Jason stared at the back of Scott who was heading towards the entrance of the door. He chuckled thinking about the things he said to the poor man.

 

Can’t believe I manage to fool that guy. Well, I do wish for a curse-like ability, but I guess fooling people with the defence buff doesn’t sound so bad.

 

Jason walked off under his invisibility as he ran around near the area decimating every one-eyed crawler that he stumbled upon. His steel dirk covered in the crimson hue of Blood Edge easily cut these disgusting monsters like cutting butter.

 

Blood Edge level up to level 2

 

Music to his ears but in Jason’s case, a beautiful sight to behold. He ramped up his killing as these low-class demonic monsters couldn’t stand a candle against their invisible predators. If this was a movie, then they were like humans in the Predator film.

 

A few minutes later, the welcoming sight of the blue window came once more.

 

Blood Edge level up to level 3

 

The title ‘Job Pioneer’ was a blessing, his skill level was rising up fast and he was not gonna stop anytime sooner.

 

Meanwhile, a bunch of soldiers came towards the close entrance of the school. Stavs and Scott were standing behind the door waiting for them to come.

 

Captain William led the boys to the door.

 

“Status, Stavs,” said Captain William.

 

“You better see it yourself, sir,” said Stavs while pointing at the glass window on the door.

 

Captain William looked through the door and saw dead bodies sprawling on the streets. He couldn’t believe it but yes, it was real. Even the man known as Berserker couldn’t put a good fight against these one-eyed crawlers as they ganged him up like a bunch unlawful bastards.

 

“Who did it?” Captain William asked as his eyes set upon the lone survivor from team Beta. Although he had questions regarding the circumstances of Scott’s survival but escaping this place was the priority. “Is it you?”

 

“No, it’s not me,” Scott said.

 

“No sir, it isn’t him. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, these one-eyed bastards keep on dying by themselves like something’s invisible is killing them,” said Stavs chiming in as he saved Scott’s ass.

 

“Invisible? Stop spouting bullshit man, there’s no way…” Captain William stopped Corp.Lee from finishing his words. With the whole world going down like this, people like Iceman and berserker were considered special possessing unreal abilities. Even he and the rest of his team members managed to Awakened from assisting berserker. Yet they were still at level one and none managed to unlocked the mystery of the abilities.

 

Someone who might have invisibility wasn’t impossible.

 

“Step aside,” a rather gruff tone penetrated the air.

 

Captain William turned and saw berserker standing behind him. The big built man pushed Captain William to the side as his hand was already on the door handle.

 

“What are you doing?” Captain William asked.

 

“I’m going to see,” said the berserker.

 

“Stand down berserker, we’re still not sure what’s going on out there,” said Captain William as he had the right to be cautious in this situation.

 

Even with Captain William’s warning, berserker didn’t pay heed to it. The big man came out from the door, out in the open with a great axe resting on his shoulder.

 

“He’s disobeying your orders Captain, he deserves a court-martial,” said Corp. Lee. For some reason, he had a beef with Frank the berserker. He too turned into an Awakened and he wasn’t satisfied being below berserker as he had read about berserker’s files. A man who once worked under Rissoto crime family, a henchman with nothing else known about him.

 

“Don’t be stupid, he’s the reason why we’re still alive out here,” said Captain William. Although he was discontented by the lack of respect shown by Berserker, but he still knew the reality of the situation. He too felt the need to become stronger with all the shit going on in the world. These guns he had on him were all useless as these bullets were even worse than rubber bullets.

 

“Cap, I think we better follow him,” Specks said. All eyes were on the Latino with spectacles as if he said something wrong.

 

“If he’s going to start killing those UC, we better tag along before missing out on those experience,” said Speck as his words made a lot of sense.

 

“He’s right,” Scott spoke out, although he knew the truth behind their deaths but if there was a chance of levelling up he wasn’t going to pass such an opportunity.

 

“Team, let’s move out,” said Captain William.

 

These seven men followed behind Berserker’s steps, with their useless guns and rifles readied to fire.

 

Berserker went around the one-eyed bodies trying to see whether any was still hanging on their breath. But nothing was left alive as they were all dead. A stern look on Berserker’s face as it turned into a smirk.

 

“Interesting,” said Berserker.

 

Something fueled his inside after seeing these massacre.

 

“Cap, everything’s dead. He probably killed it all before we even have a chance,” said Corp.Lee as he tried to put the blame on Berserker.

 

But Captain William had another opinion in mind, seeing these dead bodies, the fatal wound on them was nothing like the attacking pattern of Berserker. These wounds were clean different from Berserker’s messy style. It got him pondering, was this an enemy or an ally? Are they even safe being out here in the open?

 

Scott in the other hand was once again amazed by the sheer capability of the one who killed these things. Other than amaze he too felt fear creeping under his skin, the so-called curse put on him only strengthened the thought of never telling others about him.

 

But then something happened. While Berserker was looking around the dead corpses, he felt his great axe moved.

