"Sorry, host, there's no option to run away," the mechanical voice directly responded.
"What the heck, seriously? But I can't win this! Can we just not act tough?" Linton realized that the system wouldn't let him run, but the opponent was a master of combat energy. How could this even be fair?
Just as he finished speaking, a shadow leaped from the gap on the second floor, rushing straight toward Linton. The cold blade was crystal clear under the moonlight, and the enemy wasn't going to give Linton any breathing room.
"They really want me dead, huh?" Linton noticed that the assassin didn't care about being exposed and wouldn't leave even if the first strike failed. Clearly, the guy wanted him dead. This town didn't have any real experts, with the strongest one—Chiora—already taken down by Linton. This combat energy master was now completely unrestrained here.
Linton's body moved on its own again, dodging to the side. But it wasn't enough to evade the attack—a splash of blood flew through the air, and a cut appeared on Linton's arm.
"Dodging distance miscalculated."
"Because he's using combat energy!" Linton immediately understood. "His blade's longer than it looks."
"Please provide more combat data, host."
"I don't freaking know!" Linton shouted in frustration.
Before he could finish, the assassin stomped the ground, rapidly accelerating. Linton instinctively dodged again, but in the next second, his left hand flew off. He hadn't dodged in time, and the assassin's strike severed his hand completely.
Linton's body froze for a moment, then his right hand quickly pressed against the wound, applying so much pressure that his fingers dug into the flesh, seemingly in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Oddly enough, Linton didn't feel any pain—probably because the system had disabled his pain receptors earlier.
"Misjudged the enemy's burst strength," the mechanical voice noted.
"Is it because of the combat energy explosion?" Linton guessed immediately.
"Please provide more combat data, host."
"I'm just guessing, okay? Can't you figure some of this out yourself?" Linton glanced at his severed left hand and couldn't help but complain.
Suddenly, Linton's body spun 180 degrees and began to run.
"Running away?" Linton asked.
"No, increasing combat distance..."
"Come on, man, please stop fighting!" Linton clutched his head in frustration. "I've only got one hand left, give me a break!"
The assassin, surprised by Linton's sudden retreat, hesitated for a split second. But he quickly caught on and accelerated in pursuit, hurling a shiny object as he ran.
Linton didn't notice it at first, but his body automatically jumped to avoid it. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The next moment, something slashed across his leg, cutting deeply—almost down to the bone.
"Dodging timing miscalculated."
"Can you be any more useless?" Linton stumbled mid-air and awkwardly crashed to the ground. He tried to roll and keep running, but by that point, the assassin had already caught up. Linton's body stopped, possibly because it had calculated that escape was no longer possible.
"You're the fourth son of the Meloway family, right?" The assassin, now confident of his victory, began to speak. "You've really piqued my curiosity. I've been watching you for days, and suddenly your power surged—just today."
"Uh... do we have a grudge or something?" Linton asked the assassin.
"No, no grudge. In my line of work, grudges don't matter," the assassin replied.
"So, I guess I'm not getting out of this alive?" Linton asked.
"Any last words?"
"Hmm..." Linton thought for a moment. "Do you know the motto of the Meloway family?"
"No, I don't," the assassin replied.
"Our family motto is... 'Screw you!'" Linton flipped him the middle finger.
The assassin didn't seem to understand the gesture but didn't care either. He raised his blade and swung it toward Linton.
"Excessive blood loss. Limb functionality impaired. Host is advised to use points to restore the body," the mechanical voice suddenly chimed in, just as Linton thought his end was near.
"Points can do that? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Linton was dumbfounded.
"..."
The mechanical voice didn't answer, but Linton quickly activated the system. Whatever it took, he needed to recover—maybe he could dodge the next strike.
"Use it!"
"System notification: Body restoration using points. Based on the current extent of damage, 21,100 points will be deducted."
"System notification: Restoration successful. Your current point balance is negative 4,350."
"System notification: Due to insufficient points, forced exploration mode will be activated."
With a flash of white light, Linton suddenly disappeared from the scene.
When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in the middle of a grassy field. He was still processing what had happened, staring blankly at the ground.
"System notification: Due to your negative point balance, forced exploration has been triggered. If you fail to gain enough points by the end of this exploration, your exploration privileges will be revoked."
"Got it." Linton quickly understood. Restoring his body had consumed a massive amount of points, pushing his balance into the negative. The system had now forced him into an exploration mode to earn those points back, which had also caused his sudden teleportation.
Looking at his left hand, Linton finally exhaled in relief. His body had indeed been restored, with his previously severed hand now completely regenerated. All of his other wounds were healed as well, though his clothes were still a bit torn. There were no visible signs that he had been bleeding just moments before.
Now, the next question was… where was he? Based on past experience, this exploration mode probably meant being transported to another place. So, could this be the same world where he'd encountered Spider-Man?
Linton glanced around and saw that he was in a forest. The trees were twisted and tall, growing in strange shapes. Just as he was about to investigate further, he heard a noise ahead.
Desperate to figure out where he was, Linton quickly walked toward the sound. After a few steps, he spotted a figure sitting on the grass, their back turned to him.
As he got closer, Linton confirmed that it was indeed a person, though dressed rather oddly. Judging by their back, they seemed to be a young man, wearing black clothing with something resembling straw sandals. The person appeared to be injured, as they were bandaging a wound on their leg.
"Who's there?" The person noticed Linton while he was still observing and swiftly stood up, moving with surprising speed. They drew out a small knife-like weapon and held it in front of themselves. Linton looked closely and realized it was a kunai—a weapon used by ninjas from Japan.
Speaking of which, the person's outfit did resemble that of a ninja. Linton also noticed a strange emblem on the person's arm, which looked somewhat familiar, though he couldn't quite place it from this angle.
"Who are you? Speak!" the ninja demanded, eyeing Linton with suspicion. Even though Linton wasn't dressed like a ninja, his civilian-looking outfit seemed out of place in what appeared to be a war zone. The ninja was understandably on edge, given the circumstances.
"Whoa, calm down! Calm down!" Linton raised his hands in a gesture of peace, suddenly nervous. Not for his own safety, but for the ninja's. Based on his previous experiences, his body had some kind of automatic combat system that activated when it detected a threat. If this ninja attacked him, his system might fight back automatically, and he didn't want to knock out someone who could help him.
"I'm just here to ask for directions. Where am I?" Linton said, trying to de-escalate the situation. The ninja had several obvious wounds, with bloodstains all over, so it was clear he had just been through a tough fight and was probably very jumpy.
"Ask for directions?" The ninja remained wary but adjusted his stance slightly.
From this new angle, Linton could now clearly see the emblem on the ninja's arm—it was a spiral symbol. And as soon as he saw it, a rush of familiarity hit Linton, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "That's the symbol of the Hidden Leaf Village! You're a ninja from the Leaf?"
In a flash, the ninja hurled his kunai toward Linton. The fact that Linton knew about the Hidden Leaf Village made it clear he wasn't just a random civilian. No true Leaf ninja would refer to the village like that. The ninja still didn't know if Linton was an enemy shinobi or just a clueless civilian, but in a warzone, anyone who wandered into battle was taking their life into their own hands.
"Wait!"
But it was too late. Just as the ninja threw the kunai, the mechanical voice kicked in: "Enemy detected. Activating automatic combat mode."
In the next second, Linton's body bent backward in an impossibly flexible motion, dodging the kunai. He quickly twisted his body and sprinted toward the ninja at incredible speed.
"So, he's an enemy after all?" The ninja immediately realized that Linton wasn't a mere civilian after seeing his combat skills. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed several shuriken in Linton's direction.
(End of Chapter)