Bang!
William fell to one knee as his face twisted in pain.A bullet had pierced right into his heart and brick-red blood gushed out like a fountain.'' Y-you bastard, '' he grunted weakly as he watched the familiar figure standing before him.'' Brother, I'm sorry, but it's time we call an end to your atrocities. '' The other figure replied in a sombre tone.'' He-he, '' William giggled, regret filling his already pierced heart.'' You know, '' he paused, his body getting drained with each second passing. '' If a stranger hears your heroic words right now, they will think you're some messiah who is here to give people salvation, '' William's second kneel dropped on the blood covered marble floor.His left hand was weakly on the floor, and he covered his chest with his right.William lived a double agent life that wasn't known to many. However, for those who knew, no one dared to cross him, at least that was until now.To the outside world, William was a genius game developer who completed all his degrees with distinction.He also participated in developing popular RPG games with different international teams.In fact, he recently supervised his team who developed a new game that had the highest sale of the year 2025.However, that was the light side of William.Behind the innocent looking face was a dark side that brought terror and concern to different countries on Earth.William was the overlord of the underworld organizations on Earth, and the most wanted criminal who was on every country's blacklist.He joined the underworld at the age of seven, doing petty jobs such as that of a gambler and transporter.However, the boss then saw how smart he was and decided to groom him to become the criminal that made even giant nations quiver.He was now thirty years, and he had been ruling the underworld since he was twenty.William also had a brother, one of the reasons he joined the underworld.They lost their parents to war when William was just six and his brother three.Becoming a war refugee in another country at such a tender age, surviving until the next day, was a mountainous task since he also had to cater for his little brother.Stealing, pickpocketing and even blocking civilians who trudged in the dark alleys with knives were the daily habits he picked up to get just basic needs.This continued until one day when he decided to attack a man who was walking casually in the slum part of the country at night.Unbeknownst to him, that was the boss of the underworld, and it was at that moment his life as a certified ruffian began.William had gone back to school under the guidance of the boss and with the little he got, he started sponsoring his little Brother's education too.A few years later, one grew up to become the mafias' overlord and the other one became a bright detective who headed the multinational special criminal team at the age of twenty-seven.William looked at his brother once again as his vision began to turn blurry, he remembered how he used to ruffle his short raven hair and poke his slim pointy nose whenever he was upset.Except for their differing eyes colours, both showed similar resemblance. William had blue eyes, and his brother, Joe, had grey eyes.'' So this is Karma huh… '' William's eyes finally closed, with the last thing he remembered being his brother's soulless eyes and the dark building where the failed mission that led to his doom happened.***'' The primal gods are still not intervening?'' A silhouette asked in a hushed tone that drifted far and wide in the dark space.'' What does this mean? '' The silhouette asked again as he watched another silhouette raise his palms, folding some of his fingers while raising others.'' The time the world has before it's thrown into chaos, '' A deep ancient voice reverberated across the dark space as the other silhouette who raised his hands spoke.They were both in a sitting position in this strange place that occasionally rippled.'' Can you explain what…'' The first silhouette wanted to ask another question, but he trailed off as space began to crack and a white, violent ether storm began to envelop them.'' Wait, you need to answer me. '' The first silhouette bellowed, alas, the storm soon enveloped him completely.---'' Argh! ''Jerouch woke up with a low screech.'' It's this dream again, '' he frowned in frustration.'' And I always wake up not remembering anything except for that frightening storm, '' he rose from the small wooden bed with a tired look after wiping the sweat on his face with his bare hands.It was early in the morning and the others were still sleeping.There were ten small wooden beds in the room that looked more like where horses were kept.Jerouch tiptoed as he opened the rusty door, making sure not to wake others.Today he had a mission and that was to escape this damn slave house, he had had enough of their shit.However, he had to be careful if not, he might be dying for the second time. And who knows, he might not be lucky as he was before.'' No thanks to that damn nightmare, I woke up very early, '' he entered a passage where one guard in rusty armour holding a flame torch was patrolling.Jerouch didn't hide long before the guard left.'' Hehe that bastard must be tired of seeing the lavatory by now. '' he had an evil grin on as he confirmed that his plan was still working.After twisting and turning for a while along the building, he finally saw the small metallic door in the courtyard of the slave house.'' Umm, he did keep to his words, no guards here. '' Jerouch touched the door and opened it.At last, he was finally running away from this rabbit hole…Well, that was what he thought.'' Amazing, what do you think you're doing, ''Jerouch froze in horror as he heard that voice, and his heartbeat skyrocketed.He knew what was going to happen next as he had witnessed it so many times throughout his stay here.As for what was about to happen…'' Urgh! ''A weak grunt escaped Jerouch's mouth as the thick wooden club struck his stomach. His hands were tied on two separate poles which were a couple of meters apart, and his body was left hanging in mid-air. Blood trickled from both corners of his mouth, and his grey robe was stained with dried blood. The hot wind blew his dishevelled platinum hair as he looked downwards to avoid the fierce sunlight. He had been in this state since three days ago when he was caught by the head guard of the slave house. Whenever a slave was caught trying to run away, they would tie them to this particular pole, torture them, starve them and watch as life slowly left their body. This was done in other to instil fear in the other slaves. If not, with the hundreds of slaves here, many could go rogue. '' You seem quite tough for your age. '' The guard in charge of the torture laughed as he struck the club on his thighs. The guard wore rusty armour just like the other guards here, and each str
