Chapter 28 - Vigilante: Stress Test 2

Rushing in, Riley aligned his eye with his gun's iron sights and activated . With the time slow in effect, Riley took a second to survey the situation. Looking around, Riley thanked his lucky stars that his instincts had kicked in and that he had activated in time; its effect had prevented the noise caused by the thugs from escaping and alerting other enemies.

Taking in his environment, Riley realized that he was in the backroom of the pizzeria, which led to the kitchen. The thugs had been seated at the opposite end of the room, poker cards strewn across the table in front of them. Two of the thugs were still seated, frantically reloading their magazines, while the third had started charging towards him.

Riley had exactly six bullets left in his gun and, utilizing his heightened senses and time-slowing effect, he decided to opt for his previous tactic of double tapping, and fired at the seated thugs. Riley was very confident in his close combat abilities, but he knew no matter how good he was, allowing himself to be shot at while fighting would be taking unnecessary risks. Even Mr. X, who was clearly more skilled than he was, struggled in close combat against just one shooter. If that was enough for him to warrant help from Riley, leaving the two thugs to shoot at him was definitely asking for trouble.

After firing his shots, Riley immediately unequipped his gun. However, just as he was about to his bat, he realized that the thug charging towards him had already closed the distance between them.

Realizing his predicament, [Roleplayer's Mind] kicked in and brought him back to his senses, and he immediately cast , dodging backwards to avoid the thug's lunge attack.

Seizing the opportunity, Riley cast and brought out his bat, swinging it down at the thug's outstretched arm. Before the thug could even scream, Riley brought it back up and cast , smacking the thug in the head. With him down, Riley charged towards the rest, before realising that they had already been knocked out.

Not wanting to waste any more mana, Riley opted to "bind" them the old fashioned way: by using real rope and tape from his inventory to bind and gag the thugs, replenishing some much-needed mana while doing so.

'Wow, the fights feel a lot easier after allocating my stat points. I feel much faster and stronger than before, and my attacks feel like they have more kick behind them… then again these guys are probably just regular thugs. But if what Mr. X said is true, and that there's an important meeting happening here, then they can't just be your run-of-the-mill gangster. They must have some ability if they're guarding a meeting between high-level executives.'

Having finished tying up all the unconscious mobsters, Riley made his way toward the staircase. As he was slowly creeping up the stairs, Riley thanked whichever god had saw fit to create ; although he could feel the steps creaking under his feet, thanks to his Vigilante's Shoes, the actual creaking sound was negated.

Just as he reached the top of the stairs, Riley's cautious steps turned into a crawl. Unlike the room below that had only been lit by a small lamp sitting on top of the poker table, this floor was well-lit with fluorescent lights. It was a hallway, with the stairs on one side and an exquisitely-carved mahogany door on the other. Also unlike the gloomy and drab backroom, this floor was well-maintained and decorated with old paintings. The floor was made out of tiles which formed well-designed patterns, and the ceiling was arched like a cathedral's and painted in a design reminiscent of Renaissance artist Michelangelo.

'Wait, focus on the mission Riley! This is no time to be admiring your surroundings!'

Without the need of his mask's night vision capabilities, Riley was able to spot only one man guarding the door. Unlike the thugs below, this guard had a menacing aura about him. He stood at about two meters tall, and was wearing a tank top with no sleeves, revealing some very muscular arms. Folded across his chest, Riley could see pronounced bumps, which indicated some very extreme training. However, what piqued Riley's interest even more than the guard's apparent strength was his tattoos. From what he could make out, there were several huge tattoos starting from his chest and stretching out onto his arms and shoulder blades, depicting a dragon and other ferocious beasts.

Sporting a buzzcut, the guard lacked facial expressions, and was standing completely still as if he were a museum artifact showcasing the peak of human physical capability. Gulping nervously, Riley double checked to make sure that his mana had fully replenished and that his abilities were off cooldown before making his next move.

Without any hesitation, Riley leapt out of his hiding spot, casting and simultaneously. Despite clearly seeing Riley charging towards him, the man stood still and his face showed no change in emotion. Riley ignored this, and continued forward.

