side of her head.


    "What are we supposed to do here?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "Right before you guys got here, there was a message that said to be the only living thing for thirty minutes toplete the dungeon."


    Hearing this, both Nicole and Kaede''s expressions froze. After a second Kaede leaped backwards, repeatedly doing backflips to gain some distance. As for Nicole, her eyes went a little bloodshot.


    "I have to... I have to..."


    Her eyes began widening, while she reached her hand out towards her own neck. But as she was doing that, it suddenly froze.


    "Wait, I still need to..."


    She slowly turned to look at Kaede with a hollow gaze. It was very clear that the hours they spent talking early meant almost nothing to Nicole, as she cast it aside that very moment.


    Kaede furrowed her brows and raised her hands up in defense awkwardly.


    "W-Wait, we don''t have to do this, right? I... I was thinking we could be friends!"


    Nicole didn''t say anything, though her answer was rather clear from the way she was looking back at her. The entire time, Kairos decided to observe for a few moments. He wanted to see if Nicole would remember what he had told her earlier.


    That she shouldn''t sacrifice herself for his sake.


    Though, as Nicole''s body gradually became transparent, it was fairly clear that she was hardly thinking at all. Or more urately, she was already dead set on her decision and refused to have any other thoughts.


    Kaede had a rather sad expression on her face, but she tensed up her body and got ready to fight. Though she had a fairly fun time earlier, she wasn''t just going to let herself die just like that.


    Though, she couldn''t help but begin sweating when she saw that Nicole had quite literally disappeared.


    Suddenly, her eyes widened as she suddenly lunged to the side. Right afterwards, she ran up the side of a wall. Then, she shot off of it at an angle, mming into another wall nearby.


    Almost immediately after, she leaped once more.


    Kairos couldn''t really see Nicole. Though he still had faint remnants of his mana vision, it wasn''t enough for him to actually discern much at all just from the mana in Nicole''s body. Perhaps if she stood still and gave him a minute or so, he would be able to find her, but otherwise, she may as well bepletely invisible.


    As such, it made it look as though Kaede was leaping around the ce like she was performing some sort of show. The only exception was the ugly expression on her face showing that it obviously wasn''t some sort of circus show.


    Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how exactly Kaede was detecting Nicole, and just rubbed his chin while he watched.


    At some point, Kaede grit her teeth.


    "You... You''ve forced me to do this!"


    Lighting abruptly burst out from her body, separating into three distinct chains that scoured the area. They moved around as though they had a life of their own. Though, it did not take long for Kaede''s expression to sour even further.


    The three chains suddenly burst into countless tiny little bolts that covered pretty much every area one hundred meters around her.


    Kairos was fascinated, as it looked like she was using the same spell, but for different purposes. He thought to himself rather intensely, wondering how she was able to do that, as he himself had no idea.


    And then he thought about the ability to upgrade the rank of spells. It appeared if a spell was high rank enough, it could be used rather flexibly and essentially be multiple spells.


    As he was thinking this, he began channeling the gale spell silently. From the way things were going, it looked like Nicole was going to win. His n was the moment Nicole used that decay spell, he would use the gale spell like a knife to cut away that decayed flesh.


    Though, as he was thinking that, Kaede began rushing towards him.


    "Please calm her down!"


    However, Kairos simply stood there without moving, which seemed to imply he had no intentions of doing anything.


    It was then that a spot on Kaede''s back suddenly turned gray.

 Chapter 194 Scary Nicole

    A glint shed by Kairos'' eye as he released the gale spell the moment he noticed that a gray patch began to form on Kaede''s back. With a bang, the gale spell mmed into Kaede''s back from the side, ripping off arge amount of flesh and sshingrge amounts of blood into the air.


    Though it caused severe amounts of damage to her, it did save her life from the decay spell as well.


    Kaede cried out in pain when that happened, before copsing onto the ground.


    That was when Kairos called out.


    "Nicole."


    A few momentster, Nicole''s figure gradually appeared. There were a few light burn marks across her skin here and there, but otherwise, she was fine. That is if one didn''t consider her bloodshot eyes.


    "Kairos..."


    Kairos let out a sigh.


    "What exactly were you nning on doing?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side, almost like she was about to fall over. Her eyes remained open, almost like they couldn''t be closed.


    "Killing her."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Alright, alright. That isn''t too bad, but what were you going to do after that?"


    Nicole paused for a few moments. It took her a moment to respond, but she did eventually speak up.


    "Kill myself."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Did you not remember what I told you before?"


    Nicole blinked a few times. Her lips parted ever so slightly as she was lost in thought.


    "...You love me?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched, before he let out another sigh.


    "No, that''s not what I was talking about. I said never to sacrifice yourself for me. Yet look at what you were trying to do."


    Nicole flinched. She began blinking normally afterward, and seemed to slowlye to her senses.


    "O-Oh..."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "You see what you did wrong now?"


    Nicole scratched the side of her head.


    "But... but what else are we supposed to do? W-We can''t stay here forever, right?"


    Hearing this, Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Yes, and that''s why we don''t follow the rules that were set for us. If you really think about the message, you have to also consider that none of it mentioned that you would actually be able to leave the dungeon in the first ce."


    Nicole blinked several times in session.


    "E-Eh? So what do we do?!"


    Kairos smirked.


    "That means we have to make our own exit."


    While this was happening, Kaede slowly stumbled up to her feet. By the time she was standing, the bleeding on her back had stopped while most of the flesh was back, though it was bright pink.


    "S-So... I don''t have to die?"


    Kairos let out a soft sigh.


    "That''s why I hit you with that spell in the first ce. So that you wouldn''t die."


    Kaede slowly nodded.


    "I could tell something was eating away at my body and would''ve killed me in seconds. Th-Thank you for saving me."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t worry about it. I should be thanking you for being a friend of Nicole''s"


    Hearing that, the corner of Kaede''s lip twitched.


    "...Am I a friend? She did just try to kill me."


    Nicole scratched the back of her head awkwardly.


    "Hehe... it was just... in the moment."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "If you ignore the random times that she just goes insane, then she''s a fairly normal nice girl."


    Kaede smiled bitterly.


    "I suppose so. That''s probably the best you can get nowadays anyway. I won''t... hold anything she did against her."


    Nicole smiled.


    "So, what do we do to get out of here? I''m getting a little bit hungry."


    Kairos gave a small nod. He on the other hand felt a pit in his stomach. He also really wanted to eat something. Normally he would''ve just relied on the nature cores as that would fill him up very effectively, he was a little intimidated by the abyss realm and wanted to save as many of the nature cores he could for that time.


    "Honestly, getting out of here isn''t any big deal."


    A small frown formed on his face.


    "Though I did mess up slightly. I was nning on getting Nicole to kill another peak D rank, but I didn''t take into ount the two of you would talk for that long, thus we ended up finding the exit earlier than usual."


    Hearing this, Nicole turned to Kaede.


    "Are you the peak of D rank?"


    Kaede''s face twitched when she heard that. Sweat began dripping from her forehead once more. She was practically stunned after hearing that question.


    She was indeed at the peak of D rank, but really didn''t want to admit it. After all, that would probably mean Nicole was going to kill her. Kaede was a confident person, and also one that didn''t believe she was weak. However, she understood her limits, and fighting against Nicole was far too much for her.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In their battle earlier, Kaede attempted to use the lightning in order to injure Nicole as she wasing after her. However, despite the lightning quite literally being lightning-quick, she wasn''t able to hit Nicole.


    Kaede didn''t think it was because Nicole was particrly good at dodging or anything like that, but for some reason, her attacks just didn''t connect. This made her get a little desperate and cover her entire surroundings with lightning, just to get a little bit of damage on Nicole.


    But still, it didn''t hit.


    Kaede wasn''t naive enough to pin it on some sort of fluke. She understood that no matter what, she for some reason couldn''t hit Nicole. It was only at the brief moment she felt a finger just barely brush by her back did her lightning do anything. Yet, it was also at that moment Kaede felt assured she was going to die.


    That was, until the gale spell that Kairos sent over saved her.


    This left her in a rather sorry state.


    Kairos looked at her and let out a sigh.


    "Look, even if you are at the peak of D rank, it''s not like the rarest thing in the world. I''m sure Nicole can spare at least you."


    Kaede let out a long breath.


    "Ah... I am at the peak of D rank."


    Nicole tilted her head to the side.


    "But why do we have to spare her?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He did not remember Nicole being this... bloodthirsty.


    "She''s your friend no? You can always find someone else. For all we know, a peak D rank might just appear in front of us suddenly."


    Nicole was about to open her mouth, but then a bright blue light suddenly appeared a few meters away. As the light dimmed, it revealed Pablo. He immediately looked around, trying to figure out where he was before setting his eyes on the three in the room.


    He raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh, you guys are already here. Do you know what we''re supposed to do?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, before thinking that it was too good to be true. Regardless, he cleared his throat.


    "Say, are you at the peak of D rank?"


    Pablo gave a small nod.


    "Yeah, I reached it a little while ago using the red crystals."


    Nicole suddenly bolted towards Pablo, who in turn frowned. A bright blue barrier formed around him. Without waiting, he swung his mace, moving it as fast as a whip.


    But it passed straight through Nicole.


    She then reached out, and her finger passed right by that blue barrier before tapping in the middle of Pablo''s chest. Pablo''s eyes widened all the way when he saw this.


    "What? How did you pass through my barri..."


    Pablo''s entire body began to turn gray rapidly from that point, and that included his lungs, which stopped him from talking. His face became mortified as he realized how quickly he was dying, and how helpless he was to it.


    While he died in battle, he died pathetically. There was no tension. He didn''t exert himself to his very limits, nor did he even see his own deathing this way.


    Soon after the fear disappeared, his face morphed into sadness, before it too decayed into a gray substance as well.


    Kaede shivered when she saw this happen.


    "...W-Wow."


    It felt quite terrifying to know that she almost died in the exact same way, with only a few seconds to process that death wasing.


    Nicole smiled.


    "I did it! The third part of the mission ispleted!"


    Kairos let out a chuckle.


    "You did indeed."


    He observed Nicole rather intently, which made her blush slightly. But other than squirming around a little, she didn''t protest whatsoever. That was when Kairos caught onto the red watch that she was wearing. He walked over and lifted the arm that was wearing the watch.


    "How long were you wearing this for?"


    Nicole blinked a few times.


    "Ever since we left the city. I have to be careful, right?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...Take it off for now. There are side effects after all."


    Nicole pouted.


    "But it will make me stronger."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "It''s not like you can''t put it back on. Plus, it''s not like there''s any danger right now."


    Nicole stared back at him for a few moments before slowly nodding.


    "O-Ok..."


    She slowly took the red watch off, and put it into her pocket, though the moment she let go of the watch her breathing became rapid, while she herself crumpled onto the floor in pain.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    She grabbed onto her head tightly with both hands while spasming on the ground. Kairos sucked in a cold breath when he saw this. Seeing this reaction just from taking off the watch, he guessed that wearing it somehow restrained her mental pain, allowing her to continually use her inborn ability without any immediate side effects. Though, it would still end up hurting her after.


    "...Thankfully you took that off earlier rather thanter."


    Nicole didn''t respond, she simply continued screaming and kicking. Kaede sheepishly pointed at her.


    "Is she going to be ok?"


    Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "She''s tougher than she looks. Don''t worry about her. First off, we need to get out of here."


    He reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a tiny green marble. It was what the nature cores became after he drank from them. He still hadn''t forgotten that they could be used to create quite a big explosion.


    He was originally nning on using this to create a river next to their city to dispose of their waste, but right now getting out of this dungeon was the priority.


    He lifted up one of the green marbles before channeling mana into it. The green ball gradually began brightening up.

 Chapter 195 Kaede

    Kairos looked at the marble and figured that it was bright enough before tossing it towards the opposite end of the dungeon.


    After roughly ten seconds, it brightened up enough to appear like a star. Yet, nothing happened other than its continued bright light. His eyebrow twitched when he saw this.


    "...Is it actually a shbang?"


    Hemented over the fact that it may actually not work. The only reason he thought they would explode was that Ling said that it would. He didn''t think that Ling would lie to him, but perhaps the process was actually a little moreplicated than he thought, and it just happened to work out for Ling, thus causing that misunderstanding.


    He let out a sigh as a headache gradually came on.


    Kaede pointed towards the nature core, which even as she spoke was brightening up significantly.


    "What... is that?"


    In response, Kairos simply shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''splicated, but it should''ve been something that exploded... I may have been mistaken."


    Nicole eventually recovered from her pained state before standing back up, though she shielded her eyes with both hands right after.


    "Ah, it looks like it''s going to!"


    And it indeed looked like it was going to, but even for the next few minutes, it just continued brightening, until it was brighter than the floating crystal near the ceiling. Kaede''s eyebrow twitched.


    "D-Did it malfunction?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. With how it was brightening up, it made it seem as though it was just about to explode at any moment, yet wasn''t. It was like a song that just never had a bass drop.


    "I..."


    ? Kairos was about to give up. Yet, once five minutes had passed, he suddenly tensed up.


    And one secondter, a massive explosion ensued.


    Their ears weren''t even able to process the sound. The entire floor shook rather violently, shaking them, knocking them all off their feet, and causing them to hit the ground at various angles.


    A few momentster, Kairos leaped back up to his feet.


    The aftermath of the explosion was rather deadly. A rather massive crater had formed into the side of the wall, whilerge cracks formed all across the dungeon, originating from that crater.


    Kairos could just barely see a peek of the outside world. He immediately began channeling the pulse spell when he realized it wasn''t fully open just yet.


    He rushed over towards the crack, and as he did a message popped up in front of him.


    [Please refrain from destroying dungeons.]


    Kairos smirked and continued rushing forth. He yelled out loudly.


    "Hey! Get up, we need to get out quickly!"


    His ears were still ringing from the explosion, making it hard to even hear himself. The other two were probably in a simr condition, but they both got up and followed him, it seemed that they heard or at least understood his intention.


    Though, as he was charging the pulse spell, he realized that the walls of the dungeon quite literally parted ways. He was rather shocked, as just moments ago they had been automatically mending themselves.


    In the end, he stopped channeling the pulse spell and just leaped out of the opening. Both Kaede and Nicole followed suit, though both of them soon looked down, realizing that this might have not been the best decision.


    Because they were above even the clouds.


    The opening that they had just left directly mended itself, clearly not wanting to take the people it ejected back.


    The three of them began free falling, gradually picking up in speed as they fell. Just as their hearing was restored, they were once again greeted with the roaring sounds of wind in their ears.


    Kaede yelled out.


    "What the hell is this? Why are we so high up?"


    Kairos didn''t respond. He honestly didn''t remember that the third level of the dungeon was far higher than he thought, and this time Ling wasn''t here to just carry everyone around.


    He wasn''t too worried about himself as he knew that the recoil of his spells could help him slow his fall, but he wasn''t sure if the other two had anything like that. With that in mind, he called out.


    "Hold onto me if you need to slow down your fall!"


    He didn''t know how to skydive. He tried a little but wasn''t going in the direction he wanted to, thus decided to just wait for the others. There were a few hups here and there, but Nicole was able totch onto him rather easily. As for Kaede, she was still above him by a decent amount and didn''t seem to know how to fall any faster. Not to mention, she was still quite far away.


    At this point, they passed through the clouds.


    Kaede''s expression became a little grave as she tried to get closer.


    "I... I can''t..."


    Kairos let out a small sigh before channeling the water spell. While holding onto Nicole with one arm, he pointed his finger at an angle, shooting out some water. It brought him up to Kaede, who also desperatelytched on.


    Nicole pouted when she saw this.


    "You''re too close to him!"


    Kaede looked exasperated.


    "I''m just holding on for now!"


    Nicole frowned, still not satisfied.


    "No! At most, you can hold onto his hand!"


    Kaede was about to argue, but it would turn out that Nicole wasn''t negotiating. She reached out to Kaede''s arm, trying to peel it off and letting out a grunt as she did so. Though it was a rather crazy thing to do, at the very least she didn''t cast the decay spell.


    Nheless, Kaede struggled to stay on.


    "Hey,e on! I''ll let go right after we get to the ground!"


    While they were arguing Kairos simply sighed as he pointed his finger toward the floor. A huge jet of water shot out continuously. It didn''t seem to be doing much at first, as their initial momentum was simply too strong. However, after a few seconds, it became fairly clear that they were slowing down. Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He was using quite a substantial amount of mana, yet the effects weren''t that clear. He found it a little ridiculous, as the volume of water shooting was rather massive, far greater than the three of them.


    There seemed to be something that reduced the recoil in the spell, though that ironically worked against him in this situation.


    Nheless, he was confident they wouldnd safely, which they did.


    They hit the ground a little hard, sinking a few feet under the wet dirt. Kaede promptly let go of Kairos as she said she would, not wanting to trigger Nicole any further. As for Nicole, while she clearly appeared displeased, she didn''t make anyment about that.


    Kairos let out a soft sigh then turned to Kaede.


    "So, now that we''re out of the dungeon, what do you n on doing?"


    Kaede looked back rather strangely.


    "Huh? I don''t know. Try to survive I guess."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I probably should''ve rified. Are you gonnae with us?"


    Kaede smiled bitterly.


    "Would I even be wee?"


    Kairos shot a nce at Nicole who pressed her lips together.


    "...Honestly, you were probably the first other person I''ve seen her say more than a few sentences to. I guess it doesn''t look like it, but you get along with Nicole surprisingly well."


    Kaede''s eyes widened in genuine surprise. She slowly turned to look at Nicole, who looked back strangely sheepishly. It took a little while, but Nicole eventually returned the gaze. The two of them looked at each other for a few moments. Kaede shook her head a few momentster.


    "I... Is that really true?"


    Nicole tilted her head to the side slightly.


    "Maybe a little bit?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "The ce where we normally stay is a city. If you want, I''m sure I can get it arranged for you to stay there. But at the end of the day, it''s your choice."


    Kaede raised an eyebrow.


    "A city? You mean like a settlement with some people in it?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "More or less, but those are the fine details that don''t really matter."


    Kaede lowered her head in thought. It was fairly clear that she didn''t expect this. Chances are, none of them expected this would happen given their first interactions. She spent a full minute thinking, and despite that, she was still as unsure as she was just moments ago. For her, it was not a decision that was easy to make.


    In the end, she looked up to Nicole once more, almost like she was reaching out. With a bitter smile, she spoke to her.


    "Hey... do you want me toe with you?"


    Nicole didn''t respond for a good while. She stared back, but she was clearly thinking about it. In the end, the time that they spent together wasn''t all that long. Not to mention, they really weren''t that simr in personality. That made Nicole think that they probably wouldn''t be good friends.


    Yet, at the same time, Kairos was right. It was the first time she spoke so much to someone else willingly. Although there may have been other reasons as to why she did so, nothing would change that fact.


    After a serious moment of contemtion, her lips parted.


    "I don''t know."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I''m assuming you also don''t know, Kaede?"


    Kaedeughed and nodded.


    "I suppose so."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Then how about this? You cane along with us, and if either side wishes to break it off at any point, we will just separate."


    Kaede blinked a few times.


    "I guess we could do that."


    Kairos waved at them before setting off.


    "Then let''s get back to the city. I could really use something to eat."


    Like that, the three of them began walking back to the city. The first hour or so was rather awkward, with neither of them talking at all. Both sides weren''t all thatfortable with interacting anymore. For Nicole, it was because she didn''t like anyone getting closer to Kairos. As for Kaede, she was still afraid of Nicole, especially since she wasn''t even confident in running away from her.


    However, by the second hour, they would asionally speak up, though the conversation would fall through rather quickly, notsting past the third sentence.


    By the third hour, they spoke more than three sentences, though were only having small talk.


    And by the fourth hour, Kairos was beginning to regret bringing Kaede along.


    "One of the things you can also try is calling him a dog, along with other insults!"


    "Ehh? But isn''t that rude?"


    "Trust me, sometimes the humiliation actually makes it more arousing!"


    Because they were getting along a little too well.

 Chapter 196 Conqueror

    Soon, the city was within sight of the three of them. Kaede couldn''t help but gasp in awe that someone was actually able to construct something like this.


    "But... how? The amount of coordination to build walls this high..."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Well, I''m not entirely sure, but I think that it was actually made by only one person."


    The corner of Kaede''s lip twitched.


    "...Huh. I guess my perspective is still too small."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Honestly, there isn''t much to it right now, but it''s something."


    Kaedeughed.


    If this isn''t much, what does that say about everyone else?"


    Nicole giggled.


    "That''s just because we are super strong!"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Above average, at least."


    The gate opened for them, and the three of them got back inside. As they walked back into the city, Kairos noticed that everyone seemed noticeably more rxedpared to normal. From what he could tell, it seemed that all of them were rather well fed.


    In fact, he could even see people that were boiling potatoes with cooking ware they got from somewhere.


    Upon making it back to the center building, they met with Tiana who was waiting at the center entrance. She gave a small wave and nced at Kaede.


    "Hey, who did you bring with you?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "A friend made along the way."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Is that so?"


    Nicole gave a small nod.


    "She knows so many things!"


    Kairos cleared his throat.


    "One other thing that I wanted to say was that I''m going to be leaving for roughly a month soon."


    Tiana''s eyes widened.


    "You just came back, and now you''re telling me you got to leave for even longer?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Sorry. I''m sure you can just ask Quinn about some things while I''m gone."


    Tiana looked back at him for a few moments before sighing.


    "Alright, whatever..."


    She nced at Kaede.


    "There are still some rooms on the third floor, just take one of the ones that aren''t upied."


    Kaede gave a bow.


    "Ah, thank you!"


    She didn''t exactly understand who Tiana was, but she was still able to glean that she had a substantial amount of authority, and thus naturally felt like she had to be more formal. Though, Tiana didn''t really seem to care about her. Instead, she was more focused on Kairos.


    "What are you even leaving for?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It''s for my promotion mission. It''s not like the city will fall apart entirely just because I''m gone for a little, right?"


    Tiana let out a soft sigh.


    "I guess so, but don''t just up and leave randomly, ok? At least tell me before you do so."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Fine, fine."


    With that, Tiana left. Nicole led Kaede up the third floor to show her the rooms she could take while Kairos went to his own room and prepared some food. Nicole and Kaede both came backter, and the three of them went through arge amount of food.


    As Kairos was finishing up he let out a sigh.


    "I guess I''ll be going now."


    Nicole flinched.


    "Y-You don''t mean the leaving for one-month thing, right?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "What else could I mean?"


    Nicole pouted.


    "But it''s too soon!"


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "I am leaving now, but that is so we can spend more time together in the future."


    Nicole let out a sad hum.


    "But does it have to be now?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "The sooner I go, the sooner I cane back."


    Nicole bit the bottom of her lip. She clearly did not want this to happen, but she eventually nodded.


    "...Ok."


    Kairos stood as a small smile formed on his face.


    "I''ll see you soon enough."


    Nicole smiled sadly.


    "Ok..."


    Kaede at some point coughed awkwardly.


    "Uh, see you."


    From there, Kairos left without looking back. As promised, he went over to Tiana''s room and knocked on the door, as he was nning on leaving. Tiana answered promptly and raised an eyebrow.


    "You''re going already?"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Yeah. Is there something specific you wanted to discuss with me before I leave?"


    Tiana thought for a moment before nodding.


    "Come inside. It''s not too important, but I''d prefer if other people didn''t hear."


    Kairos did so without muchint. Once he stepped into her room, he found that it was in a far messier state than before. No, perhaps the better word to use was chaotic.


    There were charts scattered all across the ce, covering nearly the entire ce. It was rather difficult to even walk around. Nheless, Tiana navigated it rather easily, clearly quite used to walking through the ce.


    She led him to a set of folding chairs and the two of them sat down across from each other.


    Kairos let out a chuckle.


    "This ce has gotten... a little crowded."


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "There are more things to keep track of, so there''s no helping it. Regardless, the thing I wanted to tell you about is that soon I should be able to help you from afar. For your promotion mission, it might help out quite a bit."


    Kairos rubbed his chin in interest.


    "Really? How does it work specifically?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Hearing that, Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "I... I''m not really sure. It''s honestly a little confusing."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Is the ability description too vague?"


    Tiana furrowed her brows.


    "No, it''s more like that ability isn''t showing up at all. I don''t know, maybe I''m crazy and that somehow gave me superpowers."


    Kairosughed at first, but his expression gradually turned serious soon after. He quickly realized that the ability must''ve been an inborn one.


    "...Do you mind if I look at your status panel?"


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "I already showed it to you before, so it''s fine. But why do you want to see it?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "I just want to confirm something."


    Tiana looked back at him for a few moments before eventually nodding.


    "Alright then, mister mysterious."


    She opened up her status panel, and Kairos directly took off his sses.


    [ID: 005312430000]


    [Rank: 510/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]


    [Objective: Gain 4490 Evolution Energy and Complete Promotion Mission]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 2436.7]


    [Strength - 30.0


    Agility - 30.0


    Endurance - 30.0


    Willpower - 30.0


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 30.0]


    [Special Abilities: Ruler (D), Beyond Limits Spell (D), Earth Spell (D), Metal Spell (D)]


    [Inborn Abilities: Conqueror (E-)]


    [Hide]


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he read through everything.


    "...You have a lot of evolution points. How did you even get these if you just spent all your time holed up in the city?"


    Tiana smiled.


    "I can get them just for managing the ce. More people there are inside and the stronger they are, the more I get."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "That''s rather unfair. Though... that''s not what shocks me the most."


    Tiana leaned in slightly, looking curious.


    "Oh? And what shocks you the most?"


    Kairos looked intently at the section that mentioned inborn abilities, staring at it intently.


    [Inborn Abilities: Conqueror (E-)]


    He was quite surprised at its rank. After all, his ability was only at F+, and that was considering the fact it used to be F- as well. By now, he figured that the disyed ranks of inborn abilities worked differentlypared to normal ones.


    An ability at E- wasn''t really worth looking at under normal circumstances, especially since it only took ten points to upgrade an F grade one to that point. But it was an entirely different story for E.


    Out of curiosity, he opened up his own status panel, then attempted to upgrade his own inborn ability.


    [Upgrade Shattered Truth to E- Rank with 1000 points? | Yes/No]


    He sucked in a cold breath. Considering he didn''t even have fifty points right now, it seemed like it was going to take quite a while. Hemented over not having Tiana''s cheat to get an overwhelminglyrge amount of points.


    At this point, Tiana had her brows furrowed.


    "What are you thinking about? Just say it out loud! You''re going to kill me with curiosity!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. And at that time, an idea suddenly formed in his head.


    "...Say, how much do you trust me?"


    Tiana stared back at him nkly.


    "I''ve trusted all your calls so far, so I might as well take it all the way."


    Kairos pressed on her inborn ability.


    [Upgrade Conqueror to E Rank with 2000 points? | Yes/No]


    Then, he sucked in a cold breath.


    "Even if that means using up two thousand of your points?"


    Tiana''s eyes widened significantly.


    "Huh? And how would you even do that?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "I''m toozy to exin."


    Tiana clicked her tongue.


    "Fine, just do whatever you were talking about then."


    Kairos gave a small nod before pressing yes.


    Tiana''s status panel closed immediately afterwards, while her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She lurched forward, falling off and taking the chair down with her. Kairos reached out to catch her but stopped in the middle.


    Because before she did fall, her body suddenly stopped, almost like she was suspended in the middle of the air.


    Afterwards, a rather heavy pressure began emanating from her. It made Kairos feel like the gravity suddenly increased several times over, to the point that it became difficult just to stand.


    That was when a translucent purple figure gradually rose out from Tiana''s unconscious body. At the same time, Tiana was slowly lifted back up, until she was standing with her back straight.


    Behind her, was a roughly three-meter tall translucent purple figure of a woman. The woman didn''t resemble Tiana much, since she appeared to have long hair, and also had no facial features. Yet, despite that fact, it looked rather confident. If the figure did have a mouth, it would probably have a confident smirk.


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "What the hell did I just do?"


    Tiana still had her eyes closed, while the purple figure tilted her head to the side slightly. It didn''t make any noise until it eventually grabbed onto Tiana''s shoulders.


    That was when her eyes flew open. She immediately began gasping for air like she was drowning.


    "The hell? What just..."


    She trailed off before slowly turning to look behind her. Her face froze when she saw the purple figure.


    "What the-"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Do you feel different now?"


    Tiana turned back to him.


    "Huh? What?"


    She didn''t seem to understand what was going on, but suddenly her eyes lit up.


    "Wait a minute. You were talking about using two thousand points or something, right?"


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    She then opened her status panel and noticed those points were indeed gone.


    "What did you... do to me?"

 Chapter 197 Face Forwards

    Kairos and Tiana looked at each other silently for a few moments. The purple figure that rose up behind Tiana tilted her head to the side, looking down at the two of them with a questioning gaze.


    Kairos looked up to it and held his chin with his hand.


    "It seems like you got yourself a new friend."


    Tiana''s eyebrow twitched. She simrly gave a nce at the thing above her with apprehensive eyes.


    "I guess so."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Maybe you can try talking to it?"


    Tiana smiled bitterly before shaking her head.


    "No, that thing can''t talk."


    Kairos raised his eyebrow and took another nce at it.


    "And how do you know that?"


    Tiana shrugged her shoulders.


    "It''s kinda just... a feeling."


    Kairos continued staring at the purple figure for a few moments before looking down at her soon after.


    "Then if you can just feel the changes why are you asking me about them?"


    Tiana clicked her tongue and put her hands on her hips. The frown on her face made it look like she had just tasted something sour.


    "I''m asking you because you were the one that did it!"


    Kairos raised his hands in the air as a helpless smile formed on his face.


    "Look, I don''t know what I did, alright? It''s a weird thing."


    Tiana stared at him for a few moments with a stern expression, but after just a few seconds she dropped it along with a sigh.


    "That''s one weird ability you have, being able to ess some sort of hidden part of the status panel."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I''d like to say that the weird purple thinging out of your back is weirder."


    The purple figure raised a fist and shook it at Kairos, as though mad at him. As for Tiana, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. A smirk formed on her face.


    "Yeah, and you''re the one that caused it to happen in the first ce, so you''re clearly weirder."


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately. He slowly raised a finger, then flicked it towards her.


    "Ok fine, you''ve got a point there. But regardless, I really don''t know what actually ended up happening. If you don''t mind sharing, could you tell me?"


    Tiana smiled bitterly.


    "Well I don''t understand all of it right now, but sure. There are a few things I feel like I can do. For starters..."


    She got up out of her chair and reached a hand out to Kairos, cing it on his shoulder for a few moments. The purple figure behind Tiana looked a little reluctant, but it too ended up putting its hand on top of Tiana''s.


    Suddenly translucent purple energy began flowing down her arm and reached him, slowly coating his entire body. Once it covered himpletely, Tiana pulled back with a confident expression.


    Kairos didn''t move most of the time. He slowly raised up his hand and looked at the purple coating around him, though it quickly faded away. However, while it disappeared visually, he could feel something lightly holding onto him. It was so light, that if he didn''t focus he would probably forget about it.


    However, he also had a feeling that he could call upon it.


    "...What did you just do?"


    Tiana let out a soft hum. Her eyes were quite bright.


    "I think you should be able to summon something to help you fight. Can you try it? It should work."


    Kairos thought for a moment before doing as she said. Then, surprisingly enough a purple figure rose from his back as well. It was noticeably less tall and also more transparentpared to Tiana''s, but it was definitely the same.


    Soon after, the figure detached from him and stood by his side.


    Kairos observed it curiously.


    "...How strong is it?"


    Tiana tilted her head to the side with a finger on her chin.


    "Why don''t you try to arm wrestle it? I''d be quite surprised if you win though."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "I guess that''s a quick and easy way to do it."


    The purple figure didn''t seem to need any further instructions. It simply got on one side of the table before getting on its knees and cing an elbow on the table. The hand it had raised looked rather gentle, yet Kairos couldn''t help but feel pressure from it.


    As he simrly got down into position, they wrapped their hands around each other. At that point, Kairos immediately could tell that he had already lost. Although the figure hadn''t used any real force yet, he could feel the rather overwhelming strength of its casual grip.


    Nicole thought to herself for a moment before reaching out a hand and cing it on top of both of their hands.


    "Alright, first so that you don''t break anything..."


    The table suddenly shifted from wood into a lustrous ck metal. From there, she smiled.


    "Alright, when I let go, start!"


    Tiana gave a countdown before releasing her hold. Kairos didn''t hesitate in using his full strength at the start. Immediately, small hairline cracks formed on the table.


    And Kairos was getting pushed back.


    Sweat began pouring down from his forehead. He feltpletely overwhelmed by this thing. He took a look at it, and from the way it looked, it was clear that the figure was just ying around. If it had a facial expression, there would be a teasing smile on its face.


    Kairos smiled bitterly, but he didn''t give up. As the adrenaline began settling in, his grip got a little stronger, enough to at least barelypete with the figure''s current strength. Unfortunately, right after that, the purple figure suddenly increased its strength several times over, mming Kairos'' hand into the table, forming a miniature crater.


    The purple figure pulled back while Kairos let out a sigh after shaking his arm a few times.


    "Ok, I must admit this thing is definitely pretty strong."


    Tiana smiled.


    "I think it''s more than just a strong brute too. It can even do spell casting! Er... well, at least I think they are spells. But that wouldn''t make much sense because I didn''t use any mana to create them."


    She furrowed her brows after saying that.


    "Eh? Wait but how did I even make them if I didn''t use any mana."


    Kairos cleared his throat.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It may be because it''s not an ability provided by the system, but one you just naturally have. Though just because it takes no mana, I wouldn''t abuse it. Chances are, it will probably strain you if you overdo it."


    Tiana slowly nodded.


    "I guess that makes sense."


    Kairos continued to look at the purple figure for a few moments.


    "Honestly, it feels a little too human for me."


    Tiana raised an eyebrow.


    "Isn''t that a good thing? It has enough intelligence to think for itself."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Yes, but I don''t really want something human-like wrapped around my body all the time."


    Tiana rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively.


    "Ohe on, stopining so much about it."


    Kairos was about to respond, but then he felt something in his pocket vibrate. His expression froze as he reached to take it out. It was the blue stone.


    "Hold on, I think those guys we are allied with are calling."


    He channeled mana into the crystal, which revealed Edward''s neutral face. His yellow hair appeared to be singed at the ends, and his face was covered in a decent amount of soot. The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "You don''t look too good over there."


    Edward gave a small nod. A rather loud explosion suddenly came from Edward''s side, and the view shook violently. Yet, despite that, his expression didn''t even change slightly.


    "Currently, the military is attacking our town because they want to steal supplies."


    Tiana walked around to Kairos and peeked over his shoulder. She raised an eyebrow while staring at Edward coldly.


    "And you''re saying that you want reinforcements?"


    To both Kairos'' and Tiana''s surprise, Edward shook his head.


    "Nah. I was just calling to let you know that if this is just part of the group, they may go to attack you guys as well. I''m sure that there might be a few losses on our side, but it will be insignificant."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Really? What if they have a few strongerbatants with them?"


    Edward shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''d prefer to take a risk instead of owing any favors."


    Kairos smirked.


    "You act like you have to give your life or something. I''ll juste over to provide a bit of support. Ah, also I''ll be gone for roughly a month after this, so you''ll have to talk to Tiana about these things."


    Edward stared back for a good few seconds before eventually nodding.


    "Alright then."


    An explosion resounded from behind him, and with that Edward cut the call. Kairos let out a sigh.


    "I''m going to go and help them out. It seems like things are more or less under control, so my help is probably more than enough."


    Tiana let out a small sigh.


    "Alright. I can help out as well I''m pretty sure."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Don''t you have to take care of the city?"


    Tiana smirked.


    "I never said I needed to leave the city to help."


    She stood up once more and tapped Kairos'' forehead. A bright purple light emitted from his forehead before gradually dimming down.


    "Now to be honest, I''m not entirely sure what it does, but it should be helpful."


    Kairos stared back at her with a bitter smile.


    "...That sounds so reassuring."


    Tiana clicked her tongue and crossed her arms.


    "Whatever! Just... go."


    Kairos stood up promptly.


    "On it."


    As he made his way to the door, Tiana suddenly stood up.


    "Wait."


    Kairos turned back and saw that she was biting her bottom lip. Seeing that she wasn''t saying anything, he sighed.


    "I don''t have all the time in the world, you know?"


    A soft smile formed on Tiana''s face.


    "Sorry. Just... stay safe."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "I can''t do that even if I wanted to, but thanks anyway."


    Tianaughed.


    "Ah, and also I''ll give you a headstart too."


    Kairos was about to open his mouth to ask what exactly she meant, but before he even could, he suddenly felt a strong force lurching him to the side.


    The wall suddenly turned into a lustrous ck metal and parted ways, while he wasunched out on a strip of metal. His hair pped wildly in the wind as he shot through the air. He shot a look back at the building.


    Tiana mouthed the words goodbye, and Kairos was also able to see Nicole in one of the windows, staring at him with her mouth agape and tears in her eyes.


    Then, he turned around and faced forwards.

 Chapter 198 The Military

    Kairos shot through the air on top of a small metal tform. His hair pped wildly with the wind, some of which got in his eyes forcing it closed. With a hand, he gently brushed the strands of hair to the side.


    Yet, even then he kept his eyes closed.


    A soft sigh escaped his lips as he continued on. He wasmenting over the fact that he had to leave for a whole month. In fact, he almost even ended up forgetting that he was going over to fight off some soldiers.


    He wondered if Nicole would really be ok with him leaving that long. As that thought crossed his mind, a bitter smile formed on his face.


    Would he even be fine on his own?


    After shaking his head, he slowly opened his eyes once and continued facing forward. This was just something that he had to do.


    As he was being sent forth by the tform he asionally heard loud bangs resounding from behind him. He looked up and noticed a rather familiar strange white light trying toe crashing down on him. Unfortunately for the monsters, he was simply traveling too fast, and they were unable to catch up.


    Watching that made him remember that he didn''t have his mana vision properly activated. With that in mind, he decided to pry it out of the side of his head and put it back in his forehead.


    It was a little bloody, but the mess healed up rather quickly. Though, out of nowhere the metal path underneath him suddenly flung him forward almost like it was a diving board. Kairos was sent flying, just like a bullet.


    And as he was flung forth, he noticed a rather noticeable concentration of mana in the distance.


    It was hard for him to see clearly because it was quite far away, but from what he saw, it looked as though an extremelyrge amount of mana was swirling to be a giant ball. More than therge concentration of mana itself, he was more surprised by the technique.


    Because it was the same one he used to replenish mana into his own body, but in this case, the mana appeared to be revolving outside of the body. It was something he had tried before, but ended up failing.


    As he continued soaring through the air, he gradually came to realize he wasing up on what looked like a small town of some sort. There were walls made out of wooden nks that reached a few meters high surrounding the ce, and in the middle were several buildings that continually became taller and taller as they came closer to the center.


    He himself was about to glide over an apartment off in the distance, but he hooked his foot into the side of the wall to make himself stop. He ended up shattering part of the wall and dragging his foot along, which was not what he nned, but the end goal was reached nheless.


    Kairos walked up to the edge of the building and surveyed the overall situation.


    Like how Edward said, people in military outfits were indeed attacking the city, mostly lobbing grenades over the walls. However, unlike what Edward said, the situation didn''t really look like it was in control.


    There were hundreds of military men surrounding the ce, and they were rather extravagant with their usage of grenades and such, though none of them seemed to have any form of gun whatsoever.


    Along with that, any of the wooden walls were directly blown open, unable to withstand the force of the grenades at all. In fact, a section of the walls was even burning away, possibly because someone set fire to it.


    This entire scene made Kairos narrow his eyes.


    Strangely enough, despite having this much firepower the military wasn''t helping out others. They weren''t even trying their best to survive on their own.


    With all that equipment, they decided it was best to raid other human ces and take everything that they had. This much didn''t really surprise Kairos as he figured almost every single person that set foot on the Earth was scum. Nheless, it still made him feel arge amount of disdain.


    "...What is he doing?"


    Though the situation looked bad, there was one thing that made Kairos think that there might''ve been some hope. The giant ball of mana he had caught onto earlier was actually the work of a person.


    Edward.


    He was standing at the top of the building in the middle. His hand was raised up in the air like he was trying to grasp something. A giant ball of mana was forming on top of it. It had condensed to the point that it could even be vaguely seen by the naked eye.


    Though for Kairos, it was almost as bright as the sun.


    Edward eventually slowly lowered his hand, causing massive amounts of swirling mana to gather andpress. He also ended up using his free hand to try and contain the massive vortex of mana, and surprisingly enough seeded.


    Kairos couldn''t help but smile when he saw this, as he remembered this was the stance that Edward would use all the time as a kid when he pretended to have superpowers.


    Though, this time it looked like the real deal. A bright dark blue ball had formed between his two hands, refined to just over the size of a baseball.


    Then, Edward suddenly brought it forward.


    A massive blue beam shot out from his hands, mming down onto some of the soldiers with an ear-grating explosion. However, it wasn''t just done there. Despite already releasing it, the blue beam continued on. Edward seemed to be sweating in his struggle but was able to actually slowly move the blue beam, causing it to raze all of the soldiers almost like it was a haircut using aser.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The chaos among the army was sudden. They had a formation, but it crumpled apart almost immediately once the beam of death came for them. And they weren''t the only thing to crumble apart either. Many people were screaming out, but it was all drowned out by the sounds of carnage.


    Kairos sucked in a cold breath watching all of this.


    "...Looks like he isn''t a pushover anymore."


    Several of the surrounding buildings were caught in the crossfire, broken by their base before copsing down, making it even more dangerous for the soldiers. In fact, the building Kairos was standing on top of was no exception.


    A violent shaking came from underneath him as the building gradually began to tip downwards. Before he ended up falling with it, he jumped up. Using this time, he surveyed the general area.


    Although the giant beam of death ended up killing arge number of the soldiers, the problem was that there were simply too many and that a decent amount of them had actually been able to just barely run away.


    Though it seemed that their morale was pretty much crushed and it was unlikely for them tounch another attack, Kairos thought it was better to be through anyway.


    "I guess he wasn''t lying when he said that he had it handled."


    He began channeling the pulse spell while in the air.


    Soon enough, he smashed onto the ground, scattering a few stones. Hended next to the aftermath, which consisted of a deep pit that was pitch ck, still emitting some smoke.


    But that was not what he focused on. He could see several people still trying to run away with their hands above their heads, avoiding the falling rubble. Kairos dashed forth and held out his hand which already had faint traces of mana emitting from it.


    A shockwave suddenly burst out of his hand, shattering the nearby rubble and causing blood to burst out of any nearby person''s orifices. All of them died rather easily.


    Without taking a second nce, he continued onwards charging the pulse spell once more. He couldn''t help but think that this was going to take a while. But before he reached the other soldiers, he felt a tap on his shoulder.


    He looked up to see the purple figure looking down at him.


    Kairos stared at it with confusion, wondering what it wanted. But before he could think about it any longer, the floor underneath him broke open, revealing a pir that shot him upwards into the sky.


    As he did, he noticed that there were several spells thrown at him. There were a few icicles, fireballs, and bouldersunched toward him, but none of them hit. The tform underneath him would shift around sporadically, letting him dodge everything without even having to move a muscle.


    Kairos let out a sigh, expecting that the people attacking him were those on Edward''s side mistaking him for an enemy. Yet, to his surprise when he looked for the culprits, they were all soldiers.


    Though many of the survivors were sent into a panic, there was still a decent number that were still on their feet and fighting. As for whether or not it was bravery or stupidity, Kairos didn''t care enough to find out.


    And it would also turn out he wouldn''t have the chance to, as many of them were directly killed off by metal spikes suddenly emerging from the ground. Surprisingly though, most of them were actually able to dodge at least the initial spike.


    After that one woulde many others, eliminating more and more, until only roughly twenty were left in sight. They were all able to easily dodge the spikes.


    Kairos rubbed his chin with interest.


    "She can provide this much help from that far away? Huh."


    As he was thinking that, he saw an incredibly fast bolt of lightning shoot toward him with his future vision. He preemptively slid down the metal pole that Tiana made before suddenly springing off the side of it.


    As he did, a bolt of lightning shot right past his location.


    Kairos looked back at the person, seeing a rather burly man holding abat knife in one hand while the other had three fingers pointed forwards. There were still faint arcs of lightninging off of his body, making it rather clear who was responsible forunching that. He looked at Kairos with a hard expression, one that looked like it wanted to intimidate.


    A smile formed on Kairos'' face when he made eye contact.


    "You''re attacking me when you still have to worry about the guy that killed half your army in one move?"


    The soldier scoffed.


    "I think I''m doing something perfectly reasonable."


    He raised his fingers, which gradually began charging up with dancing arcs of lightning once more, like they were excited.

 Chapter 199 Little Baby

    Kairos suddenly flung himself to the side, as another lightning bolt shot where he just was, mming into a stone and shattering it into pieces. Seeing this, he simplyughed.


    "Hey, hey, I''m not even in the city. Why are you dering me as an enemy so easily? For all you know, I could be an ally. Not to mention, as I said before, you''re ignoring the person that activated that super strong ability as well."


    The soldier simply raised his eyebrow.


    "As if he could use a move like that twice in a row. Besides, I dodged it once, so I can dodge it again. It would be a waste to go for the person well guarded in the city and leave you who is out alone when you''re out in the open."


    Kairos rolled his eyes and began channeling the gale spell.


    "Oh really? You''re just gonna attack me for being a random bystander?"


    The soldier smirked as he raised a finger, steadily gaining charge.


    "You attacked us earlier. Do you really think I''m so blind that I missed you attacking us with all those metal spies? I don''t know who you are, but a bystander is not it."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well... would you believe me if I said that I actually didn''t do that?"


    The soldier responded by shooting three different small arcs of lightning toward him. Two of them were to limit his mobility to dodge to the side, while one was aimed directly at him.


    However, Kairos simply turned his body to the side and slipped in between the gap between the lightning. The edges of his clothes were singed slightly, but they were already in such a bad state that it didn''t really change anything.


    "I''m not sure if you actually want to fight me, you know?"


    A confident smile remained on his face. As for the soldier opposite him, he narrowed his eyes. From the ugly expression on his face, it looked like he really didn''t have the confidence to fight Kairos.


    Yet, a smirk formed on his face right after.


    "Well, that may be what you say, but it''s not like I''m by myself."


    He yelled out.


    "Get your ass over here Brock!"


    Another man in a simr military uniform mmed into the ground next to him. He carried only abat knife, but that knife gleamed with a bright pink red. Kairos raised an eyebrow when he looked at it. It was a rather random thought, but he thought that Nicole might''ve liked it.


    From what he remembered, it was a color that she liked.


    He rubbed his chin in thought before calling out.


    "Hey, if you can hear me, Tiana, make a metal spike next to me."


    Shortly after, a metal spike suddenly jutted out right next to him. He gave a small nod. On the other hand, the two men opposite him frowned. The one with the knife seemed to want to talk, but the other one held up his hand to stop him.


    From there, the both of them began channeling spells, clearly getting ready to fight. As for Kairos, he wasn''t paying attention at all. Instead, he looked at the metal spike as if that was Tiana.


    "Hey, could you bring back that red knife to Nicole? I think she''d like it."


    There was no response. Kairos saw a purple figure emerging from his back and looking at him with a disapproving re and its arms crossed. His eyebrow twitched.


    "What? It''s not like I said something wrong."


    The purple figure proceeded to point at him like a mother lecturing their child before creating many other gestures just like it was talking. Unfortunately, all of it was lost on Kairos who was only able to gather for some reason it was a bad decision.


    He scratched the side of his head.


    "Ok fine, I can just get it myself."


    Suddenly, one soldier pped the other on the back, causing strong arcs of lightning to dance across his body. Logically, it should''ve been something that damaged him, but for whatever reason, his movements suddenly became sharper and faster.


    That was when the charged-up soldier bolted forth, swinging his bright red knife forth, which began to glow almost like it was put into a furnace.


    Yet, before it reached Kairos the knife was suddenly snatched out of his hand. It was a small and unassuming metal w that snatched it up, before sinking into the ground sneakily with the knife.


    The soldier that was just robbed gasped.


    "What the- wait, my weapon I''ve been using for so long! I..."


    The other soldier had his eyes wide open, clearly showing his disbelief.


    "Spells can even do something like that?"


    Kairos looked back at the purple figure strangely.


    "Didn''t you mean that she didn''t want to do that? I was willing to do it on my own."


    For whatever reason the purple figure only seemed to get angrier, pointing at him like how kindergarteners would bully people. The only problem was theck of sound, making it all rather unintimidating.


    The soldier with the weapon stolen dived for it after a momentary shock, his hand mming into the ground and scattering both rock and dirt in the air. However, he was just a tad bit too slow.


    "Fuck! Give me my weapon back!"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Heye on, it was a girly color anyway. It would be more fitting if a female used it, don''t you think?"


    The soldier looked back with a re.


    "I''m gonna kill you!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The other soldier also looked pretty pissed off and began rushing towards him as well.


    "I''m right behind you!"


    Kairos chuckled as he raised his spear. He hadplete confidence in this fight. For one, there was Tiana that was helping him, but even if she didn''t, Kairos could tell that his Alone ability was activated.


    In other words, any spells he casted would be several times more powerful than normal. He doubted that either of them would be on guard for something like that. With that in mind, he began channeling his gale spell discreetly, which made holding the spear a little awkward as one hand all the fingers straight.


    The man that had lost hisbat knife directly pulled out another metal one, however, it didn''t look like the strongest thing. Kairos lunged forth and whipped his spear horizontally just like a spear.


    The man deftly jumped over it, avoiding the swing entirely. However, this was what Kairos wanted. While he was in the air, his spear spun around him to instead be an overhead sh.


    With a frown, the man brought thebat knife up to block.


    With a bang, the spear met with the middle of the knife. And right after, a few concerning cracking sounds emanated. The de of thebat knife was shattered into pieces, causing the man''s eyes to widen exaggeratedly.


    "Fuck!"


    Kairos wanted to pull back and give onest sh to finish him off, but his teammate rushed forth and released three chains of lightning. Kairos decided not to challenge that and ducked back while he dodged it.


    After backing up, the two soldiers recovered themselves. They even went as far as to reassure each other.


    "It looks like normal weapons just aren''t up to snuff anymore."


    "That just means we have to use our fists like the old days!"


    A sinister smile began forming on Kairos'' face.


    "You guys care for each other a lot, don''t you?"


    The two soldiers looked back at him defiantly, not responding to his taunts. Instead, they began muttering to each other, creating a n of attack. Seeing this, Kairos let out an exaggerated sigh.


    "It would be a shame if one of you happened to die."


    A sadisticugh came after. The expressions of both soldiers hardened, but other than that they didn''t seem perturbed. Kairos was rather curious. It seemed that these two were a little harder to provokepared to average people.


    However, it should be fairly easy to agitate them if one died.


    The three of them came to a sort of standoff, just staring at each other for a little while. asionally, one of them would nce over their shoulders, almost like they were debating the possibility of someoneing to back them up.


    After a while, Kairos let out a sigh.


    "I know it takes time to make a n, but that doesn''t mean you should give your opponent enough time to prepare, you know?"


    One of the soldiers smirked.


    "Oh really?"


    Kairos saw in his future vision that tworge rectangr pieces of stone would suddenlye up and m into him, simr to how a person would close a book. His leg tensed up, ready to dodge.


    However, he stopped himself.


    The tform underneath him suddenly rose, ready to p him. Yet, they suddenly turned to a lustrous ck before freezing in ce. A smirk formed on Kairos'' face as he raised his hand.


    "Yeah, really."


    This was a gale spell he channeled for twenty seconds. It hurt a bit to maintain, but it was manageable. Then he released it, making sure that only one person would get hit in the process.


    It was silent for just a split second, then the next moment a devastating bang resounded.


    The gale spell shed straight through his target, splitting him vertically in two and throwing his body backward. Parts of it even hit the ground, sending smashed rock into the air and causing arge rift to form in the floor, almost like an earthquake.


    The surviving soldier''s eyes widened all the way as he stared at the corpse beside him. A nasty frown formed on his face.


    "You..."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Hey, you should be more careful. Looks like today''s a little windy. Don''t want to get fall over because of it."


    A smile formed on his face as he finished his sentence. As for the soldier, he remained dead silent for a second, seemingly mourning the loss. But right after, he rushed towards Kairos wordlessly.


    Since he didn''t have a weapon, he balled his fists tightly, while arcs of lightning began dancing across his body making him go faster.


    And he did end up being a tad bit faster than Kairos.


    First, the man swept a leg towards his ankles, but Kairos saw iting so easily and got out of the way, letting it brush past. Afterward, without being discouraged, the man proceeded to deliver several fast jabs forth.


    Yet, Kairos was able to dodge them all as well.


    At one point, he saw a good opportunity and leaped up, doing a flip over the man and plunging his spear downwards as he did so. The soldier wasn''t prepared for it, but was able to brace himself by holding his arms above his head.


    The spear pierced through both arms easily. From there, Kairos twisted the spear at an angle, causing him to m into the ground all the while flinging the soldier upwards.


    A smirk formed on his face.


    "You may be trained on how to fight normal humans, but when everyone is just a little bit stronger, you''re just like a little baby..."

 Chapter 200 Sneaky Smile

    The soldier seemed rather ticked off by Kairos, but he couldn''t really focus on that as he was currently in the air and unable to tell which way was up or down. Just when he was about to regain his bearings, he was grabbed by the back of the head and was suddenly mmed down to the ground.


    Naturally, this was done by Kairos. He let out a soft sigh after aplishing this.


    "Anyway, I''d like to ask you a few questions, if you don''t mind."


    The soldier did his best in struggling, but the moment he did Kairos'' spear mmed through his chest, gliding right by his heart.


    "Hey, you gotta be a little more careful while moving. Imagine if this thing hit your heart!"


    The soldier promptly stopped struggling. But while he remained still, it was fairly clear that the man was still quite defiant. Kairos expected that much, but he felt the question he had was rtively reasonable.


    "Are you all just working on your own, or are there even more soldiers somewhere out there?"


    The soldier didn''t respond. This prompted Kairos to roll his eyes.


    "Look, you''re going to die, that''s for sure. But it doesn''t have to be that painful, you know?"


    Once again, the soldier didn''t say anything. Kairos clicked his tongue. He couldn''t help but think that he wasn''t cut out for this kind of interrogation thing. But then, he remembered something Tiana had told him rather long ago.


    That it was better to be cruel and act on your threats. That way, they would know they would lose hope in being able to just slip by. The way Tiana did that was by killing their friends in front of them.


    The only problem that Kairos faced was that he already killed the friend. He promptly looked around, but there weren''t any more of those soldiers in his line of vision. A frown formed on his face as he realized there weren''t many options to threaten him.


    With a sigh, he raised his spear once more, pulling it out of the man''s body before plunging it into where his liver was. The man let out a muffled groan of pain and convulsed.


    Once he calmed down a bit, Kairos spoke slowly.


    "Losing a liver is quite painful, but at least you won''t die from it. That way it can be extra painful. Isn''t that great?"


    The soldier was mute like always. Kairos narrowed his eyes, realizing that he would rather die than share any information with him, not to mention his pain tolerance was quite high. It pissed him off quite a bit. All he wanted to know was if there was another big group he should worry about.


    Kairos'' eyes thennded on the other soldier''s corpse which was split in half. An idea gradually began forming in his mind.


    With the spear, he dragged the soldier''s body across the ground, getting closer to it. Then, like he had done it several times before, he used one hand to pick up one of the halves by the skull, then he grabbed onto the soldier''s head to make him face it.


    "Look at that. It''s the person who died right next to you. If you just reached out and pushed him out of the way, you could''ve saved him. But you let him die, all because you just couldn''t bear the risk of getting hit yourself.


    The soldier grimaced.


    "Shut up!"


    Kairos smiled when he heard him finally speak up. Naturally, he did not stop and even shook it a little. Even while just holding up that half, the mushed-up brain gradually began leaking outwards. As for the eyes, they were extremely reddened and also distorted, all the while rolled up. The jaw hung loosely, and even ended up falling off,nding on the ground.


    The soldier sucked in a deep breath.


    "Really? You''re even mocking the dead?! What the fuck is wrong with you?"


    Kairosughed.


    "Oh, no, no, no. I''m not mocking the dead. In fact, I''m mocking you. Just take a look at your friend here. He agrees with me!"


    With that, he proceeded to bob the head up and down above the detached jaw while making an exaggeratedly deep, but shrill voice.


    "Why didn''t you save me? You let me die! You let me die! How could you?"


    The soldier looked rather agitated.


    "Shut up! Shut the fuck up!"


    Kairos didn''t realize it, but a sadistic smile gradually crept up on his face. He continued on with his little puppet show.


    "You can''t even protect your friend? What kind of trash are you? One that just lets others die so you can prolong your life for just a few seconds? You shoulde die with me! Do you hear me? Do you hear me, you friend killer? No, brother killer!"


    The soldier grit his teeth.


    "I said shut up!"


    He suddenly pushed off of the ground while strong electrical currents emitted from his body. However, Kairos was able to see iting rather easily. He preemptively got off the man''s body. From there, he grabbed the man''s wrist with one hand, then pushed down on the elbow with the other.


    A crisp snap rang out.


    Kairos'' hands were burnt fairly badly by the lightning, but it was nothing serious for his level of endurance. Instead, he focused on pulling off the arm and tossing it to the side. As for the soldier that just pushed off the ground, he once again copsed, not expecting this shift of events.


    Without worrying about a thing, Kairos broke the man''s other arm and pulled it off as well. There was a faint smell of charred meating from Kairos'' palms, though he ignored it.


    The soldier cursed several times, and attempted to roll around, but was prevented by the spear that Kairos had imnted within him. He sighed once more.


    "Hey, it was your choice on whether or not you wanted this to be easy. All I wanted to know was if there were more than you. It''s not like I asked you where this base was, or their strengths. I don''t even care about their numbers. It''s information that I''d end up getting sooner orter anyway, yet you struggle this much just to keep it. I bet all the people you let die already saw your stupidity and are cursing you from the grave for it too."


    The soldier attempted to crawl away, using his legs. Unfortunately, he was only able to get a few centimeters forward, as the spear was still lodged into him. By now, the lightning over his body had died down. Seeing this, Kairos proceeded to snap both of the man''s legs, making sure to tear them off.<novelnext></novelnext>


    From there he brought his face next to the man.


    "You already know how pathetic you are, don''t you? Why are you even holding up this false pride, trying to trick yourself into thinking you''re some sort of proud warrior? No matter how hard you try, you can''t hide from the truth. You can''t hide from your own actions. At the very least you could make something a little more convenient for someone else."


    At this point, the soldier had been crying silent tears. And after an extended period of silence, he eventually spoke.


    "There are no others."


    Kairos gave a small nod before letting him go.


    "I see, so this is only a small part of the force you have."


    The soldier looked back at him with confusion.


    "No, I said there are no others! This is all we have."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Then why is everyone suicidally charging in without consideration for the numbers? Of all ways to act on a suicide pact together, this isn''t one of them. It''s almost like you''re pressured by someone stronger for whatever reason."


    The soldier grit his teeth.


    "If you were so sure of that, then why did you even bother asking?!"


    Kairos chuckled while shrugging his shoulders.


    "Just wanted to double check. Plus, I know the type of person you are. For all I know, you guys might''ve actually just wanted to die. But what I can be certain of, is that your kind never tells the truth when it matters."


    Before the soldier could speak any longer, his spear swept forth and beheaded him, cutting him off. At the same time, he noticed about a dozen or so other soldiers pointing at him in the distance.


    It seemed they saw what he did.


    A smirk formed on his face. He intended on taking care of them too, but then the crystal in his pocket began heating up. With a raised eyebrow, he took it out and channeled mana inside.


    Edward''s face appeared and he spoke instantly.


    "Come to the headquarters. It will be easier to kill them that way."


    Kairos blinked a few times before nodding.


    "Alright."


    With that, he walked into one of the many holes within the city. Something he almost immediately noticed was that countless people had been badly injured. Although many of the soldiers had died, there were still casualties on this side.


    Many people were on the floor crying out in pain because one of their limbs was blown off by a grenade. Some others were already separated into multiple pieces and charred badly. Then there were some people with their eyes wide open, staring at the sky. Large portions of their body had been charred, but they were still just barely alive.


    Still staring into the sky.


    To his surprise, there was essentially no resistance when he walked through the city. It didn''t seem like there was a single guard anywhere. In fact, it wasn''t just him. He could see in the distance many soldiers were having free reign, killing people left and right.


    He decided to ignore it and scaled up the buildings to get to the one in the center. This time, a few people ended up seeing him and looked like they were gonna stop him, but stopped after seeing who he was.


    Eventually, he made it up to the top, climbing up next to Edward. He shed a small smile.


    "It looks like the ce is getting ruined. Are you sure you have it all under control?"


    Edward slowly nodded.


    "Yeah, the only people that are dying are the useless ones. None of the actualbatants were killed, so we suffered essentially no loss."


    Kairos blinked a few times, not expecting him to say that.


    "...Alright. Anyway, it seems like this isn''t going to be thest of them. There seems to be even more of these guys. On top of that, despite seeing what you could do they''re still charging in."


    Edward sighed.


    "That is fair enough, considering I can''t really do it now anymore."


    Kairos shrugged.


    "It''s surprising you even have that much mana capacity to do something like that anyway."


    Edward stared back at him passively.


    "But my mana is almost full right now."


    Kairos looked at him strangely.


    "Then why can''t you cast another one?"

 Chapter 201 Leaving

    Edward looked back at Kairos with a rather tired look. It seemed that he had been asked the question of how this spell worked so many times it triggered something within him. But regardless, he answered.


    "When I cast that, I am relying on the mana close by in the air in order to form it. I don''t know how to use my own mana for the actual formation, so I gather a small amount of mana and swirl it, letting it growrger andrger."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "This naturally takes a long time. However, the mana that gathers, the stronger the pull, causing a snowball effect. Now that most of the mana in the area is gone, it will take several times longer than usual to do the same thing."


    Kairos rubbed his chin before giving a small nod.


    "So something like this?"


    He began revolving the mana in his own body around. It was noticeably more difficult to gather mana, but since mana concentration in his body was high, the pull was also fairly strong. A decent amount of mana was pulled and funneled into his body. Though, it did not take long for him to be full on mana, meaning he couldn''t absorb any more.


    Edward normally didn''t have much of a reaction to anything, but his eyes widened slightly out of genuine surprise.


    "Huh. You know how to do it as well? And you can even manipte the mana inside your own body?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess so, but I don''t know how to manipte mana outside my body like you. If anything, it feels like you know more than me, able to harness all the mana around you."


    Edward raised an eyebrow.


    "Huh. So you can move mana inside your body, while I can do it on the outside. Well, regardless of whatever is more impressive, it gives me an idea."


    He raised his hand up to the sky.


    "Can you stand behind me and begin gathering mana?"


    Kairos gave a small nod, already understanding what he had in mind.


    "Alright."


    He was already full on mana, but began circting it. However, before any of the mana could even reach his body, it was instead pulled away to Edward''s palm. In just a matter of moments, a rotating sphere of mana formed in his hands.


    Both he and Kairos continued to gather mana, which was mainly supported by Kairos at first. However, once just a minute passed by, the ball of mana was already attracting more mana than him. He kept circting, though the difference he was making very quickly became less and less significant.


    Once two minutes had passed, he didn''t bother with channeling anymore, as the ball of mana next to Edward had already be massive, swirling like a hurricane. Edward peeked up at the sphere, and his mouth hung slightly agape, showing his shock.


    "That was fast..."


    A few momentster, he stopped circting, and instead pulled it back,pressing it in between his two hands, turning it into a bright dark blue ball. And it was noticeablyrger thanst time.


    From there, he let it loose once more, wreaking havoc on the soldier army. In fact, Edward was rather brutal, even attacking parts of his own town, razing down walls, houses, and even people on his side that were still alive. Kairos made sure to get out of the way as Edward was turning around, and it was easy to do so as he was moving slowly.


    It was rather vicious if that attack wasn''t bad enough already. However, because of that apathy, he ended up killing every single soldier in sight. All that remained was a charred outside and countless toppled buildings in the distance. Strangely enough, all of the rubble and debris formed a rickity barrier around the ce.


    Kairos blinked a few times after witnessing it all happen.


    "Huh. It kinda feels like old times, where we just had that strange synergy with each other."


    Those words weren''t really filled with any intention. They somewhat just slipped out as he thought about it. Hearing this, Edward didn''t respond for a good few seconds. But eventually, a small smile formed on his face.


    "Yeah... it kinda does."


    The two of them stood in silence for the next few seconds. As for all of the other people within the town, they were simrly silent staying in ce. But that was because they were all in shock by the devastation. Though most of them knew what Edward could do already, seeing that first shot was enough to rattle them. But then he followed up with an even stronger one that seemed to take far less time to cast.


    It was a mountainous amount of power. One that was on the level of natural disasters yet was just at the fingertips of one person.


    In this silence, Kairos eventually spoke up.


    "By the way, I''m going to be going away for roughly a month. If you want to talk, it''s going to have to be with Tiana. She can hear us right now, and I''ll just hand themunication crystal off to her."


    Momentarily after, a small metal w appeared on the ground underneath them. Kairos took out the blue crystal andid it there, after which it promptly retracted underneath the ground once more.


    Edward gave a small nod.


    "I see."


    Once again, they fell into silence. Both of them involuntarily began thinking of their times as children, where there was practically never a moment of silence between them. But now...


    A mor began to rise among the people in the city, in particr, the stronger ones scaled the sides of buildings and got up next to Edward with big smiles on their faces.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Nice work, Edward! You basically just soloed the entire damn army!"


    "Edward! You''re so damn strong, you''re basically a nuclear weapon at this point!"


    "I always knew that you were powerful, but never in my life did I imagine you were this good at it!"


    Kairos smiled bitterly before turning to Edward.


    "Seems like you have your hands full now and the army is already dealt with. I''ll be going."


    Edward gave him a nod without even looking at him. Kairos wasn''t offended by it and just left, avoiding the crowding group that was forming around Edward. He leaped off the buildings one after another until he eventually left the city.


    He continued on past, venturing back into the city. While the vige was still in view, he gave it onest nce before going forth once more.


    His destination was where Kian had told him to meet. Kairos went a little bit of a long way, but using several sights he remembered he was able to make it back there rather easily.


    Upon getting there, he saw countless trees nted, all with vaguely horrified faces on their trunks.


    Kairos gave a quick nce before yelling out.


    "Hello? Kian, are you there? It''s Kairos."


    There was no response. His eyebrow twitched as he called out a few more times, but once again there was nothing. He let out a helpless sigh and looked around the ce. After a moment, he came up with the idea of leaving a note. He went to a nearby tree that wasn''t one in the garden and carved a message using his spear.


    "I will be gone for roughly thirty days at the point I have made this message -Kairos"


    After looking it over, he let out another sigh. He currently only had fourteen of the nature cores, which was far from his ideal count. But at the same time, he had no ns of waiting for Kian when he may very well never show up.


    Perhaps that was a reckless decision, but he really did want to get the promotion mission done and over with.


    With that in mind, he only stood there for a minute or so before decisively leaving. He made his way through the forest, walking until he felt like nobody was around. With that, he opened up his status panel.


    "After everything... I''ve finally gotten to this point."


    From there, he called for teleportation, after which he felt a giant void underneath him. He intuitively understood what he had to do.


    Fill it up with mana.


    And that''s exactly what he did. As he had done before, he began circting his mana, all the while also channeling mana into this void. There was nothing at first, but he realized something underneath him gradually lit up.


    It was a tiny spot of bright blue, just barely peeking out from underneath his foot.


    Seeing that, he just continued on without much thought. His eyes surveyed his surroundings for any monsters in the distance that might interrupt him. The few insects that were nearby were driven away once they sensed a fairly strong concentration of mana.


    Time continued to pass, and the bright blue shining underneath him gradually spread out into branches.


    After a little while, he just barely caught onto a monster far in the distance. As it got closer, Kairos got ready to stop channeling and fight. Yet, strangely enough, the monster suddenly backed off.


    He thought about it for a few moments before realizing that it was scared of the mana. It seemed that for whatever reason monsters were naturally afraid of too much mana. Whileing to that revtion, he found that was rather convenient for his current situation.


    And so, he wasn''t disturbed for quite a while.


    As the pattern underneath him began to form, he realized that it was slowly bing a giant intricate pattern, almost like a snowke. The closer he looked at it, the more he realized that it was even moreplicated than he expected.


    This made him think of his first encounter with a teleportation circle. It was near the start of the apocalypse, and it was with The Church of Evolution. Somehow or another, they had ess to incrediblyplicated magic right at the start.


    He let out a sigh and shook his head.


    At the very least, for the next thirty days, those people probably wouldn''t be a problem.


