16. Antlion Mart (2)
Three men coming down the moving walkway.
My first thought was a question: why are those bastards coming down from upstairs?
But I figured out the reason quickly. From the third floor up, this place is a parking garage. So those bastards were coming down from the parking garage.
What the hell. Did they actually bring a car?
In a world like this, they just drove here bold as anything?
Anyway, for now, I watched. I could shoot those bastards dead right then if I wanted.
But I didn't feel any need to. Bait that would search this place for me had just walked in, hadn't it?
They're going to do the work for me, so why kill them early?
Come to think of it, there's no need to kill people I can see right away.
This Coin and Skill Draw system is ultimately a system where you have to accumulate Coins.
If someone who'd only done 1 draw tried 10 draws and 100 draws, they'd catch on to the conditions like I did.
Then in the end, you have no choice but to hoard Coins. Because if the conditions decrease one by one, that alone can produce a powerful skill.
Anyway, that means there's no need to kill those bastards right now.
If I do have to kill them, it'd be when they've saved up as many Coins as they want and try to draw?
I can't let them spend it all pointlessly. No way.
So I just needed to wait for that moment and kill them then. Until then, I'd watch.
So for now, I was an observer.
A perfect observer with no presence and no visible form. The ultimate spectator, protected by this suspicious skill.
I can't know who else is in here. Someone could be hiding well somewhere.
Those bastards can't hide their presence and appearance like I can. So if I leave them like that, they'll draw the aggro.
It's not like I'm in danger anyway.
Anyway, the three guys were remarkably bold. They looked like they didn't have a single worry.
Why? Did they have something to fall back on? If so, it'd be a skill, right?
Meanwhile, the three men went down.
The grocery section. Their purpose was apparently to come get food. Well, the biggest reason to come to a mart would be that.
And at that moment. A pure white laser flashed inside the mart.
It was a laser. I mean, a beam. A beam that looked like it would make a pew-pew sound.
No. Fuck. They can shoot beams too? That's a hundred percent a skill, right?
And what was even more surprising was that those bastards blocked it.
The beam was blocked by something and scattered to pieces. Only then did the three of them startle and turn around.
"Someone's there!"
One of them shouted that, and all three ran at once.
Toward where the laser had come from, that is. They couldn't see the exact moment it fired, so their direction was slightly off, but they ran in roughly the right direction.
I did the same. I looked straight toward where the laser had come from.
So I ran too, and after passing two store sections, I spotted a guy.
And even then, the guy kept firing beams.
A man glaring wide-eyed at the three charging him. Lasers materialized in front of him and kept firing at the three people.
But the lasers kept being blocked by something and scattering as if shattering.
The three of them, protected as if by some round sphere.
Maybe because of that, the laser guy showed signs of panic.
Then suddenly the laser guy went "uuuugh," his whole body trembling, and collapsed limply to the ground.
"Hah. Hah. Fuck. Got him. You piece of shit. Shooting fucking lasers and making a scene."
"Damn. That's lethal, though. Your barrier is fucking broken, man. It blocks lasers?"
"I was surprised too. Fuck. Wow. This skill is so good. It just blocks everything on its own?"
Listening to their conversation, it seemed they hadn't known whether that barrier could block lasers either.
Anyway, the barrier was clearly a skill. One that activated on its own even without the user being conscious of it.
"Hey. How many Coins did you say you had? You're in the twenties, right?"
"27."
"You? Forties?"
"42 Coins."
"Then I'll kill this guy? Since I'm at 11 Coins? No complaints, right?"
"Yeah. Kill him quick. And change that shitty skill of yours."
"I was going to anyway. Fuck."
Then the man pulled out a knife and stabbed the collapsed laser guy deep in the heart.
The blade went in far too easily. The laser guy's body twitched, then went completely still.
"Oh. Fuck. I'm at 55."
"What? You said 11?"
"Yeah. He'd killed a shitload. This bastard was a fucking psycho too."
"Wow. Shit. But it makes sense. It's a laser. If you just keep firing this thing, everyone dies, right?"
"Right. But you couldn't kill him."
"Heh heh heh. Of course not. This barrier is invincible."
Listening to their conversation, something came to mind.
The guy in front of the glass wall. The laser guy must have killed him. That seemed certain.
"Shit. What do I do about my skill? Should I save up a bit more and draw when I hit 100?"
"What, so if other people show up, you're gonna kill them again?"
