The Trickster returned to the corridor and continued his exploration. He wanted to kill every imp on this floor, not because of what they did to all those women or men, but because they were a great source of Experience and stats.

He couldn’t care less about what happened to other people. If people expected others to save them in such ridiculous situations, then they just had a weak mindset, at least that was his opinion on the matter.

Admittedly, some might be inherently weak and unlucky, but life was unfair and expecting things to always go right was nothing but folly.

‘There’s less and less prisoners the higher I go. I think I’m close to the surface.’

The man, with the cards in his hands and ready to be thrown, continued walking deeper into the blood and corpse-filled hallways. This floor was, by far, the one with the most corpses. In contrast, it seemed to be unaffected by the earthquake as the walls, doors, and rooms were relatively intact.

Half an hour after his fight with the 8 Imps, the Trickster suddenly heard a frightened cry.

His eyes narrowed and his steps came to a halt; With his back leaning forward and his hand raised, he gazed at the end of the hallway, precisely at its right side, which led to yet another cramped corridor.

The sounds of Imps were getting closer, but there was also the woman’s cry as she finally appeared in his view.

She was fairly young and wore a standard white lab coat. The moment she noticed the ‘soldier’, she sprinted towards him as fast as she could.

“S-save me!”

She seemed to be injured in the arm, but she kept running madly until she reached him.

The Trickster tilted his head and looked at the woman who hid behind him while shaking from fear.

His attention then shifted to the incoming Imps, which totalled three in number. Their hideous visages had wide and evil grins as they held their lances and recklessly attacked.

[Sharp Tip]

A card whooshed in the air and accurately hit the Imp’s torso, ripping it into shreds and digging deep into the loose and dirty skin.

As for the other two Imps, one was struck by the man’s leg and the other punched right in the face.

Within five seconds, all three monsters were on the ground, two incapacitated and one dead.

The man swiftly finished them off, swept the dropped Stat Cards, and then, finally, looked at the woman.

He had a deadpan expression and an ever-so-slight frown.

With tears trickling down her face, a dishevelled auburn hair, and sickly pale skin, she sobbed,

“T-thank you!”

“And who might you be, fair lady?”

Rather than being aggressive, the man had a broad and kind smile on his face. He slid the cards back into his sleeves and acted natural.

“I… I’m Dr. Melina Grantfard. I-I’ve been hiding in my office f-from the beginning.”

She paused for a couple of breaths and scrutinized the man, clearly not recognizing him,

“Y-you’re the first living person I’ve met. I’m so relieved! I thought everyone d-d..died.”

“Is that so? Well, I’m glad that you’re okay.”

She nodded with a wry smile, but thereafter, an awkward bout of silence flowed between the two of them.

The Trickster kept intensely staring at her while she fidgeted around, not knowing what to say or do.

“Did you receive the System?”

“A-ah! You mean that blue magical window? I did! I don’t know how to use it, though.”

The man kept focusing on every subtle motion she did. He also didn’t miss the bruises all over her body, or her composed breathing.

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‘A scientist? Maybe she is. However, there’s no way she survived just by hiding.’

“Weren’t you hiding in your office? What happened?”

“I ran out of food and water! I had to leave… b-but I encountered those abominations. I ran as fast as I could until I met you, mister….?”

“John.”

“Ah! Again, thank your help, Mister John.”

‘Another thing is that she’s European. An European Scientist in a Japanese Facility?’

The Trickster’s suspicions were piling up one after the other. He remembered Jacko’s words and how he had said that some individuals were lucky enough to be granted special abilities.

The Commander too, had some sort of defensive magical barrier, though it wasn’t particularly strong. For now, it was unknown what criteria the System used to determine which people were fit to be ‘special’, so to speak.

After a minute, in which Melina calmed herself, she hesitantly said,

“Shouldn’t we leave this place? I.. I don’t want to see those monsters again.”

“Stay close to me and nothing will happen to you. I need to look for more survivors.”

“...”

Her response was a long silence. She wanted to rebuke him and insist that they left the floor, but she couldn’t. In the end, she sheepishly nodded her head and followed after him.

So, after an unexpected turn of events, the Trickster gained a rather suspicious companion.

He switched to the handgun as the two of them delved deeper, choosing the direction from which she had come from.

“Mister John? Are you the only soldier left? What about the rest?”

