The bald man had the advantage, when I evaded his attack, I returned to the room, and I didn’t have much space to use in my favor. Evade another attack would be difficult in a confined space.

“You don’t have to look at me like that,” The bald man said. “Indeed, I tried to kill you. But it was because you killed my men, but I don’t want to do that anymore. Let’s be friends. No, even better, let’s be partners!”

Even though he was saying some stupid things, he didn’t drop his guard even for a second. His club looked quite heavy, but he was moving around that weapon like it was nothing with a single hand. He would, without a doubt, block most of my attacks. It was too risky to try anything with Sarah behind me.

“I’ll consider your offer if you take a few steps back and drop that weapon.”

“Kid, don’t get smart with me,” The bald man said with a serious face. “No one likes a smart mouth.”

“No one likes to worry about being backstabbed either.”

I didn’t have much choice; I had to taunt him and make him drop his guard or counter-attack when he tries to attack. One bolt in the head and he will die, but I was confident that I could avoid an attack in the head. After all, that guy couldn’t be faster than the anaconda.

“You have a point,” The bald man said with a hand on his chin.” But I don’t like to feel unprotected either, so what can I do to earn your trust?”

“Nothing, really. You only have two options: you can die fast with a bolt in your head, or you can die slowly with many bolts in your body.”

I didn’t have the time, nor did I want to talk with the bastard; my anger was already clouding my judgment, I had to kill him before he could make me lose my cool. While I said those words, I slowly aimed the crossbow towards his hands; his club could protect all his vital points. But he wouldn’t be able to use that weapon for much longer with wounded hands. When I pulled the trigger, he also began his attack. But he was too full of himself, two of my bolts hit his fingers, and that made him lose the grip of his weapon. Before he could even finish his first attack, he was already retreating.

With his main hand wounded, his attacks would lose a lot of power, but even so, I didn’t relax. I followed him and to my surprise, and he headed towards the second floor instead of the next room to use Rose as a shield. He wasn’t fast as me, but he probably broke his sensorial limits a few times. I didn’t manage to catch up with him because I also had to be careful, or he would use his handguns. But to my surprise, he didn’t even try.

‘Is he out of bullets?’

That was possible; most people could kill the small fries with standard weapons. But if he had encountered one of those giant monsters, he would prefer to use firearms; anyone would. Besides, even without bullets, a gun could make people fear him, and that worked on me.

When I thought that, I speed up and I didn’t try to take cover anymore. The bastard had to die, when he crossed the door on the first floor, I managed to hit him, but aim and run at the same time was too difficult. The bolt only hit him in the shoulder, he screamed, but that didn’t stop him. After crossing the gate, the fool stopped near it to ambush me.

‘Stupid bastard, he didn’t even notice his senses improving? Even without the radar, I could still notice it.’

But that was also a good chance for me, if I stop and approach carefully, he would run and make me leave Rose and Sarah behind, and I couldn’t do that. I wanted to avenge Martin, but I wanted even more to repay the debt that I owed to those two. Once again I speed up, with my max speed I threw myself to the other side of the entrance gate, the bald bastard tried to attack, but he was too slow, and his club only hit the ground. Thanks to my speed, I rolled on the ground a few times to stop, but even so, I managed to aim and pull the trigger before the bald criminal could raise his club again. However, I didn’t shot him in the head, I shot him in the stomach, thanks to that the bald criminal had time to feel the pain and to scream.

“You are an unlucky bastard, you killed and hurt some people who helped me and then you guys reappear after some stressful days. It’s time to pay the bill.”

“You will regret this, you little bastard!” The bald criminal screamed.

“I don’t think so.”

First, I shot both of his legs, and then I shot both of his arms, he wouldn’t be able to move anymore. Even though he also broke his physical limit, his improved defense couldn’t protect him from the power of the crossbow at that distance.

“Now, how do you feel? I bet it isn’t a great feeling not to be able to move and be beaten to death.”