"Hey, your barrier and your electric shock are fucking great, aren't they? Shouldn't you two keep those skills for now? Especially you — do you have any plans to change that barrier?"
"No. None. Are you crazy?"
"See. So it's better if I take the kills and draw with 100 Coins."
"Fuck. Fine. Do whatever. But what if you do a 100-Coin draw and get some piece of shit?"
"Could there be anything as shitty as this Blindness? If it's worse than this, I should just kill myself. I've got no luck anyway."
"Heh heh heh. Like you'd actually kill yourself. Dumbass."
The three who killed the laser guy were running their mouths freely, probably because the tension had broken.
Thanks to that, I got a rough idea of their skills.
One was Electric Shock — probably the skill that put the laser guy down like that.
Another was Blindness. I didn't know the details, but it probably blinded people. And one had the barrier.
They didn't seem like they'd draw skills right away. So there was no need to kill them immediately.
But there's a bit of a problem.
That barrier. From what they were saying, it seemed to block on its own even if the guy didn't notice the attack.
Earlier, it blocked the laser even though his back was turned.
So, could I shoot that bastard dead with a gun? What if it blocks that too?
And I think I understand why those bastards stay so close together.
That barrier seems to block all attacks coming near the guy.
That's why those pricks stick so close to him.
The other two probably aren't always glued to him. They wouldn't be like that even when sleeping, surely.
So the other two can be killed anytime. My gun can fire without making a sound.
The problem is the barrier guy. I can't use a gun on him.
Then what about a knife or something?
If I stab him with a knife, would it block that too? What are its conditions? There must be some kind of restrictions on it.
But even after watching closely, there was nothing that seemed like a restriction. Nothing suspicious either.
So I'd need to observe a bit longer. Those bastards are the talkative type, so if I keep watching, they might run their mouths on their own.
Like that, the three who killed the laser guy went down.
The grocery section. The ones who went there each pulled a cart over and started loading up whatever they could take.
It was a mart with a huge amount of merchandise. And since only a day had passed since everything went to hell, there was still plenty of stock.
Maybe because of that, one of the three loading goods into carts suddenly stopped and spoke to the other two.
"Hey. Do we even need to take this stuff? Can't we just stay here?"
"Here? Hmm..."
"There's no reason we can't, right? There's probably a bathroom here too. We can figure out somewhere to sleep."
"True, but... it's too big. Fuck. If it's this big, how do we know who's coming in from where?"
"What are you talking about? We just guard the basement entrance down there. Block off the stairs?"
"Oh. Right. Fuck. You're smart, huh?"
"Obviously. Heh heh."
The barrier guy laughed like that, and the other two nodded. Then one of them spoke.
"Then we should bring those bitches, right?"
"Yeah. We should."
"Then let's leave this stuff and go get them. Yeah. That's better, actually. That place is too cramped."
"Fuck. Did you pay a single cent toward my studio apartment? Huh?"
"Ah. Shut up and let's just go."
With that, the three put down their carts and went back up.
And I watched the three of them and thought for a moment.
They said they'd come back, right? Then do I really need to chase after them?
Those bastards came by car. So it'd be hard for me to follow them.
So I don't push it. They'll be back. They left their stuff, so they definitely will.
So I watched the guys drive off, then stayed there and waited.
It was ridiculous. It wasn't as if I were waiting for an ex.
Waiting like this for bastards carrying Coins to come back.
Fortunately, it didn't even take 30 minutes for them to return.
And the three of them brought two women with them. No, dragged them.
Bound hands and tangled hair. Two women with pretty faces.
I could guess what they were for. Well, it's obvious. Men all think the same way.
Not that I'm one to talk.
Seeing those two women, I thought it was a bit of a waste that I'd killed Chloe.
She was pretty. Her nipples and pussy were pink too, and she got me fucking hard.
She wouldn't have been easy to manage.
I could have done what I did to the three at the hospital, but I couldn't do that at the hotel. I couldn't have taken her out either.
So that had been the best option. I stopped thinking about a woman who was already dead.
The three men who brought the two women went down to the basement.
And they started turning the mart into their own territory.
The mart had all kinds of furniture. There were sofas and blankets and such.
So they brought those things and made their hideout in the mart basement.
The moving walkway leading down to the basement. As long as they guarded that entrance, the place was safe.
Just like that, the bastards had everything in the basement grocery section to themselves and were living in plenty.