As he closed in on the guard, Riley summoned his bat using and swung at the guard with Before his attack could connect, however, [Sense Danger] activated and, he instinctively cancelled his attack and dodged backwards.

This proved to be the correct move as the guard had thrown a punch with such speed that Riley hadn't even noticed him move. It was only when he felt a slight disturbance in the air in front of him that he noticed the punch. However, the attack was so strong that, even though Riley had managed to barely avoid it, he was knocked back several meters from the air pressure caused by the strength and speed of the guard's attack.

'What the fuck was that?'

"Holy crap, how'd you do that?'

Riley received no reply from the man. Trying to elicit some form of response, Riley followed up with: "What, can't you talk? Well, I guess that means that you're all brawn and no brain?"

" failed to trigger."

'Damn it, nothing works. Let's try the gun.'

As the guard slowly walked towards Riley, he put his bat away and pulled out his gun instead. Confident in his ability to shoot a big, slow-moving target, Riley opted not to use but instead fired normally.

His first bullet met its mark on the guard's body, but it ricocheted off without the guard even flinching. Riley shot a second bullet, this time closer to the chest and it bounced off in the same manner. Riley started walking backwards and fired another shot. It hit the guard in the forehead, but just like the other two shots, the guard didn't even flinch. At this point, nervousness was fighting against [Roleplayer's Mind], trying to take over his emotions.

'What the fuck?? Why isn't anything working?'

In desperation, Riley manually pulled his bat out of Inventory and charged forward with . Unlike the first time, Riley wasn't aiming for the head. Instead, Riley maintained his distance, hoping that the guard would do the same thing. His gamble paid off, and for a split second, he saw the guard move his arm, thanks to the increased reaction speed from . With all his might, he initiated a , aiming for where he knew the guard's arm would be.

"Crack!"

Good news and bad news. Good news: Riley probably crippled the man's arm with the help of , , and his newly upgraded stats. Bad news: his bat exploded immediately after impact.

"ARGHHHH!!!!"

In a sudden fit of rage, the guard swung his other fist at Riley, which he was able to narrowly avoid using [Dodge Step]. However, his reaction wasn't fast enough, and the punch made contact with Riley's left arm, the shockwave of the attack coursing through his entire body.

Although the pain was intense and Riley was sure that his arm was broken, [Roleplayer's Mind] kicked in, helping him to ignore the shock. It helped that the sight of a literal giant barreling towards him was pumping him full of adrenaline. Using , Riley teleported immediately behind the guard. Riley wrapped his broken left arm, which was now limp, around the guard's neck, and gripped it tightly with his right hand.

"You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Hearing what Riley had said, the guard realized that he was charging towards the stairs. But it was too late. Due to losing his composure, the guard had charged Riley with all his strength, and that was about to backfire spectacularly on him.

At the exact moment as the guard reached the edge of the stairs, Riley released his grip around his neck, and gave the guard a kick to his back.

"GG."

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Patch 27.0

- Regular biweekly update

Name: Riley Petesgeralt

Age: 16

Job: The Roleplayer

Class: Vigilante

Level: 16

HP: 250

MP: 220

EXP: 138/400

Strength: 43

Dexterity: 46

Vitality: 25

Intelligence: 32

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 26

Luck: 31

Skills:

Roleplayer's Mind

Virtual Body

Analyze (Level 5)

Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Level 4)

Physical Endurance (Level 3)

The Cinderella Effect (Level 1)

Dodge Step (Level 2)

Counter Flip (Level 1)

Leg Sweep (Level 2)

Power Punch (Level 2)

Extreme Agility (Level 2)

Sense Danger (Level 2)

Trash Talk (Level 1)

Power Swing (Level 4)

Quick Draw (Level 1)

Minimap (Level 2)

Incognito (Level 4)

Bullet Party (Level 1)

Bullet Time (Level 1)

Bind (Level 1)

Equipment:

Vigilante's Mask (Level 3/5)

Vigilante's Cloak (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Pants (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Gloves (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Shoes (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Gun (Level 1/5)

Full set bonus unlocked: Shadow World