“Your car is already on its way, so you only have to wait until you see for yourself…” Gabe was telling Cynthia, but then he felt something in the distance.It was a minor disturbance in the atmosphere, which went unnoticed by Mia.But then, Systa’s voice rang in Gabe’s mind.[Gabe… we’re in big trouble. Someone just deployed a barrier and completely sealed this estate off!]The first thought that crossed his mind was to protect Cynthia and Sevyn.Mia was also alerted by her system a second later, and she looked at Gabe once before causing her female friends to fall asleep.“Who do you think it is this time?” Mia asked a bit nervously.“If they’re deploying a barrier to isolate this estate from the rest of the world, then they’re not going to be easy opponents,” Gabe’s heart was also picking up the pace. “Things are going to get worse if we get our people taken as hostages. You should go and put your family members to sleep as well. Hide them all in a room and guard it.”“Y-You want m
“No problem, Atarah,” the man in the brown hood raised his finger, and Logan suddenly felt like he was bound by an invisible rope. With a wave of his finger, he pulled Logan toward him. “I’ll start with his tongue as you wanted.”Logan released a burst of energy through his body, but the ropes were surprisingly sturdy. They withstood his energy. “What the hell is this ability?” He felt helpless as he got pulled toward the man in the brown hood who leaped forth.“Silent Seal!” He waved his hand ferociously.Logan felt an immense but invisible power strike him from the front, which made him cough up blood. He felt like his energy was being drained when it was actually being sealed.“Hahaha,” the man in the brown hood wildly laughed as he put his fingers in Logan’s mouth and grabbed his tongue and was pulling it out.Logan thought he wasn’t just going to lose his tongue but also his life right now.Suddenly, something flew toward them like a bolt from the blue.“Blake! Watch out!” Atarah
“Why don’t you show me what you got!” Blake leaped toward Gabe, grinning like a beast full of anticipation and excitement, and unleashed an avalanche of fists, which Gabe blocked with visible effort.The first impact shattered the calm. Following that, each impact caused the towering sunflowers in the distance to dance wildly. Atarah’s hood was also blown back, revealing her face. She had slick-back hair and a chiseled face that could comfortably cut through any man’s heart. She raised her hand and blocked an attack that came out of nowhere.It was Mia’s kick, which was blocked with just Atarah’s forefinger.Mia frowned in shock. (I put my strength into the attack, and she blocked it with a finger? Just how strong is she?)Mia landed on her feet and squatted down to dodge the diagonal kick crafted by Atarah, but she could see that Atarah’s eyes were following her closely. It was as if Atarah could see Mia moving in slow motion.Atarah changed the direction of her kick midway and broug
Atarah saw the explosion on the barrier, and Blake almost got sent out through the first layer of the barrier.“Interesting. Even though you’re not big, your brute strength almost matched Blake,” Atarah tossed Mia aside and turned to face Gabe. “You are definitely worth fighting. But if that’s the best you can do, then you don’t have a chance of defeating me.”“Why are you people here?” Gabe asked her. “What’s your reason?”After seeing Atarah let go of Mia, he didn’t feel the urgent need to fight her. So he was trying to extract as much information as possible.“Didn’t Blake already tell you that you need to defeat him if you want to know why we’re here now?” Atarah replied. Even though there was a glow in her eyes, her lips always made a straight line except when she talked.Gabe’s gaze shifted in the direction of the barrier, where Blake used the barrier as a cushion to bounce off of it and then fly back toward him. “So he’s not done…” Gabe clenched his fist tightly. (I didn’t want
In an open restaurant, Gabriel and Ray were sitting at the same table.Ray didn’t look that comfortable because he had never sat at the same table as Gabriel, so he felt both honored and nervous right now.The waiter brought the premium beef, but before he put it on the table, Gabriel said, “Don’t. It smells like poop. Take it away.”The waiter was shocked by Gabriel’s overly crude remark.“We’ll pay for it, so take it away,” Ray told the waiter. “Bring us water instead.”The waiter nodded and left, still looking shocked.“The oils they used to make that beef are so bad indeed,” Ray said before Gabriel could say anything. “If we eat that, we’ll get sick. If all the other restaurants are like this, then we’ll have a hard time filling our stomachs.”Gabriel opened a file and was reading it. The first page had information on Russell Lynn. “This guy Russell Lynn seems to be quite popular.”“He’s quite successful, indeed,” Ray replied. “He’s a multi-trillionaire, and is called the richest
Gabriel was sitting in the back of a yellow taxi.The driver was whistling as he was hearing news on a radio.“A new ring that can increase any ten stat points has been found by Player Seok,” the radio host said. “He put it up for an auction, and it was sold for 182,000 dollars last night. I wish I could find such a rare item as well.”“A mere game item was sold for such a high price?” Gabriel said. “What game is it?”“Obviously, Dream Creed,” the driver excitedly said. “You must be living under a rock if you don’t know about it. More than four billion people play the game, after all. My wife and I also play it. I managed to buy this taxi because I found a rare necklace and sold it for 60K. You don’t come across rare and higher-grade items every day. It took me eight months of playing to get my hands on such an item, but it was totally worth it because I only played for three to four hours every day, and on some days, I didn’t play at all. But my wife is growing as a player and is ear
