Chapter 10: Side Effects Of The Red Watch

Kairos clicked his tongue.

"Those people really came here to bring trouble for us again?"

Nicole bit the bottom of her lip.

"But... we should still help them right?"

Kairos grabbed onto the side of his head.

"Well we don't really have a choice right now, because I'm pretty sure they are leading the monsters right to us."

He began walking out of the break room and into the main lobby while the others followed, albeit with hesitation.

As expected, the two men from earlier were running towards the barbershop. The sliding door slowly opened, but they shoved themselves through the tiny crack due to urgency. Behind them, three monsters charged straight through, directly breaking through the sliding doors.

Shattered glass flew into the air and the metal from the doors bent, before getting caught in place.

Kairos let out a long sigh.

"You guys are real pieces of shit, you know that?"

The man with the beard ran towards him like Kairos was the man's last hope.

His weapon was nowhere to be seen, while his eyes seemed glazed over. The young man from earlier was also running, but sniffling with tears and mucus pouring down his face. It was quite the pathetic appearance, but still fairly reasonable given he was missing one of his arms.

The man with the beard grabbed onto Kairos' shoulders, shaking him.

"You have to save me, you have to save me!"

Kairos furrowed his brows.

"I get it! Let go of me, dumbass!"

The man with the beard did not listen. Instead, he continued shaking Kairos like a broken record, repeating the same things. As Kairos was wondering what was wrong with the man, he caught sight of an ugly wound on his back, a massive gash.

The man was already beyond saving, but in his delirium, he clung onto any hope despite it being too late.

Kairos used his shoulder to push against the man, trying to peel him off, but it wasn't enough. A monster was getting really damn close to Karios, making him panic.

But instead of worrying about it, he suddenly spun his head towards the side.

Right after, a gray blur flashed by.

A disturbingly loud bang resounded.

The man's head directly came off the neck and burst into a mass of flesh. As of now, Kairos was looking at Nicole, who had just swung her metal bat.

There was a dull expression on her face, but her eyes were wide open. She had a little bit of blood splattered onto her face, but she didn't seem to care. There was also a red watch hugging her wrist.

The now headless man slumped down lifelessly, but the monster nearby was still coming with full force. Kairos cursed himself once more for not putting more points in agility. However, he was still not concerned.

A deafening metallic bang rang out.

The monster's skull caved. Its head shot backward almost like it smelled something terribly foul. Then, it lost balance and fell to the floor.

Nicole easily took out that monster. However, her bat was now horribly bent. It would not last many more uses. She still had that same dull expression and wasn't going to stop any time soon.

The other young man from earlier ran towards Harold and Sydney. The desperation in his eyes was fairly clear.

However, before he could get close...

A clear metallic smash resounded.

Nicole delivered an uppercut on the man, causing his head to be ripped off his shoulders, before landing somewhere in the distance. The body slumped down, while a few metallic clangs rang out.

The top of Nicole's bat broke off, landing on the floor after being horribly mangled.

Given that there were still two monsters here, this was some pretty bad timing.

Kairos' eyebrow twitched. He couldn't help but be a little shocked.

"Damn... weren't you the one that said we should save them?"

Nicole didn't respond. Instead, she let out a frenzied cry as she lunged towards a nearby monster, thrusting the broken baseball ball out like a spear.

Nicole was too fast, thus the monster simply didn't have the time to react.

With a squelch, the monster's head was pierced through. Nicole grabbed onto its shoulder as it fell, landing onto the ground with her metal bat lodged inside its skull. She let out a low growl.

But then, Nicole looked to her left. Her eyes widened.

Because the last monster was reaching towards her head, attempting to grab it.

Nicole froze up in fear. Her heart hammered as panic took over. Instead of trying to dodge, she attempted to pull out the bat, but that was going to take a while.

Yet, before the hand reached her...

A deafening bang rang out.

Kairos had stepped up and swung the lamp with all his strength, shattering the monster's skull. He had a small frown on his face.

The base of the lamp had detached altogether, still lodged into the skull, leaving Kairos with just the metal pole.

The last monster collapsed, falling onto one of the nearby rotating chairs, and spun around on it.

[Killed Creature (Challenge Kill - One Rank Superior to Killer) - 0.3 points awarded]

Despite the fight being over, Nicole's breathing was rapid. She then clawed at the skin above her heart, like she was trying to pull it out.

Sydney rushed over.

"Oh sweetie, are you ok?"

Harold also ran over.

"Princess!"

Nicole's pupils shot in random directions sporadically. But then, Kairos put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you should take off that watch now."

Sydney and Harold had gotten next to them, but Nicole was still seemingly having a breakdown. However, she began to move. Her bloody hand slowly moved towards the other arm, the watch.

With trembling fingers, she slowly unbuckled it before taking it off.

Once it did come off, Nicole took a deep breath.

"What the..."

Kairos nodded.

"Nice. You were able to take it all on your own."

Sydney crouched down.

"Nicole! Are you ok?"

Harold also had a worried look.

As for Nicole, she was still taking deep breaths but was also clearly calming down.

"Y-Yeah. I'm ok."

Kairos sighed.

"It seems like the watch does have a side effect. Change of plans, only use it when there's an emergency."