    After a few hours had passed, he found that the magic circle was finally on the verge of beingpleted. The mana was rather overbearing on him, creating quite a bit of pressure. And that was despite the fact it wasn''t being used offensively.


    But despite that, he caught onto someone in the distance from the corner of his eye.


    It was a girl with white hair and a bloody body. However, that blood was dark green. She screamed at the top of her lungs.


    "WAIT! PLEASE WAIT FOR ME!"


    Yet, ck hands suddenly appeared out of the ground and pulled Kairos into the ground.

 Chapter 202 Ball Of Black Blood

    A somewhat stupefied expression formed on his face as he looked at the desperate expression on the girl''s face. However, it did not take long for his vision to be clouded by the ck arms pulling on him.


    His feet began sinking into the ground like he was in quicksand and at the same he felt a strong pull on his feet, causing him to sink down further. It felt exactly like countless demons attempting to drag him down to hell with him.


    And honestly, Kairos felt like that wasn''t too far off.


    Yet, at the same time, it would make one wonder why that girl was so desperate to simrly go down with him. Not that he would''ve taken her. For one, he had to go by himself if he wanted toplete his mission. And even if he wanted to bring her along with him, it was already toote.


    And so, while wondering about the girl he just saw, everything around him became ck.


    He began to feel the sensation of freefalling which was rapidly speeding up to a dangerous rate. Yet, at the same time, there was no sound, not even the roaring wind that normally came with moving down that fast.


    Kairos took a look around, but nothing changed whatsoever. There was no light, so he could not perceive any perspective. He could''ve been falling in the narrowest tube or a canyon for all he knew.


    As he continued downwards, the warning signals in his mind grew stronger and stronger. It felt like ring rm bells were ringing throughout his entire body, desperately asking for him to take action. In the end, he decided to trust it, attempting to channel a spell.


    However, he quickly found out that he couldn''t actually do anything. After a few minutes, he realized that he waspletely immobilized and that even his perception of looking around was aplete illusion.


    In other words, he couldn''t do a single thing other than trust whatever the system had prepared for him. It wouldn''t just make him take a teleportation circle that made him fall to his death, right?


    Just as he had that thought, he felt an extreme pain course throughout his entire body, while his mobility was restored. Unfortunately because of his future vision, he ended up experiencing it twice, which really shook him up.


    He quickly broke out of his daze and tried to get up on his feet, and found, strangely enough, he wasn''t injured in the slightest. It was all phantom pain.


    That was when a system notification appeared in front of him.


    [Time Left Before Teleportation: 29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds remaining]


    He narrowed his eyes. Now, Kairos was officially in this Abyss realm. And immediately, he felt a sense of weakness spread throughout him once he came to a realization.


    He couldn''t see at all.


    Although there were tactile sensations telling him that he was indeed standing on the ground, he couldn''t even see himself. Even when it was nighttime at the surface, he could still see as a normal person did in the day, even with just a little bit of moonlight.


    In other words, it had to be pitch ck, wherever he was.


    A deep frown was on his face. He really did not want to traverse through the ce blindly, lest he slowly walk into a trap that his future vision couldn''t bail him out of. This naturally meant the only real option he had was to channel the fire spell to make some light.


    But that was also shining a spotlight on himself. If there was anything hiding in the darkness, they would all be alerted.


    Kairos cursed under his breath before raising his finger into the sky, channeling the fire spell. Though he didn''t like the idea, he also couldn''t think of anything better. It did not take long before a fireball formed above the tip of his finger.


    It gradually expanded as he channeled more and more mana into it, and it did end up lighting things up. However, there was just one small issue.


    By the time the fireball was over three meters wide, he could only just barely see himself. If he stretched out his hand, he wouldn''t be able to see it. What he could make out was what looked like tiny ck kes all around in the air, something he didn''t actually feel.


    Kairos felt a bit of panic settling in.


    He had the intention of throwing the fireball, trying to see if he could light the way. But that was when a voice called out to him.


    "Hey! Cool it with the goddamn sr re! What are you? A lighthouse?"


    Kairos stopped channeling the fire spell, though the fireball was still at the tip of his finger.


    "...I can hardly see without this thing."


    He then heard the sound of someone clicking their tongue.


    "Without? How the hell can you see with it?"


    After a few seconds of contemtion, Kairos let out a sigh.


    "Is there anywhere that''s safe to throw a giant explosion?"


    The voice seemed taken aback, as they took quite a while to respond.


    "Er... pretty sure anywhere is fine, just don''t throw it at me."


    Following his advice, he threw the fireball into the opposite direction, causing a loud explosion. Kairos could feel the strong wind push into him after releasing it. And right when it did explode, was a very brief moment where he could see somewhat.


    He wasn''t able to see the person talking, but what he was able to make out was that on top of this ce being dark, the ground was also pitch ck as well, almost like it was there to fit the theme.


    The voice sucked in a cold breath.


    "Fuck, what kinda core allows you to do that? Gah, my eyes..."


    Kairos blinked a few times, still confused. As for the voice, it let out a sigh before falling silent for a few seconds. Kairos extended his future vision to two seconds to prepare himself, just in case the voice meant harm.


    In that silence, the voice eventually spoke up, with clear confusion.


    "Wait... you have ck hair? Is that because of one of your cores?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Honestly, I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    The voice was mumbling something, speaking like a crazy person in denial.


    "No... no... that doesn''t make any sense... but.."


    Kairos took a deep breath.


    "What doesn''t make any sense?"


    The voice seemed to break out of his stupor when he heard that.


    "Ah, it''s just... I thought of something stupid, even though it isn''t possible. You maintained your skin really nicely though. If it wasn''t for the fact that this is the fourthyer, I might''ve thought that you were actually an Untainted person."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "And what if I was a living person?"


    The voice didn''t respond for a good few moments.


    "...Then you must be the luckiest person alive."


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "And how is that?"


    The voice clicked his tongue.


    "Are you kidding me? I''m sure you know what kind of things exist around here. Even if you just got here, there''s still the third and secondyer. Even the luckiest of the Untainted can at most reach the secondyer. The thirdyer is frankly impossible."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "And what if I directly went to this fourthyer, skipping past all three?"


    The voice responded after a short moment.


    "...Then the Monarch that sent you here probably hates you. An Untainted doesn''t stand a chance in thisyer."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "In other words, you''re telling me I should be afraid?"


    The voice let out a silent curse.


    "...Huh. Well, not really."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Why so?"


    The voice sounded helpless.


    "If you really are an Untainted, then you''re just dead. There''s no point in worrying over it because that''s just a fact."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "You keep saying Untainted this, Untainted that. What if I be whatever this Tainted is?"


    The voice paused for a moment, but was still dismissive.


    "You don''t have the experience. You''ll end up dying."


    Kairos smirked.


    "Try me."


    The voice was rather surprised by his confidence.


    "Hm... it doesn''t sound like you think this is a dream. In fact, you really are taking this really well. Even when I first got here, I wouldn''t be asposed as you. You know what? Fine, I guess at least I''ll be able to see if you''re all bark or not. Hold out your hand."


    Kairos blinked a few times before doing as told. He soon felt a cold spherical object touch his hand. It was actually quite simr to the nature cores, but just a decent amountrger. He felt and moved it around between his fingers. It was smooth and soft to the touch.


    "What is this thing?"


    The voice cleared its throat.


    "Oh yeah, you have no idea what it is. It''s a ball of ck blood, which is worth quite a bit, may I add."


    Kairos sighed.


    "Ok, so what am I supposed to do with it?"


    The voice spoke as though it was obvious.


    "Eat it, what else would you do with it?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Trying to poison me or something?"


    The voice seemed offended.


    "Here I am giving you an entire damn ck ball, which is worth quite a bit by the way, and you don''t even appreciate it. You even go as far as to use me? There has to be a limit to how ungrateful someone can be..."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And what exactly is eating this going to do to me?"


    The voice took a deep breath.


    "Ok, fair enough, I didn''t exin. I guess you really are new to this ce. When a person first has some ck blood, it will take over the body. Many different normal functions will cease while your body adapts to it. Generally speaking, your heart will stop... under most circumstances. But it will be reced by a new ck one. It essentially kills your body, but frankly, that''s the only way you''re going to actually survive."


    Kairos frowned. It sounded like there were caveats to whatever this transformation process was. That naturally made him feel apprehensive. But he also remembered how confidently the voice stated it would be for "Untainted" people to live.


    From the sound of things, the voice could see clearly, while he couldn''t at all.


    It seemed that even if there were side effects, he was forced into doing this unless he wanted to survive for thirty days here blind.


    In the end, he decided to increase his future vision all the way to five seconds, straining his mind intensely. Then, he tried to eat the ball of ck blood, intending to test it by using the full extent of his future vision.

 Chapter 203 Abyss Form

    The moment he ate the ball, he felt it lose form in his mouth, quickly spreading out and giving a strong iron taste, just like blood. He didn''t wait in swallowing so as to make full use of his future vision.


    In the first second, he felt an instinctual rejection from it. This gave him a bad feeling.


    By the next second, he felt this blood directly enter his bloodstream somehow, almost like it was alive. Whatever it was, it made him feel like parasites had entered his body.


    At the third second, he could tell that the ck blood was actively trying to attack his body like it wanted to seize control. His body tensed up automatically and began instinctively fighting against this force.


    By the fourth second, Kairos was ready to stop himself from eating the ball of ck blood. Whatever it was, it seemed to be rather harmful. However, one thing he noticed was that the ck blood was rapidly getting suppressed and backed off voluntarily, almost like a dog that realized it was trying to antagonize a lion.


    In the end, he decided tomit to eating it, letting the ck blood coursing through his system.


    The ck blood put up a small fight for a few moments but eventually gave up on trying to take over his body. From there, it simply remained dormant. The strong sense of life it previously had suddenly disappeared, making it seem as though it had somehow died.


    Once Kairos felt it all settle down, a notification suddenly appeared in front of him.


    [You have obtained a new special ability - Abyss Form (F-)]


    The voice next to him seemed rather exasperated.


    "What? Why isn''t anything happening to you? Did you somehow spit it out?... Am I the idiot for trusting you with something?"


    Kairos chuckled.


    "Hold on, I definitely gained something out of that. Just wait a moment."


    The method to activate this ability was already imprinted in his mind, and he was pretty sure that it wasn''t even because of the system. It was just something natural. And so, he acted upon it.


    He suddenly felt the ck blood within his body act up. It had coursed through his entire body rather thoroughly. The first thing it did was go up close to the surface of his body and beginbining with the surfaceyer of flesh.


    He could feel his skin mutating strangely, expanding slightly. It coated his entire body, like a secondyer of skin. And as it did so, he gradually felt his vision clearing up. After a bit of time, he found that he was actually able to see for once.


    He looked down at his own arms, noticing that they hadpletely ckened, bing rough. As for his hands, they had changed to be ws. His fingers had elongated considerably, but that was because his nails became far longer. The way it gleamed made it look rather deadly.


    When he took a look in front of him, he saw a guy. He looked to be of a simr age to him. He had short white hair, but it was the kind that the elderly would have. His skin also looked gray, almost like he was using a filter that discolored him.


    Both of his eyes were open wide. He muttered to himself.


    "A monster transformation?"


    Suddenly, the guy jumped backward, leaping quite the distance. Uponnding he got into a fighting stance, staring down Kairos with serious eyes.


    "Are you still in there? If you can hear me, then try and resist the influence!"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, or at least whatever he had as of now as an eyebrow.


    "I can hear you just fine. What kind of influence are you talking about?"


    The guy did not drop his guard in the slightest.


    "Oh really?... Then what is six cubed?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Uh... two-hundred and sixteen?"


    The guy slowly dropped his arms.


    "What in the world? You''re actuallypletely fine?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "And why wouldn''t I be? I can control it just fine, I''ll have you know."


    To prove a point, he retracted the transformation before going back into it once more. Seeing this, the guy rubbed his chin with clear interest.


    "That''s... that''s so strange. You''re the first human I''ve ever seen able to do that. Normally only monsters take on apletely ck form like that naturally. If other people see you, then they''ll probably just assume that you''re a monster."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "So most people are gray and discolored like you?"


    The guy nodded.


    "Uh, yeah. Wait, are you even human in the first ce? Or are you some kind of alien race that just looks really simr?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "No, I''m definitely human. From what you''ve said, it sounds like there are other people here too?"


    The guy nodded.


    "Ah, yeah. There are a lot of them. I wouldn''t rmend trying to get close to any of them though, by now nobody trusts each other."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "So why were you able to trust me so easily?"


    The guy did not respond for a few seconds. Eventually, he let out a softugh.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "...No reason."


    For some reason that Kairos didn''t fully understand, that response reassured him greatly. In fact, he couldn''t think of another response that would''ve reassured him more.


    "Well, now that I can see... My name is Kairos. What is yours?"


    The guy raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, Kairos. My name is Nyoka."


    He awkwardly reached out his hand, but did it half-heartedly. Kairos saw this and smiled bitterly.


    "Let''s just not shake hands."


    Nyoka gave a quick nod.


    "Alright."


    Kairos took a deep breath. When he looked at Nyoka, his body didn''t look all that strong. In fact, it looked like a withering corpse. However, as casual as his words were, his eyes were sharp. He could tell Nyoka wasn''t just some pushover.


    "Anyway, do you mind having a spar with me? I want a general understanding of strength around here."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.


    "I''m afraid you''re gonna be hit by a pretty nasty wake-up call. A newly untainted can''t even match up against the monsters in the firstyer, but this is the fourth one."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Did you not see that giant explosion from earlier? If needed, I can make an attack far stronger than that."


    That was when the way Nyoka looked at him changed. He turned serious.


    "...You''re telling me that you had this ability even when you were on the surface?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes.


    "Frankly, it''s not even that impressivepared to other people."


    Nyoka furrowed his brows rather intensely.


    "Wait... so this entire time you weren''t lying?"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. With one hand, he massaged his temple gently before letting out a soft sigh.


    "What? I''ve yet to tell you a single lie here, alright? Regardless, I need an understanding of the strength in this ce. You don''t have to, but I''d like to have a short spar."


    A sly smile gradually formed on Nyoka''s face. His demeanor had changedpletely, from the curious oblivious person to a snake. He slowly took on a stance, like he was getting ready to pounce forth.


    "Hmm, this is quite interesting. Fine, if you want a spar, then we can have one. I wonder if you saw through me at the start."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "...I actually wasn''t able to see through it. But we can talk about it after trading a few blows."


    In reality, although he found it strange that someone so bubbly existed in a ce like this, he didn''t actually doubt that was Nyoka''s character. For the first time, his intuition didn''t even slightly pick up on someone deceiving in front of him.


    He cracked his neck. That fact frustrated him a little bit, so he decided to blow off some steam in this fight. Kairos rushed forth with the spear, performing a horizontal sweep. Nyoka dodged it easily, suddenly backing up.


    Right afterwards, he rushed forth while zigzagging left and right. Kairos took a few steps back and continued to swing his spear, trying to keep the fight at mid-range. Nyoka didn''t force himself forwards and yed it safe at a distance.


    Although Kairos had his future vision, he still wasn''t able to hit Nyoka because he wasn''t fullymitting to any of his attacks. For a little while, they kept up this dance. For now, neither of them had actually directly hit each other.


    Although both of them could tell each of their agility was quite impressive. Though Nyoka wascking behind by quite a bit, he easily made up for it with his frightening reaction time, instincts, and general fighting knowledge. However, they didn''t really understand the difference in strength.


    As though tired of this, Nyoka suddenly sent a fist forwards. However, Kairos knew that it was a feint. He could''ve used the opportunity to sneak in an attack, but he instead simrly did a feint, pretending to block it.


    Then, he brought down his spear in an overhand strike.


    From there, both of them threw their attacks forwards, fullymitting to them.


    A clear bang resounded.


    His spear mmed down onto Nyoka''s fist,nding in between his knuckles. The two of them continued to press hard against each other, trembling. However, Kairos had a clear advantage. Nyoka was getting pushed back, taking a step back every second.


    Eventually, Nyoka broke off, dashing back.


    Kairos stood up straight and rested his spear on his shoulder.


    "Huh, you''re pretty good, but I guess I won''t have to worry that much about things in thisyer."


    Nyoka had a smile on his face. After hearing that, it only widened further.


    "Oh,e on. We''re just getting started."


    A shadowy figure began rising from behind Nyoka.

 Chapter 204 Snake

    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he looked at Nyoka. It was unclear at first, but it gradually formed to take the shape of a snake. Though he had no idea what that was supposed to be, it was obviously more than just a little party trick.


    Not wanting to find himself unprepared, he began circting the mana in his body, attempting to recover the little bit he used with the fire spell earlier. Yet, the moment he tried, he found himself disappointed.


    The mana in the air was unbelievably sparse, to the point that there was almost none of them at all. It should''ve been rather obvious when he couldn''t see any mana in the air whatsoever. Though while he was fumbling about with his vision, that fact slipped his mind.


    Now that he had a limited supply of mana, his confidence dipped considerably. Assuming this was actually just a spar, he didn''t want to waste any on it. Regardless, he still did want to understand how strong this person really was.


    Kairos gave a bitter smile.


    "...It looks like you''re getting serious. Just a reminder, this is a friendly spar, not an all-out brawl."


    Nyoka narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "Ah, of course. Things would look far different if I actually went all out."


    He suddenly lunged forth and was much faster than before. Kairos backed up as he readied his spear, quickly finding out that their speeds were now matched. This time, Nyoka had pulled out a ck knife out of nowhere. Like everything in this ce, it was ck. He held it like how one would hold a karambit, reverse grip to be exact, but upon taking a closer look he noticed that it was actually a fang of some sort.


    Kairos clicked his tongue before lunging forth with his spear, aiming towards the heart. Nyoka responded by ducking downwards, almost like he intended on diving down into the ground. Yet, instead of crashing down like how one might expect, he strangely bounced upwards, almost like he was actually a jumping worm.


    A ck fang came straight for the right side of his neck. Kairos immediately threw his head back, causing his hair to fling back. At the same time, the shadowy snake lunged towards him, opening its mouth wide and revealing two translucent white fangs, attempting to take a bite off his shoulder.


    He twisted his spear, getting just the right angle to block its bite. With a snap, the snake bit down, but it wasn''t unable to damage the spear. As though feeling challenged, the snake continued to press down, and even began tugging, trying harder to break it.


    But that was when he felt a strong pain in his ankle from his future vision. Following with that, he tucked his leg back despite the fact it would screw up his bnce. Right after, he heard a clear snap of someone''s teeth smacking together.


    With one foot, Kairos twirled almost like a ballerina, just at a diagonal angle. At the same time, he was able to get his spear to slip out the side of the snake''s mouth. Upon creating distance once more, Nyoka didn''t close it in order to keep the advantage. Instead, he just stood up and looked back with a smile.


    "You don''t have the instincts, that''s for sure."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Ah, the instincts to try and bite someone''s ankles? Sorry, but I''m not a puppy."


    Nyoka let out augh.


    "Are you kidding me? Using your teeth is justmon sense. It''s just something you find out once you stay here for a little while. And look at you, having ws but not even trying to make any use of them. Not to mention, haven''t you noticed your teeth changed as well?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. One of his hands let go of the spear and he brought it up to his face to take a closer look. From there, he opened his mouth a little and lightly tapped the end of the w against his teeth.


    The first thing he noticed was that it was sharp. Very sharp. He could''vepared it to a wolf''s teeth, but it was nothing like that. Rather, it was more like a piranha, sharp and long, but they still neatly fit together when he closed his mouth.


    "...Huh. It sounds like things down here really are bad."


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "Well, of course. So you really are fresh from the surface, huh? That or you are the most thorough liar I''ve ever seen in the world."


    A bitter smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "I''m pretty confident in my lying, but that''s unfortunately not what''s happening here."


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "How did you get so strong anyway? You look sonky, but you must''ve been some sort of martial arts expert, right?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes. He then began to realize that Nyoka probably didn''t actually understand the state of the world on the surface.


    "No, not anything like that. How long have you been down here by the way?"


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow. The shadowy snake figure slowly retracted. He put a hand on his hip and sighed.


    "No way for me to know. Frankly, there''s no real way to keep track of time down here. But if I had to say, it''s at least a few years. And I don''t think that''s an exaggeration either."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos gave a nod.


    "Huh... so what do you even do around here?"


    Nyoka blinked a few times.


    "The main thing is just trying to survive. But if you''re an ambitious one, you''d try to descend down through theyers. Though from the sounds of things, you should probably stay on this one for a little while."


    Kairos gave another nod and opened his mouth to speak once more. However, Nyoka cut him off, acting as though it was only natural.


    "Now that I''ve answered some of your questions, could you tell me how the hell you got here in the first ce? And how did you... get that transformation?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. He wasn''t all that keen on answering questions, but it was fair enough given that he had given somewhat decent answers and did do that spar. Not to mention, it sounded like he was willing to help him out, which he had already done.


    "Well, I should start from the beginning. To put it simply, the world on the surface is kinda plunged into an apocalypse right now. The sun suddenly turned red one day, then a bunch of people began turning into monsters and tearing people apart."


    Hearing that, Nyoka''s eyes widened all the way.


    "What? An apocalypse on the surface? But..."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "It started in thest month or so. On top of that, people were able to get far stronger than their normal selves. I''m not sure if you realized, but the strength I have now has nothing to do with my transformation. It''s a littleplicated to exin how I got here, but it''s rted to the apocalypse. As for my transformation, it probably has something to do with how I''m far stronger than the normal human at this point."


    By the end, he felt a little irked after saying all that. That was because Nyoka didn''t look like he had even heard anything. Eventually, he gave a light nod.


    "Ah, yeah..."


    Kairos didn''t exactly didn''t know what to say for quite a few moments. Nyoka did not have any intention of starting up a conversation either. Though, as he was thinking of a way to break the silence, Nyoka suddenly grabbed onto the side of his head with distress, while his face turned into an ugly grimace.


    "Fuck... fuck... fuck, fuck, FUCK, FUCK!"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.


    "...Uh, are you good? I may be reading this wrong, but you can''t possibly be worried about the people on the surface right? How does the apocalypse have anything to do with you if you''re down here?"


    Nyoka crouched down onto his feet. Those words didn''t seem to reassure him at all.


    "Ah..."


    Kairos let out a soft sigh. He got a small idea of what he was thinking of. There were probably people up on the surface that he still cared about, family, friends, or something like that. Hearing that there was an apocalypse meant that they were probably dead. A small smile formed on his face.


    "Hey,e on. I don''t know who you care so much about on the surface, but just because there''s an apocalypse doesn''t mean they are dead."


    He held back his next words, holding them inside. Not saying that the chances of them being alive was next to none given how many had already died.


    Nyoka slowly got back up, with a sad smile on his face.


    "I guess... but if it''s her, then she probably wouldn''t even try to survive."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Who are you talking about?"


    Nyoka looked at him strangely.


    "I really shouldn''t tell you but-"


    A sad smile formed on his face.


    "I guess I will."

 Chapter 205 Same Kind Of Person

    Nyoka waved him over.


    "As I tell you about her, why don''t you follow me?"


    Kairos looked at him for a few moments before giving a small nod.


    "Sure."


    The two of them began walking side by side in this strange ce. It was hard to tell distance with how the world just melded with each other, but Kairos was eventually able to figure out he could see roughly twenty meters ahead of him.


    It was far from the vision he desired to have, but it was still far better than being unable to see at all. While he was thinking about that, Nyoka spoke up.


    "Say, has anything simr ever happened to you before?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes with a bitter smile.


    "How the hell am I supposed to know if you haven''t told me in the first ce?"


    Nyoka let out a chuckle and casually waved dismissively in his direction.


    "Ah, that''s right. For some reason I just felt like you would''ve already known. Not that I think you''re psychic or anything, it''s just... the type of person you are."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Well sorry for not being a psychic. If you don''t want to tell me about it then just don''t. It''s not like I even care that much in the first ce. It''s not going to change my life or anything."


    Nyoka smirked. He looked down and took a deep breath while inspecting the ck fang in his hand. With how he turned it over in his hand, it was almost like that was his first time ever setting his eyes on it.


    "Haha, yeah I know I don''t have to. We''ve only just met, but I have this strange feeling about you. I feel like you can tell as well."


    His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.


    "That we are the same kind of person."


    Nyoka paused for a good few moments after saying that. He nced over at Kairos, who simrly looked at him. But Kairos turned forward once more, breaking the contact. For whatever reason, Nyoka smiled to himself, like it was something funny.


    "...Just promise me that you''ll be paying attention."


    Kairos took a deep breath that seemed more exasperated than anything else.


    "It''s not like there''s something else to pay attention to."


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "No second-transformation monsters are here anyway."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. With an irritated look, he shot him a nce.


    "Why do you keep saying things and expecting me to understand? If you''re going to tell the story like that too then you might as well not tell me. It''s not like it will get through."


    Nyokaughed, even tilting his head back as he did so.


    "Sorry, sorry. I''m just stalling. It''s a little hard to start. The beginning always sets the tone, so I don''t want to mess that part up."


    Kairos slowly shook his head.


    "It''s not like you''re trying to write a book here... Or are you trying to do that?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "I can''t argue with that. Then I guess I''ll just start, but don''t me me if it''s a bad story."


    Kairos held back the urge to roll his eyes simply because he was tired of doing so. With this silent confirmation, Nyoka finally began talking.


    "I guess she was my girlfriend or something. It wasn''t exactly a clear thing as we never made it official, but we basically treated each other in that way. It was all fine for the most part, but then one day this... thing came to me."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "A thing? Couldn''t you be at least a little bit more specific?"


    Nyoka rubbed his chin, thinking to himself.


    "It''s a little hard to describe. Even at the fourthyer, I don''t think I''ve seen anything that canpare to the strength that thing had. Well... or it could be because I was just a normal person at the time. Either way, the only real way to describe it, is a massive ck blob of what looked like slime."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "That sounds nasty."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "Hah. Even though I was fairly sure I wasn''t dreaming at the time, my natural conclusion was that it was some sort of hallucination. That I was somehow having night terrors despite being neen years old. That was the only thing that was in my mind at the time."


    He blinked a few times.


    "But regardless of what I felt, that thing directly spoke into my mind after showing itself. It happened so long ago, but each of those words are still so clear in my mind. The thing said that it was going to give me a choice in one year. He was either going to kill me or what I would call my girlfriend. And for him to make a choice, both of us had to choose the same person."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Well, you don''t look dead right now."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "My body has long died, but that''s not the point. At first, I treated everything that happened as some sort of illusion, even though there was some part of me that told me it was all very real. It seems like whatever that thing was, it didn''t like being treated as just some illusion. If I knew what it would''ve done..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    At this point, he paused. Though he continued walking, his expression was as still as a statue. Kairos was curious about what he had to say next but simply remained silent, matching his pace. After a few hours of the two of them walking side by side, Nyoka spoke up once more.


    "It killed her dad. Just to make it very obvious, the thing did it right in front of me, continually tearing him up until every single piece of him was norger than a pebble. When it was all over, it ate up all the remains and blood. In the end, it was dered that he went missing. Only I knew what happened."


    Kairos continued looking forth, but his eyes widened slightly.


    "Huh. So things like the supernatural existed a long time ago?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yeah. I don''t know exactly, but from what I''ve gathered strange things probably always existed. At least for thousands of years."


    Kairos cracked his neck.


    "I wonder how I just missed it all."


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "That''s because the less freaky stuff can be exined as a trick of the eye. As for the real scary things, you only know about them if they show themselves. And if they do decide to show themselves... you''re usually dead, with nobody knowing why. In fact, people may forget about your existence altogether."


    Hearing that, Kairos couldn''t help but let out a smallugh. He actually did feel a little special because of his future vision when he was living out his normal life. Yet it would turn out he was actually just a frog at the bottom of the well.


    Nyoka shook his head.


    "Anyway... what I decided to do after seeing him die was perhaps not the right decision."


    The corner of his lip twitched.


    "I decided to treat her really awfully. If we both had to agree on one person to kill, then it would only work if one hated the other enough. It wasn''t something that could be done in just one fight, but over two years... I was confident in ruining our rtionship."


    Nyoka let out a soft sigh.


    "It was pretty hard at first, but Imitted to doing it. She got really angry at me, especially considering that her only parent died at the time. I imagine she really needed someone tofort her. But despite all of that, not once did she snap back, taking her anger out on me."


    A small smile formed on his face, but it didn''t look happy in any way.


    "This made me panic a little bit. Even after months, it didn''t seem to be making any progress. I gradually got more desperate and did more... drastic things. I was honestly losing myself a little bit, and the amount of times I took things too far are uncountable. Especially for the things I said."


    Nyoka pressed his lips together.


    "And by the end of the year, she snapped. And in the end, we were both yelling at each other, in aplete mess. It was both relieving and... ufortable. There was a part of me that considered pulling back, but I figured that I alreadymitted too much. We continued for the rest of the entire year hurling insults at each other. It was just our daily routine."


    Kairos shot him a strange look.


    "You guys met up with each other every day?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "...Yeah, why?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "Nothing, continue."


    If the two of them really did continue meeting even after their rtionship supposedly fell through, then that just wouldn''t make any sense. Though people would continue attacking one another out of their feeling of revenge, they would eventuallye to realize it would be better to stop associating at all.


    Nyoka cleared his throat and continued on.


    "Eventually the day came, and I was able to trick her into picking me to die. Then, I naturally picked myself. But that thing didn''t tell the full story. He did kill my body, but he sent me down here, whatever this ce is. Thest thing I heard was her yelling at me. I couldn''t hear all of it, but she called me a bitch at some point. And... that''s it."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "That was pretty stupid of you. I mean... if one of you is going to die, most people would try to make the most out of the time they still have. Some would travel all over the world together. Others wouldn''t change too much, but just spend all their time together. Something like that is only what insane people do."


    Nyoka let out a softugh.


    "Yeah, pretty much."


    A smile gradually formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Though, I really can''t say that I would do anything different. Even if I knew that it was a stupid thing to do. Just like what you did."


    Nyoka slowly closed his eyes.


    "Hahaha. Aren''t you just calling yourself stupid at any rate?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I never imed to be a genius. Besides, just because you know what''s the most logical thing, smartest thing, efficient- whatever, doesn''t mean that you can do it."


    Nyoka looked up into the dark void of a sky.


    "Makes you wonder why we can even think if we''re just gonna do some stupid shit."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess I understand now what you mean."


    He sighed.


    "That we''re the same kind of person."

 Chapter 206 Flower

    As Kairos continued to walk with Nyoka, he began wondering if being with someone else would technically lead to him failing the mission. However, just as those doubts appeared, the system made a panel appear in front of him.


    [Time Left Before Teleportation: 29 days, 21 hours, 47 minutes, and 03 seconds remaining]


    It was almost like the system was trying to tell him that it was fine. Regardless, that wasn''t all that reassuring. For all he knew, Nyoka could''ve been leading him to an borate trap. Though, he doubted there was any real reason for him to do so.


    After a few moments of awkward silence, Kairos spoke up.


    "So could you give me the gist about this ce? Especially about all those terms you use so offhandedly."


    Nyoka nodded.


    "Ah, yes. It''s just hard for me to understand that you are actually new to this ce. Now... where do I start?"


    He tapped his chin a few times in thought. If this was going to take as long as the story, then Kairos was going to lose it. However, Nyoka thankfully spoke up promptly.


    "For starters, I guess you should understand that everybody around here wants ck blood. Almost everything here needs it to survive, activate cores, evolve, heal injuries, and more things that I''m toozy to list off. As for what cores are, they are things that let us perform special abilities. Generally speaking, they are used for killing in shy ways, but it can also do things like allowing someone to fly, or teleport."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Where do you get these cores?"


    Nyoka cleared his throat.


    "As for a reliable source, dungeons. But you can also kill other people and salvage some of the cores that they have to take as your own. That''s what most people do nowadays. The more cores you have of the same kind, the more powerful the ability bes. Though, it''s a littleplicated."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Just tell me, I''d like to know more about them."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "Alright, alright. They look like cubes, and the power system also works in cubes. You can use the ability with one core, but it is only powered up once you get a total of eight. To put it simply, think of how many small cubes you would need to make a bigger cube with a length of two."


    Kairos rubbed his chin and stared upwards, thinking about it intently.


    "So after that, you would need twenty-seven cubes to get to the next rank?"


    Nyoka smirked.


    "Yeah, just cube the level, and that''s how many cores you need. Seems like you get all of that. That''s basically all you need to know for how people get stronger down here. There are other things, but they aren''t all that important."


    He tilted his head to the side.


    "As for the general mentality to have... you have nothing to fear."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "And how exactly does that make any sense?"


    Nyokaughed.


    "To put it inly, people are afraid because of the possibility of something dangerous. Maybe going into the mountains will attract a mountain lion. Or for the average person, when it''s dark, they''ll be scared there''s secretly some sort of monster hiding in the shadows watching you."


    His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.


    "The only difference here is that you don''t have to wonder if there''s a monster in the darkness watching you. Because regardless of where you are, there will always be at least one monster watching you from somewhere, if not multiple. And as such, there''s no need to fear."


    He smirked.


    "There''s just no point."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "It doesn''t seem all that dangerous right now."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "That''s what people think when they first get here. To put it simply, it''s like how people see ants on the ground sometimes. Although they could crush them beneath their feet with ease, it''s usually just a waste of their time for most people."


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched.


    "I could be getting this wrong, but are you basically just saying don''t get unlucky?"


    Nyoka pressed his lips together.


    "Not exactly. It''s more like... don''t be too hopeful that you''re going to survive."


    Kairos stared at him nkly.


    "I... see."


    Nyoka shook his head.


    "Anyway, let''s not talk about that anymore. I actually have two other people that I''ve been with since the firstyer. I''ll take you to meet both of them at my ce. Don''t get offended if they suddenly attack you. Your appearance doesn''t look the most friendly, to say the least."


    Kairos chuckled.


    "What do I look like? I assume there won''t be anything like mirrors around this ce."


    Nyoka sucked in a cold breath.


    "Er... I suppose the best way to put it is that you''re no prince charming."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos sighed.


    "Thanks, I''ll keep that in mind I guess."


    While the two of them continued to talk about rather random things, they eventually made it to what looked like a rather rickety house. It was only one story and had gaping holes on many sides. It definitely didn''t look all that reassuring, nothingpared to the city that he was used to.


    Kairos pointed at it.


    "Is this your ce?"


    Nyoka stared at it for a few moments before shaking his head.


    "Ah, no it isn''t."


    Kairos gave an approving nod.


    "Hah. I almost thought your ce was actually this decrepit."


    Nyokaughed while raising both arms in the air, with his ck fang in a reverse grip.


    "To be more urate, it''s an imitation."


    Kairos shot him a nce, about to ask. However, his future vision told him everything beforehand. A soft rumble came from the ground and a split secondter massive cracks formed around, reaching a whole ten meters away.


    At the same time, Nyoka mmed his dagger down towards the ground. A ck sh burst out from the ground. Kairos leaped backward so as to not get caught, but Nyoka had a wild smile on his face, like someone that lost it.


    Kairos could tell that his pupils began dting. For a moment, everything felt like it was slowing down.


    At first, he saw what looked like a giant ck bud rise up from the ground. In particr, the tip of the bud looked unnaturally sharp. However, it missed Nyoka. But that wasn''t the end, as it suddenly expanded into several three-meter long petals, forcefully breaking apart the ground and sending severalrge chunks of rock all around.


    Kairos brought one arm to shield himself, but focused on Nyoka.


    His position was practically perfect, to the point that it seemed to be a coincidence. The strange flower missed him, and when the petals expanded, he was in a gap between two of them fitting in between. However, from his confidence, it was clear he had done something like this countless times.


    His ck fang continued to plunge downwards ruthlessly before mming down. A high-pitched shriek resounded, while the petals frantically moved around.


    Kairos got a little bit closer and saw that in the center of the flower was a giant white eye. And Nyoka had ripped into it, causing less than pleasant looking fluids to spill out. After a few moments of frantic moving, the flower seemed to realize the problem. Several petals shot towards Nyoka, but before they could hit him he leaped high up into the air, dodging them entirely.


    Several loud ngs resounded when the petals hit each other, awfully simr to the sound of countless swords nging against each other.


    Upon missing its target, the flower continued to cry out. It almost seemed like a babyining that it wasn''t fair.


    Kairos wondered how many evolution points he would get for killing the thing, especially because the method that the things down here obtained power was so different. He looked up into the air and put one hand at the side of his mouth before calling out.


    "Hey, do you mind if I kill this thing?"


    While Nyoka was in the air, he still had a psychotic smile on his face. Though after hearing Kairos, it disappeared in a sh. He tilted his body to the side before skydiving out of the way.


    "Sure, it''s all yours."


    Kairos bent his knees and smiled.


    "Thanks."


    He pulled his spear back before suddenly lunging forwards. He directly leaped over the rampaging petals. After all, it sounded like those things wouldn''t break easily. But the eye may as well be unprotected.


    Kairos lifted his spear above his head. When he reached the center, he saw the torn up eye looking back at him. It almost seemed to be pleading, but he couldn''t care less about that.


    With all of his strength, he brought his spear down as hard as he could, assuming that the monster would be rather durable.


    A deafening bang resounded.


    The spear split straight into the eye mercilessly, tearing through it. At some point, Kairos felt like he hit something, after which the eye blew up like a water balloon. This didn''t make him let his guard down though, especially because he didn''t see the system notification.


    Not to mention, with how durable monsters on the surface were, he wasn''t taking any chances.


    Without dy, he brought his spear up once more and continued to m the eye, or what was left of it. Though, the system notification never showed up. He was actually getting a little nervous, thinking that he had missed the true weakness of the thing.


    That was when Nyoka awkwardly coughed from right next to him.


    "Uh, it''s already dead. You don''t have to beat it like you''re beating your meat."


    Kairos was in the middle of raising his spear, but kept it up there. He turned to look at Nyoka, who was looking back with a hopeless expression. Kairos looked down at the mess he made.


    The petals had alreadyid on the sides like they were wilted, while it was hard to tell there was even an eyeball below his feet beforehand.


    After a few moments, he spoke up.


    "Are you sure it''s dead?"


    Nyoka scratched the back of his head.


    "Um, it has been dead since the first time you hit it. Do you have some sort of trauma of things living after you killed them or something?"


    Kairos paused. When he looked at it, the thing definitely looked like it had died. However, he hadn''t gotten a notification for it. This confused him like no other. He sighed.


    "There''s usually a... thing that tells me when I''ve killed something. But it didn''t work even after hitting it, so I just kept on doing so waiting for the sign."


    The two of them looked at each other strangely for the next few moments.

 Chapter 207 Disgusting

    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It has worked for every other living thing before, telling me the moment that they were considered dead. I figured that it would be the same for the things down here."


    Nyoka put a hand on his neck and moved his head to the side until a loud cracking sound resounded. There was a wide smile on his face.


    "Didn''t I already tell you that things here are already dead? Of course you wouldn''t get any indicator, as they weren''t even alive in the first ce."


    Kairos clicked his tongue. His gaze drifted to the side until itnded upon the house that had been there. However, it was now a crumpled version of itself. After looking closely, he noticed that there were quite a few vines and leaves poking out of it. In other words, the house that they initially approached was a replica that the flower had created.


    "This ce certainly is strange."


    Nyokaughed loudly after hearing that.


    "Oh, that''s one of the more normal things around here, to be honest. These kinds of flowers are considered one of the lower monsters, especially because they show up on all the otheryers as well."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "At least I know I won''t be bored in my time here."


    Nyoka smiled.


    "You can count on that. Anyway, that monster has a bit of ck blood. Since it doesn''t matter all that much to me, I''ll let you have it."


    Kairos shot him a nce.


    "Ah, thanks. What part of this thing even is ck blood anyway?"


    Nyoka scratched the back of his head.


    "Er, for starters all of those petals have some ck blood inside them, though not much. As for the eyeball, though it looks grayish, that''s actually where the highest concentration of ck blood is. Though... it''s going to be a little hard for you to try it now."


    Kairos looked down at the mess of gray blood sttered across around him, then sighed.


    "Well, at least I don''t know the value of what I lost, so it doesn''t make me feel all that bad."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "That is one way of looking at it."


    Kairos looked down at the wilted leaves, then tore one of them off randomly. ck blood began dripping down one end. The texture didn''t look all that appealing, but it seemed to be some universally desired thing among the "living" things down here.


    After a moment of hesitation, he tried to drink it. His immediate impression was that it tasted just as bad as it looked. In fact, he would go out of his way to say that it was rancid. He was definitely not expecting this because the ck ball of blood he had eaten earlier tasted nothing like this. It didn''t actually have any taste.


    After a few mouthfuls, Kairos stopped. He looked at the leaf with furrowed brows and noticed that it still had a lot of ck blood remaining. With a frown, he slowly turned to Nyoka.


    "Um, is this actually what people want so bad? It tastes awful."


    Nyoka stared back with a bbergasted impression.


    "Huh... most people have trouble stopping themselves after they start. But it looks like you can barely even stomach it. That doesn''t make much sense."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess it''s because I didn''t get converted into whatever the tainted thing you''re talking about is. Are you seriously not joking with me?"


    Nyoka tilted his head to the side. He didn''t respond, instead lost in thought. After a few moments, he eventually spoke up.


    "Oh, wait... I think I remember the first time I drank ck blood it did taste kinda bad, but it was hard to notice because I had a lot of emotions at the time."


    Kairos stared back nkly.


    "...So basically, since I''m an untainted it''s always going to taste this nasty."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "Guess so. Though ck blood is also what people use to evolve. If you don''t want it then... I guess I can take it."


    Kairos sighed. He took another look at the petal in his hands, now dripping its ck blood down his arm. After a few moments, he grit his teeth.


    "Fuck it, I''ll try to eat as much as I can. I mean, that ball of blood did give me this form earlier, so it does seem to benefit me..."


    His nose instinctively constricted like he was smelling something awful. Then, he opened his mouth once more and began drinking as much as he could. He focused on drinking it faster so that it would be over quicker andmitted to it even when he felt like gagging.


    As the ck blood was siphoned out of the petal, it began shorter and more rigid. Soon enough, he was finished with the petal which became what looked like a de that was awkwardly shaped, with an unnaturally fat base.


    Though, Kairos couldn''t focus on all that.


    He threw the petal on the ground, which mmed down with a loud ng. He proceeded to cough violently with a fist to his mouth. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, while his breathing was erratic.


    He only recovered a few minutes after, and by then he simply shook his head.


    "I don''t know if I''ll be able to do that ever again."


    Kairos felt the ck blood in his stomach swirling around, almost like a dog that was stuck in a cage. Though, it did not take long for it to settle down and assimte to be part of his body.


    It was a very subtle feeling, but he could feel energy coursing through his body, in particr in his muscles. He had definitely gotten stronger, even if it wasn''t by much. Though, this only made him click his tongue.


    "...It does seem like I actually do get stronger from this stuff."


    Nyoka threw his head back inughter.


    "Why are you saying that like it''s a bad thing?"


    A bitter smile formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Because that means I have a reason to continue trying to drink this rancid stuff."


    Nyoka smiled helplessly.


    "So are you going to have the rest of it?"


    Kairos grabbed onto the side of his head in serious contemtion. In all honesty, he didn''t really want to. Especially because that meant starting now basically meantmitting to the unpleasantness further down the road. Though he did want to be stronger, it was more for the sake of survival rather than the power itself.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He was really tempted to just deny it and try to cascade past these three months peacefully.


    Yet, at the same time, he remembered the thing he always told Nicole. That they had to focus on getting stronger before anything else. And that was why they didn''t have time to spend with each other.


    Though he was technically here for his promotion mission, thus was doing this for the sake of getting stronger, cking around was being a hypocrite to him. And one of the things he hated the most was being a hypocrite. After taking in one of his deepest breaths yet, he decided that he wasn''t going to waste his month down here.


    "I''ll finish it. Or... at least I''ll try my damn hardest at it."


    Nyoka smirked.


    "I thought you would say that."


    Kairos clicked his tongue and ripped off another petal.


    "Don''t act like you know me or something when we just met."


    Nyoka''s smile only widened.


    "Oh, sorry. I can''t help but remember someone saying that we were the same kind of person earlier. What was all that about?"


    Kairos sighed.


    "Being the same kind of person doesn''t mean we actually know each other. Now shut up, trying to stuff down this stuff is annoying enough."


    Without waiting for confirmation, Kairos began eating, even though every fiber of his being was protesting against it. The entire time while doing this, he wished that it was physical pain instead of disgust. If it was just pain, then he would bat an eye as he had already be far too ustomed to it.


    But he hadn''t really trained himself to eat disgusting things. The farthest that ever went was forcing him to stomach vegetables, which was iparable to how the ck blood tasted.


    And just when he felt like he was about to pass out, he finished drinking the blood from all the petals. There was definitely some waste here and there, with blood spilling onto the floor, but Kairos decided to count it as him eating it all anyway.


    After wiping his mouth, he cursed.


    "Fuck."


    Nyoka stared at him with one hand on his chin. He looked to be quite interested and filled with curiosity.


    "You know, it''s a really strange sight to see someone drinking ck blood that much. I mean sure, there have been people that have difficulty in getting themselves to do so because that blood came from a friend that just died in front of them. But once they start... it''s like theypletely forgot that their friend wasn''t just a tasty meal."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "Wow, thanks for telling me that. It made me feel so much better."


    Nyoka bowed like he was on a stage.


    "No problem, my good sir."


    Kairos slowly closed his eyes and felt the changes happening to his body. Although the entire process was painful, he now could feel noticeable gains from it all. His strength was increasing by a notable amount.


    It was hard for him to determine exactly the increase, but it felt as though he had gotten a tenth of a point in stats.


    And once all of the ck blood was subdued, a notification appeared in front of him.


    [Special Ability has been upgraded | Abyss Form (F-) -> Abyss Form (F)]


    He blinked a few times before pulling up his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 43.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 30.0


    Endurance - 30.0


    Agility - 30.0


    Willpower - 30.0


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 30.0]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Gale Spell (E), Darkness Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Abyss Form (F)]


    [Hide]


    His eyes fixated on the points he had, a little over forty. What if he used those points to upgrade the Abyss form directly? Then wouldn''t that mean he didn''t have to struggle nearly as much?


    Putting those thoughts into action, he pressed the status panel. Yet, a devastating system notification popped up.


    [Unable to upgrade Abyss Form (F) with evolution points]


    Kairos frowned. As for Nyoka, he looked at him strangely.


    "What are you doing?"


    Kairos shook his head.


    "Shut up. Just bring me to your friends or whatever, I want to think about something else."


    Nyoka continued to stare for a few more moments before letting it go.


    "Uh, sure."

 Chapter 208 Another Seer

    Kairos and Nyoka eventually got to a rickety building that looked rather familiar. It was the same one that the flower had previously imitated in order to trick them, except this time it wasn''t a trick.


    The moment the two of them got within ten meters of the house, the front door suddenly burst open, its hinges creaking dangerously, threatening to break off.


    "There''s a monster behind you, Nyoka!"


    A young teenage boy with long white hair and hazel eyes threw himself out of the door and pointed a finger at Kairos usingly. He held an abnormally wide greatsword in his other hand, which was raised, ready to attack.


    Nyoka and Kairos both looked at him nkly. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Nyoka cleared his throat.


    "Um, Jeff, this guy next to me isn''t a monster. Not to mention, he''s right beside me not behind. His name is Kairos."


    Jeff''s jaw slowly dropped, while his brows furrowed in confusion. While he was still lost, Nyoka turned to Kairos with a bitter smile.


    "His name is Jeff. He isn''t the brightest bulb but acts as a mountain in time of need."


    Kairos held his chin and raised an eyebrow.


    "In other words, he''s basically as durable and as dumb as a rock."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "Pretty much."


    Suddenly, another person peeked out from behind Jeff. It was a girl with short white hair and bright green eyes. Her eyes were teeming with curiosity, almost like how a small animal would look at a new person that was trying to pet them. She sheepishly stepped to the side and gave a small wave.


    "Eh? There are monsters that can talk? That''s... so cool! Kairos, was it? Hi!"


    Nyoka smirked and gestured towards the girl.


    "Her name is Sara. She''s a little... innocent, but you don''t have to doubt the fact that she has seen things."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Hello, Jeff and Sara. I''m a little new to this ce in general, but I hope you can show me the ropes. And afterwards, I can help-"


    Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt a strong headache. And what was even stranger than that, was that his future vision didn''t seem to predict that. With a groan of pain, he fell down to one knee, while his mind felt incredibly muddy.


    Visions shed through his mind. Everything was blue, but within that blue was what looked like an ethereal girl made out of white mist. She was looking back at him in terror. This was nothing like the visions he had before, which had warned him of his death. Those were eerily sharp. On the other hand, this one was incoherent, just like an actual dream.


    But as soon as they formed, they disappeared.


    His thoughts were incredibly slow, but despite that, he was still able toe to a conclusion.


    This was a trap. For whatever reason, Nyoka, if that even was his name, had lured him over. It was all a setup to lower his guard before killing him off for whatever reason they needed him dead.


    He grit his teeth as he felt egregious amounts of adrenaline fill his body. He refused to die here, not because he trusted someone else with his life. He forcefully shook off the muddiness in his mind, though it worsened his headache several times over.


    All of his muscles tensed up as he forced himself up to his feet and raised his spear. His eyes flew open, and his blurry vision rapidly cleared up.


    Yet, when it did, he couldn''t help but feel a little strange.


    Sara was rolling over on the ground from side to side, yelling out in pain with both hands on her head. Jeff looked rather concerned, down on one knee and one hand outstretched, though it seemed as though he didn''t know what to do.


    Soon after, he looked up at Kairos while his expression morphed into fury.


    "You! You did this!"


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched. He felt like the guy was definitely jumping to conclusions way too quick, but he also couldn''t judge since he also jumped to the exact same conclusion.


    "Uh..."


    Jeff raised his greatsword with both hands. His arms suddenly bulged, giving him strangelyrge and veiny muscles. Without hesitation, he brought it down on Kairos. However, the person in question wasn''t fazed.


    Before the greatsword moved more than a centimeter, Nyoka''s arm extended outward like it was made of slime and caught the greatsword, holding it in ce. He looked at Jeff with a stern expression.


    "Hold on. Something... strange is happening."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes as he gradually processed the situation and what could''ve possibly happened. It obviously wasn''t something that he was responsible for as he was just looking at her. If it was something caused by a third party, then they have yet to make themselves known.


    And if so, they should''ve taken the opportunity while he was still dazed to do something.


    Unless Nyoka and Jeff were just good at acting, then they were also clueless as to what happened. And with that, it only left one person in his mind.


    Sara. She had done something and faced bacsh because of it.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes and pointed at her while she was still writhing on the ground.


    "What did she try to do to me?"


    Jeff furrowed his brows. If it wasn''t for the fact Nyoka was still holding onto his greatsword, he definitely would''ve tried to attack Kairos with it.


    "What? She didn''t do anything!"


    As for Nyoka, he fell silent, deep in thought. Jeff was struggling to get the greatsword out of Nyoka''s grasp, but other than a faint tremble he was unable to do anything else. Eventually, heshed out at him.


    "What the fuck are you doing Nyoka? Let go of my sword! This guy is clearly bad news!"


    Nyoka took a deep breath, but ignored Jeffpletely, other than holding the greatsword in ce. He turned to Kairos with a bitter smile.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "She has a certain ability. Because of its nature... she uses it on every new living person she ever sees."


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger as he stood up straight.


    "...And what exactly is this ability that she just used on me without so much as a warning?"


    Nyoka didn''t respond immediately, opting to remain silent. Jeff frowned, but stopped trying to wrestle his greatsword out, after which Nyoka promptly let go. He let his sword fall to the side and looked at Sara who was now panting on the ground.


    "It was her fault? But how did that even happen? Er... my bad, uh I think it was Kairos."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Yeah, it''s whatever. Honestly, I also thought you guys did something to me so it''s kinda understandable. But more importantly, I''d like to know what the hell this girl called Sara did to me."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly before shrugging his shoulders.


    "How about we just let her tell you about it when she recovers."


    By now, Sara''s breathing had calmed down somewhat. However, she was still shivering slightly, clearly quite afraid. It seemed like she had heard Nyoka regardless, and forced herself to sit up.


    "Um..."


    Sara tried to look Kairos in the eyes, but had difficulty in doing so.


    "I-I have this ability that lets me take a little peek into someone''s future. The first time I do that it''s supposed to not hurt at all. And if I try to do it too many times on the same person, then it hurts more and more. But when I did it to you..."


    She suddenly trailed off. As for Kairos, he was rather shocked. It seemed like she had an inborn ability that was awfully simr to his. The main difference seemed to be that while he saw his own future, she was able to take peeks at the future for others. It was rather natural that the two conflicted with each other when they directly conflicted with each other.


    However, Kairos noticed that the way she looked at him was strange. It was fearful, instead of the previous curious look. It wasn''t all that crazy to be afraid of that experience because of the obvious painful consequence, but the way Sara was looking at him made it seem as though she was more so afraid of him than the actual act of peering into his future.


    "What happened when you tried to peek into my future?"


    Sara looked down at the ground and hesitated to respond. Eventually, a weak smile formed on her face as she gave him a weak nce.


    "I-It just hurt a lot."


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow and looked at Kairos with crossed arms.


    "You have some sort of anti-divination powers?"


    Kairos sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.


    "Something like that."


    Jeff pointed at him usingly.


    "What? She told you her power, but you can''t even tell her yours?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly and stared back at him with a disdainful gaze.


    "First of all, I have no obligation to tell any of you anything. On top of that, she was the one that used her ability on me in the first ce and suffered the consequences. I hold no responsibility here."


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "Could you tell us anyway? I would really like to know."


    Kairos turned to him rather speechlessly. He felt that Nyoka was being just a little bit too brazen considering what was just said. Though, something about Nyoka made it hard for Kairos to take anything too seriously. Perhaps he would regret this in hindsight, but he decided to tell them a little bit.


    "I have an ability that lets me see into my own future. For the record, that''s the only reason why I decided to trust you, because I already knew that you wouldn''t do anything."


    Nyoka''s eyes widened.


    "Wow, another seer? I was so sure that Sara would be the only one."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess not. And it seems our powers don''t really work together."


    Sara smiled bitterly and looked to the side. She was still trembling slightly.


    "I guess not."


    Kairos cracked his neck just as he felt the situation was getting awkward. He cleared his throat with the goal of getting everyone''s attention.


    "Anyway, I would appreciate it if you could show me around the ce and give me a basic rundown. I''ll owe you guys a favor if you do."


    Jeff didn''t seem all that enthusiastic to talk, but Nyoka was as casual as before. He gave a small wave with a cheeky smile.


    "Hah. If we are showing you around, then the first ce I should show you... is the city."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "There''s a city in this ce?"


    Nyoka''s smile widened as he looked off in a certain direction.


    "Hahaha, I guess it depends on your definition of a city. It could also be called... a dipshit cage."

 Chapter 209 Warm Up

    Kairos stared at Nyoka''s smile for a few moments.


    "You call the city a dipshit cage? Though, I guess if your house is like this, then it probably doesn''t take much to get better than this. Or am I wrong in assuming that the city is better than this ce?"


    Surprisingly, Jeff wasn''t set off by thatment. Instead, he just shook his head.


    "It''s moreplicated than that."


    Sara sat down and hugged her knees, looking to the side. She decided not to take part in this conversation. It was at this point that Nyoka decided to clear things up.


    "To put it simply, as shabby as this ce looks, that''s all it needs to be. Creating some sort of imprable fortress is just an extreme waste of resources considering how unpredictable things are, and how often you''d need to ditch it all and run. The only real purpose it has now is to serve as andmark to know we came back to the right ce."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "So that was also a hint to never settle down at one ce too long?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Yeah, pretty much. This area will probably be fine for quite a while, as this is more or less a barren wastnd for quite a while. If you were telling the truth earlier, then it was quite lucky that you ended up in such a ce. If it was somewhere else... then you may have died without even knowing that there was danger."


    He suddenly furrowed his brows after thatst sentence.


    "Ah, well, if you can see the future, then maybe you would see iting. But I doubt you''d be able to change anything if it''s one of the more... popted ces. Regardless, the city is a little different."


    Nyoka cracked his neck. He then turned and began walking.


    "I''ll tell you about it as we go there."


    Both Jeff and Sara were quick to follow, while Kairos hesitated for a second before going with them. After they walked for a bit, Nyoka started his exnation.


    "For starters, just getting inside the ce is a pain because you need to pay in ck blood, and even then you can only stay for twenty-four hours. The walls are fairly sturdy, meaning that you are rtively safe from the monsters hiding outside. Though, it''s totally feasible someone inside the city will attack you. And so long as it doesn''t get too big, none of the guards will do anything about it."


    Kairos smirked.


    "That does sound like a massive pain. So why do you want to get into this ce anyway?"


    Nyoka let out a sigh.


    "It''s the only real ce where you have a chance of selling or buying things. Though pretty much everyone is trying to scam, so you have to work your way around that. But regardless, it''s a good ce to get ck blood for the things you don''t need, and also get whatever equipment you do need."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "I see. But how do you even trade ck blood? It''s not exactly easy to measure how much there is."


    Nyoka fished a small ck ball out of his pocket and showed it to him.


    "There''s an ability from a core that allows you to store ck blood and even preserve it. It isn''t the mostmon, but it''s not all that hard to find someone that has it. Regardless, this is the agreed upon way to trade."


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "Ah, I see. Well, since I obviously don''t have any of that, I don''t see much of a point in going to this city."


    Nyokaughed and shot him a sidelong nce.


    "You said to show you around, no? Maybe all you''re going to do is check the ce out, but it''s still nice to get a little view of the ce. Unless you''re really going really really far, this is probably the only city you need to worry about."


    Kairos blinked a few times before giving an approving nod.


    "Can''t say you''re wrong on that. How much does it cost to get there?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s one ball of ck blood for every twenty-four hours. It''s a bit hefty, but it''s not like anyone is forcing us to go into the city."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "For reference, how many balls of ck blood would that flower from earlier contain?"


    Nyokaughed, which confused Kairos quite a bit. What exactly was so funny?


    Eventually, when Nyoka realized that Kairos was getting a little annoyed, he spoke up.


    "All of the ck blood from that thing wouldn''t make up a single orb, even if you counted the stuff in its eye."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "Then how much of a single orb would it make up?"


    Nyoka sighed helplessly, but still had a smile on his face.


    "If we''re being generous here, maybe a tenth."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Getting ck blood sounds like a pain."


    Jeff smiled bitterly after hearing that.


    "That''s what every damn living thing down here''s been doing every moment. You have to get used to it..."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "Then before you bring me to the city, could you take me to some ces where I can get this ck blood?"


    Nyoka waved his hand dismissively.


    "Don''t worry about that. To get to the city in the first ce, we are going to meet monsters whether we want to or not. After we deal with them, then we can split them based on contribution."


    Kairos nodded.


    "Sounds good."


    From there, Nyoka began talking about things that Kairos didn''t really care about, like what kinds of things he did to pass time, whether it was together or when he was alone. Kairos only half paid attention to what he was talking about.


    This entire time, he was actually circting the mana in his body, hoping that there might be some mana somewhere. But one thing he did notice was that the mana in his body had increased ever slightly.


    It was tiny enough that it could''ve easily just been a mistake, but he was fairly confident in his own judgment. If he had to guess, his regeneration while circting his mana was simr to his mana regeneration on the surface world when he wasn''t circting his mana, except worse.


    Losing the ability to lob as many spells as he wanted was a huge detriment to him as that was the main way he fought, but at the very least it wasn''t like he couldn''t use them at all.


    He let out a soft sigh.


    And that''s when Nyoka suddenly spoke up with excitement and pointed upwards in front of them.


    "Haha, you got some pretty good luck man. This one is a pretty nice warm-up for you to get familiar with the monsters down here."


    Though, despite looking in the direction he was pointing, Kairos could not see this monster. He snuck a nce at Jeff and Sara who were both looking intently at something, clearly not having the same problem.


    He pulled out his spear and walked forth.


    "I can''t even see the damn thing, I gotta get closer."


    Jeff didn''t seem to mind, but called out.


    "Be careful!"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively as he continued forth.


    "I can see the future, remember? Let me try to fight this thing on my own."


    As those words slipped through his mouth, he saw an incredibly fast ck blur in his future vision shooting towards him. With all his strength, he preemptively swung his spear with both hands.


    A distinct boom resounded.


    Kairos continued to press against the attack, trying to test how effective his strength was. As for the thing he was fighting against, it was a giant ck hand that had stretched out significantly.


    The immediate thing he noticed was that this giant hand had the upper hand over him. However, strangely enough, it seemed as though the hand wasn''t pressing its advantage in strength.


    Instead, it gripped onto the spear and squeezed tighter and tighter.


    Kairos wasn''t all that concerned at first, as the spear had gone through so much without breaking. However, the red veins in the spear began dimming considerably. Seeing this, Kairos began trying to pull his weapon away, but then a second giant ck hand grabbed onto the spear as well, making that feat a tad bit too difficult for him.


    Nyoka called out to him.


    "How are you doing? Need any help?"


    Kairos narrowed his eyes.


    "Not yet, but I might soon."


    The red veins rapidly disappeared until all that was left was gray stone, and that too wasn''t spared either as many hairline cracks formed across it. These cracks were actually rapidly mending as they were being formed, but despite that, it looked like it would break soon.


    With that in mind, Kairos let one hand go from the spear and began openly channeling the fire spell.


    The instant the ball of light appeared, he felt that it was incredibly blinding. Both Jeff and Sara also seemed to think the same as they screamed out like they were being burnt alive. In fact, even the monster let go of the spear and let out a guttural roar as it backed off.


    Nyoka clicked his tongue.


    "That thing again... how can you even do that?"


    Kairos smiled bitterly. His vision rapidly adapted to the bright light, making it very bearable.


    "It''s a thing people on the surface learned to do after the apocalypse struck."


    After channeling for only a second, the fireball had expanded to be just over a meter wide. He threw it forth at the monster, causing a ratherrge explosion. The monster cried out in pain once more, and while its body was covered in mes, Kairos could finally clearly see it.


    It was a rtively humanoid monster that was six meters tall. On top of that, it had four different arms that were quite long and were in the process of extending outwards, though two of those arms looked deted. Manycerations covered them as the two arms hung limply at its sides.


    Though, that was the least of its problems as it was currently wildly iling around to put out the fire around it.


    Kairos did not wait, instead running towards it at full speed. He thought about decapitating or breaking its skull like how he did with many other monsters before, but its head was ratherrge and its neck was thick.


    He then naturally thought of the heart and rushed forth with the intention of piercing where its heart was.


    By now, his spear was fully restored to its original condition, so he wasn''t worried about that. The monster was none the wiser about his approach, letting him leap into the air and easily shove the spear straight through its chest.


    It should''ve hit the heart, but Kairos felt like something was wrong immediately. The monster just seemed more aggravated than anything, and two of its hands shot towards him.

 Chapter 210 A Core

    Seeing the two wsing for him, Kairos didn''t waste time mming his feet against the monster''s chest. He shot like a bullet out of the way, dodging its attack. However, while the two arms missed initially, they continued to chase after him like homing missiles.


    He jumped over one of them right before it hit him and pushed off the arm with his spear to send him flying out of the other one.


    After that, he backed up a little, getting out of the fight for a moment. Though, there was a frown on his face.


    "How are you supposed to kill these things?"


    Nyoka cleared his throat.


    "Ah, sorry for not mentioning something else. The main weakness of most monsters is their ck heart. The exact location depends on the monster, but for most humanoid ones it''s a little lower than where you just stabbed, like at the center of their body."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "So these ones just have a weird heart cement."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "Er, actually, this is one of the normal ones. Whenever an Untainted gets converted, usually they lose their normal heart which is then reced with a ck one."


    Kairos paused for a moment, feeling a little weirded out. However, he snapped back to attention right after, as the monster from earlier was approaching. Once it was fairly close, two giant ws shot out towards him once more. Though, they definitely didn''t have the fervor they originally did. In fact, they weren''t even directly aiming at Kairos and were off their mark by a decent amount.


    He only had to dash to the side to dodge both of them, and after that he leaped up on top of one, running across it. Strangely enough, the monster didn''t even seem to notice, its arms retractingnguidly.


    It wasn''t hard at all for him to reach the monster. And this time, he followed Nyoka''s advice, piercing the thing straight through its center. Right when he did so, he felt the monster suddenly weaken considerably. Knowing now that he wouldn''t get notifications after killing these kinds, he figured that this would be the end.


    This was supported by the fact that the monster''s body seemed to be withering somewhat. Yet, the ws that had just finished retracting suddenly became farrger, to the point they were nearly bigger than the monster itself.


    Kairos was confused but wasn''t caught off guard thanks to his future vision. Those tworge ws suddenly shot towards him, several times faster than when the monster was normally at its fastest.


    In response, he did a backflip, letting the two arms just barely miss him, instead only blowing a rather intense wind at him. If he still had hair in his abyss form, it would be iling.


    With a heavy thud, both ws mmed into their own body. For a few moments, it remained there still, almost like it was getting ready to fight again at any moment. However, it gradually tilted back before mming into the ground.


    Kairos looked at it for a few more moments before turning to Nyoka.


    "Is it dead?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Yeah, more or less. Now that I think about it, I also forgot to tell you that most things do what some call a swan song. Basically, when something is fairly sure it''s going to die, they have their death throes in an attempt to take their killer down with them."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "You couldn''t have told me that before?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''m not used to teaching other people, normally everyone here knows the drill, they wouldn''t have gotten here otherwise. These things are basicallymon sense. Plus, I was distracted by how much you screwed up both Jeff and Sara."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, but then he heard the hisses of paining from the distance. Upon walking closer, he noticed that both Jeff and Sara were crouched on the ground rubbing their eyes like some poison had entered them. At first, he had no idea why they were like that but then thought of the fireball he had casted earlier.


    "Are they like this because of the fireball?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly and nodded.


    "Pretty much. I don''t know how you were able to make such a strong concentrated ball of light, but it''s really hard when we''re used to almostplete darkness."


    Kairos smirked.


    "You don''t seem all that affected by it though."


    Nyoka waved his hand dismissively.


    "Haha, that''s just because my will is stronger. It''s not like it doesn''t sear my eyes too."


    Jeff''s panting calmed down as he gradually stood up.


    "Don''t... do that again. Ever."


    Sara shakily got up to her feet, but it was fairly clear she was shaken up.


    "I-I would prefer it if you didn''t do that."


    Kairos raised his hands up like he was surrendering.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    Though, while he said that, he fully nned on casting the fireball once more. He was a little worried before about needing more mana than he could handle, but since just the light from the fireball was that blinding, it seemed like he wouldn''t need too much.


    Probably because he wasn''t what Nyoka called "Tainted", the light didn''t blind him as badly as the others. Though, he wasn''t nning on relying on that as Nyoka seemed to be rather resilient to it.


    His gaze slowly shifted over to the dead body.


    "So uh, do you mind if I eat it all?"


    Nyoka waved him away.


    "It''s all yours. But if a core somehow survives, then you gotta give it to me."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "I have no idea what it looks like, so if there is one, take it yourself."


    After that, he walked over to the corpse he had just killed and stared at it awkwardly for a few moments. Compared to the petals from before, this was definitely far more than before. It was a little jarring to look at it all, to say the least.


    Nyoka let out a sigh when he saw how reluctant Kairos looked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You gotta start now, or we''re going to be here all day."


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "Yeah, fair enough."


    By now, he had gotten pretty hungry anyway.


    With that, he no longer hesitated, resolutely taking arge bite out of the corpse. It tasted quite simr to the monster corpses he had eaten before. Though, those times were out of desperation because of the situation more than anything. Now that it wasn''tpletely necessary, it was definitely harder.


    But one thing he noticed was that while the flesh was as nasty as ever, the ck blood wasn''t as bad as before. It was still definitely unpleasant, but at the very least he could stomach it without too much gagging.


    He went onto the second bite and began chewing once more. His face distorted significantly, but he was still more or less fine. As he went on, he continued to eat it faster and faster, trying to finish all of it as quickly as possible.


    Kairos noticed that Nyoka was doing something to the corpse, but he decided not to focus on that. Instead, he just kept eating, and eating, and eating.


    Until eventually, there were only ck blood stains on the ground next to him and across his face.


    By the end, Kairos felt incredibly dizzy. He felt like he was going to fall over at any moment. But before he could even think about that, he felt bile rising up from the pit of his stomach.


    He forced his mouth shut with both hands, stopping it froming out. Then, he forced himself to swallow his own vomit. After that, he copsed onto the ground still with a warped expression. Even now, the nasty taste was still ever so present in his mouth.


    Jeff slowly spoke up.


