Back at the main group, King could not hide the wicked grin on his face. It had almost been two hours and Leo or the two girls were not seen by anyone. The young man was already convinced that the boy will never come back.
"Too bad for the little girl and her mother though, that lady also looked damn sexy. But at least that kid won't be going to hell alone. I am too kind." He thought in his head.
"King, why are you smiling like that? You are acting kind of weird." His girlfriend looked him worriedly.
"I am alright, Amy. I just thought of something from you that made me happy. You are truly the greatest gift of my life." The young man smoothly flattered his girlfriend, which was part of his usual routine.
"Aww~~ That came out of nowhere, but you are so sweet, King." Amy gave her boyfriend's cheek a kiss.
King continued to grin sinisterly, but it was unnoticed by the girlfriend. The young man's thought already wandered back to the system menu. He looked at the item he purchased earlier once again.
[ Item: Ashes of the alluring skull]
Class rank: C
Effect: The fragrance of the ash will temporarily attract certain foes from the nearby area. They will be frenzied and attack anyone that carried the scent of the smell.
Cost: 150 SF (Soul Fragments) ]
The item was expensive, but King felt it was well worth it. There was half of its content left in the bottle; he will be saving this to set someone up again. With the soul fragments he had left, the young man decided it's time for that upgrade.
"R2, purchase the male reproductive system enhancement!" He excitedly shouted in his head.
[Insufficient soul fragments]
"What? Wasn't the price sixty-nine? I have almost a hundred." King was confused and pulled up the details of the enhancement selection again. "Wait, R2! Why does it cost 690 now?!?"
[Due to the chosen sentinel's successful awakening, thy body has evolved; therefore, the cost to body enhancements has increased.]
The dude almost had mental breakdown and wanted to cry.
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Leo and the two girls rendezvoused with the rest of the group. The young mother tried to hide her mildly bloated stomach and her lightly crippled walking posture, but was easily seen through by Sharon. Yet, nobody else noticed the slight difference of Cindy as a whole after her body was re-vitalized by Leo's monster. The aunt smirkingly smiled at her nephew then turned her head towards Cindy.
"Good job, thanks for taking care of my nephew. He must have given you a bucket load of trouble." Sharon glanced at Cindy's belly.
"Uhm? No. Leo was a very good boy." Cindy wasn't able to immediately catch on to Sharon's speed, the gas pedal was fully pressed.
"..." Leo and Mindy selectively ignored the conversation.
Seeing trio unharmed, King was shocked and he silently cursed at the boy. But before he doubted the effectiveness of the item he purchased, he used to meter to check on Cindy and Mindy. He finally remembered that those two also weren't normal humans.
[ Species: Humanoid
Life Force: 17 ]
[ Species: Humanoid
Life Force: 9 ]
"These are some pretty high numbers. Even that little girl is stronger than me. No wonder they survived..." The young man muttered.
King had only himself to blame for the failed attempt. But now, the young man planned to bid his time to farm up more soul fragments before doing anything else. He also did not want to waste any more resources on Leo.
Behind the young man's back, a pair of large droopy eyes observed him menacingly with contempt. King felt a cold wind that sent shivers to his spines from the back. He turned around and peeked behind him, but wasn't able to catch anything out of ordinary.
"What's wrong?" The girlfriend asked.
"Nothing." King replied to his girl and then muttered. "Must be my imagination."
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Violet's group was not attacked by any powerful mutated zombie or beast. The way back to the base camp was a calm and serene journey. The group was not attacked by any powerful mutated zombie or beast. However, the least expected enemies showed up instead and stopped Violet's group in the middle of the street.
They were now surrounded by another group of humans. Men with crossbows and firearm were posturing on the windows of the buildings left and right. Several men led by three awakened thugs were blocking the way forward.
"Oho! What a lucky catch today. A group with bunch of women. Seems like tonight will be an enjoyable night. Right? Man!" A generic looking mafia boss shouted.
The man was ripped and wore a gray tank top to show off his muscles while dual wielding AK-34s on his two hands; he was the leader of his group.
Thug A: "Ahaha, aye boss. We haven't tasted woman ever since that day."
Thug B: "Right? We should have brought some girls with us back then."
"So, you guys are the infamous bandits in recent rumors, huh?" Violet was calm and collected. As a leader that led a successful all women's group, she definitely had a strong confidence and perhaps a few tricks up in her sleeves.
"How about we give up our supplies and you let us go? We will only keep enough food to get by the next couple days." Violet tried to negotiate with the bandits regardless.
"No, no, no. We are all gentlemen here and we don't rob from women. However, my men would like a chance to get to know you girls better and facilitate some intimate relationships." The boss then pointed his finger at Jean. "Especially you! Why don't we have some tea at my place? You will not regret the night."
Leo rubbed his chin and said to himself. "So, this guy is in covenant with Flat is Justice... However, I am a firm believer that large melons are filled with our hope and dreams." Thus, the boy's eye turned sharp. "Hence, we are enemies!"
Several days ago, at the base camp, there had been reports of groups being ambushed when returning from their salvaging trips. Usually, lives were spared as long the group forfeited their possessions, but they butchered anyone that resisted. However, it seemed like surrendering wasn't going to be an option for the women in this group.
"Oh? are you sure your men can satisfy all of us at once?" Jean smirked. "I don't want to wake up disappointed the next morning."
Doubting a man's capability to satisfy women was considered a cardinal sin. All the man were enraged and yelled in response; foul languages and trash talks were thrown out of their mouths. However, while the verbal exchange was happening, a misty fog had started to accumulate and gradually dimmed their vision.
Thug A: "What is this!? I can't see shit!"
Thug B: "When did it become so foggy all of sudden?"
"Boss, what should we do?" An awakened bnadit asked.
The bandit boss caressed his chin while his men were in disarray.
"Tch! One of them is an ability user. This might be bad." The boss was beginning to have a bad feeling.
The bandits had done their research on almost every group at the base camp. When they spot a potential target, they do not jump on the ones that they have no information about or are stronger than them. The boss knew beforehand their prey this time only had two awakened in the group; yet, no one had information that one of them was an ability user. However, the bandit boss would soon find out that their information was severely outdated.
All the original members of the group had already known of their leader's ability and kept that knowledge to themselves. The two boyfriends were considered outsider and was not shared of this secret. Needless to say, it was also Sharon's first time seeing this ability.
"That sly woman keeping a secret from me, huh? Even though I showed her my power." Sharon was a little upset. "I thought I gained her trust."
"Aunty, these men aren't much of a threat, lets end it quickly." Leo then added. "They have three awakened on the front and two more hiding the buildings, one at each side.
"Yeah, all of them felt weak." Sharon smiled. This was pretty exciting for her.
The rest of women did not panic and trusted their leader. Violet had built up plenty of faith in her team by leading them out of danger on many scenarios.
"Darling~~ this way." Yuno straight up pulled Subaru by his collar and dragged him with her.
"King! Don't panic. I am here... come back!" Amy chased after her boyfriend who suddenly started to run on his own and almost vanished from her sight.
Violet easily re-grouped her teammates using all sorts of hint and guides within her ability. Leo and Sharon acted alone using their senses to hunt down the thugs. Meanwhile, Cindy ignored everything else and was anxiously looking for her daughter that got separated by the fog. Mindy purposely took this opportunity to separate herself from the group without telling her mother.