Harold furrowed his brows.

"Isn't it better that we just get rid of this damned thing?"

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"Nicole is able to take off the watch on her own, even when it muddles her judgment. I think it will be fine."

He looked into Nicole's watery eyes.

"Do you remember everything that happened?"

She slowly nodded.

"Y-Yeah. I put the watch on as we were going to the main room, and there weren't any side effects for a while. But... the moment I saw..."

Nicole paused. She proceeded to cough awkwardly.

"Um, the moment I felt a bit of anger, it just exploded out, making me feel super super mad."

Harold frowned.

"We can't use that thing anymore! It's too danger-"

"Well, I think it can save our lives, no?"

Sydney spoke up, prompting Harold to look at her with confusion.

"What? But..."

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Sydney sighed.

"Yes it is dangerous, but if used properly then it can not only save our lives, but Nicole's herself, right?"

Kairos nodded.

"Yeah."

Harold pressed his lips together bitterly, taking a moment to form his response.

"Ok."

Kairos smiled.

"For now, get off that corpse. It kinda stinks, honestly."

Nicole snapped to her senses.

"Ah!"

Then got off.

Kairos looked at the watch in her hands.

"If you aren't using it, make sure that it's not visible. I imagine this isn't the only one of its kind out there, and if people know about it then they will get greedy. At the same time, you will need quick access to it in the event of an emergency, so put it in your pocket."

Nicole nodded and put it deep within her pocket.

"Alright."

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

"I guess... we dealt with that."

At that moment Kairos looked towards the outside.

"Say, did you get any points for killing people?"

Harold's eyebrow twitched.

"What are you-"

"Yeah."

Nicole blinked a few times.

"A tenth of a point for each."

Kairos nodded.

"I see."

There was a moment of silence among the group. Kairos coughed to try and get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

"Anyways, we should get a drink from that water dispenser and get that fire axe since nobody will block our way now."

Sydney let out a soft sigh.

"Alright."

They all took a small drink and were delayed a little because Harold went to use the washroom in the barbershop.

Nicole attempted to recover her metal bat, which she was able to do. Unfortunately, it was essentially a glorified shank at this point with how damaged it was. She took it anyway, just in case.

Right after, they promptly left and headed off to the grocery store.

Kairos watched the surroundings, but there didn't appear to be any monsters nearby.

As such, they found themselves unimpeded in terms of getting in the store itself.

Now, the sight outside was pretty bad. However, inside the grocery store itself was far worse. There were countless corpses strewn about, some sprawled out on top of a set of oranges and others torn up on the ground. Food had spilled out on the floor as well.

Many broken cans littered the ground, some still with food inside. Although there was a lot of food within this place, almost none of it was sanitary or just intact for that matter.

The group collectively frowned.

Sydney in particular clicked her tongue.

"Such a waste of food."

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"There were assholes all over the place when the world was peaceful. An apocalypse can only make things worse."

Harold scanned the place.

"I think the freezer should be someplace over there. I can lead the way."

Kairos raised a hand.

"It's probably best that I lead."

Harold blinked a few times, a little confused.

"You don't have to shoulder the burden of danger all for yourself, you know? I am a man and can handle myself too."

Kairos shook his head.

"I was being a little serious when I talked about my 'feeling' earlier. I actually have a pretty good sense of danger."

Harold scratched the back of his head.

"Well, alright."

With that, Kairos led the way forward. Obviously, when he was talking about having a good sense of danger, he actually meant the foresight brought by his ability.

They slowly walked through the grocery store, making their way through the aisles. Harold would occasionally speak up in a hushed tone to state which turns they should take.

Eventually, Kairos caught onto a faint squishy sound in the distance. He slowed to a stop and put a finger on his lips, trying to send the signal to be quiet.

The others complied.

Kairos crouched down, prompting the others to do the same. He crawled up to an aisle and looked down it to find nothing. He then crawled forward once more and then saw the source of the sound.

It was a monster at the far end currently eating the bloody remains of some unfortunate person.

Kairos turned to the others and raised a hand, mouthing the words, 'wait here'.

Then, he approached the monster from behind.

The lamp in Kairos' hand had been reduced to a metal pole, but he figured that should be enough for taking this thing down.

And so, he slowly approached, taking each step methodically and quietly.

As Kairos walked, he took a glance over his shoulder, not seeing any of the other three looking at him.

Then, he opened his status panel.

[Status]

[ID: 345315364923]

[Rank: F+]

[Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.6]

[Stats -

Strength - 1.2

Endurance - 1.0

Agility - 0.7

Willpower - 1.5

Mana Capacity - 0.0

Magic Affinity - 0.0]

[Special Abilities: N/A]

[Hide]

Nicole's performance with high agility made a strong impression on him. And so, he decided to increase it, but only while the others weren't looking.

[Agility: 0.7 -> 2.0 | Points: 5.6 -> 4.3]

After using up so many points, Kairos felt his body get extremely warm. Before, he could consider it comfortable, but now, it was just really annoying. However, that didn't mean he lost his composure.

Unfortunately, the monster had stood up by the time he was halfway down the aisle.

It was already finished with its dinner and began turning around.

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