"Oh. oh my god, I don't think.. I can stand now." The birds have already long stopped their songs, and yet it was only now that Lina was finally able to calm her heavy breaths. If it wasn't for the air conditioning in Kyle's room, then she would have definitely been drowned in her own sweat by now. "I think... I will need to visit my doctor later. I.. I don't think what we did was healthy." The sun outside was already harshly seeping through the cracks on the newspaper covering Kyle's windows as he lay on his soiled mattress... which he now definitely needed to replace. "I.. I'm.. tired, but I also feel refreshed for some reason." "..." Kyle turned to look at the woman who was resting on his chest, only to see her face completely red; the short strands of her hair, sticking onto her flushed checks. Lina also turned to look at him, before just leaning closer and casually placing her lips on his, "I... need to go, Kyle.. my phone's been vibrating like crazy for the past two
"Why don't you drink this, Kyle?" "Why... why are you doing this to me!?" "Isn't it obvious? You're a Lowborn dickhead." Kyle was once again on the floor of the lavatory-the familiar sncll of sulfur and ammonia, piercing his nose, but then again, it wasn't familiar back then. He wanted to lift his head, but every time, a foot stepped on his head to bring him back to the dirty floor. "Drink it. Don't worry, we boiled it so it's clean." "..." The only thing that Kyle could really do was watch as Rex spat on a glass filled with every dirty thing that one could find inside the school.. and the lavatory. "Drink it or we'll break your bones." "W... what?" Kyle could only hear the sound of his own heart as the glass was placed in front of his face-the smell, almost causing his stomach to implode there and then. "Oh, don't vomit.. or we'll make you drink that as welI." "Please.. please stop doing this," Kyle begged, but it seemed they liked it even more as they lifted him up
The second time. This is the second time that Kyle was seeing someone being eaten in front of him-and in broad daylight at that. And as he compared the two instances, Kyle couldn't help but think of how different the scenery was. When Arachnea ate Rex, she didn't look as... beasty as the arachne in front of him right now. It was obvious why, though. If you exclude Arachnea's spider parts, she was probably the most beautiful woman that Kyle has ever laid eyes upon. As for the Arachne in front of him, its skin was completely grey: its face, more akin to that of a dried-up skull. It was... ...Disgusting. "Brittany!" Kyle then woke up from his mild stupor. The girl he just pulled away from harm, now rushing toward the arachne. The girl stretched her arms to the side, summoning a set of daggers in each hand as she did so. "Let.. let go of her!" And while the arachne was busy devouring her friend, she stabbed it right in the neck. "...Kh." The arachne, bowever, still scemed
No knife. Words that Kyle most probably did not want to hear with his current predicament. He subtly started scanning the floor if maybe it fell down somewhere, but the only thing he could see dropping beneath his feet was the blood dripping from his right arm, as well as the blood of the Arachne that sprayed on him like a fountain. "..." Kyle then turned his eye to the arachne in front of him, before carefully glancing at the one behind him. And with the way they were just standing there, it would seem he wasn't the only one that was aloof-their seemingly lifeless eyes, squinting as they watched his every movement. Were they wary of him because he was covered in the blood of their kin? Although the intelligence of these spiderladies was obviously lower than that of Arachnea, they should still have enough brains to recognize him as a threat. But the thing is, Kyle wasn't exactly a threat right now. Kyle then very carefuly looked down the window, and as soon as he saw several a
"..You again?" "Eh?" Kyle and the girl stared at cach other for a few seconds, both seemingly confused but for different reasons-Kyle thought the girl would have been out of the building by now, as for the girl, she definitely thought she would be dying here today. "Have you seen Katherine? Dr. Halsey?" "Huh?" "Dr. Halsey, have you seen her?" She still seemed visibly stunned, unable to really say aything as she just stared at the dead arachne in front of her. "..." Kyle could really only wait for her to recover from the stupor she found herself in. He started looking around to see if there was anyone else there, but the only thing he could see were three other arachne blocking the way down to the ground floor-all dead. And judging by the dozens of familiar-looking knives pierced through each of them which made them look like a group of porcupines, they were killed by none other than the shriveling girl with her butt on the floor. They did say these Arachnes were of t
"..You again?" "Eh?" Kyle and the girl stared at cach other for a few seconds, both seemingly confused but for different reasons-Kyle thought the girl would have been out of the building by now, as for the girl, she definitely thought she would be dying here today. "Have you seen Katherine? Dr. Halsey?" "Huh?" "Dr. Halsey, have you seen her?" She still seemed visibly stunned, unable to really say aything as she just stared at the dead arachne in front of her. "..." Kyle could really only wait for her to recover from the stupor she found herself in. He started looking around to see if there was anyone else there, but the only thing he could see were three other arachne blocking the way down to the ground floor-all dead. And judging by the dozens of familiar-looking knives pierced through each of them which made them look like a group of porcupines, they were killed by none other than the shriveling girl with her butt on the floor. They did say these Arachnes were of the lowest
