He no longer cared for their pleas. He had revealed his gun, so leaving some potential people who had grudges against him alive would be foolish.
Jessie was in shock, her mouth agape at the scene. She had never thought the situation would change so drastically. She had used all her MP in the last spell, so she had accepted her fate.
Ash now looked at the giant shield and two people hiding behind it. The shield had grown in size and was big enough to hide both of them.
"We can sort this out, don't be so rash," the noble said.
"How about you come out of cover and talk face to face?" Ash said mockingly.
"Don't you dare kill me. I am Blake, part of the Wilbert Family. You dare lay a hand on me and my father will kill you," the guy said, hearing the coldness in Ash's voice.
"Oh really?" Ash had heard about the viscount who controlled this city officially. Although there were political games involved, like guilds and the Rankers Association, they could only influence the city. The real control was with the viscount, who was part of the government hierarchy.
"Yes, my father is brother of the city lord, Damien Wilbert," Blake the noble had newfound confidence in his voice.
"Oh shit, you should have told me first. Please don't tell your father about all this. We can keep our mouths shut," Ash said hesitantly, fear evident in his voice.
Jessie was looking at the scene, baffled. Until now she had never seen Ash in fear. But now he was acting out of character. Still, who could say in front of real threats anyone wouldn't beg? And she didn't dislike him for that—any reasonable person would do the same.
The noble was still hesitant to come out of cover.
Ash dropped to his knees, putting the gun down. He begged, "Please forgive me, I will serve you my whole life."
Blake peeked toward him. Seeing his head bowed and the gun lying on the floor, he felt comfortable enough to come out and stand. He had seen many people fear his family, so to him this was nothing new.
Ash looked up, a smirk on his face. Before Blake could decipher it, he grabbed the gun and shot two bullets.
As the bullet touched his body, a necklace on Blake burned brightly, and its beads started falling down one by one. By the time all beads fell, the bullet had already halted.
But these things wouldn't change destiny. Another bullet had already reached his head, bursting it into small pieces of meat. But it gave enough time for the tank to cover himself behind the shield.
"Are you damn crazy? His father won't let us go. You, I, and her—all will die a painful death," the tank said from behind the shield.
"And who is going to tell them?" Ash asked.
"You are taking the royal family casually, you don't even have the idea what resources they have," the guy said, his shield trembling in anticipation. His MP was zero, so using any skill was out of reach.
He was hoping either this crazy guy would let him go, or come close enough so he could win with his high brute force.
"I can let you go, but I need some answers," offered Ash.
Jessie's face had paled, she couldn't breathe. She knew very well about the Wilbert Family and she didn't want to be their target. Her intuition was to kill both men and run as far as she could, but then she realized she had no MP to fight.
She liked this Ash guy, but this was the world—a brutal survival of the fittest.
But seeing Ash standing casually in front of the dead body of one of the members, she was panicking. If someone came here and told the Wilberts, then they would die for sure.
"Yes, I will help you any way. But first we should get rid of these bodies, or if someone saw us and said something, then we all are doomed," the tank guy tried to move the topic.
Ash thought for a while, then said, "I agree, so how about you help me take these bodies to beasts so they can devour the corpses, wiping the evidence."
"I would like to, but why should I trust you?" the guy said from behind.
"What's your name?" asked Ash.
"Jennifer."
"Jennifer… what a great name for you," he laughed at this point, then said in a casual tone with an underlying impression.
"Are you in a position to question me?" Ash asked.
Jennifer understood the point. He had no choice but to trust this guy. He would die anyway, so why not trust this man in hope?
He moved his shield aside, expecting a bullet shot to crush his head. But none came.
Ash looked at the screen with a grin.
He ignored Exp notification.
[Side Quest: Go undetected after your first high-profile kill]
He needed the help of this guy. His body was giving up and had no energy to drag these bodies. And he didn't want his or her fingerprints on the corpses anyway.
The broad-shouldered guy, with his magnificent strength, grabbed all four corpses by their clothes, dragging them ahead.
Ash and Jessie followed slowly behind. After walking for some time, they found a group of wolves. None of them had power left to fight them head-on. Only Jennifer had physical strength and stamina, so he threw the corpses among the group while punching the wolves to teach them he was out of their league.
"Did you grab the band?" Ash asked, his fingers still on his pistol.
"Yes, here, take it," Jennifer said, showing the band of the noble in his hands.
"Put it down and back off," Ash said cautiously. He didn't let the man come any closer. He wanted there to be enough time for him to react.
Jennifer put the band down and backed away.
"Hey, give me your band," Ash asked Jessie.
"Why?"
"Forget this test. If we get higher numbers then we will be in trouble," Ash explained, almost snatching the band off. He then transferred both of their points into the noble's band, only keeping around 5 points each. Then he threw the band far into the jungle.
Outside, Squad 21 had moved out of the leaderboard, going from 3rd rank to 28th in an instant.
The audience gasped at the sudden change and saw the noble's squad shoot up to 2nd rank.
Not many of them were surprised, because this was what happened in every test. Squad 21 only had 2 members, so losing points to a 5-member squad was normal.
And this squad had already taken many other squad points, so it was normal.
Ash now looked at the man in front of him.
"Will it be enough?" Jennifer asked, still afraid.