"How do I look?" Irene asked as the makeover was done. Her green hair over her purple eyes was shining better than never. All the scars previously present vanished as she stood there with an idiotic smile on her face. I chuckled as I saw her face before looking at manager.
"I will put in good words for you in Leeway's ears," I spoke as I kind of understood what he wanted from all this exchange. He gave me a knowing smile as he bowed before we decided it was time to move out of the shop.
Our next destination? The Vintages… Let's bring them down first,
"Sir! The Vintage's people are here!!!" A staff member came running towards us with a fear stricken face as she looked at the manager, who groaned in front of us before a deep sigh appeared on his face. He looked at me for a brief moment before speaking,"You guys can go from the back… I will handle things here…"
Though I just stood there with a smile as I looked at Angela yawning while Irene looked at me as if waiting for my response to come. I gave it a brief thought before speaking,"no… It would be wrong of us to put you in a problem and just run with our tails tucked between our legs."
The manager was confused as I turned to the staff and asked,"show us the way. They are probably here for us."
The staff just looked at us for a few seconds before turning to the manager… I just smiled at him. He wanted to say something but stopped himself as he asked,"Are you sure you can handle them?"
"The Vintage?" I asked
"Yeah… they are a small group, but they aren't weak by any means," He answered, and I smiled…"It is fine. I have my means."
He nodded before asking the staff to show the way. The staff then took us outside where a bunch of men were ransacking the place while carrying guns in their hands. We walked towards them slowly as their eyes landed on us.
"Are you the manager?" one of the guys asked me and the manager, Erwin, moved forward as he spoke,"I am… do you need anything from me?"
"You fucker! One of our girls walked in here… you don't happen to see her, do you?" The guy who seemed to be the leader spoke out with a spiteful voice. He pointed the gun at the manger as his eyes turned a bit red… he was a… ghoul, huh?
The manager looked at me for a moment as I smiled before speaking,"Irene… deal with them except the leader. Though leave the finishing blow to me, will ya?"
Irene looked at me and nodded before moving towards those guys as they grew confused… before a loud laughter came out of that leader's mouth.
"Pfft- You got that slave a makeover? Hahaha… I have never seen anything funny like that in a while… And what did you say? Her? Kill us? You don't seem to understand the situation here kiddo," that guy spoke as the red leaf tattoo on his neck started glowing and he spoke,
"Kneel!"
I saw Irene stopping for a brief moment as he spoke those words. I did not know what was going on but…
[Time Rejection!]
I canceled whatever the effect it was producing.
And then… silence covered the entire area.
Erwin, Layla, and the staff members looked at the scene stupefied as Irene just stood there with a relieved smile on her face. Meanwhile, those men gawked at Irene with a question filled face before looking at the leader guy.
"I said FUCKING KNEEL!!!" the leader shouted again as he saw Irene and
[Time Rejection!]
Once again, when Irene didn't kneel, things took a drastic turn as those guys gulped before looking at Irene.
"We must get her… or the boss will kill us," one of the guys spoke as a red-coloured tattoo appeared on his arms and he moved forward. Irene, who was standing there trying to understand what was going on, looked at the man moving forward to her.
Clenching her fist, she took a step back as she dodged his fists while using her legs, she counterattacked in his groin before hitting him on the face
-POW!!
[Time Rejection!]
Which immediately broke his jaw, breaking and dislocating it. Then another punch followed from below
-POW!!
·ƈθm Which shattered the jaws completely. Another one at the ribs
[Time Rejection!]
Another one near the stomach
[Time Rejection!]
And finally, one kick to push him away
[Time Rejection!]
I made sure this does not kill him, as I wanted to get the Exp from them. Even if it is 10 or 20, it is still fine. Killing a couple of thousands of roaches like them will give me enough to level up at least one time.
After that guy flew away, everyone looked at Irene, who was cracking her knuckles. The leader was the one who was most shocked… looking at his expression; it seemed he knew Irene of the past…
"Who are you? You are not Irene… but you have her signature… How is it possible?... Just what is going on here…" He mumbled something which gave me a little idea of what was going on… but I still wasn't sure, so I decided to wait for a couple of moments and more.
"What should we do, boss?" one of them asked with a complex expression as he observed Irene with a slight shiver. One can observe his hands getting sweaty as he held the gun in his hands. As for the others, they just stood there, waiting for the leader to command.
"We need to capture her. Whatever is going on, the leaders won't be happy with it. If we let her go, we are probably dead… so capture her with all your might," he commanded as he too ran towards Irene. Some of them clicked their guns while the others carefully moved forwards.
As for Irene… she, too, went all out as she dodged the attacks and began beating every one of those fuckers left and right. Her eyes were gleaming as she hit them at their weakest spot.
[Time Rejection!]
Obviously, I too was helping her from the sidelines as I jammed the guns, stopped their attack and helped Irene land critical hits one after another. In basic terminology, I made her go through the 'Easy Mode'
Erwin and Layla watched stupefied as they saw Irene beating the shit out of those goons while they themselves were confused about what was going on. And before anyone could understand what was going on, more than half of them fell on the ground with their bones broken at most of their joints. I just simply looked at those idiots falling one by one on the floor. Even if one of them was trying to run, I made them slip on the floor, rendering them unable to get out of here.
It took a couple of minutes or more, but all of them fell down on the ground without being able to do anything. Irene, satisfied with the exchange of blows, returned with a smile on her face as she moved behind me while I just looked at the manager, who was stupidly observing me.
"You are all dead! Cough cough! To attack the members of The Vintage… if you don't capture her… you are all so dead… you probably don't know but she is probably related to a Slave Mark Eraser… you know what happened to the previous one right… " The leader spoke with the best of his ability as I walked towards him.
As for the others, their faces turned white as they heard the phrase 'Slave Mark Eraser' and they began looking at Irene with a skeptical look. Their eyes filled with fear and horror. They were about to move towards Irene but…
"The Vintage, huh? Are they really that big of a deal?" I asked, as I was quite amused by that guy's pathetic attempt to rile the public against Irene.
"Who are you?.... Are you in love with that slave or something, haha… Let me tell you something kid… The Vintage's leader is someone you don't mess with… he works for the Dark Oracle… You probably don't know… but they are fucking monsters… and nobody messes with them…" He spoke and spoke and spoke, while I simply picked up the gun, analyzed for a couple of seconds before
-Bang!
Killing one of the men
[+14 Exp Received!]
'Weak,' I thought as I shot another one
[+25 Exp Received!]
[+23 Exp Received!]
[+17 Exp Received!]
.
.
.
[+20 Exp Received!]
As I killed each and everyone of them, I observed the stupefied face of that leader. Not only him, but Erwin and the staff were looking at me as if I were a maniac.
"You…" he was about to say something but…
"Are they… really that special?" I asked again with an amused face,"they should be stronger than these weaklings, shouldn't they?"
"Last I killed a member of Dark Oracle, he too was quite weak… I hope the one your leader works for is stronger than him," I spoke as I really hoped for it. His eyes widened as he looked at me with a horrified face.
Placing the gun on his forehead, I said,"You do not need to know."
-Bang!!
[Time Rejection!]
I saw that a single bullet wasn't going to kill him, so I used [Time Rejection!] again.
[+45 Exp Received!]
Then, I turned around at Erwin, who held his breath for a while now,"Erwin… Can you tell me where the headquarters of The Vintage is? My interest is quite piqued now…"
