"Tremor Sense!"
Flustered, Cain accidentally shouted the spell.
'That was thirty gold! Is he an activist that hated money?!'
A tingle hit his spine — just like when Grandpa's warnings turned into bloodied bruises.
'I'll drag you to the edge of death every day for a year. Get used to it.'
"No time for melodrama for the old man! Let me focus!"
A sidestep then a twist.
Cain spun. The lion jumped. Mid-motion, their eyes locked.
One with clear malice, the other dull and cold.
Blood streaked Cain's cheek as the gauntlet grazed past, its edge biting like a steel fang.
'Was I too trusting?'
As their eyes were about to break away, Cain smiled.
The lion grinned back and mouthed.
"Dumb motherfucker."
It was clear now, this lionare was faking his stupidity.
While Cain? He knew it was an act from the start.
Twenty charged shots. He never used them.
The back of the lion was fully exposed.
Time stretched thin — each exhale felt like it lasted a season.
Cain's fingers slid across the side panel — click.
Now fully automatic.
The interface was unnervingly responsive — each tap executed with zero delay.
Three to the head. Three to the heart.
Three more to the spine.
Rounds bursting forth with brutal precision.
'Just in case the bastard had tricks left in him.'
Before the body hit the dirt — another shot.
A final shot — clean, from nape to groin.
All done with solid tungsten rounds.
The lionaire was no more.
"Rest in peace."
Cain dipped his left arm under his firing right hand that just finished off the lionare.
Two clean shots of regular fireballs.
The pygmy's eyes widened — too slow to process, yet fast enough to see the flash streaking straight for them.
"Ah, shit."
Blinding pain seared through his thick pygmy skull.
Cain aimed not to kill this time but to blind.
'Fireballs should be enough for those two pretentious beady eyes.'
Eight holoprojectors with speakers scattered in different directions, drawing the attention of the shardlings away — even for a moment.
Cain retrieved three bombs from the lion's body and five more from the elephant. He then took their terminals and slipped them into his bag.
"I wanted them to go with a boom, but oh well."
Cain conjured a pre-loaded spell through his device.
Earth Pit —the lionare's body sank, swallowed by the soil in silence.
[Recording Stopped]
[Crime Successfully Reported]
The pygmy elephant reeled, stumbling backward as smoke hissed from the scorched pits where his eyes used to be.
His trunk writhed, slick with blood, spraying crimson as he thrashed in blind terror.
"Please, human! Let me live! I was only forced to do it!"
"Yeah right. Was he your young master too?"
Looking at the begging elephant, Cain had no pity at all.
He imbued his sword with magicules — then sliced, limb by limb.
"Argh! I'll have my ancestors spirit come here and make amends human."
"You don't need that lying mouth of yours anymore. Save the explanations to the judge of the underworld."
Cain ripped out its screaming cords, and cauterized the raw hole it left behind.
With its jaws dislocated and removed, the elephant could only sit there — like a slab of meat turned stone
'I should be able to create a bigger trap with this.'
He saved the living torso for later.
Cain triggered air purification.
Stripping the stench of gore from the air — a clean, sterile veil over fresh violence.
"I told you. I'm just here to make money. You treat me like an animal, I'll treat you the same."
Cain carved pit after pit, forcing the elephant's massive limbs into the earth in four directions.
Its body still drew shallow breaths, but he buried it anyway, sealing flesh and breath beneath packed soil.
"Oh, I forgot something. I should let it live a little more."
He dug the body up and strapped on a respirator. The traitor's meat still had value.
'Yeah… not exactly the networking opportunity I imagined. We'll at least I have a fresh bait for my plan.'
A whistle in the wind, something fast coming from behind.
He rolled as a hammering strike slammed down where he'd stood.
'I didn't think they'd spot those holograms as a fake within a minute.'
"They're smarter than I expected."
Left. Right. Back. Front.
Cain was surrounded.
The shardlings closed in, fast and silent.
"Roar!"
A deafening roar tore through the air, shaking the earth — the cry of a titan sentinel.
'The internet is such a great tool, one audio file literally saved my life.'
The effect was instant. Fear took root.
Terror seized the shardling's body. Its limbs buckled, head lowering instinctively, as if groveling might spare it.
Cain walked off, unfazed, like he owned every stone beneath his feet.
Passing the shardlings, he scooped up the lion's gauntlet and the elephant's staff.
'Looks fancy, are these mystics operated?'
He twirled the staff — solid weight, balanced. He smacked a nearby shardling just to test it out.
"This staff is pretty good. Better bail before they figure out it was all fake."
He'd isolate them, one by one. More efficient. Less costly
'That'll at least save me a gold, a few silver at the very least.'
He already had a spot in mind.
Cain started knocking on some rocks and then...
'Looks hollow enough, I could probably fit inside.'
He created a hole, sealed the entrance, and set up an oxygen device for air.
His muscles began to ease, but the fan's breeze hit the scrape on his face, making him flinch.
"Ouch!"
He took a medicine kit from his backpack.
Healing magic existed, sure. He simply avoided it due to its heavy stamina cost.
'Cain, don't forget. Healing are for idiots who can't dodge.'
"I already know old man! Get out of my head!"
He dabbed iodine onto his cheek with cotton, wincing at the sting.
'How will I face my clients in the future if I have this ugly scar. I better get to the hospital to fix this up.'
While bandaging up the wound, a sudden notification buzzed through his terminal.
[Social] [1]
"What's this?"
[From: Protected States Justice Bureau]
[Message: The recording has been verified as fully authentic, with no evidence of tampering or falsehood. As restitution, the State will transfer the full monetary assets of both individuals implicated in the attempted murder.]
[Received: 1 Gold - 81 Silver]
"Poor bastards, this barely covers my hospital bills."
Cain was no stranger to the law. In the eyes of the system, humans, demons, or beastmen — it made no difference.
With proof on record, the law didn't ask. It took compensation in full.
'I guess money and knowledge comes hand in hand.'
Cain drew his tablet to look at the surveillance. He spotted the shardlings, still flattened to the earth, bodies low, trembling in silent submission.
'Let's move them around a little bit.'
With a command, the speakers flew to different vantage points, he needed them later for his machinations.
As the sounds went off, the shardlings roused and started discussing in low pitched tones.
Their melodic symphony were like hushes of baritone singers. Murmuring about whose voice they heard at the opera house.
'Too bad they're titans, these things could've made great music.'
With a breath, he took off his backpack and unraveled it like a tactical spider's web.
Cain scanned the materials as he try to come up with a cost effective solution.
'I need to make this worth my time. Time is a priceless treasure after all.'
If he managed his reserves right, he could make it to another shardling site — and make more money in the process.