 

“What the?” his hands moved quickly grabbing on to the shaft of the great axe. He managed to grab it by the end before it could slip away from his grasp. He saw the head of the great axe floating in the air as if someone was holding on to it and he knew something wasn’t right.

 

“Ignite! Duroqan’s Wrath!” Berserker activated his ability as his already big muscles bulged in size. A buff ability that strengthened himself by fifty percent of his current status points.

 

“Yargh!” Berserker shouted as he swung the great axe with one hand with the intention of flinging the invisible bastard who was at the other end of his great axe.

 

Bright flames ignited from the great axe blades as it effect started to shine when it was swung by Berserker.

 

Berserker’s sudden shout caught the attention of the whole team. All eyes were on Berserker as they all saw him swinging his burning great axe at all direction like a madman.

 

“What’s got into him?” said Stavs.

 

“He’s probably going loco,” said Specks.

 

“You got that right, he should be lock up inside a mental facility,” said Corp. Lee.

 

Captain William paid close attention to the Berserker as he knew that man wasn’t crazy. He aimed down the sight at the Berserker trying to find out what was wrong.

 

In the meantime, Scott was in a dilemma as beads of sweats rained down his forehead. He knew Jason had taken action but something popped up inside his mind. Should he alert these men that a man was trying to steal an artefact of theirs? With all the guns and rifles that these men had, he was at least sure that it could potentially kill the lone man since he knew the vulnerability of energy guard. But would he do it? It would be good if they manage to eliminate Jason since he didn’t felt good about the curse put on him. He feared death but he also disliked being chained. But was it possible? The man who wiped out those kobolds had a multitude of abilities that could save his life in every manner.

 

No, I can’t, thought Scott as he didn’t have the balls to risk it. The possibility was to slim considering they were up against a monster with human flesh.

 

“Show yourself!” Berserker shouted. He no longer felt the tug at the other end of his great axe but he didn’t stop on swinging in order to unveil the invisible bastard that dared tried to steal his great axe. His words prompted the whole team to questioned their current situation.

 

“What’s he saying?” Stavs asked.

 

While the rest of the team were even more confused, Captain William had an inkling about the situation.

 

An invisible hostile? It can’t be, thought Captain William.

 

“Yargh!” Berserker didn’t stop swinging his great axe in every direction with the flames surrounding him like he was at the centre of a mini fire tornado.

 

Captain William made his decision.

 

“Team, there’s an invisible hostile, shoot the empty spaces around Berserker! I repeat, shoot the empty spaces around Berserker,” said the Captain.

 

His whole team was confused by the command and none budge from their current position. But the moment Captain William took a shot at the empty spaces, his team followed without question.

 

Being the standard of a special ops team, these soldiers didn’t play around as their aims were impeccable. Neither of them shoots a loose bullet at their friendly who was currently swinging his great axe like a mad man.

 

Scott who had been watching the whole time had his fist clenched together. Even without him saying it, the observant Captain William managed to deduce the situation. He questioned himself, should he fight along with them? Or would Jason noticed him first and took a hit at his life.

 

No, thought Scott as the risk was too big. Unless he saw for himself the man laying on the ground with bullet wounds, he didn’t dare raise a hand against that man.

 

Five minutes of continuous aimless shooting yet nothing was on sight. Captain William raised up his fist a signal to stop. The firing stopped and even the Berserker stopped on his track with his eyes darting around the empty street looking for that thief. His buff ability had already gone after the four-minute mark, a rather monstrous ability to have considering the effect as well as its time allocation.

 

“Peel your eyes boys, shoot at any foreign human on sight,” said Captain William as his eye didn’t leave the optic sight of his assault rifle.

 

“Ooff.”

 

But then a grunt was heard. All eyes went to the source of the sound and they saw the man with the big built was on his knees clutching at his nether region. But what caught their surprise was the great axe.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Stavs as he and the rest of the team saw the great axe floating in the air.

 

“Aim and shoot!” Captain William bellowed as he was the first to pull the trigger. Then the rest followed in unison.

 

Bullets went flying in the air shooting at the invisible target. Their eyes followed the floating great axe which was moving at an incredible speed going zigzag across the street and afterwards, the great axe went flying into the air as if the invisible person went leaping high into the sky. Bullets rained down over the high sky and in the end, the great axe was gone from sight.

 

Every soldier in the proximity was dumbfounded seeing it gone in mid-air like it was magic. Hard to believe but they saw it with their own two eyes. While the rest felt unfortunate about the missing great axe, one person was utterly enraged.

 

He was still clutching to his groin as the pain was unbearable, he took a low blow from a despicable thief. He grinned his teeth as he was seething in anger. Frank the Berserker would remember this debt as his hatred at this thief would no longer resolve until he kills him.

 

“Mark my words! I’ll fucking kill you for stealing my axe!” said the Berserker as he swore with every ounce of his life.

 

--

 

In the meantime, invisible to the naked eye, a man was smiling as his hand caressed the blade of a great axe. His words reflected what he felt.

 

“Jackpot, baby.”