Frizz, the 63-month-old golden retriever, immediately charged toward the entrance after sensing the threat.It was planning on attacking the intruder and removing the danger, but when Gabriel’s eyes met with the dog’s eyes, Frizz’s feet suddenly hit a brake, and it made a weird sound you make when your soul is frightened out of your body. Tucking its tail between its legs, Frizz ran away in the opposite direction.Regan Creed, the old man in his eighties, stopped throwing grains to the birds. He never heard Frizz or any dog make such a terrified howl. Dogs were masters of acting. Even if you just hit them a little, they could scream like the world was ending. However, Frizz’s scream this time seemed genuine.Moments later, Gabriel entered Regan’s sight.Regan didn’t recognize this old man who was built like a tank. But he could sense hostility from this old man’s eyes. The birds also flew away, as if they could sense the danger.As Gabriel took every step toward Regan, he was finding
A few years earlier.“Why did you have to side with just the Arris family?” Russell was arguing with his grandfather. “You should have allied with the other two families, too.”“I would have if it was possible,” Regan didn’t even want to talk about it. “I wanted the Arris family to build the infrastructure for Creed Zone. That’s all I thought about at that time.”“But the Arris family is not the strongest. It’s the Agnar family that’s the strongest out of the three supreme families,” Russell retorted. “You think they’re going to just watch as you give some of our profits to the Arris family every year? They will wait for the right opportunity and then take revenge on us. They live on a remote continent, Grandpa. They don’t depend on tech like the rest of the world. If they all decide to come at us, I will not be able to do anything to them with my hacking system.”“You can also hack people’s minds and bodies with that system, can’t you?” Regan asked him.“Yeah,” Russell deeply frowned
“Whoever manages to defeat that ‘worthless’ brat will get to keep the omega system.”The moment Gabriel Agnar uttered those last few words, all the nine standing members of the Jaguar squad rushed toward Gabe without a shred of hesitation.They were all elite warriors his grandfather had commanded, all intent on claiming the power that lay still dormant within Gabe."Stand down, brat," the third ranker Bennie called out, her voice layered with authority. "You cannot hope to win against us. Surrender, and you may yet find mercy."“You monsters who are ganging up on me, do you even know what mercy means?” Gabe retorted and countered Fang with a punch.Surprisingly, Gabe’s punch seemed simple but the weight it had was tremendous. Fang was pushed back.But at the same time Stark kicked Gabe’s face.Once again, Stark expected Gabe to be sent flying, but Gabe took the attack without even moving an inch.And it was Stark who frowned in response.Zephyr raised his hand, stopping others from a
“It’s time to return,” Gabriel Agnar said, and these few words changed the body language of all the squad members.In that moment, they let their guard dawn, a small figure dashed in through their ranks and attacked their patriarch Gabriel.Gabriel saw through the first feint and responded accordingly, but the second attack also turned out to be a feint just to distract him so that they could pluck the severed hand out of Gabriel’s hand.And they managed to grab the hand, but no amount of pulling was enough to get the severed hand out of the old man’s grip.Everyone was startled after seeing the young kid who gave off an ethereal energy, which they could sense.This young kid was none other than Ulf.“What do you think you’re doing, kid?” Gabriel asked him.“Ha-ha, good afternoon,” Ulf replied awkwardly, “or is it evening now?” He grew triple in size and clenched his fists. “Omega Arts Secret Move…” He threw in a straight punch at Gabriel’s chest. “Final Fist!”Gabriel took the attack
At Russell’s estate.Zephyr, the head of the Jaguar Squad, struck Gabe’s chest with his palm. A shockwave burst through his chest and ripped the back of Gabe’s shirt in the shape of Zephyr's palm.Gabe coughed out a lot of blood, and his eyes nearly turned white. He was about to fall back.Zephyr caught Gabe’s throat and squeezed it. “If I kill you, then the Alpha System will be ours.”“Gabe!” Mia ran toward him. “No!”“Where do you think you’re running?” Pixie, the number five, blurted. Her green hair extended forth like tree vines and sought to capture Mia.Mia moved swiftly and dodged a few vines, but the hair grew branches like trees, and they were sharp enough to pierce through Mia’s body.Her torso and limbs were riddled with many thin holes.She bled from the nose and mouth and couldn’t move at all. She felt completely frozen.Pixie pulled the hair out and retracted them. Mia fell to her knees.Seeing all this, Gabe’s blood thrummed beneath his skin. His heart pounded with the c