    "You... ate the flesh too?"


    Kairos put one hand on his forehead.


    "Yeah, I was hungry. If I didn''t eat that, then there isn''t much else for me."


    Jeff raised an eyebrow before looking back and forth between him and the remains of the corpse.


    "But ck blood is enough for hunger, right?"


    Kairos clicked his tongue.


    "If that was the case, then I wouldn''t have been hungry. I already had some ck blood."


    His stomach churned ufortably, but it soon died down. Though it probably wasn''t the most nutritious, the decayed flesh was digested and his hunger died down. As for the ck blood, it coursed through his system and added itself to the ck flesh in his body, causing it to expand somewhat.


    After calming down, he looked over to the side and saw that Nyoka was holding onto a small glowing gray cube with two of his fingers.


    "Is that the core? Why did you want it?"


    Nyoka smirked.


    "It''s a core that lets you stretch out your body if you use some ck blood. You saw it earlier. The ability itself isn''t all that bad, but most people have found the ck blood price is too steep to use it normally."


    Kairos blinked a few times and sat up.


    "So why the hell do you want it?"


    Nyoka let out a softugh as he turned the glowing cube over in his hands a few times.


    "In my human form, it''s pretty much as useless as it is for anyone else, but there are a few tricks once I activate my transformation."


    Kairos looked at him strangely.


    "Your transformation?"


    Nyoka stared back at him cluelessly, until he suddenly realized that Kairos was new to this ce once more.


    "Ah, right. You remember the snake behind me from before?"


    Kairos slowly nodded. He remembered when they sparred, there was just an ethereal snake randomly behind him acting like an extra hand.


    "So that''s the transformation?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly and shook his head slowly. He paced around as he exined.


    "Er, that''s called an avatar. It''s the first main evolution people go through after consuming enough ck flesh. After that, there''s a second evolution that allows one to directly transform into their avatar."


    Kairos stood up and cracked his neck.


    "Ah, I think I get it. Since your avatar is a snake, the ability to extend yourself lets you bite people easier."


    Nyoka smirked.


    "Well... that''s one of the uses. Honestly, I didn''t think that the core would survive, since you pierced it straight in the heart. But it looks like that spear you got is thin enough and missed it."


    He then tossed the core in his mouth and swallowed it whole. Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.


    "So these cores reside in the ck heart?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Yeah, but they are really easy to destroy if you hit the ck heart. When people are killing for cores, generally they maim the body surrounding the torso."


    Kairos rubbed his chin.


    "Could you take me to one of these monsters with a core I could use? They sound quite interesting."


    Nyoka blinked a few times.


    "Well, I can''t directly take you to one, but... there is a hot spot for a decent core."

 Chapter 211 Transformation

    After Sara and Jeff spent a few more seconds to recover, the group set off once more, but slightly off track. Nyoka took the lead, with a smile on his face.


    "Now, I will say there is a high chance we may encounter other people. Chances are if we don''t back down from the monsters, there''s going to be a fight."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly and tapped his chin.


    "Is it a fight that I should be worried about?"


    Nyoka tilted his head to the side.


    "Hm... that is a good question. It''s definitely not one that we are worried about, but it could be for you."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "For reference, how much stronger are they than the monsters that I just killed?"


    Nyoka let out a soft sigh and shrugged his shoulders. He looked to the side with a bitter smile.


    "To put it into perspective, the monster we are looking for is stronger than the one you just killed. On top of that, we are going against people that are confident in killing those monsters without taking advantage of their weakness to get their core. And on top of that, they are also doing it knowing full well someone else is going to sabotage them."


    Nyoka raised a finger in the air before tilting it to the side.


    "So, you can imagine that they aren''t all that weak."


    Kairos took a deep breath, though it sounded like a sigh.


    "That does sound pretty bad. What exactly is this core anyway?"


    Nyoka raised up one of his arms, which had a distinct gray color like it had been desaturated. Suddenly, a small patch ckened, with a slight wrinkly texture like tree bark. He then tapped on that small patch with one hand, letting out a clear tapping sound.


    "It lets you harden your skin, and it doesn''t take all that much ck blood. Generally speaking, it''s something everyone could use. Some people consider it a staple."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "That would be quite useful. How will we distribute the cores?"


    Nyoka held out one hand with a smile.


    "How about we gather four? You take one, while Sara gets three of them. Neither Jeff or I need them much, but she could use them to upgrade her core."


    Kairos had noints.


    "Sounds fair to me."


    With that, they continued walking. Out of curiosity, Kairos opened up his status panel to check on how much time had passed.


    [Time Left Before Teleportation: 29 days, 17 hours, 23 minutes, and 19 seconds remaining]


    He was quickly able to gather that it was a little over six hours. Though, as he closed his status panel, Sara suddenly spoke up.


    "Wh-What was that?"


    Kairos shot a nce at her. He was a little surprised, as Nyoka didn''t seem to be able to see his status panel from earlier, and it seemed Jeff couldn''t either. So why could she do so? Though, just to be sure he asked for confirmation.


    "What exactly are you talking about?"


    Sara flinched after he said that, before turning forth quickly.


    "Nothing!"


    Kairos''s eyebrow twitched. He wanted to press for answers, but doubted that he would be able to get any even if he did so. That would only antagonize the rest of the group. After thinking about it for a few moments, it was totally reasonable that Sara thought she saw something in the distance.


    After all, Nyoka told him before that there were always monsters lurking around in the darkness. Though if Sara was really able to see that status panel, that would have implications he wouldn''t yet understand.


    He shook his head thinking that it wasn''t all that important.


    And so, after walking for an hour or so, they eventually came across what looked like a demon. It was a ck figure that reached seven meters in height, with tworge ck horns jutting out from the sides of its head. Currently, it wasn''t facing them, but as the group got closer it quickly turned around to face them.


    It had two glowing red eyes if it didn''t nail the demonic appearance well enough.


    Kairos pointed at it.


    "Is that the thing we''re trying to kill?"


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "Not exactly. It''s a person that transformed. Though, that''s not to say we won''t get any cores from killing him."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos looked up at the seven-meter tall demon once more and tried to process the fact it was actually another person instead of a monster. As for the demon, it simply stared back at the rest of the group, almost like it was daring them to take another step forward.


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Well, if he has a decent amount of cores, wouldn''t killing him save us a bunch of time?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Pretty much. Wanna try?"


    Kairos raised his hand in a w formation.


    "Why not?"


    Nyokaughed.


    "Alright then."


    For starters, Kairos began channeling the darkness spell, just to see what it would do. The moment a small dark ball formed in his hand, it suddenly began violently expanding. The devious smile and eyes formed almost immediately, while the thing actually beganughing. With how it looked, itsughing was actually more normal than not, but now that it was actually doing it felt strange to Kairos.


    He could tell that his Alone passive was active, meaning that he and Nyoka''s group obviously didn''t trust each other enough to be considered allies. But regardless, the Alone passive alone was definitely not enough to do something like this.


    It seemed that this environment was somehow invigorating to the darkness spell, not that Kairos wasining.


    Though pretty much everyone was looking at the darkness spell with confusion, it wasn''t hard to tell that it meant some form of hostility. The demon suddenly rushed forth, intending on taking him down before he could finish casting the spell.


    Kairos had only channeled it for a second, but it already expanded to be over a meter wide. This was enough for him, thus he let it loose.


    Theughing dark ball shot forth as fast as ever, but the moment it hit the demon, instead of just disappearing inside its body like how it normally worked, it wrapped itself around the demon, almost like a piece of gum. The face stuck out from behind its shoulder almost like a mischievous little kid, stillughing.


    Nyoka rubbed his chin with interest.


    "That is an interesting ability."


    While it was originally charging forth, it suddenly stopped in its tracks and let out a roar. From there, the demon desperately wed at the face, but it moved out of the way before it could ever get a grasp on it.


    Seeing the opportunity, Kairos rushed forth all the while pulling back his spear. He leaped up into the air to reach where the ck heart of the demon should''ve been and threw his spear forth with all of his strength.


    Yet, to his surprise, the moment the spear hit, only a loud dink resounded as it bounced off.


    One of the demon''s ws suddenly turned into a long de and swept towards him. As he clicked his tongue, he jumped off the thing once more. Afternding back with the others, Nyoka let out augh.


    "Didn''t I say you can''t target the heart if you want to preserve the cores? Let me show you how it''s done."


    After saying that, he pulled out his ck fang while a projection of a snake appeared behind him. Shortly after, the snake went into Nyoka''s figure, after which his body suddenly burgeoned unnaturally. His hair melded into his skin, while his skin suddenly expanded, bing ck and filled with scales. His mouth stretched out wide, while two gleaming fangs grew out the top of his mouth.


    Dangerous creaking sounds filled the air as this transformation happened, like the sounds of bones being pushed to their absolute limits.


    But once the transformation finally finished, Kairos found himself staring at a fifteen meters long ck snake with, strangely enough, glowing ck eyes. Like a bolt of lightning, it shot towards the demon, mping down on one of the demon''s arms, lifting the entire thing up into the air.


    Arge tear formed in the side of its shoulder that grew deeper as it was thrown up into the air.


    Suddenly shifting its momentum, the snake shot downwards like a meteor. With an explosive bang, the demon mmed onto the ground, t on its face. As for the arm, it was ripped off.


    The snake tossed it aside, next to the others. Jeff and Sara both began eating it, drinking the blood like it waspletely natural. Kairos couldn''t help but note that the way they drank blood was awfully reminiscent of vampires, taking arge bite and sucking the ck blood out.


    Neither of them seemed concerned that Nyoka would be in any danger, not even casting a nce in his direction.


    Kairos refocused his attention on the battle and saw the snake opening its mouth wide, revealing the fangs, and lunged towards the demon''s head, right in between the two horns. After sinking its fangs in deep, the two horns on the demon''s head suddenly moved, piercing into both of the snake''s eyes.


    The snake pulled out of the way while letting out a cry of pain, but the demon still seemed worse for wear. The previously red glowing eyes had dimmed considerably, and while its arms twitched in an attempt to move, it was clear that the demon could no longer muster up much strength anymore.


    In fact, the darkness spell from earlier had wrapped itself around the entire body, restricting what little strength it had left.


    From there, the face appeared once more,ughing as it had always been. Then, it lunged towards the demon''s eyes, suddenly disappearing after making contact.


    And at the same time, the red glow from its eyes disappeared immediately.


    The giant snake looked down at the corpse for a few moments before slithering back over to the group. Painful creaking sounds filled the air as Nyoka gradually turned back into a human, changing from a slither to a casual walk.


    Kairos smiled bitterly. The strength disyed made him see Nyoka in a new light, along with all the other monsters in the ce. Though he felt weak on the surface too, he was at least confidently stronger than most.


    But if it was here... it seemed as though he was at the bottom of the barrel if he just looked at his physical strength. He did have his spells, but he couldn''t rely on them because his regeneration was greatly limited. His mana capacity was still mostly full, but that didn''t mean he could rely on it.


    He needed to learn how to get a transformation as well.

 Chapter 212 Conversion

    Kairos shot a nce at Nyoka, who lookedpletely fine. It was almost hard to believe that man was a giant snake just a few moments ago.


    "That was quite impressive. Is there any way I can do something like that too?"


    Nyoka let out augh.


    "If you''re willing to stomach a lot more ck blood, then maybe. I also must ask, is there some way I could do that ability you used at the start of the fight as well?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip turned up.


    "Although it isn''t impossible, there are too many restrictions. The first and foremost being that you won''t be able to sense mana, especially not if it''s here."


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow. It was clear he had no idea what he was talking about, but got the message that it wasn''t going to be anything easy. He let out a soft sigh.


    "That''s a shame. I wonder what mana feels like."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Find a way back to the surface and I think I can show you. Though, that may be a little difficult."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly and shot him a nce.


    "Yeah, I''ve been trying to find a way back up for my entire time here, but it seems like you have to go deeper through theyers if you want to get back up, which is quite ironic. I''m quite surprised you haven''t gotten hung up over going back. Do you not have anything you want to get back to?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. He didn''t really want to expose the fact he was going to teleport after thirty days. At the very least, not yet. So he told a little half-truth.


    "...It''s not like I have nothing I want to go back to, but there''s no rush. Even after years go by, it should still be there. It''s not really something that will disappear before I get back."


    Nyoka gave a small nod, but there was a bitter smile on his face.


    "I''m not going to lie to you, but it''s definitely going to be more than just a couple of years if you want to get back. And that''s assuming we even could go back in the first ce."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "As I said before, there''s no rush. If I really don''t get back... then so be it."


    Nyoka narrowed his eyes after hearing that.


    "It really makes me wonder what exactly you are talking about."


    Kairos rolled his eyes and walked over to the demon corpse.


    "Well it doesn''t matter now, there''s plenty of time to think about itter, wouldn''t you say?"


    Nyoka let out a soft sigh.


    "I guess that is one way to look at it."


    Upon making it to the demon corpse, Kairos began pulling away the flesh at the demon''s torso, trying to get to the ck heart that he had been told about. And as promised, he did eventually find arge ck heart that was now still. It looked quite simr to what a normal heart was, except for the fact it appeared to be unnaturallyrge in a few sections and lined with what looked like tiny spikes.


    "So how do we get the cores out of this thing?"


    Nyoka came over and pulled out his ck fang. First, he cut off all the strange spikes before peeling the heart almost like it was an orange. ck blood spilled out first, and underneath all of that were a total of three glowing cores.


    He clicked his tongue upon seeing them.


    "Most of them were still destroyed. At least they don''t look too bad."


    He gently took them out and ced them on his palm. There was a glowing dark gray one, another that looked metallic, and also a reddish-orange one that stood out, particrly because of its distinct color.


    Nyoka first pointed at the dark gray one.


    "This is the one that allows you to harden your skin."


    He then pointed to the metallic one.


    "And this one is how the guy turned his limbs into a giant sharp de and used those horns as weapons as well."


    Then he pointed to thest one.


    "As for this one... I have no idea what it is."


    After staring at it for a few seconds more, Nyoka''s brows began to furrow. He thought about it for a little while before letting out augh.


    "I''m not entirely sure what this is exactly, but it can''t be that good as he hadn''t used it even as he was about to die. Though the unknown has always made me curious, so I won''t mind taking this one and letting you have one of the others."


    Kairos thought about it for a few moments before tilting his head to the side.


    "Considering that there are only three which can''t be split that well, how about I just take that unknown one and let you have the other two since you did most of the work."


    Nyoka thought about it for a few moments before smiling.


    "Alright then. How about the corpse?"


    Kairos took a look at it for a few moments.


    "...Maybe I can just have an arm. I doubt I can stomach much more."


    Nyokaughed.


    "That is fair, that is fair."


    He proceeded to hand the reddish-orange glowing cube to Kairos, while taking the two others, handing the one for hardening skin to Sara, and the de one to Jeff. At that time, Kairos decided to directly throw the cube into his mouth, hoping for the best.


    He could distinctly feel it traveling down, and once it reached his stomach he could feel the ck flesh in his body moving instinctively, going into his stomach and pulling the cube out.


    From there, it was held near the center of his body with a few strands of ck flesh, where the ck heart would''ve been if he had one.


    [Unlocked Special Ability: Conversion (???)]<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos raised an eyebrow when he saw that system notification. It seemed that the system was unable to read the rank because of how this specific ability worked. After casting a nce at Sara that was currently swallowing a cube of her own, he opened his status panel.


    [Status]


    [ID: 345315364923]


    [Rank: D+]


    [Objective: Survive]


    [Proof Of Perfection Points: 43.1]


    [Stats -


    Strength - 30.0


    Endurance - 30.0


    Agility - 30.0


    Willpower - 30.0


    Mana Capacity - 30.0


    Magic Affinity - 30.0]


    [Special Abilities: Alone (D), Water Spell (E), Pulse Spell (E), Gale Spell (E), Darkness Spell (E), Fire Spell (F), Abyss Form (F), Conversion (???)]


    [Hide]


    As he was about to tap it, Nyoka called out to him.


    "So what does that core do?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I honestly have no idea."


    From there, he tapped onto the skill to check if there was a skill description, and thankfully one popped up.


    [Conversion (???)]


    [Grants the ability to transform red blood into ck blood]


    It was short and simple, but Kairos could already feel that it was pretty good. The biggest thing was that he wasn''t going to stay in the Abyss realm forever, meaning that another way to get ck blood was quite useful to him.


    Not to mention, it would mean he would have to drink less ck blood in general. Though, it seemed the only way to sate his hunger was with the flesh.


    Kairos refocused on the demon corpse, forcefully cutting away the arm by using his spear like a saw. As ck blood spurt out, he decided to let it drip into the chest cavity of the corpse, letting the others have it.


    From there, he resolutely took a big bite and then activated his new ability at the same time. Just in case there were any noticeable effects, he wanted to cover it up by the fact he was eating the ck flesh.


    As for the effects, he could feel them immediately. The blood pumping out of his heart stopped short of going through his veins and was instead pulled out by the ck flesh in his body, rapidly getting converted into ck blood. Topensate for this, his heart started beating far faster while his bones rapidly produced more blood.


    The thing that Kairos immediately noticed was the blood conversion was rather massive, nearly overwhelming him. For every drop of blood that he used, Kairos guessed that at least ten drops of ck blood formed.


    In fact, he quickly stopped after converting about a cup of red blood as he could feel his body wasn''t ready for more. In fact, the ck blood he got from the ability was probably quite close to the amount in the arm he was eating.


    One small thing that he noted, was that he had gotten a bit more hungry in converting that red blood. Even if he didn''t need the ck blood in the demon''s arm much anymore, he would still have to eat the flesh to replenish his hunger.


    And so, that''s what he did.


    By the time he finished everything, the ck blood in his body roiled, making it feel as though worms were squirming underneath his body.


    He felt the ck flesh over his body get thicker, while two things began growing out of his head, while he felt his nose changing as well.


    [Abyss Form (F) -> Abyss Form (F+)]


    Out of nowhere, everything felt so clear in his head. His hearing had improved considerably, letting him clearly hear sounds from Sara and Jeff draining the ck blood out of the demon. On top of that, his sense of smell had grown far better as well. Though, that might''ve been more of a bad thing.


    Sara cast a nce over at him after he had finished his transformation, and her eyes lit up. She ran over with a hand outstretched towards his head.


    "That''s so cute!"


    Yet, before she ended up touching his head, she froze in ce, as though only now realizing what she was doing.


    "U-Um, sorry."


    Kairos waved a hand dismissively. Though her reaction made him far more curious about how he looked. Unfortunately, there were no mirrors around.


    "That''s fine. But uh, what do I look like right now?"


    Jeff looked over, and his eyes widened in surprise.


    "You have what looks like two little cat ears on your head."


    Kairos stood there in ce for a few moments.


    "...I''m bing a cat? Is that what my transformation is going to be?"


    Nyoka couldn''t help butugh as he saw what Kairos had be.


    "Hey, hey what''s so bad about being a cat? This is a good thing, didn''t you say you wanted to get your own transformation? You''re one step closer!"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. Though he did want a transformation, he felt like a cat just... sounded too non-threatening. However, he quickly reassured himself by saying that maybe he would be another one of the feline species, like a lion, or maybe even a tiger.


    Yes, he just had some tiger ears on his head. That''s all it was.

 Chapter 213 Evolving Again

    Kairos thought to himself for a few moments. Even if the ears on his head really were tiger ears, that didn''t really help much. It still made him look... strange.


    "Hey, do you still want to get one of those cores to harden your skin? I guess we only need to get three considering our current situation."


    Nyoka spoke out to Kairos, who snapped out of it. He wasn''t sure why he was even so hung up about it in the first ce. After clearing his throat, he responded.


    "Oh yeah, sure."


    Without waiting any longer, Nyoka continued to lead the way further. After just a couple of minutes of walking, they found the original target they wereing here for.


    Kairos'' eyebrow twitched when he saw what was in front of him.


    It looked like a giant hedgehog, with massive spikes jutting out from every part of its body. As for the body itself, that part wasn''t even visible because the spikes simply obscured the entirety of it.


    "So how is this thing normally killed?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "The traditional way is to just continue threatening it by attacking the spikes. It will continually harden those spikes to try and defend itself, but it can only do that for so long since it doesn''t have infinite ck blood."


    Kairos gave him a sidelong nce.


    "And how long exactly does that take?"


    Nyokaughed.


    "I''d say maybe five hours."


    Kairos didn''t respond for a second.


    "So what''s the other way?"


    Nyoka cracked his neck.


    "Baiting the thing to harden its spikes on one side and quicklyunching an attack at the other right after. The window is very small, I must say. Though, of course you could always brute force it if you''re just far stronger than it."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "Let me try something then. I have an idea..."


    If he just needed to do a feint on one side, then actually attack the other, he wouldn''t be able to run around simply because he didn''t have any real method of increasing his speed substantially.


    As such, the only thing he could really think of was to directly jump over it, throwing his spear as a feint before using a spell as the real attack afterwards. He didn''t really want to use more of his mana, but he still feltfortable doing so as he still had quite a bit left.


    With that in mind, he began preparing the gale spell with his left hand, while his right hand held the spear. He walked up to the giant hedgehog, which in turn walked up to him. It seemed as though the thing wasn''t afraid of him.


    In fact, it might''ve even seen him as a meal.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes and suddenly broke out into a sprint. He had already channeled the gale spell for a few seconds, which he figured would be enough. And if it wasn''t, he could always get the others to finish them off.


    For starters, he mmed his foot into the ground the moment he got close to the hedgehog before throwing his spear after he got some air. In response to that, the giant hedgehog''s spikes suddenly turned ck. The spear was still able to slip past, but there was a clear ng after it traveled somewhat.


    Though, that was all just part of the n. By the time Kairos was directly over the hedgehog, he pointed his left hand downwards, holding out those four fingers. He narrowed his eyes slightly, as the hedgehog ended up hardened more of its spikes than he initially thought.


    A little over half of the entire hedgehog had hardened. However, there was a clear line for where it stopped.


    Confident in his own aiming and with the help of his future vision, he arbitrarily decided to aim for that line. Then, he released the gale spell, which hardly even made the smallest whisper.


    All of a sudden, the giant hedgehog let out a shriek, while all of the spikes began vibrating wildly. It was hard to tell because the spikes obscured most of it, but that gale spell appeared to injure it fairly badly.


    Kairos watched on for a little longer until hended on the opposite end. He quickly turned around to look at the hedgehog and noticed that all of the spikes had hardened. Now that he didn''t have his weapon and no spell pre-channeled, he didn''t feel too good about confronting it now.


    From his future vision, he saw the hedgehog running towards him without abandon, just like a bull rushing forth.


    Naturally, Kairos began running away, not wanting to get skewered by the countless spikes. Though, as he was running, he felt this strange instinct to start doing so on all fours. He ignored it, as doing something like that probably wouldn''t work well considering the human body wasn''t designed for that.


    Yet, the hedgehog was rapidly closing in on him. He extended his future vision to two seconds to be safe, yet right as he did so he felt the spike easily piercing through his body. He didn''t expect to suddenly be thrust into such a helpless situation. It wasn''t as though he could dodge to the left and right which he had done many times before in simr situations.


    His mind instantly went through several solutions. The first one he thought of was the red prism, using it to create a wall, however, that was quickly dropped due to how slow it was in doing just that.


    He then thought of using the nature cores to brute force his own survival, but it would be hard to regenerate wounds while spikes were still in his own body. He also thought about using some sort of spell to escape this situation, frankly even the one second it would take to cast was probably more than what he could spare.<novelnext></novelnext>


    From there, he could only think of getting the help of the others, which really didn''t feel good. But even if he did call out for help at this point, he doubted that they would be able to do anything. And that was assuming that they would even want to try in the first ce.


    While all those thoughts clouded his mind, he suddenly found himself on all fours. He hadn''t even realized until a few secondster, because he still wasn''t skewered from the spikes. He was no longer outmatched by the spikes while running like this.


    In fact, he was even faster and not by a small margin.


    Eventually, the hedgehog from behind him stopped chasing and copsed to the ground, the spikes all drooping downwards. Kairos turned around, still on all fours. He felt a little strange, not because the position he was in felt awkward, but because it simply felt too natural. It was almost as though he had lived his life running like this when in reality this was his first time doing it.


    His fingers were curled up so that the highest joint was used to support most of the weight along with the palm.


    With a bit of awkwardness, he stood back up normally, now feeling that standing was weird.


    Nyoka walked over and with a few congrattory ps.


    "I''m a little surprised. I didn''t think that you could do it all by yourself. Though, how did you attack the hedgehog the second time?"


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "I used a spell. That''s pretty much it."


    Jeff walked over with the spear in his hand and tossed it over.


    "You really shouldn''t be throwing your weapons around like that. Someone could easily take it."


    Kairos caught the spear and smiled.


    "It''s not particrly precious to me or anything. If anything, it feels like it''s not all that suited forbat down here."


    He was especially not worried because he could always make another one, though the retrieval process might be a littleplicated considering that anything he made appeared to be embedded into the ground.


    Kairos looked at the dead hedgehog lying next to him.


    "So how exactly am I supposed to get this thing''s core?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "Get through all the spikes."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Fair enough."


    With that, he worked on pushing away the spikes, which were surprisingly heavy for how thin they were. Eventually, once he pushed through them, he could feel countless spikes resting on his body and weighing him down. But at the very least, he made it to the body, which was probably only asrge as an average hippo. There was a giant bloody wound on it, though the spikes remained firmly in ce even as ck blood spilled out of the wounds.


    Kairos used his spear to peel away at the thing''s skin until he eventually reached the ck heart. After fishing that thing out, he peeled away the skin of the heart to reveal the inside.


    And there was one small dark gray glowing core within.


    It was a little unclear, but he could also make out several other shards of cores within, but their glow was rapidly dimming, until they just became ck chunks.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel how easily they were able to break was a bit unreasonable. But regardless, he decided to consider himself lucky that one was still preserved.


    He gulped it down, and let the core gradually get assimted into his body.


    [You Have Unlocked a Special Ability - Toughen (???)]


    Likest time, the rank was hidden. And since he was here, he decided to begin eating away at the hedgehog''s body. On top of that, he used his conversion spell in regr intervals so that his body wouldn''t get overwhelmed.


    It took a little while, but he eventually ate the entire thing. Though, the ck blood he got from it was nothingpared to what he had converted.


    He felt quite hungry afterwards, but he converted roughly two liters of his own blood into ck blood. His body had morphed considerably, with changes he didn''t understand along with ones he did. He still didn''t understand why the ck flesh appeared to bepounding on each other, as it didn''t seem to be toughening his defense. However, he could distinctly tell his already improved hearing and sense of smell had gotten stronger.


    Kairos felt like he was close to upgrading his Abyss form at this stage. That if he just got a little bit more ck blood, then he would be far stronger.


    All things considered, he definitely felt that the others would catch on to something fishy if he had gotten stronger too fast. But at the same time, the additional ears shouldn''t have appeared this early without the conversion skill.


    After a bit of thought, he decided it was better to just increase his own strength. And so, he used his conversion skill to convert more of his blood into ck blood.


    As for whether or not that was a bad idea, he would leave future him to deal with it.

 Chapter 214 Two Avatars

    Kairos began abusing the conversion spell, turning more of his blood into ck blood. He made sure to do it at a slow pace, but as his body continued to change he realized that was no longer a problem. It was as if his body was getting greedier. He found that he could increase his pace, to the point that he wanted to limit his speed for the sake of not draining all of his own blood.


    It was a rather strange feeling, as the supply of ck blood made him feel considerably stronger, but at the same time to loss of his own blood made him feel weak.


    And eventually, the notification he desired finally appeared.


    [Abyss Form (F+) -> Abyss Form (E-)]


    He could feel his body morphing considerably. In particr, he could feel the shape of his limbs and spine shifting. Strange creaking sounds resounded throughout his body as his bones realigned and the rest of his body shifted with it.


    Another thing that he noticed was that his nose had be strangely wet, almost like he had a cold, but his nose wasn''t blocked. Not to mention, his sense of smell had improved considerably. It felt as though a whole new world was opened to him, and he felt as though he could smell Nyoka, Sara, and Jeff in the distance, which all seemed fairly normal. He also felt a faint sense of something else in the distance, though wasn''t sure of what exactly that was.


    He wondered if that was all an illusion. After sniffing a few times, he felt the scent of those three get clearer, despite how strong the corpse in front of him smelled. As for the faint sense he got before, it disappearedpletely, making him chalk it up to an illusion.


    And if it wasn''t one, then so be it.


    He walked out from the collection of spikes, though he felt really awkward on two feet. In fact, he even stumbled a bit once he got out, clearly not used to it. And the moment he did get into view, Nyoka, Jeff, and Sara all looked at him with widened eyes.


    Sara seemed to be in a trance as she looked at him.


    "...Puppy?"


    Jeff furrowed his brows.


    "What happened to your arms?... And your legs?"


    As for Nyoka, he wasn''t looking at him directly, but at the space right above him. There was an astonished expression on his face.


    "Not only did you already get an avatar... but you have two of them?"


    Kairos felt rather confused. Sara and Jeff''sments were both a little strange, but he already had an inkling that he partially transformed into some sort of animal. But Nyoka''sment seemed out of left field. He didn''t even notice that he had gotten an avatar, but now he was saying that he had two?


    With a bit of hesitation, he looked up. And when he did, he saw a foreign gray wolf projection above him. It was a little different from the average wolf, as the teeth hung outside and were bothrger and sharper than normal. On top of that, the fur was pressed against the body, making it look smooth and sleek. Though, the thing that stood out the most was the sharp gleaming ck eyes.


    Even just by being there, it looked quite aggressive, like it would snap out at any moment.


    And right by that aggressive wolf, was actually something familiar. It was a faint projection of a purple woman. The protection that Tiana had given him a while back. He had actuallypletely forgotten about it. Because of the ck flesh wrapped around him, the slight weight that the purple woman gave him faded altogether.


    Currently, the woman was looking at the wolf curiously, while in turn the wolf was baring its teeth and silently snarling at the woman.


    For a few moments, the two were having a standoff.


    Kairos was getting worried that the two were going to fight each other. He didn''t exactly understand what would happen if they did, yet before he could worry about it any further, he felt a sense of disappointment, because of what his future vision showed him.


    The purple woman reached out a hand towards the wolf that was still as aggressive as ever. Yet, the moment she lightly petted its head, the wolf suddenly dropped all of that. The wolf stopped baring its teeth, causing it to only peek out somewhat underneath its gums. And on top of that, its tongue hung out yfully as it panted. Seeing this, the woman only ruffled its fur harder, while one hand reached for the underbelly and scratched there too.


    The wolf did not mind that at all. In fact, it even leaned in closer while its eyes narrowed into happy slits.


    Kairos pressed his lips together with clear displeasure.


    "What the hell is happening?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "That''s what I''d like to ask you. You''ve got your avatar so quickly, and you somehow have two of them?"


    Jeff walked up closer and looked at the wolf intently, not really caring about the face there were two "avatars".


    "I never thought I''d see a dog again. That is how a dog looks, right?"


    Sara walked up sheepishly, with her eyes transfixed on the wolf. This was the first time she had gotten this close to Kairos. She then tried to look at Kairos, but she continually averted her gaze. Though, despite being unable to look at him directly, she still spoke.


    "C-Can I pet it too?"


    Kairos stared back at Sara for a few moments. He wasn''t really offended by the question or anything like that. Rather, he was quite surprised. He didn''t have anything against dogs. In fact, he thought they were cute and wouldn''t mind petting one from time to time.


    But the thing above him definitely was very far from an actual dog, being a wolf and all. On top of that, it wasn''t even really a wolf as it was a changed version with longer teeth.


    Sara seemed to be quite ufortable under his gaze.


    In his future vision, he saw she would suddenly stutter and back off, so he spoke up before that happened.


    "Yes, you can pet it if you want. But I don''t really have control over it, so don''t me me if it bites."


    Sara''s expression lit up as she hopped over and reached a hand over to begin petting the wolf. Kairos felt a little strange, but the wolf was just having the time of its life. He didn''t seem to have to deal with turning into a cat, which he was initially relieved about.


    But if the tradeoff was having a dog that just trusted anything that pets its fur one time, he felt that this might''ve been worse.


    Nyoka noticed Kairos'' displeasure and couldn''t stop himself from smiling.


    "Haha, it seems you don''t have much control over your avatars, which is normal. But at the very least they are still getting along."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos turned to him and raised an eyebrow.


    "Is having two avatars really strange?"


    Nyoka slowly nodded.


    "I''ve never seen anything like it, or even heard of other people talking about it. Now that I think about it, there might be some corrtion between this and the unknown core from earlier. Perhaps the only way it can be activated is if someone gains their avatar."


    Kairos blinked a few times, a little d that someone else wasing up with an excuse for him.


    "That sounds like a strange activation trigger."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "It is, but that does exin why the previous guy was unable to use it. That is quite lucky, as you are essentially the only person that can use that sort of ability"


    Kairos nodded.


    "That sounds about right."


    He then shook his head.


    "Anyway, do we still need to kill more of these things?"


    Nyoka waved his hand dismissively.


    "You killed it on your own, so you can just keep that core. As for the others, they aren''t all that important right now, so we can just go to the city and show you around there."


    With that, he turned and began walking once more. Sara stopped petting the wolf when she saw this, while Jeff just followed along while still daydreaming about something. As for Kairos, he followed after them, but couldn''t help but notice that the woman above him was still ying with the dog.


    He cleared his throat and posed a question to Nyoka.


    "How do you get your avatar to go away?"


    Nyoka responded quickly.


    "You need a certain level of control over it, which you can get by interacting with it and building up a rtionship. There are a few other ways, but they are unreliable."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "So I can''t right now."


    Nyokaughed.


    "Hey, usually the problem with most people is getting the avatar out in the first ce. Realistically, you are the lucky one here."


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately. Instead, he looked up at the wolf above him nkly, and it too looked back, just curiously. The wolf tilted its head to the side, almost like it was asking what he wanted.


    Kairos slowly reached out and began petting it, though he didn''t really understand how he was supposed to do it, and thus just did so lightly. While the wolf seemed pleased, it also seemed a little disappointed, wanting a bit more from him.


    As for his control over the wolf, he didn''t feel much at all.


    Kairos wondered if he was doing something wrong, but with how weak he felt he decided to worry about itter.


    After walking for another hour or so, it seemed the woman and wolf eventually had their fill of fun and both retracted into Kairos'' body. He was thankful for that, especially since he was thinking of excuses as to why he had those avatars above him.


    Along with that, they did eventually find themselves reaching a giant ck wall.


    Kairos was able to see it from over two hundred meters away, as his vision had improved. He pointed at it and spoke up.


    "Is that the city?"


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Yes, it is. Now the only slight issue is that they might not allow you in since you don''t exactly look like other people."


    Kairos furrowed his brow as he realized that was indeed a problem.


    "What if I show them my avatar? Or do monsters have that too?"


    Nyoka rubbed his chin.


    "Normally, only people have the ability to have avatars, but the issue is that there are many monsters that look like people, imitating them in many different ways. So... they may misunderstand that all of us are monsters if you do something like that."


    Then, Sara spoke up.


    "What if we say he''s our pet?"

 Chapter 215 Shop

    Hearing the suggestion to be a pet, Kairos was at first too stunned to respond. Before they could agree to it, he quickly spoke up.


    "What if I just show my normal form?"


    Both Jeff and Sara looked at him strangely. Jeff raised the question in both of their minds.


    "This isn''t your normal form? Then why are you even like that?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly and let out a sigh.


    "I suppose I probably should''ve rified earlier, but that''s something you should have kept secret, Kairos. And it should be a well guarded one too. I figured you should know that."


    Jeff blinked a few times, still confused. However, he didn''t show any displeasure.


    "Oh, if that''s the case then I''ll just pretend I didn''t hear anything."


    Kairos gave Nyoka a long look. He didn''t understand what was so crazy about the fact he could shift between a human form and a monster form.


    "What exactly makes it so that I have to be so secretive?"


    Nyoka didn''t respond immediately. After a good few seconds, he spoke in a hushed voice that was more of a mumble than anything.


    "Red blood is incredibly valuable down here. Few people can use it, but those that can be incredibly powerful from it."


    Kairos couldn''t help but think of the conversion spell he got. Though he still didn''t fully understand the value of ck blood, the effects of the conversion spell felt quite exaggerated.


    Now hearing that apparently red blood was some sort of highly sought out resource, he considered it fair enough. He wasn''t nning on exiting his Abyss form anyway unless there were extenuating circumstances, but now he knew that he never could.


    With this knowledge, Kairos felt stumped.


    "So... can I not enter the city?"


    Jeff shot him a nce.


    "Why don''t you just pretend to be a pet like what Sara said?"


    Kairos stared back nkly for a few moments.


    "...Well, it would be too hard for me to do that. I have this spear in my hand which looks a little strange for a pet, right?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "Um, it''s very normal for monsters to hold onto weapons. And even if that was the case, you could have one of us hold onto it, or even if you didn''t want to do that you could store it in your flesh."


    Kairos''s eyebrow twitched.


    "In my flesh?"


    Nyoka looked back and spoke as though it was obvious.


    "Don''t you remember that you had sses? They are currently in your flesh."


    Hearing that, Kairos reached out to his face in an attempt to reach for his sses, but where it was supposed to be was instead only flesh. They were covered entirely. After this realization, he tried what Nyoka had said right afterward, putting the spear into his back. At first, it didn''t really work out, but as he kept trying the flesh eventually clung onto the spear, and pulled it within.


    It definitely felt a little strange to be storing things like that, especially because of how long the spear was, but it did indeed work.


    Nyoka then called out to him.


    "There are no problems now, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...Well, other than my pride that is. Do they even allow pets in the city?"


    Sara tilted her head to the side and put a finger on her chin.


    "Thest time I had a pet, they let me bring it in for free as long as it always stayed by me. Some people tried to kill it though."


    The corner of his lip twitched.


    "Whatever then. How should I pretend to be a pet?"


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow in surprise, probably because he wasn''t expecting Kairos to ept it. However, he still promptly answered his question.


    "Er, for starters you probably shouldn''t talk. Not that there aren''t monsters that can talk, but those are usually the human mimicking ones that people really don''t like for various reasons. As for the other kinds, they probably wouldn''t be pets."


    He tapped his chin, continuing to think to himself.


    "Ah, there''s also the fact that monsters eat the ck flesh, while people don''t really do that. But that''s also something you already do anyway, so I guess it won''t be much of a problem. To really sell the act I guess we can buy some ck flesh and give it to you to eat."


    Kairos thought about it, and found that it didn''t sound too bad. He did overuse the conversion spell earlier a tad bit, so he was feeling quite hungry.


    "Alright, fair enough. I guess I can... walk on all fours."


    With a bit of hesitation, he got on the ground. Almost immediately, he felt a lot morefortable. It felt like he was trying to do a handstand the entire time while on two legs. It wasn''t as though he couldn''t do it, but it felt quite awkward and difficult to do.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kairos didn''t really like where this was all heading. But at the same time, he didn''t care all that much about his pride.


    That''s why he was a loner in the first ce. He never fought to make himself look the best in others'' eyes.


    Because he really just didn''t value others'' opinions that much at all.


    And so, they approached the city with Kairos tagging along by Sara''s side. She was a little apprehensive at first, but warmed up to him a little too quickly. Probably because she was just a little too endearing towards dogs and cats, and he currently had a small resemnce to them.


    The closer they got to the city walls, the more Kairos realized that this ce was a really big deal. He thought that the walls of Tiana''s city were quite excessive when they stood at fifty meters, but he couldn''t even see the top despite his vision reaching roughly two hundred meters at this point.


    Nyoka then silently held up three balls of ck blood in between his fingers.


    Kairos was wondering what was going to happen next. Then, out of nowhere they suddenly disappeared. Several ck hands appeared out of the ground and dragged them underneath the ground. Kairos instinctively struggled, but noticed the other three didn''t even look slightly panicked, so he held back that urge.


    While everything looked dark, he felt something getting imprinted on the back of his head. He was very ufortable considering the head had his brain and all that, but it didn''t do so threateningly.


    Eventually, his vision returned as he felt himselfing back out of the ground.


    Next to him were Nyoka, Sara, and Jeff. The only difference being they all had a glowing white sigil imprinted onto the back of their heads. The sigil looked like a crescent moon, but the design made it look as though it was decaying, looking like an art piece that used only ck and white.


    Kairos assumed that the same sigil was on the back of his head too and ignored it.


    As for the city itself, he didn''t know what he was expecting, but it was not this. For full kilometers, there were stretches of barend without anything but a few people walking. It was nothing like what one would expect from a city, which was normally packed and bustling.


    Nyoka cleared his throat.


    "Alright, we are at the outskirts of the ce. We gotta get closer to the center to get to the ces that matter."


    Kairos realized he was saying that to indirectly introduce him to the city, but not blow the fact that he was an actual person instead of a pet. From there, the three began running. Kairos decided not to question it and began running with them.


    The three definitely ran faster than Kairos expected, but it wasn''t a big deal because he could easily keep up while in this form.


    As they passed by buildings, one thing that stood out was theck of names on things. There were a few things that had basic signs on them, but at the very most they would have one word on them, like "Weapons", or, "Food".


    There didn''t appear to be anything like brands, nor did people really care about advertising in any sense. It felt like a wastnd in some sense.


    Though, after they continued further and further, the density of people gradually increased. Eventually, Kairos saw a giant building in the distance. Though, other than having really tall walls and having the general shape of a skyscraper there was nothing to indicate where it was.


    All around the ce were quite a few people, making it a little inconvenient to get close to the ce. Though, one thing that stood out to Kairos was that most people were just standing around. And when the four of them got closer, nearly all of those people began looking at them, almost like it was a horror movie.


    Nyoka cleared his throat, still with the same smile on his face.


    "Alright, now we''ve gotten close to the ce that deals with cores, we can go in and have a look."


    Jeff scratched the side of his head.


    "Will there even be any good ones though?"


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "You never know. There could be something."


    Once the four of them got close to the building, ck hands reached out and grabbed them, pulling them into the ce. Kairos once again felt ufortable by it, but other than tensing up he didn''t resist.


    His vision suddenly cleared once more, and the shop was revealed to him.


    He found himself in arge room that could bepared to the average grocery store, except for the fact that there were no aisles, making it seemrger than it actually was. Though as for the ceiling, he couldn''t see it at all. However high it was, it was as far as two hundred meters.


    As for the store itself, there were various pedestals at the very edges of the store, all of which had a glowing cube on top of them. And next to all of them, were scratches in the pedestal itself in the form of tally marks.


    Some had three, others had five, while certain ones had nearly twenty on them.


    And standing at the back of the ce, was a tall man standing tall with his arms crossed. Part of his body was covered in ck flesh, making it a little hard to make out his features. Along with that, there was arge ethereal bear behind the man. It was a little skinnier than the average bear and also had its arms crossed to match.


    Once the four of them got into the ce, the man called out to Nyoka.


    "You buying or selling?"


    Nyoka waved his hand dismissively.


    "Just looking around a little bit, Daniel."


    The corner of Daniel''s lip twitched. He stared at him for a few moments before letting out a sigh.


    "Fine. Just not for too long, alright?"


    Nyoka chuckled.


    "Don''t worry, it won''t be long. Do you mind telling me about what some of these do?"


    Daniel smirked.


    "Want to show your new friend around this ce?"

 Chapter 216 Purchase

    Sara tilted her head to the side and put a finger on her chin curiously.


    "Hm? What do you mean new friend? Are you talking about my new pet?"


    Kairos was actually a little surprised that despite knowing Sara was lying, it was hard for him to tell. In fact, without any prior knowledge, he wouldn''t have caught on at all. As for Daniel, he rolled his eyes before uncrossing his arms.


    "Don''t think that I''ll fall for that. At the very least, your friend here has to brush up on his acting."


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow.


    "And what exactly is missing from the so-called acting?"


    Daniel rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "I must say, he does have the look down really well. Even the bones are shifted in a way that fits a monster more than a person. However, the biggest problem is theck of a monster in his demeanor. He looks far too civilized. In fact, I''d say this person is more civilized than even the grand majority of people."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "And what exactly is civilized about me?"


    Danielughed after hearing that and held out his hand like he was reaching out to catch something.


    "For starters, the moment you got in this shop, you started to analyze me, like I''m a piece of paper or something. That''s definitely not what most people do, as they understand there isn''t time for that. They instead get ready to fight. Even though these three are long-time patrons of mine, they still have their guard up against me. They are ready to throw everything they have into fighting."


    Kairos smiled bitterly.


    "It appears that I don''t have the right mentality."


    Daniel couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow when he heard that.


    "Honestly, I''m quite surprised. Usually, people that don''t have this kind of mentality already ingrained into them are dead. It''s not as though it''s something they try to do, but rather something they do whether they want to or not."


    Kairos furrowed his brows.


    "How does that make any sense? Isn''t being reckless and charging in all the time suicidal?"


    Daniel seemed taken aback by his words. He paused for a moment, needing time to process what Kairos had said. Nyoka couldn''t help but smile bitterly. Then, Danielughed fairly loudly.


    "And what else are we supposed to do? Most of the time, you don''t have a chance to run away. Where can you run in the first ce? Maybe into more danger, I guess."


    Kairos felt a little strange. Was it really impossible to just run away from the danger? Though he didn''t like to run much himself, it didn''t change the fact that he had done it before, and it was the only option he had to survive.


    But it appeared that for whatever reason, doing that was suicidal down here.


    "Then are you supposed to just fight someone that''s clearly stronger than you?"


    Daniel smirked.


    "Just think about it. If someone is stronger than you, that means they have more stamina and can move faster than you. If you run away, you are wasting more of your own stamina, making you more exhausted for the eventual fight afterward. The best you can do is to make them scared that they will be more injured than it''s worth, in case others try toe and kill them after smelling the ck blood."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "That does sound like the mentality of an animal. Is it really that problematic to use logic and deduction?"


    This time, it was Nyoka that spoke up.


    "Unfortunately, you don''t really have the time to think about those kinds of things. It''s almost always a requirement to put everything into pushing your body to its absolute limits. If you use even a second to think about anything else, you may very well die."


    Kairos opened his mouth, ready to say something. Yet, right as those words were about toe out, he closed it once more. He was going to say that sounded stupid, but he couldn''t help but remember when he had his fight with the wolf so long ago.


    Though his memories weren''t that clear, there was one thing he definitely remembered.


    He had essentially devolved into an animal. He didn''t n anything in advance. The only thing in his mind was to either dodge orunch his own attack. Not only was there no time to think of anything else, but his mind was also already too overwhelmed to evene up with any new strategies.


    "I think I understand now."


    Though, while he said that, he still didn''t n on following their methods. After all, he was able to artificially increase his willpower through his status, while these people had to do it by going through grueling situations.


    Going by that logic, he should still have the mental capacity to think about his next move while fighting.


    Not that he was going to mention it to the others.


    He then felt a pang of hunger in his stomach, then looked up towards Daniel.


    "Is there any ck flesh I can eat by the way? I''m feeling a little hungry."


    Daniel narrowed his eyes and red back at him.


    "I''m not giving away free ck blood, alright?"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head with a w.


    "Then what about just the flesh?"


    Daniel didn''t respond after hearing that. Kairos wondered if he possibly pushed a little too far and pissed him off. Nyoka cleared his throat.


    "Er, he''s a little strange in that he actually needs ck flesh to live."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Daniel furrowed his brows rather intensely after hearing that.


    "...Is he a person or a monster?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Weren''t you the one that was super confident in me being a person earlier?"


    Daniel smiled bitterly after hearing that. ck hands appeared out of the wall, and within its palm was part of a dried-up carcass. He picked that carcass up and tossed it towards Kairos. With a plop, itnded and slid to his front.


    Kairos gave a quick nod.


    "Thanks."


    Then, he went to eat its flesh. Although it tasted terrible, it was quite bearable because he was in fact really hungry. After finishing it all, Daniel sucked in a cold breath.


    "Wow, you weren''t lying at all. Now I''m really doubting myself, is he really a monster?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders as he took hisst few bites.


    "I guess it isn''t that bad of a disguise, right?"


    Daniel smirked.


    "Anyway, let''s hurry and show you around the ce. I don''t have all the time in the world."


    Kairos nodded and got up on two feet. From there, Daniel walked up to each individual core inside the ce and gave a brief rundown of their abilities. The first one was a bright glowing blue core with the ability to create orbs of ck blood for the purpose of trade. It was priced at ten ck orbs.


    The second one was a glowing dark green core with the ability to create poisonous sacks within the body. Unfortunately, there was no way to actually expel those sacks, so one was required to dig them out of their own body and use them that way. It was priced at three ck orbs.


    The third one was a light gray glowing core with the ability to give the user wings. One thing Daniel noted was that the cost of creating those wings was great, and with only one orb the wings wouldn''t even be the most functional. Yet, despite all of those downsides, it was priced at twenty ck orbs for each one.


    That seemed to show how valuable the ability to fly was, at least to the peopleing to the shop if it was priced that high.


    There were quite a few more that they went through. From one that gave the ability to breathe ck fire, one that temporarily increased one''s strength, and even one that let one create a duplicate that would automatically gain the user''s consciousness after the original body died. That one wasn''t even priced though, nor was it actually on disy.


    Daniel only mentioned that he had it and was willing to trade for something of simr value.


    Out of all the options, the first one, giving the ability to create ck blood orbs, was useful for buying everything else. Though, to try his luck he decided to ask for a workaround.


    "Is it possible for me to just cut myself and use the ck blood thates out to buy things?"


    Daniel promptly shook his head.


    "No, dealing with unstored blood is too much of a hassle."


    Nyoka rolled his eyes after hearing all that and shot a nce at Kairos.


    "I can just make some balls for you. How about I provide a couple for your first purchase?"


    Kairos rubbed his chin in thought.


    "How about you buy me that orb skill and I''ll pay you back right after? As for other things, I''ll think about itter."


    Nyoka raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you sure? I''m not sure if you''ll be able to pay all ten ck balls back right away."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I''ll just pay it back a littleter then."


    Nyoka had acent expression as he then tossed ten ck orbs to Daniel, who caught them promptly. A ck hand reached out of the ground next to Kairos, showing the blue core that he requested. From there, Kairos ate it.


    Once the assimtion process ispleted, a notification popped up.


    [Acquired Special Ability - Reserve (???)]


    He opened up his status panel once more to look at the exact ability description.


    [Reserve (???)]


    [Gain the ability to store ck blood withinpressible gels. While stored in the body, it can be released back into fluid forms for use. Other uses are unknown.]


    Kairos couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at thatst sentence but decided not to worry about it now. From there, he began following up on his promise, using the reserve ability immediately.


    From there, Kairos felt the blood in his body get drained. He very quickly felt a hollow feeling within his body. In fact, he even ended up falling down onto one knee due to the weakness in his body.


    And the worst part of that was the fact he only felt one ck ball of blood congeal in his body. He got rather confused at this since he definitely ingested more ck blood than this amount. After all, he literally ate a ball of ck blood when Nyoka originally gave him one.


    He used his conversion spell to restore his ck blood reserves, which worked surprisingly fast. Soon enough his entire body had been restored with ck blood, with a bit of excess produced. Though, that excess quickly went into evolving his Abyss form further.


    With that, he finally understood how ck blood worked with the body in the first ce.

 Chapter 217 Stares

    From the weakness Kairos experienced, he quickly realized that ck blood was basically essential for survival, as insufficient amounts would basically cripple him. On top of that, apparently it was a source of food ording to the others. Not to mention, ck blood was used to evolve, and also the resource used to cast abilities provided by cores.


    How it worked was that it would first prioritize being a source of food as well as health. From there, he would have the capacity to use the ck blood for his abilities. If both of those bases were covered, giving him extra blood he couldn''t carry, it would be used for evolving, which would also naturally increase the amount he could store.


    In other words, ck blood was what was needed for the equivalent of a health point bar, a hunger bar, a mana point bar, and even an experience point bar.


    In a sense, it made things more simple, but also made them more convoluted.


    While he had that realization, he created two ck orbs of blood. He tossed the two to Nyoka, who caught them despite looking a little surprised. With a small smile, hemented on Kairos'' performance.


    "Your body contains quite a lot of ck blood. Even when it appeared to be empty, it suddenly refilled itself."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "Yeah, I felt pretty weak but all of a sudden I felt normal again. Though, something tells me I shouldn''t take advantage of whatever is going on with that."


    Daniel remained silent the entire time, but the interest in his eyes gave away how much he actually cared. After rubbing his chin for a few moments, he let out augh.


    "Hey, how about I toss in something free for you?"


    Kairos turned to him with anything but overeagerness. In his opinion, if something was free, it was either not worth much or had some other intention behind it. After a few moments of contemtion, he raised an eyebrow.


    "What exactly brought this on?"


    Daniel shrugged his shoulders all the while a smirk rested on his face.


    "It''s something that probably only you can use, while it''s not exactly the most valuable thing. Take it as a sign of my goodwill, that I want to make a good first impression."


    A ck hand reached out of the wall and tossed a glowing gray cube in Kairos'' direction, though the difference was that it wasrger than normal. He caught onto it and looked at it more closely.


    Thin lines appeared across the cube. On closer look, he realized it actually consisted of eight total smaller cubes,bined together to form arger one. As for the glow, it was noticeably less than any of the other cubes, almost like it wanted to show that it wasn''t all that special.


    After catching it, Kairos shot Daniel a look.


    "What is this thing?"


    Daniel shrugged his shoulders.


    "As far as I know, it''s supposed to create a second stomach in your body for eating flesh. But for pretty much everyone that''s incredibly useless as we can''t even consume ck flesh in the first ce. We only siphon ck blood. But that doesn''t seem to be the case for you."


    Kairos got lost in thought once more.


    "...I see. I''ll take it then. Thank you."


    He did a quick bow that looked a little awkward as he almost fell over.


    "I''ll remember that you showed me some goodwill."


    From there, Daniel smiled.


    "Hah. My hopes are that it isn''t misced, but if someone like Nyoka is willing to bring you along, then there must be something about you."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I guess so."


    With those words, he tossed therge cube into his mouth, and the changes happened rather quickly. After the cube had entered his heart, it began to form new bonds, and as it made them he could feel something growing in his body.


    [You Have Acquired Special Ability - Consume (???)]


    His original stomach seemed to make way for another one to grow next to it, and Kairos could already feel that there was roiling acid within that new stomach. It was quite surprising to him as he knew his original stomach had changed considerably to ount forrge intakes of food, but this new one had a far different nature.


    Just by having the stomach, he could tell that it was using up resources since it needed to regenerate the stomach tissue that was burned by the acid. At the same time, he realized why Daniel said it was useless to most.


    This core made one naturally use more resources, so to someone that couldn''t consume any ck flesh, it would actually just be a burden. But for him, it could allow him to consume things far faster, which was especially good if there wasn''t much time for him.


    Out of curiosity, Kairos brought up his status panel and checked the skill.


    [Consume (???)]


    [Passive Skill -


    Grants the user a second stomach that will process nutrient intake. Rough estimate of a 500% increase. Nutrients processed in this stomach are more effective. Rough estimate of a 100% increase in effectiveness.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Appears to have an effect of nullifying toxins, exact implications unknown.


    Appears to have the side effect of regrly using moderate amounts of energy.]


    Kairos almost whistled when he read all of that. For him, it was a skill that was worth it despite the downsides. Though, if he was going back to the surface realm this skill might not be the most useful afterwards.


    He cleared his throat.


    "Is there any way to deactivate this skill?"


    Nyoka smiled bitterly.


    "You must pull it out of your ck heart manually by piloting your ck flesh. Though, you probably shouldn''t do that too much as it can have side effects from the damage to your ck heart. Daniel would know, as it was the same cube you now have that he removed from his own heart."


    Kairos gave a quick nod.


    "Ah, if that is how it works, then it''s fine."


    The corner of Daniel''s lip twitched when he listened to the conversation.


    "If you don''t want it, I can take it back and give you a ck ball inpensation."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "No, no. I appreciate the gift and n to use it. Though I would appreciate you mentioning side effects a little earlier."


    Daniel gave a small nod.


    "My apologies."


    Nyoka shot a nce at Kairos.


    "Well, is there anything else you want?"


    Kairos rolled his eyes when he heard that.


    "I don''t have the ck blood to purchase anything, besides I still owe you eight orbs. I''d like to instead go to a ce to gather ck blood so I can make a purchase in the first ce."


    Nyoka gave a small nod.


    "Fair enough. With our remaining time, I will give you a tour around the rest of the city and after that, we can try to find a dungeon."


    Kairos couldn''t help but notice the word dungeon considering he had been in one before, but didn''t ask about it. Still, he wondered whether or not the dungeon down here would bear simrities to the ones above ground. In particr, he wanted to know if he could get some mana from them.


    But that was almost certainly something that people down here didn''t know given the existence of mana was unknown. As such, he didn''t even bother asking.


    After announcing their leave, the four of them were grabbed by ck hands and dragged out of the store. Immediately after leaving the ce, the stares of all the nearby people were attracted to the four of them.


    All of their gazes looked rather greedy, like vultures hovering in the sky.


    This seemed to be somethingpletely natural though to the others. Nyoka''s smile only grew wider while the avatar of his snake appeared behind him. As for Sara, a ck raven appeared behind her. It looked far fiercer than a normal one as it had both teeth and spikes across the wings.


    Then with Jeff, he had what looked like a rock appeared behind him. Kairos had to stop himself from acting out from how bizarre that looked. Seeing all of them bring out their avatars made him wonder if he should''ve been doing anything.


    In the end, he decided to bare his teeth and let out a low growling sound. It was more natural than he expected, though it wasn''t perfect.


    Several people within the crowd suddenly backed off in fear. There were quite a few people that didn''t seem to understand, but seeing the reactions of some of the others, they backed off as well.


    Kairos could tell that they weren''t afraid of him. In fact, most of them weren''t even looking in his direction. He decided to settle down and just wait to follow after the group.


    Seeing that everyone had backed off, Nyoka led the way with a jog in another direction. Naturally, the others followed closely behind. Kairos couldn''t help but feel he was going to forget how to walk on two feet after this, but decided to ignore that fact.


    Though, despite not looking back, Kairos could tell.


    People were looking at him as he ran. And they were malicious and greedy stares. They were simr to the stares he got a while back while in school, which was why he recognized them.


    Though, obviously, these ones were filled with more greed and cruelty.


    Even after a while, when he had gotten quite far away, he still had that feeling. It made him feel crazy, but something told him that he should trust that instinct.


    And he nned on doing something about it.

 Chapter 218 Merge

    Kairos saw a building in the distance and pretended he was just curiously walking over to it. The rest of the group followed behind, wondering what he wanted, though Kairos waved his hands in an attempt to tell them to go away.


    This only made them more confused, but they decided toply. Nyoka began going on forward, while Kairos ran over towards a building in the distance. There wasn''t anything special about this building, not that any of those other ones had anything in particr either.


    Though, one defining feature might''ve been the fact that there was a gap at its front, acting like a door. Kairos didn''t want to get inside, assuming that anything happened. Yet, as he passed by the ce, he saw a pair of eyes ring at him, waiting like a camper in a First Person Shooter.


    Kairos didn''t pay attention to it and got behind the building, out of sight. From there, he began gagging. Not that he actually needed to gag, but this was the idea he came up with.


    After all, it would be a little suspicious if he just went back here and told the others not toe for no reason. The other option he had was taking a dump, but he couldn''t exactly do that even if he wanted to.


    And so, he resorted to doing this.


    He continued to hack away for the next minute or so, but nobody ended up jumping out to him. However, Kairos could still feel the gazes. Though, that wasn''t the thing that convinced him. It was the fact he could smell them.


    As a precaution, he increased his future vision to two seconds. He thought about doing it for longer, but he wanted to be able to keep it up for longer.


    He knew they were getting closer, and could vaguely tell the direction that they wereing from.


    With enough gagging, he was actually able to vomit out a small chunk of half-digested bone. From there, he shook his head. Kairos could feel that they were close and wouldunch an attack soon, but they were still holding off.


    Though he was willing to stay for longer to wait them out, his act would seem a little strange if he didn''t get back to the group. And so, he decided to begin walking away, and kept his future vision at two seconds despite the fuzzy feeling in his head.


    It was then he saw in his future vision that they finally made their move. Arge ck tarp shot downwards towards him, seemingly attempting to swallow him up. Naturally not wanting to get trapped, he sprung backwards. The ck tarp proceeded to hit the ground in front of him and crumpled up like a piece of paper.


    Though, Kairos still wasn''t in the clear. Far from it, in fact.


    Several ck blurs shed by the air, all of them aiming at his limbs. Kairos wasn''t used to people attacking those kinds of spots, but naturally wasn''t caught off guard because of his future vision.


    He continued to dance around, while loud cracking sounds resounded around him.


    Upon getting a closer look, Kairos noticed that they were actually arrows along with des that mmed into the ground next to him. They punctured through the ground and caused it to crack, though some attacks were clearly stronger than others.


    Kairos was a little frustrated as he still couldn''t see any of his attackers, though he knew where they generally were.


    He thought about approaching them, but figured that would cause them to back off. Wanting to get them toe forward voluntarily, he began moving away from all the attacks.


    Unfortunately, the ground underneath him suddenly became incredibly sticky, like super glue. The situation had suddenly be quite bad, as he had great difficulty just lifting his feet off the ground. Though, one thing Kairos noted was theck of coordination these people had.


    If they changed his terrain earlier on, then dodging would''ve been far more difficult.


    Another few ck blurs shot towards him while he was stuck. He could also tell that he wasn''t going to be able to pull himself out of the way in time. With that in mind, he immediately used his harden ability on the exact spots where he would be hit, using very little ck blood.


    ngs resounded, as the foreign objects bounced off of him.


    It looked like he didn''t take any damage at all. Though, Kairos definitely felt the weight behind those attacks. His skin may not have been prated, but the blunt force still disoriented him a bit.


    Regardless, he still focused on getting away. With great effort, he peeled away his ws from the ground and ced them further away. It was essentially a futile effort given how slow he was going, but Kairos actually thought that his situation wasn''t bad at all.


    Because the people hanging back so far were finally getting closer.


    With the ground like this, he had an excuse to be going slower, letting the others catch up. Several objects were stillunched at him in the meantime, but he continued to harden the specific parts of his body that needed it.


    The damage was negligible.<novelnext></novelnext>


    However, he noticed that the attacks were beginning to get more aggressive. Almost like the people attacking were on a timer. Just to block everything that was being thrown at him, he had to harden a decent portion of his body, and his internals wereining about the damage they were facing.


    But soon enough, Kairos was able to pull himself out of the sticky section, finding himself on normal ground again. He promptly spun around, and once he did, he was greeted by the sight of at least a dozen people staring at him like some sort of treasure, though they still had their eyes on each other as well. Behind all of them were their respective avatars.


    Then they began merging with them.


    This was the situation that Kairos had wanted. For them to get closer to fight. However, as he watched the dozen or so people''s bodies all contort strangely and mutate to be several timesrger, he couldn''t help but wonder if he had made a mistake.


    Kairos underestimated the strength of these guys greatly. His thought was that if Nyoka and the others were able to scare them off with only their avatar, then at most these guys also only had their avatars as well.


    Seeing this, he began to understand that the kind of strength Nyoka and the others had was beyond his initial imagination. They seemed to have a reputation among people, even those that were quite strong on their own.


    However, that didn''t mean he waspletely helpless.


    He brought out his own avatar, after which a confused wolf appeared. It looked around with curiosity before realizing the situation it was in. Despite the difference in strength, the wolf bared its teeth and seemed to get ready for a fight.


    But still, it looked like a baby trying to fight against several adults.


    Naturally, that wasn''t what he was relying on. He dug into his own skin to reach his pockets, which held fourteen nature cores. Although it was ideal if he didn''t use one up before the first day had even passed, this wasing sooner orter.


    Making sure to not outwardly reveal the nature core, he put it into his mouth and bit down with his sharp teeth.


    At the same time, he began aggressively changing his red blood into ck blood. In just the first second, his body was getting overwhelmed. However, something quite miraculous happened. Most of the excess ck blood funneled into his second stomach and was processed there. It allowed him to continue to confidently channel the conversion spell.


    Just when he was feeling weak fromck of blood, the nature core worked wonders, letting him replenish all of his blood in less than a second. And so, he continued to do this for five seconds, after which the nature core''s effects began to wear off.


    It was also at this time that the dozen or so people hadpleted their own transformations.


    Despite being transformed, it was still easy to discern confusion from their expressions. It appeared as though Kairos having an avatar confused these people. This made several of them hesitate despite already being transformed.


    That hesitation seemed to spread, almost like a virus. It was obvious that there was distrust among the group. They were all waiting for someone else to go first, not wanting to take all the heat in this strange scenario.


    It was at that time that Kairos felt his own body begin shifting greatly. He had involuntary spasms within his body as he felt the ck flesh rapidly develop into its own kind of muscle mass. As those muscles grew,rger bones formed to house them. For some reason, fur began growing on his body, covering the majority of him.


    By the end, he was several timesrger.


    His avatar began contorting around as well, growing longer fur, sharper ws, and even elongating its teeth. Its muscles were also growing rapidly as well and became clearly defined. New features began arising out of it too. The tail grew longer while the fur on the tail became sharper. Spikes grew out of the wolf''s knees. As for the eyes, they narrowed unnaturally, making it look as though the wolf was ring.


    Just as Kairos was getting ustomed to the sudden power he had gained, he felt another being enter his own mind. It took him a second, but he realized that the wolf was attempting to merge with him.


    Kairos decided to ept it, and his body which was already over three meters long began expanding once more, tripling in size again.


    The people that were initially trying to attack him seemed to have gotten the message that something strange was happening. Not wanting to bite off more than they could chew, they began running away all the while still transformed.


    As for Kairos, he found it incredibly difficult to control himself. The wolf that had invaded his mind thought barbarically and instinctively. It appeared as though it didn''t even really understand that it was sharing control with Kairos.


    The wolf''s thoughts only consisted of chase and kill.


    And that''s what they ended up doing. The once incredibly sticky ground now just felt like normal ground to him. Kairos'' newly formed giant body lunged toward the others in a blind rage, just going for the one that was closest. That one just so happened to be what looked like a rtively humanoid flower.


    Its mobility seemed to be the lowest of them all.

 Chapter 219 Death Throes

    While the flower-like person didn''t seem all that keen on fighting, that didn''t mean it would just stand around and let him hit it.


    Upon noticing his approach, vines shot out at various angles with sharp leaves on top of them. Though Kairos felt his mind was muddled, he still had enough in him to activate the harden ability, just as the various leaves were about to hit him.


    Yet, to his surprise, the leaves pierced through his hardened skin. It had been slowed down, but that didn''t change how they ruthlessly pierced him. He could feel them worming around like parasites trying to enter deeper into his body.


    Kairos naturally wanted to do something about this, though the wolf had none of that in mind, only wanting to get closer to the person responsible. His attempts to regain control were rewarded with nothing.


    Blistering signals of pain filled his mind, as he realized that these leaves were releasing some sort of poison within him and that it was getting increasingly important to do something about them.


    That was when he thought of yanking the flower-like person closer by dragging them from their vines. The moment he tried to act on that, his jaws immediately sunk into one of the nearby vines and yanked the thing towards him.


    The flower-like person was caught off guard, stumbling forth. However, before it could be pulled all the way, it disconnected the vine from its own body, losing control over it. Seeing this, Kairos and the wolf were in agreement to try and tug at the other vines, which were disconnected before he could get to any of them.


    Though that attempt failed, it still made Kairos feel relieved, as at least the leaves were no longer digging into his body and regrly releasing poison. But one thing that he noticed was that the people running away from him stopped.


    They stopped to watch the fight from a distance, no longer as afraid of him as they once were. Instead, their eyes were filled with curiosity. They went back to their old way of doing things, observing and waiting patiently.


    Kairos didn''t turn his attention away, but could smell Nyoka and the others approaching. They seemed to be getting closer, but not in the biggest rush in the world.


    It would probably be a better idea to regroup with them, but he wasn''t that willing to do so. Not to mention, even if he tried the wolf wasn''t having it, so he wouldn''t be able to do so in the first ce.


    And so, like that, he recklessly charged in along with his wolf. The flower retaliated by creating severalrge blooming flowers that created arge shield. Kairos narrowed his eyes when he saw this. He wanted to use the spear that was buried deep in his own body, but wasn''t sure of exactly how to do so. Though, as that will formed in his mind, the wolf seemed to understand and act upon him. He felt the ck flesh move and push the spear within him out.


    From there, he opened his mouth, and the spear shot out from within like a bullet.


    With a thud, the spear pierced halfway through the flower, after which a screech was promptly released. Kairos felt like he was winning this battle, and felt fairly confident.


