Name: Chrono Freed

Title: N/A

Affiliation: N/A

Health: 100/100

Mana: 190/190

Strength: 8

Intelligence: 12

Vitality: 10

Wisdom: 19

Agility: 10

Unallocated points: 1

Killing two goblins earned him one stat point. Chrono sunk into deep thought.

‘Will only killing things directly transfer their power over? So setting traps might not be as effective… But there were introductory bows… And then there are humans...’

There wasn’t enough information. He decided to test things more thoroughly next time, and ultimately put the unallocated stat into Vitality. He thought that having enough endurance and stamina was the most important he needed for now.

Time passed as Chrono pondered, and the twenty-two other survivors of the group quietly followed after him. Soon, the foliage of the forest became less and less dense. Even a faintly trodden trail made itself visible. It was clear that they would make it out of the forest soon.

It was at this moment that a man of the group shouted out while glaring at Chrono, “We’re finally out of this damned place! That means we don’t need to follow you anymore. From here on out I’m going my own separate way, anyone with me?!”

It was obvious. They had only followed Chrono and made him the temporary leader of the group out of necessity; it was a decision that was made purely in order to survive. Otherwise, how would the few with such high pride be willing to bow their heads and become willing followers so easily? Now that the threat of the forest became a thing of the past they no longer needed the person they had considered their insurance for safety. This was simply how most people were. They acted based on their immediate needs and convenience.

Chrono stared at the man with a deadpan look. It was like he didn’t care whether the man really left the group. The look made the man’s skin crawl, and the other members of the group were hesitating. They were hesitating on whether to follow Chrono, or go their separate ways like the man said.

“Then leave. You can try to leave, but you’ll definitely die. We’re being tracked by that group of goblins. They’ll probably try to ambush us when we’re off-guard tonight, or early tomorrow morning,” Chrono said a matter-of-factly.

Although he hadn’t paid too much attention, he was approximately 90% sure that they were going to be traced. It was near impossible to cover the tracks of a group this large unless they were professionals, and unlike them who were unfamiliar with the forest and environment, the goblins had most likely lived here for a good portion of their lives. It was clear to the group who was in the position of hunter and hunted. That meant they still needed a leader, otherwise they’d only be picked apart.

After hearing Chrono’s words, the man must have realized this as well. There was power in numbers. He quickly stammered, “N-nevermind, I’ll stay with the group, for now.”

Chrono shook his head while walking up to the man.

Perhaps sensing the tension, the other members quickly distanced themselves from the two to form a misshapen ring around them.

‘It went as planned. I needed someone to make an example out of.’ Chrono thought while smirking. He stood directly in front of the man. As the man was large, Chrono actually had to look up at him to meet his gaze. Nevertheless, Chrono said with a smile seemingly unfit for the situation, “Leave.”

The man laughed awkwardly with a wry smile on his face, “I was just kidding earlier, you didn’t actually think I was serious, did you?”

“Leave.” Chrono repeated once more.

“Oi! Didn’t you hear me?! I said I was just joking!” the man furrowed his brows in irritation.

The other members of the group were quietly whispering to one another at the spectacle.

Chrono swiftly moved past the man. It happened so quickly that only those who were concentrating could see it. As Chrono moved forward, he swept the man’s legs, making him fall face-first forward onto the ground. In a smooth motion, Chrono turned around and swung downwards twice with his introductory shortsword. The sword sliced into the man’s legs, accurately severing the tendons in both his ankles. He was effectively handicapped. Unless there was something that could heal him, it would be more merciful to simply kill him like that.

“AAAAAHHHH!” the man yelped at the unexpected pain.

The group was utterly speechless. Their murmuring all stopped simultaneously, a few in mid-sentence left with their mouths still hanging open.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said that you can try to leave, but you’ll definitely die...” Chrono carefully spoke each word slowly.

“However, I never said that the goblins would be the ones to kill you,” Chrono’s words were like a death sentence to the man’s ears.

The man struggled. He used his arms and upper body in an attempt to stand back up, only to discover that he couldn’t put any weight into his ankles. At this point in time, they were nothing more than useless lumps of meat. Deadweight. He fell back down and continued to use his elbows to drag himself across the floor in a desperate endeavor to escape the reaper hovering over him.