In ancient times, serpents had wings and feet, and they were called by many names. One of those kinds were also called Dragons.So, dragons were indeed serpents with wings and legs. Even in the modern day, dragons were worshiped in some places. Some martial arts were derived from dragons, too.However, Alleria’s martial arts were not related to dragons but of a different serpent kind, whose existence had been erased from history..When Alleria was young, she spent her time in the woods, and the most difficult enemies she faced were the monstrous serpents that lived in that forest. This made her wonder just how much stronger would the serpents be if they had legs, too, as they did in the past.This led Alleria to search through her clan’s library and find the ancient serpent art books. And she picked one that she believed would be the most challenging.And thanks to her collective efforts, she managed to become the head of one of the Eight Enigma Squads, the Serpent Squad.The Ancient S
Alleria was sent flying through multiple walls, and she ended up crashing into the tables of the precious customers.“That hurts…” Alleria’s cheek bruised, and she bled from a corner of her mouth.“W-Who are you?” The customers were all shocked because this woman was wearing armor underneath her cloak, and there was even a short sword at her waist. “Are you a cosplayer?”“Who was that little girl?” Alleria got back up, looking quite irritated because her cloak was dirtied by the food, so she had to remove it. She looked sturdy despite her age, and she was nearly six feet tall. Many men in that hall hadn’t seen such a well-built woman with attractive looks like that before. “Call herself as my grandmother,” she cracked her neck, releasing the gas bubbles from the joints in her spine, “let’s see if you’ve really got what it takes to utter such words.”She rushed into the bathroom, but to her surprise, Systa and Nicole were gone.“What?” Alleria frowned. “I didn’t see them leave. Where di
Nicole was getting out of the taxi, but Systa held her hand and stopped her. “I’m not feeling the urgency anymore. Can we go somewhere else now?”Nicole couldn’t make sense of Systa’s words. The little girl was struggling until seconds ago, and she’s fine now? Something didn’t feel right. Whether Systa was playing games or not, Nicole didn’t want to take the risk. “I’m taking you to the toilet room once.”“Ugh,” Systa hissed at her. “Listen to me.”Nicole was startled. “Did you just hiss at me? And why are you gritting your teeth?”“Because you don’t understand the trouble that you’re in!” Systa blurted. “Driver, turn the car around and get going.”The driver, however, looked at her with a silly expression as if Systa was not the one who’s going to pay him for the ride.Systa didn’t like that the driver was treating her as a little girl. She wished she could show her powers to him, but because of Nicole, she had to hold herself back.“Can you wait here for half an hour for us?” Nicole
Nicole finished her work in the hotel and walked out with Systa who was in the form of a little girl now.“Why do you look like that?” Nicole asked her.“Look like what?” Systa asked her back.“Look like you’re weighing life's burdens on your shoulders?” Nicole said.“I was just thinking about something,” Systa replied.Nicole picked her up onto her waist.“W-What are you doing?” Systa quickly said, her cheeks flushing. “This is embarrassing. Put me down.”“Get used to it,” Nicole pinched Systa’s cheeks. “You know, I watched Gabe grow, but I missed watching a girl grow. I didn’t have a daughter, you see. So, I feel like keeping you with me for as long as possible.”“S-Stop pulling my cheeks!” Systa found it annoying because her skin was not perfectly authentic human-standard.“Stop acting like that,” Nicole stopped pulling the cheek and gently rubbed it. “You’re a girl, so you’re going to raise kids one day. You shouldn’t get angry easily. Your worth will be decided by how good you ca
In Sciocidad, also known as the phantom city which floated through the sky also known as the lower heaven.At the border, Russell and Jessica were talking with a mature lady whose name they didn’t even know. All he knew was that she was the librarian of the clan that lived in this city.“My goal is to stop another world war from happening,” Russell told her. “If a war breaks out again, then the world really is going to end.”“Silly young man,” the lady named Uzza smiled, “the third world you were worrying about has long started and is still ongoing.”“W-What?” Russell was startled.“Food, air, water, and even people’s very blood has been polluted for decades now and it’s still happening today,” Uzza said. “We see a lot of chemicals being sprayed in the air through special jets. There are nanoparticles, graphene, and even parasites in those chemicals, which will mix with water, food, and can even enter people’s bodies through their skin. Everything the media tells you is fake. The elect
“It’s one thing that James lost, but for Atarah to lose to this brat…” The number one ranker of the Jaguar Squad, Stark, spoke. “This is quite shameful.”“Indeed,” Fang, the second ranker, opined. “I feel a little embarrassed since I’ve trained James for over a month now. For him to lose without even taking an opponent’s limb is quite disappointing. I hope he’s not dead.”“James is the last ranker, the number 10 of the squad,” the zeroth ranker and the head of the Jaguar Squad, Zephyr, replied. He had a sharp mustache and was cleanly shaven. “He’s the weakest, but Atarah is the ranked fourth in the squad, and she let her younger comrade lose. So, she failed both as a teammate and as an individual fighter. She needs to be punished for her mistakes later. But for now…” He glanced at the number five ranker, who was a green-headed female, Pixie.Pixie stepped forth and treated Atarah’s injury with her vivre. It was as though she was conducting surgery with her vivre, using it as needles to