'' Take him to the edge of the Nega forest. '' The bulky head guard with tanned skin commanded and left the open space where Jerouch was being tortured. Jerouch had been starved for five days straight while being occasionally beaten. He had lost the strength to think, let alone see any strange thing up in his head. However, he could still hear little things from his environment amidst hallucinations. ' Nega forest, eh? ' he lamented inwardly. ' Embracing death for the second time I guess is not that bad with this daily torture uh? '' A soft self-mocking chuckle left his mouth but could barely be heard by even someone staying very close to him. ' However, if there's something they call third chance, I really want to step on these pieces of shit and let them know that they messed up with the very wrong person. '' he couldn't even vent out his anger due to the intense fatigue He could only watch as he was untied and pushed in a cart pulled by a horse alongside two guards who wer
Jerouch finally calmed himself after thinking about the whole situation. He was supposed to die, but somehow, he managed to come back to life with a screen clouding his vision. He was not new to the idea of dying and coming back to life. Furthermore, he was a specimen of that, anyway. However, he had woken up in the same body, although with little changes. And to cap it off, there was this screen that stuck to him like a louse. This was too familiar for him not to get an idea of what was happening. He used to be a game developer on earth, and he sometimes read novel to get inspiration for his gaming projects. ' So, a system of some sort? ' he frowned as he felt into deep thought. ' But why now? And most importantly, why me? ' His eyes sharpened as he read the previous notifications again. ' I guess my strong will to rip those rats apart triggered the system, and as for the two near death situations…' he smirked and his eyes twitched in excitement. ' Open notification' Jerou
' Where's this? ' Jerouch muttered in a sceptical tone. He was still checking what the system was all about when the notifications rang non-stop. A few seconds after that, he felt as if space was twisting and by the time he regained his senses, he found himself here. The room looked like a traditional Japanese training dojo. It was fifty meters wide and long, with earthen walls that smelled of antiques. At the centre of the dojo, there was a brown cylindrical punching bag that hung down from the dark earthen roof carved with different runic symbols, which allowed no sunlight. Instead, there were oil lamps fixed at strategic places to illuminate the room. In one corner of the room, there was a section that appeared to be where weapons were kept, but currently, there was no weapon there. The floor was made of matte buttermilk stones that were a bit smooth, but not too smooth to make one slip. Jerouch walked closer to the centre, stepping on the brown mat that covered five meter
[New active skill unlocked.]Dash- +10 increase to host agility stat. Mana cost- 5 MPDuration- thirty seconds. ' Well, that was unexpected. ' Thought Jerouch as he picked himself up. He began to look around wondering where he was. Because of the chase, he had gone a bit deep in the forest. ' Ahh, I forgot. ' he dusted his hands as his focus went back on the system interface. [Status Page][Stats] [Skills] [Quests] [Shop]Choosing the stat panel, the figures were like this. Host- JerouchHealth: 60 Mana: 25Race- ???Level-2(5/200)Class-???Rank- FStrength - 2Agility- 2Mind- 15Perception-1( Stat point- 2 )Seeing the stat point, Jerouch didn't think much before he decided on what stat he needed to increase. His mind was already leading with great numbers and his strength and agility had already increased, hence he chose to spend one stat point on perception and one on agility. ' Better awareness and the ability to escape quickly. ' he smirked. Now his perception was 2
[New quest received.]Build the strongest force. [Reward] @$#@#$' Is this system a stalker? ' Jerouch rolled his eyes while reading the notification. ' And just tell me what the rewards are,' he muttered, a bit annoyed. He had already left that place that was brimming with battle, and he was currently some couple of meters away from a dungeon entrance. Dungeons were said to be pocket worlds that served as bridges between this plane and the nether plane. It was believed that there used to be no dungeon before, and their origins were still unknown to many. What happened eons ago had been lost to history and no one fully understood the event that transpired. Dungeons had monsters of different levels depending on the rank of dungeons, and they were to some extent different from the monsters of this world. Each dungeon had different floors and the more the floors, the more powerful the dungeon is. Jerouch could see a red monolith and on top of it was one star shimmering with blu
In a distant location that was unknown to many, two people were discussing in a serious tone. They both were clad in white robes with hoods that obscured their facial features, and the aura they exuded was overbearing. '' Are you sure of what you just said? '' One of the figures resting on the wall of the dark cave they were currently in questioned. '' Being sure of myself is an understatement. '' the other figure who was opposite to the figure that questioned him replied. '' Although it was brief, I definitely felt that Mana. '' he added, his voice a bit shaky. '' Is it happening again then… '' The first figure murmured, but the other one could still hear him. '' Just the thought alone is giving me nightmares, I think it's time we let others know of my findings. '' '' No, not now, we can't throw the balance into shambles because of what we are not even sure of yet. '''' But… '''' No but. '' The first figure reprimanded. '' For now, you should widen the search. '''' And rem
A thick, dark book with no extraordinary features appeared in thin air. A white page opened, and Jerouch picked up the jet-black pen he found on the Grimoire. Enoch. Ding![Target analysis in progress…]It wasn't even up to a few seconds when he saw the results. Target- EnochRank- FClass- Tank[Passive skills]Hammer- Lvl 5Hand to hand combat- Lvl 6[Abilities]TremorEarth spikeEarth wall. [Copy ability] Yes/No' Who in their right mind says no? ' Jerouch laughed as he said yes in his mind. The next thing, he felt as though he was connected to something. Opening the status page, he went straight to the grimoire tab, and there he saw it. [Grimoire. ][Copied abilities.] Tremor. Earth spike. Earth wall.Focusing on each skill, he soon got their description. Tremor- an earth related ability that made the ground two meters around the host vibrate, making his foes lose their balance while being unaffected. Rank- FEarth spike- the power to summon a couple of spikes made