    Yet, it was at that same time the other people observing all pounced one after another. The flower person backed off and was actually attacked by a few of those people as they did so. But before they actually ended up dying, ck hands came from the ground and pulled them underneath, keeping that person safe.


    From there, that just left Kairos. There were still vines awkwardly sticking out from his body, but the wolf side of him couldn''t bother removing them. It was also at this point that he felt his own body was starting to slow down.


    Kairos was immediately confused. He didn''t think it was because of fear, nor did he believe it was because the wolf was afraid. He could tell that it was ready to fight to the death.


    But then he remembered the vines had injected something poisonous within his body earlier.


    The countless transformed people began rushing towards him, fangs, ws, talons, and other things all rushing towards him. Kairos still didn''t feel helpless, as he still had something to fall back on.


    Though, it was something he would''ve rather not done.


    He channeled the fire spell, though it was a little awkward with his new body. A tiny fireball appeared at the end of his snout, which was bright to him but still manageable. As for everyone else, they immediately began crying out in pain, all closing their eyes and recoiling away from the bright light.


    Kairos maintained that fire temporarily and rushed towards the closest transformed being, what looked like an assortment of bones put together, but was actually made out of flesh. It waspletely unfocused on him, instead still in shock from the bright light, frantically but clumsily trying to get away. And now that it was closer, it seemed to be suffering from the effects more.


    After canceling the fire spell, Kairos wasted no time in taking a bite out of the first bone-like piece. As his teeth dug in, he felt the ck blood rush into his mouth. It felt exhrating for some reason. In fairness, he had done something like this before, but the biggest difference was that they were all dead.


    There was just something different about taking a bite out of something that was still alive. That still had its blood pumping.


    Something that was actively struggling to resist him.


    Or maybe he was just feeling the instincts of the wolf, but either way, he couldn''t really stop himself from continuing to chew down on, swallowing more and more of the entire thing.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The assortment of bone-like structures attempted to free itself and run away, however, it wasn''t able to do so properly, almost as though it was a baby stumbling everywhere it walked.


    As he continued to chew down, he eventually felt himself getting closer to something. The blood flow in certain areas was more intense, like a game of hot and cold. He instinctively felt himself getting closer to the cores. He proceeded to enthusiastically push forth continuing to eat away, feeling himself get closer and closer.


    Soon enough, he did actually visually see the beating heart, which was gushing out blood violently. Kairos'' jaws opened wide in an attempt to swallow it whole, but before he got to it the heart spontaneously exploded while the several bones of the disassembled creature sharpened to be countless des. Without warning, they suddenly rushed towards him from every angle, almost like he was surrounded by swordsmen from every angle, just the swords themselves were both strange andrger than normal.


    Kairos naturally saw thising from his future vision, which made him want to back off. However, he also noticed that despite himmunicating this will, he couldn''t do so. The wolf was so engrossed in eating, that it didn''t even realize the danger.


    Feeling the impending pain in his future vision, he used the harden ability to cover the majority of his body to fight off the des.


    He then grit his teeth as his future vision warped.


    Soon after, the des all mmed into his body, piercing in deeply. It didn''t even seem as though the harden ability had done anything as his flesh was dug through. The force was so strong, that his very body contorted under the force, twisting at an awkward angle like someone that was hugged far too tightly.


    The wolf in his mind was actively panicking, attempting to resist the force by pushing back, but realistically all that aplished was further maiming them. Kairos clearly showed his will to stop doing that, and even yelled in his own mind his reasoning, exining that it should die soon anyway because its heart had exploded.


    It was at that point, to his surprise, that it really did stop.


    The deadly bear hug of the transformed person continued for a few moments longer, which made Kairos a little nervous. However, it eventually did rx like a person dying, after which the des naturally peeled off of his body.


    ck blood poured from severalrge gashes spread across his body, however, they healed surprisingly fast.


    After making it out, Kairos internally cursed. When things were on the verge of death, they really didn''t let up at all, trying to drag others down with them. Kairos looked around and noticed that almost all of the transformed people were either gone or in the process of being dragged underneath the ground by ck hands.


    Seeing this, Kairos instead just focused on finishing off the corpse on the ground, taking big bites. The stomach came in handy here, digesting everything he ate nearly immediately, allowing him to eat as though he was a snake that swallowed things whole. At the same time, he was using his reserve ability to turn all of the ck blood into orbs, which he got a total of four from.


    After finishing, his transformation seemed to naturally wear off, causing his body to shrink considerably from his roughly ten-meter long body, into one that was only three meters long. The wolf avatar appeared behind him, shaking its head with sleepy eyes before disappearing entirely.


    Kairos also felt a decent amount of fatigue, but his body still had quite a bit of ck blood left over that was being processed, and not wanting to carry any more debts, he created an additional four ck orbs so he would have a total of eight, enough to repay Nyoka. Though it took a little bit of red blood from the conversion spell, it worked nheless.


    Nyoka and the others approached, though their expressions were a little bitter while they squinted. Kairos quickly realized what happened and bowed his head down in apology.


    "Sorry for using that spell again, I saw no other option."


    He found his voice was more scruffy and deep, but didn''t focus on that.


    Jeff pursed his lips together.


    "I''m more offended that you did it despite saying you wouldn''t than the actual act."


    Sara gave a small bow.


    "Please don''t do it unless you really need to! I suppose there was no helping this time."


    Nyoka gave a small nod in response as a bitter smile formed on his face.


    "Yeah, that certainly wasn''t pleasant. I never knew you could already merge with your avatar. How did that even happen? I don''t recall you getting a source of ck blood from anywhere."


    His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion.

 Chapter 220 Dungeon

    Kairos tilted his head to the side and paced around on his four feet, thinking about how to answer his question about being able to merge with his avatar so early.


    "I''m not sure, honestly. I guess it was the pressure or something? Speaking of ck blood, I have the other eight orbs ready."


    He proceeded to vomit up eight ck orbs from inside his body. This made all three of them widen their eyes considerably.


    Nyoka sucked in a cold breath.


    "How did you get so many?"


    Kairos tilted his head the other way.


    "The stomach that the guy gave me also lets me get more ck blood from things I eat."


    Nyoka narrowed his eyes slightly, showing that he didn''t really believe that exnation. However, he dropped the topic. It seemed like he wasn''t the type to pursue an answer for everything right away.


    "Alright then."


    Kairos began blinking erratically. His head drooped slightly while his vision began to blur. Though, from an outside perspective, it wasn''t all that noticeable, especially because Kairos was suppressing his reactions. However, Jeff still caught onto it and called out to him.


    "Are you ok?"


    Kairos sucked in a deep breath and nodded.


    "Yeah, just feeling a little tired."


    That would be an understatement, to say the least. He originally thought he was fine after exiting his transformation, however, a sense of fatigue quickly caught up to him. As the seconds passed, he quickly realized it was getting far worse than it originally seemed.


    It was almost like someone that had been burned, not thinking that pain was all that bad at first because the nerves themselves were damaged, but quickly sumbed to the pain that woulde soon after.


    Kairosy on the ground, breathing heavily.


    Sara scratched the side of her head cluelessly and took a few steps forward. From the expression on her face, it was clear she was concerned. The traces of fear that there used to be were gone. One of her hands reached out and lightly patted Kairos'' head.


    "Why did you go and do all of that?"


    Kairos didn''t resist being pet, though it really hurt his pride. Nheless, he couldn''t say that the sensation didn''t feel nice. It was gentle and even had a nice tingling feeling along with it. Though he still shook his head, getting her to let go.


    "They were looking at me weirdly, so I wanted to take care of them."


    Nyoka smiled bitterly when he heard that. He put his hand on his side while a helpless expression formed on his face.


    "They were looking at you because they thought we bought something precious from that ce and gave it to you, the pet. Obviously, as the pet you would be weaker than the three of us, so they were observing your behavioral patterns."


    He shrugged his shoulders.


    "They were all just waiting for a moment for you to be separated from us, but you gave it to them so readily that it made them confused. They took the opportunity since they just wouldn''t let the others take the lead over them. But really, that was just a waste of time."


    Kairos blinked a few times, feeling a little indignant. He didn''t let those feelings show though and asked back.


    "What do you mean? I was still able to kill one of them."


    Nyoka rolled his eyes. It was clear that he didn''t think of that as an achievement at all.


    ? "Yes, and you''ve also exposed your strength to all of those people nearby. I can already tell that you didn''t get any cores from the person that you''ve killed either. Everyone down here is spiteful, and before they die they will destroy any cores in their hearts. Realistically, the only way to get those cores from people is to threaten them or kill them before they can even react to it."


    He sighed.


    "But there''s really no point in doing that because monsters are just so much easier to deal with and they don''t usually destroy all of their cores even on the verge of death."


    Kairos gave a small nod. There were a lot of ws with what he had decided to do. It was quite unnecessary, to say the least.


    "That is true. At least I chased them away though."


    Nyoka smirked. For whatever reason, it appeared that what he just heard was the most foolish out of them all.


    "Even if we take the ideal scenario where you''ve killed them all, there will just be more to take their ce."


    Kairos furrowed his brow when he heard that. It didn''t make much sense at all to him.


    "Wouldn''t they be scared off when countless were massacred? Why would there be more wanting to challenge that?"


    Nyoka slowly shook his head.


    "The people that have made their way down theiryers have all taken considerable amounts of risk. Each and every day whether or not they survive is dependent on luck. That''s because if they depend on things that are stable, they will just end up dying anyway due to ack of strength. There will always be more pests wanting to try their luck, even for small benefits. Killing a few won''t stop more froming back."


    Kairos awkwardly used his paw to scratch the top of his head. It was a little harsh due to the sharp ws, though he was fine.


    "I see. It appears there is still a lot for me to learn."


    Nyoka gave a quick nod before moving forth once more.


    "Come on, we still haven''t shown you the rest of the city."


    Kairos still felt really tired, but he could still manage to walk and visit the nearby ces. Nyoka seemed to havepletely forgotten about the previous events as he casually showed off various shops to Kairos.


    There were a few practical ones, like kinds that sold weapons, various consumables, and even what appeared to be tamed pets, though those were far rarer. Though Kairos wished to buy some, he quickly realized that the nature core outssed them in value. The only way he could buy them as if he used that nature core to convert them into ck orbs.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Not to mention, it would look even more suspicious to Nyoka and the others if he were to do that.


    Nyoka was also offering to lend him some more ck orbs, but Kairos didn''t want to go into any debt for now.


    He decided to make a mental note of the various ces and maybee backter.


    It was at this point that Nyoka began showing him off to various ces for entertainment, such as ces that had "luxury" kinds of foods and drinks. There were also more questionable ces like brothels.


    As they continued to walk across the city, Kairos gave Nyoka a weird look, but instead ofining he instead asked a question.


    "Aren''t people desperately trying to survive? Why would there be things like restaurants?"


    Nyoka let out a soft sigh after hearing that.


    "It is true that most people don''t go to those kinds of ces. However, there are a couple extremely strong people that frequent those. They arefortable with the strength they have, and can easily get ck blood. As such, despite the low volume of patrons, those stores still earn a sizable amount."


    Kairos didn''t respond immediately. After a bit of thought, he shot back another question.


    "Are you considered one of those people?"


    Nyoka rubbed his chin, clearly thinking over it.


    "I myself haven''t really gone to those ces much. Though, I would say I am one of the targets for those shops... albeit I am on the weaker side. You don''t have interest in any of those ces?"


    Kairos promptly shook his head.


    "I could care less."


    Nyoka narrowed his eyes slightly after hearing that. His smile also deepened somewhat.


    "Don''t be so hasty to forget about them. If you think about it another way, it''s a ce to get in contact with people on the more powerful side. Though, their attitudes may not be the best."


    Kairos blinked a few times before slowly nodding.


    "That makes sense."


    Jeff put a hand on the back of his head before letting out a sigh.


    "It looks like our marks are going to fade soon. We gotta leave soon."


    Nyoka gave a curt nod before turning to Kairos.


    "Would you like toe with us to do a dungeon?"


    Kairos thought about it for a little while.


    "...Ok. I assume that we are going as equals, not as a favor for one or the other."


    Hearing that made Nyokaugh.


    "Of course. There might even be a situation where we can ask you to repay that favor."


    Kairos blinked a few times after hearing that.


    "...What are dungeons like?"


    Instead of responding, Nyoka instead briefly brought his finger to his lips signaling to be quiet in one fluid motion.


    "We can talk about the dungeon after we leave."


    Kairos didn''t respond, instead letting out a faint growl.


    Leaving the city was rather simple. Once they got closer to the walls, hands came out of them and directly threw them all out almost like they were tossing out the trash. Though the marks they had on the backs of their heads should''ve still been intact. They were erased.


    Kairos took note of that. He shouldn''t be frequently entering and exiting the ce.


    He then opened his status panel to see how much time had passed.


    [Time Left Before Teleportation: 28 days, 22 hours, 11 minutes, and 54 seconds remaining]


    A little over a day had gone by since he got here. There were no real dangers, though he did end up using one of his nature cores. But since that was for increasing his strength, it didn''t feel like a waste.


    After getting a little further, was when Nyoka spoke up.


    "To continue our earlier conversation, dungeons are a wild breed. They don''t make much sense at all, but there is one thingmon among them. There''s usually some sort of reward forpleting it. As for whether or not that reward was worth it... is another story."


    Kairos tapped his chin a few times after hearing that. He thought that the dungeons down here might''ve been quite simr to the ones above the surface, but from the sound of things they were quite different.


    Although the two dungeons he had been to before weren''t exactly the same, there were quite a fewmonalities and a basic pattern to them. On the other hand, it seemed that the dungeons down here sounded more like the kinds that would be found in video games.


    And apparently, the reward wasn''t guaranteed.


    Kairos was quite curious. He spected what it would be like, but the only real way was to find out for himself.

 Chapter 221 Pairs

    231


    Without saying much more, the group headed off towards the dungeon. Along the way, there were a few monsters, but Nyoka, Sara, and Jeff were all easily able to handle it without even bringing out their avatars. After draining the corpse of its blood, they would continue on. Afterwards, Kairos would eat their corpse as they wouldn''t need it. He was able to get a bit of ck blood from it, but it wasn''t all that much


    Kairos thought about helping, but he was still a bit tired. And it worked out since they really didn''t need his help in the first ce.


    The asional encounters with monsters did end up slowing them down, however, that amount was negligible. Not because the dungeon was close by, but actually because it was incredibly far away.


    They continued to walk for an entire day.


    Since his improved stomach came at the cost of draining more ck blood, it was pretty disadvantageous for Kairos. However, eating the corpses along the way was more than enough to cover for his natural consumption.


    He asked a few times whether or not they were actually on the right trail, but Nyoka reassured him. Surprisingly enough, he pointed toward Jeff andmended him for his sense of direction. Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little nervous. First off, Jeff didn''t seem the brightest.


    Second of all, a sense of direction didn''t mean you could get to somewhere else over a day of walking away when there were practically nondmarks to even use as reference.


    Yet, as though to make fun of him, an ominousrge ck building appeared in the distance as he got closer. Kairos'' vision had improved considerably from what it once was. Now, he could easily see a kilometer ahead of him, though it seemed he still had ways to go if he wanted to get on the other''s level, as they pointed towards the dungeon and mentioned it a little while ago.


    Kairos lifted his head and got a closer look at the dungeon. He wanted to rub his chin with his hand, but as he lifted his paw, he realized that it would be awkward to do so in his wolf form, so he put the paw back down.


    The so-called dungeon looked like a giant castle, almost like what one would see at the end of a game, a demon king''s castle. The peaks of the roofs stood out quite a bit and appeared rather ominous. But it was quite hard to make out the features, mostly because the entire thing blended in with the general color scheme of the ce.


    "So this is the dungeon?"


    Nyoka gave a curt nod before holding out one hand casually toward the dungeon.


    "Pretty much. Thankfully nobody cleared it before we got here."


    Kairos shot him a nce.


    "Can only one person clear it or something?"


    Nyoka smirked, just now realizing that Kairos hadn''t known. He clearly didn''t feel bad about it though, and just started to exin.


    "You can make it through certain stages within a dungeon, and get things. However, if someone gets all the way to the end, they can get the object that allows the dungeon that exists in the first ce, after which the dungeon will copse. From what I recall, that object will always have a certain standard of value that cannot be ignored."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side and continued to look at the dungeon for a little while.


    "You guys have already been here before?"


    Nyoka nodded.


    "Several times. Out of all the dungeons, this is probably the hardest one for people to clear. That may be in part that only people are able to clear the levels in this dungeon in the first ce."


    Kairos took a deep breath and tensed up his muscles.


    "Alright then. I guess we should get ready to fight."


    Jeff looked at him strangely, while Sara just smiled bitterly. As for Nyoka, he simplyughed all the while his arms were crossed.


    "Though that would be the correct assumption in most cases... this dungeon is a little special."


    Kairos was confused. He thought about asking, but the others wordlessly continued onward, making him follow after them.


    The entrance to the dungeon was just a giant passageway, one that was more than enough for many people to walk in at the same time. Though, there was nobody at the time.


    As they continued to get closer, Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how they were supposed to get inside. Because the entrance they were walking closer to was actually just a giant wall.


    Just as he was thinking over it, Nyoka spoke up.


    "For this dungeon, you have to be with one other person to enter. It''s one of the reasons why not many people have gotten too far. Taking you along with us conveniently rounds out the numbers. You''ll have to go with one of us. Is there anyone you wish to specifically go with?"


    Kairos looked at the three of them before falling into thought.


    "...I don''t really have enough information to make a correct judgment. Since you guys have done this dungeon before, why don''t you all make the arrangements?"


    Hearing that Sara slowly raised her hand, just above her shoulder. She spoke after a second of hesitation.


    "Um, then how about I go with you?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side.


    "...Just to make sure, does it have anything to do with the fact that I''ve be more dog-like in nature?"


    Sara couldn''t help but smile after hearing that andughed.


    "I wouldn''t let personal feelings get in the way of my decision. I already read the futures of Nyoka and Jeff, and I can tell that they won''t die at the very least. But as for you... I can''t be sure, so I want to personally oversee it."


    Kairos stared back at her for a few moments.


    "...But I still have the ability to see my own future. Isn''t that unnecessary?"


    Sara tilted her head to the side.


    "But there are limitations, right?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "How do you know that?"


    Sara smiled bitterly, like she was being asked the answer to an obvious question.


    "You wouldn''t need help in the first ce if your future vision really was that strong."<novelnext></novelnext>


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "Fair enough. I have no objections to these pairings."


    Nyoka let out a soft chuckle and gave a nonmittal wave.


    "Alright then. I''ll see you two soon."


    Jeff gave off a wave as well, with an expression that was neutral, but gave off the vibes of not caring much.


    "Bye."


    From there, Nyoka put his arm over Jeff''s shoulder, while Jeff did the same. Their posture made them look like best friends. They proceeded to walk forwards, and when it appeared that they would collide with the ck wall they just passed on through.


    Sara looked over with a smile.


    "We should go too!"


    She reached and ced her arm on top of Kairos. On the other hand, Kairos looked at her awkwardly, since it wasn''t convenient for him to do the same in his form. Sara realized that soon enough. After a moment of thought, she got on top of Kairos and rode him like one would ride a horse.


    As her weight shifted onto him, Kairos felt displeased, but as his fur got brushed, it felt quite nice so he decided not toin.


    Kairos tilted his head up to look at her to see that she was looking right back.


    "Uh, do I go in now?"


    Sara smiled.


    "You can no longer see the wall, right?"


    Kairos looked on ahead, and as she had said the wall was indeed gone. And so, he walked inside and got a better look at it all.


    The first ce held two doors. One was light gray and had the rough figure of a person that had one hand up to their face like they were speaking. The other one was dark gray and also had a rough figure of a person, but instead there looked to be a blindfold on them.


    Kairos raised his question immediately.


    "What is this?"


    Sara smiled and lightly brushed his fur. After a moment to collect her thoughts, she exined.


    "Basically, we have to split up into these two different rooms. One of us will be going through an invisible maze. The other one can figure out the directions and has to guide the other, only through words. The one in the maze itself can''t speak back."


    Kairos slowly nodded.


    "So the one in the maze has to use signnguage?"


    Sara shook her head and let out a helplessugh.


    "Unfortunately, the other person only appears to be a hazy figure to the guide. It would be near impossible."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "...That sounds like a pain. It seems like you''ve done this before quite a few times."


    Sara nodded before sheepishly giving a suggestion. Her eyes seemed adrift as she gave him a passing nce.


    "It would be best if I was the guide since I understand how the process works. But most of the risk ends up with the person navigating the maze. If you don''t like this arrangement, I can instead teach you how to be a guide."


    Kairos shook his head.


    "I''ll just walk in the maze. My future vision will prevent anything bad from happening and all I have to do is follow your instructions, right?"


    Sara leaped off of him andnded at his side before giving him an enthusiastic nod.


    "Alright then! Let''s start right away."


    She walked up to the gray door and opened it. But before entering, she looked over her shoulder.


    "Make sure you follow my directions exactly! Even the smallest mistake would be quite bad."


    Then, she closed it. As for Kairos, he decided to walk through the other door, using his paw to awkwardly open it before letting himself go inside.


    Almost immediately, he could tell why Sara called it the invisible maze. What he expected, was just ground while the walls of the maze wouldn''t be seen, the reality was a bit harsher. Kairos couldn''t see at all.


    Thankfully, he still had his senses so it wasn''t as though he had to doubt whether or not he was even moving his foot.


    That''s when he heard Sara''s voice next to him, which sounded both fleeting and ethereal.


    "...Three steps forward... Turn left... six steps forward."


    Kairos couldn''t help but speak up.


    "How far is one step?"


    There was no reply, which reminded Kairos that he couldn''tmunicate with Sara. In the end, a soft voice drifted by him.


    "If you are speaking, I can''t hear you."


    Kairos let out a sigh hearing that before deciding to just go with it anyway. If he really did step too far, then at least he would get a warning from his future vision.

 Chapter 222 Memories

    ?


    "Two steps to the left, then four steps forward."


    After hearing the ethereal voice next to him, Kairos followed those instructions. It was quite bad for his nerves, being unable to see anything in front of him. However, it seemed as though he hadn''t been led astray yet.


    "Three steps forward, then two steps backward."


    The voice drifted right next to his ear, making him feel ufortable. However, he was more so confused about the instructions. What was the point of going three steps forward and two steps back?


    After a few moments of hesitation, he heard the voice once more.


    "I know it sounds strange, but just do it."


    Kairos furrowed his brow but decided to follow along anyway. He took three steps forward, then turned around. When he tried to take a step once more, he felt his paw hit something.


    After a moment of thought, he raised his paw, and itnded on a surface that was at a higher elevation. It was quite strange, but Kairos was able to figure out that it was a staircase. With that in mind, he went up two of the steps.


    From there, he waited for his next instruction. However, it didn''te immediately.


    Instead, she mumbled something faintly, just loud enough for him to hear.


    "Why are there so many closed off areas?..."


    Kairos naturally had no idea what she was talking about, but presumed that for whatever reason the area was more trickypared to normal. As such, he decided to wait patiently.


    After a few more moments, he heard the ethereal voicee from in front of him.


    "Come over to me here. I want to try something."


    Kairos followed after the voice, going on his four legs. It was only maybe five steps away, but just after the first two, he felt incredibly reluctant, stopping in ce. It wasn''t as though he saw something in his future vision or anything like that.


    It was just...


    A strange reluctance.


    It wasn''t a very strong feeling. Rather, it was one that was quite mild, that made him want to go back. It could bepared to a deflection as opposed to a parry.


    Noticing this reluctance, the voice called out to him once more.


    "Hm? Why aren''t youing over?"


    Kairos'' lips parted ever so slightly.


    "I don''t..."


    He suddenly recalled that talking was pointless, and thus stood there in awkward silence for a good while. Once again, the voice called out.


    "...If there''s a reason you can''te forth, then take a step back and then take one forward."


    Kairos remained in ce. He thought about it, but frankly, there wasn''t any reason for him to be like this. With that in mind, he took a step forward. Yet, when he did, a strange sense of lethargy came over him. It made him want to just lie down and sleep right there.


    From the voice, Sara sounded confused but still wanted to be encouraging.


    "I don''t know what''s holding you back, but I''m sure you can do it!"


    Kairos'' breathing got a little heavy. He tensed his body in order to shake off the lethargy and took another step forward. Yet, he was once more assaulted by an overwhelming sense of fatigue.


    It got to the point that he felt dizzy, which was quite strange considering his current constitution meant his willpower was quite high. Kairos cursed under his breath. He could feel his will to go onpletely sapped out from him.


    In fact, if there was a monster that suddenly appeared, he doubted he would have the will to even fight back against it.


    Once he came across that realization, several rm bells red in his head. He was essentially leaving himself vulnerable in such an uncertain ce, which was obviously not something that would be good for him.


    With grit teeth, he ignored how badly he wanted to just stop and forced himself to press forwards, until he was right next to where he heard the voice. It was at this point he suddenly felt pressure.


    What was previously lethargy had be fear. For whatever reason, he had a strange sense of fear of the thing in front of him. This actually startled him somewhat. It wasn''t as though he hadn''t been afraid before in front of monsters, but he was still able to think rtively clearly despite the fact.


    But now, his thoughts were clouded.


    Nheless, he still had enough in him to hear what Sara was saying.


    "Try to break the thing in front of you. It will probably work out."


    If Kairos was in his right mind, he probably would''ve noticed the uncertainty in Sara''s voice. However, he simply wanted to get out of this strange state. And that''s how he ended up opening his mouth and forcefully ejecting the spear with all his strength.


    An audible bang resounded, along with clear cracking noises. It sounded like he had broken through whatever was in front of him. But at the same time, he felt a strange sense of dizziness nearly overwhelm him.


    However, he was still able to keep it in check. Once he gradually refocused on what was in front of him, some sort of white mist. For the first time, he saw something in this ce. Granted, it wasn''t all that much to look at, but for some reason, Kairos didn''t really like how it looked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The white mist went over to him. He felt the urge to run away, but remembered that he shouldn''t make any reckless actions as he might run into some sort of trap. Thus, he let the white mist engulf him, along with a sh of light, and a few momentster...


    He found himself back in his normal body. No, that wasn''t right. He was in the body of his younger self.


    Looking around, he found himself back in his home. Though it had been a while since he was there, he still recognized it immediately. On top of that, his father was at the door, while his mother was standing off to the side. One thing he noticed was that while he could look around, his actual head wasn''t moving along with it.


    His father called out with a smile.


    "Then I''ll be off. See you both soon!"


    With that, he stepped out of the house and closed the door. It was then Kairos turned to look at his mother and spoke in a childish voice.


    "Mom, where is Dad going?"


    His mother had a small smile on her face as she looked back.


    "To a hotel for a bit, like usual"


    Kairos looked down at the ground and pouted.


    "But why? Is there something wrong with the house?"


    His mother let out a soft sigh.


    "He isn''t used to being around people, so he goes off to be by his lonesome from time to time. I''m going to go out and get a room next to him so I can visit him. Be a good boy and don''t cause any trouble in the house, alright?"


    Kairos looked at his mother and blinked a few times. His expression seemed to convey the disbelief and confusion that both of them were leaving. Just at the tip of his tongue were the words asking them to stay.


    But instead, he gave a small nod.


    "...Okay."


    And without another word, his mother left, closing the door with a snap.


    Kairos took a deep breath when he recalled this memory. The reason why this one felt significant to him was that this was the point where he would almost never see the faces of his parents. Before, even if they would go out from time to time, he would still see them most of the time.


    But from then on, it was considered rtively frequent if he even saw them for half the days in a month.


    Thankfully, he didn''t have to go about earning money on his own to pay off the bills, but he was basically forced into going shopping, cooking, cleaning, and other things. Contrary to his expectations at the time, when his parents found out about him being independent, this only encouraged them to leave him by himself further.


    It was only when his parents wanted to save up to buy a new house that they stopped doing it as much, but by then years had passed. In the end, Kairos was the one that did all of the house chores including cooking andundry when they were back.


    And despite the fact that they were back, they spent most of the time in their own rooms, only leaving to eat, go to the washroom, or go into each other''s rooms.


    It never truly felt like a burden at the time. But when Kairos revisited those memories, he couldn''t help but feel it was unfair. As for how exactly it was unfair, he honestly wasn''t sure.


    But it just felt unfair.


    It took him a while to even realize he was back, standing listlessly in the nothingness. The previous white mist seemed to have disappeared. He took a deep breath and shook his head, tossing those thoughts out of his mind.


    "...What the fuck was that."


    He tried to reach for his temples as though he was standing on two feet, but quickly realized he was actually on four, thus making it hard to do so.


    At that point, he heard a hume from beside him.


    "It looks like I made a mistake. Maybe it''s this one? Try breaking this down."


    Kairos couldn''t help but hesitate. He began to question what exactly this ce was, causing him to recall random memories. Yet at the same time, he couldn''t exactly do much else.


    He couldn''tmunicate his intentions, and Sara was the only thing guiding him.


    So he could only hope that Sara wasn''t leading him down the wrong path.


    Those thoughts circted in his mind as he slowly walked over to Sara once more. There was a simr pressure pressing down on him as he got closer, but it was not as bad as thest one.


    He then broke down the wall using the same strategy as before. Again, he felt strangely dizzy, like he was going to fall over at any moment. When his vision cleared, he noticed that there was a faint blue haze in front of him. It lethargically got closer to him, while he reached out to touch it.


    Then a bright light shed, and he was once more presented with a memory.


    Except... there was something clearly wrong with this one.


    Because this time, he found himself contained within the body of a different boy. It was one that had bright blue eyes and short yellow hair.

 Chapter 223 Birth Of A Hunter

    ?


    Kairos felt a little baffled by the situation. He could still somewhat understand seeing things from his own memories, but why was he now experiencing someone else''s? Not to mention, a random person to boot.


    He thought about it for a few moments before deciding to just go with it.


    One thing he noticed immediately, was that the ce this boy lived in was more run down. He vaguely recognized it as the slums. The slums were quite far from where he lived, but he had explored for long enough for him to find it familiar.


    There was a slight frown on the boy''s face, showing his defiance. To match, he had a re that showed both confidence and disdain. It seemed as though he didn''t ept something, whether it was the state of his own life or the state of the world.


    He was currently eating a sausage along with a cup of tea next to him. At the other end of the dining table was a little girl that appeared to be his younger sister, who was eating the same thing. One thing Kairos noticed about the sausage was that the inside looked a little different. Unlike the sausages he was used to seeing, this one looked like it had manyyers folded within it, which felt somewhat disturbing to Kairos for some reason.


    Right after finishing his meal, the boy went to head out. As he did so, his sister called out to him, curious.


    "Where are you going now, brother?"


    The boy stopped to turn and look at her. A confident smile formed on his face, while he put both hands on his hips exaggeratedly.


    "I''m going to do hero things!"


    This made his sister smile brightly. Her legs excitedly kicked back and forth on the chair that was too tall for her.


    "My brother is a hero!"


    The boy nodded enthusiastically but made a shushing gesture towards her right afterward.


    "Make sure you don''t tell Mom and Dad! They''ll nag me again for hours again."


    His sister giggled and tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. She also made the shushing gesture.


    "Ok! Secret, secret!"


    From there, the boy left the ce and ran down the trash-filled streets. He looked around, clearly wanting to see if there were any ces that needed a "hero". Unfortunately, most of what he saw were just people that appeared to be terribly hungry, with their sunken skin clinging to their bones.


    Seeing them, the boy just looked away, trying not to focus on them. It wasn''t really like he was ignoring those that were hungry.


    Because the boy looked just like them. He had the exact same problem they did.


    In the end, he just kept running and running, desperately trying to find someone that had a problem that wasn''t rted to hunger. Eventually, he heard the sounds of a tussle and excitedly ran to it. However, once he got there, he saw two people in rags along with unnaturally long facial hair in an alleyway fighting over a sandwich.


    Seeing that, his expression fell. He once again began running with a now sad frown on his face. It seemed as though he was gradually bing helpless.


    In fact, he even began reaching the outer edges of the slums with all his running.


    And all of a sudden, Kairos suddenly jumped to attention, almost unable to believe the sight before him. Because he saw himself in the distance, getting harassed by two other children.


    Once the boy saw this, he grit his teeth, clearly looking pissed off. It was as though it somehow brought up old memories.


    The boy immediately rushed over and mmed one of the other boys with his bony fist on the side of the head. With fervor, he yelled out loudly.


    "Ganging up on one person is cowardly! Fight me if you dare!"


    Kairos saw his younger self watch dumbfoundedly as that boy came to his rescue. The other two looked at the new person furiously, one of which was holding onto the side of his head in pain.


    Without another word, the three fought with each other.


    As Kairos watched, he couldn''t help but feel the fight was far more feral-like than what he remembered. While the boy that helped him wasrger, it was still a two-on-one since Kairos was just standing idly by, not that the boy minded. Clothes were pulled, skin was scratched, and a lot of shoving happened. Neither side had any technique or even a semnce of a proper fighting style. They were kids after all.


    But eventually, the two were astounded by how fierce and unrelenting the boy was and ran away.


    Kairos saw himself reaching out to the boy covered in scratches, but without another word, the boy ran away once more.


    At this point, the vision became rather fuzzy. It had suddenly blurred, after which Kairos heard faint angry voices moring. Despite the fact that the ents werepletely new to him, they still seemed oddly familiar.


    Gradually the voice became clearer, while his sight cleared up.


    He saw a woman and a man both with bloodshot eyes looking down at the boy. They were yelling rather loudly, and it was clear that they were incredibly pissed.


    "Look at what you''ve done now! Didn''t we tell you that you should quit your stupid hero act? You can''t protect anything!"


    "We can''t even help ourselves. How stupid are you?"


    The boy was looking down with both of his fists clenched. He was gritting his teeth so hard that his gums were bleeding. After a few moments, he suddenly bolted into a sprint, running away while his parents called out for him to stop.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But he did not stop. If anything, he just ran faster.


    Kairos felt his vision get blurry before he saw the boy once more, but this time he was among nature. Dirt and soot had already covered his body before, but now it was far worse. Nheless, there was still a savage expression on his face as he continued onwards.


    There was a shrill sound of growling near him, causing the boy to turn to the sound. That was when he saw a small fox. Once he finished turning, the fox lunged at him. However, the boy didn''t seem afraid at all.


    Rather, he seemed so clouded with anger that he couldn''t evenprehend that the fox was a threat. Without caring about his own life, he fought the fox.


    When it bit into his arm, he mmed the thing against a tree.


    When it tried to scratch him, he did not even try to defend himself. Instead, he used that opportunity to scratch back.


    Within just a few moments, the boy was covered in bleeding wounds that were far more severe than the fox''s injuries. However, the fox didn''t sign up for a fight to the death, thus tried to run away.


    On the other hand, the boy rushed after the fox without abandon, despite the fact a fox runs pretty darn fast. Even as it was getting away, he didn''t once consider stopping.


    The fox took a quick peek back to see that he was still chasing and picked up the pace. It agilely hopped around the forest, past the rocks and branches, though there was a bit of a hobble in its step, probably because it had been injured in the fight.


    As for the boy, he ran like a bulldozer, mming headfirst into trees, cutting his legs against branches, and stumbling over rocks. He clearly wasn''t suited for the forest, but his inexplicable determination let him continue chasing and chasing.


    Kairos felt the vision get blurry and once it cleared up, he saw the fox still running, but it tripped, before getting its leg stuck in some branches. The boy that now looked more like a beast than a human, took full advantage of that, all the while panting so hard he sounded like a horse.


    Without mercy, he beat up the fox. It violently resisted, and eventually freed itself from the branch, but before it could get away the boy grabbed onto its tail. All four of the fox''s legs scrambled around wildly as it was lifted up into the air, before getting mmed down onto a rock.


    A cruel smack resounded. Blood sttered too.


    The resistance the fox put up weakened considerably. It sluggishly moved its legs before it stopped moving altogether. The boy then lifted the fox up once more before mming it down on the rock again.


    This time, it truly stopped moving.


    From there, the boy used his teeth to pull apart its skin and began eating its flesh raw, while it was still warm. He didn''t spare the organs or intestines either, truly feasting on them like an animal.


    While he was in the middle of his meal, a voice called out from the side.


    "I must say, I''ve never seen anyone chase like that before. It was a little messy... but you have the heart of a hunter."


    The boy vigntly turned around to see what looked like an older teenage boy. The teenager had two different guns strapped to his back, one a hunting rifle and another that was an assault rifle. On top of that, he even had a pistol holstered at his belt.


    The teen looked down at the boy with a smile.


    "Follow me. If you don''t, then you''re just going to die once your wounds get infected."


    The vision blurred once more, and this time itsted quite a while. Once it did clear up, it was still a little fuzzy, but it revealed a man perched on top of a rock, observing the forest nearby.


    He had long yellow hair, and a bow in his hands, pulled back all the way.


    Then, he let that arrow loose, after which a shrill cry of pain resounded. The vision promptly ended there. Kairos once again found himself in the world of nothingness, he couldn''t help but mutter to himself.


    "Chase... So you were the one that helped me that time."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "This ce is far too strange... how am I able to see Chase''s memories?"


    Sara''s voice resounded next to him a few momentster.


    "This wasn''t the right ce either... Sorry."


    After a few seconds, her voice resounded from a different ce.


    "Try breaking this wall down. It will... probably work out."


    With a sigh, Kairos retrieved his spear and walked over. Yet, as he did so he couldn''t help but find it hard to walk any closer. It was different this time. Before it was reluctance, then it became fear.


    But right now, he was feeling guilt.


    Kairos didn''t know why, but he felt that there was a memory he really didn''t want to see past that wall.

 Chapter 224 Sorry

    ?


    Kairos remained rooted to the spot. This time, it was less of a willpower thing holding him back, but rather an intuitive sense. It was almost as though he was sensing danger, though that wouldn''t be exactly correct.


    Sara''s voice rang out in front of him once more.


    "Um, if you didn''t hear me, you should try to break down this wall."


    Kairos didn''t move. He wanted to somehow signal that he was unwilling, but there wasn''t really a way for him to do so. After a moment of thought, he decided to take a step backward, thinking that would signal to her his thoughts.


    But in his future vision, when he saw himself take that step, his foot didn''tnd on anything. He was about to fall over. He stopped himself, but couldn''t help but feel a little helpless.


    Kairos remembered that there used to be ground there. He was one hundred percent sure of that. Yet, it had just disappeared just like that. It seemed that Sara wasn''t just leading him around willy-nilly, though it seemed like that to him when she just said to follow her voice.


    Sara spoke once more.


    "Um, we can''t progress to the next level if you just stay there. It will be a little hard for you to get out of there by yourself too."


    Hearing that made Kairos realize the position he was in. There wasn''t much he could really do other than follow along. Although he could theoretically make it out of this ce himself by using his future vision, all the dangers woulde out a few seconds after a misstep. If he were to walk into a trap unknowingly like a frog in slowly boiling water, he wouldn''t realize he made a mistake until it was toote.


    With great reluctance, he began walking towards Sara''s voice. Upon making it there, he sighed and used the spear to once more destroy the wall in front of him.


    Just likest time, instead of an exit, it was a strange mist. This time, the color was blue. Kairos couldn''t help but expect this by now. With a sigh, he just let the vision overtake him once more.


    And now, he was watching a girl holding onto a wooden sword. She was in a small room made with tatami mats. Kairos was honestly a little surprised, and wondered where they even got those.


    The girl had short brown hair, so short that it was the traditional boy''s hairstyle. In fact, if it weren''t for the fact her chest was a tad toorge to be a guy, he would''ve thought that the girl was a boy.


    She was simply swinging the sword alone in her room, beads of sweat were trickling down from her forehead. Some of which had seeped past her eyebrows, irritating her eyes. Yet, she didn''t even make the slightest effort to wipe away that sweat. Instead, she just kept swinging the sword over and over, like it was the only thing she knew how to do.


    Right when Kairos was getting a little bored of watching this, he heard a door slide open, and a tall muscr man with ck hair appeared.


    "How many have you done so far?"


    The girl spoke through bated breaths.


    "Seven-hundred and eighty-two."


    The man nodded tersely.


    "Only a little more than two-hundred left. Go to sleep after."


    Without another word, he closed the door and left. The girl''s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, but other than that her expression didn''t change. Watching this, Kairos felt a little confused.


    His initial suspicion was that this was Tori, considering thest vision was of Chase. After all, Tori also lived in a dojo, and not many people do. However, her personality was far too seriouspared to the Tori he could remember.


    Despite clearly being older than him, probably at least eighteen, she acted like aplete child. It was as though she had never grown up from the mischievous age. However, the girl in front of him seemed to be the exact opposite, maturing far too early.


    As such, they contrasted each other enough for him to feel that they weren''t rted. He then thought that this girl must''ve somehow been rted to him at a time when he was younger.


    Kairos figured it could''ve been countless people, as he really didn''t remember many things from back then.


    He watched without much expectation, especially because he personally watched the girl go through nearly three hundred swings one-by-one. Once she finally swung her wooden sword for the thousandth time, a fairly violent tremor settled on her body. Both her arms and legs began shaking, almost like she had awakened to be a hummingbird.


    The sword fell out from her hands andnded on the ground with a soft thump. She slowly made her way to the futon next to her, practically copsing on it. However, despite obviously being exhausted, her eyes didn''t close.


    She stared nkly at the ceiling. After a few moments, she got on her side, thinking that perhaps a shift in position would help. Though, that clearly didn''t work out.


    Right when Kairos felt he was going to lose his mind in boredom, she suddenly jumped out of the bed. She rushed out of her room with conviction. Whatever she nned on doing, there was no hesitation.


    She left the dojo, out onto the streets. It was very clearly night, with the moon hanging up in the air while the asional star twinkled in the sky, albeit faintly.


    After setting foot on the sidewalk, she began running full speed. Her breaths werebored, but steady. She ran for quite a while, honestly surprising Kairos by how long she was able to keep it up.


    It seemed that the girl thought that she should exhaust herself further in order to fall asleep.


    Her breathing gradually got louder, showing her fatigue building up. Though, it was still rhythmic like a metronome. She seemed to be approaching her limit and was also reaching the end of the street, so she began slowing down.


    While her running form was near perfect, she seemed to start losing control over her legs as she continued forth, beginning to stumble about. Panic appeared on her normally stoic face as her hands reached out in front of her, not that there was anything there.


    ...Well, that is until a boy walked out from behind the corner. He turned to look at her with a rather exasperated situation. Despite how little time there was to react, the boy reached out to stop her, but despite catching both her hands it turned out she was too heavy, thus the boy was shoved downwards, he guarded his head as he fell though.


    But at the very least, the girl was still standing.


    When Kairos got another look at the boy on the ground, he realized who it was. He was staring at himself.


    Seeing what happened, the girl froze up for a moment, like she was at a loss as to what to do. His younger self scratched the back of his head with a small frown on his face.


    "...Aren''t you supposed to say either thank you for helping or sorry for knocking you over? Actually, don''t most people say both in this situation?"


    The girl blinked a few times before bowing down awfully formally.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I apologize for knocking you over and causing you pain. It was an ident on my part. Thank you for supporting me when Imitted such an ident. I am grateful for your help."


    Both his current self and younger self felt taken aback. His younger self smiled bitterly and summed up what they were both thinking.


    "Why did you have to say so much? Are you trying to write an essay or something?"


    The girl maintained a stoic expression, the joke clearly flying over her head.


    "No, I am not writing an essay. Was it too much? That was the way that my father said to apologize and thank others."


    A bitter smile formed on his face. With an almost mocking expression, but more so yful, he responded.


    "All you gotta say is sorry for that and thank you. If you really want, you can say sorry for pushing you over."


    The girl shook her head after hearing that.


    "But that is not the proper way to apologize or thank someone."


    He got up before raising a finger in the air.


    "Haven''t you ever heard someone say less is more?"


    The girl paused to think about it. Shortly after, she frowned.


    "That doesn''t make any sense. How would there be more with less?"


    His eyebrow twitched. He wasn''t expecting such an answer, but then thought about it for a few moments. He let out a soft hum.


    "Well... think about it like this. Let''s take your apology, which used many different words to express what you were feeling. You said sorry for knocking me over and said it was an ident. Nowpare that to something like..."


    Kairos watched his own eyes ze over for a moment. After a few moments, a soft, but resolved voice came out from him.


    "Sorry."


    The girl blinked a few times. It was fairly clear she wasn''t convinced.


    "How is that any better? You hardly apologized."


    Heughed after hearing that.


    "Yeah, I guess so. But it''s not about the actual apology, it''s the feeling behind it. Your apology is covered up by words, and it sounds like you''re trying to make excuses. But mine wasn''t wrapped up in any fancy package. Instead, I just expressed what I meant without worrying about the presentation. I dunno, I think it''s a better way to say things."


    The girl stared at him for a good few moments. Her once stoic expression warped significantly like she was having an internal battle in her mind.


    "I... I don''t think it''s right."


    To the girl''s surprise, Kairos only nodded after hearing that.


    "Alright, why do you think that?"


    This made the girl fidget nervously. It looked like she was actually being interrogated by a police officer while in cuffs as opposed to a small child.


    "My... My father said the other way is right."


    Kairos nodded once more after hearing that.


    "And what reason did he give?"


    The girl scratched the side of her head.


    "Why does he need to give a reason?"


    Kairos seemed a little bewildered that a question like that was even asked, but still faithfully tried to answer.


    "Er... whenever we do things, there are obviously reasons behind them. Why do we cook food to eat? Because we have to so that we don''t get hungry. There should at least be some kind of reason behind whatever is the right thing to do."


    The girl remained rooted in the spot after hearing that. It seemed that she was going through enlightenment, as for the first time in her life she began thinking about things. But still, she seemed to instinctively recoil against it.


    With one hand on the side of her head, she furrowed her brows. But the tiny seed of curiosity had already bloomed within her.


    "I... I still don''t believe you. But... can we talk about it moreter?"


    Kairos smiled.


    "Sure."

 Chapter 225 A Breath Of Fresh Air

    ?


    Kairos continued to watch the memory.


    After the girl had that conversation with his younger self, she ran back to her own ce. Her expression showed that there was quite a lot on her mind that she was trying to sort out. Upon getting back to her bed, she once more copsed onto the futon, as tired as could be.


    Yet, she still couldn''t fall asleep. Instead, she simply remained still with her eyes wide open, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. If it wasn''t for the fact she asionally blinked, Kairos would''ve thought she fell asleep with her eyes open.


    Eventually, the girl found the sun rising from the window letting the realization that she hadn''t slept at all settle in. She remained in the bed for a decent while longer, before getting up.


    Once more, the girl picked up her wooden sword and began swinging it. Yet, for some reason it felt different. It was a little strange to say that something changed when realistically she was doing the same thing she was earlier.


    But still, it felt less robotic.


    Her arms seemed a little less tense than before. Like swinging the sword was once a requirement in her life, but now it wasn''t like that.


    Very quickly, her breathing got far worse. Her aching muscles had not yet calmed down, mostly because of herck of sleep. Gradually, she began to slow down her pace, though as she was about to stop, her legs felt a strange sense of weakness.


    They gave out from under her, causing her to copse with twitching legs.


    It was probably because she had forced herself to run at night despite the fact she had abused them during the day. Shortly after, the door to her room mmed open. Her father looked at her with great concern.


    "What happened?"


    The girl''s expression twitched in pain, but other than that her reaction waspletely suppressed.


    "I''m... fine."


    The dad crossed his arms with a stern expression.


    "Then why did you suddenly copse during your morning training?"


    The girl blinked a few times, answering after a brief pause.


    "...I couldn''t fall asleep, so I tried running to get tired. But it didn''t work and I wasn''t able to sleep."


    Her father pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted hard as though he was in pain.


    "What are you doing? Is there something wrong with you? Just go to sleep during the night! Don''t exercise!"


    With an exasperated sigh, he shook his head and left.


    "Hold off on training for now. But if you do this again, you''re not allowed to leave your room."


    The girl simply stared back at her father while still a crumpled mess on the floor. Normally, she would''ve just followed along with it withoutining, but she couldn''t help but think back to what Kairos'' younger self said to her.


    That maybe her father wasn''t always right.


    And when she thought about it, that seemed to be the case. She was trying to fall asleep. It''s not like she wanted to stay awake like that. If he was so judgmental about it, then why didn''t he suggest a solution instead of just pointing out the problem that she already knew?


    Though right as those thoughts boiled to the surface, filling her with hot air, they suddenly dissipated.


    She felt strange, like two different thoughts were each pulling at a separate arm, threatening to tear her apart.


    Kairos wasn''t sure how he could understand those thoughts she had when she was justying there in a painful position, but it seemed that the vision just had ways of making that work.


    In the end, after a small break, she took her wooden sword, pushed the tip against the ground and hoisted herself up. From there, she limped out of the house, using it as a walking cane.


    She wanted to talk to Kairos once more.


    The girl walked down the same street she ran. It was nothing like how it was before, the once empty streets now bustling with people. She began to regret this decision. As she was limping on ahead, someone identally bumped into her, making her stumble dangerously towards the streets.


    She was able to catch herself by mming the wooden sword against the sidewalk, but it was still a close call. Her brows furrowed, realizing that this would be far harder. Regardless, she resolved herself to continue.


    Though it wasn''t a surprise, it took far longer for her to make it down the streetpared tost time. Not only was she now limping instead of running, she had to make her way through the bustle of people.


    After what was maybe an hour, she had finally made it to the end of the street. There was a sense of relief that made her legs wobble. But then, she realized that Kairos wasn''t there.


    Though, that should''ve been something she expected. After all, they never agreed on a time to meet nor a ce, which was probably a little negligent on both parties. A strange feeling of despair began to settle onto her, though that was probably a grandiose overreaction.


    Yet, before that despair consumed her, she grit her teeth and raised the wooden sword in her hand. She then continued to limp about on the streets, searching for him. This was rather stupid, there were better chances of finding him if she had just remained at the spot where theyst met. Though, it didn''t seem like the girl realized.


    She slowly continued down the streets, but did so with determination. The girl herself didn''t seem to truly understand what was pushing her to go forward, but it felt true to her core, like it couldn''t be shaken.


    And so she went, just moving forward. The girl didn''t even take care to remember where she was going so that she could get back home. All that was in her mind was to continue, and continue.


    After walking for an unnaturally long time, now a sweating mess, she came across a park. It was a rather old and run down park, but was still rtively clean all things considered. And at that park, was a single kid ying in it.


    Kairos.


    He was on the swing set, going back and forth without a care in the world. Unknowingly, a smile blossomed on the girl''s face as she slowly, but excitedly made her way over. Naturally, Kairos took notice of her fairly early. There was a shocked expression on his face. He got off the swing set and rushed over.


    "Are you ok?"


    The girl seemed a little bit confused, looking back at him almost like she had seen the boogeyman.


    "What do you mean?"


    Kairos was rather stunned by that response.


    "What do you mean, what do I mean?  Look at yourself! Did something happen to your legs?"


    The girl blinked a few times.


    "Ah, you''re... you''re... scared for me?"


    Kairos furrowed his brows for a moment.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Er... I guess that''s one way to put it. I''m just worried about you."


    The girl wore a dumbfounded expression, like she was having trouble processing those words.


    "...That''s the first time somebody ever said that to me."


    Kairos blinked a few times. After a few moments he casually nodded.


    "Ah, ok. But more importantly, you should sit down!"


    He clumsily tried to support her, awkwardly cing his hands on her arms. Realistically, it didn''t help that much but the girl still felt touched by his efforts. The Kairos that was watching all of this felt his face twitch.


    Internally, he chastised his younger self.


    ''What are you even doing?''


    After getting the girl on the swings, his younger self got on the other one and looked over curiously.


    "Why did youe all the way out here?"


    With a bitter smile, the girl answered.


    "I just... wanted to hear what you had to say."


    Kairos looked back strangely.


    "Eh? But I didn''t have to say anything."


    The girl pouted. One of her hands awkwardly grasped at the chain of the swing while the other let the sword droop down to the ground.


    "...Then tell me how these things work."


    After a bit of rification, Kairos found out she was talking about the swings, after which he exined how to swing back and forth. The girl tried, but her limbs were far too weak to do it.


    After a bit of thought, Kairos set the wooden sword aside and began pushing her lightly, so that the swing would go moderately fast.


    A scared expression formed on the girl''s face while her eyes flew open. As her hair danced with the wind, her expression of fear gradually became excitement.


    "Wa... Wahaha!"


    Kairos felt deep buried memories slowlye to the surface. He had honestly forgotten about this time in his life, despite remembering many of the things he had done with Edward and Nicole.


    This made him wonder why he forgot, though that wasn''t something he dwelled on.


    After having fun with the swings, Kairos got back in the other swing, lightly swaying back and forth.


    "So what did you want to talk to me about?"


    The girl let out a hum as she kicked the wood chips on the ground beneath her.


    "I think... my dad is wrong sometimes."


    Kairos gave a quick nod. A small smile formed on his face.


    "Of course. Everyone is wrong sometimes. Didn''t you hear the saying? Nobody is perfect."


    The girl smiled bitterly. It seemed that she was thinking about how the saying fit herself more than her dad.


    "Ah... I guess."


    A moment of silence lingered between the two. With a small pout, the girl spoke once more.


    "Tell me more."


    Kairos looked back and seemed to be a little off put.


    "Huh? What are you talking about?"


    The girl shyly muttered.


    "More things like the ''nobody is perfect'' things."


    Kairos looked baffled, but after a bit of thought he decided toply. From there, he said whatever quote came to mind and his thoughts on them. The girl listened intently. Without realizing, she began to smile happily.


    At first she was interested, but after a while it didn''t really matter what he said. She just wanted to listen.


    Once it gradually darkened, getting closer to night, the girl realized that she had to go. She was reluctant to, but the strict rigidness that her father beat into her made it feel as though she could only go back.


    "Hey... can we meet each other here again tomorrow?"


    Kairos tilted his head to the side before nodding with a smile.


    "Sure! The same time?"


    The girl was about to nod, but then furrowed her brows.


    "U-Um, I think I can onlye at night. Is that ok?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow in curiosity but did notin.


    "Ok."

 Chapter 226 Ego

    ?


    As the days went on, the girl ended up going to that ce every single day. Her father had apparently thought she was still having sleep troubles, thinking that she was trying to do something about that.


    But that wasn''t the case.


    Kairos watched his younger self meet up with her every single day so far. Sometimes they would talk about meaningful things and the girl would reach... "enlightenment" of sorts. Other times, they would do rather pointless things, sometimes even getting to the point of talking about a rock that was by the side of the street.


    "The rock has a lot of white spots, but you can only see them if you look really close!"


    "Wow!"


    Regardless, the girl seemed to really enjoy it. She gradually changed from a very quiet and reserved person to one that was slowly getting more talkative and expressive. Without realizing it, there was a bright smile on her face as she excitedly fumbled about with her words.


    "I really think that um- sliding down the slide is pretty fun."


    Kairos tilted his head to the side curiously.


    "But we haven''t even slid down the slide."


    As he watched all of this happening, he felt his eyelid twitch in awkwardness. It was because he realized that his younger self was rubbing off on this girl, for better or worse. The only thing he felt ufortable about was that it almost looked like she was bing a copy of him.


    She would willingly imitate most of his actions and seemed to take anything he had said as the gospel.


    As this continued to get worse, he came to realize something.


    That her personality was getting awfully simr to Tori''s. There were still some fundamental differences here and there, but now he couldn''t help but realize the growing connection between the girl in front of him and the Tori he knew.


    It was at this point a big question formed in the back of his mind.


    Why hadn''t they told each other their names yet?


    It seemed that both of their...cking social skills hadbined to make this rather strange situation.


    Whenever they referred to the other, they would use things like ''you'' and used things like ''I'' and ''me'' to refer to themself. As such, Kairos couldn''tpletely confirm that the two of them were the same.


    As he was dwelling on it, watching the girl leave the dojo near the night once more, before getting stopped by her father, who yelled rather overbearingly.


    "What are you doing?"


    The girl turned around casually, with a smile on her face.


    "I finished training so I''m going to meet someone!"


    Her father''s eyes narrowed intensely. Kairos could recognize that kind of expression easily, to the point that he couldn''t miss it even if he wanted to. The kind people make when they feel that they should hold more power over people.


    The kind that feels displeasure when those considered ''below'' didn''t show fear.


    Kairos already felt disgust before he even did anything. And it did not take long for her father to prove Kairos right.


    "Going out to meet someone? You have to go to sleep! How are you supposed to recover normally then? Don''t you remember how you somehow crippled your own body? Making a mistake is one thing, but repeating it is too far!"


    The girl''s smile turned into a small frown after hearing that.


    "But I''ve been sleeping fine. I never stay out toote either..."


    For a split second, her father''s expression froze up. Kairos internally let out a soft sigh. He could already see what the father was feeling. That he was proven wrong and had no real logicaleback.


    This was indeed true. She would never stay out toote, and from that point on she slept fine. Her father quickly recovered himself, and from that point, he began screaming at the top of his lungs.


    "STAY HOME AND SLEEP. DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?"


    But certain people just had an ego that was too big, whether they realized it or not. The kind of ego that unconsciously develops as a parent raises their child.


    The parent is smarter.


    The parent is correct.


    The parent should ''guide'' all their child''s decisions.


    That a child''s resistance should be disciplined.


    That they had to be obedient.


    The parent should be feared.


    It wasn''t about actually being correct, but rather protecting that selfish ego. It''s quite obvious to the observer, but for the person in question, it doesn''t seem like they are doing anything wrong. In fact, they probably think that they are doing something noble. That they should be praised for their actions as a good member of society.


    The girl looked back at her father with a straight face.


    "Why are you screaming? Can''t we talk about this calmly?"


    Her father''s face had reddened considerably. It was an actually mature response, making it appear that he was actually the child. This hurt his pride, causing him to scream even louder.


    "I''M SCREAMING?! I''M JUST TALKING NORMALLY. YOU''RE THE ONE THAT''S SCREAMING."


    The way the girl looked at her father changed. It was more of a hollow gaze. Though Kairos could feel her thoughts, he didn''t need that to know that she had lost faith in her father.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After a moment of silence, the girl nodded.


    "Ok."


    Her father mmed his fist against the wall.


    "GO TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW. YOU AREN''T ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE DOJO FOR A MONTH."


    Now, this sentence set the girl off.


    "Excuse me? All I did was go outside for an hour. I still did all my training like you asked. You never even said I couldn''t go out in the first ce."


    Her father replied with a yell, getting more unreasonable with every word he said. Eventually, the girl couldn''t take it and began screaming as well. Soon, it progressed into territory that Kairos didn''t really wish to see.


    The father was beating his daughter up. While choking her out with one hand, he mercilessly punched her with the other, giving her a ck eye. At the end of the day, the girl was still young. Despite training hard, her father had simrly trained, and for longer.


    She was thrown around like a sandbag.


    Even after getting beaten unconscious, he continued to beat her up. Once he finally came to his senses, he was roughly breathing above her. His hand slowly released to show her purple bruised neck.


    It almost looked like she died, but she was still barely breathing.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel aughing out of him.


    Because even now, he saw that the father felt justified in his actions. That he was the one in the right.


    ...Even when his daughter pointed out that he was wrong.


    Kairos felt disdain but didn''t feel any particr hatred for the man. Because he knew that most people were like him. They just didn''t show their true colors until a certain situation presented itself to them.


    In the end, the girl was grounded for a month. Not that she could really get out of the house anyway, because she had to spend that time in bed. Naturally, her father med the whole situation on her, because getting beaten unconscious was obviously her fault, and not the person who beat her.


    He didn''t forget to mention several times that the training she missed now would be made up forter.


    After two weeks, she found herself functioning enough to stand up and walk. But it was only just barely. She no longer cared about what her father thought and tried to get up.


    She nned on going to meet with Kairos'' younger self once more and exin everything.


    While wincing, she slowly made her way forth. Though in pain, she was trained to be hardy, thus didn''t let out any grunts and silently made her way out. Limping through the streets, she slowly made her way to their meeting spots.


    The streets were filled with people, meaning that many unintentionally bumped into her. With her current condition, it did not take long for her to directly copse, falling face-first onto the sidewalk.


    The person responsible hastily apologized before hurrying on. It seemed that people cared more about their own business than anything else.


    However, the girl was strong. She kept moving forth, vaguely giving Kairos the image of a warrior. Though, he quickly woke up from that, realizing the sight was just a girl weakly making her way through a crowd of people.


    After falling a few more times, she finally made it to the park.


    Relief washed over her, and she ended up falling right at the entrance,nding on the wood chips. They cut into her skin, but she couldn''t even really recognize that at this point.


    Instead, she pushed herself up and made her way to the swings on all fours. She tried to get on said swing, but could only put her stomach on it while the rest of her body hung like a ragdoll.


    And so, she waited.


    It was still early, so she wasn''t expecting him to be there.


    Once evening came, she began to feel some anticipation, despite knowing it was unrealistic for him toe this early.


    At night, she was really excited, feeling that Kairos'' younger self woulde around the corner any second now.


    And she hung there for hours, just waiting.


    Thinking that he woulde any moment now.


    Once she realized he was clearlyte, she only thought it was natural considering how she wasn''t there for two weeks.


    After being well into the dead of the night, a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind. What if Kairos wasn''ting? What if... he stoppeding because she had stopped?


    It was something so reasonable, but she denied it with everything in her heart. However, her mind couldn''t shake it off, the thoughts circling around her almost like a vulture.


    Despair began to settle in.


    The moon hung up high in the sky, casting just enough light for the girl to see everything around her. There was nobody around. After all, it was the middle of the night. Other than the slight creaks the swing would give from time to time, there was no sound.


    Nothing was there.


    For the second time in her life, she watched the sun slowly rise from the dead of night. Both times there was a change in her life. The first being, the first gears turning as she changed her mentality.


    But now, it was agony.


    She felt as though she lost Kairos entirely. Though the girl knew that she enjoyed their time together, she didn''t realize how much it actually mattered until she felt it slip through her hands.


    Then, the girl broke down.

 Chapter 227 Distort

    ?


    As the early rays of dawn cast themselves onto the girl, theing of a new day was undeniable.


    The creaking sounds of the swings gradually stopped. The look on her face was nk.


    After a few minutes, she began silently crying, the tears only visible by a faint glisten against her cheek.


    In five seconds, her expression warped into one that was of pain. Faint sniffling could be heard. From there, it did not take long for her to break down further.


    The girl began sobbing. She weakly wiped the tears on her face, but it did little to actually dry her face.


    After a few more moments, it became less sobbing, but more so screaming. The girl didn''t even know she could''ve screamed that loudly before then.


    Kairos continued to watch her scream as it gradually blurred. Then, it showed a brief image of Tori. Then, he was taken back to the realm of nothing.


    After returning, Kairos cursed under his breath. Now that he thought about it, Tori felt a little familiar because she was essentially an embodiment of his younger self. All of his habits from a kid as well as his ideologies were firmly imprinted into her mind.


    Maybe that''s why he decided to let her join the group. Though, with how long ago it was, he wouldn''t really know.


    A small sigh echoed from next to him. It was Sara.


    "This one was wrong too, huh? Well, at least there''s only one option left. Take three steps to the left then five steps forward and you will reach thest ce. Just smash the wall and it should be fine."


    Kairos took a deep breath and shook his head before following her instructions. From there, he shot out the spear like all those other times and the wall did end up crumbling. The moment he did, a sense of unease filled him.


    It was pretty strange considering the other times he would feel uneasy as he approached, while this time it was afterwards.


    Sara''s voice urgently called out at this point.


    "Alright! This is the right ce, but you have to be very careful about this specific part. Where you are allowed to touch is very specific, but it should be based on the size of your foot, so it shouldn''t matter too much."


    Kairos listened intently. By now, he was emotionally drained and just wanted to get out of there.


    Sara continued on.


    "So when you do it, make sure you walk as you would normally. Also, shift yourself just a little bit to the left. I will tell you when to stop."


    Kairos did as said, taking a step to the left.


    Sara called out with a bit of panic.


    "Erm... Too far! Too far! Ok, now just go to the right very slowly, and less than a step."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He didn''t realize that it was this specific.


    While slowly sliding himself to the right, Sara called out a few momentster.


    "Ok, stop! You can take a step forward now."


    With that, Kairos closed his eyes and took a step forward. He knew that the best way to do it naturally was not to think about it too much. Yet, when he did end up setting his foot down, he felt a... strange sensation.


    Within that split second, he realized that there seemed to be a hold that was in the shape of a foot, however, he currently had paws. As such, he stepped out of bounds.


    Seeing this blunder in his future vision, he tried to stop himself. However, a sudden strong stimtion frayed his mind, stunning him.


    He felt the world distort. No, more urately he could feel himself distorting. A loud static buzz filled his mind like he had suddenly be an extremely old broken-downputer.


    Pain like no other filled his entire body, making it incredibly difficult to think. If that wasn''t enough, he had to experience it twice because of his future vision. While in this state, he could faintly hear someone yelling, though it sounded terribly far away.


    "Take...back..."


    After a few moments, he was just barely able to make out the words.


    "Take a step back right now!"


    Kairos couldn''t even process the location of his limbs, but instinctively did the action, and lifted his foot up. Suddenly, he broke out of the distortion, holding his paw out in the air. He felt like he was spinning, but was able to calm down enough to put his paw back where it originally was.


    His body trembled rather violently, and there wasn''t much that he could do about it. It took him a while, but he was finally able to calm down.


    Sara seemed to notice this and spoke after he was ready to listen.


    "It seems you took the wrong step by ident. It''s been a while since I''ve been at that ce... Regardless, try to be a little more careful next time. To be honest, I thought you had made the proper step, so I was rather surprised that you triggered it. I can only hope that you are more precise this time."


    Kairos sighed.


    "What the hell is wrong with this ce..."


    He realized that it seemed to be designed for his human form. As such, he deactivated his Abyss Form. Kairos felt his body contort strangely. His spine was both bending and cracking along with the other bones, but there was no pain.


    He was honestly a little scared of reverting, but those worries were unfounded. The spear he had stored in his body dropped to the ground. He quickly picked it up.


    Once again, Sara guided him to get the exact position he should''ve been in.


    From there, he closed his eyes and began walking forwards. This time, it just felt like he was walking on solid ground. Whatever caused that strange effect seemed to have disappeared entirely.


    Regardless, Kairos didn''t drop his guard down as the sensation of that was still fresh in his mind. He pictured himself walking on the sidewalk, taking step after step, passing by people and buildings.


    Together with the memories he had experienced, he couldn''t help but feel himself get taken back to when he was a kid. Although he was able to make friends with people like Nicole, Edward, and even Tori, the reality was that it was lonely most of the time.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When he went out on the streets and began walking, he was always just a kid. There weren''t many other kids that did the same thing as him, as they were usually just at home. Even if kids his age did leave the house, it was with their parents off to another kid''s house.


    The people he spoke to almost always had smiles, but they were all polite smiles. The kind of smile that doesn''t reach the eyes, so to speak. Most people were willing to have a short chat with him, but practically nobody would give him more than five minutes.


    After all, they had their own business to attend to.


    It was a strange feeling to wander the streets with so many different people. Being able to reach out and talk to them, but never forming any real connection. Kairos suddenly realized the reason he was going out all the time was that he just wanted to form a friendship.


    Someone he could talk to when he was lonely.


    Somehow, he wasn''t demoralized despite going day by day without any real sess. Perhaps it was the polite conversations he had with adults that gave him just enough to keep on.


    The first person he was actually able to talk to more than once was Tori. He remembered the day that she didn''t show up for the first time. Though disappointed, he still showed up the day after, and the day after that.


    He continued on for a full week before finally giving up.


    It left him with a rather hollow feeling. When he didn''t have any real conversation partner it wasn''t too bad. But now that he knew what it was like with one, none of the talks he had felt real anymore.


    But regardless, he kept searching and searching.


    Unfortunately, he ended up getting into fights more than anything, partly because of hisck of social skills. You learn surprisingly little when all the people you talk to only cordially reply to whatever you say.


    That was how he eventually met Edward.


    "Ah, you made it!"


    Kairos blinked several times, realizing that he was now out of that room, and instead sitting at what looked like a small lounge. The walls were made out of stone. Simrly, there was a stone table and two chairs. On the table were ten ck orbs.


    Sara looked at him strangely right after.


    "Eh? Why is there an Untainted here?"


    Kairos turned to look at her.


    "...Oh."


    After a second of hesitation, he activated the Abyss Form, causing his body to contort and his upper body to jerk forward. Shortly after, he became the wolf. Sara looked at him with her jaw dropped.


    "You... wow."


    Kairos let out a sigh as he went to the seat.


    "It''s a littleplicated, and I honestly don''t really understand it either."


    He tried to sit down like a normal person before quickly realizing that he was far toorge to do so. As such, he just awkwardly remained at the side.


