CHAPTER 25: EXPLOSIVE ROUNDS

As Roy blew out the guts of the abysshound, he was thrown back due to the pistol’s recoil, and he felt his right shoulder dislocate.

"Argh!" He cried out in agony, but the other five beasts were upon them.

Abraham flung the dead hound away and grabbed Roy’s shoulder. One of the Rippers was about to clamp down on the kid’s leg when another black halo spread out from Abraham, affecting the five beasts.

Roy quickly noticed that, unlike before, when the D-Class Executioner activated this skill, his movements weren’t extremely sluggish and slow. He wasn’t at regular speed, but compared to the abysshounds, he was fast.

"I reloaded the gun with explosive rounds," Abraham nonchalantly said.

"What?!" Roy shouted, shock written all over his face, with tears even forming at the corners of his eyes from the pain. "My arm’s broken, and it hurts like hell—"

"Ten seconds remaining, act now," Abraham quickly cut in, not at all minding Roy’s plight.

Roy, however, understood the gravity of the situation. If only the D-Class Executioner were fighting and doing the killing, the battle would’ve ended long ago. But since he had to help Roy level up while protecting the kid, the situation’s difficulty rose significantly.

Roy knew all this, of course, but the pain in his shoulder was far too unbearable. It had been a while since he felt anything like it.

Tears rolled down his face, and he voiced, "B-But why didn’t you tell me they were explosive rounds? I could’ve known and—"

"Time’s up."

In a black flash, the four weak Veinback Rippers either lost half their face, bore an open slash in their abdomen, or had their heads floating midair.

The alpha abysshound was faster than the others within the black halo and managed to dodge the chainsword aiming for it.

It was quite fast, too. And immediately the black halo receded into Abraham, it let out a deafening roar!

"Ah!" Abraham screamed and grabbed his head, same for Roy.

Abraham still held onto his sword, but he fell on one knee. It was as though their eardrums were constantly being directly beaten on.

The roar echoed constantly, lingering long past the time it was supposed to fade out.

Immediately after launching this attack a few seconds ago, the strange beast, Alpha Veinback Ripper, had turned around and fled!

After the roar attack faded out shortly after, Abraham touched his ear and looked at his finger. There was blood.

He raised his head and looked at Roy, who had his back resting on the counter, and the boy’s eyes were dazed shut, and of course, there was a trail of blood rolling down his ear. He had fainted.

Abraham took in the sight of the messy scenes around. Dark blood, mutilated abysshound pieces lay carelessly around, and the entrance of the coffee shop was wide open with debris piled up on the ground.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue.

***

In the APC, Roy was lying in a health pod at the back of the vehicle with Donald staring down at a leisurely seated Abraham.

"I will ask you again, what happened?" Donald voiced, his tone tinged with deep annoyance.

"You saw everything from the drone, didn’t you?" Abraham retorted, referring to the floating spherical object always nearby him that videoed the battle, from the beginning to the end.

However, it was destroyed in the strange beast’s final attack.

"Don’t mess with me, Abe. You know what I’m asking. Why didn’t you tell Roy they were explosive rounds?" Donny asked, serious.

The D-Class Executioner held a cup of coffee and sipped on it calmly.

Abraham sighed. "You shouldn’t have come with..."

But then his voice turned cold as he added, "But since you did, accept what you see. I forgot, end of story."

Donald squinted his eyes. "Do you think I’m stupid?"

"I asked you to help safely train him. What the fuck are you doing?!" He screamed, pointing at Roy’s casted arm.

Abraham calmly stood up, aiming to go to the front, but Donald blocked him. He and Donald had similar height, so they could easily see eye to eye.

"You want extra protection from me for him? Add another five million."

Donald stared coldly at Abraham and nodded.

"So that’s how it is, huh?"

He stepped back and moved away from Abraham to pass.

When arguing with an executioner as a normie, there was really very little one could do to hurt them or win. You couldn’t even start a fight.

"Urgh..." Roy groaned as he began to awaken. His eyes opened, and he tried to sit up but groaned in pain, reflexively touching his casted arm.

"Roy, how are you feeling?" Donald asked, moving toward to cocoon-like health pod where Roy lay.

"My shoulder is... killing me. The explosive rounds," Roy voiced, but then frowned and looked up at the front side of the vehicle, aiming to glare at Abraham.

’And did I faint? What happened?’

"Don’t look at me that way, kid," Abraham said from the front, not even bothering to glance back. "You’re probably also wondering why you blacked out. The strange beast back there screamed and blew out your eardrums."

Roy gritted. ’That thing again where he predicts my thoughts.’

Abraham added, "...And get ready, we’re leaving in thirty to find more abyss creatures to kill."

Roy’s eyes widened, but Donny exclaimed for him, "What?! No way!"

"Yeah! No way! And you said you forgot to tell me, but we all know you didn’t!" Roy countered. How could such a calculated and precise individual like Abraham ever forget to do something, if not for an agenda?

Abraham peered his head into the back area of the APC.

"And you know, so what?"

Donald’s ears seemed to produce steam, and he pointed at Abraham.

"You bastard! Just tell us why you did it! You don’t have to try to act so mysterious and wise!"

Abraham fell silent.

And then said, "I forgot to test Roy’s resolve in matters of dealing with abyss creatures. But Roy isn’t ready for this yet. No matter, that can be worked on. But you, Donald, are an issue."

He got up from where he sat and walked to the two brothers.

"Only a child needs the comfort of a why to press forward in dire times. I’m turning a wuss into an executioner. What he needed was no explanation."

"I-I’m not a wuss," Roy muttered, puckering his lips.

Abraham then turned to Roy, who gulped at the strong gaze on him.

"Put yourself together. We leave in ten now. Unless you want me to hold your brother hostage until you bring back the head of that Alpha."

Donald’s ears perked up, and a chill ran down the back of his spine. He had zero methods of challenging someone like Abraham.

"Roy, get up! Can’t you see your teacher is talking? Don’t make him wait."

The corner of Roy’s left eye twitched. ’This sly bastard!’

The sun was almost drawing to a conclusion for the day, but that never stopped anyone.

’The pain is almost gone because of the painkillers, but my right hand is my dominant hand, and I can’t do anything like this.’ Roy contemplated his situation carefully and called, "System..."