CHAPTER 19: NEW TRICK
It had been five hundred and forty-two days since Zack had arrived in this universe of torture.
His jailers had been watching him for longer than he would have liked and only today he had free time to leave.
Right now he was in a car that was heading towards a warehouse area at the edge of the city.
The car was comfortable as always, although being locked inside, he couldn’t see too much of the outside.
Not that he missed too much when all he could highlight were the people guiding the robots that occasionally did the heavy lifting.
“We’re almost there, young master,” the babysitter said as he drove.
Zack nodded and leaned back until, after several minutes, they arrived, and the hovering car stopped.
The babysitter got out and putting on the baby carrier, pulled him out of the car and settled him into the carrier.
Oversized warehouses surrounded him, and in the distance, Zack could see the tall buildings of the city center in the distance.
They were at the entrance of the largest of the heavy vehicles were entering and next to that entrance was a normal door through which the boy came out, followed by a young man with silver hair and eyes.
“Hal... breed,” Zack greeted, recognizing the young man.
It was the croupier from the gambling house he had defeated before and the half-breed whose power allowed him to stop time for a few seconds.
Now that half-breed put on an expression first annoyed upon hearing his greeting and then slightly serious upon seeing him.
He stared for a few seconds and his gaze went to his head for several seconds until the Donovan boy nudged him.
“He’s the master,” the boy announced and looking at the young man, he explained. “The Great Monkey sent Celes with his people during the attack. We knew each other before and he did not attack me. Now he seeks a safe place for him and his mother.”
The half-breed blinked in surprise, having a hard time reacting to looking at him.
Was he dazzled by his magnificent head? The look was confused, but then he smiled somewhat forcibly and nodded.
“I... I seek help. The Great Monkey sees my ability as a threat and has been looking for me and my mother,” the half-breed said, and lowering his head, he muttered. “I don’t want my mother to die.”
It wasn’t about him dying because of the Great Monkey threatening his life; it was about his mother.
The ability to stop time was certainly powerful, and it was not strange that a monkey would be afraid of it and want to eliminate him.
—We’ll get rid of that primate. You know, do nature’s work. —Zack said decisively.
The half-breed raised his eyebrow as he heard his incredible voice in his mind.
It was easy to get the half-breed to join the telepathic connection he maintained between babysitter and boy.
“Nothing is free, though,” the babysitter said, and observing the half-breed, he added. “You have an amazing skill. Work if you want to be free of those who forcibly bound you.”
Zack had heard from the boy that the half-breed was caught in debt and was forced to work for the Great Monkey.
He found it strange that a half-breed would work for a primate, but there were more surprising things in this world, so he had let it go.
However, the babysitter didn’t seem to like people who didn’t work, and his words aimed for the half-breed to act when they attacked the Great Monkey.
—Let’s go inside. We need to reward the minions. —Zack said without intervening too much.
Sometimes, no matter how much the body was free, the mind and spirit could be imprisoned... Zack could understand that feeling.
The boy nodded and led him inside.
“Thanks to your intervention with the Brotherhood of Heroes thieves, we managed to recover several of the stolen items and returned to Hugo. Although we lost the genetic enhancement you wanted,” the boy said and entering through the small door, he pointed. “Hugo didn’t criticize us. He was more upset with the Brotherhood of Heroes for stealing.... You know what he says, don’t piss off the merchant.”
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Zack, who was listening, looked inside the warehouse.
In reality, they actually stored inside nothing, but rather there was a training area with all kinds of machinery for exercising.
The boy’s minions, upon realizing they were entering, stood up and formed up in two rows on either side of the central area.
“Hugo provided this place for us,” the babysitter said as he arranged for him to look good in front of all the minions.
The primates assaulted the old merchant, and while one might expect such an attack from an ape, it was another matter for other organizations.
The supposed Brotherhood of Heroes and the Society of Heroes were two different organizations, and the issue was that the former was illegal and the latter was a legal organization.
However, Zack had seen many supers from those two organizations at the auctions that the old merchant organized.
And it was likely that the old merchant had all kinds of business with the two organizations, which meant that they would have some kind of deal to keep them from feuding.
In the end, for Zack, it didn’t matter about internal affairs when one fact was clear.
—On the day of the robbery, we lost my medicine and while we recovered several of the stolen items, we lost some others. We have to accept that mistake and do better. —Zack said.