“Shut up, you fucker! Go to hell!”

“You first.”

I shot, and then the final bolt pierced his head. He deserved to suffer more than that, but I didn’t have the time to lose in something like torture. Finally, I could relax. The job was done, and now I just have to take Rose and Sarah back to the hotel.

You killed a survivor, you have obtained his 1561 Evolution Coins.

However, before I could think about such a thing, the space around me changed, and I saw myself in the center of a small city. It was noon, and in that place, I fought against many people, and many people fought alongside me. That felt strange, there were no monsters nearby, but even so, humans killed humans like it was normal. It didn’t feel like it was me, but I saw my hands killings dozens and dozens of other humans, maybe hundreds. The warm and the smell of blood make me feel disgusted, and then I returned to that mansion’s Entrance gate, and I began to puke and tremble.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“What the hell was that?”

It was just a hallucination, but even so, I felt horrible. I didn’t think much about when I was coming to that place, but I killed eight human beings. I had already made my mind about doing that, but after doing, I felt scared. After all, by doing that, I was the same as then. I was a murderer; I didn’t kill them for no reason. But does that change anything?

“No… focus, I can’t think about this now. I had to bring them to the hotel.”

That feeling was still in the back of my mind, but I managed to concentrate on finishing my mission. I returned to the last floor, and then I checked the last room. Rose was there, but she was barely alive. All her limbs had been broken, her nose was broken, and she lost many of her teeth.

“Fucking monsters… dying so fast was too good for all of you.”

I expected, Rose didn’t let them do that without a fight. And she fought one hell of a fight. But, in that condition, we wouldn’t be able to transport her back to the hotel.

“Sarah has to heal her; there’s no other way.”

I didn’t have any idea about what to do, but I had to wake her from that state. Just like before, Sarah was still in bed. In that kind of situation, I was almost useless; I didn’t have any idea what to say to her. What would she want to hear at that time? I didn’t know much about Sarah; I only talked to her two or three times. She never maintained eye contact and never made any effort to keep a conversation. But she looked pretty lively when she was with her sister, and she always smiled while talking to Harry.

“Sarah, your sister needs you. Don’t worry; Harry won’t abandon you two, no matter what.”

That was a very irresponsible thing to say, but it had an effect, I saw some light in their eyes. I said that again and then Sarag blinked and noticed me. After that, I looked for some clean clothes for her. And when I returned, she was sitting on the bed; obviously, she was still in shock, but she was a lot better than before since she was reacting to my words.

“Wear this; you two are safe now. Don’t worry; Harry won’t hate you two because of this incident. I won’t demand the impossible of you, but you had a few things to do.”

I left the room, and I heard the sound of Sarah changing clothes, she cried a little, but I guess that was better than keeping all her emotions inside her. After some time she left the room.

“Thank you, Ethan,” Sarah said with her head down.

“No need to thank me, I was just repaying the debt.”

Before, she only avoided eye contact, but now she didn’t even raise her head. But to my surprise, she looked me in the eye and forced a smile.

“You are a good guy, Ethan. And a good friend.”

I wondered if that was the case, whatever. While crying, Sarah healed her sister. To speed up the process, I gave her a bottle of lemonade.

“Sorry, Rose… I’m sorry for being dead weight.” Sarah said while sobbing.

It seemed Sarah’s healing skill had improved. But Rose still needed something more powerful for her to recover fully, so after Sarah healed the most painful broken bones, I decided to give Rose a piggyback. I knew she would refuse, but since she was still unconscious, she didn’t have any other option.

Before leaving the mansion, I searched for Rose’s and Sarah’s weapons, and I also decided to collect the criminal’s weapons. Those weapons wouldn’t worth a lot, but it was better than nothing.

Even though that night had been very stressful, dangerous, and I received some mental damage. I obtained a lot of evolution coins, and now I had almost eight thousand evolution coins. After one more day or two, I’ll be finally able to meet someone of my family, but who? That question was very troublesome, as the eldest son, I should bring to this area are my little brother or my little sister.