Kyle hadn't really felt anything from all the corpses he had seen and literally stepped over since the chaos started. Those deaths were out of his control, after all-he knew that. But this-their limbs were torn, necks mangled, and lives lost-This was his fault. Four people. Four people that could have still been alive if only Kyle had left Bob and his friends for dead back on the construction site. In the first place, why did he even ask Dr. Katherine to save them? Kyle already knew they were.. evil people. If it wasn't him they were targeting and bullying, it would have been someone else-that is the kind of people they were. He already managed to get rid of Rex, three more shouldn't have been a problem. "..." And even as Bob and the others ran and passed by him, the only thing that Kyle could do was watch and stare at them. "Kyle!?" And finally, as he heard Sophie's voice screaming into his ear, he finally woke up from his stupor and turned around. This wasn't the time t
"...Full Recovery." "..." "Full Recovery." "Full Recovery... Full Recovery." Kyle no longer knew how many times he had uttered those words-no, he wasn't even aware that it was escaping his lips. [Full Recovery] truly is a useful skill, the ability to instantly rccharge yourself and basically have unlimited stamina will always prove to be indispensable in a battle. There was, however, one thing that the Full Recovery skill did not recover and that was mental exhaustion. A minute. An hour. Maybe an entire day? Of course, Kyle knew it was impossible that a day had passed. He was just feeling it-like he was in some sort of trance, a lucid dream where he wakes up from time to time to see a never-ending vision of violence. He was blacking out, and each time his vision clears, he sees his hand swinging toward an Arachne's neck. He wasn't even thinking anymore. It was like he was a spectator of his own body-he was still in control, but it was more akin to someone control
"Did he just??" "..." "He avoided the damn knife, twice! Nobody has avoided the knife twice!"Ominous. Even though the girl's voice was cute and all bubbly, the fact that she was wearing a white weird mask and then running across the dimly lit room and circling the other people that were wearing the same mask was quite.. ominous.But after a few seconds of thinking how weird they were. Kyle stood up straight and once again introduced himself."Kyle.. Kyle Anders, reporting for duty!" "Whoa! He even saluted too?" The little girl shricked as she pointed at Kyle, "What a freak.""Stop it, Cat. You are making the new boy uncomfortable."And as someone calm finally approached him, Kyle finally realized that their masks were not as plain as he had thought, no. They were carved differently, each perfectly portraying the face of an animal. And the person approaching him currently, had a mask with the face of wolf."My name is Wolfsbane, but call me Wolf." The man had brownish red hair, alm
Chapter 41: The Weirdos "You called for me, Ma'am?" "How are you finding your new roommates?" "They.. are very interesting." "They are freakishly weird is what they are, you don't need to be nice. Cone on in." "Yes, Ma'am." "Are you not going to ask why I threw you to them instead of with the other recruits?" "No, Ma'am It is not my place to ask questions." "Wow, would you look at that? Just one day with Pervert and Baldie and you're already learning. Let's hope being an obedient soldier is all that you learn from them, Well, take a seat." "Yes, Ma'am." "What about Tate? That fairy still giving you a hard time?" "..No, Ma 'am." The Defense Corps has two main bases. The secondary base was in the Surface, while the primary one was here in the Defense, where there were tall walls and several buildings where the members were living. How they built the walls and buildings, exactly, was something Kyle deliberated randomly from time to time. Right now, Kyle was in the Command bui
"What are we looking at Tate? How many died?" "13 confirmed, 5 MIA, Commander Miranda." "They just got here." "Shit..That's the number of the latest batch of recruits with Kyle Anders. Anyone actually from his batch?" "Two of them, Ma'am." Sergeant Andrew Tate was now back in the walled base, along with the new recruits who were currently sprawled down on the ground like lifeless puppets, with only their chests moving heavily as their breaths created an orchestra of gasps. "I'll.. I'll do it, I'll talk to the families." Kyle was also there, seated on the ground with his hair fully covering his face. He was also breathing heavily, but not because he was exhausted, no- he was still thinking of how Miranda just killed the red Orthros he painstakingly tried to keep alive, while killing almost a dozen dogs But the more he thought about it, the more he thought it didn't really matter. How was he going to be able to take care of the dog in the first place while he was in serv
