Chapter 42 - In Over Their Heads (1/2)
Myer stopped the group's forward movement and knelt by the first corpse. His pale skeletal-like hand lightly touched the pooled blood, realizing it was still warm, which signified the men hadn't been dead for long. Then, standing up and narrowing his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings. In the surrounding cells, aside from the most immediate cells, where every child was unconscious, the children all went silent as his gaze fell on them. They knew who the man was; he was practically the grim reaper. Myer would come down to the cells daily, and kids would disappear forever when he did.
The brothers felt the noticeable change in the locked-up children occur once the man made his appearance, {Big fish?} Cynrik posed the question in the mind-link with a raised eyebrow.
{It looks like it; I can sense that every kid is shivering in fear; he must be the one who retrieves them for the boss;} Brance affirmed his suspicions, and he was well aware his words would cause excitement to rise in his idiotic brother.
{OHHHH, MINI-BOSS!} He was right. Cynrik was practically vibrating with excitement as he watched the group of hooded men surround all seven corpses. But to Brance's surprise, just as quickly as Cynirk was overcome by excitement, he dropped into solemnity; when Cynrik tried to view Myers Stats with Inspect, he was met by many question marks—causing his overactive attitude to disappear. The only bit of information he could perceive was the man's Name, Race, and Level. What he was reading forced his attitude to take a quick turn, and he went quiet.
: Status :
: Myer Avio:
: Sub Human (Half Ghoul) Male:
: Age-???:
:Level: 18 :
{What the fuck? He's half Ghoul; how can someone be half undead…WAIT, FUCK, HE'S LEVEL 18.} Brance, on the other hand, wasn't able to keep calm as his brother. When he saw the man wasn't human and saw his level, he felt his blood chill. Cynrik's brain was already working at hyper speed as he formulated a new plan of attack. Running several mental simulations for the fights about to occur made his expressionless face shift from vacant to solemn.
{At the moment, we have no choice but to run. Initially, I intended to scope out what we were dealing with, but now…} Cynrik's voice trailed off in the mind link. He quickly scanned over the entirety of the group.
The more people he got info on, the less Cynrik liked the idea of ambushing them. Every single one of the hooded people was Tier 1 and over level 12 at that. Level gap aside, they had already passed what was known as the first Checkpoint, or what Cynrik thought of as level caps, and increased from Tier Zero, like themselves, to Tier 1. Every level ending in zero was known as a Checkpoint.
These systems imposed limits, which could only be broken by meeting specific requirements and completing a particular quest given by the person system. Once completed, the person would receive a significant increase in power, which meant a power gap between level 10 and level 11. However, since the enemies were all outside of the scope of Cynrik's Inspect skill, he wasn't sure how big that gap was.
Cynrik carefully examined his surroundings with narrowed eyes, looking for some clever way to escape. Recognizing the gap between himself and the mini-boss, Myer, Cynrik was well aware that it was only a matter of time before they were caught. {Brance, you go up first ill be right behind you.}
Walking on his toes, Brance slowly stepped out from his corner and made his way to the stairs while holding his breath. Then, not wasting any time, he immediately started climbing them without looking back. Even though he was decisive in his actions, Brance's heart was in pain, leaving behind the caged children. Nevertheless, he knew that what Cynrik was saying was the correct course of action given the present circumstances.