He wasn’t talking to the boy or the babysitter, but extended the connection to all the minions so they would listen.
It was a message to encourage the minions to work harder, and just as Zack expected, they all froze as they felt his overwhelmingly magnificent voice.
If Zack was honest that day, he too was surprised by the girl’s attack, and while the girl had used the strength of the brightest transcendental of all, he would not make excuses.
They had been robbed, and the girl took him by surprise, leading to the babysitter being in danger from the mental attack.
So he was also referring to himself.
“Clap for the master,” the boy ordered, clapping as if he was proud.
The minions noticed the seriousness in the boy’s eyes and all immediately clapped in an almost unison reaction.
Zack watched the minions standing firm and tense in their positions with their backs erect as they awaited further orders.
—Our next target is the Great Monkey. We can’t pass up the robbery attempt on us. —Zack immediately revealed.
He didn’t like those primates and hadn’t liked them since he first met them.
Zack had allowed them to continue their activities before, as those unevolved primates revealed no trace of opposition. However, now he couldn’t just let it go at that.
How could he? Zack did not accept transgressions against him unless there were exceptions.
Such as, for example, the theft of the girl who sought to help the woman.
“Are you serious, young master?” The babysitter asked, and seeing him float out of the baby carrier with telekinesis, he pointed. “The Great Monkey is strong. For that reason, he is the ruler of the Blue City underworld.”
Zack, who was floating, moved over to where the half-breed was and steadied himself on the shoulder while holding onto the silver hair.
The half-breed said nothing, as he was not grabbing at his hair, only using it as a platform to assert himself.
Though the odd expression he gave let it be seen that he didn’t realize that being a platform to hold him up was an amazing thing.
“I’m willing to follow you, master. Though I agree with Jon,” the boy said, and observing the minions, he communicated. “The Great Monkey has more minions and a lot of business. Occupying them all is not something we can do.”
The babysitter was worried that they would get hurt by a primate and the boy thought that to attack a powerful organization they needed to act slowly.
However, Zack didn’t need to think about it too much and smiled.
His mind spread a mental wave that connected him to the half-breed and although there was resistance from the half-breed, Zack subdued him, then using the half-breed’s mental force, he expanded to a minion.
And employing the mental strength of that minion, he went to another minion and then another, tapping into the mental strength of each of them as he controlled them until everyone present, except the boy and the babysitter, had purple eyes.
Zack frowned as he felt exhausted.
“Isn’t that enough?” Zack asked.
The voice came from each body he controlled and whose combined mental strength fused together emanating a unique might.
After recovering, his body had improved not only physically, but mentally.
While it was nowhere near the power he wielded when controlling the body of the boy or the babysitter, the mental strength was enough to control several minds of weak, inferior beings.
He did this by using the mental energy of the bodies he controlled to control others, and it was his mind that maintained absolute control of all.
By pooling the power of each inferior mind, Zack could exert greater strength... This was the new trick he could do now that his body was more stable and his strength subtly greater.
“How about it?” Zack asked, from the half-breed’s body.
The advantage of this trick wasn’t the strength he could exert by using others, but that by gathering them, he could move freely without having to have his body nearby.
Which meant he could control the boy from a safe distance and thereby rid himself of the biggest weakness he had and the reason the babysitter was hesitant.
The babysitter was worried for his safety and if the Great Monkey could exert half the strength the barbaric woman used, then it made sense to be concerned.
This body was so weak that it could not withstand a blow from the barbaric woman.
“How far can you be if you use the mental strength of others? And how much is the power you can exert?” the babysitter asked seriously.
“A few kilometers, maybe less,” Zack replied, and hesitating about the power, he detailed. “And if we add a few more, maybe it can twist reality over a larger area.”
The inferior beings had mental strength and individually they were weak, but when put together and someone controlled that mental strength, they could become a danger.
Being in their control was even more than dangerous, as Zack could gather all the mental strength by putting himself at the center.
The babysitter and the boy didn’t understand what he was referring to and, realizing it, Zack made the half-breed snap his fingers.
Everyone’s purple eyes glowed, and then Zack watched as the suit he wore on his small body turned into a purple trench coat.
It wasn’t an illusion, but he was literally turning into a trench coat as the fabric and design changed.
It was a pathetic display of power that he needed to rely on others to accomplish, but it was what he could do right now.
And it was enough to give the babysitter confidence.
Zack smiled as he realized that such a simple trick surprised even the boy.