CHAPTER 48: 48. DAGGER IN A GUNFIGHT

"Lilian!" Shin muttered as they rounded a sudden right turn. "We’re being followed. We’ll kill them the same way we did the others that day!"

Lilian nodded sharply.

Shin glanced at the dwarf beside him. She was already panting, her tiny legs trembling, close to giving out.

"Little girl!" he snapped. "If you want to survive, move those stubby legs till it feels like you’re flying!"

She gasped between ragged breaths. "W-who a-are you?!"

"No time for intros!" he barked, surging ahead at an inhuman pace.

But the ones chasing them weren’t slow either. Their stats were boosted too. Two were gaining at the front, while another wave trailed behind them, and yet another group hunted those who were hunting them.

The hunted were being hunted by their own hunters who were also being hunted.

A vicious food chain in motion.

They bolted through the alleyways until Shin came to a skidding stop right at the run-down convenience store—the same one where he’d slaughtered the last group of goons. He slipped past the trap beside the door and barked at Lilian, "Position!"

She didn’t hesitate to get behind the door on the side with the dwarf girl putting hands on her small knees, panting softly.

The air inside was rank with death.

The stench of rotting flesh hit Shin like a wall. Flies buzzed around the mangled corpses from his last kill—bloated, blackened, and cracked open with dried blood congealed like tar on the floor.

Still, he crouched low, his back resting on the wall, ready for anyone foolish enough to get in to attack. His heart was surprisingly steady, blade hidden under his shirt when—

BANG!

A gunshot split the air, followed by a man’s scream.

One of the pursuers who’d been chasing after him, or maybe chasing after the people chasing after him was shot.

"Shit... they’ve got guns," Shin hissed, clenching his fists, but forcing his breath to stay calm. He’d seen worse. Been through worse.

More footsteps pounded closer. Heavy. Rushed and desperate. Then—

ARGHHHHHH!!!

A scream of pure agony echoed just outside the store.

"BROTHER!!" someone yelled. "Here, take my hand—!"

The dying one choked out blood-soaked words. "R-run! S-save yourself...!"

Shin slid his dagger from under his shirt, fingers tightening around the hilt as he stepped toward the door—one silent step at a time.

[+383 coins]

[+2 battle experience gained!]

[+100 MP: 1200/1200 MP]

[SOUL HARVEST working in background...]

That’s when it clicked—the screaming guy had fallen into the trap Shin had set by the door. Panic from the gunfire had made him careless and fell into his trap.

A jolt of satisfying electricity pulsed through his body. It always felt like that when Soul Harvest activated—warm, tingling, euphoric. Like a drug. His brain lit up. He was learning. Adapting. Each kill made him calmer. Sharper. Colder. And he liked it.

Outside, the survivor kept sobbing.

Weak, Shin thought. Sentimental in a battlefield? You’re dead already.

He moved.

Another shot rang out. More screams. But not from his target. He could still hear the broken sobs—the whimper of a man crumbling.

Still alive. Still waiting to die.

Perfect.

With a burst of speed, Shin kicked open the door and lunged.

SLASH.

His dagger cut clean through the man’s throat. A wet, sickening shlick. Blood sprayed out in bursts as the man choked, gurgling, clutching at Shin, desperately dragging him backward.

But this wasn’t over.

The dying man, despite his nearly severed windpipe, tightened his grip with freakish strength, trying to drag Shin into the trap—right into the jagged wooden spikes waiting below.

Shin gritted his teeth. The bastard was strong—too strong for someone whose neck was gurgling blood like a broken faucet.

Dying men fight like demons.

Last kicks of a dying horse.

They say it’s the most dangerous moment.

He struggled, keeping their weight from tipping into the trap—but then he saw him.

The gunman.

Loading a short-barreled shotgun, snapping it open with a metallic click before stuffing in shells and locking it shut. The man’s eyes locked on Shin. He lifted the barrel and aimed.

Shit.

Shin tried to shift the dying man into a shield—but it was too late. The man’s strength was still inhuman, holding Shin in place.

BANG!

The bullet tore through the man’s gut—clean through the soft side with no bone—and hit Shin in the stomach. The impact was brutal, like being kicked by a horse on steroids. He staggered back, shoved by the force, lost his balance and fell.

Into his own trap.

But reflex saved him.

He twisted in mid-air, tossing the corpse beneath him. They crashed down together—his enemy’s body cushioning the fall, impaled by the spikes. But even then, a jagged log pierced through Shin’s thigh.

"ARGHH!!"

Pain tore through him. He shoved his leg off the log, teeth clenched, blood gushing, and poured half his MP into a healing spell.

[+4 battle experience gained!]

[+100 MP]

[+3% knowledge on swordsmanship]

The notification blinked before him.

The bastard he’d just killed must’ve had a swordmanship skill.

Now that knowledge to handle a sword was his. Though surprisingly, the corpse didn’t even have any sword on it.

He climbed out of the trap, stepping on the mutilated body for leverage. Blood soaked his boot. His wound was still hot, but sealed.

He emerged, limping, just as the gunman spotted him and walked back inside the store.

The man clicked his tongue. "Stubborn little shit. Just die already! I’ve got other prey to hunt!"

More gunshots cracked nearby—rapid and rhythmic like a damn machine gun.

The gunman spat on the ground. "Tch. There goes my brother again—wasting bullets like they grow on trees!"

Shin’s chest tightened.

This man wasn’t alone.

He had more gunmen. And they had the ammo to spare.

And him?

A dagger at a gunfight.

He smirked.

There was something about this—being on the brink of death, drenched in blood, high on adrenaline that made him feel excited.

He didn’t know why. Maybe it was some monster inside him—something awakened by this filthy, broken world. But in a moment where death could come within seconds, he felt exhilarated. His blood boiled with excitement, not fear.

But one thing was certain—he sure as hell wasn’t planning on dying.

Not after everything he’d clawed his way through.

He had to see his grandfather again. He had to uncover whoever—or whatever—was behind the system. If it had the power to create all of this, then it damn well should have the power to bring Elena and Suzune back.

And if it didn’t?

He’d tear it apart.

And enjoy every second of it.

TBC