“”Responding to my call, thick smoke began appearing in all directions, surrounding the advancing demons in what seemed to be seconds. The intense clouds of white, grey, and black were so deep and thick that it almost seemed like one could feel them.Using the smoke gotten from all the explosions I had used earlier, I spread them all around, blindsiding the monsters from every angle. Needless to say, they were trapped in a vast wave of blinding fog.‘The smoke won’t extend to the back, though, since they’re so many…’ I reasoned.It didn’t make any difference, though. If the front vision was blocked, they won’t be able to see me anyway.Having blinded them, I took advantage of the moment of confusion and activated two of the Skills I was most excited about.“ and .”Using these two at the same time, I became an invisible persona. The thick clouds of smoke hadn’t cleared yet, so I decided to get rid of them.To fully understand the effects of these two Skills and how they worked hand-i

‘If I move, they might be able to follow my sound, so I shouldn’t be too careless.’ I reasoned.I still had one more chance to use , but I decided not to use it. It would be unfortunate if the need arose later in the day and I had already exhausted it.‘I’m happy the effects stack up, though. It would have been quite a disappointment if one ailment vanished the moment another appeared…’ I reasoned as I watched the Demons continue charging at me in their blind state.They must have reasoned that I was still in my previous location and so are desperately trying to end my life.Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t planning on going down that easily.“It’s about time I pulled this skill out of my sleeve…” I grinned, looking at my long list of Skills.I had tried everything in my arsenal at least once; all except one!“!”An icon popped up right in front of me the moment I decid

“Nope, I’d better not!”Quickly deciding against the idea, I stepped away from the gate. This time, not out of fear— but logic.“I could probably take them, I think…” The problem was that if I kept killing Demons, there would be nearly nothing left for the Subjugation team to fight. Judging by their respawn rate and how long the horde must have begun their conquest, I estimated that they had at most five compounds. No, most likely four.I had taken care of two, leaving about two left. I wasn’t a fan of unfinished work, so if I was to dive into the third compound, I would become too immersed and I wouldn’t stop until every single Demon in sight had been vanquished.That wasn’t a good thing.Plus, I needed more Demons for target practice when considering and .There were many variations and it would be useful to try them all out so that I would know what would work.Acc

“That’s the least of your problems, buddy.” My voice leaked out in amusement.I was fond of talking to myself so this wasn’t strange. However, out of habit, I had spoken and forgotten that there was a person beside me.“Hahaha…” Lara chuckled slightly, responding to my words.I was a little, no, very surprised by this reaction. Even though she had done quite a lot to make me consider her strange, who would laugh at an awful statement while another man writhed in agony— close to death.Apparently, Lara would.“Arghhh! Please save me! Please! I’ll do anything! Please!!!” His screams irritated my ears and dragged me from my deep thoughts and back to the reality of his bloodied flesh.The Hobgoblin took its time to approach Larry’s legless body, appearing to grin in excitement. From the creature’s expression, it was enjoying this quite well.‘I wondered why it didn’t just use its Claw spikes to fini

‘Just this once, can I loosen up a little?’Of course, I didn’t mean to let my guard down. However, I always had to put up a wall that masked my true intentions from others. People like Anne, Katie , Adam, and even Charles didn’t really know who I was and what I was capable of.If I was to fully express myself to this woman, would I be able to let go of the loneliness welling up within me? No one understood my point of view in this world— even before the world came to this. However, Lara felt like a kindred spirit. Perhaps if it was her…In any case, the problem was how to begin the conversation and gear it in the direction I wanted. I could think of a bunch of questions I wanted to ask, but couldn’t decide on a particular one to start from.“My full name is Lara Spitz. I’m twenty-three, a Gifted like you. I am, no… I was a Psychiatrist.” I was shocked that she started her introductions before having me kick-start the conversation. As she kept talking, I found out more about her.‘A