"Are these all the items the new recruits brought?" "Yes, Ma 'am!" "Shit! I am right in front of you, you dumb squid. You don't have to shout so loud!" "Y-yes, Ma'am." "Where is Kyle's bag?" And while the new recruits were fighting for their lives and being gnawed and chased by 2-headed dogs. Commander Miranda was inside their tent, leisurely examining their bags. This was not against the constitution, of course, as members of Defense Corps have already waived their rights as soon as they stepped inside the base. "Why are there so many beds here? Where is Kyle's bag?" Commander Miranda repeated her words as she dropped a bag full of erotic magazines. "The Lowborn, Ma'am?" "Do you want to be born again?" Commander Miranda snarled at the officer behind her. "No, Ma'am." The officer stood up straight, "The bed at the end of the tent, Ma'am." "..Why was he put--Nevermind," Miranda scoffed as she started walking to the bed assigned to Kyle, "I was told he brought a k
"Every one, calm the fuck down! Panic will get you killed!" "Don't go there! Gods damn it!" "Kyle!" "...Kyle!?" Kyle knew he was being called by his superior, but the growling and howling of the orthros were loud and visceral. Drowning even the screams of the recruits who were sadly at the back of the line and being eaten alive. There was all sorts of noise, and yet that wasn't the reason why Kyle could not really hear any of it, no. It was the red orthros that had five Gray Hearts floating above its head. A dog. He could understand the arachnes having one as half of their body is human, but the beasts in front of them right now were literal dogs, 2-headed dogs. He hadn't really thought about it since he was busy training his Active Abilities and trying to find a way to become a Hunter.. ...but his abilities also work on literal beasts. But to what extent, exactly? Would it work on a literal spider too? Would he want it to? And while Kyle was stuck in his thought
"Take a minute to gather yourselves!" "F.. Finally." "I feel like Im going to die.." "You will, just not today!" "Look at that guy, is... he even human?" "Shit... he's the only reason why we're only resting now." "Tch, show off." "Fucking Dregger." "Woah, woah. Who used the D-word!?" "With the hard R too!?" "Wow.. you guys are classist as fuck." Dregger. It has been a very long time since Kyle heard someone call him like that-it was what they used to call people like him in the past. The dregs of society, slaves. "Don't mind them, Kyle. Recruits are always like that. They see others as competition, not realizing that we really only have each other to rely on." "I remember you being one of those people, baldy." "Shut up, you perverted monkey. I am not a classist." "It's all.. just white noise to me at this point." Kyle let out a small sigh, before taking off his shirt; squeezing it, and letting his sweat shower the blades of grass beneath his feet. And p
"Attention, recruits!" Rest. The new recruits have already forgotten what the word meant, and it hasn't even been a full day since they entered the Defense Corps. No, perhaps rest doesn't even exist in the Fourth Division. For the past 8 hours, they have been jumping up and down the Portal without pause. They were handed rations, but they had to eat them while falling. Some thought that by fainting during the fall, they would be able to rest; but they ended up even more exhausted than they already were. They haven't seen a bed, or even the rooms where they are supposed to be staying in if they even existed in the first place. And so, suffice it to say-most of them didn't even know what they were doing as they just instinctively gathered in front of a superior officer they hadn't seen before. And of course, this superior officer noticed how exhausted everyone was, it was a sight he has been used to for the past 10 years. "My name is Sergeant Andrew Tate! For the next 24 hour
"It all makes sense now." And as Kyle was surrounded by the other recruits that were either groveling on the floor or struggling to sit up, he continueded scanning his surroundings. When he was previously in the Underworld, he was inside some sort of cavern-but this time, he was outside. He had seen photos of it before, but seeing it in person truly makes one almost felt like they were drowning. No photo could do this place justice. The Surface world is a sphere, the horizons will always have an end. But in the Underworld, the horizons do not end, it loops. It almost made Kyle feel like he was in some sort of gigantic ball.. which he sort of actually was. Floating at the very center of the insides of this sphere, Tartarus. It was hard to see the distance, however, as a sort of fog seemed to blanket the endless horizon. And of course, perhaps the most noticeable of all was the 'sun' showering everything with its light. It is said that one of the gods, Hades, resided here
"Such flexibility, and you can also harden it by will." "...Yes." It was a completely different reaction than what Kyle was expecting. Although he already knew that Katherine and Miranda's personalities could not be any more different, he was still quite intrigued by how tuly different their responses were. Miranda's face was completely covered in Kyle's thick white web, and yet unlike Katherine who slightly panicked.. Miranda was playing with it. She was testing its flexibility, and is even rubbing it even more on her face to test how sticky it was. And even as Kyle hardened it, Miranda just casually snapped it in half like a biscuit. His webs had the strength to lift an entire human without breaking, and yet Miranda was just treating it like a toy. Just a testament to how strong Level 5 Rankers were. "Huh... this is extremely useful," Miranda hummed as she pulled a web that was on her lower lip, stretching it along with her lip, "But increased reflexes... and web shoote