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“D-Don’t do this!” the man begged with a fear-struck face.

The pathetic sight of the man crawling made the other members of the group feel empathy for him, and yet they all felt happiness at the same time. That happiness stemmed from a feeling of relief. Whether consciously or unconsciously, all other twenty-one members of the group thought in a corner of their minds, ‘I’m glad. I’m glad I didn’t decide to leave the group, and… I’m glad that it wasn’t me.’

Everyone was so focused on the man that they hadn’t noticed Chrono pull something out from his waist. They had only realized what it was after Chrono called out to them.

‘Twenty-one is perfect,’ Chrono thought, raising the object in his hand up and saying to the onlookers, “Each person cuts off one of his fingers or toes.”

Their attention immediately shifted to Chrono and his hand, or rather, what was in its grasp. It was a crude dagger covered in grime. A goblin’s poisoned dagger.

His intentions couldn’t be any more blatant to the group. He didn’t grant the man a quick death, he wanted him to suffer. That was their interpretation of it.

“If you don’t, you’re next.” Chrono muttered and passed the dagger to the trembling person closest to him.

The members of the group resolved themselves, and approached the crawling man.

Some of them made excuses in their minds in an attempt to justify themselves such as, ‘If I don’t do it, I’ll die...’ ‘He’s as good as dead anyway, right? It won’t change anything if I do a bit more...’ ‘Everyone else is doing it, so…’

For a while, the only thing that could be heard within the forest was the death throes of a man that simply wished to die.

In reality, if the group was really against it they could have overpowered Chrono with their numbers. It was twenty-one to one. No matter how it seemed like, Chrono was physically only an ordinary youth. The only thing he had that the others didn’t was his decisiveness in killing. The thing was… The group was afraid. They were afraid of Chrono. If they did gang up against him, there would undoubtedly be casualties. No one wanted to be the casualty. No one wanted to be the first to stand up against him. The fate of someone who did was right before their eyes, after all.

By the time the man’s final finger was cut off he had already stopped screaming. He could no longer spare the energy make any form of noise. He already knew he was a dead man, his only wish was to die sooner.

At that rate, he would either die from bleeding out or from the poison making its way throughout his body.

Chrono’s eyes scanned through the group, and landed on the only person to not have participated in torturing the man. Aside from Chrono, there were twenty-one other members, but the man only had a total of twenty fingers and toes. The twenty-first person. The police officer.

Chrono grabbed the goblin dagger and handed it to her, saying, “Kill him.”

The police officer approached his body and gazed into the man’s eyes. It was as if his eyes were begging silently, ‘Kill me.’ He no longer wanted to feel anymore pain.

The police officer trembled, struggling with her conscience.

“He wants to die. Put him out of his misery. It’s not a crime, nor a sin. You’re helping him,” Chrono urged.

The dagger plunged into the man’s skull, and a small stream of power flowed into the officer’s body.

“I-I killed him…” the police officer muttered incoherently and collapsed onto her knees. It was the first time in her life she had ever killed a person. She had made a vow to protect, but ended up killing the very same people.

“We killed him,” Chrono smiled mysteriously, patted her shoulder, and continued to walk out of the forest.

“Let’s go, it’s still not safe here.” His lingering words broke the group out of their stupor.

It had gone more smoothly than he had anticipated. Discontent members would make an attempt to leave the group when they had the chance and when Chrono had served his use, and Chrono planned to make an example of them.

This was to familiarize the group with killing, and rid them of the hesitation of killing humans that Chrono didn’t possess. It was also to form a sense of solidarity of membership within the group. They would all be burdened with the thought that they had killed someone. In other words, they were all accomplices. It was too late to turn back at that point.

This was a method that some mafia groups back on Earth would perform. They would make new or hesitant members commit murder in order to make them feel kinship with their group, and in order to create a feeling that it was too late to turn back by having them participate in the crime itself. It was the equivalent to forming bonds by sharing sin.

It had gone exactly as Chrono had planned, but… He wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t fun for him at all.

‘Humans… are so predictable.’ Chrono thought to himself as he hoped to meet interesting individuals. Individuals that were capable of amusing him.

Chrono never knew that he was walking towards two such individuals that were summoned right outside of the forest.