Picking up from where Rebecca was left after being defeated by the NPC, she was regaining her consciousness. Her vision was blurry as she came to.
"Ah...help...please," The groans of civilians were audible around her.
What happened?
Rebecca slowly got up. As she stood up, she felt a great pain in her chest. She coughed up blood as she fell to her knees.
Ah, I remember now.
Rebecca got back up again and looked around her surroundings. She was inside a heavily damaged building. It was a ruin of broken furniture, along with numerous casualties and injured people under building rubble.
As if feeling helpless, Rebecca could not pick who she should try to help first. She stood there in utter despair. But amid her helplessness, first responders rushed into the building.
They wasted no time to do what they can for the injured. Firefighters carefully removed the rubble from the injured, and medical professionals used first aid to stabilize them. They were so focused on saving the people that they didn't realize Rebecca's presence and simply moved around her as they worked.
Thank goodness...at least, there will be some survivors.
Rebecca limped outside and observed a similar scene in the buildings she was sent through by the NPC. First responders were providing aid for the injured in those buildings. Rebecca could only watch in sorrow.
Instead of getting rid of that criminal and avenging my comrades, I let them get away...and allowed them to cause all this destruction.
Disgusted with her performance, she limped away in shame.
* * *
Nathan and the NPC had returned to the warehouse base on the ground floor. They were both outside, facing each other. The rest of the party and the doctor were spectating them from the side.
"So, Nathan got saved by the NPC, and now he's gonna train him?" Zack asked.
"I guess so," Jack responded. "Looks like he really ran into that one super soldier."
"I wonder if the NPC is strong!" Charles added with enthusiasm.
"So, we're just sparring, right?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah, this is to increase your combat skills. Don't think I will be going too easy on you, though." The NPC responded.
"...Okay," Nathan responded in a slightly nervous tone.
"Hey, don't play too rough with Nathan now." The doctor advised as she was watching.
"Yeah, yeah. Just come at me when you're ready. You can use any weapon, and we'll stop when you can't continue anymore."
I'm pretty sure this guy saved me by beating a super soldier low difficulty. Sigh, no need to worry about getting beaten up, because the doctor will heal me...just use this...to get stronger.
After encouraging himself, Nathan was now ready. Without wasting time, he charged at the NPC. He simply watched Nathan as he quickly approached him.
Nathan started his attack with a sequence of left and right punches. Without any effort, the NPC was blocking them all with just his left hand.
"Not bad, I guess." The NPC casually began conversing with Nathan as he was blocking his punches. "Not bad, but you should put more intent behind your punches.
Huh!?
Frustrated at the NPC's casual behavior, Nathan began to mix his attacks with kicks. This only proved useless, as the NPC was now blocking his punches and kicks with the same arm.
"Come on, put more intent in it, as I said." The NPC repeated as he delivered a quick palm strike onto Nathan's chest, causing him to move backward. "Strike me like you're trying to kill me!"
"Damn, Nathan looks like he's gonna get cooked," Zack remarked, and the rest of the party nodded their heads in agreement.
Nathan was visibly shaken from that simple palm strike, but he continued his attack with a knife now in hand. He rushed at him and swung the bladed instrument at the NPC.
He said I can use any weapon, so I should be fine with doing this. Plus, his casualness with me is getting annoying.
Unsurprisingly, the NPC began to easily weave around Nathan's knife attacks. So far, Nathan has not made the NPC move around. He's been in one spot this entire time.
"So this is how you interpret me saying that you should strike me like you want to kill me, huh? That's fine, I guess. I can tell you've been in many fights in your life, but against experts, you're full of so many openings, you know."
The NPC monologued before sweeping Nathan's legs, faster than he could even react.
Wha-
As Nathan was falling, the NPC grabbed him by the face and slammed him onto the ground, after raising him in the air. Nathan reflexively clenched his head after the impact.
AAHHH!!! MY HEAD, GODDAMMIT!!!
"Hey, isn't that a little too much?" The doctor said with a concerned expression.
"Don't worry, I didn't slam him too hard--" The NPC was interrupted by Nathan's attempt at shooting him in the face with a pistol at point-blank range. He avoided the bullet by leaning his head to the side.
Why the hell is this guy so fast!?
Nathan attempted to shoot him some more, but the NPC deflected the bullets with his hand. Even though he didn't damage him, after releasing Nathan's face, he moved away to gain distance from the NPC.
"Wow, Nathan, that was a close one! Good job!" The NPC said as he complimented Nathan. "I suppose this is a good start, so I'll end it for today."
The NPC started casually approaching Nathan.
Shit!
In response, Nathan obtained a shotgun from his inventory and aimed at him. It was too late, however, as the gun flew out of his hand. The NPC had moved much faster than Nathan's eye could track and slapped the firearm out of his hand.
The last thing Nathan observed was the NPC's fist inches from his face.
For the second time on the same day, Nathan blacked out. He was laid out like a mat on the ground.
"Jeez...why did you go so hard on poor Nathan?" The doctor asked as she made her way to Nathan's body.
"This is the only way he'll learn. If he can't combat superhumans like me physically, he'll have to use other means."
"Hmm, the NPC is stronger than I thought," Jack said. "Makes you wonder who the developer actually is."
Suddenly, Charles confronted the NPC.
"HAHAHA!! YOU DESTROYED NATHAN!" Charles loudly remarked.
"It was nothing." With humility, the NPC responded.
"HAHA, YOU SEEM STRONG! LET'S FIGHT!"
Upon hearing Charles' request, everyone looked at him in surprise. Immediately after, they looked to the NPC, anticipating his answer.
"W-Wait, Charles. I'm not sure that would be a good idea." The doctor warned.
"Oh! It definitely is a good idea!" Charles countered. "I've never had a chance to fight someone strong since the time I fought and lost to a strong-ass super soldier all those years ago! After hearing that you easily beat a super soldier to save Nathan, I was already interested! Now I have to fight you, after seeing you beat Nathan so easily!"
As if processing Charles' declaration, the NPC didn't answer immediately.
"Okay, I was gonna spar with you guys anyways."
This statement left everyone dumbfounded and left Charles very much excited.
"PERFECT!"