    Sara smiled bitterly.


    "Anyway, since we cleared the first room, we can each get five ck blood orbs! Let me now give you a rundown of the next room now."


    Instead of sitting in a chair, she opted to walk next to Kairos and lean against his body. Upon raising a finger, she continued.


    "This time, we will also be entering from two different entrances, but we will be next to each other. There will be a blue bar between us. So long as we both hold onto it, then we will be able to make it to the next level together."


    She paused for a moment before saying the next part.


    "But if someone lets go, then the bar will fall, and only the person that first makes it to the next level will be able to make it."


    Kairos blinked a few times. He spoke slowly.


    "So what happens to the person that doesn''tplete the level?"


    Sara pped a few times.


    "Oh, they just get trapped until they die."


    She said it in a rather casual voice, which made Kairos feel a bit weird. He didn''t mention it though.


    "So just don''t let go of the bar? But it''s obviously not that simple."


    Sara nodded.


    "Yeah. This type of dungeon is quite famous for not having any monsters to kill because that''s how most dungeons are. Instead, it will just give you hallucinations. I think you''ve already experienced some of them, right?"


    Kairos thought for a moment before slowly nodding.


    "I suppose so."


    Though he wouldn''t really call those memories hallucinations, they could still be somewhat considered as such.


    Sara nodded.


    "Then let''s get started, ok?"

 Chapter 228 Hallucination Of Happiness

    ?


    Kairos transformed into his human form and entered the door while Sara entered the other one. As Sara had said, there was a random blue bar between them supported by a separate grey bar that seemed to keep it up.


    Sara grabbed her end without much concern. When Kairos grabbed onto one end of the blue bar, he felt his fingers meld into the bar for a moment, which was a rather strange sensation.


    And right after, a whistle rang out through the air, while the grey bar suddenly disappeared. The weight of the blue bar was nothing special, easily supported by both Sara and Kairos.


    From there, they took steps forward. Karios saw his foot touch nothing and lose bnce before falling forth.


    He quickly stopped himself and spoke up as Sara took a step forth.


    "There appears to be no floor ahead of me."


    Sara seemed fine as she took a step forward though. She turned to look at him and chuckled.


    "Oh, right, you also have to walk on a pole to move forth, but you can''t see it."


    Kairos furrowed his brows and decided to do as told, and when he did take a step forward, he did end up finding the pole.


    Calmly, he put his other foot just ahead and slowly began inching forth. Other than the ufortable walking, there was nothing for the first five minutes.


    Kairos was starting to feelx, yet right when he did he heard voices.


    "Hey,e over here"


    "What are you doing over there? Come here!"


    "Come onnn!"


    They were the voices of kids. Kairos ended up looking at them, but there wasn''t anything there other than a ck void. The corner of his eyelid twitched. For whatever reason, those voices felt vaguely familiar, but he wasn''t able to attach any people he knew to those voices.


    After concluding that they all must''ve been illusions, he shook his head and focused on moving forward. Though, the voices still called out to him every now and then, which was bing more annoying than anything to Kairos.


    Thankfully, they eventually began dying down, allowing him to rx somewhat.


    After another few minutes though, he heard a voice again. But this time, it was more than just familiar.


    "Kairos."


    The voice was gentle. But contrary to how unhurried that voice was, his head snapped to the side like a ma. Though half expecting to just see a void, he ended up seeing his mother.


    There was a neutral smile on her face, while both hands were in front of her like she was standing for a presentation. Her eyes seemed to hold little to no emotion, almost like she was actually a doll on the inside.


    Most normal people would look at that and say that was not how a mother would look at their child. However, Kairos didn''t sense anything strange. In fact, if anything it was too normal.


    His lips parted, about to say something. However, his rationality quickly came back to him, holding him back in ce. Right, this wasn''t his actual mother. After all, she had already be some giant mess of obscenelyrge tentacles and was also absurdly strong.


    Knowing that made it far easier to ignore.


    And as though the hallucination knew that, it disappeared promptly. Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly. From what he gathered, the hallucinations somehow or another found a way to prey on his psyche. Perhaps they were actually made by himself, but the visions were starting to dig into his memory.


    As he thought that, he saw visions.


    First, it was his parents covered in blood and with their eyes missing. They were reaching out to him.


    "Save us... Save us..."


    Kairos clicked his tongue, but other than that was rather unfazed.


    The hallucinations disappeared a little whileter. He let out a small sigh and focused on walking on the pole while supporting the beam.


    There was a bit of tremblinging from the other side, as though Sara was struggling herself. However, not once was the beam ever let go of. Although it might''ve been too early to conclude, it didn''t look like she would fail here.


    Whether it was because of her will or she had practice.


    Kairos took even breaths while walking. While going, he suddenly thought of just closing his eyes, so that he wouldn''t be able to see anything. Yet, a few moments after doing just that, he saw everything normally. He was very sure his eyes were closed, but it didn''t matter whether they were closed or not.


    In the end, he just reopened his eyes.


    A few momentster, he saw Nicole. She was just a few steps away but was crawling on the ground. One of her legs was ripped off, while the other was being pulled back as well.


    "K-Kairos! Help me! Please help me! You love me don''t you?"


    His eyelid twitched. It was a rather jarring scene for him, but he still didn''t budge. He was able to ignore it since he knew that Nicole wouldn''t say something like that, even if she was dying.


    Still, the hallucinations were rather persistent, starting to show the entire team he had all dying in front of him one after the other. However, Kairos had already mentally prepared himself for their death.


    Not that he would be able to walk it offpletely, but he also understood it was very possible for one of them to die. As such, he came to terms before it happened, instead of being blinded should it suddenly happen.


    Adding on top of that they weren''t even real in the first ce.


    The visions continued for quite a while. However, with every passing second, Kairos only grew more confident. He imagined that it wouldn''t be too hard for him to deal with them if this was the worst that they had.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Kairos wasn''t paying much attention, just continuing to run on by as the faces of people he knew continued to die in various gruesome ways. Though at this point, gore scenes couldn''t be considered anything new to him, so it was more or less manageable.


    But eventually-


    "Kairos!"


    The sounds of giggling came from his side. Though he knew he shouldn''t, he couldn''t stop himself from looking over. It was Nicole and Edward. Except instead of them at their actual age, he saw them as kids.


    They both had bright smiles on their faces and were looking at him with excitement.


    Although it took him a second to realize, he saw himself as a kid as well, while his sses were gone. For some reason, even the pain he would normally feel from seeing the future was gone.


    Edward tilted his head to the side innocently while waving at him.


    "Hey, Kairos! What are you doing?"


    Nicole let out a giggle and reached out to grab his hand.


    "Come on, dummy! Let''s go y!"


    Kairos was rather surprised, as he felt a physical tug. He furrowed his brows and decided to do everything he could to remain still, resisting against the pull. Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, he didn''t even walk forward. Although Sara seemed surprised, she stopped to match his pace.


    He was afraid that the feeling of being pulled was actually a hallucination, and then his resistance to the tug would actually lead to him falling off the pole.


    Seeing his resistance, Nicole pouted and tugged a few more times.


    "Kairos? Come on! Don''t you want to y with us? We wanted to try that new game you thought of! Pleaseeee?"


    Edward pped his hands a few times as a somewhat goofy smile was on his face.


    "Do you need to go to the washroom? Hurry up and go, so that we can y! I''m really excited!"


    Kairos took a deep breath, muttering to himself.


    "So... they can even use this kind of thing."


    Nicole leaned in closer, putting her ear next to his face.


    "Eh? What did you say? I didn''t hear!"


    A bitter smile slowly formed on Kairos'' face.


    "Sorry, I have something to do. I can''t go and y with you today."


    Nicole let out a gasp, retracting as though she heard someone died.


    "Ehhh? But you promised! I was looking forward to this day for so long!"


    Edward let out a whimper.


    "No fair! You said that you would! You don''t have to do that now, y with us instead."


    Kairos averted his gaze and blinked a few times. He slowly shook his head.


    "No, unfortunately, there is something that I must do now. But... I promise toe to yter, alright?"


    Edward pursed his lips with frustration.


    "You... really can''te?"


    He had puppy dog eyes as he looked over. As for Nicole, she no longer tugged on him. However, she looked at him with a distraught expression.


    "B-But it''s not the same if you aren''t there! I... I..."


    She inteced her fingers together and looked down at the floor.


    "Please don''t leave..."


    Kairos took another deep breath before he slowly moved on forward again. He muttered to himself once more while furrowing his brows.


    "I underestimated the hallucinations."


    He shook his head, trying to settle down some of his emotions that were getting restless. Now he was a tad bit afraid of the hallucinations. Though there was no worry about that since he was starting to near the end. He could already see the other end of the tform.


    But before they made it, Kairos suddenly felt the beam begin to fall, while Sara herself bolted for the end.


    Kairos'' eyes narrowed, while his adrenaline suddenly surged in his body.


    "Was this all a trap?"

 Chapter 229 You Are...

    ?


    Kairos'' grip on the beam tightened several times over. His mind went into overtime as he calcted how fast he would have to run to get to the exit before Sara did. From his judgment, if he ran as fast as possible, then he should be able to make it through the exit before she did.


    In other words, he had to make the decision right now.


    Countless different thoughts rushed through his head at the same time. At its culmination, it all came down to one thing.


    It was a hallucination.


    He found that the timing made too little sense. The actual chances of the timing being so tight at his full speed were just too coincidental. However, he came to the decision to move.


    Because if it really was wrong, then he could just use his future sight to check.


    After extending his future vision to four seconds, he began running at full speed. For the first three seconds, nothing changed, making it seem like it really wasn''t a hallucination. But near the end of the fourth second, he saw himself suddenly breaking out of it.


    sh forward to the present, he stopped his sudden urge to go forward, and took a deep breath, calming his racing heart.


    Everything was fine.


    Taking slow steps while holding onto the beam, he continued onward. Once they reached the end, the beam slid down into a nook before disappearing entirely. Sara looked over with a smile.


    "Wow, I''m quite surprised that you made it through all on your first try. Even I wasn''t able to do that, and I''m the best that I''ve seen."


    Kairos let out a sigh as a bitter smile formed on his face.


    "It was tougher than I imagined, if nothing else. Though I have to say walking on a pole was quite annoying."


    Sara raised an eyebrow and let out a giggle.


    "Walking on what pole? There was never a pole that we were walking on, dummy."


    In shock, Kairos slowly turned around, and sure enough, there was no pole. It was only a wide tform the entire time. After blinking a few times, he sucked in a deep breath.


    "Well, it seems I''m not as immune to hallucinations as I thought."


    Sara let out a lightugh.


    "All things considered, you did very well."


    Kairos didn''t say anything back. Although he was essentially only receivingpliments, he couldn''t feel too cocky when a hallucination hadpletely blindsided him.


    "Whatever, let''s just continue on."


    Going into the next room, they found themselves in a rest area, and there were some rewards waiting for them. The room itself wasn''t toorge, but it wasn''t too small. It would be consideredfy by most.


    In the center, was a table with a set of four ck orbs lined up. Kairos went over and picked one of them up.


    "They''ve given four of them. That''s quite nice."


    Sara smiled and waved at him weakly, before going to a wall and leaning against it.


    "You can have them all. I wasn''t expecting to get here, and you need it more than I do."


    However, despite the offer in good faith, he shook his head.


    "I don''t want to owe anyone anything. Or at the very least, I don''t want to owe you guys that much."


    Sara shrugged her shoulders with a giggle.


    "Alright, we can split them evenly then."


    She took two of them after saying that and promptly swallowed one of them while stowing the other one away. As for Kairos, he just directly ate both of them, using his second stomach to rapidly consume them.


    He felt newyers of flesh form within him, while the existing ones also toughened up. The sensation continued for a long while, proving that the ck orbs were definitely not something insignificant. Kairos was half expecting a system message to pop up telling him that his Abyss form was upgraded to E rank. However, even as the changes settled down, nothing happened.


    Kairos let out a small sigh before moving on. As he gradually settled down, Sara walked over to one of the walls of the room, which had a small ledge. She reached over and grabbed something on it.


    Though it was only a small ck bead.


    Sara took a look at it for a while before stowing it away. She then looked over at Kairos and pointed at the opposite side.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "There should be something there for you on the other side. The first time youplete the dungeon you get something that''s pretty good on your side. At the very least, it will sell pretty well back in the city. After that, it just gives you a smallpensation prize."


    Kairos looked over at the ledge and walked up to it. When he stuck his hand out towards it, something suddenly shot out, forcing itself into his hand. It was a ck set of brass knuckles with ws at the end.


    He manually piloted his flesh to move his sses away and looked at it.


    [Wolf Gloves]


    [Gloves with ws in the shape of a wolf''s. Appears to be sturdier than steel by several times. Unknown additional functionality.]


    The only real information he was given was that it was tougher than steel. The unknown functionality made him a tiny bit apprehensive, but it wouldn''t be considered ''something worth selling'' if its only property was being tough. Kairos was willing to bet on that along with his future vision.


    Although they functioned as knuckles, there was a leather portion that allowed it to be worn as a glove.


    After a moment of hesitation, Kairos decided to try it on, and it fit perfectly.


    He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times to get a feel. The ws remained in the same ce more or less. Although they were somewhat restrictive, it was fairly reasonable to use them along with another weapon.


    With that in mind, Kairos decided to keep it instead of selling it, at least until he figured out what it actually did.


    Saraid down on the seats of the table and closed his eyes.


    "We should take a break for now. Even if the only thing the previous tests did was make you a bit anxious, the further tests will also test your mentality, so it would be best to take a rest."


    Kairos looked at her for a little while silently. Eventually, Sara gave a small pout.


    "You don''t trust me enough to sleep next to me?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "Don''t say it like that. Even if we are the only two people here."


    Sara stretched before letting out a weak groan.


    "Well, at least I''m going to get some sleep. If you really don''t want to then that''s up to you."


    Soon after, she let out snoring sounds. Kairos'' eyes widened in surprise. He didn''t think that she would be able to do such a thing so easily. Though then again, she was a seer. Kairos imagined that she divined that she would be safe in the future somehow, thus wasn''t afraid of him.


    Although he didn''t exactly feelfortable sleeping in the same room with someone he wasn''t too familiar with, he also knew that it would happen several times after. Worrying about it now was being overly dramatic.


    As such, he justy down on the opposite side and closed his eyes. It was at this point that Kairos realized it was quite a while since hest slept. Not that it was absolutely necessary with his constitution, but it would still help.


    In the end, sleep found him quickly.


    Kairos found himself in a dream. However, it was a rather strange one, if he said so himself.


    He was in his room, sitting on a bed before the whole apocalypse thing happened. To his left, was an awfully familiar wolf sitting on the floor, withrger than normal fangs. And to his right, was an awfully unfamiliar woman, one with blonde hair and needlesslyrge... assets, both in the front and the back.


    She was wearing a white cloth that covered all it was supposed to, though it didn''t cover too much more than that. She appeared to be wearing makeup with her bright red lips and strangely smooth skin, but there were no clear signs of that.


    Kairos massaged his temple with a bit of frustration.


    "What the hell is going on here..."


    "Woof!"


    The wolf let out a bark before panting with its tongue out the side. It was the avatar that he unlocked after evolving himself. As for the blondedy, no matter how hard Kairos thought, he couldn''t think of anyone that even came close to her description.


    Perhaps he met other female blonde people, but that was as far as that went.


    The blondedy smiled after looking at the wolf and walked over to begin petting it on the head like it waspletely natural. And the wolf looked a lot more like a puppy right now, really leaning into the pets and wagging its tail excitedly.


    Kairos pointed at her weakly.


    "You... are Tiana''s power?"

 Chapter 230 A Bit Simpler

    ?


    The blonde woman let out a disdainful scoff while lovingly patting and rubbing the wolf. It made for a weird image, but the woman herself didn''t seem to care.


    "For you to call me a power is looking down on me too much."


    Kairos blinked a few times, finding the situation quite strange. However, he suddenly remembered it was a dream. Despite his usual dreamsing in the form of warnings, he also knew that they were supposed to be quite strange.


    Though he didn''t expect them to be so lifelike.


    He let out a small sigh as he reminded himself that this was normal for dreams. Probably.


    "Do you really think that this is a dream?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched as he looked up at the woman, who was looking at him with contempt. She let out a huff before continuing to stroke the wolf.


    "I suppose by definition, you could consider this a dream, but it''s more of... your sea of consciousness, so to speak. After all, even in lucid dreams, things aren''t this clear. You should be able topare it to your usual dreams, no?"


    Kairos blinked a few times as he thought back on his ''usual'' dreams.


    "..."


    The woman looked at him strangely for a little while.


    "So... those are the kinds of dreams you have. My condolences."


    It was Kairos'' turn to look at her strangely. He raised a fist to his mouth and coughed.


    "Um, why are you able to read my mind?"


    The woman shrugged her shoulders.


    "Ever since Tiana imnted my image in you, I''ve been able to read your thoughts. However, it has been quite more chaotic since you let this little rascal in you, as I can hear his thoughts as well."


    "Woof..."


    The wolf was visibly upset by herment, but she continued to rub its fur lovingly.


    "Though I can''t say I hate this addition."


    "Woof!"


    The woman then began scratching the wolf''s neck, much to its pleasure. She took a deep breath while admiring the wolf for a moment before looking over at Kairos.


    "Anyway, back to the topic, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am the Goddess of Conquest, Azami. For some reason, most people think my name is Adamas, and that I was killed by Poseidon but whatever. Truth is, I was kicked out of the Greek gods because they were tired of me trying to take control over them all."


    Kairos blinked a few times, his mind nearly nking out from how ridiculous he felt everything was. Though he calmed down soon enough and opened his mouth to speak, but-


    "Your name is Kairos, you were bestowed with the ability to see into the future, you''re currently participating in a promotion mission with the aim of reaching C rank. The situation you found yourself in is rather strange, even to the system, and me, a god. You''re a serious-to-death kind of guy that can''t even get himself to be happy when the girl you like confesses to you."


    As Azami narrated all that, Kairos found himself unable to say anything. She peeked at him and raised an eyebrow.


    "Is that urate?"


    Kairos cleared his throat awkwardly.


    "More or less..."


    A moment of silence lingered before he spoke up once more.


    "You know, I''ve never really thought about it, but having someone read my thoughts all the time isn''t the most pleasant thing."


    Azami clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, holding off on petting the wolf temporarily.


    "It''s not a pleasant thing to see other people''s thoughts even when you don''t want to, you know? Though I guess I can stand yours. At the very least, you don''t have too many weird quirks like Tiana."


    Kairos looked at her strangely. Though he was curious about the weird quirks, he wasn''t enough to actually ask about it. But then he remembered she could also see his thoughts, which made him feel weird.


    Azami let out augh and held out one hand.


    "Don''t worry about it too much. I''m used to hearing weird thoughts by now."


    Kairos gave a small nod before looking at the wolf.


    "Alright. Though you already know my question, could I ask why you like that dog so much?"


    Azami looked over at the dog that was fondly gazing at her and pet his head lightly.


    "I suppose the best way to put it, is seeing such pure intentions without ulterior motives feels like such a luxury. After all, I''ve been looking at other people''s hidden thoughts for a while now."


    Kairos gave a few nods while observing the wolf.


    "That does sound reasonable. What are the dog''s thoughts?"


    Azami said things rather nkly.


    "Feels good, feels good. Like pets, want food, want sex."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He blinked a few times and looked at Azami for a little while.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You already know what I''m thinking, so I don''t have to say it, right?"


    Azami didn''t respond immediately, instead stroking the dog for a little while.


    "It''s better than not having any desire for that kind of thing at all."


    Kairos fell silent, though even if he didn''t want his thoughts transmitted, it wasn''t something he could stop. Azami let out a huff before turning away.


    "I''m not the weird one here, you are, alright? Reproduction is a basic instinct among living beings. It''s a very normal thing to have."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.


    "Just take it that you didn''t hear anything from me."


    Azami averted her gaze before responding.


    "Very well..."


    Another awkward silence spread, save for the sound of the wolf panting and its wagging tail. Eventually, Kairos spoke up candidly.


    "So um, would you mind helping me improve my rtionship with my avatar? Since you know what his thoughts are and all that."


    Azami let out a soft hum while stroking the wolf.


    "I suppose that would benefit our overall situation. Alright."


    She tapped the wolf twice before pointing at Kairos.


    "Go make friends with him."


    Though the dog appeared momentarily confused, it walked over to Kairos. There was a goofy grin on its face as it panted, making it hard to take the thing seriously despite its ferocious body.


    Kairos nced over at Azami and opened his mouth, but before he could speak-


    "He wants to be pet."


    She answered before he even spoke out, prompting Kairos to look down at the wolf. He reached one hand out and gently brushed the thing''s fur. It was surprisingly soft and smooth to the touch.


    His eyes widened slightly. Although he wasn''t the kind of person that cared much about texture in general, he felt a strong sense of satisfaction. He was beginning to understand why the goddess across from her was so into petting the wolf now.


    Kairos found himself moving his hand back and forth subconsciously.


    Though the wolf looked at him as though wondering what he was doing. While Kairos was confused, Azami spoke up once more.


    "He''s wondering why you aren''t petting him harder or scratching his fur. You don''t have to worry about hurting him, he''s pretty tough."


    Kairos gave an appreciative nod before following her advice. He was a bit gentle at first, just to gauge the reaction, but got into it soon enough. Kairos couldn''t help but chuckle seeing the wolf narrowing its eyes in happiness.


    It was easy to find himself enjoying it as the wolf''s fur really was nice to rub.


    After a few moments, Azami spoke up.


    "And now he sees you as a friend."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow in surprise, pausing his petting for a second.


    "Really? But I''ve only been petting him for a few minutes. While I did think it was possible to get on good terms this way, I didn''t think it would be nearly this fast..."


    Azami shrugged her shoulders.


    "That''s just how it is with animals. When both sides don''t expect any ulterior motives, just a sign of friendliness is enough for them to recognize you as a good person. There''s no overthinking, doubts, or facades involved. Naturally, it will be this quick."


    Kairos blinked a few times, looking at her a bit strangely.


    "But I''ve tried getting on good terms with animals before and they''ve always attacked me instead."


    He was looking at her like she was an idiot. Azami''s eyebrow twitched while her lip was gently trembling.


    "That''s because you weren''t friendly enough in your approach!"


    She burst out in anger, pointing at him. Though Kairos only blinked a few times before responding tly.


    "No, there have been times when I was attacked randomly by a dog I hadn''t even seen, and this one time that a bird randomly stole my sses. You can read my mind, so you know I''m not lying."


    Azami stared at him for a long while.


    "...How are you so bad with animals?"


    "You think if I knew I would still have this problem?"


    Kairos responded in a low voice before letting out a sigh.


    "But... I do think I get what you''re saying. If everything was just a little bit simpler, maybe... people could just alwaysugh and y like they have been."

 Chapter 231 Success Rate: 0%

    ?


    Kairos and Azami patted the wolf for quite a while, enjoying themselves in their own way. While things began nearing the end, it became blurry and Kairos'' dream ended. He felt a bit groggy waking up, observing his surroundings, and quickly remembering where he was. It was a break room in between the levels of a dungeon.


    Sara was already awake, letting out a soft hum as she sat at the table. She had already been up for a while now. Once she noticed that Kairos was awake, she let out a small gasp.


    "Ah, you''re finally up. You''ve been sleeping for quite a while now, I must say."


    Kairos blinked a few times as he sat up.


    "How long was I sleeping for?"


    Sara shrugged her shoulders and stood up.


    "I can''t really tell time down here, but it was about double the time I usually sleep."


    Kairos stretched out his body and furrowed his brows.


    "How long do you usually sleep?"


    Sara put a finger on her chin and let out a soft hum.


    "It''s just a little bit less than the normal eight hours, I imagine."


    Kairos'' eyes widened significantly as he held onto the side of his head.


    "I''ve been asleep for that long? Really?"


    From what he understood, his need for sleep has lessened significantly due to his constitution. Although it wasn''t like it was yesterday he took a nap, but at the very least he didn''t actually feel that tired.


    Sara let out a small sigh, with a hand on her chin.


    "I guess if you haven''t slept for a while, the fatigue gradually builds up. Even when everything was normal, it wasn''t like you could just sleep 8 hours after several all-nighters and be good to go, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times. He got up with a groan while scratching the back of his head.


    "...I suppose. Maybe I really was pushing myself too much despite thinking I was fine. Anyway, what''s the next test supposed to be?"


    Sara giggled and looked off to the exit of the room.


    "Well... it''s a little bitplicated. We will need to dodge a variety of different weapons shot towards us, while standing on tforms hung in the air."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I thought you said these were supposed to be tests of the mind or something."


    Sara waved her hand with augh.


    "It does have a bit of a physicalponent, but the most important thing is that the actual tforms will be partially supported by your partner. Um... exining this is a bit hard, but just imagine a tform supported by rope horizontally."


    She began gesturing by holding out her hands to the side.


    "Naturally, there is a bit of give, with the tform sinking a little."


    "Like... a suspension bridge?"


    Sara narrowed her eyes slightly.


    "Er, the right overall concept, but it''s still different. Take a look at this."


    She held her hands horizontally and put her fingertips together.


    "Imagine that the tform is my fingernails."


    Then, she bent her fingers downwards.


    "The ropes support it like this. Makes sense, right?"


    Kairos nodded a few times with a hand holding his chin.


    "Got it. Why does that matter though?"


    Sara took a deep breath as a pained smile formed on her face.


    "One rope will be attached to one side of the wall. And as I said before, your partner partially supports the tform, meaning one of the ropes will be tied around your waist."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He took a second to process what that all really meant. After sucking in a cold breath, he weakly raised a finger.


    "So basically, when we move to dodge, we also affect the stability of the tform for the other person. So not only is it unstable in the first ce, it will be even more so with the movement that''s required from our movement. Not to mention, it would be incredibly unpredictable."


    Sara gave a few ps.


    "Pretty much. This is something that goes further than just trusting the other in order to beat. You have to bepletely in sync with them, predicting your partner''s actions from the weapons shot at them and extrapting how the tform would move along with it. Not to mention, you have to watch how much you move, or else the other person won''t be able to dodge on stable footing."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She took a deep breath.


    "It isn''t so bad at the start, but the difficulty ramps up several times over."


    Kairos sped his hands together and brought them in front of his mouth.


    "How many times have you cleared that level?"


    A bitter smile formed on Sara''s face as she held up her hand before putting her thumb and index finger together.


    "Zero."


    Kairos blinked a few times. He massaged his temple.


    "Is there any punishment for failing this test?"


    Sara shrugged her shoulders.


    "If you get hit in your ck heart, you''re probably dead. Well, at least I would be. I''m not sure how your anatomy works. On the other hand, if we end up falling down, there will be an attack on our psyche while being ejected out. It''s a tad bit dangerous as you may end up attempting to hurt each other in the panic, and if an enemy attacks you''d be quite vulnerable."


    Kairos looked at her nkly, holding out a hand.


    "...Is there any real point in us trying this then?"


    Sara brought a hand up to her face andughed.


    "It''s not like we can actually leave anyway. We might as well just try to beat this game."


    Kairos clicked his tongue and got up.


    "That sucks... I guess we might as well go now."


    He walked towards the door but froze up right before going to it.


    "Wait. How about you just focus entirely on yourself, and make whatever wild movements you must to dodge any attacks."


    Sara stopped in ce and looked at him like he was a fool. She figured that the reason he was saying that was because Kairos underestimated how difficult it would be.


    "Um... but it would be unbelievably difficult for you to dodge if I did something like that."


    Kairos waved his hand dismissively.


    "Just trust me on this. The worst thing that can happen is we fail a bit earlier, no?"


    Sara paused for a while, confirming that it really wasn''t some kind of joke. In the end, she nodded.


    "Very well then, I will do as you say."


    Kairos was well aware that what he was nning was rather ambitious and would ask a lot on his part. He was nning on using his future vision in order to deal with the unpredictable movement of the tform and dodge the weapons. He had used it in this way multiple times before, it would just be more difficult this time.


    On top of that, he also nned on tying the rope around the spear to support the tform instead of around him.


    With that in mind, he pushed open the door and went into the test room.


    It was just a room, and there were two 4 by 4 meter-long ck tforms in the middle, just lying on the ground. There were indeed ropes attached to the tform that were ck.


    Sara turned and called out to him.


    "The moment we start pulling on the ropes, the floor will give way, don''t be surprised, alright?"


    Kairos gave a curt nod.


    "Alright."


    The two of them stepped on the tform. Sara picked up the rope through the mess of them and tied it around her waist. On the other hand, Kairos tied the rope to his spear. Sara noticed that and raised an eyebrow, but didn''t say anything in the end, deciding to let him do what he wished.


    Suddenly, the floor underneath them disappeared, the only thing far down below being some dark haze.


    The tforms moved rather violently, falling downwards and away from each other. Kairos grit his teeth, just barely maintaining his footing. When the strings were pulled taut, he also felt a strong force pulling on the spear, that he was just barely able to hold onto because of his future vision.


    In fact, if it wasn''t for his future vision, he had to admit he wouldn''t have remained standing at all.


    However, it didn''t end there. Two walls across from each other suddenly begin to undte. Then out of nowhere, pure ck arrows shot out from those walls. Kairos clicked his tongue, realizing it was even harder than he thought since it wasn''t exactly easy to see something ck with a ck background.


    That much was made very true when Kairos saw an arrow pierce through his shoulder. With grit teeth, he leaned back, getting his shoulder out of the way. At the same time, he extended his future vision to three seconds, knowing that it wasn''t going to be easy.


    However, whether he could even maintain that this the whole time was an entirely different thing.

 Chapter 232 But Wait, Theres More

    ?


    Just a few seconds in, Kairos immediately found that he may have bitten off a little more than he could chew. Dodging the arrows on such an unstable tform in the first ce was already incredibly hard, but he was also going as far as to maintain the stability of the other tform by holding onto the spear properly.


    Although he did have his future vision, which at least gave him a chance to seed, three seconds was far too little time for the grand majority of people to process all of that. Part of the reason he was even able to hang on for the first few seconds was his mind was already heavily tempered by processing double the information normally.


    Though one saving grace was that he was fairly good at improvisation. The difficulty was lowered considerably after he had an idea of how the tforms themselves moved. But he couldn''t get too happy about it.


    After all, Sara said before that this was just the start, and it was supposed to get far harder. Not to mention they didn''t see it to the end, so its difficulty could ramp up to be far greater.


    But there wasn''t much else he could do but keep trying.


    He furrowed his brows and continued dodging the arrows the best he could. As for Sara, she was dodging them all methodically and easily. It was quite clear that this was far from the first time she was doing something like this, even if Kairos was holding the tform quite still.


    Since she was using minimal movement to dodge, it was also a lot easier for Kairos.


    For the next few minutes, the attacks simply continued on. It was definitely quite rickety at the start, but Kairos more or less got an idea of how the tform moved and how fast the arrows were.


    Yet, just as he let his guard down, he saw a knife pierce through the side of his head in his future vision. Although it didn''t actually happen, the pain was very much real. For a second, he faltered, nearly letting go of the spear and even letting a ck arrow hit his abdomen.


    Thankfully, his brief fall at least let him dodge the knife that suddenly shot past.


    Kairos quicklyposed himself, ignoring the leftover phantom pain, and straightened back up. Sara was almost tripped up as her tform had also moved considerably, but improvised by shifting her weight to one edge.


    It was at this point that Kairos found out why Sara said ''weapons'' would fly out of the walls and not arrows. It was because there were more than just those. Though the main thing Kairos wasn''t prepared for was the additional speed that they had.


    But he nned for this to be thest time that he gets caught off guard.


    Several knives shot out, but Kairos was able to barely dodge them. Soon enough, he got used to their speed. When he found an opportunity, he ripped the arrow out of his abdomen so that he could better focus. However, he ended up preemptively dodging another attack, not realizing that it was slower than usual until he saw it pass by in his future vision.


    Because there were still arrows being fired.


    In reality, the actual shape of the projectiles didn''t do too much to change the difficulty. However, because they were being fired at different speeds, it suddenly became several times harder. For Sara, she had to either judge how fast the projectile going to her was, or what shape it had to know when to dodge.


    But that was easier said than done.


    Even if the tform was stable, there were also multiple projectiles being fired at the same time. It was practically impossible for some average person to do it even if they had one hundred tries.


    This showed as Sara was already showing some signs of struggle. Though at the very least she was dodging everything. Kairos could be considered losing in this battle as he was already hit, but the wound had already healed. Although his previous constitution was pretty strong, it definitely wouldn''t have been this fast normally.


    It seemed his Abyss Form was helping him in that regard.


    Taking an injury wasn''t good by any means even if it healed, as it put pressure on the mind. However, Kairos realized that he could afford to get hit a few times. So long as the rope wasn''t severed and the injury didn''t severely impact his mobility, then he could let the weapon hit him.


    Sometimes getting hit would be better than letting the tform get too unstable, or make him unable to dodge a more important attack.


    Though after continuously dodging for several more minutes, Kairos found that unnecessary. While it wasn''t easy by any means, dodging the arrows was enough practice for him to just barely dodge the knives as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Though just as he was starting to get used to it, a new set of weapons flew out.


    They were swords. They first came out at a rather slow speed. As such, they weren''t much of a surprise.


    However, while the arrows and knives had nearly straight trajectories, the swords took a diagonal arc in order to make it to them. While they may not have been the fastest, it took more processing power to predict where they would end up.


    Kairos found himself panting hard and his mind scrambling to keep up.


    Things were progressing just a little too fast for him. If he was just given maybe five more minutes to practice each stage, then he would be much more confident. However, things were progressing just a little bit too fast for him.


    It was like he was running after someone, desperately trying to keep up, but slowly slipping further and further behind.


    Still, Kairos didn''t n on giving up just because things seemed to be heading towards failure. So long as he avoided lethal hits, there was no harm in trying. While thinking that, he leaned to the right, just barely dodging one of the swords, but not so much so that he would be hit by the knife.


    As for Sara, she definitely wasn''t asposed as before. Her movement became much wider and more aggressive. Granted, there wasn''t much of another way to dodge them, though that also meant that Kairos'' tform was starting to get more unstable.


    But all things considered, Sara still showed great skill dodging all of the weapons without the ability to see a few seconds in the future constantly.


    Kairos began wondering exactly how many weapons that Sara had gone through before, but quickly got rid of those thoughts as he narrowly dodged an arrow. He chastised himself and gave a reminder that there was no time to be distracted.


    As they continued on, even more weapons were added.


    The next were spears. They were an in-between of the swords and arrows, still having an arc, but it was a small arc due to it being faster. Although Kairos didn''t feel too good about things getting even harder again, he was at least thankful that dodging the swords somewhat prepared him for the spears.


    Sara too, was holding up, even if it was just barely.


    Even though Kairos nearly messed up badly several times, and was actually grazed by des several times, he was starting to feel pretty confident. While he wasn''t sure he would be able to do it this time, given a few more tries he felt like it would be a matter of time.


    But then, the new ''weapon'' came. It was tworge iron balls attached to each other by a chain. A tool used to bind a person''s leg so that they would be unable to get away. Unlike the others, the shape definitely made a difference here.


    But what was even worse, was that it somehow took a curveball trajectory to them.


    Kairos was already winded but began sweating even harder when he saw that. He was already starting to get a headache from how much he had to process, and now there was this element.


    Still, he was able to dodge them.


    But he caught something he didn''t expect in his future vision. Sara was hit by the ball and chain on one of her legs. Although the attack wasn''t lethal by any means, the restriction it provided was essentially a guaranteed fail with how many things there were to dodge.


    There was a part of Kairos that almost expected Sara to dodge everything, but it wasn''t as though she was absolutely perfect. For her to even make it this far was a testament to her impable coordination and judgment, even if she had done this before.


    At this point, Kairos realized that it may not be so easy after all. Even if he could get used to this, there was a limit to whoever his partner would be. He saw that Sara was being pushed to her absolute limits already.


    But while he hadn''t put it into action yet, he still had a n for this.

 Chapter 233 Limits Of The Shattered Truth

    ?


    Kairos'' eyes widened to their limits as he looked behind himself in his future vision. He paid attention to Sara''s position, where the ball and chain wereing from, and also the other weapons that Sara needed to dodge.


    Hemitted them all to memory in two seconds.


    And in thest second, he looked back in front of himself to see what he had to dodge.


    When it came time to act, he let out a shout while holding up the spear with all his strength. Sara''s tform raised considerably, which made her panic a tad bit. But it wasn''t a fruitless effort, as the ball and chain gilded underneath, bing harmless for her.


    At the same time, Kairos jumped up, letting the one going for him go past.


    But unfortunately, it wasn''t perfect. While trying to recover herself, a knife mmed into Sara''s shoulder, while an arrow hit Kairos'' leg as he was getting his footing back afternding. Without a second thought, Kairos pulled out the arrow. However, Sara didn''t see an opportunity, so she just left it in to focus on dodging.


    Although Sara wished to apud Kairos for his impressive efforts, even speaking right now would derail her focus too much. As such, she decided to save it for after.


    But while Sara was impressed, Kairos felt like he was approaching his limit. Just a few secondster, he once again had several close calls. He was no longer dodging as perfectly as before, and that showed in the various cuts on the sides of his body and arms.


    Not to mention, he was starting to get a headache. Still, he continued on, missing failure by a hair.


    Somehow or another, they held on for another minute.


    Though Sara wasn''t doing much better. Although she was dodging the grand majority, if Kairos didn''t asionally help, then she would''ve long fallen off by now.


    At this point, it wasn''t really just their own skill that they depended on, but also their luck. If their luck was just a tad bit worse, with an arrow or knife positioned slightly differently, then it would''ve all been over.


    But despite the fact they were ''lucky'' Kairos couldn''t help butin in the back of his mind. This test was far too ruthless already. The fact that you even had to jump up from an already unstable tform andnd back down was ridiculous.


    It was like a test that wasn''t even meant to be beaten in the first ce.


    Though they had somehow held on until now, Kairos suddenly saw things get even worse. Like a sick joke, all of the weapons suddenly changed speeds. Not to mention, he saw two different arrows with slightly different velocities.


    Kairos felt his already pretty bad headache get even worse.


    Within a split second, he weighed how badly he actually wanted to beat this test. It was his first time, so there shouldn''t have been that big of a deal. But at the same time, he recalled that this first time had already gone pretty well.


    There was no guarantee that the next time would be any better, or any attempts after that.


    With that in mind, Kairos decided that he would go all out, and consider this his best try, to see if he should even attempt it a second time.


    Despite having a splitting headache already, Kairos extended his future vision to its very limits, 5 seconds. The regret came almost instantly, as a headache of the likes he had never experienced before assaulted him.


    His head had already been warm before, but all of a sudden, it got so hot it was as though it was literally on fire. If the top of his head was used as a stove, the person using it would probablyin that the heat was too much.


    Though he couldn''t really process the fact, as the sensation of pain he felt was akin to a hatchet splitting his head open. Despite the fact his willpower was raised to a 30.0, it felt more like he had no willpower at all.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that he trained himself to get used to pain for most of his life like a crazy person, then he would''ve long passed out.


    But despite this incredible pain, he still maintained it. Though while he was nked out from the pain, several arrows, knives, and even swords had embedded themselves into various parts of his body.


    Soon enough, a ball and chain came flying to him to seal the deal.


    But before it hit him, he lifted up one leg, letting it pass by before setting it down. And then, he lifted up the other in one smooth motion.


    By now, all of the pain had umted to a strange numb feeling in his head. Although it still hurt like hell, a portion of it was numb, just enough to keep Kairos from cking out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And he kept it that way, not so much because he wanted to beat the test anymore, but rather because of his fascination with what was happening. Once his future vision was extended to its limits, everything fundamentally changed.


    His vision suddenly turned panoramic. In other words, he now saw things in a 360 degree view. But that wasn''t even the craziest thing for him. What he found several times more fascinating was his vision which turnedpletely ck.


    All the objects now only had white outlines around them. The detail was kept while making things as simple as possible. In fact, he even saw himself as a white outline. Before, he was using proprioception, which was the sense that allowed humans to know where their limbs were without seeing them.


    But now, he had no use for it, as he could visually see his entire body in apletely different way.


    His thoughts gradually blurred into nothing. The amount of information he had to process just to keep this activated made it too difficult to have conscious thoughts.


    However, the originally incredibly difficult to dodge projectiles suddenly became incredibly easy. Even if he did not see things five seconds in the future, he would''ve still been able to dodge on his own.


    Though it wasn''t like he didn''t need it at all. Sara was trying her absolute best, but it was simply far too difficult. In just ten seconds, she made countless mistakes and only remained standing because of how Kairos manipted the tform.


    Sara dodged things she didn''t even know were there and was also forced to dodge them even if she didn''t want to.


    Still, even in this state, Kairos would be helpless if Sara wasn''t trying her best. It wasn''t like he could force her to remain on the tform.


    Regardless, they were still enduring the ridiculous test.


    Kairos looked quite calm, though Sara was panicking heavily at every second. She couldn''t understand how it was possible for him to even hold his own. But Kairos was going a step further to even pilot her.


    Although filled with astonishment, Sara still tried her very best, as she saw a chance of actually beating this test and wanted very badly to cling to it.


    Thirty seconds went by, and while Sara still felt like she was going to fall at any moment, she was holding on just the same. As for Kairos, the numbness had somehow spread through his entire head and even reached partway down to his neck.


    While he didn''t understand how this was possible, he also couldn''t recognize the fact that it was a strange thing, since he couldn''t think consciously in the first ce.


    The only thing he knew to do was to dodge the weapons and help Sara to do the same.


    And once an entire minute had passed, all of the weapons suddenly stopped firing. Along with that, the floor had returned as well.


    They had actually passed the test that was essentially impossible.


    Sara was saying something. Although Kairos knew that she was indicating her surprise from how she was moving her body, he couldn''t actuallyprehend the wordsing out of her mouth.


    But while he technically no longer needed to continue using his future vision he did. Instinctually, he understood that if he stopped channeling it, then he would instantly ckout.


    Simr in nature to how stopping drug consumptionpletely was actually very dangerous to someone that was chronically addicted.


    Although he didn''t actually think anything, he reached into his pocket, took a handful of green orbs, and swallowed them all directly. After that, he finally pulled back his future vision and passed out instantly.


    While he was now incredibly vulnerable, to the point that it wasughably easy for Sara to kill him. Though it was toote now to take back any of his actions.


    Kairos'' consciousness flickered, asionally appearing as a vague buzzing feeling before disappearing entirely.


    If he could actually think, then Kairos would''ve believed that he was in aa.


    As his consciousness continued to flicker, he finally started to feel himself start to wake, albeit painfully.


    ...But he was in his room, strangely enough.

 Chapter 234 Calling Out

    ?


    Kairos'' vision went in and out of focus. He felt like he was lying down on the bed, and tried to get up, though he ended up falling back down on his first try.


    "So you finally got up."


    Kairos looked over and saw Azami. She had her arms crossed, and while Kairos couldn''t make out her expression, she appeared a bit angry.


    Kairos took a deep breath and put a hand on his forehead.


    "So it seems that this is still inside of my mind, and I haven''t actually woken up yet. So how long have I been asleep for?"


    Azami clicked her tongue and stood up.


    "You''re really dumb for pulling off a stunt like that. If it wasn''t for the fact you ate those weird green things, then you would''ve been in aa. Thankfully, most of the damage you dealt to your mind was healed. You''ve already been asleep for ten hours now."


    Kairos let out a small sigh of relief.


    "Ah, so it''s not too long. I was a little worried that I would''ve found out I''ve been sleeping for several days, or maybe even weeks."


    Azami pursed her lips and red at him.


    "Don''t get ahead of yourself dumbass. You haven''t actually woken up yet. Not to mention, this little guy is like this now."


    She gestured to the side, where the wolf was. However, it was on its side unconscious as though it were dead. Kairos'' eyes widened when he saw that.


    "Is... he dead?"


    Azami shook her head.


    "No, but the poor guy sacrificed himself to reduce your mental strain. And because of that, he''s now in an actu. You can''t expect him to wake up any time soon."


    Kairos fell silent. He never really thought that recklessly putting his own body on the line would also hurt others, so when it did happen he felt a bit guilty. While intecing his fingers, he spoke up slowly.


    "Um... is there anything I can do to fix him up?"


    Azami narrowed her eyes before snapping.


    "If I knew something like that, then I would''ve long done it myself!"


    Kairos retracted back a little bit as a bit of cold sweat formed.


    "...Do you have any ideas?"


    Azami shook her head and let out a sigh.


    "This is my first time experiencing something like this, both the trio consciousness sharing and also somehow taking on the burden of someone else. I don''t even know how the doggy found a way to do something like this."


    Kairos took a few deep breaths, as his fatigue gradually lessened. After his headache calmed down somewhat, he walked over to the wolf and got on one knee next to it.


    After blinking a few times, he gently stroked the wolf''s fur. He muttered.


    "So you''re the reason I could even hold on in the first ce, huh?... Thanks, little buddy."


    The wolf let out a weak whimper, though it seemed to just be a murmuring that came from its sleep. Kairos lifted up the wolf before setting it down in a morefortable position.


    Kairos tapped his chin in thought, not wanting to forcibly wake up the wolf. He gently rubbed the wolf''s nose bridge. After being at a loss for what to do, he randomly decided to begin humming.


    Although a luby seemed more like the opposite of what he needed to do to wake the wolf up, he didn''t seem to mind this logical facy.


    Azami frowned, clearly not thinking that this would help at all. However, she didn''t say anything when Kairos attempted to do such a thing.


    Kairos hummed a simple tune for a while, consisting of only two notes for a little while. He seemed to get lost in his own simple luby for a while, forgetting his original objective. His thoughts gradually left him, leaving only the sound of a song.


    He appeared to still be feeling the effects of information overflow, and unable to have conscious thoughts.


    Eventually, his humming gradually picked up, using more than two notes and switching between them a little faster. It had more or less changed into a song. Kairos wasn''t exactly the best at getting the notes properly, but since he was humming it was harder to tell that he was messing up.


    However, it was more than made up by the fact his voice was incredibly gentle.


    Kairos began thinking of times when he was younger, as various memories involuntarily floated up to the surface.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The trials he faced all made him think of the past in one way or another, and now while he was still mentally exhausted, he was losing a bit of control over himself.


    "I can hardly feel... but I try to pretend."


    His singing was a bit off-tune. Though more than that, there wasn''t really a tone in the first ce, as it was just slight variations of the same note. It was fairly clear that Kairos wasn''t a person that practiced singing very much, and from his vocal range, also wasn''t one that talked all that much either.


    Not that it was anything new.


    Kairos took a deep breath as his eyes zed over.


    "Could there be an answer in the heart that set me free?"


    Kairos thought of the first time he ever met Nicole and Edward. Although he still didn''t know why to this day, he first found Edward in an alleyway by himself. He was covered in filth, and curled up into a ball against a wall.


    Edward remained still, clearly with no intention of leaving.


    Inter times, he would ask why he was like that, but Edward would never give him a straight response.


    Though for the young Kairos at the time, he didn''t think too much of it, deciding to go out of his way to greet him. Granted, he was given a rather cold response and driven away. Still, that encounter was his first impression, even if it wasn''t the most pleasant one.


    It was onlyter on after coincidentally seeing him a few other times was he able to get a normal conversation with the guy.


    But all things considered, the two of them found that they were quite simr, all things considered.


    "Ten thousand miles apart, but we''ll never be too far."


    As for Nicole, he actually met her while he was sitting under a tree, and looking over at a park. It was a pretty nice view, at least to the young Kairos at the time. And this time, it was a little girl that approached him.


    "What are you looking at?"


    Kairos was feeling a bit down at the time, but he could no longer remember why. However, it was offset by Nicole''s curious enthusiasm. Despite not really being in the mood to talk, Kairos still responded, exining that he just liked the view.


    In the end, Nicole clearly didn''t see the signs that Kairos was giving and continued to excitedly converse with him. Strangely enough, despite not wanting to be with anyone at this point, he found himself talking with her rather excitedly as well.


    Somehow or another, the two of them were able to talk to each other rather easily.


    Though Kairos didn''t realize it at the time, Nicole gave him something that he didn''t know he needed. They had a lot of fun just sitting under the tree together, talking about rather pointless things.


    "I saw a vision in the morning when the light came through. Do you think we''ll be the same way even as the years go too?"


    He quieted down slightly before pulling up a system prompt.


    [Time Left Before Teleportation: 24 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 36 seconds remaining]


    Coming up on the first week, Kairos was starting to realize his true thoughts.


    He missed Nicole.


    He missed her a lot.


    It was honestly quite surprising to him, as he never thought that he depended on her this much. Not to mention, he didn''t even realize any signs earlier. All of a sudden, it just came out of him.


    Kairos closed his eyes as he came to realize how he took her for granted.


    He wasn''t even thinking about Azami, who could read all of his embarrassing thoughts that he didn''t have normally.


    "Cause even though we were so different, the only thing that we share are our words and our time."


    Kairos looked at the timer again, telling him that he still had to wait more than 24 days before he could even go back. He stared at it, almost like that could somehow speed it up further.


    However, it felt more like it was slowing down, just like an illusion.


    Kairos hugged the wolf and rested his head against its body. He muttered to himself while resting on top.


    "I''m hoping that somehow, you can hear my voice piercing through the snow, calling out to you."


    Kairos bit his bottom lip as he came to realize that his promotion mission wasn''t going to be so easy after all.

 Chapter 235 Alternate Evolutions

    ?


    Azami let out a sigh as she looked at Kairos'' less than graceful position. With one hand on her forehead, she spoke up reluctantly.


    "Look, I get that you''re feeling pretty down, but that isn''t going to help wake up the doggy, alright?"


    Kairos heard her words but didn''t actually process any of them. Instead, he just muttered various lyrics and gently stroked the dog. He had a soft frown on his face and a longing look in his eyes.


    In other words, he looked sad.


    Kairos took a deep breath before closing his eyes, somehow falling asleep within his own consciousness. Azami clicked her tongue. She took in a slow deep breath which transitioned into a sigh.


    "You didn''t get brain damage from doing that, did you?..."


    Kairos didn''t end up responding. In the end, the room was only filled with the sounds of both Kairos and the wolf''s soft breaths. Azami continued staring at him for a little while in silence before sighing for what felt like the hundredth time.


    "Whatever..."


    Kairos slept for a little less than an hour, thankfully for Azami. Upon waking up, he began rubbing his eyes for a little while.


    "Mm... I fell asleep?"


    Azami pursed her lips with her arms crossed.


    "Yeah. Now that you''re awake and refreshed, let''s actually think of a solution. I''m fairly certain if the wolf remains asleep, then you won''t be able to wake up for real either, else you would''ve already done so."


    Kairos scratched the side of his head.


    "That is indeed a predicament. But there aren''t many options in this ce. Did you remember how the dog was able to share the mental burden with me?"


    It was finally Azami''s turn to be at a loss for words. She furrowed her brows for a long while.


    "...I did not recall anything special. The wolf simply saw that you were writhing in pain within your mental space, and put a paw on you. Then, it simrly started to writhe around in pain until it passed out."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Eh? So should I just touch him to do that?"


    Azami rolled her eyes, gesturing with her hand a bit wildly.


    "If it was that simple, then the doggy would''ve already woken up!"


    After she said that, the wolf lifted up its head and let out a long yawn. Both Kairos and Azami snapped at the wolf. Eventually, Kairos let out a chuckle while scratching the side of his head.


    "Looks like it all worked out."


    Azami smacked her lips while thinking of what to say.


    "...I guess the problem wasn''t too serious if a nap was all it needed."


    Kairos yawned and leaned against the wolf.


    "So should I be waking up soon? Or something like that?"


    The corner of Azami''s lip twitched. She stood up, while her eyebrow began twitching.


    "Don''t go on acting like you didn''t make a dumbass mistake, alright?"


    Kairos held out his hands helplessly.


    "Well, it''s not like wallowing or feeling bad about it is going to make anything better. I already know that I did something stupid, and I intend not to make that mistake in the future. Since you can read my mind, then you can tell it''s not a lie, no?"


    Azami took a deep breath. She was in a rather grumpy mood but found herself with no ce to vent it.


    "...I suppose you''re right. Whatever, do things as you like then. It''s not as though I''ll die if you end up doing so."


    With that, she closed her eyes and looked away, either trying to fall asleep while standing or just not wanting to associate with Kairos anymore. He felt a little awkward seeing that. From his perspective, there was an obligation for him tofort her, from what he knew about social standards.


    Though before he could even attempt such a thing, he felt his mental world start to blur.


    And the next thing he knew, he jolted up awake, along with the feeling of a pretty bad headache. He had difficulty opening his eyes properly, feeling pain just from trying to open his eyes.


    "Oh, you''re finally up?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As Kairos slowly forced his eyes open, he saw Sara looking from above. She had a small smile on her face.


    "You were sleeping for quite a bit. I was a little worried, but you seem fine."


    Kairos let out a yawn, but this time in real life. He slowly got up while holding onto the side of his head.


    "Yeah, something like that."


    He looked around and gathered his bearings. He was resting on top of a rather nice couch if he had to say. One that was quite fancy, and not really expected in a ce like this. When Kairos looked around some more, he realized that it was like the break room he saw before, but it was muchrger.


    And far more luxurious too.


    Instead of just a table, there were cushioned couches and a long ss table. There were chiseled pirs around them along with statues of what appeared to be Greek gods, though while they bore simr traits, none of them clearly represented any.


    Along with that, there appeared to be crystal tables containing a variety of colors at both ends of the rooms. They glimmered slightly, as though trying to shout out, ''Look at me!'' with how eye-catching they were.


    Though more importantly, along the ss table, were numerous ck orbs stacked up one after another. Although Sara had been here for a while, it looked like none of them were touched. In total, there were one hundred.


    Sara stretched her arms and let out a light grunt.


    "Well, there are plenty of rewards to take from. If I''m being honest, there was no way that I would''ve been able to clear this test. It was all thanks to you, so I don''t mind if you take a little more or even all of it."


    Kairos waved his hand in front of him.


    "No. I don''t n on owing you anything. Besides, while it may be true I was the one that contributed the most, you could''ve also just killed me and taken everything. Considering that you didn''t do such a thing, I am more than willing to go half and half."


    Sara looked at him silently for a little while, before letting out a chuckle.


    "You''re surprisingly a very reasonable person."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "I don''t believe that I''ve presented myself to be like an unreasonable one."


    Sara let out augh while leaning back into the couch.


    "Well, you always got that frown on your face. And I guess there''s also the fact that most people aren''t reasonable at all. If anything, it would be shocking to find someone that even tries to be fair..."


    She took a deep breath.


    "You said that you''d give half to me for not killing you, but you already saw that I wouldn''t in your prophecies, didn''t you? It shouldn''t have been a surprise, so it in turn became a surprise for me when you thought of rewarding me for it, haha."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched, as his ability didn''t work anything like that. Still, he decided to keep his mouth shut for his own sake. Both in terms of surviving, and not being embarrassed.


    He realized that he was starting to feel quite hungry. Either because he overused his future vision, or because he hadn''t eaten in a while, or both.


    With that in mind, he picked up one of the ck orbs and ate them directly. He could feel the ck blood in his body suddenly start to roil as it prepared to absorb more of itself into his system.


    While he was very sure that he became stronger, his hunger hadn''t really settled down. It was at this point Kairos remembered he had taken the Consume skill, to allow him to eat the bodies of monsters faster. But it came with the downside of making him hungrier.


    He furrowed his brows before deciding to just eat the ck orbs, in hopes that his hunger would be satiated eventually. Although he could''ve kept them for the sake of buying other thingster, he didn''t see much of a point in that now.


    At least in terms of this world''s form of strength, Kairos was severelycking since he was ced in the middle of the race when he should''ve been at the start. As such, he sought to increase his strength before anything else.


    He ate them one after another, while Sara stowed them away by letting them sink under her skin. The stimtion that Kairos experienced was gradually increasing with each one he ate, quickly building on each other.


    By the fifth orb, despite being in his Abyss form already, it became unstable. His veins began bulging from his skin, clearly showing across his entire body.


    [Abyss Form (E-) -> Abyss Form (E)]


    He was encouraged by that prompt and continued even further, eating even more of them. By the time he had his fifteenth one, he found himself asionally losing control of his various body parts, as they suddenly turned numb, causing him to copse when it came to his legs. Though after that numbness passed, he felt a much stronger weight pressing down upon them, along with a more frightening strength as well.


    [Abyss Form (E) -> Abyss Form (E+)]


    After seeing that, he sat back on the couch, taking deep breaths as he calmed down. As for Sara, she had already stored all of hers, not one more and not one less. She asionally looked at the crystal table behind her but decided to wait and wait for Kairos.


    Once he did calm down, his gaze was fixated on the ck orbs.


    He should be able to take it to D rank at this rate. He couldn''t help but wonder what kinds of powers he could gain after remembering the massive snake that Nyoka turned into.

 Chapter 236 Why Is This Here?

    ?


    Spurred on by his desire to be stronger, Kairos continued to eat the ck orbs one after another rather greedily. Although his hunger was not sated by them, he could no longer even tell that he was hungry at this point.


    The feeling of all the foreign ck blood rampaging about in his body nearly made his mind feel numb. Though his body was rapidly transforming the blood into actual flesh and parts of his body.


    However, even when he found himself forcing down his 25th ck orb, he wasn''t able to promote his Abyss form into the D-tier. Although he imagined that arge amount would be needed to do such a thing, he also felt like not much was changing.


    After taking a short break to calm down, he just decided to continue on as he had been. There was atent urge to throw up, though no matter how much he ate, it never became a real one.


    Once he felt most of the effects settle down and shift in his body, he continued his ck orb buffet.


    Once he had reached the count of forty, he took another break, letting the blood settle down. Though he found it a bit strange since he still felt the blood coursing around in his body. Normally, it would be transformed into flesh almost instantly.


    Still, he didn''t care enough to ponder over it much before finishing off the rest.


    To his dismay, there still wasn''t any change, though the blood flowing around his body was circting incredibly fast. Although it was a foreign feeling, it wasn''t all that ufortable.


    With a sigh, Kairos sat down.


    "Damn. I thought I would be able to evolve further if I ate them all."


    At this point, Sara tilted her head to the side with a curious expression.


    "But to me, it seems like you''re about to evolve?"


    Kairos turned to her with a strange look. Though right when he opened his mouth for a rebuttal, he involuntarily began transforming into a wolf. His bones creaked as they shifted and expanded, while his body quickly began taking the entirety of the alreadyrge cough.


    But it didn''t end there.


    A reflex akin to vomiting assaulted him as he stood up. From there, his body began mutating, trembling, and erratically increasing in size. All of his smooth fur suddenly shot upwards, growing longer and bing messier.


    Although he wasn''t exactly a small wolf before, Kairos'' body began expanding to rather ridiculous sizes, rivaling Nyoka''s transformation, or the other ones he had seen before.


    [Abyss Form (E+) -> Abyss Form (D-)]


    He felt a jolt pass through his mind. A momentter, he realized it was because there were overflowing tangible electrical currents running through him. Although they were chaotically rampaging throughout his body, he still felt like he could control them instinctively.


    Though perhaps more strange than that was a strange ability to feel another person''s heart.


    To be more urate, he could sense Sara''s heart, and how it was beating in her body. But despite the fact that the heart was an organ meant for pumping blood, Kairos could decipher feelings from them.


    Right now, he could sense that Sara was feeling a bit of concern over his sudden transformation.


    Though before he could think about it more, his body sprawled out due to its size, crashing on top of the surprisingly sturdy ss table and barely fitting in between the two couches.


    Kairos heard excited barking in his mind,ing from the wolf in his mental space. Yet despite the fact it was only barking, he was able to decipher meaning from them as well. The wolf was helplessly excited, praising him for increasing their strength. It expressed its desire to show off its new power.


    In the end, Kairos couldn''t help but smile bitterly and began speaking to the wolf in his mind.


    ''Calm down. We will be able to use this power and probably will many times in the future, but for now, it would be better to calm down.''


    The wolf let out a disappointed, but understanding whine.


    Right after, Kairos'' body quickly began returning to normal, leaving him sprawled on top of the ss table. A few arcs of electricity danced around before dissipating.


    Sara pped a few times with a smile on her face.


    "Congrattions on your Avatar Development!"


    Kairos got back onto the couch and looked at his own hand for a moment.


    "So... that''s what it''s called. I can definitely feel a significant difference in my power now."


    He took another look at Sara, specifically at her abdomen. He remembered feeling the beating of her heart previously along with her true thoughts, though all of that was gone now. It seemed to be only a power that was activated while merged with his avatar.


    Sara let out a small sigh before putting on a smile once more.


    "Well, now that you''re done with all that, why don''t we take a look at our other rewards?"


    Kairos blinked a few times before looking around the room.


    "Oh, right. Thest break room had rewards in the walls or something like that. So these glowing tables must be where they give them instead."


    Sara put one hand on the side of her face andughed.


    "I imagine so. Though I can''t say for certain since I''ve never been here before."


    After a short moment of silence, Kairos nodded.


    "I guess we should see what we got."


    With that, the two of them both went to a separate table. Likest time, Kairos reached his hand out, though nothing happened. Sara did the same, finding nothing. However, she was not discouraged and tried other things, such as reaching out both hands or holding out a fist.


    Right when Kairos was going to raise a question, Sara let out a gasp, while the top of her crystal table opened up, splitting into two parts.


    "Ah, just put both your hands on it and it will open up!"


    Kairos followed as she said, cing his hands on top. Just like with Sara, they promptly split apart, moving his hands apart as it did so. In truth, he was anticipating a fairly decent reward.


    After all, it wasn''t exactly an easy test, and the countless ck orbs set up a precedent.


    Yet while Kairos was already expecting something great, he couldn''t help but let out a gasp when he saw what it was.


    "What? How is this possible?..."


    It was a red and glowing object that was shaped like a triangle in the form of a disk. There was also a triangr indent in the center. Several feelings were roused up within him, but before he got ahead of himself he inspected it after moving his sses off his face within his flesh.


    [ID: 2/10]


    [Energy: 1000/1000]


    It was a part of the strange prism he had that used evolution energy. Previously, he was able to create incredibly tough objects that automatically repaired themselves, such as the spear he was wielding right now.


    With a tad bit of nervousness, he slowly reached out and grabbed it.


    "Why is this here of all ces?"


    In truth, Kairos had fantasies of finding other parts of the prism randomly around the ce. However, life wasn''t so good that he would find them so easily. Especially not when The Church of Evolution appeared to have some sort of way to detect them, albeit not a terribly urate one, else they would''ve sieged Kairos with far more than just a few members already.


    He took out the prism from within his flesh so that he was holding one of them in each hand. Then, he decided to fit them together.


    Uponbining together, it became a real janky-looking small wand.


    Ignoring the thing''s somewhat strange appearance, he tried to open up the status panel once more, though it was a tad bit strange.


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 1500/1500]


    [ID: 2/10]


    [Energy: 1500/1500]


    Instead of being considered one item as Kairos thought, they were instead different. However, a nice added boon appeared to be the increase in max energy. Kairos let out a small hum looking at it.


    He wanted to test it out. Perhaps it was only an upgrade to its maximum energy, which was a wee one. But if there were more features, it would be better to know now rather thanter.


    Kairos took out the newfound ws that he had gotten before attempting to coat the de with the living stone. He took a deep breath, expecting it to be quite difficult, as fine creations using the prism generally weren''t easy.


    However, it was a surprisingly smooth process, allowing him to coat all of the des fairly easily.


    Not to mention, he started to feel his spear resonate somewhat with the prisms he was holding onto. After letting ite out of his body, he tried to channel the powers of the prism.


    And he found the spear floating about under his influence. He could control it easily, though not so much that it was like he had grown a third limb. But with enough practice, he imagined that he would be able to get the hang of it.


    A small smile formed on his face as countless new possibilities opened up before him.

 Chapter 237 Impossible

    Chapter 237 Impossible


    After making his spear do a few loops around and variousbos in the air, Kairos stopped and put the spear back into his body. From there, he opened the status panels of the two objects.


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 1499/1500]


    [ID: 2/10]


    [Energy: 1498/1500]


    He raised an eyebrow, before falling into thought. It seemed that the second prism was responsible for increasing his control and giving him the ability to move them around telekically.


    However, after only using it for a couple of seconds, he had already lost two energy. It seemed that he shouldn''t be using such an ability willy nilly if it disappeared that fast. Especially when there wasn''t an easy way to recharge the energy.


    As for Sara, she wasn''t taking notice of what Kairos was doing at all. Instead, she was looking rather mesmerized by what she was looking at. After a little while, Kairos looked over in curiosity.


    While he was contemting speaking, Sara ended up doing so first.


    "It looks like we weren''t the first ones to clear this level, even though I was so sure we did."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, scratching the side of his head.


    "What are you talking about?"


    Sara slowly turned around, revealing a strange mirror in her hand. The surface itself was notpletely smooth, instead rippling as though it were a fluid, and the frame itself was a messy ck that seemed to be leaking, almost like the mirror was actually bleeding.


    She then pointed it at the center of the room.


    "Come over here and have a look."


    Kairos did as told, walking over and looking at the mirror from over her shoulder. The fluid-like surface of the mirror rippled, revealing a scene with two other people. They appeared to be saying something, but there was no sound that came from the mirror. Regardless, despite passing such a difficult test, they weren''t particrly excited at all.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw that.


    "You''re saying this was in the past? How do you even know that? It could also be the future."


    Sara blinked a few times, staring at the mirror in a trance.


    "I... don''t know. But I just feel like it has to be the past."


    Kairos was a bit speechless by that logic, but considering she was supposed to be an oracle of some kind, he didn''t doubt her. Sara muttered to herself in a daze.


    "I can... see their futures."


    She remained still for a long while, with her eyes wide and unblinking. Kairos looked between her and the mirror a few times before confirming that he couldn''t see whatever magical or mystical thing she was.


    Kairos took a deep breath before sitting down on the couch, patiently waiting for whatever she was doing to be finished.


    After a little while, Sara slowly put down the mirror. However, she was breathing rather quickly, nearing hyperventtion. To put it simply, she was quite excited.


    Kairos didn''t understand it exactly, but he guessed that being able to see other people through the mirror and read their futures was particrly convenient or powerful in some way.


    In that same vein, he was also very pleased with the reward that he got.


    Eventually, Sara got over the excitement, though there was still a bright smile on her face.


    "Are you ready for the next test?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, wondering to himself.


    "Shouldn''t we rest before we tackle it like thest one?"


    Sara tilted her head to the side.


    "Well, we have no idea what the test is going to be, unless your foresight is strong enough to predict even that. And since it''s going to be even harder than the previous test... resting would just be a waste of time. We''ve already been making the others wait for so long, so it would be best to go now."


    It was a very logical argument that hit many different points. Kairos simply nodded.


    "Alright then, let''s do that."


    With that, they went past the doors into the next test area. As they walked in, they were greeted by a rather strange sight.


    They were greeted with a rather giant room, but instead of taking on the normal ck theme, it was all white. And within this giant Once again, she saw those same two people who were taking the test. However, it didn''t provide much information. They were room, was a tiny white table in the middle, with two simple chairs facing each other on either side.


    Sara took out her mirror and looked through it.


    Once again, she saw those same two people who were taking the test. However, it didn''t provide much information. They were simply sitting across from each other, staring for a while.


    Then a momentter, the entire floor underneath them turned ck and they fell in.


    Sara''s eyelid twitched when she saw that.


    "...I thought I would at least get to understand the rules somewhat with this mirror."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Say, is there any indication of what the rules these tests have beforehand?"


    Sara shook her head as a bitter smile formed on her face.


    "No, nothing like that. The only way to find out is by the experience of others, or trial and error on your own."


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly. It seemed they put a lot more work into clearing the dungeon than he thought.


    "That''s fairly impressive, all things considered."


    Sara let out an awkwardugh.


    "Well... I was hoping that there wouldn''t be as much trial and error so long as I had this mirror, but it turns out I was wrong."


    She let out a long sigh before gesturing towards the chairs.


    "I guess that there''s not much else to do other than sit down. I would say to not repeat their mistakes, but it''s a bit hard when there doesn''t seem to be any mistakes..."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "We can only do our best."


    Sara sat in one of the chairs, and Kairos went to sit down as well. Though he stopped right before doing so. Because he saw in the future that right when he would sit down, the ground underneath them would suddenly disappear immediately.


    It was a new record of failingpared to the attempt they saw in Sara''s mirror.


    Naturally, he stopped himself just before sitting. After a moment of thought, he tried to sit on the chair at a different angle, but once again he only saw the floor underneath caving in.


    He tried several other things, such as sitting down at different speeds, holding his arms out in different positions, or even closing his eyes and sitting down with as much calm as possible.