“They’re all dead. I initially came from a lower floor. It’s fine, though! I can take down those weak monsters, hahahaha!”

He proudly puffed his chest and reassured her with an unnatural smile.

“I see…”

Just like he harboured suspicions, Melina did too. As a distinguished Scientist who had been working in this facility for years, she couldn’t recognize the soldier.

Admittedly, she didn’t know every single soldier stationed here, nevertheless, something about the man felt iffy.

Soon, the two reached a seemingly more ‘presentable’ corridor, which had significantly less corpses. Obviously, the Trickster, who had been stopping along the way and obtaining one Stat Card after the other, didn’t like this change. Still, his eyes locked onto some part of the ground, which clearly had been frozen using something magical rather than scientific.

‘It’s just like the stairs. That woman came here?’

He half-turned his head and glanced at Dr. Melina, who had been keeping a long silence.

‘She definitely lied, which means…’

He turned his face away to hide the shit-eating smirk forming on his face.

“We should hurry up.”

He picked up the pace and made use of [Sensor Hearing] to locate several nearby Imps. The creatures were feasting on a corpse, all holed up in what seemed to be a storage room.

The cramped place was dimly-lit and filled with large boxes, all sealed tightly.

The Trickster gestured for the scientist to back away before he lowered his handgun and charged at the tiny creatures.

There were four of them, but as they were focused on the meal, so they couldn’t retaliate.

In twenty seconds, he cleanly disposes of four of them, rejoicing to see 4 Stat Cards under their broken bodies.

[0.08 Vitality]

[0.15 Strength]

[0.09 Perception]

[0.05 Magic]

The last remaining Imp was purposely kicked toward the only door in the storage room. It didn’t sustain any damage, so it quickly flapped its wings and swiped its lance at the closest human target; Melina.

The woman freaked out and tried to back away only to fall on her buttocks. With a frightened expression and a trembling body, she instinctively raised her hands and cried out

“Help me!”

Alas, the Trickster half-kneeling on the ground, seemingly tired and unable to timely intercept the monster.

As the lance was getting closer and closer, a flash of white light emanated from Melina’s hands.

The burst of radiance was momentary, but it quickly enveloped the Imp.

Almost instantly, the creature’s body literally exploded, leaving only some gore and dispersing specks of light behind.

Melina’s face changed as she hastily got to her feet and sprung into a fast sprint. She no longer looked afraid, but when she turned around, she saw the man’s figure coming after her.

At first, she thought he wanted to subdue her, but her pupils dilated and her expression paled when he raised his handgun and aimed at her.

In a fit of desperation, she took out a holstered gun and clumsily shot at him. Her attempt was futile as she didn’t know how to use firearms.

“Aah!”

In the end, her leg was pierced by a bullet, causing her to tumble and fall on the ground. Before she could recover, the Trickster was already upon her, pinning her body on the ground with his left knee.

With a wide and scary smile, he leaned closer to her face,

“Fair lady, it’s wrong to lie to your saviour.”

“Ah…” She kept wincing in pain, her eyes narrowed and glaring at him menacingly.

“I..I know you’re not a soldier!” She shouted back while fighting back the pain.

Her leg had been shot, but it wasn’t a heavy wound, much less fatal. The man knew where to fire and only wanted to slow her down.

[Trick completed: 250 Exp]

[+0.5 to all stats]

[1-star Trickster: The Trickster Persona is that of deceit and lies. It isn’t enough to practise trickery; The Trickster must unleash his potential by choosing targets and tricking them. The more elaborate the trick is, the more rewards there will be.

A failed trick will lead to a varied reduction of stats.

Completing what is known as Perfect Trick will evolve the Trickster to 2-star, subsequently unlocking new skills, spells, and techniques.

Collecting all the pieces of the Trickster’s set will facilitate the upgrade to 2-star.]

[You obtained a new skill: Trickster’s Sense(Passive)]

[Trickster’s Sense(Passive Lv1): The ability to see the Level of other System Users.

This skill will be automatically upgraded when reaching 2-Star Trickster

This skill will only reveal basic information about the target(s).

The more the Trickster knows about the target(s), the more information will be displayed.]

‘Ohh!’

The man licked his lips in excitement as his eyes focused on the half-illusory white card above Melina

[Melina Grantfard: Lv5]

Known skills: Light Resurgence(Active)]