Hibiki gritted his teeth as an attack from the 12th-floor boss sent him crashing into a wall.
It wasn't as if it actually hurt, but some idiots had managed to make it to the 12th floor as well, and although he'd already passed the 15th floor, he had been forced to return to the twelfth floor to retrieve the Guardian's Spear to solve the riddle before he could pass.
The 15th floor was always randomly generated so he couldn't have predicted the setback, though he should have expected it.
The system seemed to be following him everywhere instead of hitching a ride on some other players and it was really grating on his nerves whenever it continued with its running commentary, "Why don't you show them how useless it is to try? You know you are simply allowing them to walk to their deaths, right? Why not help them out a bit."
Hibiki completely ignored the system's words as he watched the other players attack the guardian. Sure, being strong in the dungeons was fine, and if fans had been the only problem then he would've been able to tolerate it, but the outside world was a different story and they would easily use Akio to get to him if they needed to.
The fight finally ended when the duel-wielder stabbed his blades into the giant stone statue's neck and it stumbled before it came crashing down in the dust.
Hibiki quickly spirited away the spear as the other players congratulated themselves on their hard-won victory and made his way to the 13th and then 14th floors where he quickly decimated the giant black bear and hydra bosses.
A message popped up the moment he appeared on the 15th floor and the spear disappeared from his inventory before the path to the next level opened.
He managed to clear up to the 21st floor before his phone's alarm went off to alert him that it was time to fetch Akio from school.
He opened his inventory and removed one of the return stones before crushing it in his hand.
The stone had been calibrated to take him straight into his room where he froze as he took in the chaos around him without really understanding what he saw.
An enraged shout from somewhere in the house had him out of the room in mere seconds and he paused in shock as he realized that someone was holding Akio against the wall with his arm twisted in a painful-looking grip behind him and another guy was feverishly searching for something in their living room as he threw open cupboards and ripped the pillows off the couch before shredding them.
The sight had him seeing red and a gleeful cackle echoed in his mind before he blanked out completely.
When he finally came to, it was with the familiar sticky feeling of blood coating his hands and Akio frantically pulling at his arm and begging him to let go of the guy that had already died from blood loss, and yet Hibiki was still holding him up by his throat against the wall because the man had died too easily.
"Of course, he died too easily," a smug voice whispered in his mind, "humans are way too frail to truly be at the top of the food chain, and yet that is exactly what they see themselves as. Are you truly going to continue this pointless quest of proving that humanity can live without greed?"
Hibiki said nothing and the system sighed in mock pity, "Don't worry, I'm not done having fun with you yet. A clean-up crew will arrive soon and you and your brother will be moved to a larger house with better security."
He wanted to deny the system's charity, but one look at Akio's traumatized face and he realized that he couldn't.
He allowed the body to drop to the floor as he glared at his bloodied hands before slowly and mechanically moving toward the bathroom to wash his hands.
On his way there he was met with the second guy that had been tearing their apartment apart.
The bleeding stumps where his hands and legs had been told their own story and he turned away in disgust.
He didn't even want to know what his brother thought of him after seeing what he was capable of.
He tensed as he heard wailing police sirens getting closer, but then they drove past and the sound faded as it drove further and further away.
A moment later he heard the sound of something big in their driveway and a polite knock echoed through the house before the door opened.
Without asking for permission three men entered and started tidying up the scene while a familiar fourth one came towards them, "Time is short. We've been ordered to take you to your new home."
Hibiki chanced a glance at Akio, and his younger brother searched his gaze before he nodded his acceptance, even though there was a look of deep fear in his eyes.
It didn't take long to get to the new place and Hibiki almost threw a fit when he realized that the system was setting them up in a castle, but the system refused to send them anywhere else and Hibiki reminded himself that he simply shouldn't get used to it.
At least Akio would be protected if they lived there with the current guard detail that the system had put into place.
It was three days after their move that Hibiki realized their mistake.
One of the guards accidentally let their glasses slip and Hibiki froze as blood-red eyes met his before the glasses were put back into place once more.
Despite the system enjoying their 'game', it had already surrounded him and Akio with its own minions to prevent their escape.
Days turned into weeks as Hibiki steadily breached the deeper floors whenever Akio was at school and they returned home together seeing as they had nowhere else to go without using more of the money that the system had given them, and Hibiki refused to place them even deeper in the system's debt.