    But no matter what, the result always ended up being the floor underneath them disappearing.


    Seeing the strange act Kairos was doing, Sara couldn''t help but speak up.


    "What''s wrong? Do you foresee disaster?"


    In response, he let out a distressed sigh.


    "I... simply see the futures of us failing the test with the floor underneath us disappearing. In none do I see ussting even a second, unlike the people we saw in our vision."


    Sara let out an awkwardugh.


    "Well, maybe you''re supposed to fall?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "But isn''t the failing condition for most of the others falling down?"


    Sara shrugged her shoulders a bit helplessly.


    "I was just trying to be optimistic. It''s our best shot at this rate, no?"


    Kairos opened his mouth, but couldn''t say anything back. Although he could continue trying, it didn''t seem like it was going to get anywhere anytime soon. Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Do you know what kind of punishment we will face for failing?"


    Sara put a finger on her chin and pursed her lips.


    "I''ve never experienced the punishment for this test, but following the pattern of the rest, it should be some sort of mental attack. There won''t be a risk for death, though most people would consider this a worse punishment than just a risk of death..."


    Kairos didn''t think much of what she said until he heard thest part.


    "It''s that bad?"


    Sara let a chuckle escape her.


    "Well, we are always fighting to retain our sanity down here. If you sumb to the corruption, then your consciousness will be overridden by the avatar. Or perhaps to be more urate, that will be the only thing left. While you are essentially dead, you will then roam this ce as a monster."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "...That does sound pretty bad."


    Sara smiled like it wasn''t a big deal.


    "Just make sure your resolve is strong. The moment you start to feel like you no longer want to live, things will go bad quickly."


    Kairos gave a small nod. After casting a gaze at the chair, he took a deep breath, preparing for what was essentially the inevitable. He resolved himself and sat down in the chair, despite knowing full well what would happen.


    As he saw in his future vision, the floor underneath them caved in, revealing an endless expanse of darkness. Kairos found himself swallowed within rather quickly.


    He then braced for the so-called mental attack.

 Chapter 238 The Abstract

    Chapter 238 The Abstract


    Kairos closed his eyes. Or at the very least he thought he was closing his eyes with how dark everything was. And when he did eventually feel like he was opening them...


    He was greeted with his room.


    Or perhaps more urately, his mental space. Azami was just idly petting the wolf, which was also noticeably bigger. Now, it looked almost the same as the new transformation that Kairos had unlocked, just much smaller in scale.


    Not much seemed to happen, prompting Kairos to speak up.


    "Hey, apparently there''s supposed to be a mental attack on me right now or something like that."


    Azami turned to look at him strangely.


    "Is it? Well, at least it doesn''t involve me. Good luck."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched, but he didn''t say anything in the end. However, before he could rebut, he suddenly lost his footing amid the sounds of a loud crash. The room itself didn''t change, but Kairos found himself seemingly falling.


    Azami and the wolf weren''t unaffected either, with the wolf waking up and Azami finding herself flung up. Or perhaps more urately, it was everything else that went down.


    The room started to shake rather violently, though strangely enough, all the objects in the room weren''t jostling around. As for Kairos, Azami, and the wolf, that was definitely a different story.


    Kairos grabbed onto something to stay stable, while Azami simply furrowed her brows, not even making the effort to grab on anything. However, she somehow remained upright the entire time.


    As for the wolf, it was just panicking, wildly moving its legs around in a flurry with no real goal other than venting its anxiousness.


    Strange sounds apanied the rumbling, sounding almost technological, but glitched. They remained at a single tone, before gradually shifting to another.


    It seemed that one of the walls could no longer hold its own, distorting significantly. It twisted and turned as though it wasn''t actually a solid wall, but stretchy gum of some kind. It started to push outwards, almost like it was being pulled from the outside.


    Azami clicked her tongue and shouted over the noise.


    "Didn''t you say that it was a mental attack on you?"


    Kairos stared at the wall that seemed to be getting further and further before yelling back.


    "I said apparently! Whether or not it dragged you in wasn''t told to me!"


    Azami didn''t respond, instead staring at the distorting wall with a somewhat transfixed expression.


    Eventually, the wall was directly ripped apart, opening up to what appeared to be the outside world. The wall itself gradually seemed to be blending into that background, almost like it was actually a painting.


    As for the background itself, it looked like a rtively normal neighborhood, without all the blood and destruction that was caused by the apocalypse. However, a very notable difference was what appeared to be blurry figures in the distance.


    At this point, Azami''s eyes were wide open. She began to mutter to herself.


    "Wait... that makes a lot more sense now. Of course, this would have to be..."


    While Kairos was confused, he suddenly heard cries filling the air.


    "AHHHH! IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS!"


    "Someone... please... kill me..."


    "Why me? Why?... Why?"


    They seemed to be far away and right in front of him at the same time. More than just the volume, Kairos began to feel a strong headacheing on. Without even realizing it, he had put both his hands on his ears in an effort to block it out, but to no avail.


    Azami turned to look at Kairos before a small frown formed on her face.


    "Um... things are pretty bad for you right now."


    The wolf looked around, clearly quite puzzled, though it didn''t seem too affected by the things around it. After realizing that he was covering his ears and that it was doing nothing, Kairos peeled them away slowly.


    He looked over at Azami while holding back his urge to cry out painfully.


    "You know what this is?"


    Azami furrowed her brows slightly while looking around.


    "This ce is called the Abstract. To exin it properly would take too long for this situation. To summarize, just think of this ce as the River Styx. You are only supposed toe here if you''ve died."


    She crossed her arms.


    "You can also think of it as your soul being in this ce, even though it''s more so your mind, but that would be confusing to exin."


    Although she was proiming that she was glossing over things, she was saying a lot of unnecessary things, which was starting to tick Kairos off. Though he didn''t need to express that verbally as Azami just read his mind.


    She looked a bit upset about it but didn''t make a fuss about it.


    "To put it inly, you''re at great risk of dying right now because your mind is far too deep into the Abstract. Actually, dying wouldn''t be too bad considering what else could happen to you..."


    Azami took a deep breath before continuing on quickly.


    "For some reason, it seems the ce you entered was somehow able to bring your mind into this ce, and was also the reason why you were able to consciously appear in this ce as well."


    Kairos did everything he could to focus on Azami''s voice, trying to parse through all the countless ringing voices in his head. While he was distressed over her not getting to the point quickly, he also realized she was his best shot at enduring this ordeal.


    "What... do I... do?"


    Azami sucked in a cold breath.


    "...I''m not sure. I''ve never seen this happen before. You''re going to have to find some sort of solution for yourself. Both the doggy and I have resistance to this kind of thing as we are both rted to gods in different ways."


    She thought for a little while before speaking up.


    "I''m not sure how it works for you, but I believe you have to make sure that you don''t lose yourself, more than anything else. If you are taken by this ce, then you will experience pain several times worse, as your body will be alive to also magnify the pain to your mind."


    Kairos grit his teeth so hard that his gums began bleeding. The fact that his future vision was essentially doubling the pain that he felt didn''t help either.


    He backed up to the corner of the house before pointing at the various blurry figures.


    "What will happen if I try to rush or attack them?"


    Azami furrowed her brows, thinking over it seriously.


    "...I highly doubt you will be able to injure them, as they aren''t things that have the ability to be injured. The only thing that making contact with them would do is unnecessarily damage you further."


    Kairos felt like crying at this point.


    "Then... what should I do?"


    Azami closed her eyes, thinking about the situation rather seriously.


    "I would use what powers I have left to try and clear them, but it wouldn''t be enough... While I can disperse them to some extent, there are simply too many. Regardless, you''re going to need to get out of the Abstract."


    Kairos let go of one support and pushed off the other.


    "So you''re saying that I should run out there and try to find my way out?"


    Azami sucked in a cold breath once more as she shook her head quickly.


    "No, no. This may only look like your room, but it''s also the in-built protection mechanism that living people all have. If you exit it, then the mental damage that you take will increase by tenfold at the minimum."


    Kairos looked at Azami with a tint of despair. He opened his mouth but was unable to get the words out. However, Azami heard him anyway.


    She let out a small sigh.


    "...I can feel that your room is slowly being pulled out of the Abstract. However, it really is slow. You won''t be getting out of here any time soon."


    Kairos let out a long breath.


    "So you''re saying... my best chance is to just sit here and endure it."


    Azami waited a few seconds before nodding.


    "From the start, that was the only real option I could think of."


    Kairos slowly closed his eyes, while holding onto the side of his head.


    "...Hah."


    It seemed that Azami wasn''t stalling just for nothing. She was just doing so in order to help Kairos distract himself from the pain, as there really wasn''t any other option. Despite being someone that was fairly confident in his ability to endure pain, this one was different.


    It seemed to bypass his tolerance.


    Despite the fact he was someone that had grown numb to the pain, it was still fresh, as though this was the first time he had felt it in his life, even though he was experiencing that pain constantly.


    Azami had a slightly pitying expression on her face, seemingly understanding what Kairos was going for.


    "...If you are able to stay sane through this, I willmend you."

 Chapter 239 Memories

    Chapter 239 Memories


    Kairos closed his eyes tightly, crouching down in the corner. After all, there wasn''t much else he could do but attempt to endure it. Though it obviously wasn''t going to be very easy. The voices outside weren''t relenting in the slightest.


    "Someone... save me... anybody, please!"


    "S-Stop! No... I don''t want to do this! No! Sally, I''m so sorry!"


    "Why is this happening to me... it hurts... it hurts..."


    Kairos didn''t actually understand why it was hurting, as although the voices themselves were grating on the ears, it wouldn''t have caused such a high degree of pain. While he was suffering rather intensely, the wolf came over with a whimper, gently putting a paw onto his leg in an attempt tofort him.


    And it worked.


    A little bit too well.


    All of the pain had suddenly disappeared. However, all the voices had be far louder. No, that wasn''t urate. Rather, they became clearer. Far too clear.


    Instead of vague figures in the distance, Kairos now saw people. People who were horribly mutted, and some that had directly turned into monsters. Although it was quite horrifying, it also wasn''t anything that Kairos wasn''t used to.


    However, it was more than just that.


    While the pain had lessened to almost nothing, his head became cluttered with countless different voicesing from people dying in various ways. Though that wasn''t what caused him the most concern.


    It was more so the fact that he was able to actually "see" the memories of people as they died various agonizing deaths, or transformed into a monster. Although he was already used to seeing two things at the same time, that was more of the same kind of thing.


    Right now, he was somehow visualizing three different memories at the same time. Although it was an absolute mess in his head, he was still able toprehend them. He was even able to tell that two of the separate memories came from the same person.


    It appeared that it would be inurate to call the figures he saw around here "people". But rather, as Azami said, they would be closer to something like a memory. From the looks of things, that was probably the reason he was able to read the memories of hispanions.


    All in all, Kairos was grateful for the pain disappearing. However, while it stopped hurting, a new sensation assaulted him. He was feeling the emotions that were in those memories.


    And naturally, since they were all quite impressionable memories, the emotions were naturally very strong as well. It came to the point that it confused him on which emotions were actually his.


    His own more or lessckluster emotions were suppressed by those at their dying breaths, or turning points akin to it. Strangely enough, it was starting to get hard to even recognize who he was anymore.


    If he was told that merely seeing memories and feeling others'' emotions was enough to make him question who he was, yet this was the situation he was in now. His own thoughts were not enough to overpower the countless emotions he was feeling.


    As such, while a tiny part of him realized that this situation was potentially far worse than just suffering the pain, that tiny part wasn''t able to grasp control of his body enough to voice out his concerns.


    In fact, it was only getting worse as other vague memories started to fill his mind as well.


    Both the wolf and Azami only thought that somehow everything was fixed. With those thoughts, the wolf made sure it remained close, while Azami didn''t do anything to stop it. Though what Azami found strange was that she could no longer hear any of Kairos'' thoughts.


    She did find it a bit odd, but she thought that it might''ve been the fact he was just feeling relief. However, her ability to read another''s mind was unable to pick up on emotions, or anything that wasn''t at the surface conscious level.


    "So you''re ok now?"


    Naturally, there was no response. Frankly, it wasn''t that he didn''t hear it, but rather he could not parse that it was Azami''s in the discordant collection of voices ringing in his ears. His future vision wasn''t helping either.


    Not to mention, even if he could, there wasn''t much he could do about it.


    After all, he didn''t even realize his thoughts were fading away within the chaotic cacophony. Yet, despite having nearly no thoughts, he ended up standing on his own, as though driven by some sort of mysterious force.


    Azami furrowed her brows, realizing that something was up.


    She looked at the wolf with a serious expression.


    "Hey, you need to let go of him."


    However, the wolf let out a defensive growl. Azami was able to read the wolf''s thoughts, showing that it believed Kairos needed its help once more. She got a mild headache and put a hand on her forehead.


    "Look, somethings wrong, ok little guy? I know you think you''re helping him, but it''s not that simple."


    The wolf was visibly confused. It let out a whimper, before contemting by itself. At the same time, Kairos was walking forward in a daze. Seeing this, the wolf let out a bark before going underneath him and putting Kairos on its back.


    Azami''s eyelid twitched. Naturally, reading the wolf''s thoughts, she knew that it was going to do something stupid.


    "Wait, no don''t-"


    Before she could even finish her sentence, the wolf ran off into the Abstract, as Azami called it.


    "What? No! That''s a terrible idea!"


    However, the wolf paid no heed to Azami, not really understanding her logic. Not that it really had any logic of its own, but it wasn''t intelligent enough to realize acting on it was a bad idea. That and it was also experiencing something quite simr to Kairos.


    Granted, it was born just a few days ago, but going on a whim definitely wasn''t the smartest thing.


    By being in contact with Kairos, the wolf appeared to share its own abilities with him. And while one of them was a good thing that provided resistance to this strange ce, the other power seemed to give the ability to ''see'' other people''s emotions.


    While the wolf wasn''t really affected that badly, mostly because it didn''t really understand anything and ignored it.


    In fact, it grew curious about the various memories and emotions it felt and began walking around the abstract. Though it didn''t take very long for the wolf to enter a simr state, practically going into a daze from sensory overload in a matter of seconds.


    Azami stood at the edge of the room, a headache forming.


    Perhaps if it was her main consciousness or body, then solving the situation would be incredibly easy. She would just clear the memories and bring them back. However, this current iteration of her was only a replication manifested by Tiara.


    While she was fine inside the room, if she left, then Azami knew she would be affected by the decay and might not evenst longer than them.


    In the end, she just yelled at them.


    "Hey! Come back here! You need toe back! I can''t help you over there!"


    Unfortunately, the wolf was unable to do anything other than walk slowly in a daze. Azami cursed under her breath several times, before continuing to scream. Still, it didn''t seem to have much of an effect.


    As for Kairos, he was going through a rather strange experience, to say the least.


    "Why... won''t it end... I don''t want to. I don''t want to..."


    "So this is how I die... If you can somehow hear me, sorry for not waving back at you, little girl."


    "May I ask what you believe the ideal is, Manager?"


    He was surrounded by miserable experiences. All of them yed in his head, not caring to wait their turn. Some of the misery came from visceral painful experiences. Others came from terrors, whether it was from monsters attacking them, or even being the monster themselves.


    And while incredibly few, there were a select few that were ovee with emotions, but could only act apathetically to them.


    Kairos was having difficulty focusing on his own life, instead enraptured by the countless different stories he saw.


    He saw a man curiously peeking out the window as the red sun appeared, only to turn into a monster and kill their entire family. While the man killed his own child and wife, his own internal screams matched the visceral onesing from his victims.


    Mixed in were also memories of how the man''s life had previously gone. He had a serious drinking problem due to his reckless teenage days. While not the best father, but rather abusive, he tried his best to control and after years of rehab, finally got over his problem.


    Unfortunately, it was on the first day, he once again became the monster he desperately wished not to be.


    Kairos nearly believed himself to be that person but was just barely able to hold onto himself to know that wasn''t true.


    Though, whether that wouldst much longer was another question.

 Chapter 240 Sinking

    Chapter 240 Sinking


    The memories Kairos experienced worked in strange ways. Some of them were short, perhaps a few minutes at most. However, some of them were incredibly long,sting days and on rare asions months.


    While Kairos had only been outside of his room for a few minutes, the countless images he had experienced had nearly added up to a lifetime.


    In other words, he had experienced other people''s lives more than his own.


    The whole time Azami was trying to shake the two in reality, however, the few minutes that she had been yelling at them could not match the years that they were experiencing in their minds.


    Despite knowing logically that it wasn''t him, it was hard to keep on that rationale. The only thing that was barely helping him retain his individuality was the fact that the visions did not reproduce physical sensations.


    Though he was also starting to forget that real life even had physical sensations in the first ce.


    ...


    Kairos felt like a great weight was put upon him. It was a slightly familiar feeling, but it felt much worse than usual.


    The feeling of depression.


    He himself had a hard time recognizing it at first, but the somehow normalized feeling of dread weighed down upon him. Despite how bizarre and new experiencing the emotion this way was, it still felt like he had been dealing with it for his entire life.


    Kairos took on the memory of a teenager quite simr to him, sitting in the back of a car. The car itself was empty and in a parking lot. As for why he was just there was unknown, though it didn''t seem to matter all that much.


    The familiar, yet not lethargy assaulted him. It was a strange bnce between making him feel sleepy and not at the same time.


    Somehow, the emotions of just sitting there doing nothing were akin to the ones that were being ripped apart by monsters, or painfully transforming into one themselves. It was terrifying in a sense, but also gave Kairos a strange lukewarm feeling.


    After all, there wasn''t actually anything out there to be terrified of.


    This feeling instinctively made him feel as though he was trapped, causing him to instinctively attempt to reach out and move. However, it was only a memory. In the end, his actual body reached out to nothing, in an attempt to escape something he wasn''t actually trapped in.


    While sinking further into this memory, the only thing was silence for a while.


    It dominated all of the other memories, making it hard for him to even focus on the other people even if they were dying in various painful ways.


    Time slowly passed, while Kairos saw his vision gradually narrow as the eyelids fell. But before that happened, there was a little girl passing by. She had the tip of her thumb in her mouth and curious eyes that were looking everywhere.


    Naturally, her eyes ended upnding on his sorry state.


    To put it simply, while he may have only been sitting there, it was needless to say that he didn''t appear the most friendly. Frankly, it was the kind of look that would cause others to shift their own look away, or perhaps even make them flee.


    However, the little girl didn''t seem to mind. While one thumb was still in her mouth, she innocently waved at him with clear blue eyes.


    Kairos felt the surprised emotions as his head tilted to the side ever so slowly. The urge to smile a wave back rose up in him. However, his body didn''t react.


    The few bubbles at the bottom of the ocean couldn''t rise up no matter how much they wanted to.


    He could feel the rising anxiousness from the fleeting moment. One that wouldst for a second at most. Kairos could feel in the memories that smiling would be unrealistic, to the point that the person in question knew that it would be impossible.


    However, he could feel the desire to wave back to such an innocent soul, in hopes of nothing else not making her feel a bit disappointed when she walked away. Even if this would end up changing her life in no way, and the only thing it would ever be was a passing thought.


    He wanted to at least wave back.


    But his body wasn''t able to move. It simply wasn''t. The sinking feeling dominated everything. Saying that the limbs were tied to chains would be inurate. Unlike that, there was no way to struggle.


    It could only bepared to when a doctor improperly administered anesthesia, making their patient unable to move, but still remain wide awake.


    And that fleeting moment soon came to pass, with the little girl hurrying on with her own life.


    In the end, the regret didn''t really settle in, as the emotions more or less went back to how they were before. However, not too longter, was when everything turned strangely red. For a moment, Kairos felt mild confusion.


    As the sunlight shone through the windows, patches of his skin turned red. A few momentster, someone mmed against the car window. With ackluster expression, he turned to look, only to see the girl again.


    But this time, she had almost entirely turned into a monster. The only real feature left that distinguished her was the clothes and clear blue eyes which were gradually turning yellow.


    As the guy felt that his life was about to end soon, there was only a bitter smile that formed on his face as all of his regrets came back.


    Of which, there was only one.


    "Haha... I''m sorry for not waving back."


    His eyes closed before the rest of his body transformed into a rather hideous monster, destroying the interior of the car just from his expanding body. The vision ended soon after that.


    And with those overwhelming emotions, he himself felt as though he had already died and epted it.


    Without knowing it, his sense of self had been permanently changed, believing this to be one of his memories. Regardless of whether or not he would be able to recover from his current sticky Though in the end, with his struggle to move his limbs, he did end up falling off the wolf,nding on his side.


    situation, that memory would affect him as though it were actually his experience.


    Though in the end, with his struggle to move his limbs, he did end up falling off the wolf,nding on his side.


    But while he was finally freed from the wolf''s unintentional sabotage, it wasn''t necessarily a good thing. After all, while the ability to feel emotions to a parasitic extent was gone, now his protection from the Abstract had suddenly disappeared.


    The sudden pain that assaulted him woke him out of his stupor. He was confused for a moment, but the awfully familiar feeling of pain essentially forced him to remember. While he was still recovering his memories, he heard a hoarse call in the distance.


    "Come back here!"


    Kairos'' eyes widened as he saw a straw to grasp onto. He ran over to her voice, but not without memories filling his mind in the process.


    Since he could tell that his life was clearly at risk, he did everything he could to run towards Azami''s voice. However, the pain was very quickly making him dizzy. It was nothing like how it felt while he was still in his room.


    This time, he was starting to have difficulty knowing if his body was actually moving. In the end, among his visions, he kept his eyes down on his legs, trying his best to focus on his own image, but more so to push out all the other images inside of his head.


    While he was no longer able to feel the direct emotionsing from the memories, and they were not nearly as vivid as before, he was still very much experiencing them.


    In reality, while he wasn''t trying to focus on any of them, it was also nearly impossible to do so with the pain in his head. Which also meant he asionally would even forget that he was running forward anymore.


    He could feel the blood pumping in his head, and the heat that was pulsing out.


    On top of that, his dizziness was starting to kick in. Although he was still doing his best to run toward Azami''s voice, he had forgotten where it came from. In his moment of confusion, another memory like the onest time dominated the rest, ying through and confusing him.


    He suddenly took on a man in a suit.


    It was an incredibly pale person that had a book open and was reading it. Kairos wasn''t able to read the words both because he couldn''t focus enough and didn''t bother trying in the first ce.


    The man appeared to be on a bus, though its aesthetic was rather strange with red velvet seats that showed a sign of luxury, but they were fairly cramped without much space. Several other people were also on the bus, doing their own thing. Other than what appeared to be a child yelling about something they saw outside the window.


    Kairos was doing his best to ignore the vision, as he was currently in a really bad situation.


    Unfortunately, he simply didn''t know where to go. Azami was still screaming at him, but he was suffering great difficulty in figuring out which way he should go. He couldn''t tell where it wasing from.

 Chapter 241 A guide

    Chapter 241 A guide


    In the vision, he saw the man turn to look at the window, seeing his faint reaction. With an incredibly soft and deep voice, he spoke out.


    "Hello there."


    Kairos wasn''t paying attention to the crazy antics of the man, instead doing everything he could to just stand up and listen for Azami''s voice. Though at the same time, the man shut the book before slowly lifting his hand and pointing in a direction.


    "Go that way."


    It was incredibly strange, as though the man was schizophrenic. In fact, another rough looking guy had walked up to him with a baseball bat on his shoulder.


    "Huh? Who the hell are you talking to?"


    The man continued to hold his pointer finger up, muttering out a weak reply.


    "Nobody..."


    With the vision pretty much dominating everything else, Kairos decided to go out on a limb and follow the instruction, even though it should''ve only been a memory. He almost tripped several times, but caught himself beforehand just barely thanks to his future vision.


    He often lost his coordination, forgetting which direction he had been going in. However, the finger remained pointing in the same direction, letting him get back on track. Though while he continued While that was happening, the pointing man let out a soft sigh before closing his eyes.


    on, his vision gradually became blurry, while his legs started to slow down.


    Kairos didn''t even notice that he was faltering.


    While that was happening, the pointing man let out a soft sigh before closing his eyes.


    "While we may regret the things we''ve done and remember them clearly, the true regretes from inaction. When the consequences seep in slowly, and only show their insidious nature when it''s already toote."


    His words made Kairos'' eyes snap open, as he realized what was happening. He grit his teeth, refusing to let pain be the reason why he died. If it was just something like this, then this wouldn''t be the first time he overcame things.


    While his vision was still blurry, he still kept his eyes wide open in an attempt to get what information he could.


    And as his life hung in the bnce, there were other voices from the vision.


    "Hah? You''re still talking to the window? Are you crazy?"


    "That would be unlikely. While his actions may differ from the norm, it is improbable that his mind would manifest in wild or improbable ways."


    "Ah, I know! ''Tis the adventures that he has been nning out! Such a thing would be an action that urs to me all the time!"


    Although the voices weren''t helpful on their own, they were at least something to distract himself from the pain. Only seconds had passed, but to Kairos, it felt like hours.


    And within that painful cycle, the man suddenly shifted the direction they pointed.


    "Turn left."


    Kairos didn''t question it, and decided to do as he said.


    Then, just a few stepster, he found himself in his room once more. The pain of all the visions substantially decreased, while he could now finally make sense of the real world. Though it dide with a strong sense of dizziness Azami was heaving, and spoke in a hoarse crackly voice.


    "For god''s sake... it was so hard to get you back here."


    Kairos took several deep breaths one after another.


    The vision in his mind became considerably less clear, with the man now looking away as the memory faded away entirely. Lingering wonders filled his head from the man that somehow saw and guided him.


    Kairos held onto the side of his head as he began wondering for a while. Azami had her arms crossed with a somewhat displeased frown. She didn''t seem happy, though there were traces of relief on her face.


    "Your wee for calling out... at the expense-"


    She coughed in the middle of her sentence before continuing on.


    "-of my voice."


    Kairos gave a small nod before closing his eyes.


    "Thank you for that. Though I have to say that if it wasn''t for one of the visions guiding me the right way, I would''ve died."


    Azami raised an eyebrow, with clear disbelief.


    "What? These things act more as memories of things, not actual consciousness. Any visions you saw from them would''ve just been events that previously happened that contained strong emotion."


    Kairos furrowed his brows and leaned back against the wall, putting his hand onto his head.


    "But... the guy was talking to me. He even pointed out which direction I needed to go and told me to take a turn left to get here. Not to mention, the guy even encouraged me when I was starting to lose myself. It would be way too much of a coincidence if it really was just a normal memory."


    Azami remained silent for a little while, keeping still as she stared Kairos down.


    "...What did the man look like?"


    He let out a small sigh, taking a second to recollect it all.


    "It was a guy like me, though he looked a bit more... uncaring, I guess. He seemed to be wearing apany outfit by its design, but it was also a jacket for some reason. He was on a bus with some other people, though I wasn''t really paying attention to them."


    Azami looked up to the side for a moment.


    "Strange... that doesn''t sound like any gods that I know of."


    Kairos tried to shake his head, but stopped himself because it hurt.


    "Well, more importantly, where is the dog?"


    Azami let out a small sigh before crossing her legs.


    "The doggy should be fine. While seeing those visions might be overwhelming, it shouldn''t hurt him since he ispatible with them. The only issue would be how long it takes for him to get back to his senses and run back here."


    Kairos let out a long painful sigh through clenched teeth, deciding to just trust her judgment.


    "Alright then... I''ll just try to deal with this."


    Heid down on the bed, with both hands on his head. Although it was still very much painful, it didn''t seem so bad after experiencing what it was like feeling the force at full st.


    While in the silence, he continued to see vague visions. Though he couldn''t really focus on them, instead thinking of the previous ones that he experienced. It was honestly taking him a little while to really recognize that all of them were fake, and that this was his real self.


    It made him feel incredibly detached to himself as a person, which was an awfully strange sensation. He began thinking about them, recollecting what happened in all of them. Though as he did that, Azami''s crackly voice came from his side.


    "Don''t do that."


    Kairos weakly opened one of his eyes to look at Azami.


    "What are you talking about?"


    She sucked in a cold breath before exining.


    "You''re thinking about the other memories you experienced. It''s already bad enough that it happened in the first ce, but if you keep thinking about them, it''ll be hard to retain your sense of self. Instead, you''ll be an amalgamation of personalities that aren''t even yours."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched.


    "What? So then... do I just have to think of something else? I need to at least think of something if I want to deal with this pain."


    Azami looked to the side, staring at the outside for a little while.


    "You could just talk about random things."


    She coughed right after saying that before letting out a yawn. Kairos blinked a few times and pressed against the sides of his head.


    "Then... what''s your favorite food I guess. Or do you even eat food in the first ce?"


    The corner of Azami''s lip twitched. She seemed to be a bit surprised by that question, not because it was ridiculous, but rather what it reminded her of.


    "In my current form as just a projection, there is nothing that I need to eat. Along with that, I don''t really need to eat if I don''t want to in my main body. Though before I became a god I believe that my favorite food was blueberries."


    Kairos couldn''t help but open his eyes slightly and lift his head up a little bit, catching onto a small detail.


    "Wait, before you were a god?"


    Azami shrugged her shoulders and waved dismissively.


    "Eh, it happened a long time ago and is less exciting than you''d think. Besides, I don''t even really remember what happened that urately."


    Kairos tried to sit up, but stopped halfway and went back down.


    "Did you remember how you became a god in the first ce?"


    Azami looked at him nkly, knowing full well why he was asking that. More than curiosity, it was imagining a way to be a god himself. She closed her eyes and tilted back.


    "...It''s a bitplicated. The only real way I know how to exin it is... I was chosen to be one."


    "Chosen? Like The Chosen One in video games?"


    Kairos put his hands down and looked at her. Though Azami simply shook her head.


    "A bit less dramatic than that. As in we were randomly selected and found ourselves as gods."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched. Heid back down and closed his eyes.


    "...I guess it''s not really something you can just give away."

 Chapter 242 I Dont Know

    Chapter 242 I Don''t Know


    For a short moment, Kairos and Azami remained silent in the room for quite a while. Other than the sounds of pained heaving that Kairos was doing. Eventually, he decided to bring up a new topic, in an attempt to distract himself.


    "Say, doesn''t it get boring living forever and all that?"


    Azami raised an eyebrow as she put her hands behind her head.


    "Huh? What do you mean get boring?"


    Kairos paused for a moment, thinking over his response.


    "Well... something like having nothing to do."


    Azami couldn''t help but burst out intoughter, as though he was beingpletely ridiculous.


    "In the first ce, it''s not like you can realistically run out of things to do. Someone who says that is just a dumbass who doesn''t even bother trying anything new. Besides, it''s not like I''ve even lived that long. It''s only been like what... ten thousand years now? At least ten thousand years, I think. I haven''t been keeping track."


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He couldn''t help but feel she was being a bit too happy-go-lucky about the whole situation.


    "Are you sure? Perhaps maybe not in ten thousand years, but surely once it reaches the millions or billions it would probably change."


    Azami waved her hand dismissively.


    "It''s not like gods will get to live forever either. Of course, I''m probably going to outlive you and all the other humans on this. However... it''s just not as simple as that. Why the hell are you ruminating over things like that anyway? It''s not like you''re going to live long enough to realistically say you truly have nothing to do."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders.


    "I don''t know. It was just what came to mind. I mean, it''s normal to feel bored now and then, right?"


    Unlike what he expected, Azami didn''t respond right away. After a few seconds of silence, he slowly opened his eyes and looked over at her, who was staring back rather sternly. He felt a bit freaked out.


    "...What?"


    Azami let out a long sigh while cing a hand on her forehead.


    "I suppose it was inevitable, but you got yourself affected by the visions you saw, didn''t you?"


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched.


    "...Did I? What did you notice?"


    Azami rolled her eyes before leaning back.


    "You got all depressed now. Well, you were a bit like that before, but now it''s much worse."


    Kairos blinked a few times and gave her sentence serious thought. He definitely did experience a lot of those memories, but personally it didn''t feel like he had significantly changed because of them.


    And while he had those thoughts, Azami interjected.


    "You don''t feel that way because you experienced all of those memories as though you were there. I''m not sure of the specific details, but it''s one thing to hear about someone''s sob story and experience it yourself. You''ve changed because of it."


    Kairos furrowed his brows rather intensely. He didn''t think that she was lying, and because of that it made her rather worried. After all, most people probably wouldn''t like it if their own identity and personality was partially overwritten by others. To him, it almost felt like he was being preyed upon by a parasite.


    "...What can I do to stop that?"


    At this point, Azami found herself unable to say much.


    "Er, to be frank I haven''t seen this situation happen all that much, mostly because it''s not supposed to happen. If I''m being honest, you should probably view it to be simr to trauma, or something like that. Deal with it by epting it as a fact that it happened, and move on with your life."


    Kairos couldn''t help but let out some air through his nose while he smiled a bit.


    "You make it sound really easy, but I don''t even know where to start."


    Azami clicked her tongue.


    "Whatever, it''s not like you expected an easy answer in the first ce. Besides, it was the best clear and concise answer you could''ve gotten."


    Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.


    "I suppose so."


    Another short moment passed. Before they were able to break the silence once more, a familiar figure walked back into the room.


    It was the wolf.


    However, unlike its usual rather enthusiastic and bubbly self, it slowly walked in silently. Its eyes didn''t look around nor did it ever open its mouth. Instead, the wolf simplyid down on the ground.


    Azami looked at it with concern.


    "Doggy..."


    Kairos couldn''t even tell that the wolf had even returned in the first ce until she mentioned it. He got up to take a look, and while nothing seemed to be wrong, he also doubted it was that simple if the dog had been experiencing the same thing he was.


    "Is he going to be alright?"


    Azami swallowed, not taking her eyes off the wolf.


    "The effects shouldn''t be as bad as what you experienced... I believe."


    Hearing that, Kairos felt somewhat relieved. After putting those thoughts to rest, he began to try and follow Azami''s advice. epting the visions as what they were and moving on.


    He began recalling what they were.


    While it technically only happened a little while ago, Kairos had difficulty in remembering all of them. Though that kinda made sense considering the amount of information wasn''t exactly something that could be remembered that easily.


    He thought about the things that he did remember, and thought about how that false perception might''ve changed him.


    cement them."


    While he was doing that, Azami interjected.


    "Don''t think about those memories. First try to recall your own and cement them."


    Kairos looked over for a moment before turning back, trying to follow her advice. But not even a few secondster, Azami spoke up once more.


    "No, not like that. You''re glossing over them too much. Instead start from the very beginning and say it all out loud."


    He raised an eyebrow while pressing his hand against his temples.


    "Er... isn''t it basically out loud anyway if it''s in my head."


    Azami shook her head and crossed her arms.


    "It''s not about what I''m able to hear, but the mentality you have when looking through your memories. You''re naturally going to put less emphasis on them if you only think about it. Saying it out loud forces you to form a coherent thought about it."


    In return, Kairos blinked a few times in surprise.


    "You know quite a lot about this."


    She rolled her eyes.


    "I''m a god, remember? Now just do it."


    Kairos gave a curt nod before closing his eyes andying back down on the bed.


    "I guess if we are starting from the very beginning, then it would be when I was born. Though I don''t really remember anything that happened from then. Um... of the memories that I can recall, there was this one time that scissors almost cut into my skull, but seeing a second in the future made me freak out and bring a book up which it cut into instead."


    He let out a long hum.


    "Uh, I guess there was this one time that I remember taking a stick and poking a bee''s nest. Even when I saw the beesing out, I didn''t really notice the threat until they started to sting me."


    Once again he was lost in thought for a while. Though as he opened up his mouth, Azami cut him off.


    "Stop. Before you continue on, think about how you felt at that time. If you really can''t think of anything, then use those random memories to start."


    Kairos really didn''t understand what she was getting at, but decided to listen.


    "Well, I guess poking a bee''s nest made me terrified, that''s for sure. And then the time that I almost got done in by a pair of scissors... it was also a bit scary..."


    He furrowed his brows after trailing off, as though finding a discrepancy. In the middle of that, Azami waved her hand dismissively.


    "Don''t think about it too much, just say it."


    Kairos blinked a few times. Though she said not to think about it too much, he hesitated quite a bit before opening his mouth.


    "Um, for some reason it doesn''t feel as bad as the time I poked the bee''s nest, even though it probably should''ve been far more terrifying."


    He rubbed his forehead with the base of his palm, using far more force than necessary.


    "I... don''t really get it, but I feel like I somehow... miss those times."


    A trace of curiosity showed on Azami''s face, though it onlysted for a moment.


    "Try to think of a reason why. If you really can''te up with one, then just move on."


    Kairos furrowed his brows so hard it would''ve been painful for most people, though he didn''t even seem to notice.


    "I..."


    His breathing became a little unsteady. He couldn''t even remember thest time he truly lost hisposure, yet it happened now.


    "I don''t know..."

 Chapter 243 Simple

    ?


    Kairos swallowed fairly hard. He didn''t really understand why he was suddenly feeling emotional when he normally had a hard time doing so even if he wanted to be.


    A momentter, he shook his head amid the pain and let out an exhausted sigh.


    "Whatever, it must be because I''m just tired of all this apocalypse stuff."


    Though Azami didn''t just let him gloss over it.


    "No. It''s not as simple as that."


    Kairos was genuinely quite surprised, wondering why she even cared about something random like that so much.


    "Huh? How do you know that when I don''t even know?"


    "Well, it''s almost like someone here has thousands of years over you."


    Azami sounded quite confident. In the end, Kairos conceded there, as he worked upon the logical assumption she knew what she was talking about due to her age.


    "If that''s the case, then could you exin it to me?"


    "...I''ll tell youter, but for now, just continue thinking about it. Don''t push it off just because you can''t see it within the first few seconds."


    Kairos opened his eyes slightly and looked at Azami for a little while. His curiosity was in to see, even if she didn''t have mind-reading powers. Still, he didn''t bring up any questions and closed his eyes, and focused on his thoughts.


    He once again thought about the memory, wondering what it could''ve been that triggered an emotional response. Though no matter how many times he logically went over it, he couldn''t see anything.


    It was a time he was afraid, sure, but in the end, he was still alive now, so everything was fine. The more he thought about it, the less emotions he felt behind it. His focus was also broken several times as he was thinking.


    While he no longer saw visions, he could still hear the voices from outside of his room. Coupled with the pain, it made it hard for him to deeply think about anything.


    His brows furrowed as he saw no point in continuing further. Azami let out a sigh, noticing hisck of results from her mind reading.


    "Alright, you can temporarily move on, but just know that we''re going toe back to that."


    Kairos scratched his head, but didn''t retort. He moved on to think about the earliest memories he had after those ones. Though it really was all fuzzy. As it was for most people, only very memorable things stuck out.


    "Uh, there was this one time that Nicole goaded me into climbing a tree. Though ironically enough, when we did get up she would''ve fallen down if I didn''t grab her. I guess she might''ve made me do it for the sake of a spotter, but I doubt that was really her intention."


    "So how did that make you feel?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, wondering if this was what it was like to talk to a therapist.


    "Well... you know, the nostalgic feeling of past memories. That kind of thing."


    "So do you have the same feeling as the previous two memories you described?"


    Azami spoke back almost instantly, surprising him somewhat.


    "Uh... no. But those were more so traumatic memories, so it''s only natural they feel different."


    "But didn''t you have different things to say about the first two?"


    Kairos raised an eyebrow.


    "I... guess. Though I don''t really understand them."


    "It''s fine as long as you acknowledge it."


    He was starting to have suspicions that this may be some weird kind of summoning ritual for her. Though even if that was the case, he doubted that she had harmful intentions. Not that there was too much to base it on, but he felt Azami''s character was fairly trustworthy, even if it was rough around the edges.


    "Um, after that... I guess I remember that I went off with this guy called Edward on a pretty stupid journey. In the process, we were running close to a ledge, with a steep drop. It wasn''t that far, but if we fell, we would''ve gotten injured pretty badly. I almost slipped myself, along with him. Though we didn''t in the end, it was still a bad idea."


    Kairos rubbed his forehead a few times.


    "In terms of how I felt... it was more of just dumb fun more than anything. It didn''t feel bad, though in hindsight I probably wouldn''t have done it because of the risk."


    "Alright... continue on."


    A moment of silence lingered.


    "Er- There was also this time I was ying in a park with Nicole and Edward. I told them about my ability to see the future, but it seemed like they didn''t believe me and instead told me about their made up powers. It was around the time when I found out that my ability wasn''t something that was normal."


    He took a deep breath.


    "A bitter, I found out it would be hard for anybody to believe me and decided to just keep it to myself. I guess that didn''t feel too good. Like, I''m not really a person that actively wants to keep secrets, but I suppose it''s not something I care to spread."


    "So you felt ufortable with keeping secrets from people you didn''t want to?"


    Azami spoke surprisingly calmly, contrary to her normal rough demeanor. Kairos let out a small sigh.


    "Pretty much. Though I got over it fairly easily."


    "Did you?"


    To her question, Kairos was stunned for a moment.


    "Um, that''s what I remember. I mean, it''s not like the world is going to end just because people aren''t going to believe me. Well, it kinda is ending right now, but that''s not the point."


    He expected her to follow up with a statement, but she remained silent. Kairos noticed that she just seemed to be rxing, not even with her eyes open right now. He was a bit off put, but didn''t think too much about it.


    "Um. I guess after that I have a lot of memories about ying around with Nicole and Edward. Doing things that felt fun at the time, even if there wasn''t really much meaning behind it. You know, the kinds of things that are fun when you''re a kid but kinda lose their touch once you''re an adult."


    "Why do they lose their touch?"


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched. He felt like that was an obvious thing to both of them, but gave an answer anyway.


    "Because as you grow older, things aren''t really the same simple things anymore. With howplicated things be and the more sophisticated the mind is, the harder it is to find enjoyment in those simple things."


    "You should be more specific. Why does the mind being more sophisticated make it harder to enjoy simple things?"


    Kairos didn''t voice hisints, not that it would change whether or not she would know about them, with the mind reading and all.


    "Er, I guess... it''s because things that are simple are intrinsically shallow. So when you understand that, it bes hard to enjoy such a thing anymore. Especially when there are other moreplicated things, even if their core is still something simple."


    "But do you really believe that?"


    Kairos went silent for a little while. He let out a small sigh.


    "Look, can you just tell me what you''re getting at? If we go at this rate, then we''re just going to be here forever."


    The corner of Azami''s lip turned up.


    "Oh, really? But what if I were to tell you that I''m not getting to anything."


    "...What?"


    Azami let out an uncharacteristic chuckle.


    "You may not believe me, but I have no idea where this is going. I''m simply trying to lead you to find out for yourself."


    Kairos rubbed his temples as he repeated her words in his head. After a long moment of thought, he sighed.


    "Ok, fine. I''ll do my best."


    He took a deep breath.


    "For starters, I''m pretty sure that I believe my previous statement since it''s just logical. To put it simply, an example of something simple could be a game of checkers. Granted, it does have its nuances, but when youpare it to something like chess, the difference is clear. While at their core, they both contain moving pieces around and taking the other person''s, how they are moved arepletely different, lending chess to be a much moreplex game. While something like checkers may be enjoyable at first, they quickly lose their favor, since there are only so many different ways you can actually y the game. On the other hand, with howplex chess is, there are countless different ways to y,ing to the point that almost every single person will never see every singlebination."


    Kairos began panting at the end of that, recovering his breath. A neutral frown formed on his face as he finished.


    "...But."


    He bit the bottom of his lip.


    "It''s so much easier to find enjoyment out of simple things. But after you grow up... well, things beplex."

 Chapter 244 Empathy

    ?


    Kairos slowly opened his eyes, andid his hands down at his sides. He opened his mouth slightly, almost like he was about to say something, but didn''t in the end. Azami let out a small sigh.


    "Hey,e on. Say it out loud, or it bes unclear alright?"


    He blinked a few times before taking a deep breath.


    "I suppose the best way to put it is that I miss the simple times. I''m just really tired of always being required to overthink needlessly. It always feels like... nothing really needs to be soplicated. There are things you can''t say, there are things you can''t do. Ways you need to act, expectations of word choice."


    His eyes narrowed slightly.


    "Even though just being honest with each other would be better for everybody."


    Kairos fell silent for a little while before shing a bitter smile.


    "I suppose... now that I think about it, you were right about what you said earlier. That the thoughts of animals are preferred. They don''t oveplicate things."


    Azami rolled her eyes with a smug smile.


    "Of course. I mean, I''m just right most of the time."


    Kairos couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Yeah, maybe."


    Azami cleared her throat, taking on a serious look.


    "But before we go too far, we need to backtrack before the memory bes blurry once more. Surely you remembered some things aftering to that realization. Speak of as many of them as you can before you forget about them."


    Kairos felt his mouth drying up. He didn''t really want to talk anymore, but Azami''s tone sounded rather insistent. While it was a pain, since he was already thismitted, he decided to just listen to her.


    "Alright, alright. Fine. Just give me a few seconds to collect my thoughts."


    He took in a deep breath, though soon after his eyebrow began twitching.


    "I guess the first time that I realized this kind of thing was when... my parents first went on vacation. They always did have a pretty good rtionship. Though when they proposed that fact to me, they kept saying things like, ''you''re fine with that, right?'' or ''there''s no problem, is there?''. And despite the fact I was actually against it, I simply feltpelled to agree."


    Kairos pursed his lips.


    "Being polite is a weapon people use to get what they want with little to no resistance."


    Azami raised an eyebrow before letting out a chuckle.


    "At least you got to go on a vacation. Though I guess it must''ve not been the best one."


    Hearing that, Kairos looked at her rather strangely.


    "What are you talking about? I said my parents, not me."


    A moment of silence lingered between the two of them. The corner of Azami''s lip twitched. The smug smile on her face disappeared into a momentarily confused one. After shifting her sitting position to be more formal andfortable, she voiced out her question.


    "Wait, you mean that your parents went out for a vacation and you didn''t get to go with them?"


    Kairos scratched the side of his head awkwardly like it was his fault that happened.


    "I mean, we weren''t the richest family, and they didn''t really have enough to go to the ces they wanted if they took me as well. So I guess it''s only natural I was left out."


    Azami stared at Kairos strangely, while he only looked back nkly.


    "Maybe it''s a bit irregrpared to how other people do it, but I don''t think it''s particrly strange, right? I mean some circumstances just can''t be helped, and that''s that. There are countless people with worse situations."


    At this point, even the originally unmoving wolf had perked up to curiously look between the two of them. Azami opened and closed her mouth, seemingly having a lot to say. However, she first took a calm and collected breath before facing him naturally.


    "Look, it''s not hard to say that there are worse situations, since there practically always is one so long as you are willing to go to the extreme. And sure, your situation at the time is not the worst, especially considering the apocalypse you suddenly found yourself in. But whether or not something is the worst, doesn''t change that it can be rtively bad. That is something we can agree on, right?"


    Kairos blinked a few times before nodding.


    "I guess, but it''s not something my parents or I can control. Our ie was simply not enough and that''s how it is. That''s the kind of thing you just have to move on from. Though more importantly, since you''re a god, do you have any insight on why this whole apocalypse is happening?"


    Azami lost her originally haughty look, instead staring at him as though he were a son. Though he didn''t recognize that.


    "I''ll tell you about all thatter, alright? Let''s stay on topic here, because it seems like you''re not getting my point. Even if your parents may not have enough money, they could''ve instead gone to a cheaper ce and took you along as well."


    Kairos fell silent for a moment before rebutting her.


    "Well, I can see why you think that, but it was a ce that they really wanted to go to, so naturally anywhere cheaper wouldn''t be the same thing. Besides, it wasn''t like they didn''t give me anything. They first taught me how to deal with the household chores, how to cook, and even sent money every month while they were away."


    Azami didn''t look like she believed it, but didn''t articte that fact.


    "I suppose that could be a possibility. So I assume you only had one parent that could get a job? What was it?"


    Kairos thought for a while before shaking his head.


    "Er- no. They were both software developers at the samepany."


    Azami gave him a strange look, as though it should''ve been something obvious.


    "Even if they were both at the entry-level, which is unlikely for their age, that would still be more than enough to cover daily expenses. Unless they are going to some ce that only royalty can afford, it shouldn''t really be a problem. And even then, if they could afford a trip for two, it shouldn''t even be that big of a burden to bring along another person."


    Kairos rolled away onto his side.


    "So what? You''re trying to tell me that my parents aren''t great? That they are liars and just wanted to go on a vacation without me?"


    Azami let out a pitiful sigh.


    "I''m telling you to see things for what they are instead of trying to make excuses or pretend that they aren''t that. I get that it''s something thates naturally, but it''s really not healthy for you. It may not seem like much, but if you can''t ept it, then it would really harm your sense of self."


    Kairos let out a weakugh.


    "Ok... I guess. My parents weren''t really the best of people. They left me on my own most of the time, leaving me feeling quite lonely. Even when I tried to reach out to them, I was always shut down, even if a somewhat reasonable excuse was given. But even if there was some other inexcusable reason, the main one was always that they would rather spend time with each other rather than me."


    He put his hands on his face.


    "I hate the fact that they can just wear fake smiles and speak politely to absolve themselves of all guilt when what they mean are essentially just fuck off. Even if I did kill a wolf in a bit of a dramatic way, I don''t get why I''m expected to act differently because of it. Am I really the weird one for acting as I normally did? It''s almost like I wasn''t the one that saved his life."


    His frown began to deepen.


    "...Is it so strange that I''d prefer not to live in a world of lies? Where not only are people supposed to lie to me, but I''m expected to do so as well?... Even with the people that are supposed to be close to me?"


    Kairos swallowed hard.


    "Am I not allowed to be myself in front of anyone?"


    He fell silent, realizing that he got a bit angry, despite normally keeping his cool most of the time. He reigned them back soon enough, before keeping a straight face once more. Something he got used to when he realized he wasn''t allowed to express his actual emotions.


    Eventually, he realized that the silence was a bit strange. He opened his eyes and rolled over onto the other side just to see both the wolf and Azami looking at him with light pity. His eyelid twitched, feeling a bit humiliated at the sight.


    Heid a hand down sprawled out before opening his mouth, intending on giving them a piece of his mind. Yet before he could even think of the words, the wolf put his paw on his hand.


    He suddenly had visions of the memories from the people outside. But more than that, he was able to feel the pure raw emotions that both the Azami and the wolf felt. It was genuine pain out of empathy for his feelings.


    Once more, he didn''t know what to say.

 Chapter 245 Brief Respite

    ?


    "I... what the hell are you two getting sad over?"


    Kairos tilted his head down before pinching the bridge of his nose. Despite his words, the emotions of both the wolf and Azami didn''t change. Eventually, he let out a long breath.


    "It''s not like your problem or anything."


    They didn''t respond. In reality, Kairos was mostly talking just to stave off an overwhelming feeling that came over him. But theck of response made it too hard for him to continue on.


    He began silently crying. Something he couldn''t even remember thest time he did.


    At some point in time, Azami had gone over to him and gave a small hug. At least for a short moment, nobody was able to hold any secrets from each other. And in that same vein, nobody could use others of lying.


    After all, they all had the proof they needed, whether it was knowing their genuine thoughts or their genuine emotions.


    Kairos felt many things and had many thoughts. Though they quickly melted away, instead focusing on this moment, embracing it for the time that itsted. It was something that he instinctively knew was fleeting, though not for sure why.


    Eventually, Azami did pull away along with the wolf. He could no longer sense their feelings, but it wasn''t like he suddenly forgot what they were. There was a somewhat sad smile on his face as he came to a realization.


    "Ha... I''m part of the problem I hate, aren''t I?"


    Azami didn''t say anything. Not that she wasn''t curious, but already knew what he was thinking. Kairos took a deep breath.


    "Just before this I thought the two of you were humiliating me by showingpassion. Regardless of the fact it was obviously not a good thing to do... but it shows that I can''t even hold up to my own standards. I''m more or less a hypocrite."


    Hearing that, Azami simply smiled.


    "It''s just a part of being imperfect. You shouldn''t expect so much of yourself when you still know so little. Not even I expect all that much from myself."


    Kairos gave a few short nods. For whatever reason, the pain that he had been feeling had disappeared, though he hadn''t realized just yet.


    "I suppose it is unrealistic to set the expectations to not only say the truth, but believe that others are saying the truth as well. Whether it is for myself or other people. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong. But..."


    He trailed off and couldn''t find the words to finish his sentence. This sudden understanding didn''t exactly resolve his worries, but it put a type of conclusion on some of his troubled thoughts.


    Kairos opened his mouth wanting to say some things, but saw in his future vision that his vision began to fade. He intuitively knew that he was leaving this mental space, and that this may very well be thest time they personally talked.


    In that one second, he thought of countless words that he wanted to say. Azami seemed to realize the same thing by reading his thoughts, and simply waved with a small smile. In the end, Kairos did the same.


    "Bye..."


    His vision rapidly turned white, and his mind felt like it was floating. A few momentster, he gasped for air and tried to stand up, though felt quite disoriented while doing so.


    "Ah, you finally woke up."


    As Kairos gradually calmed down, he realized that he was being carried by Nyoka. The man promptly set him down after noticing that he was awake. Although he stumbled a little bit beforeing to a stop, Kairos was able to regain his footing quickly enough.


    When he came to, he realized that he was... just back in the ck world, instead of in the dungeon. It seemed that while he was in that strange mental ce, his physical body was still out there.


    Jeff nodded a few times with an approving look.


    "You''re alive!"


    Kairos scratched the back of his head.


    "I guess so."


    He looked around and saw Sara, who was meekly looking down at the floor. There almost appeared to be bags around her eyes, though Kairos thought it was more likely that they were actually puffy from crying.


    "Did we... go through the same punishment?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "The nature of the punishment should be simr, but what it actually is kinda differs. All of the punishments regardless of floor, try to prey on your insecurities in some fashion. Since it''s not a physical one, it''s not lethal or costly to do so. Though... there may be some long-term effects. However, that''s a luxurious concern when you don''t know if you''re even going to survive tomorrow."


    Sara put a hand on her forehead and sucked in a cold breath.


    "I thought I had gotten used to them... but thatst one was more than what I was expecting. You probably already know by now, but you have to resolve your grievances somewhat. Depending on the level that you fail, the worse that those grievancese to haunt you."


    Kairos furrowed his brows. While the punishment that he received was by no means easy, it didn''t sound like what they were saying. Instead of using his own insecurities, it was more like using countless other people''s insecurities against him instead.


    He decided to just remain silent about it. After all, he was fairly certain his situation was somehow caused by his inborn ability that also let him see in the future.


    Sara took his silence as acknowledging her words.


    "Given that you never experienced the lighter punishments, it''s actually quite impressive that you were able to break out of it so quickly. The time that you took wasn''t too different from our first times."


    Kairos took a deep breath, calming down the nerves that had unconsciously built up.


    "I see. What are the punishments for other dungeons then?"


    Nyoka tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.


    "Well, it''s not so much that there is a punishment, but rather there''s a considerable risk of dying. While this dungeon isn''t popr due to its teamwork requirement, it''s not nearly as dangerous as the other ones. That''s why we took you here in the first ce."


    Kairos thought about the additional reward he got and nodded in acknowledgment.


    "That makes sense. Thanks for that."


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "And in that same vein I can thank you for helping Sara get through the floor we hadn''t been able to cross for a long time. It is quite the useful reward."


    Kairos gave a small nod.


    "It was just reciprocating her favor first. I guess in the end you could just say that it was mutually beneficial."


    Jeff muttered to himself while looking off into the distance.


    "It makes you wonder why nobody else seems to understand that kind of benefit..."


    They were essentially in the middle of nowhere, though Nyoka kept confidently walking forward in this ce, as though he knew exactly where he was going. Kairos kept up while still trying to recover himself, deciding to just follow along.


    Eventually, Nyoka turned to look at him.


    "Well, is there anywhere in particr that you wish to go?"


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders with a straight look.


    "It doesn''t matter too much to me. I''d just like to follow along, if you all wouldn''t mind. Though I guess I''m a bit hungry and would like to kill something to eat some time soon."


    Nyoka couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow and give him a long look.


    "Just to let you know, our normal routine won''t help you much, alright? It''s best that you make any requests that you care about, because we can''t just build an entire schedule around you."


    Kairos blinked a few times, feeling that his point hadn''t reallye across the right way. He wasn''t trying to get them to guide him any further. At this point, he really just didn''t care all that much anymore.


    "I don''t really care. I guess I ask that at some point I can eat one of the corpses. As for the rest, you can just do as you wish."


    Jeff raised an eyebrow while the corner of his lip turned up slightly.


    "Hey, you sound a lot like me!"


    Sara let out a chuckle with one hand on the back of her head.


    "You really do."


    On the other hand, Nyoka gave him a long and doubtful look. From his perspective, it was impossible for someone to gain a substantial amount of power and not want to ride the high at least temporarily.


    While he did not know what Kairos had acquired and didn''t ask, he knew it must''ve been substantial as he knew what the ck mirror meant to Sara. For a normal person, it might''ve been something nice to have, but not crazily important, but the way that it specifically synergized with her ability left her unintentionally boasting about it for a while despite her weary state.


    "...Then we''ll go to another dungeon. I heard from Sara you were able to upgrade your avatar, so you shouldn''t have much of a problem."

 Chapter 246 Acceptance

    <h4>Chapter 246 eptance</h4>


    Hearing Nyoka''s suggestion to go to another dungeon, Kairos nodded.


    "There will be monsters there, right?"


    In response, Nyoka raised an eyebrow.


    "Of course there will be. It is a more standard dungeon, so that will be our main concern for the most part."


    Kairos spoke rather softly.


    "Alright then. Hopefully, the flesh of them doesn''t taste too bad."


    He truly didn''t care all that much. The creeping need to grow powerful within him had subsided to a certain degree. Which was admittedly strange in general, and especially so for that situation. Nyoka was speechless for a few moments, still quite skeptical about his motives. Though he faced forward once more after letting out a small sigh.


    "Then let''s continue on."


    Following that, they walked for quite a while. It was quite uneventful considering how they encountered monsters or people on their path before.


    Eventually, in the silence, Kairos raised a question.


    "Say, how do you make your way around here when there''s hardly anything to see?"


    Sara let out a small hum and put a finger on her chin.


    "Oh, you can''t sense the ck Star?"


    Jeff scratched the side of his head.


    "You can''t do that? But everyone can do that."


    Kairos blinked a few times, as he got more questions rather than answers. Nyoka seemed to notice this and reluctantly rified.


    "We are able to sense a far-off star, which we use to base our directions off of. It''s basically just a Northern Star. You keep track of how far you''ve gone and use the ck Star to keep track of your direction, like cardinal directions."


    Kairos slowly nodded before leaving it at that.


    "Ah, that''s cool."


    He didn''t have this sense, but didn''t mind much. Normally he would''ve asked if there was some sort of method or way for him to do the same thing. However, he felt it was too much of a bother to even put in the effort to say those words.


    And with that, they continued on silently. Not so much in animosity, for the most part, but simply because there was no need to talk about anything.


    After a few hours, they gradually began approaching a rather massive building, on a slightly smaller sizepared to the first one, butrge nheless. It towered into the sky, with several needle-like towers reaching upwards that Kairos couldn''t see the top of.


    On top of that, there was a needlesslyrge staircase that went up to the actual entrance, which seemed to serve the purpose of spectacle rather than practicality. Upon seeing this Kairos took a deep breath.


    "So, what should we do for the first level?"


    Jeff shrugged his shoulders.


    "We just kill and take what we can find. There''s not much more to it than that."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, recalling howplicated the rules of the prior dungeon were. He felt like it couldn''t be that simple. Though as he thought about bringing that up, Sara had spoken up.


    "This isn''t like the one we just went through at all. Instead, it simply has monsters wandering around inside among different traps. The actual dungeon itself doesn''t separate people into their own tests, but rather just exists. Which means we might have to fight others if we happen to encounter them."


    Kairos thought about it for a second before nodding passively.


    "Alright."


    He felt that it was better if it was more simple, even if it wasn''t necessarily easier. As of now at least, Kairos wasn''t in the mood to think of anythingplicated.


    They began leisurely walking up the steps, which became part of the difficulty of the dungeon, just getting there in the first ce. The doors were soon in sight, towering andrge enough to fit people even in the humongous monstrous forms, all resembling different animals somewhat. There were fairly chaotic soundsing from above, and once they did reach the entrance, three monsterized people burst out from the entrance, just barely fitting as they squeezed past one another, desperate to get out.


    Once they made eye contact, the people in the form of their avatars called out in hate.


    "There are campers waiting out the entrance!"


    "Fuck, you gotta be kidding me."


    "Don''tin, just kill them!"


    Although they had Kairos blinked a few times, before speaking up.


    "We just came here."


    Though all he got in response was a bestial roar from one of them as they ran over, ignoring the damage it did to hiscerations that began bleeding once more.


    Nyoka couldn''t help but scoff and shoot Kairos a smirk as his pupils became vertical.


    "It''s not like they''re going to believe that."


    Sara mumbled under her breath while her skin rippled slightly.


    "Besides, it would be a waste to give up on an opportunity right in front of us."


    Jeff didn''t say anything but rather readied an attack stance as his skin began to harden.


    They were all taking on the forms of their avatars.


    Kairos realized that there was not much point in trying to use words to convince them of other things. He began his transformation as well.


    As he had been, Nyoka transformed into a massive snake with multiple heads. The moment he did, one of the beasts let out a cry of despair.


    "Medusa! Of all people to fight..."


    It appeared that Nyoka had a bit of a reputation. Among the people down here.


    "It doesn''t matter! I bet he''s a weakling anyway if he simply camps the dungeon entrance!"


    Right after one of the beast-like people said that the main head of Nyoka shot forth, snatching one of them into his jaws and shooting up into the sky.


    Feathers burst out from Sara''s skin before her arms morphed into wings. She rapidly took on the form of an eagle and took to the air, pping once with her wings and stirring up a strong gust of wind.


    She didn''t attack immediately, instead circling around to wait for an opportunity.


    As for Jeff... he turned into what appeared to be a set of rocks. It was akin to a rock golem, made out of separate rocks that were somehow connected with one another. One of them that looked somewhat like a werewolf rushed towards him, lowering his head and pulling back an arm.


    With a m, the werewolf bashed into Jeff with his shoulder, yet as though hitting a wall, he recoiled off. And while he stumbled, a massive stone arm mmed into him, flinging him back.


    Jeff, in his golem form, took a few extra steps forward, as though he could hardly control the force he had put in.


    And for Kairos, he called upon the wolf within his mind, who readily agreed. Sparks of lightning gathered around him as his form contorted, bones creaking as they changed and needed to support his rapidly growing body.


    His teeth grew notably, and he suddenly began able to sense the feelings each person here felt.


    Nyoka and the others were all fairly calm, but also cautious. He seemed to feel a tinge of opportunistic delight, that they were able to take advantage of people in such a vulnerable position.


    On the other hand, the three others all felt varying degrees of despair. They had be incredibly desperate. Though at the same time, they appeared to feel a certain degree of loss. While it was a bitplicated, Kairos somehow could sense that they were on a high just a moment ago.


    One where they had betrayed people, presumably so that they could have the spoils to themselves.


    For a moment, Kairos had felt bad for them, but they were still bad people. He wasn''t particrly angry or disappointed by this revtion. It was a fact he simply came to ept, like how the sky was blue, or that the sun was bright.


    With that in mind, he instinctively conjured lightning from his mouth towards the beast looking at him, that was like a fox, but with gray fur.


    In response, the fox grew its ws and lunged towards him. Kairos raised up his left paw, which was an extended w as well, covered in pulsating stone. It was also with the left hand that he had put on the gauntlet.


    It had grown to match his current size.


    Kairos was able to block the first attack with ease, though the other came quickly from the other side. Using his other paw, he blocked it at the cost of the ws ripping into his arm and causing ck blood to spurt out.


    He could clearly feel the desperation behind the strikes from the emotions he saw, though he remained steadfast, to the point it was stone cold.


    Before the fox could attack anymore, Kairos spewed several violent currents of lightning from his jaws. The fox was far too close to dodge, and was hit directly, pushing it back. It spasmed wildly, crumpling to the floor the moment it was hit.


    Coupled with its already heavy injuries, it was not faring well.


    Despite this, the werewolf let out a confident cry.


    "It''s all or nothing! Use your swan songs!"

 Chapter 247 No Other Choice

    ?


    Kairos did recall what Nyoka had said about swan songs, but still didn''t really understand what exactly it meant. Still, he could get an idea from the collective emotions alone. Nyoka and the others were originally just cautious, but it red up into tension. On the other hand, the other three were initially feeling desperation.


    Yet, it disappeared rather quickly. They had given up, but perhaps not in the traditional sense.


    Their bodies contorted rather violently, while thecerations covering their body suddenly burst, bleeding as though they were fresh wounds. Both their size and strength increased several times over. Their skin shifted colors in certain ces, with what looked like rips forming on their skin that had a dull gray look rather than ck.


    Their actual size hadn''t grown significantly, but their proportions had changed drastically, bing more of a horror show than something monstrous. It came to the point it was difficult to recognize what they originally were. Nyoka, who was in the air with one of them between his jaws, mmed down into the ground with a crash, spreading cracks.


    Yet, the actual freak show itself appeared unharmed at first.


    The monster struggled fervently within Nyoka''s maw. He wasn''t having too much trouble keeping him there, but in the end released the thing and backed off. Two very deep fang wounds were clear in its body, where the monster lost its blood incredibly quickly.


    Still, that didn''t seem to discourage it. In fact, it didn''t seem to notice the grievous wound at all. Instead, it curled up into a ball beforeunching itself towards Nyoka. Along the way, spikes longer than its original body sprouted out, with the majority being ck, and some of them being gray.


    Nyoka quickly slithered out of the way, though the ball of spikes began rolling towards, the spikes retracting as they got closer to the ground and reappearing the other end afterwards.


    The ball was noticeably faster than Nyoka, but he in his snake form was far more agile, able to turn corners fast enough to avoid him. While that was happening, the werewolf that Jeff was fighting lifted up his head and let out a howl.


    Four extra gray arms, all of different sizes, suddenly burst out from his body, though they appeared to hold less flexibility, slowly and rigidly curling back into fists. On the other hand, Jeff simply remained on the spot, lowering himself slightly to get into a better stance. He didn''t seem to have the intention to chase or run away.


    If the werewolf wanted to, it could''ve just run away without much trouble. However, in its rageful state, it didn''t recognize there was any other option other than rushing in. With a roar, it rushed back over. While its original arms hung by its sides, the other gray ones were primed and ready.


    Jeff pulled back an arm, readying a counterattack. However, it was quite slow. In the end, the werewolf had made it to him before he could finish it. Upon reaching him, the werewolf mmed his fists one after another into Jeff with a clear concrete bang, though Jeff himself didn''t actually move back.


    Likest time, after being hit, Jeff''s own attack came barreling towards the werewolf.


    A deep thud resounded among sounds of bones cracking.


    The werewolf''s ribcage got pushed in. However, this time it stood its ground. While it was pushed back slightly, it was an incredible difference from being flung back like a football. The werewolf continued to throw punches, each arm doing so at varying speeds.


    And while there was no visible damage, each impact caused booms to echo one after another. They were definitely not light, that was for sure. Even water drops could eventually break a rock with enough time.


    As for the one facing Kairos, other than bing a monstrosity, its ws had grown noticeably, though on top of that, a thickyer of dense ck energy had grown on top, artificially extending their length even further.


    With a swipe, that ck energy shot towards him. He brought up his w to block, and used his harden skill, turning the skin at his front rock-solid. Streaks of ck lines shed by him, and a clear ng resounded. He looked fine at first, but  a momentter, cracks formed across his skin. Then, thin lines of blood burst out.


    Kairos had seen iting, but couldn''t help but feel surprised by this sudden burst of power. While he didn''t think that his use of the harden skill was perfect, he was also confident enough for it tost at least a few strikes before breaking.


    Even if a perfect clone of himself attacked him, that would hold true.


    Yet, it was broken in just one move.


    In a situation where your defenses were not enough, generally you would have to resort to dodging or parrying them away. However, Kairos didn''t see any world where he would be able to do such a thing. In the case of dodging, while the ck energy from the ws only came briefly after the fox''s swing, it was simply too quick, and he was toorge. As for parrying, he had already tried doing that. Unfortunately, he was only able to mitigate a small part of it.


    In the end, Kairos only saw one option he was left with. Match the fox''s offensive with his own, betting on the fact that after all the blows, that he would be thest one standing.


    Kairos began charging up a darkness spell,mitting a third of his mana to the spell, so that it would be powerful, but also not take too long to charge up. The foxes second sh came seconds after the first.


    The wolf''s consciousness that merged with him wanted to run the fox down, and Kairos obliged to that. The two of them ran forward. Kairos swung hard with his reinforced w, breaking apart some of the ck energy, though most of it continued on and further broke apart his hardened skin and dug deep into his flesh.