‘I’ll decide this when the time comes; until then, I have to keep my focus to stay alive.’

The way back to the hotel we didn’t face many problems and that was a good sign. Slowly but surely, the small fries were increasing my evolution coins. We arrived at the hotel at sunrise, and I was feeling like crap again, I had to sleep. Even though I was so close to having what I wanted, I had to rest. Even if only for half an hour, but for many reasons, I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Harry was waiting for us on the hotel’s entrance, the guy was still heavily wounded, but he refused to treat his wounds before he could confirm the safety of his friends. Although he was happy, he cried like a child while hugging Sarah and the still unconscious Rose.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry for being weak,” Harry said while crying and hugging the two sisters tightly. “I’ll become strong, and I’ll never let that happen again, I swear it.”

After an almost eternal hug, Harry brought Rose and Sarah to the room they had previously use it. And I threw myself on one of the chairs in the lobby, I was exhausted, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep any time soon because the scenes of that vision were still vivid in my mind.

“What the hell is happening to me? Why only I see those visions?”

At first, I thought that was just kind of hallucination thanks to the stress. But I was starting to get worried. I began to wonder if it wasn’t a good idea to tell about these visions with another person. But to say something like that, I only could think of my parents.

While I was thinking about that, I heard the sound of footsteps and thanks to the radar I saw someone approaching. Soon I saw a beautiful blond woman, her hair was shoulder-length, and she had green eyes. She was wearing glasses, and she had a well-toned body.

“Another survivor, huh.”

That was a good sign; it would be too troublesome to bring every survivor to this hotel by myself. To my surprise, she saw me and didn’t hesitate to come in my direction. She looked kind of familiar…

“So, it’s you.” The blond woman, her arms crossed and with a serious expression on her face.

“Excuse me?”

“Your name is Ethan, right? You helped us.” The blond woman said.

“Did I? I don’t remember meeting you before. But you look a bit familiar.”

“Are you making fun of me just because you helped us?” The blond woman asked visibly, angry.

“Am I laughing?”

“As I thought, you are a difficult person.” The blond woman declared.

That conversation was getting annoying, she was saying that I helped her, but she still was treating me like a pain in the ass. But then I noticed the bow in their back.

“Oh, you are the brats’ teacher. Sorry, I didn’t recognize you, you looked like crap the last time I looked at your face.”

Oh, boy. Another mistake, I said without thinking, and the blond woman became even angrier. By the way, I didn't see her glasses in that school.

“Don’t call them brats; they have names.” The blond woman said while trying to calm herself. “I thought that you were just sulky brat, but you are rude too, huh.”

“You talk like you know me, but I don’t remember ever talking with someone like you. But the brats said your name once or twice, what it was again? Claud, Claude?”

“Both of those are men’s names, you insolent brat! My name is Claire!” Claire declared with a red face.

“Well, too bad Claire. You are a very responsible adult who needed to be helped by an insolent brat.”

Why was I acting like that? Because I was tired, maybe, or perhaps I was annoyed because she talked like she knew me. Somehow, it was kind of refreshing to make some annoying get angry. Maybe she was also getting angry easy because she was hungry, but soon she forgot my taunts and calmed herself, that’s an adult woman for you.

“Anyway, I came here to thank you for helping me and for taking care of my students,” Claire said while bowing slightly.

Now since she was acting too seriously, I couldn’t make fun of her anymore. So boring.

“You talked liked you knew me before this incident, did we meet before?”

“So you don’t remember… I was one of the top archery athletes of this city Olympic training center." Claire declared. "You worked there, right? Or did you forgot about that too?”

No wonder she looked familiar, I must have seen her more than twice while I worked there, but wait a minute… a good archery athlete and a kid’s teacher, where I heard that before? Oh! She was Martin’s cousin!