    As the fox went for the third strike, Kairos had gotten next to it, directly shing his reinforced w with theirs. The ck energy violently bubbled right next to Kairos, but he just barely held it off by pushing back on their interlocked ws.


    Though unlike Kairos, the fox could use both of her ws at full power, and did just that. Kairos brought his other w up to block as well. He held it back, but the ck energy immediately began digging into his flesh, splitting it apart.


    In just a second, it had ripped through half his paw, and was only going faster. While that was happening, Kairos remained as calm as possible and faced the fox, before opening his maw.


    With a sh, his spear shot out,nding squarely on the fox''s face. It pierced partway through, jutting out where the nose bridge appeared to be, or at least where it should''ve been in the disproportionate mess it was now.


    The hit itself was definitely a solid one, however the fox itself appeared unfazed, continuing to rip apart Kairos, filled with indignance and rage. He wanted to disengage from the scenario, but didn''t see an easy way of doing so without severe injuries.


    His darkness spell was only about halfplete at this time, and he doubted releasing it right now would actually warrant much when they were so unfazed by everything else. While he was considering using the red prisms, Sara, in her giant eagle form, swooped down.


    She captured the spear between her beak before using it as a handle to bring the fox up into the air. In just a few seconds, she was already soaring high in the air. The fox struggled, attacking Sara, covering her body withcerations with its ws.


    Despite the grievous wounds, Sara held on strong and continued on into her air.


    The fox seemed to have a semnce of rationality, targeting the wings and injuring them severely. However, they were sturdier than what they looked, still able to continue flying despite that.


    Eventually, when it got too dangerous, Sara directly let go, letting the fox fall down.


    At the same time, the rolling spike seemed to give up on chasing Nyoka after a while, instead turning towards Kairos. Seeing this, several different snake heads split out from Nyoka''s body, before shooting out like arrows.


    The snakes threaded in between the spikes of the monster, wrapping themselves around them before biting down into its body. In response, the monster continued rolling, attempting to crush the snakes under their weight.


    However, when the snakes did go under, they simply appeared on the other side unharmed. Without much care, they continued to shift the various ces that they were biting, opening up more wounds and hastening the bloodloss.


    Though as dire as its situation appeared, it simply continued rolling on relentlessly, targeting Kairos who was already fairly injured.

 Chapter 248 Personality

    <h4>Chapter 248 Personality</h4>


    Kairos hadn''t fully charged up the darkness spell as he would''ve liked as he had only used a quarter of his mana, but he didn''t really have much of a choice anymore when he saw the spiky ball monster rushing towards him.


    After opening his mouth, he released a ball of dark mist, with a wide jagged smile on top of it. A line of long tendrils trailed behind it, making it look somewhat like a squid. Although it didn''t travel particrly fast, the monster had no intention of shifting its direction, instead opting to plow right through it.


    And it did just that, mming right through.


    However, the spell still retained itself, wrapping the many tendrils it had around the spikes and constricting them, preventing the monster from moving as it liked. In the end, it just remained there, shaking in its struggle but unable to do anything more. The small snakes that Nyoka had continued biting into its skin, making even more wounds that continued to bleed.


    The amount of blood that it had already lost appeared to be more than its entire volume, and yet the monster continued to struggle, clearly showing signs of life.


    Still, it was at least temporarily locked in ce.


    A few momentster, the fox mmed into the ground with a bang. However, just a second afternding, it sprung up to its feet. It nced at the eagle, Sara, before turning to Kairos, recognizing the target that it could realistically reach.


    Without wasting time, the fox rushed over to Kairos, prompting him to narrow his eyes slightly. He could sense desperation, not out of the will to survive, but just to take down at least one person with them.


    Unfortunately, he had just used the darkness spell he had been saving for the fox and was once again put in a perilous position. Kairos held up his w in front of him once more, bracing himself for the first hit.


    After getting in range, the fox once again swiped. Kairos swung his w, deflecting some of the energy but his body was toorge and he once again suffered damage. What remained from his harden skill did little to stop the wounds from digging deep inside. He began bleeding fairly seriously.


    There was a searing pain. It didn''t trulye from the wound itself, but rather the feeling of losing ck blood.


    After this, Kairos fully intended on rushing the fox down, but suddenly stopped himself. A momentter, Nyoka mmed into the fox, crushing it with its jaws before continuing on like a derailed train.


    As he continued on, he smashed the fox against the ground continuously and shook it back and forth, disorienting it.


    The fox struggled intensely, shing whatever it could, but was unable to properly judge where to attack, thus doing it randomly. That left Nyoka with only minor wounds in the process.


    Kairos was free once more and looked around. Jeff was still squaring off with the werewolf that was beating him down. Though it took Jeff a long time to move, this didn''t appear to be an issue as the werewolf was intent on remaining in ce, fighting until one of them fell.


    Jeff didn''t go for a normal swing like usual. Instead, he reached out with both arms before bringing them back to the werewolf as though wanting to pull it into a deep hug. And he did just that.


    With dull clunky thuds, Jeff crushed the werewolf against himself.


    The already fractured rib cage cracked once more, losing more of its integrity.


    A few of the werewolf''s arms were bent at awkward and painful angles, while the others were just pressed up against Jeff, unable to move. The werewolf struggled, but was more or less incapacitated, able to move even less than the bound spiky monster.


    Jeff continued to slowly crush him, though all things considered the werewolf was incredibly resilient, still very much alive, and very willing tomunicate that fact through wheezy growls.


    They were put into a strange stalemate, to say the least.


    With Jeff and Nyoka dealing with the other threats, Kairos naturally turned his attention toward the spiky monster that was beginning to break out of the restraints. He found it quite ridiculous that the thing was still alive in the first ce, and from reading its emotions, Kairos could tell that it was still raring to go in this fight.


    He opened his mouth and began charging the lightning. Surprisingly, the attack didn''t appear to require any resource like mana, though it seemed to be a byproduct of his ck blood usage by taking on the form of his avatar. Simply being in the form gave him the charge over time.


    The wolf in his head helped out with the casting process, gathering the residual energy into one powerful attack.


    As for the spiky monster, it seemed to realize that imminent threat, and began struggling even more intensely, pulling against the tendrils restraining it. However, it wasn''t able to do much, especially because the snakes stopped biting and assisted in the restriction, matching the movements of the tentacles.


    Soon enough, the darkness spell wore off, no longer holding the monster back. However, the snakes still held strong, even as their bodies were being torn apart.


    And with that, Kairos released arge volume of electricity, crackling violently as it shot out.


    The lightningtched on before rampaging within the spiky monster''s body, causing it to spasm violently. In the end, it wasn''t able to maintain its circr shape, losing the spikes and unraveling into a blob.


    Kairos could still feel that the emotions were as strong as ever, but as they appeared to peak, they had suddenly disappeared altogether. The monster that used to be somewhat human had died.


    Despite knowing that there was an active battle going on and the others would very likely need help, Kairos couldn''t help but stare at the body for a long while, along with the wolf. And as he continued staring, he suddenly found himself salivating.


    The desires of the wolf meshed with him, and before they even realized it, he had sprung to the corpse and began gorging himself in the middle of it all. The corpse didn''t look appealing, with its non-analogous form, resembling slime. Slime that was still twitching after death.


    And the taste matched exactly that.


    Kairos ripped out a chunk of flesh with his jaws and gulped it down while hardly chewing at all. Despite his extremely hungry state, it still tasted absolutely rancid, as though he was actually eating toxic waste. Still, despite how disgusting it was, he simply couldn''t bring himself to stop, taking even bigger bites and even wing into the corpse, piercing into its sludge-like flesh, to shovel more of it into his mouth.


    In a matter of seconds, he had consumed nearly a fourth of the corpse. Kairos stopped himself, though that was mostly because he was trying to suppress his urge to vomit, which was incredibly difficult, leaving him stepping back and forth while opening and closing his mouth.


    Although nobody was particrly paying attention to him, there seemed to be a sentiment of pure absurdity as both friend and foe all appeared to be looking in his direction.


    Kairos himself wasn''t very aware of that fact, though he didn''t really care to know.


    While he couldn''t easily eat more of the disgusting flesh, he decided to wipe his body with the blood and flesh,thering it on his fur as though it were shampoo. Despite being different consciousnesses, both of them seemed linked at this moment as they did such a thing.


    Though eventually, he began to realize how strange his actions were. It wasn''t as though the wolf had normally enjoyed these kinds of things. It was usually just excited and wanted to jump around.


    Not to mention, he didn''t really have this kind of habit either. He didn''t exactly care much for gore, much less find it this appealing. In fact, he was disgusted by it, but suppressed his reaction when it was necessary to do so.


    However, this was definitely not one of those situations.


    After all, there was nothing necessary when it came to bathing in the blood and flesh of a monstrosity that you killed.


    Kairos stopped himself before going into a daze. He couldn''t help but wonder what caused this strange shift in character. It was then that he remembered Azami''s words. His experience with the memory of others was affecting his own, making him think that those were his real memories.


    He truly didn''t think too much of it, thinking that she must''ve been overexaggerating. However, it turns out his personality appeared to be partially overwritten, or at least added onto without his direct knowledge.


    Kairos felt a particrly burning gazeing from the sky, where Sara was. She was normally observing the battlefield ready to swoop down at any time, but was now focusing on him.


    He shook his head.


    It wasn''t a problem to be addressed now. He just had to focus on the fight.


    It was fine.

 Chapter 249 Engorge

    ?


    Kairos turned his attention towards the werewolf for a moment, it was still being held in ce by Jeff. While he was thinking ofing over to help, Sara had swooped down after a sidelong nce.


    As she dive-bombed, her body suddenly became ink ck, condensing into a sharp point, as though it had be a spear. The werewolf tensed up, seemingly noticing the imminent danger that it was in. Unfortunately, there was little to nothing it could do to dodge it.


    The werewolf lowered its head before the skin on the back of his head hardened, bing a dull gray color. However, it wasn''t going in that direction. Instead of going straight for the werewolf, the mass of ck spear she had be went for Jeff''s arms, the ones holding the target in ce.


    And then, it went straight through.


    There was no mark left of Jeff''s golem-like body. Yet, the werewolf spasmed, coughing uprge amounts of ck blood as it simrly began leaking out from a new wound in the middle of its body.


    All of the arms attached to its body had fallen off. After that, it looked down and began biting into its own chest, seemingly going for ast ditch effort. Jeff still held on with one arm but slowly moved the other one before smushing it against the back of the werewolf''s head. In the end, it wasn''t even able to do that, simply slowly dying of blood loss, feeling its life gradually leaving itself.


    As for Sara, she briefly reappeared on the ground in her eagle form before taking to the air once more.


    Kairos could feel the emotions of the werewolf.


    It was filled with despair and regrets. However, the regrets didn''te from all the actions that led to this point. But rather, that it couldn''t die in a different way.


    Since that person was more or less dealt with, he shifted his attention towards Nyoka. In the end, he didn''t seem to be particrly struggling either, opting not to focus on the enemy in his jaws, but rather looking at him strangely.


    The fox used this opportunity to try and pry itself free. Unfortunately, it didn''te to much sess, only moving slightly before Nyoka put in more effort directly invalidating any effort made.


    Like the werewolf, Kairos could feel its despair. However, there was also an incredibly strong sense of determination. Not out of the desire to live. Not from any sort of achieved goal, or even the simple acknowledgment that it was their best.


    Instead, it was more along the lines of revenge.


    The fox reached into its chest, wing through it, before directly pulling out their heart. The dull ck suddenly began to gray in certain areas while shining brightly in others. Nyoka watched on without much care, as though it was insignificant to him.


    And his emotions matched how he looked too.


    Just as the bright shining reached its apex, a thin ck streak suddenly shed through the air. In just a moment, the fox found its arm suddenly was no longer connected with the rest of its body.


    Sara appeared on the other side, with a still beating heart in her beak.


    The fox watched in horror, but before Kairos could even realistically read the emotions, it had died. As for the only survivors left, it was the werewolf that ended up slowly bleeding, until its body could no longer handle the strain. Like this, it slowly died.


    Kairos and the others watched on silently for a long while before its final breaths were taken. At some point along the way, they had reverted to their normal forms, save Jeff.


    While watching this unfold, he couldn''t help but think of what had happened. After a moment, he spoke up.


    "So, this is what swan songs are like? Some kind of mode with increased power?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "This is a form of it, sure. Though it isn''t truly referring to some sort of power or technique. Instead, it''s simply the results. The results of a mentality that stems from wanting to harm other people as much as possible in the end."


    He lifted up one hand.


    "For example, the attempt at detonating one''s own heart to cause as much damage as possible, and destroying any kinds of rewards we might''ve gotten. Should the others have gotten the chance, they very likely would''ve done the same thing."


    He let out a small sigh.


    "Even if it doesn''te to their benefit, or even harms them in the end."


    Sara had a bitter smile on her face.


    "The people that are down here care more about spite than their own wellbeing. It seems that the people selected toe here were specifically the worst of the worst, and the lowest of the low. While I would like to think otherwise, I''ve yet to see any exceptions."


    Kairos remained silent for a short while before nodding a few times.


    "I suppose I fit right at home here."


    Sara couldn''t help but let out augh.


    "I''m surprised you didn''t deny it."


    Kairos didn''t retort, unable to find the urge to even do so in the first ce. On the other hand, Nyoka raised an eyebrow beforeughing.


    "Honestly, I don''t know if I can consider you as one of us. Nobody else actually eats the corpses, and even the few beasts that do, don''t do it nearly as quickly, or nearly as much. I couldn''t help but remember you were like that initially, yet your tune changed so quickly."


    Hearing that Kairos only shrugged his shoulders.


    "I was simply hungry, so I ate."


    He was aware that he was oversimplifying the situation, especially considering he essentially bathed in the flesh. Still, he had no ns of being any clearer. As for Nyoka, he responded with a chuckle.


    "Even when hungry, there''s hardly anything that can stand eating more than a few bites of flesh. When considering their existence it is already considered an exception would make you an exception among exceptions."


    Kairos'' expression didn''t change in the slightest. After a few moments of silence, he shrugged his shoulders.


    "I guess so."


    Both Nyoka and Sara seemed to be a bit put off by his reaction. As for Jeff, he had just reverted from his stone golem form before pointing at the corpses in the distance.


    "Are we not going to take their cubes?"


    With the shift in topic, Nyoka turned to Kairos with an expressionless smile.


    "So, is there anything in particr cubes that you want?"


    Kairos blinked a few times before shaking his head.


    "I don''t really care. If there are any leftovers then I will take them, but what I want is to eat the flesh."


    He couldn''t truly understand why, but he had an extremepulsion to essentially cannibalize. Initially, he thought that it came from his very real hunger, but he was already more or less satisfied with what he had gotten before.


    Kairos was no longer hungry, but he craved the flesh. Not for the taste, but rather for the idea that he was eating flesh in the first ce.


    At this point, he realized that some sort of other personality, or collections of personalities were influencing him in a strange way. However, as much as he logically understood such a fact, before he even knew it, Kairos found himself digging into the flesh of another monster.


    The flesh that he had eaten was digested incredibly quickly thanks to his second stomach, meaning that even if he continued to consume the flesh, so long as it wasn''t too fast, then he wouldn''t fill his stomach or need to vomit in any capacity.


    The others were simply watching awkwardly as they fetched the hearts of the monsters. As for Jeff, he nced over before nodding a few times to himself.


    "It must taste very good to you."


    However, that couldn''t be further from the truth. While admittedly, this isn''t his first time eating a corpse, this was the first time he did so unprompted and for no true reason. Not to mention, the corpses of the strange monsters formed by the red sun still tasted countless times better than these ones.


    Not that any semnce of them had tasted good in the first ce.


    Kairos well and truly hated every single second of it. The taste was horrifying and was burning into his tongue. It felt as though his mouth was being polluted. He reckoned that it would be better if he were eating live maggots as they crawled around in his mouth.


    While not taking on the form of an avatar, his mouth was naturally far smaller. But despite this, he was still incredibly fast. Nyoka and the others waited for a while, yet even they were surprised by how fast an entire corpse had been reduced to nothing more than bloodstains on the ground.


    Kairos felt absolutely awful afterwards, like one of the worst hangovers in the world. Yet, seeing another one of the corpses made him feel incrediblypelled to do the very same thing all over again.

 Chapter 250 Defining

    ?


    Kairos soon lost sight of anything other than the flesh that he was eating. He couldn''t even recognize anything around him anymore. As for Nyoka and the others, they simply extracted the cores before watching silently.


    Even as he was doing it, Kairos couldn''t understand why he found this enjoyable. It felt as though there was aplete contradiction in his brain. However, it was just too hard to stop himself, even when it just didn''t make any sense.


    He consciously wanted to stop, and logically, it made sense for him to stop, as he had already eaten more than enough for the sake of his starvation. An obsession overtook him, one which he had attempted to fight.


    Not to much sess, but he continued resisting it, as difficult and futile as it may have been.


    It was a rather desperate fight, one where he hardly made any progress the entire time. However, he slowly made progress, gradually regaining control over himself. And soon enough, he no longer had this extremepulsion to eat the corpses any longer.


    Along with that, Kairos found himself sitting among bloodstains, with the actual corpses themselves nowhere to be seen. He looked around, confirming this before he gradually came to an exnation as to why they were gone.


    Because he had already eaten them all.


    He hadn''t regained himself because of wrestling control over his own mind, but rather because there was nothing left for his gluttony to continue on towards. Kairos put a hand on his forehead as he closed his eyes. A small sigh escaped him as he tilted back slightly.


    It was at this point that he could no longer lie to himself or doubt that he had a very serious problem.


    After a little while, he let out augh as a bitter smile etched itself onto his face.


    "It looks like I''m really fucked up, aren''t I?"


    Contrary to his expectations, Nyoka and the others didn''t have all that much of a reaction. It was Sara who had spoken up after a short silence.


    "As I said, I''ve yet to find anyone down here that fits an exception. Regardless of who it is, everyone has something very wrong with them, whether it''s clear or not. At most, this simply makes you just like the rest of the poption."


    Kairos let his hand fall as he looked up into the infinite ckness.


    "Yeah, I guess. But... this doesn''t feel like something I would do normally."


    He was too tired to exin the whole situation, so he just dumbed it down to that. That he wasn''t acting like how he normally was. Nyoka didn''t think much of it, shrugging his shoulders.


    "A ce like this just makes you do something against your usual actions. After all, your character gets tested to its limits in a ce that puts you at your limits."


    He didn''t think it was anything strange, and neither did any of the others. This sense of eptance was almost uncanny to Kairos, as he simply wasn''t used to that kind of thing. For the most part.


    Kairos recalled the previous words of Azami. That he essentially had to recall himself and his defining features to fight against his misunderstandings of living other lives. While trying to recall them, he found the sudden strange eptance from Nyoka and the others had made him remember another time.


    It was a time when Edward had decided to break off their friendship. The actual path there wasn''t very smooth exactly, and there was no true formal statement of it. However, it was something that they had both understood.


    In the end, Edward just couldn''t see him as the same person anymore after the one time Kairos had killed a wolf.


    The two of them silently agreed to stop talking and pretended they never knew each other.


    Along with that sentiment, Nicole had tried her best to patch things up. But in the end, she didn''t truly understand the sentiment and her efforts ultimately didn''t do anything. Regardless, she felt that Edward was being unreasonable, and nearly came to resent him for that fact.


    It was ironically Kairos that defended Edward most of the time, much to Nicole''s dismay.


    There may have been bumps along the way, but it wasn''t a rtionship that concluded a fight. Instead, it was a rather quiet one. Thest parting words that Kairos could remember was when the two of them said goodbye to each other. Both calmly, yet softly.


    Almost as though they were still denying that this was reality, despite epting it.


    Nicole was the one hurt the most by this, despite the fact she was never directly involved. Kairos tried to exin but didn''t really know how to do so. In the end, Nicole eventually lost interest in trying to understand, before epting that this was how things would be.


    Albeit with some distaste towards Edward.


    At the end of everything, Kairos found himself sitting at the top of a hill, looking off in the distance towards a river. It was the ce where he had hisst real conversation with Edward. Nicole was there with him, with an uncharacteristically aggressive hold over Kairos, with one arm over his shoulder and the other holding onto his waist.


    As though he would suddenly run off just as Edward did.


    They were silent, but it was still an incredibly painful moment for Kairos because it reminded him of when they were all still kids. In this exact same spot, years ago, Kairos suddenly felt a sense of exhaustion while ying with Edward and Nicole.


    "I''m really tired..."


    He expressed this and was met with a somewhat normal response. Edward showed a bit of concern before saying the obvious.


    "Ah, I guess we should go back home. We have been outside for a while and need to go to sleep!"


    Nicole pouted slightly.


    "Aw, I wanted to y a bit more, but if you''re tired then I guess we should stop."


    However, it was at this point that Kairos sat down and looked off as he had before.


    "I... don''t want to go home yet. Could you guys just stay with me for a little bit?"


    Edward grinned rather widely and didn''t ask any other questions. Sitting down next to him andying on his arm on top of Kairos'' shoulder. Nicole saw that example and meekly tried to match that energy, essentially hover handing an arm over Kairos.


    They all sat together silently for a long while, and it was a moment that mattered to him so much, even if it was a rather random moment for the other two.


    Yet, it was also unreasonable to ask for good times tost forever. But it wasn''t too painful for Kairos, as it wasn''t as though bad times had arrived. Nicole had stayed with him for so long, despite all the reasons to leave andck of response he gave in return.


    And in recalling all of this, it only made it clearer how he took her presence for granted.


    It wasn''t even like she had died, or that he would never be able to see her again. As that was a very real thing that would happen soon. Kairos had simply underestimated how much Nicole was what held him together more often than not.


    He was recalling who he was as a person. But that only made the lingering absence of Nicole in his life further pain him.


    Regardless of whether or not it was the right choice, Kairos stopped thinking about it all. Deciding that he would do itter. As for when exactly thatter was, he had no idea.


    "You alright?"


    Nyoka had called out to him while he was in a daze, and he simply nodded.


    "Yeah. As alright as I can be. Let''s go into the dungeon. However the hell you are supposed to do this."


    With a sigh, he climbed up the stairs. Nyoka and the others silently followed after him. After a moment of standing outside, Kairos pushed in the doors, revealing the inside. The room within wasrge and tall, expanding out into a very long hallway.


    There were engravings on the walls and floor. However, it was quite hard to see, since the walls were all covered by blood and flesh. Among that, Kairos could make out four corpses at the entrances. There were holes in all their chests, showing a rather deliberate attack.


    He also saw that the blood and flesh were being absorbed into the ground of the dungeon in real-time.


    Nyoka and the others walked up from behind, looking down at them. They didn''t care too much about all the flesh, instead opting to walk on ahead past, without giving it a second look.


    Kairos stayed back for a second, taking another look as the corpses gradually disappeared as though they never existed in the first ce. People that were forgotten just like that.


    "Hey, youing?"


    Sara called out to him. Kairos blinked a few times before clearing his throat.


    "Yeah, I am."

 Chapter 251 Moth

    ?


    Kairos walked with the others, in a rather expansive hallway. Unlike the previous one they had been to, this one was not nearly as linear. Within just a minute or so of walking, they had encountered several branching pathways, some even splitting off into three or five different ways. On top of that, there were quite a few rooms along the way, leading to smaller areas with monsters within eyeshot.


    The monsters themselves didn''t seem to care much about their presence so long as they didn''t enter the room and were more or less resting there idly.


    After walking for a while, he pointed at one of the more freakyrge ones and spoke up.


    "Say, why are those things just sitting there like that? It''s almost like they have an aggro range like a video game. Also, is there no point in fighting them?"


    To his surprise, Jeff was the one that spoke up.


    "Most dungeons exist because of some incredibly dense ck blood-rted thing at its core. Everywhere inside the dungeon has a kind of energy within them. The rooms themselves had a slightly higher concentration of energy. It isn''t exactly ck blood, but it is essentially the same in function. That''s why there are monsters attracted to them, and simply want to remain there. Though if you step inside..."


    Jeff reached down to pick up a pebble before throwing it in one of the rooms.


    Just as the soft cking sound resounded, a violent growl followed before a tail came crashing down on the pebble, turning it into dust. The tail retracted back slowly after a few seconds.


    After expressionlessly turning away, he continued on.


    "They get really territorial. They don''t want to share any of that energy. At the same time, there''s really no reason to go in there, as you''ll just be fighting a monster in an unfavorable cramped environment for no reward other than the monster corpse itself."


    Jeff shrugged his shoulders.


    "If there was some sort of valuable item there previously, then it''s long gone if a monster has already taken their spot there. And unless it''s recently formed, a dungeon will always have its rooms taken by monsters."


    He took a deep breath.


    "But as you go closer to the center, you will find more dangerous monsters and frequently find things that can''t simply be consumed in their entirety by a monster. We are ignoring the outskirts since there is rarely a reason to ever fight anything here. That doesn''t mean it''s impossible for something good to be in one, but it simply isn''t worth the time and effort."


    Kairos was silent for a little while, processing everything that he said. Eventually, he gave a few nods.


    "Wow, you seem to really know your stuff when ites to this... dungeon stuff."


    Jeff simply shook his head, his face just barely moving in response to his speaking.


    "Not really. I take notice of these kinds of little things. That''s all really."


    Sara let out a giggle as a rather wide smile blossomed on her face. She gave Kairos a sidelong look.


    "He''s the one that figured out how to do those tests in the previous dungeon. Without him, we probably wouldn''t have even been able to make it to that one part."


    Kairos turned to Jeff with a new look of respect. He didn''t expect that someone who hardly said anything and appeared not to think about anything at all was actually so analytical.


    "That is quite impressive."


    Jeff let out a small sigh, clearly not pleased, but also not displeased about thepliment.


    "That''s just a thing I can naturally do. While I can pick up on cold hard facts and nuances, the same cannot be said about other things."


    Nyoka let out augh, looking back with a cheeky grin.


    "Basically, it means he can''t read emotions at all. Frankly, he needs someone to just tell him to his face to understand what the other is feeling."


    Jeff shrugged his shoulders, not even shifting his gaze.


    "How are you supposed to understand something subjective that has multiple possible answers? Not that it would matter if people just made things clear."


    Kairos couldn''t feel a sense of parallel with him, though only to a certain extent. From the sounds of things, Jeff''s avatar being a literal rock golem was quite fitting for him. There was a part of Kairos that wanted to share this, just for the sake of it.


    It would make things clearer, as Jeff put it. Yet, Kairos didn''t even feel the urge to do so. It hadn''t even bubbled up before being forced down. It simply wasn''t there in the first ce, despite the fact he liked the idea of it.


    He was being a hypocrite to himself without anyone even knowing it.


    And so, their time was rather silent as they continued on through the paths. As they continued, a ck fog gradually became visible. Although it was incredibly small, Kairos could just barely tell that some of it was ck blood seeping into his skin.


    However, it was akin to a human opening their mouth in some mist in an attempt to sate their thirst. It simply wasn''t a significant amount.


    Though it wasn''t an unpleasant thing. The others seemed to be slightly uplifted from this kind of air. Well, other than Jeff, but that was an exception.


    Eventually, Nyoka stopped, prompting the rest to do so as well. He looked over at a corridor that led into a room. Unlike the ones at the start, this was incrediblyrge, having a simrly needlessly high ceiling like the corridor, expanding far into the distance.


    It was almost as though it was a throne room, with stairs in the distance and a giant moth, with its wings at its side residing there silently.


    Nyoka gave a short nod after looking at it for a while.


    "Think that''s good for a run?"


    Sara turned to look at Jeff, who in turn silently stared for a while. Eventually, he just let out a soft hum.


    "It''s worth a try, if nothing else."


    Seeing that they were going to fight, Kairos held up a hand, getting their attention.


    "Uh, is there anything I should know?"


    Nyoka stepped into the room rather boldly, prompting the moth to twitch before unfurling its wings. As he did so, he gave a nce over his shoulder.


    "Just that any real n falls apart in practice. Intuition is more reliable at that point."


    Right after he said that, the giant moth let out a squeaky, but deafening, screech. Various spots were all over its wings, outlined by gray marks across its body. Nyoka took a few steps forward before falling down, transforming into a snake as he reached the ground, before slithering on ahead.


    Sara followed suit, jumping into the air as her body transformed, pping her arms as they were violently morphing into wings. As for Jeff, he simply ran in as his body turned to stone. However he slowed down considerably after transforming fully. He proceeded to slowly walk over. It would probably be a while before he actually made it to the center.


    Seeing all of them transform, he decided to follow suit. His body contorted rather grotesquely, but at this point, he got used to it. He heard excited barking inside his head, the wolf now in his mind and also incredibly excited.


    Thankfully, it showed restraint and let Kairos do what he wanted, just happy to be along for the ride.


    Within the form, he involuntarily sensed the others'' emotions, which were mostly nothing. Sara appeared to be slightly nervous, but it was only a flutter thatsted a few moments.


    As for the moth itself, it appeared to be afraid. At the same time, it was putting up a brave front along with anger. It seemed as though it wasn''t confident in winning, but was willing to put up a fight until the end.


    This made Kairos curious as to whether a negotiation was possible, but considering thecking forms ofmunication, he tossed that idea away.


    After taking in a deep breath, he began running ahead. As they started to get close, Kairos noticed that the moth was starting to get anxious, but also daring. Paired with his future vision, he could tell that an attack wasing.


    With that in mind, he immediately activated his harden skill, consuming some ck blood to form ayer of protection.


    A little whileter, the moth pulled back its expansive wings before the patterns on its wings began vibrating. The air around it then distorted. Kairos intuitively guessed what was going on and already ducked down before covering his ears with his hands.


    Then, a supersonic st pierced through the entire room.


    Sara let out a screech in her eagle form and began losing air, falling down erratically as she attempted to keep herself in the air. As for Nyoka, his eyes narrowed, but didn''t seem to be majorly affected.


    As for Jeff... he was a rock.


    But for Kairos, the hardened skin over his body all cracked while a ringing sound filled his ears.


    Now that he looked more closely, blood wasing out the sides of Nyoka''s head, and Jeff was no longer moving.


    It seemed things wouldn''t be as simple as he thought.

 Chapter 252 Reckless

    ?


    After stunning the party, the moth flew into the air before swooping down towards the closest target, Nyoka. It seemed that Nyoka wasn''t too badly affected, as he was still aware of the impending danger from his gaze.


    Though while he was aware, it appeared moving wasn''t exactly the easiest from how sluggish his movements were.


    While Kairos'' defense had shattered instantly, at the very least it appeared to reduce the effects on him. With that in mind, he gathered the lightning around his body and condensed it around his mouth.


    Though since the moth wasn''t exactly waiting for him, he didn''t get much time to charge up.


    After a few seconds, he decided it was better to just release it, as there was no time.


    As the moth rapidly approached, various ws of different sizes appeared out from the top of its head at awkward angles. Right before it collided with Nyoka, a beam of electricity mmed into its side, diverting its trajectory ever so slightly.


    Reacting immediately, Nyoka dragged his body to the side.


    The tips of the ws still grazed the side of his head before mming into the ground with an ear-piercing screech. While he wasn''t uninjured, it could''ve been far worse. Nyoka let out a hiss, twisting around before expanding his jaws to their limits and mming into the moth''s back.


    A shrill shriek resounded throughout the room as the moth struggled intensely while the fangs sank inside its body.


    It took off into the air, forcefully dragging Nyoka along with it. At the same time, several smaller snakes split off from his main body and bit into the wings of the moth. Though through it all, it continued lifting further up into the air.


    Nyoka was also losing his grip, partially because of the chaotic flight, and also because the moth was tensing its muscles with incredible force. In the end, Nyoka was forced to let go, along with all of his smaller snakes. They merged back into his body before he mmed into the ground.


    As for Sara and Jeff, both of them seemed to have more or less recovered. Sara took off into the air once more while Jeff had started moving. While they would need a moment to join the battle, it was only a matter of time.


    The moth appeared to spread out its wings once more.


    Its body began vibrating once more, which made Kairos think of its first attack. He couldn''t help but grow tense, but at a closer look, the movements were noticeably different.


    The gray circles on its wings were normally far more pronounced in their movements. But this time, it was the entire body that was trembling strangely, almost like it was on the verge of bursting.


    Kairos thought about rushing in, but ultimately decided against it, instead opting to observe.


    A few momentster, countless cracking sounds filled the air one after another as branches of ck tendrils rapidly extended out of the moth''s body, almost like it was being overgrown by some sort of nt.


    They continued branching out for a while, before slowing down. Near its end, they slowed down to a crawl, until they nearly stopped moving altogether. Then out of nowhere, they suddenly snapped towards Nyoka, clearly quite antagonized by his attacks.


    Kairos had run up the moment he noticed who the moth''s target was, though he wasn''t going to make it in time. The various tendrils ripped into and bound Nyoka''s body. As for Nyoka himself, he let out a hiss and red at the moth. Snakes split off from his body, springing out and ripping into the tendrils, essentially turning into a hundred versus hundred fight.


    Kairos ran over, though the actual battle that the tendrils were having with the snakes was a little bit too chaotic for him. They were in a fierce battle with each other, ripping one another apart.


    He frankly didn''t intend on messing with the mosh pit of a fight in there.


    Instead, he tried to fight from a different angle, raising his w. Yet the moment he did so, countless other tendrils had shot out from its body and wrapped around his hand. Despite moving before they had actually done so, he wasn''t able to escape their grip.


    Still, he didn''t just give up there. Kairos reached out with his other w, which was simrly bound just a few momentster. Despite the fact one of his ws was reinforced by his weapon, they were both as immobile as the other. It really made Kairos look at the intense ripped-up fight with snakes and tendrils in a whole different light.


    Speaking of tendrils, he looked ahead and saw several of them rushing toward the spot above his heart, which definitely would''ve been fatal for a normal resident in this ce. But regardless, taking the full brunt wouldn''t be a good thing.


    Still, he didn''t even try to fight it.


    A momentter, a violent gust of wind came down, suddenly shing all of the tendrils in half, along with a booming shriek from the moth.


    Sara hade down before soaring back up into the air. With that one attack, she didn''t push any further, instead observing from above, waiting for another opportunity.


    Nyoka used this brief free moment to aggressively bite down into the moth''s head, causing ck blood to spurt into the air. Seeing this, Kairos couldn''t help but feel like he was being too tame.


    And seeing the blood and tendrils in the air had suddenly made him want to go further.


    Feeling his intentions, the wolf sharing his consciousness had also gotten quite excited as well, spurring his actions even further.


    The moth attempted to fly once more, but Kairos made sure to jump onto its back before it could do such a thing. After digging his ws into the back of its wings, he opened his jaws wide and bit down.


    In response, the moth continued to struggle violently while screeching and began taking off to the air once more. However, Kairos made sure to stick as closely as possible. A few stray tendrils from the moth''s body had ripped into his, albeit with far less force than before.


    But it was still enough to cause wounds to form in his body.


    Yet, Kairos didn''t even seem to recognize this fact. He continued to force his jaws deeper, slowly ripping out a chunk out of the moth that realistically wouldn''t even fit in his mouth.


    In the midst of this sudden bloodlust he felt, he didn''t pay attention to anything else.


    As he continued to soar into the air along with the moth, the gradual sound of tearing and ripping was all he needed to know, as it meant progress towards ripping the moth apart. Despite his future vision, he didn''t even notice as the patterns on the moth''s wings began vibrating in what should''ve been a very familiar way.


    And his reward for all his determination, showed as he pulled away with arge part of the moth, leaving a ghastly wound that began bleeding in various parts and in different ces at the same time.


    Yet, before he could truly revel in this victory, he suddenly lost consciousness, not even with a real understanding of what just happened.


    The moth had let out a supersonic st, directly blowing Kairos away like a shooting star across the room and mming into the wall. He then proceeded to fall from a rather high height,nding on the ground with a plop.


    As for the others, they were still recovering from the effects of the attack once more and didn''t realize what happened until he was already on the ground. Kairos regained consciousness a few momentster, but whether or not that was a good thing was debatable.


    Everything was a blur and he had forgotten why he was even here in the first ce. The only thing that was clear was the pain that racked his entire body. As his vision gradually cleared up, he quickly recalled what happened, and did what he could to get back up on his feet.


    Yet, he also was met with the hard truth that it appeared some bones were fractured, the ones in his legs just being some of them, giving him an awkward limp. Along with that, the moth was looking at him in anger, swooping towards him in a blind rage.


    Realistically, he should''ve thought of a way to defend himself.


    Yet, he could only think of the best way to kill the moth in front of him. The consequences of such an action hadn''t even crossed his mind.

 Chapter 253 Bloodlust

    ?


    Kairos found it incredibly difficult to stand, his legs bending at the broken bones, almost as though he had gotten himself new joints. Yet despite essentially being crippled, he tensed up and strained his muscles to the point that they reced the function of bones.


    Then, in a blind rage, he simply ran towards the giant moth, on the verge of tripping with each step, but barely hanging in the bnce.


    It was awfully awkward and painful, yet despite knowing this probably wasn''t the best idea, he couldn''t stop himself, just like when he forced himself to engorge in flesh and blood.


    Nyoka and the others appeared visibly surprised by his sudden strange tendencies, looking at him rather strangely. After all, it was as though Kairos had a life-or-death feud with the moth despite this being the first time meeting it.


    As for the moth, it was very willing to reciprocate in full, blindly rushing towards Kairos while ignoring the others entirely.


    Kairos could feel the moth''s rage and pain very clearly. Those feelings prompted him to do his all, gathering the lightning around his body towards his jaws while he ran. If it were looked at with squinted eyes, it wouldn''t be too much to think that it was a reunion between two old friends.


    In a short moment, Kairos was able to gather a lot of the lightning from his entire body, enough for a meaningful attack. However, he didn''t release it, instead continuing to run forth.


    Even when the moth mmed into him.


    A dull boom echoed in the room, with the moth aggressively mming into Kairos, holding onto him, and using its brute strength to drag him along the ground. As for Kairos, he simply let himself get caught like that, cing his jaws against the moth''s body.


    While the only thing he saw was red, he released the spear inside his body along with all the built up electrical energy.


    A thunderp reverberated as the moth suddenly stopped, moving back ever so slightly.


    The spear pierced through the moth''s body, just barely peeking out from the other side where traces of lightning bolts were on the tip. Kairos was blown away purely from the recoil and was recovering from that.


    At the same time, the moth appeared to be in quite a bit of shock, not expecting to receive such a damaging attack like that. It began fluttering its wings in an attempt to take off, though was having difficulty lifting off the ground, seemingly quite disoriented.


    After just taking off a few meters up in the air, Nyoka had lunged upwards, sinking his fangs into the moth''s body and dragging it downwards. The moth let out a cry while continuing to struggle, trying to lift upwards.


    However, both its weight along with Nyoka was simply too much for it, causing it to suddenly lose any momentum upwards.


    With a thump, it hit the ground, driving the spear through its body even further. A loud screech shook the air as the spear continued piercing through its body. It violently iled with its wings, but that only served to drive the spear in deeper, prompting even more frantic struggles.


    Nyoka made sure to hold it down. While he wasn''t able to bring down the moth singlehandedly, it was still enough to keep it stuck on the spear. In the meantime, Jeff had used all this time to slowly lumber over.


    After a little while, Jeff had finally dragged his golem self over to the actual fight. And when he did get there, he simply climbed on top of the moth. Naturally, it struggled in response, however the moth was simply not strong enough to move Jeff, despite easily lifting Nyoka and Kairos.


    In the end, Jeff used his stone golem body to essentially sit on top of them, crushing the moth and immobilizing it.


    Kairos was recovering from a daze and blurrily saw the moth on the ground. Without really thinking, he once again forced his broken bones to support his weight and ran once more in a rage.


    He picked up speed very quickly as snapping sounds came from his body.


    Yet, before he could truly go forth, Nyoka''s tail had shot out and restricted him. Making sure to hold him back. While in his state of bloodlust, Kairos couldn''t understand why he was being held back.


    If anything, rather than for his own good, he thought that Nyoka had be the enemy. With that in mind, Kairos turned his attention to him and reached out with his ws, fully intending on fighting to the death.


    Though Nyoka partially reverted back into a human, turning his snake head into the top half of his body.


    "Calm down. The monster is already dealt with."


    To this, Kairos stopped himself. He already had a logical understanding of what was happening, but needed a wake-up call to snap him out of his strange trance. A few momentster, Sara came down from the skies, once again quickly turning into a small dark spot before phasing through the golem and piercing through the moth.


    It let out one final muffled shriek and a twitch, before it stopped moving altogether.


    As for Kairos, he was trying to calm down, however his mind was still addled with bloodlust and a desire to kill and maim. He reverted his transformation and took deep breaths, slowly returning to a normal mental state. Very slowly, but was returning nheless.


    One thing he noticed was that while he did feel weak from the injuries he suffered while in his avatar, his body while not in his avatar was more or less fine. He didn''t question the logic behind it and was just thankful that he wouldn''t have to walk around normally with crippled limbs.


    As Kairos gradually calmed down, the others had also reverted their transformation and began dissecting the moth corpse. The others had spoken to him a few times, but he didn''t respond, unable to really hear them with his current state of mind.


    At this time, Kairos had a lot of time to think. It wasn''t exactly voluntary, but rather something that came up naturally. His thoughts in particr being that he gravely underestimated how badly outside influences had on his personality.


    It appeared particrly bad while the wolf was also in partial control, as his agency seemed to be weaker in that state.


    Ironically, worrying about that had made him calm down far quicker, soon letting him hear the others.


    "Hey, since you did the most out of everyone here, you should take this."


    Nyoka threw over a pulsating glowing yellow cube at him, which Kairos caught fairly easily. He looked at it for a little while. Upon closer inspection, it was actually a cube made out of 8 smaller onesbining together. From what Kairos understood, this should provide him a skill that was one level above the standard one cube. He looked up.


    "I... don''t need the full reward. Besides, I wouldn''t have been able to do this without your help."


    Nyoka simply shrugged his shoulders.


    "It''s not like I gave you everything. We are still keeping some of the other stuff to ourselves along with the ck blood. I just wanted to give you a little extra, since we agreed that you shouldn''t participate in the next fight."


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Did I go too far?"


    Jeff spoke in a monotone voice, not bothering to look over as he rummaged through the corpse.


    "What do you think?"


    Sara looked over and had a bitter smile on her face.


    "You are simply too injured to properly participate for now, and it seems that your mental state isn''t exactly the most stable. Keeping calm is the first step to winning most battles, you know?"


    Kairos blinked a few times before nodding.


    "You aren''t wrong. I suppose I do need some time to calm down."


    After that, he swallowed the cube he was given. It was definitely not the easiest, feeling as though he was trying to swallow pure steel. However, it went down in the end, and a new message appeared in front of him.


    [Acquired Skill - [Screech (???)]


    Kairos had an idea of what it meant, but still opened up his status panel to see the description.


    [Screech (???)]


    [Appears to be a technique that distills ck blood and produces a byproduct of extremely harsh sound waves. Is particrly effective against those with enhanced hearing ranges. Causes damage to the user upon use.]


    Kairos blinked a few times as he read through it all.


    From the sounds of it, it was a skill meant to be used in rough times. Though he couldn''t really feel too happy about it.


    Because he realized he could only put off this personality problem for so long before it cost him his life.

 Chapter 254 Accept

    Kairos sat down for a little while longer, taking a deep breath. While he didn''t really want to, he decided to think about more of his defining experiences that he hadn''t truly thought of before.


    So he thought deeper into it, trying to recall anything he could.


    And eventually, he did.


    For whatever reason, he was standing on a rather dirty road, one worn down by a lot of rain. Kairos could just barely make out various neon lights around him at the very edges of his vision. However, his attention instead appeared to be focused on what was in front of him.


    A set of stairs that went down, as for where it led to, that part was unclear.


    There was a strangepulsion he had. An overabundance of energy, that made his very hands twitch rather violently.


    After a little while of standing there, he went down the steps. They weren''t particrly big steps, but his small body made it a bit awkward to go down. And when he did eventually went down to the bottom. He pushed open one of the doors rather confidently.


    Inside, was a messy bar that appeared to belong to a gang, with everyone there including the bar wearing simr shirts and with tattoos on them. A few people were having a few drinks while others were smoking in a corner. All of them held an intimidating air. Even the one that appeared weakest out of them had bulked up several times more than the average person.


    One that appeared to be a leader, or at least one that had authority turned to him and raised an eyebrow.


    "Eh? What are you doing here kid? You shouldn''t be here. Go back home."


    In response, Kairos tilted his head to the side and smiled.


    "Do you know what it means to be a bad person?"


    The guy he was speaking to let out a chuckle and crossed his arms.


    "What are you talking about? Come on, if you''re too scared to go home on your own, then I''ll walk with you to lead the way."


    He uncrossed his arms to reach out with one hand, and Kairos simrly reached out with his own. As he did so, he spoke under his breath.


    "See... I think a bad person is one that goes out of his way to hurt innocent people."


    The man raised an eyebrow and leaned in.


    "What did you sa-"


    A snap resounded.


    Followed by-


    "AAAAAAAHHH!"


    As for Kairos, he had a wide smile on his face. He had snapped a finger, before diving forth and biting down on an ear, pulling so hard that he ripped it off.


    Immediately, all the other gang members suddenly had a shift as they looked at the kid seriously. They got up, with some of them bringing out their weapons.


    "Hey, stop that!"


    "What the hell is wrong with this kid?"


    "Shit, just deal with him for now!"


    Initially, Kairos was having an easy time, with most of them still treating him as a kid and not too seriously. However, he easily maimed and cracked the bones of several of them. At this point, weapons got involved, but it was still mainly knives.


    Yet, he was able to dodge most of the swings and continue his spree, going as far as to directly kill some of them. The few that did hit him only left shallow cuts on his skin.


    It did not take long before shots were fired. This was not dodged, as a bullet hole suddenly formed on the side of his chest. And yet, he wasn''t stopped anyway and continued killing and maiming and...


    Kairos realized something was wrong.


    This wasn''t actually his memory. He was nowhere near this violent as a kid, at most he was just a curious person that felt a little lonely. He can''t even recall a time he had gone to a city before, he spent the grand majority of his life in the suburbs.


    While there was a time he did go a little too far, it was a very special moment when he was a bit older as well.


    While he couldn''t clearly recall them, it seemed that he had other memories that didn''t belong to him that were buried in his subconscious.


    It appeared that whoever''s memory this belonged to was the reason for his previous bloodthirsty state. Not to mention, whoever this person was, they were rather horrifying in their own right.


    From what Kairos could remember, the person didn''t have any superhuman strength. Perhaps only above average for his age. However, his decisiveness exceeded that of a veteran. Even veterans would make certain mistakes rted to survivorship bias, such as being too reckless sometimes when they weren''t punished for it before.


    But it was hard to find a single fault with the way the kid moved, at least from abat perspective.


    While the strength itself might''ve not been supernatural, his capabilities definitely were, whether they were instincts or incredibly quick processing. Above all, it was his confidence andck of hesitation that might''ve been the most crucial factor.


    In the end, while Kairos was still concerned about himself, he was now very interested in these memories. One thing that he could ever so slightly feel in that memory, despite it being filled with incrediblyrge amounts of energy and excitement, was a lull.


    One that hung in the air existing ever so slightly, never ebbing or flowing from that state, Instead, it simply existed, as though it was above everything else. This same sensation was quite familiar to him when he recalled another memory like it.


    Considering it was several times worse for this person when he became older, it was something that slowly built up over time.


    Until eventually, he became a monster.


    Kairos set that memory aside, acknowledging it as someone else''s. Whether that would actually help him at all, he did not know. However, it was something that he was willing to try.


    That led him to do additional searching through his own memories.


    It was strange to do something like this, when it was so immaterial, but after doing it so many times, it became far easier than the first time. The others had already gotten up and began walking, so he followed after while still digging through his mind.


    Eventually, he was able to find more memories of the same person, distinguished by the ever present feeling of lethargy in the air.


    Practically all of them were miserable memories, ones where despite him putting the effort to be friendly, it never worked out for one reason or another. Whether it was his fault, their fault, or nobody''s fault at all. The man was probably the unluckiest person in the world.


    Most of the encounters, at least in the memories he found, were all rather bad. Essentially a person that was never truly anybody, and it wasn''t simply the world''s fault either.


    But not once did Kairos see this person in question ever falter. While they had some violent tendencies that they acted upon too much, they were always trying to find a world where he could be allowed to be a normal person.


    Unfortunately, that would not be their fate, given the first memory Kairos had of them.


    After understanding more of that person, Kairos did have a genuine feeling that he had be more or his own person. However, something strange he noticed was that this feeling of another person hadn''t really gone away, but rather be stronger.


    To put it more urately, it was as though he had pulled himself into two pieces, one which was himself for the most part, and the other which was that person. He felt that if he tried, he could easily let that personality take over, for better or for worse.


    Though realistically, that didn''t sound like the best of ideas considering how reckless it was and the injuries it costst time.


    While Kairos wasn''t sure if this was what he was supposed to be doing, it seemed to be working. So he continued on even further. This time it was considerably harder, since it appeared that his streak came from digging into the same person''s memories.


    Eventually, the others stopped in front of a room and went in. He didn''t follow, as that was what they agreed upon earlier.


    After he finally did stop though, it seemed he was finally able to find another memory.


    This time, it was of a man working in a rather dim room. Kairos found him familiar, but couldn''t really put his finger on why. The man himself was rather skinny, but not to the point that it appeared unhealthy.


    In fact, he would be considered to be traditionally handsome by most.


    As Kairos got a better look at the ce, he saw bars in the distance suggesting that this was a prison. However, he felt like that would be the wrong conclusion toe to when he saw the rather personalized desk the man was sitting at, with a variety of used tools next to him.


    If nothing else, the man himself didn''t appear to feel like a prisoner.


    He was leisurely drawing onto a blueprint. It was incredibly well made, with clean straight and professional lines. Neat numbers were appended, such as the degrees of certain angles, orbels to rify which parts were referring to what. It was clear that he was very familiar with creating a design.


    However, upon closer look one would see that it was the design for a fantastical castle. The kind of thing that a kid would draw and dream up, but far more shabbily. The man had a small smile on his face, and suddenly spoke up.


    "So, you''re here to understand yourself better."


    After hearing his voice, Kairos immediately figured out who he was. It was the one that originally led him in the right direction when the pain was too much for him to focus properly.


    The man let out a chuckle.


    "If you truly wish for that, then stop looking here. You must first ept what you do know about yourself before any progress can be made."


    A small smile was on his face.


    "After all, if you can''t ept yourself, then you will never be able to understand it either."

 Chapter 255 Smile

    Chapter 255 Smile


    After saying those words, the man continued to draw his fantastical castle. Before Kairos could ask for more rification, he was pushed out of the memory, or whatever it was supposed to be.


    He mumbled the words back to himself.


    "ept myself to understand myself?..."


    Kairos thought about it for a while, really thinking about the words, not wanting to misunderstand. He was having trouble since he didn''t exactly realize what he wasn''t epting about himself.


    In reality, it wasn''t as though he could just think of something off the top of his head that he knew about himself but was avoiding. If he had done a good job of avoiding, then naturally he wouldn''t even be thinking about it.


    But a bad job, then it probably wouldn''t even be something he really had a problem with.


    After pondering for a while, he suddenly decided to use some of his mana to create a moderately sized fireball in his hand, heating up the wall next to him. He carved away at it with abination of his spear to get the rough bits before smoothing it out with the side of his w.


    There were crashing sounds of battle behind him, though he didn''t seem to notice any of that.


    Thanks to seeing a second in the future, he was able to reverse any mistakes before they happened, and soon found himself with a pseudo mirror. It was more off a shiny surfacepared to anything else, but it showed a good enough reflection.


    He ced both his hands onto the sides of the mirror before pressing his forehead against it as well, as though he could somehow push through into the reflection and show all of the secrets he kept from himself.


    For starters, he took a good look at his physical appearance. He tilted his head down so he could continue pressing against the wall and look at himself. Though, there wasn''t exactly anything pretty to see.


    Still being in his Abyss Form, his entire body was ck flesh,cking any real eyes and a gaping maw with traces of what appeared to be saliva dripping from it. The appearance was anything but human-like.


    Kairos didn''t think much of it, but perhaps it was more than just a physical change.


    Regardless, that was just pure spection with no real evidence and wasn''t really what he was trying to do here.


    He thought about what kind of person he objectively was, thinking of his traits.


    Kairos deemed himself a serious person.


    A person who cares about things, but perhaps not as much as he should.


    He wasn''t the most proactive person.


    While he wasn''t simply sitting back at any time, he also felt as though he was only going along with the flow. Though he did acknowledge that might''ve been overly critical, considering many others were a far worse example than him.


    And after just those two things, he found himself at a roadblock.


    Kairos eventually deemed himself to be an introvert, though that was more or less useless.


    However, despite not being the most sessful in finding anything controversial with himself, he did eventually feel something that he did have resistance against. While he waspletely fine with evaluating himself now, he was reluctant to do so when he was younger.


    Kairos hesitated for a while on this but realized this might''ve been what the strange man had been talking about.


    So he thought about his childhood memories.


    His especially early ones were generally filled with nothing. Or more urately, him doing nothing. For hours on end, with nothing to do, he would simply sit in the middle of a room. Simply because that''s the only thing he knew to do.


    For quite some time, his life was just like that. His parents were either working or if they went out they wouldn''t bring him along since it was inconvenient.


    Kairos didn''t exactly have any toys or hobbies, so he just remained there.


    Sitting.


    He just considered himself lucky if they remembered to prepare him a meal. Not that they forgot most of the time, but it wasn''t exactly rare either.


    He found it hard to describe himself whatsoever at that time. After all, he hardly did anything at all. The things that came to mind as descriptors were male, boy, and maybe child which ovepped with each other.


    Kairos epted to define the him at the time as robotic since that was the way he acted. Only moving when prompted.


    Eventually, he was old enough for his parents to allow him to go outside on his own, which felt like an entirely different world. Kairos could not remember the age, but he knew that it was realistically one that was too young for him to be off on their own.


    Not that he wasining.


    During that time, it was almost as though someone breathed life into his corpse. He was filled with curiosity, going from one ce to another all the time. There were several people who saved him from doing dangerous things like going out onto the street.


    He first learned to lie when people asked him where his parents were.


    He first learned that stores and people were everywhere, whether it was other kids or adults.


    He also first learned that there were less than nice people as well, though it hardly bogged him down.


    Everything felt new and magical.


    Kairos couldn''t help but feel a little sad as he defined the him at the time to be curious and cheerful. Looking back, it was almost hard to realize that it was actually him in those memories and not someone else.


    It was simply theplete opposite of who he was now.


    People change, and perhaps that change isn''t always a good thing. Kairos felt mncholy. There was a part of him that wished he could be more of that kind of person, but there was another part that knew he just couldn''t.


    Not to mention, it would probably be a disadvantage to his survival if he were to shift to be that kind of person.


    It was at this point that he understood who he was a bit closer.


    Someone who was sad, but wanted to be cheerful. But it wasn''t like he could be happy just because he desired it. Of course, there were things such as drugs, but he didn''t bother trying since he knew they wouldn''t fix his problem on a fundamental level.


    He rxed his hands that were unknowingly pressed hard against the wall.


    There was a certain sense of relief at acknowledging this fact. Yet, there was also a sense of despair that weighed down on him. Frankly, it was something that he should''ve realized a while ago.


    Especially when he was pseudo-diagnosed with depression by the smartest guy he had found after the apocalypse.


    Yet despite all that, it wasn''t something that had clicked until now.


    Kairos took in a deep breath, before taking a step back from his bootleg mirror. For a moment, he just let himself be sad. Instead of denying it, ignoring it, or trying to distract himself, he in and simple realized he was sad and let himself feel that sadness.


    He cried ever so slightly, though it was hard to tell since his eyes currently weren''t there.


    After staring at his reflection for a while, the sense of despair gradually became lighter. It was still there, that was for sure, but it was no longer on his mind so much.


    Kairos now had a new goal, to be happier, even if only a little.


    He thought about why things made him happy as a kid. For him at the time, he hadn''t seen much before and was pretty much shut off from the rest of the world. However, this sudden ess to everything else was incredibly interesting.


    Just finding new things out made him happy. In fact, simply walking around was enough for a smile to be on his face. It was a simpler time when the little things were big. But no matter what he did now, times were no longer simple. He understood more, and many things had be expected.


    Even if things were different in the future, he had enough of a basis now to make sense of most of the things that were foreign, so that they didn''t feel new.


    However, Kairos had no ns of being pessimistic and calling it at that.


    What if instead of hoping that happiness came to him, his perspective changed?


    Instead of hoping that he would somehow be able to just be happy like those times before, what if he tried to shift his perspective so that he could view things in a happier light?


    Of course, that was easier said than done, but Kairos decided this was what he was going to try.


    And so, his first step was trying to smile a little.


    It looked especially ugly, because it had been a while sincest time and his monster form.


    But it was a smile.

 Chapter 256 Lying To Himself

    Chapter 256 Lying To Himself


    Not long after, Nyoka and the others had finished killing and looting the monster in the room they had gone into. When they came around, Kairos turned around with a forced smile on his face.


    All three of them showed surprise and concern, even Jeff who usually had a hard time showing any emotion at all.


    Nyoka exaggeratedly raised a finger for a second before pointing it at him.


    "Are you alright? You seem to be even more unstable thanst time."


    Kairos couldn''t help but roll his eyes. He waved his hand dismissively.


    "I''m fine, alright? Stop overreacting."


    Sara was smiling, though the corners of her lip twitched. While tilting her head to the side, she questioned him, clearly not believing that everything was fine.


    "Haha, maybe you should take a bit of rest before continuing on. Just for a little bit."


    She pressed her hands together, almost like she was trying to console a child. Jeff gave a few nods, clearly in agreement.


    "It seems like you are a bit tired, and need some time to cool off."


    Kairos couldn''t help but let out a long sigh. Despite the fact they had only known each other for a few days or so, it appeared that the kind of person he was had been quite clear to them. They already understood that this was extremely out of character for him.


    "Seriously, I''m fine. I get that it looks a little weird, but I''m trying something out. Maybe it''s a little bit unsightly, but I''m going to try and smile. Please just bear with it even if it makes you feel like throwing up while looking at it."


    Nyoka and the others looked at each other, almost like they were confirming that the words they heard were real. It was as though they simply couldn''t trust the fact that they didn''t mishear.


    This wasn''t lost on Kairos, who felt like they were overreacting a little too much.


    "Look, I get that I''ve been acting a bit unhingedtely. To be honest, I can''t even be too sure if I was in control, or some sort of other personality at any point in time. However, one thing I can be confident in is that this decision wasn''t because of some bout of craziness. At the very least, most of it was made while rational."


    Jeff rubbed his chin a little before bluntly speaking up.


    "Crazy people are always the first to say that they aren''t crazy."


    Kairos shrugged his shoulders, the corner of his lip turning up slightly.


    "And so are the ones that are used of being crazy when they really are in full control... Er, well maybe not full control, but close enough."


    Sara blinked a few times. She didn''t say anything, only looking at him with a puzzled expression. It seemed that while she didn''t fully disbelieve Kairos, it was also hard for her topletely believe him either.


    As for Nyoka, he let out augh before pointing at him.


    "But I''m going to miss the old you after a little while if you suddenly change like this."


    Kairos crossed his arms and let out a forcedugh.


    "To be honest, if you actually do notice a difference in the first ce, I''d be really surprised. It''s really still going to be the old me, just one that''s desperately trying to make a change."


    Jeff stared at him nkly for a while.


    "But it''s not like you can just smile and be happy all of a sudden. From what I understand, you should understand that very well."


    Kairos'' smile ended up widening slightly, as well as bing fairly natural. Despite his monstrous appearance, it appeared quite gentle.


    "No matter how you put it, smiling while you don''t actually have a reason to is a lie. But I''m smiling not because it will make me happy, or to try and convince other people that. It''s to lie to myself, despite knowing it. That way, at least if one day I am happy, then I won''t be lying to myself and denying that fact."


    A moment of silence lingered between them. Sara couldn''t help but burst out inughter.


    "When you put it like that, it really... really, makes me question... some things."


    She trailed off, her voice quickly turning into a whisper. Though a rather bright smile remained on her face the entire time.


    Kairos looked off down the gloomy and dark corridor. He spoke in a somewhat upbeat, but strained tone.


    "So, where are we off to next?"


    It was a strange tone he had, half filled with excitement, while the other was apathetic. Still, regardless of how it came off, he was looking ahead. He began walking, not really at a brisk pace, but not at a slow one either.


    Nyoka let out an awkwardugh as a bitter smile formed on his face..


    "Actually, we were thinking of taking a break to recover. Our avatars were all either injured or at least a bit tired now. Yours especially so."


    Kairos stopped his walk awkwardly, before letting out augh.


    "Ah, you''re probably right. That''s my bad."


    Nyoka crossed his arms and looked at him silently for a few seconds before shaking his head.


    "Yeah, I already miss the old you, I can''t lie."


    Kairos chuckled while waving his hand dismissively.


    "Anyway, would it really be safe to take a rest right here?"


    Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.


    "Monsters won''t bothering to the hallways due to the thin density of ck fog. However, there''s always the concern of other people. While we don''t really have to sleep, it will increase the recovery of our wounds. We can always just have one person awake to notify the others if someone really doese."


    Jeff pitched in with his own statement.


    "Though the probability is low unless someone had followed us since this dungeon is essentially a twisting maze."


    Kairos nodded a few times.


    "Alright then, I guess I can take the first watch."


    Sara sat down on the ground and got asfortable as she could.


    "Thank you then."


    Without waiting another second, she closed her eyes and seemed to doze off in a moment or so. Both Nyoka and Jeff followed suit, falling asleep in a matter of seconds. Kairos couldn''t help but feel astounded by the sight.


    It wasn''t just the strange trust they had for him, but also simply the fact that they were even able to fall asleep that quickly. Even at his fastest, he needed a few minutes at least.


    Kairos let out a weakugh before he sat against a wall, with both sides of the hallways within his peripheral vision. The faint sounds of breathing and asional roars in the distance were all he heard. Though after sitting in silence for a little while, he felt like it might''ve been better to start humming.


    So he did, though without really any kind of tune to follow, since the only songs he could remember were from the strange trio he had met a while ago. And he frankly only heard snippets of those songs.


    Still, he did his best in just having fun with it, singing random tunes that didn''t make the most sense, but it didn''t really have to.


    However, his broken melodies would have to wait, as he caught someone walking by themselves slowly approaching from a distance. Kairos went over to wake up the others.


    "Hey, there''s someone here."


    The three of them woke up, Jeff immediately springing up to his feet, while the other two were a slight bit slower and groggy. Nyoka didn''t seem particrly concerned, scratching the back of his head.


    "I didn''t think that this would happen so soon."


    It did not take long for everyone''s eyes tond on the person in the distance. By now, their features were clear enough to make out.


    The man had long ck hair and a healthy peach skin tone. All things considered, the man looked quite simr to a normal person.


    Which was a huge red g.


    Because the general person here had pale skin and gray hair. Kairos was a monster currently, but he was still less of an exception since monsters weren''t exactly a rarity in this ce.


    The man had his eyes closed, but there was some still slightly wet ck blood smeared on top, looking almost like a blindfold. He was walking very deliberately, making sure his feet didn''t drag against the ground, or even slide against the ground at all. It would be incorrect to say that it was floaty, but they werepletely silent.


    The man himself was wearing robes that were fairly loose, swinging about as he moved around.


    Kairos stepped up with a smile.


    "Hello there, do you have any business with us or are you just passing by?"


    The man looked over and had a rather calming voice.


    "I am looking for something. Have you seen it?"


    Kairos blinked a few times.


    "Um, what exactly is it?"


    The man lowered his voice slightly.


    "Artifacts. Red in color, and tends to take on basic geometric shapes. I can sense multiple nearby."


    The corner of Kairos'' lip twitched as he realized what he was talking about.

 Chapter 257 A Strange Man

    Chapter 257 A Strange Man


    The man was here to take the strange red prisms that Kairos had on him. That was something he knew pretty confidently, while Nyoka and the others were simply quite confused.


    With his current mood, Kairos recognized that one of his options was to just give up the artifacts and hand them over. It was normally an option he wouldn''t even think to consider, but in his pursuit to change himself, this suddenly became quite clear.


    He could probably end the conflict before it began if he just handed them over.


    And it definitely was a tempting decision to make.


    Yet, just as he was leaning towards making that decision, he woke up slightly. He came to realize that he wasn''t a person that would just let go of things so easily, for better or for worse.


    Perhaps it may have been the right decision to let go of the red prisms he didn''t even really understand. Fighting a battle with a force he didn''t even really know. It wasn''t like the end of the world if he suddenly lost them. And most importantly, he didn''t have a strong reliance on them in the first ce, especially now with how much power came from other things.


    Realistically, logic became a bit looser in this area. Kairos was unwilling to let go of an advantage he had, even if overall, it might''ve not been the best choice.


    He noted that down as something about himself, and that it was something he only understood by questioning things he wouldn''t normally.


    "Sorry, there are no artifacts or anything here. You''re going to have to look somewhere else."


    Kairos said it with an unusual calm and directness. It was a normal way of speaking, but was so normal that it became creepy. As for the man across from him, he held out a palm, like some weird form of bodynguage only he understood.


    "No, they are definitely here. I can sense them. They are close."


    Kairos raised an eyebrow, pretending to be suspicious of him.


    "Ok fine. So if we leave this ce and let you search it, you won''t follow after us?"


    The man slowly put a hand to his chest, keeping his fingers tightly together, almost as though he was swearing an oath.


    "I simply go where I can sense the artifacts are. Whether or not I end up following someone is unrted to my movements."


    Kairos was thinking fairly rapidly. Despite what he was saying, he didn''t actually intend on deceiving the unknown man. In reality, he highly doubted that he would be able to get out of a fight while holding onto the so-called artifacts.


    The problem that came was whether or not Nyoka and the others were willing to help him, or at the very least not interfere to his detriment. While they had been together for some time, at the end of the day, they were more or less strangers.


    He was essentially trying to convince them that he wasn''t guilty of starting the fight, and that they had no choice in the matter. Though Sara was looking at him rather strangely, as though she fully understood everything.


    Regardless, Kairos pretended that he didn''t notice and cleared his throat.


    "Well, you have to understand a person can only give you so much benefit of the doubt. In good faith, we could leave, but if you follow you have to understand that we can''t take the risk you just so happen to being along."


    The man remained silent for a moment, tilting his head ever so slightly. He slowly extended out one hand, bent his knees and raised one hand behind them.


    "Perhaps it would be simpler if I proved I could defeat all of you."


    Nyoka took a step forward and narrowed his eyes.


    "Seems like someone is a little cocky."


    Jeff cracked his neck and stepped up as well.


    Currently, Nyoka and the others, and Kairos for that matter, were definitely not in their best state. After all, they had wanted to take a rest for the sake of letting their avatars heal.


    And the avatars were naturally a huge portion of their power.


    However, Nyoka didn''t seem all that concerned despite the fact the strange man had suddenly be hostile. That made Kairos wonder if he had some sort of backup n. Though he wasn''t nning on relying on someone else.


    He held his spear up, slightly concerned that the man would notice it, but decided it didn''t matter anymore. His other hand had his w on, opting to put the spear in the middle of the des to hold the spear into ce.


    Kairos was rather reluctant to use mana, since it was incredibly difficult to gather in this ce. In fact, he found it even harder to do while in the dungeon. However, he doubted he had much of a choice.


    The man seemed to be from The Church of Evolution, or at the very least rted in some way. From his experience, not a single one of them was a pushover. In fact, most of them were too difficult for him to even have a chance at, even with the help of others.


    Kairos immediately began channeling the darkness spell. Though it didn''t seem like the man would simply stand by and watch.


    He continually lunged forward, keeping one leg bent, in front of him, and another behind to push him forward. Despite only periodically moving forward over a second, the amount of ground he covered in a split second made it feel like he was traveling in an instant.


    If Kairos couldn''t see a second ahead of time, then it would''ve caught him off guard. He thrust his spear forth as the man got close. Kairos saw him dodge it by side-stepping and attempted to redirect, but the man simply moved a bit differently and evaded anyway.


    The man mmed a palm into the side of Kairos'' spear, throwing it off. In response, he kept the spear trapped between the ws, but it only partially mitigated the push. Right after, another weighty palm went straight for his chest.


    Yet right before it could reach him, Nyoka thrust a ck fang forward over Kairos'' shoulder, protecting him. The man was able to avoid it, suddenly changing directions. However, he did have to give up on pushing forward on that attack, taking several steps back.


    At the same time, Jeff lowered his body, keeping his center of gravity low before recklessly rushing forward, crossing his arms in front of him.


    The man waited for Jeff toe close and pulled his arm back before throwing the other forward. A loud thud resounded once the man mmed his hand into Jeff''s arms. Jeff, who normally didn''t react, visibly widened his eyes.


    He was stopped in his tracks, sliding backwards slightly.


    Though what was perhaps more shocking was that the man was forced back several meters. Kairos couldn''t help but wonder how heavy Jeff must''ve been, but pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the fight.


    The man that was pushed back took a deep breath, like a monk that was meditating. He held out both his palms, with his fingers pointing down.


    "It appears I must preach to reach those that don''t understand the origin of their power."


    Suddenly, his palm ripped apart, a bright red bloody line forming on it. It was as though a serrated knife had suddenly pierced into him and was pulled down, going all the way down to the tip of his middle finger.


    The man suddenly twisted his hands around and began humming some strange unintelligible sybles.


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched as he got down.


    "Be careful!"


    He held his spear and w in front of him as he curled up in a ball as much as possible. Jeff caught that out of the corner of his eye and stood in front of Nyoka. The man held his hands in a pping position, before suddenly mming them together.


    A giant red wave of energy suddenly rushed over. It mmed into Jeff first, making him take a step back, while his skin reddened from its usual pale white. As for Kairos, he held strong onto the spear while the w mainly protected his head.


    The wave mmed into his spear, nearly knocking it out of his hands. Thankfully, it split apart and the brunt of the attack missed him. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his arms.


    The ck flesh was stripped off like it was a wrapper being ripped off.


    Nyoka and Sara were unharmed, because Jeff stood in front of Nyoka, while Sara decided to stand behind Kairos. However, it wasn''t done there.


    Trails of blood leaked down the side of the man''s arms, but he didn''t seem concerned. Instead, his chanting steadily grew louder, despite his intonation not changing. He then pped his hands twice, emitting two waves of red energy one after another.


    Kairos narrowed his eyes intensely.

 Chapter 258 Relentless Assault

    Chapter 258 Relentless Assault


    Kairos rolled over to try and get behind Nyoka. However, he was quite far behind him due to being knocked back by the initial st. Sara did the same, getting into cover.


    From there, Jeff took two direct impacts one after another. This time, his footing was actually broken by the second and he mmed back into Nyoka. As for the red waves that continued on, while greatly mitigated, still came for Kairos.


    He grit his teeth, closing his eyes, and mmed down his spear into the ground. His weapon and arms were the guards that he had in front of him.


    All of his thoughts concentrated on the darkness spell he was attempting to cast. After all, he didn''t want to lose focus and possibly rebound the mana. That would not only waste the spell but cause him to be hindered in a time he couldn''t afford to be.


    The two waves buffeted into Kairos, one of his hands lost grip over the spear after the first hit, and the second pushed him back slightly, dragging the spear through the ground. Thankfully, his other hand was guarded by the w, allowing him to keep a firm grip regardless.


    After gathering himself in the short moment of respite, Kairos noticed that something was wrong. Nyoka had a very deep frown on his face as he looked at Jeff. When Kairos paid closer attention, he noticed that red veins that appeared to be glowing ever so slightly appeared on Jeff''s body.


    As for Jeff himself, he was unmoving. His arms were at his sides limp as he was in a daze, looking up into the sky. It was almost as though Jeff had suddenly been enlightened for whatever reason.


    While it wasn''t like he was a particrly active or energetic kind of person, it was still awfully strange.


    Though before worrying about any of that, Kairos simply threw the darkness spell which had grown to the size of a beach ball. While he could''ve made it stronger, he simply did not believe he could continue concentrating on it any longer.


    Not if the strange man had any more of those energy waves.


    Despite having his eyes closed, the man suddenly shifted his gaze towards the spell. Instead of pping, he separated his hands but kept them in the same position. Then, he spun one hand clockwise, almost like he was turning a wheel.


    Suddenly, the smile on the ball of darkness shifted to a frown as it was violently thrown into the wall, dissipating rapidly after.


    Kairos'' eyelid twitched witnessing this. He was starting to feel that things were simply getting far too ridiculous at this point. The reliable options he could think of were rapidly dwindling, especially with the unknowns of how long the man could keep that state up, along with what was happening to Jeff.


    In the middle of everything, Nyoka suddenly decided to give Jeff a thunderous p. One that used all of his strength, the crisp sound echoing down the hallway. Jeff himself only tilted his head to the side, though it did seem to have the effect of snapping him out of it.


    lights¦­¦Ïvel.c¦Ïm Jeff blinked a few times, but immediately fell to his knees. He clutched his chest while taking hoarse breaths.


    Nyoka''s eyes widened considerably.


    "What happened?"


    At this point, Kairos assessed his own condition and could feel a familiar energy within him. It was the evolution energy. The thing that was required in order to advance to the next rank, but also what turned people into monsters.


    Whatever this attack was, it was imbuing those hit with that energy.


    It hardly affected Kairos, since at his rank, he already had arge tolerance for it. However, the same couldn''t be said for Jeff, who was normally unmoved by the attacks thrown at him, just like a mountain.


    While sucking in a cold breath, Jeff mmed his head into the ground, causing cracks to appear.


    "It... feels like I''m alive."


    Normally, that would''ve been said when someone was feeling particrly vigorous, or satisfied for whatever reason. However, under normal circumstances, the kinds of people here were just a few steps away from being dead, just like a zombie. In fact, they could be seen as a kind of zombie.


    As such, feeling alive despite normally being close to death was not good for him. Suddenly feeling the urge to breathe, while the heart attempts to beat was both a foreign and painful sensation.


    The strange man lifted his other hand, pointing his bloodied palm towards Jeff. At the same time, he brought up his legs to sit cross-legged and was now floating in the middle of the air.


    "In your name, I ask you to grace these sheep with your blessing."


    Nyoka immediately picked up Jeff, though from how his knees buckled, it was clear that the weight was taking a toll on him. He grit his teeth and attempted to run away. Sara did the same thing, and Kairos had the same urge to do so.


    However, he recalled how the attacks appeared to have an effect of evolution energy.


    Realistically speaking, the actual attacks themselves would have far less of an effect on himpared to the others. Or at least, the aftereffects of the attacks. Kairos decided to take a gamble, one that could very well cost his life.


    However, he was fairly certain that being reckless here simply had the highest chance of survival.


    Kairos decided not to hold back, extending his future vision to four seconds. Ignoring the strain that it put on him, he rushed forward, preemptively using most of the ck blood he had to use the harden skill, causing a thickyer of a ck shell to form on top of his body.


    At this distance, there was no realistic way for him to get out of range, even if he did see in the uing four seconds that he wouldn''t be able to hold it back. But at the same time, Kairos doubted that the strange man was just a short fuse that would run out of power so soon. Running away would only make it easier for him to use those ranged attacks to finish them off.


    And with his mana reserves now less than half of their maximum, his ranged options were quickly bing severely limited.


    The blood that came from the man''s palm almost seemed to have a life of its own as it began to bubble, sttering blood further, nearly coating the entire hand. It was then that Kairos saw what came four seconds in the future.


    A direct and more violent wave of red energy would spew out.


    Kairos still moved on ahead.


    After a second passed, he saw that it wasn''t actually a wave, but a constant stream. When it hit him, he was immediately blown away.


    He shifted his strategy, deciding instead to try and stand his ground.


    As his vision distorted, another second passed, and he saw himself holding his ground for a while, but being blown away regardless.


    Then, he thought of holding his spear out in front of him while doing his best to retain his position.


    The third second came, and this time, he saw himself actually pushing through the wave of energy. However, he was being slightly pushed back.


    At this point, he no longer had the time to shift his strategy. Holding out his spear in front of him, he saw the blooding from the man suddenly shine and burst out into a violent red stream.


    Holding his spear out in front of him, the brunt of the attack was diverted away from him, like it was a fluid. Unfortunately, it only did so much.


    Despite keeping his head down, the energy struck the top of his head hard, causing it to crack. The protection around his elbows and legs especially was directly ripped off, leaving the flesh to get torn apart.


    Kairos didn''t think he couldst much longer. To his dismay, he saw that this onught had continued on in the future four seconds. In other words, he was not going to escape in the new future simply by holding out.


    He thought about trying to retreat, and maybe get out of the range.


    However, he then remembered why he wanted to get close in the first ce. Should the man not be anywhere near his limit, then Kairos would be a sitting duck. The only chance he had was if he pushed on.


    So he moved forward. Using the feet with no toes, since all of them had already been torn off.


    By sheer force of will, Kairos took a step forward. His grip on his spear had be unsteady with that step, but was able to keep it in check since he saw iting.


    Then, he took another step forward. Kairos began fusing his red blood into ck blood for the simple purpose of fueling it into the harden spell so that he could mitigate the damage.


    And then, he took another step forward.


    As his red blood began draining, he couldn''t help but want to use one of the green orbs. However, despite being a monster he didn''t know how to make a third limb grow out. And if he relented at all with his grip on the spear, he would be blown away in an instant.


    And so, while feeling the effects of blood loss, he took another step forward.


    Then another.


    And another.


    Before suddenly, the wave of energy had disappeared.


    However, Kairos simply saw that he was next to the man, who pulled back a glowing red palm.

 Chapter 259 No Secrets Now

    Chapter 259 No Secrets Now


    ?


    Kairos naturally saw the sudden attacking and had a full four seconds to prepare. Though he was being worn down both mentally and physically. Maintaining this state meant he wouldn''t be able to focus reliably, thus he brought it down to two seconds instead.


    In a sh, he saw the screen of blood disappear and the palm approach. He went with what he would''ve most naturally, redirecting his spear towards the attack in an attempt to skewer the hand directly.


    However, he saw that the man easily changed the trajectory, sliding past the side of his spear and mming into his fingers, sttering them. Kairos quickly shifted his strategy, deciding to swipe with his spear.


    As his future vision distorted, he witnessed the man pping down the spear before his eyes while the other palm came straight for him. Kairos couldn''t help but feel cold sweat forming on his back, even though that wasn''t actually happening.


    Through the use of his future vision, he was always able to stay at least one step ahead. However, at the end of the day, hisbat experience wasn''t very high, especially whenpared to professionals.


    Unfortunately, it appeared being several steps ahead didn''t matter, because the man appeared to be able to react to whatever Kairos could think of.


    In the end, there was only one option he could truly think of.


    As the man''s glowing red palm rapidly approached, Kairos didn''t bother, as though it wasn''t there in the first ce, instead opting to thrust his spear into him.


    A resounding boom echoed throughout the hallway.


    Kairos was able to draw blood, but the palm that hit him directly shattered the ck shell over his chest and fractured several of his ribs. Despite holding his ground well, he was still blown back several meters, sliding on his feet.


    Out of reflex, he began coughing rather hoarsely.


    Though it was at this point that the man''s expression changed slightly.


    "You have them."


    His stance changed from there. His originally stationary legs shifted, lifting one knee high up while his hands were held up higher, and the red glow from them was far more violent. Kairos realized that he had been found out. Although he wasn''t sure how, that didn''t really matter right now.


    And because he was found out, he decided that there was no point in holding back with the so-called artifacts anymore.


    Kairos made dozens of spears made out of the living stone rise out of the ground and thenmanded them to force themselves out. He made sure to pay attention closely to their energy meters.


    Though momentarily confused by the load that it put on his brain, he was easily able to regather his bearings and control them all to fly towards the man at different angles. The red lighting from the man''s palms had receded.


    But that wasn''t because it had be duller. Instead, it grew brighter, bing more condensed.


    He actively took a step forward towards one of them, grabbing it before Kairos could redirect it, prompting the spear to suddenly glow brightly. The red veins within the spear suddenly red up, before muscle tissue began rapidly growing out from inside, turning into some strange amalgamation of flesh that looked like popcorn, except they were still all attached to the corn cob.


    Right after, he mmed another palm into it, exploding it into a fleshy paste.


    Kairos was shocked by this, not imagining that this was also a possible way to destroy the stone. He attempted to use his future vision to redirect the spears in ways that the man could not stop. However, he was thwarted each and every time, sometimes caught easily, and other times stomped on by a foot.


    In the end, they were all destroyed, painting the walls in paste that began to slowly disappear.


    Kairos stared at how much energy remained.


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 1420/1500]


    [ID: 2/10]


    [Energy: 1472/1500]


    The first one was responsible for creating the stone, while the second one was responsible for moving it. Although it appeared that the first needed less, Kairos had only moved the spears for a few moments.


    Though in a situation where they could be destroyed so easily, the energy of the first became more valuable.


    Since the spears were all so easily destroyed, seemingly overloaded by energy and imploding on themselves, Kairos decided to go with the opposite approach, instead making a giant double-sided hammer head out of the living stone, just a bit over half the size of the hallway itself.


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 987/1500]


    The energy cost was massive, but he believed that this was the best way to utilize it. He promptlymanded the giant thing to throw itself at the man as fast as possible. Instead of failing to rely on technique, to try and beat technique, he was going to use brute force.


    Kairos couldn''t see the man''s figure, simply because the giant stone had covered it. He wondered if his foe was nervous, or perhaps still as calm as ever. His question was soon answered.


    A thunderous bang shook the air, disorienting both Kairos and the others.


    The hammer head was blown backwards, its front consisting of arge amount of exposed muscle tissue. It almost appeared as though an infestation of fungi had spread overtop of it.


    As for the man, he remained with his bare foot outstretched in a kicking posture, a bright red line of blood down the center.


    Kairos ended up using the second artifact in order to just barely hold back the hammer head from swinging back over into him. He couldn''t help but feel that he was running up against a wall.


    But he did see the incredibly small injury on the man''s abdomen. One left by his spear.


    Though brief, he could remember hitting tough, but not invincible skin. While Kairos felt that the quote was stupid, he couldn''t help but think, ''If it bleeds, then we can kill it.'' Despite the damaged state of the hammer head, he decided to try and salvage its use, given how much energy was needed to create it in the first ce.


    But this time, he didn''t stay back whilemanding the objects. This time, he nned on fighting face to face with them.


    At the very least, it appeared oppressive enough to stop the man from using his more ranged options. Perhaps together with his melee, he would be able to do something. Though remembering what happened to the previous spears, he instead added to his spear, turning it into arge hammer, though smaller than the giant hammer head.


    Kairos rushed forward, whilemanding the giant hammerhead to loop back around and attack the man from the back.


    After zing on ahead, he brought the hammer back like a bat before swinging it as the hammer head came to the back of the other. Somehow, the man was able to push back on both ends easily without even looking. Granted, his eyes were closed, but the point still stands.


    Despite shifting his strategy twice based on what he saw, the man was able to repel both of the hammers as easily as the first time. However, when put into action, the man wasn''t able to mount a quick counterattack like usual, since the load of two big threats at once was too much for him.


    Nyoka and the others were watching awkwardly from a distance, though Jeff was more focused on the pain in his body.


    It wasn''t as though they did not want to help, but at this rate they would only get in the way rather than anything else. Not to mention, from how Jeff ended up, it didn''t look like a fight they could partake in without great risk.


    Both the original hammer head, and the hammer Kairos was wielding appeared to be blooming, in a sense. Though it wasn''t as bad as the first time, seemingly because the man had to split his power.


    Kairos decided to use both of them onest time, while greeting substitutes for them.


    Once again, the man deflected both of them, rendering them useless as they had simply be fleshy paste. The hammer head in particr was crushed, exploding into a mass of still twitching muscle tissue, and the same fate came to the hammer in his hand, as the man grabbed it and burst it.


    Ignoring the energy costs, Kairos simply used thepremade recreations of both things and relentlessly continued on. Though painfully aware of the energy costs, he did not stop, deciding that things were best if he continued on with this momentum.


    Despite seeing how the man moved so many times, Kairos still had great difficulty predicting how he would move in reaction to his attack without seeing it directly. Still, he decided to continue on regardless.


    The hallway shook as both the giant hammer head was sted backwards along Kairos'' weapon. He just barely kept it within his grasp with the help of the artifact supporting his pull on it.


    After another attack, the hammer Kairos was wielding was rendered useless once more, with the man crushing it. At this point, the energy left was very unlikely enough to create another hammer, prompting him to take advantage of the man crushing his hammer, digging his w deep into the man''s underbelly.


    Surprisingly, he didn''t even need to see the future tond this attack, as it worked on his first attempt.


    Immediately, he attempted to dig upwards with the ws, past the ribcage, in an attempt to injure more vital organs. However, the man''s entire body began glowing far more than normal as he did so.


    Unfortunately, it was already the point of no return.

 Chapter 260 At The End of The Rope

    Chapter 260 At The End of The Rope


    Kairos grit his teeth and continued pushing his w in, defending against the man''s dangerously glowing punch with his arm. He saw in the future how hard the hit would be, and was nearly put in a daze just seeing how painful it would be in the future.


    However, even if he wanted to back out now, it was toote. Kairos braced himself both physically and mentally before the strike hit.


    A sharp crack rang out.


    While he was feeling incredibly numb, it wasn''t hard for him to tell that his arm had been broken. Along with the pain, the heat it began releasing had red up several times over, making it feel as though it was burning even if there were no mes.


    In the midst of enduring the pain, Kairos dug the w deeper into the man''s body.


    From the looks of things, his suicidal exchange of blows wasn''t something that the strange man expected. He frowned before grabbing onto Kairos'' wrist, forcefully dragging the w out of his body.


    Immediately, Kairos'' other hand began heating up violently just from being in direct contact. While this was not the oue he preferred, there was little he could do about it as the difference in strength was toorge.


    Still, it showed that the man was actually rtively weak in terms of durability.


    While it had been a very long time ago, Kairos still remembered thest time that he had fought against a giant skeleton that appeared nearly impervious to all his attacks. Only his full-powered pulse spell was able to leave a small crack. And in the downtime, he was tossed around like a doll.


    While the man in front of him had considerably more threatening attacks, he was very clearly not invincible. As Kairos was thinking of that, another palm was sent into his chest, blowing him back and even causing some steam to rise from the hit.


    Unfortunately, being able to see the future didn''t always mean being able to change it.


    Despite feeling like he was losing grasp over his consciousness, he still brought back the giant hammer head, using its still somewhat good side to strike. Yet, a momentter, it was sted into pieces of flesh.


    Blood began overflowing from the man''s mouth, and simrly so from his abdomen. Though the strange thing was that given his wounds, he should''ve been bleeding far more.


    The amount of actual blood that made it out of his body made it seem like he only received a gash, and not that his insides were ripped out. Not to mention, it also began to glow, like the other wounds.


    While there was some uncertainty before, Kairos was now pretty sure that the man was like a warlock of some kind, turning his own blood into power.


    It set a scary precedent considering how injured he was now.


    Kairos truly felt like he was at the end of his rope at this point. He took a look at the artifacts, seeing how much energy they still had. Though his hopes were definitely not high.


    [ID: 1/10]


    [Energy: 1500/1500]


    [ID: 2/10]


    [Energy: 1500/1500]


    Yet, against all expectations they were both full. The dots quickly connected, letting hime to the conclusion that the warlock-like man''s attacks were infused with evolution energy, and a lot of it.


    Although it was good news that he was essentially free to use the artifacts as much as possible, a small concern budded as well. He opened up his status.


    [Rank: 13767/15000 Evolution Energy]


    As Kairos'' eyes honed into that specific line, he couldn''t help but feel an extreme sense of danger. Considering how much energy he normally needed to ascend in rank, it should''ve been difficult to acquire so much.


    Yet, this was the situation he found himself in. And that was also with the consideration that his capacity for energy was higher than a normal person''s. If it wasn''t for that, he would''ve already be a monster.


    Focusing on the pain he felt, Kairos was able toe to the conclusion that the parts of his body that were injured by the warlock were diffusing an incrediblyrge amount of evolution energy in his system slowly, like a poison.


    While he thought about cutting away the parts that were affected, it was already toote for that.


    Kairos internally cursed himself for underestimating how dangerous one of the members of the church really was. After reevaluating the options, the only two that seemed usible and ones he could think of in a sh were ending the fight in one or two more hits, or running away.


    Frankly, while it was nice to say, there wasn''t anything he could think of that would end the fight soon enough. He wasn''t one that ever prioritized running if it could be helped. However, it seemed that this was one of those situations that couldn''t be helped.


    Yet, right as he set his mind to running, a spasm of pain ran through his head.


    Brief visions shed through his mind in a familiar fashion.


    At first, it was just him along with Nyoka and the others running away, before it shifted.


    Then, while still running at his full speed, the man would show off somethingpletely new, creating a wave of energy up ahead that would cut him off, and simrly from the other directions, leaving no option for him or Nyoka and the others.


    The next vision was of him clutching his head in pain, unable to do anything else as the warlock approached, and his body was smashed into a paste.


    It had been a while since he had seen one of these visions that predicted his death. Though it wasn''t exactly a happy reunion. Kairos stared at the warlock intently, and conjured more weapons using the artifacts to throw since it appeared that he would prioritize getting rid of the weaponsing towards him before anything else.


    And the man did, fending them off.


    He decided to use this precious time to go back to the drawing board.


    Then it urred to him why this fight was even happening in the first ce.


    The artifacts.


    While he didn''t think the chance was high, perhaps if he handed them over, then this conflict would be resolved. Yet, right as he was trying to think of a way to deceive the warlock into thinking it was a show of respect rather than fear, visions in his head appeared once more, and with even more pain.


    The warlock would pretend to agree, but the moment he got his hands on the artifacts, he would release their powers against him, ultimately skewering him in countless spikes made of living stone.


    Peace was no longer an option. Or perhaps it was never one in the first ce.


    That meant his only chance at survival was somehow fighting his way out.


    Kairos did not have enough mana tounch a real attack that could actually suit his needs. At best, it could support some other idea. With this in mind, he tried exploring both new and old options he hadn''t considered.


    It was then he remembered the new screech skill he acquired. Although part of the description was that it harmed the user, considering the warlock also had his eyes closed like a monk, it might''ve meant his hearing was particrly strong.


    Kairos immediately ate one of the few remaining green orbs he had to heal his injuries, and also supply himself with blood. After converting a substantial amount to ck blood, he recklessly activated the skill, despite not knowing how strong the bacsh really was.


    The idea of the green orb also reminded him of the item that Kai gave him, a seed to be nted should he ever get in trouble. Though there was no soil here, and whether or not Kai could even reach out to help in this strange ce was a whole other question as well.


    While Kairos felt it was likely a waste, he wasn''t nning on saving anything after seeing his death so clearly twice.


    He dropped the seed into one of the piles of flesh, hoping that was close enough to the soil. Even just doing the action made it feel as though his actions were just that of a beached fish, uselessly pping about until it suffocated.


    However, with the consideration that he was no longer seeing those visions, it was a good sign.


    The seed showed no apparent reaction, though Kairos didn''t exactly have high hopes for it. At the same time, faint gray circles appeared across his body and began vibrating. He could feel the ck blood within himpressing, and that pressure was also pushing hard against his body, already causing him substantial pain.


    Right when the warlock destroyed another one of the hammer heads, Kairos released it.

 Chapter 261 A Monster

    Chapter 261 A Monster


    A deafening shriek just like the previous moth''s resounded throughout the hallway, even more concentrated because of how narrow the ce was.


    Kairos could feel the sound ripping through his flesh and skin to get out there.


    Despite knowing it wasn''t going to be pleasant, it was more painful than he expected. It was a kind of pain that was hard to understand, simply because it didn''t feel like a cut or a bruise.


    However it seemed like he wasn''t the only one that was under these effects. The warlock-like monk fell to one knee, holding onto the sides of his head with a deep frown. While he may have not cried out in pain, it may as well have happened given his state.


    Kairos wanted to take advantage of this state, but he was genuinely not much better off, considering both he was at the center of the attack, hurting himself the most, and also the fact he felt it twice over, racking him full of pain.


    Regardless, he desperately pulled himself together realizing how big of an opportunity this was.


    It simply wasn''t one that he could give up, regardless of how mind-numbing the sensations were. After attempting to take a step up, he saw that he would stumble. Despite attempting to correct his posture, he overcorrected it and fell anyway.


    While the warlock-like monk was still down, he was visibly gathering his bearings. There was very little time.


    Kairos caught himself, getting onto one knee. With some struggle, he pushed off the ground to get up on his feet.


    Just as he finally got up, the seed that he had tossed into the mound of flesh earlier suddenly sprouted, causing a giant beanstalk to rapidly grow. However, just as quickly as it grew, the entire thing withered into a thin bent ck dead nt.


    It appeared Kai truly did try to help, but was unable to in the end due to the nature of this ce.


    This simply reaffirmed him into realizing that this chance mattered so much more. With what focus he had left, he conjured two des out of living stone that went for the man''s neck.


    Flowers of crimson red sprayed out into the air.


    However, the man''s action of covering his eyes inadvertently protected him from the des. Kairos simply did not have enough coordination in his overloaded state to thread the needle when this fight was his first experience withmanding objects via his mind.


    While two ugly wounds had formed on both of the man''s forearms, they were far from lethal wounds.


    As that happened, the nt attempted to grow once more, with extra vigor this time, but died once more.


    Unfortunately, those injuries appeared to help snap him out of it, ironically doing more harm than good for Kairos. With only the de left in his own hands, he decided to rush forward with both hands sped around the handle, thrusting it forward.


    Although incredibly unstable, he was able to get in between the arms, andnded right into the man''s neck. However, the toughness of the neck was far more than what Kairos expected, and he simply couldn''t muster the strength to do much better than a rtively shallow wound.


    In the next moment, the warlock-like monk would grab onto the de, pulling it out before tugging on it in an attempt to cause Kairos to fall forward. Seeing this, he immediately let go of the de and stumbled backwards.


    However, it was not enough.


    The monk took advantage of the close distance before lunging forth, throwing a palm at him. Kairos simply couldn''t get away at this point. He quickly came up with something that could possibly help him.


    He held out his arm in front of him, letting the palm strike powerfully into his forearm.


    What appeared to be a sonic boom resounded as a clear crack resounded, signaling the snapping of Kairos'' bone.


    Immediately afterwards, Kairos let his arm fall limp and directly ripped it off by the elbow.


    He thought that this would inhibit the evolution energy from going through the rest of his body. However, his arm had regrown in a matter of seconds. And it was bright red, with little difference between muscle and skin.


    The fingers were longer and thinner than usual, with sharp fingernails that he was awfully familiar with. The ones that a monster had.


    In a panic, Kairos opened up his status panel, confirming his suspicions.


    [Rank: 16231/15000 Energy]


    Unfortunately, Kairos assumed that evolution energy worked on a simr principle to other things such as poison. However, from how it instantly spread throughout the rest of the body showed that it was even more bizarre than it initially seemed.


    Though the mechanisms behind them weren''t exactly his biggest problem right now.


    He had seen how just being on the cusp of the maximum energy had quite the adverse effect. And obviously, after exceeding that amount was when the transformation into a monster began.


    Something that was happening to him right now.


    More than anything, his will was challenged. Without even realizing it, he had fallen down onto the ground, no longer aware of anything happening in the world around him. The warlock-like man appeared rather eager about this opportunity, dashing above Kairos and lifting his palm up.


    Yet, right as he was getting ready to deliver a lethal strike, a massive vine formed from the seed, almost immediately covering most of the hallway. It was withering rapidly in real time, but the growth was so aggressive that it oupeted that decay, and by a longshot too.


    The man was immediately bound, finding himself soaring extremely high up into the air, unable to do much about it. The vines themselves seemed to be trying to squeeze hard enough to be a lethal threat, but the decay was simply too fast.


    Regardless, through the pure mass the vines had behind them, the warlock-like monk was helpless to do anything. Despite attacking the vines, that did little considering how fast they were dying anyway.


    It was like attempting to stop a hurricane and tidal wave from meeting with just one''s bare hands.


    As for Kairos, he didn''t know that the seed he had nted earlier was actually what saved his life. However, even if he was by definition, alive, the situation wasn''t all that much better.


    For perhaps the first time, he was consumed by fear.


    Even if he was in potentially more threatening situations before, as an extremely logical person, simply thinking about solutions was enough for him to ovee emotions or subdue them altogether.


    But now, it was already toote.


    He tried to think ahead, decisively ripping off his own arm. But with this unforeseen oue, there was no solution he could see. The only thing he could do is watch as his features began to morph.


    The ck blood and monstrous featuresbined together, forming some strange monstrosity, bright red flesh coated with stretched out ck skin overtop. It was a strangebination, almost making it seem as though it was a heavily parasitized monster.


    Kairos continuously felt his consciousness blurring, getting reced by something incredibly primal. He thought that it was bad when the wolf shared a consciousness with him, but he got pped in the face and was shown what it really meant to fight over his own body.


    While it may have not been pleasant before, having his mind taken over by others had given him a fighting chance here. Though normally, he was the one in the dominant position, given that it was his own body.


    But now, the roles were reversed.


    Unfortunately, while he did have a fighting chance, he could feel his entire consciousness quickly disappearing. This wasn''t a problem he could just solve through brute force, or by killing the enemy. Because he had be his own enemy.


    Despite a tiny part of him falling into despair, he still continued to try to think of solutions, mostly to maintain his own sanity. Most of his options were cut off simply because it was solely a mental battle.


    But that was a blessing in disguise, as he remembered what let him gather some semnce of control over himself in the first ce.


    Remembering what defined himself as a person.


    It was something he had put off before, but at this point, it was now or never.


    He forced himself to recall some of his old memories, deep in the back of his mind.

 Chapter 262 Too Late

    Chapter 262 Too Late


    It was a strange sensation to feel someone else''s will attempting to one''s own. However, Kairos was somewhat familiar with it. Though it was only when he started to try and dig through his own memories, that what was happening wasn''t exactly as it seemed.


    There was no foreign will trying to overtake his mind, but rather another part of his own will that was attempting to take over. One that cared for little more than surviving, regardless of the cost.


    It was his instincts, though it had blown up to be far more exaggerated and desperate than normal.


    In reality, it wasn''t all that different from how Kairos was normally, though nuances could still makerge apparent changes. Nuances such as rationality and intelligence. Ones that Kairos was desperately trying to hold onto.


    He cried out in pain, though it wasn''t a voice that sounded like his own, but rather deep and guttural.


    Most of his features were mutating. No, his features were disappearing, the things that defined him. Though it was a problem he couldn''t worry about right now, not that he was even aware of it in the first ce.


    Kairos sank deep into his own consciousness, digging deep into his memories.


    And what he recalled was him simply lying down on his bed, doing nothing. Perhaps a normal person would''ve thought this was a meaningless and random memory, wanting to hurry to think of something else defining.


    However, Kairos couldn''t even lie to himself if he wanted to.


    It wasn''t a particrly unique memory, but it was one when he had the most thoughts. He had apleteck of ambition. There was nothing he truly desired to do, nor was there even some hobby he ever looked forward to doing.


    There was practically no future in his sight. Perhaps he could envision his life a day, or maybe even a month ahead. However, if it was a year, then he had absolutely no idea. In ten years, it might as well be an entirely different person.


    Quite ironic for a person who could literally see the future, albeit only for a few seconds under most circumstances.


    Even when his friend Edward had be quite frazzled and afraid of him, he did very little to repair that rtionship. Simply watching as the bridge continued to weather until eventually it was too much and it snapped. He didn''t even reach out, not even symbolically as he watched it leave.


    Whether or not the apocalypse had even happened would hardly even affect him, given he would always let things happen to him, not truly resisting it in a meaningful sense. Kairos recognized this, that he was pathetic.


    Unable to even make a way forward for himself, irrespective of whether or not it would work out.


    He epted this, not in a depressing way. Just understanding that it was a fact about himself, for better or for worse.


    The animalistic side of his mind was continuing to grow in power, and while he wasn''t able to suppress it, at the very least he was also holding firm to have a ce within it as well. While this wouldn''t solve the problem by any means, it was definitely a good start.


    So he continued to think about himself, what defined him.


    While that was happening, the vines had gradually lost their power. An overwhelming force hade out of them, but the withering effect was simply too strong for them to retain any sort of force for an extended period of time.


    As such, the warlock-like monk was finally freed, though it would still have to make its way through a pile of dead nt stalks. From the looks of things, he was in a very big rush. While his facial expression was still neutral, he was showing anxiousness through his movements, hurried and careless.


    On the other hand, Kairos had just aboutpletely transformed into a giant monster, reaching several times above his original height. His appearance was vastly different from both the things walking on the surface along the beings dwelling down here.


    For the most part, his flesh was red, like the monsters originating from excess evolution energy. But instead of being humanoid, he appeared to be in the shape of a hound, with strangely slim body partspared to the normally overly muscr ones.


    On top of that, ck flesh appeared to coat most of his body, attached to him as though it were some sort of mesh. But from the ck veins that bulged from his body, it was more than just something that wasyered on top of him.


    At first, he had been writhing around, but after the transformation finished, he quickly calmed down. The warlock-like monk noticed this too and stopped rushing so fast, instead slowing down to a walk.


    For a brief moment, the two of them looked at each other and almost seemed like friends.


    Then, Kairos let out a deep roar and lunged forward, swiping a w at him. The man responded with a swift deflection using the side of his arm before taking arge step forward and mming his palm into the side of Kairos'' head.


    A shockwave resounded quickly followed by a boom.


    The palm hadnded squarely, forcing Kairos to tilt his head to the side awkwardly. But that was about it. He turned back to face the man before roaring and rushing at him once more.


    At this point, the warlock-like monk simply turned and ran, not bothering to deal with the situation anymore. With a ferocious roar, Kairos chased after him on all fours. Yet after rounding a corner, the man had disappeared almost like he was never there in the first ce.


    Like that he fled, clearly caring little for whether or not it was considered cowardly or the confident words he had dered before the fight. Though a shameless opponent was something to be afraid of for entirely different reasons.


    Confused, Kairos looked around for a little before letting out an angered roar.


    Nyoka and the others watched this with confusion. Although it wasn''t exactly strange for them to see people transform intorge amalgamations and monsters, it was clear that Kairos'' transformation was not so simple.


    Not to mention, Jeff was still struggling, coughing as he hurriedly breathed, convulsing the entire time.


    Nyoka narrowed his eyes while looking at Kairos'' figure far off in the distance.


    "Is he... still sane?"


    Sara looked with a tad bit of concern.


    "That... He has precognitive powers, so surely he would avoid any kind of scenario that greatly hampers him."


    Despite saying that, it didn''t sound like she even believed her own words.


    Nyoka looked down at Jeff, who was clutching his chest like he was desperately trying to rip his heart out from his body. He frowned,pletely clueless as to what he could possibly do to restore Jeff''s condition.


    His eyes drifted to the roaring monstrosity across from him, realizing that it was very likely for him to know something about whatever this energy was. Whether or not he could get an answer was a whole other question.


    As for whatever Kairos had be, after throwing a tantrum for losing his prey, he had turned around to look at the others in the distance. For a short while, he stared silently. Nyoka took a few steps forward before calling out to him.


    "Hey! You still in control of yourself?"


    Kairos did not respond, instead continuing to stare at him for a while. Then, he broke out in a full sprint, chasing after them.


    Nyoka clicked his tongue, scooped up Jeff once more and began running. However, in his current form, Kairos was much faster. After furrowing her brows, Sara transformed into an eagle and lifted both Jeff and Nyoka each with one w.


    She did not bother trying to go particrly quick, instead focusing on soaring into the air.


    When Kairos did end up reaching them, he only growled while under them, not understanding how to get up. Realistically, he could''ve jumped off from the walls given the rtively narrow hallway. But this was not a fact he realized, fortunately for Nyoka and the others.


    He lingered for a while, quite stubborn. But Sara simply leisurely flew around, making sure not to exhaust her strength by much.


    Only after an entire hour passed did Kairos lose patience, running off once more.


    While aimlessly wandering, he hade across many of the monsters lurking in the dungeon. He took that opportunity to rip them apart, venting his anger, and eating their flesh.


    His actions had devolved to that of a wild animal.


    It was an incredibly strong wild animal that easily ripped apart many of the normally threatening monsters.


    But it was a wild animal nheless.


    Kairos waspletely unaware of this, still trying to retain his self. Unfortunately, it was already toote to recover what fragile rtionship he had with the few friendly people in this ce.

 Chapter 263 Lonely Loner

    Chapter 263 Lonely Loner


    Kairos wasn''t ustrophobic, but with what consciousness he had, there was an incredibly pressing feeling that felt crushing. To even remain conscious was difficult. However, there was a fear that he felt that if he stopped staying conscious he would disappear permanently.


    It wasn''t something he actually had knowledge of, but some kind of feeling and one that he didn''t have to question.


    When he was still a child, he was for sure extraverted. After all, he would go around talking to people he had never met before with a smile on his face. Talking to people would only make him even more energetic until it eventually became far toote and there were hardly any people on the streets anymore.


    Though now, it felt like the opposite, as though he was actually an introvert, unable to find a reason to even step out of his room if it wasn''t for something else forcing him to. He wondered why this was the case, and why he never questioned it.


    However, after just a few moments he got an inkling.


    Most of the time when he did try to make friends, it did notst long. Whether it was because he was young or some other reason, it was simply too hard for him to actually form rtionships thatsted more than a few minutes with anyone.


    And even the few times when he did, almost all of them fell off sooner orter.


    There was a part of him that no longer wanted to think these thoughts, but he simply ignored that and continued, despite the ufortable feeling that was like he was trying to move through sludge.


    Though from a vision he had seen a while ago with Tori, perhaps not all of those burnt bridges were voluntary. The very few ones that actuallysted were the ones he made with Nicole and Edward. Or at least, ones thatsted longer.


    But since they were longer, Kairos had the assumption that they wouldst forever.


    Though that failed assumption was far from the end of the world, especially considering the amount of burnt bridges that he had across his life, as small as they were. The time that they were together might''ve made that friendship matter more to him.


    And yet, he didn''t even try to piece it together, despite what it meant.


    Kairos realized how little logical sense that made. Why did he not even begin or even think to try to repair it?


    The memories he carved out were painful, but he could also feel the ce he had in his mind was growing firmer. It wasn''t as easy for him to be overwhelmed by his other part, though he was definitely still at a disadvantage.


    There was still something more that he wasn''t getting at. Something that he needed to understand about himself before it was toote. He had only gotten the tiniest of hints towards it, only scratching the surface.


    But it was still far better than where he was originally, fumbling about without a single clue.


    A few other unrted thoughts had filled his mind as well, such as what Azami was doing, the person who encouraged him to start thinking about himself in the first ce. That thought made him remember what she had told him.


    That he also needed to think about his parents.


    A really unpleasant feeling surged through him just from that one thought, simr to the feeling of wanting to throw up, but without the actual urge itself. He really didn''t want to think about it. The thing he had been ignoring for quite a while, even more than his friends.


    Despite his situation, he still really did not wish to. Perhaps if his life wasn''t on the line, he would''ve just discarded it anyway and continued to ignore it. However, it obviously wasn''t so simple now.


    While still reluctant, he decided to try and look at his parents more objectively.


    There wasn''t anything in particr that was wrong with them, he was pretty confident about that. After all, he had heard many stories of truly terrible parents, ones that would physically or verbally abuse them. Some would starve the child to death. Then there were the ones that would simply abandon the child in the middle of nowhere.


    And perhaps some of the most horrifying to him were the ones that sexually abused their child.


    His parents were none of those things. They didn''t abuse him. They didn''t starve him. And he obviously wasn''t abandoned in the middle of nowhere. As for thest one, the closest thing would be forgetting to close the door while they were doing the "act".


    Though something he was fairly aware of was that while they didn''t do anything to him in particr, it was also true they hadn''t exactly done many things either.


    Even after all this time, the two of them still had a very close rtionship. That much was clear when his mother still went to retrieve his father despite bing a monster. As for him, he waspletely ignored, just like the others in his party.


    While it might''ve been a terrible thing for him toe along, he still couldn''t help but wonder how it would''ve been if he had.


    That was something he wondered about an awful lot. The exnation he was given was that they didn''t have the money to bring him along on their vacations. However, there was a part of him that was fairly sure that they simply didn''t want him to be there with them, as it would make it a bit more awkward.


    Despite being married and having a child, they were still just like teenagers in their honeymoon phase.


    Kairos didn''t hate them for that or anything. However, it did really feel like they weren''t the kind of people that should have a child. They hardly have enough time for each other with how close they are, much less for anybody else.


    Including him.


    For a moment, his thoughts suddenly dulled, bing nothing. Though he quickly came back to consciousness. On the outside, his body began howling at the air, attempting to discharge the negative feelings within him.


    When Kairos dide back to his senses, as much as he could, a rather obvious truth was finally ced in front of him.


    He was lonely.


    Incredibly lonely.


    To the point that he was willing to travel with random people, so long as they would let hime along. Kairos was desperate forpanionship to the point that it changed many of the actions he would normally do, diverging from his normal logical thinking.


    Simply acknowledging that fact made him feel incredibly awful. It made him want to scream, which he did end up doing though, though not to his knowledge. Despite the fact he felt terrible, his thoughts had be clearer, as he took a sizable chunk of his mind back.


    While Kairos himself had no idea, he had reimed enough to be in control of roughly a third of his mind. However, none of those were involved in directly controlling the body. He was able to very faintly sense the things on the outside.


    The sensations of his movements hade back to him, along with the asional sound, though it was incredibly vague and sounded like it came from very far away.


    However, those facts were not what he paid attention to. Acknowledging how lonely he always felt made him see many memories in a new light. In particr, the one where he was simplyying down doing nothing.


    Despite the peaceful look he had, the difort in his body was essentially screaming out desperately, asking him to do something. Asking him to do anything. And yet, he could only remain there, doing nothing at all.


    Kairos could feel himself growing insane every second he spent justying there doing nothing. The contradictory nature of wanting something to happen, to talk to someone.


    And being unable to bring himself to do it.


    It was an incredibly slow process that molded him. One that changed him very slowly, to the point that was hardly distinguishable between. However, over the course of his life, somehow his entire personality appeared to reverse.


    After realizing all of this, Kairos suddenly found himself at a stop. He opened up his head and dug out whatever he could find within. And it did help him considerably. However, this time he truly had no idea what else he could possibly do to help control himself.


    As horrible as it felt to unveil the things he had been hiding, it was also freeing.


    But that itself wasn''t enough.


    Unfortunately, the only advice Azami had given him was to understand himself better. But now, he was fairly confident that he had done that. At least, to a realistic degree. He didn''t know the exact number of hair follicles he had, but he doubted finding out would actually help him.


    He was back right where he was at the beginning, doing nothing and slowly losing his sanity. Except this time, there truly was nothing for him to do.


    But right when hopelessness had begun to settle, he heard a faint bark in the distance.

 Chapter 264 "Save Me"

    Chapter 264 "Save Me"


    Kairos was a bit confused by the barking he heard in the distance at first. However, he quickly realized what it meant. As the barking continued on and on, he gradually felt vision return to him, or at least, he appeared to see something.


    It was his room, except it was far smaller than it had been before. There was barely enough width for his bed to fit, and what was left of the room was at the foot of the bed, enough for a few people to be infortably. Though all things considered, it was very cramped.


    Kairos found himself waking up on top of the bed, and the wolf was at the foot of the bed, barking rather excitedly. It had its paws on top with its tongue out. It seemed rather happy to see him, though, from the looks of things, it wasn''t the happiest of situations.


    While he understood this, Kairos still reached over to pet it. There was a small smile on his face as he did so. The wolf leaned into the hand, closing its eyes while wagging its tail. It let out a few barks.


    "At least I''m not alone, I guess."


    He took a look around the room while petting the wolf. It was rather bare, without anything to even distract himself. While Kairos didn''t understand what was happening, he did know that things weren''t good.


    Yet, his ideas were as plentiful as there were interesting things on the walls.


    After pondering over it for a while, he decided to keep with what he set out to do before he had be a monster. Trying to be a little happier, as hard as it would be in such a scenario. And also thinking of a way to get out of this room and into the real world.


    For starters, Kairos continued smiling. He was still brushing the wolf''s fur and looked down at it. The wolf had calmed down considerably at this point, resting its head on Kairos''p. It was shivering ever so slightly, clutching onto him with its paws.


    The wolf was scared.


    Kairos'' eyes widened slightly. It seemed as though while his mind was being overtaken, the wolf was simrly affected like him, but he was just barely able to save its consciousness.


    In that silent room, he began humming a broken tune, not knowing what else to do.


    ...


    On the outside, his monstrous body continued on a rampage, ripping monsters apart and then eating them whole. Kairos in his frenzied state didn''t exactly have the finesse to be delicate and ended up destroying their hearts, sometimes even after they were dead by maiming the corpse a few times.


    As such, he was not able to inherit their abilities. Though the flesh was definitely worth something, acting as both sustenance to sustain the body and improving his strength further. With every consumed monster, the ck shell overtop his body expanded ever so slightly and got ever so slightly tougher.


    At some point, he had exited the dungeon, going out into the world, searching to kill anything he could.


    There were many fearsome monsters out there, however, he was able to tear them apart with brute strength. And it wasn''t even close.


    Somehow or another, he had benefited from both of the monsters he had be. The overload of evolution energy granted him extreme strength by overloading his body while also making him far more durable. The main weakness of this was that he had the same human vital parts, namely the head, neck, and heart.


    The ck blood had done simr things, but instead of durability, it had a strong ability to regenerate from wounds. This mitigated most of the weaknesses that the previous one had. Ordinarily, the heart would be the main weakness that came from it, but due to having multiple hearts, he wasn''t reliant on one to keep him alive.


    So long as one remained, the other would regenerate in due time.


    There were groups that attempted to take him down but were quickly suppressed through brute strength alone. Even though they gave up trying to save his ck heart and targeted it, that was not enough to kill him.


    Without knowing any other weaknesses they quickly crumbled and Kairos was able to kill the majority, save for a few that ran away early on.


    Although it was something unknown to him, the word of a mutant red-blooded monster spread amongst the people. A monster that was seemingly immortal with unstoppable strength.


    For days on end, he wandered, killing any living thing he could find and consuming them.


    As for the part of Kairos that was still sane, remaining inside the consciousness, he was starting to lose that sanity.


    While he could vaguely sense what was happening to his body, for the most part, he was just in a cramped room. He was together with a wolf that was also feeling incredibly ufortable as well.


    Since he wasn''t actually in a real body, he couldn''t sleep. At the same time, he was trying his best not to die of boredom as the days continued on and on again. It was akin to being in solitary confinement.


    The wolf whimpered desperately, clearly wanting to leave. However, it seemed to understand that it wasn''t so simple as it didn''t press too hard.


    In the end, Kairos and the wolf could only hold onto each other in an attempt to also hold onto their senses. It wasn''t as though he hadn''t tried to think of any solutions, but none had worked.


    The more he tried, the more he felt like it was going nowhere. As the only thing he could truly do, it had be an obsession. It felt akin to a wild goose chase that was only fraying his sanity even further. Despite the fact he didn''t have any writing utensil, nor did he ever purposefully make the actions, the walls were gradually cluttered up with big bold words, listing out his ideas, with big crosses on top of the ones that failed.


    Kairos realized that the room was a representation of his own mind, and how it was gradually deteriorating. Seeing all of it was only making things worse, making him more aware of his state.


    At this point, his only real options were to go insane by doing nothing or go insane by trying something.


    It was just like those times when he had no motivation to do anything and couldn''t bring himself to move. Except this time, he couldn''t move whether he wanted to or not. As this realization settled in, more writing appeared on the walls in the still nk spaces.


    All of which were saying "Save Me".


    He hadn''t even known those were his thoughts, as he instinctively pushed those kinds away. However, there was no hiding from it anymore when it was right in front of his face. After all the nk spaces were filled they began to overwrite on top of the previous text.


    It quickly devolved into a mess.


    The wolf looked around fearfully, letting out a weak whimper.


    Kairos wanted tofort it but didn''t know what else he could do other than petting its fur.


    ...


    Fueled by plenty of supply, Kairos'' body continued to growrger, taking on more features reminiscent of the ck-blooded monsters due to those being his main diet. If before, the ck shell could be considered a light addition, such as shoulder and knee pads, now it was more like a full set of steel armor covering almost every part.


    The only traces of him being a monster were through a tiny slit for his eyes, and tiny parts around joints or the mouth would be visible if bent or open.


    It ironically worked as camouge, allowing him to blend in with the normal monsters. Though anyone who saw his eyes recognized what exactly he was. Well, at least the survivors.


    However, monster or not, Kairos'' time in that realm was limited.


    Although not aware of it, an entire month soon passed inside such a ce. While Kairos was rushing after a monster, white chains suddenly shot out of the sky, shackling around his neck and limbs.


    He let out a roar, resisting the pull as best he could.


    However, the bindings appeared to be absolute, firmly holding him in ce and dragging him upwards. The entire time he howled aggressively, iling his limbs and head. Though it was pointless.


    After a rather long journey, he ended up being above ground once more. Hisst requirement for the promotion mission was fulfilled. However, his monstrous side wasn''t in full control, thus couldn''t do it on its own, and there was no way the still somewhat sane version of him could either.


    Regardless, the monstrous side of him refused to change his strategy, rushing in a random direction, aiming to kill anything that was alive.


    Even if the monsters here might not have been as weak as they used to be.

 Chapter 265 Instinctual Fear

    Chapter 265 Instinctual Fear


    Kairos was in the middle of a forest. His towering form made him the same height as the trees, even surpassing them if he were to stand on his hind legs. After growling, he rampaged through them, directly smashing down the surrounding trees and running through.


    He soon came across a monster. However, this one appeared quite different from the usual humanoid one. Like him, it walked on all fours, though its head was instead just one giant mouth,cking any sort of facial features or other extremities.


    Without hesitation, Kairos mmed down on it, causing a ratherrge crack to resound.


    However, it wasn''t immediately smashed to death. While gravely injured, it writhed and struggled. Using its mouth, it bit down as hard as it could into his limb. The teeth were big and sharp and did end up ripping into his shell, though the damage was still rtively minor.


    This wasn''t anything new to him, so he simply mmed the creature again.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded]


    He didn''t pay any heed to the notification, instead rabidly consuming the flesh of the monster on the ground. A few secondster, he continued to rush through, sooning across a clearing.


    A suburban area was within sight, which he rushed over to, possibly because it appeared familiar. He navigated on top of the few houses that remained standing, traversing through it.


    There was a noticeably smaller amount of monster densitypared to before he had gone down to clear his promotion mission requirement. On top of that, none of them were humanoid.


    Though the few he could find, he killed and ate.


    [Killed Creature - 0.1 points awarded] x 4


    Eventually, he came across a monster that rivaled his size. However, what was a tad bit peculiar was that this one was very humanoid. It was muscr, but lean, with proportions very simr to a human. On the sides of its head were two dark red horns that appeared to gleam.


    Though what was most peculiar, was the behavior. Unlike normal monsters that would be aggressive, wandering around when they were awake and attempting to kill things, this one was simply sitting on top of a house.


    It didn''t appear to have any intentions of leaving any time soon and even had a fist under its chin in contemtion. If it wasn''t for its exaggerated size, it would''ve seemed like a person wearing some sort of demon costume.


    The demon nced over at Kairos for a brief moment but lost interest in the next moment. As for Kairos, he stared at the demon for a few seconds, strangely giving it thought when normally that wasn''t the case.


    Because for some reason, the demon looked familiar.


    However, the thoughts quickly disappeared, as the one driving force reced them. To kill and consume whatever he could.


    With a roar, Kairos rushed over towards the demon. It did give another nce but didn''t seem to care much at all, not even lifting up its head from the fist underneath it. Thisck of ambition didn''t phase him though, as Kairos simply did the same thing he had always done, throwing hands.


    The demonzily raised one hand, blocking it.


    With a crash, the house he had been sitting on was smashed into pieces. However, the demon itself waspletely fine. Without anything to sit on anymore, it stood up, looking at Kairos curiously. It didn''t seem to mind suddenly being disturbed.


    But while its behavior was bing increasingly strange, Kairos'' efforts had remained the same. With wild abandon, he opened his jaws and attempted to bite down, trying to get an early taste.


    However, the demon deftly dodged to the side, easily avoiding the all-in attack.


    Following that, Kairos continued to wildly swing and bite over and over again, clearly not having any sort of n. The closest thing that could be called one was to attack until one side was dead.


    However, it didn''t seem that would happen, as the demon effortlessly sidestepped and just barely got out of the way of every single one of his attacks. It wasn''t even focusing on dodging, instead rubbing its chin while observing his wild attacks.


    After nearly ten minutes of a pointless back and forth Kairos stopped attacking. He panted while observing the demon in front of him. In turn, it reached over. While he had run away, it was pointless as there was an extreme difference in speed.


    However, it ended up being a false rm, as the demon simply patted his head as though he were themon well-trained house dog.


    For a moment, Kairos remained there confused, but then once more attacked aggressively. This time the demon didn''t bother dodging, allowing his w to dig deep into its side, causing blood to stter.


    Though it didn''t appear to have any effect, at the very least the demon appeared to not even recognize anything wrong. It simply continued to look on, inspecting rather closely. After a while it spoke with a gravel-like voice, almost sounding like the world''s calmest roar.


    "I see me... in your mind..."


    It was quite hard to decipher any sort of words from what he had been saying, and if one were to hear it, they might''ve simply thought the sounds coincidentally sounded like words. However, Kairos couldn''t process any of that, deciding to pull out the w and attempt another attack.


    Though before he could do so, the demon grabbed onto his front legs, holding them in ce firmly. It let out a small, but deep sigh while easily lifting him up.


    "It seems... we aren''t too different..."


    While Kairos was confused, it twirled around in a circle, violently taking him along with it. It almost seemed like a parent with their child doing something for fun. The demon muttered softly.


    "Go back... to your friends..."


    Before he had a chance to respond, not that he would, Kairos was flung off into the sky, smashing through a house in the process. The howling wind was piercing, the only thing he could sense with that was how wildly he was being thrown around. It was incredibly disorienting.


    As for the somewhat sane part of him residing in his mind, because of how intense the sounds were, he could actually hear it as though he was standing outside in the middle of a windy day.


    And it brought back memories to him.


    Of the times that he had been outside. The wind specifically reminded him of when Nicole was dragging him along in terribly windy weather, a time when most normal people would stay inside.


    They ran against the current, the wind wildly causing their hair and clothes to p around.


    Despite the fact air was technically forcing its way down into his lungs, it was terribly hard to breathe. It was incredibly hard to keep up, even if Nicole was pulling him along. There was a short moment when he wondered why in the world they were even doing this in the first ce.


    But despite technically choking, the wind against his face felt amazing.


    Nicole wasughing, though she too choked in the middle of thoseughs, having a hard time breathing. Although it wasn''t really anything special at the end of the day, Kairos couldn''t help but smile slightly.


    From that day on, it had be a semi-frequent habit of theirs where they would run as fast as they could, just to try and feel the wind like it was that one day, as far as the experience waspared to the first time. And whenever it was a windy day, Nicole had practically never failed to show up.


    The writing on the walls had faded somewhat, though the traces of them were still on the wall.


    As what was happening to Kairos, he mmed into the side of a still-standing high-rise building, toppling it over. The hit was enough to daze him, leaving him on the ground among the rubble for a while.


    There was a ratherrge crack over his body, spreading out like a giant spider web. Blood leaked out from those cracks, showing the severity of his wounds. Still, his body in this condition was incredibly resilient, allowing him to get up despite all of that.


    Even while this injured, his instinct was not to hide and recover but to continue fighting. To find something to kill once more like a rabid animal. Though perhaps he truly was a rabid animal at this point.


    He ran through the roads of the city with a fierce expression. Yet, only after moving for a few seconds, he froze up. The ce was as quiet as ever, almost as though it was an abandoned ruin.


    But despite theck of a living thing in sight, there was a deep sense of fear within him.


    His animalistic instinct caused him to freeze up, simply in the hopes that he wouldn''t be noticed, despite being the most noticeable thing in the vicinity.

 Chapter 266 Waiting For You

    <h4>Chapter 266 Waiting For You</h4>


    Kairos continued to remain awkwardly still for so long. For whatever reason, he felt like he was being watched despite theck of any presence nearby. Still, despite the logical move being to run away if he was supposedly being watched, the fear made him unable to move to act upon that.


    He was irrationally afraid.


    It came to the point that even with his numbed senses the somewhat sane part of him could notice it as well. Still, just because he noticed it didn''t mean he could exactly do anything about it. His control was still wrestled away from him even if the controls weren''t being used.


    With nothing else to do, the only thing he was left with was his thoughts. And the wolf too, but it simply remained by his side silently.


    Kairos then thought about his rtionship with Nicole. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it wasn''t one that should''ve even existed.


    He was always a rather dismissive person, reluctant to go along with anything, even if it was what he wanted to do. As such, Kairos was never very appreciative of anything that Nicole had done.


    Even if they truly were meaningful things to him.


    Despite how enthusiastic she always was, he was in turn like a rock, stoic and uncaring. It was frankly a miracle that she was willing to stick with him despite all of that. Perhaps with the apocalypse happening now, there was reason for her to do so, but there were many years beforehand that she stayed through.


    Dragging around a dead weight that was just barely willing to follow her half the time.


    Even when they were out together, Kairos rarely talked. He was pretty much a robot that would have curt responses to any questions that ended the conversation. In other words, one of the worst kinds of people to talk with. Simply because you might as well just be talking to a brick wall.


    Yet, Nicole never appeared bothered by it, still speaking up again and again to the brick wall like it was her job.


    She neglected other people who wanted to be her friend and would''ve definitely been better friends to her as well. This wasn''t something that Kairos just thought, but something he personally witnessed, as people he didn''t recognize tried to approach her, yet were waved away just like that.


    He wondered why that was never something he questioned before.


    It was something he took to be obvious when in reality it was the other way around. At the end of the day, he was still just one of the people in a world with billions. That was nothing all that special about him, nor was there ever some sort of inherent value.


    There was no real reason for Nicole to stay with him for so long, especially when she got nothing for it.


    So why?


    Why was she willing to stay in the first ce, even when it was filled with years of painful monotony? It didn''t make any logical sense to Kairos. Even if there were feelings from childhood, it wasn''t as though those could justst forever.


    In the first ce, most of the time she did reach out, he would only respond after at least an hour.


    Eventually, the only thing he could surmise was that the reason must''ve been pity. There was no other reason.


    And the more Kairos thought about it, the more clear and obvious it became. The more he realized that he took so much for granted. What else was there that he simply neglected? Perhaps the biggest one was his ability which had saved his life countless times.


    Then there was the fact that he was born into a family that could provide for him.


    Then there was the ability to go to school.


    Then it was the ability to move his limbs.


    The ability to speak.


    The fact he was born as a human.


    That he even had a heart that could beat on its own.


    The fact that he had lungs that could breathe.


    As his thoughts continued to spiral, the writings on the wall rapidly became clearer. However, all the ones mentioning ''Save me'' had disappeared, as did the possible ways to get him out of this situation.


    They were instead reced with other words.


    "What an unsightly thing."


    "How coldhearted."


    "Such a pathetic person."


    "Die. I need to die."


    "Somebody, please kill me."


    As though on cue, a faint, blurry sh appeared next to him. Despite not processing what it was, Kairos let out a terrified roar and tried to run away. But even if he was ten times faster, there wasn''t a chance he would''ve gotten away.


    A thundering boom resounded.


    Kairos was sted to the side, with his already cracked carapace shattering further, and even the fragments that remained on his body quickly decayed and fell off, revealing his dark red flesh with a big bruise on it.


    But despite the bad injuries, he did everything he could to run away. Yet, right as he turned away, the blurry figure shed to appear right in front of him, and with a wave of a hand, his entire head was blown off.


    Somehow or another, Kairos on the inside was still fine, in terms of being alive. The room shook massively, but somehow held firm, not that he realized it. However, he was freaking out like no other. The wolf next to him had realized how bad his condition was, but before it could ever do anything, it was pulled out of the room, sinking into the walls.


    On the outside, after his body copsed to the floor, the figure of the person responsible became clear.


    It was Nicole.


    She then reached into the gaping wound she just made and reached inside.


    Suddenly, a crack formed into the side of the wall, and rays of light poured in. Kairos was startled out of his frazzled mental state and looked towards it. After a bit of fumbling, a hand reached inside.


    "Kairos! Take my hand."


    Despite seeing salvation right in front of him, Kairos couldn''t bring himself to reach out.


    For some reason, whenever he felt his worst, Nicole would always be there to offer him a hand. He just didn''t understand how she was always there like she was telepathic. But more than that, he didn''t understand why she was willing to reach out in the first ce.


    "Why... Why are you always here, waiting for me? Even when I''m so... weak."


    After some grunting, Nicole used both hands to pry the crack open further, brightly illuminating the whole room. She pushed herself in, and with the light against her back, she smiled brightly while reaching out with both her hands.


    "What are you talking about? Of course, I will wait for you as long as you need. After all, you were the one that waited years for me first."


    Nicole grabbed onto his waist and forcibly dragged him out of his monstrous body along with the sound of ripping flesh. His body consisted of a mass of writhing flesh that only vaguely resembled a humanoid shape.


    The ends of his limbs only consisted of stubs that ended in a ripped tendril, almost appearing to be pieces of worn fabric.


    All things considered, any normal person wouldn''t consider that Kairos was a human. Perhaps the closest that an average person would ept was an oversized fetus that had something wrong with it.


    Yet, despite such a grotesque figure, Nicole affectionately hugged him like he was a baby.


    "Wee back."


    It was incredibly slow, but his body gradually melded back into its original human form, thoughrge blue veins bulged all over his skin. Once the skin was removed from his eyes, he was able to see.


    The light was bright, but it quickly adjusted to see Nicole.


    She looked quite jaded, with dirt stains on her face and hair shorter than before. The look in her eyes was far more mature than her old self, and yet, it still felt the same as it had always been to Kairos.


    Nicole held him in a princess carry and walked through the ruined city.


    "So many things have changed! Not all of them were good, but I''m sure everyone is really excited to see you again. Tiana was particrly stressed out, but despite worrying so much she did a really good job at managing everything. Also, that scientist guy was really smart and made a bunch of cool things that I don''t really understand."


    She continued on excitedly, talking about all the things that happened. However, while Kairos heard it all, it went through one ear and out the other.


    He was still rather confused by her earlier response, though his mouth was still covered in ayer of flesh, preventing him from speaking.


    However he didn''t have to sit there wondering for too long, as it eventually gave way. With a hoarse and weak voice, he spoke.


    "What did you mean?"

 Chapter 267 Stay

    <h4>Chapter 267 Stay</h4>


    Nicole stopped in ce, looking at Kairos with a bit of a confused expression.


    "Ah, well Ipleted my promotion mission, and it helped me kill a lot of things even when I hadn''t yet been promoted to the C rank. After I thought I got enough points, I decided to move up a rank, but after that, all the monsters seemed to be really afraid of me, hehe. It might be a little hard to get points, sorry."


    Kairos shook his head slowly, his lips ever so slightly parted the entire time.


    "I mean... you said that I waited for you. But... I don''t remember ever doing something like that."


    Nicole raised her eyebrows in surprise for a moment. She couldn''t help but let out a smallugh as a gentle smile spread out across her face. Instead of going the way she had been, she looked over at a huge section of rubble near the side of the road.


    After raising her hand towards it, all of the rocks began rapidly disintegrating, and in just a few seconds all that was left was the ground. The ground was barren, with only dirt, but after a short while, Nicole flicked her wrist and it suddenly became lush with short and dark green grass.


    She walked into the middle of the field and sat Kairos down facing the sun before sitting next to him as well. Still needing support, Kairos nearly fell over, but Nicole made sure to hold onto him closely and securely.


    While holding up her wrist, she showed a watch. It looked rather horrifying, with red veins pulsating all over, looking more like a piece of flesh than anything else.


    "Remember this watch you gave me? I can do this."


    A small intangible bubble formed around them, seemingly distorting the air. The world outside appeared to be sluggish.


    "Inside here, the outside world moves at half the speed, so we can take our time here."


    Kairos didn''t know what to say, so he simply nodded slowly, still waiting for her answer. As for Nicole, she took a deep breath, clearly not in a rush to give said answer.


    "Do you really not remember?"


    Kairos blinked a few times, trying to recall whatever she was referring to, though it wasn''t exactly easy to do when she hadn''t given any details.


    "...I don''t think so."


    She looked off at the sky, letting his head rest against her shoulder. Then, Nicole rested her own head on top of his.


    "I remember it so clearly, that I almost can''t believe it has been about a decade since then. It still feels like it was just yesterday. It was the day that we first met, do you really not remember?"


    Kairos let out a soft hum.


    "Wasn''t it when I was ying with Edward and you wanted to join in?"


    Nicole let out augh, which took a somewhat sad tone near the end.


    "So you really don''t remember. It feels a bit disappointing that you''ve forgotten, but at the same time if it''s something you so easily forgot, then it must''ve been something that came so naturally to you that it wasn''t anything special."


    Kairos became more curious the more Nicole beat around the bush. He tried tob through his memories to try and remember, but really couldn''te up with anything.


    "Was it really that special?"


    Nicole averted her eyes slightly and ran her fingers through her hair.


    "Well, maybe not. It would be more embarrassing if I had to say."


    After a short moment of silence, she worked up the courage to finally tell the story.


    "I ran away from home because I didn''t want my parents to see me crying. As for why, despite remembering how I felt, I don''t have the slightest clue... But that isn''t really important. After waking up early, I went outside on a bench to cry."


    Kairos could hardly move but still tried to look up at her, with curious and confused eyes. But Nicole had already closed her eyes, already deep within her memories.


    "There were a few people who asked if I was okay, but I didn''t care to respond, and they soon left. All of them except for you. When I didn''t respond, you kept trying to get my attention for a while. If I am being honest, I found it a bit annoying that you were still talking to me and wouldn''t leave me alone."


    She let out a small sigh.


    "But really, you only asked a few before going silent. I was just being irritable. At first, I thought that you had already left like the others, but I heard you sneeze next to me. It was hard to see, but I could make out that you were still sitting next to me. I decided to just ignore you."


    Nicole let out a weakugh while shifting around awkwardly.


    "But even as hours passed, you never left. Just sitting there silently the whole time, when you could''ve been doing anything else. It was only then that I even realized that I wanted someone to be with me, even if they weren''t doing anything."


    Her voice softened just a bit further.


    "I remember feeling so hungry, clutching my stomach while letting out whines. You said, ''I''ll bring some food!'' though as hungry as I was, I really didn''t want you to leave. Then, you sprinted away as fast as you could. Just a little whileter, you came backpletely out of breath and gave me a sandwich."


    She giggled with a tinge of guilt.


    "Without even saying thank you, I took it and ate it. Now that I think about it, you were smacking your lips and making gulping sounds. While I didn''t realize at the time, you were also hungry. For whatever reason, you gave your lunch to someone who you met just a few hours ago and hadn''t said a single thing to you. And the entire time, you had a smile on your face."


    Kairos felt a little disillusioned. Although he was very different as a child, he didn''t think that he was that kind of person. At least, not so much that he would give up his own lunch to someone while he was still hungry. His most prominent memories were actually when other people were kind to him, in part because of how rare it was.


    Despite his confusion, Nicole continued on as she had been. She held onto one of his arms that still hadn''t fully grown back.


    "Even after I stopped crying and calmed down, you still stayed with me. It really meant so much to me. I held onto your arm just like this, and you didn''tin even as it went well into the night. The only reason you even stopped was because my parents hade to find me and brought me away."


    Nicole gently stroked his arm and appeared to have trouble breathing, taking in one shaky breath after another.


    "But even with thatfort, I was still sad, among many other problems you know of. My parents tried to help me and took me to a therapist, but it never worked. After asking to y with you, it helped a lot. But still, I spent most of my time just sitting somewhere just like this and doing nothing. And you would always be there, next to me patiently. It made so much of the pain go away. I never really thanked you properly for all of that."


    Tears streamed down on her face, but she was smiling brightly.


    "So... thank you."


    Kairos did remember those times since the amount of times Nicole had asked him to stay with her was numerous. However, it didn''t feel particrly special to him, as doing nothing was something he had done plenty of before.


    "...It''s no problem. I was already very experienced in doing nothing."


    Nicole let out augh while sniffling.


    "I don''t know what would''ve happened to me if it wasn''t for you. For so many years, I asked for your patience, and you would be there every time. Everything hurt so much, but it was far more bearable with you. You were the one that taught me to be happy just for the sake of being happy. It was always you."


    She hugged him tightly while crying, almost like it wasn''t actually her that wasforting him. Kairos blinked a few times while looking at the sky. It felt like she had been talking about someone that was already so far away.


    "Hah... I can remember those times, but it just doesn''t feel like me. I know I was very different as a kid, but now I''m nothing like that."


    Nicole pressed her forehead against his with a wide smile.


    "Yes, you are different now, but you''re still the same kind person that you''ve always been. I can see it so clearly, so why can''t you?"


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