Now that I had handled this too, I had to quickly head over to my two party members. Since Toro would speed up significantly by focusing solely on killing, Sukrucuk and I were going to team up and level up our delicate girl.
When I arrived at the Social Media Zone, I found a huge crowd gathered inside the shield. From where they were gathered, they were watching a person dive into the Fallen like a combine harvester.
The person whom the stage lights fell upon was none other than our Sukrucuk. Together with Rimel at his back, they were taking down every creature in sight.
"Hell yeah, look at our boy go!"
When I walked toward them amidst the astonished gazes of the people, our guys had already cleared a large area. Since there were no mobs on the way, I would reach them in a short time.
"Big Bro, that armor is pretty slick, look, it even has embossing on it!"
These words of mine caused the middle-aged man's face to sour. When I got the chance to examine the equipment in detail, I too would realize the blunder I had made.
The inside of the shield surrounding the village we were in had a floor made of black soil. Even though we stepped on it barefoot, neither did our feet get dirty from the ground, nor the ground from our feet.
Outside the shield was a completely different story. While the heat-cracked ground was full of veins, the slightest wind created a suffocating atmosphere of dust and smoke.
Despite this, the metallic gray armor covering Sukrucuk's upper body was gleaming brightly. While reflecting the sunlight falling upon it, this equipment made him look like a mighty knight.
It had embossments on it as I had seen earlier, but now coming really close, I noticed that the figures carved into the armor weren't very uplifting.
On the chest part, a face of a character that pops into everyone's mind upon hearing the armor's name caught the eye. It wasn't just a small detail; the embossment of his weeping face covered the entire front part.
"Max, its stats are really great. I swear I don't care about the name, but look at this face!"
"I mean, if someone starts a sentence with 'Run Emrah' in the future, what am I going to do!"
The man had a point, I mean, who would want to carry the figure of Turkish Cinema's most overly dramatized character on them at all times?
"Don't worry about these things, Big Bro, let's mind our own business. You'll change the armor after a certain level anyway."
I had turned into a complete acrobat; I was going to have a stroke soon from trying to play to everyone's tune.
Just when I said I solved this problem too, how could I have known I'd be starting a completely different incident? Two shapeless guys had approached our Rimel and were mumbling something.
"Hey, hey, what's up!"
The guys, who came swinging their arms like me through the gap Sukrucuk opened, turned their heads to me and sized me up from head to toe after I called out.
"You've set up a nice scheme. The girl does something, and you can kill these guys without freezing!"
The one talking was a guy with 'Useless' written above his head. Wherever he found water and rubbed it on his head, his hair was plastered to his scalp with a massive cowlick.
"From now on, we're going to use her. Come on, make yourselves scarce now!"
When the weird-looking guy finished his sentence, the boy standing half a step behind him spoke. This model, with his arms bent upwards from the elbows as if he had a rash under his armpits, had 'Sidekick' written above his head.
'The time has come. The scumbag crew, the indispensable element of online games, has finally arrived!'
While grumbling inside, I was also thinking about how to send these guys away. The best solution was to take Rimel with us and move a bit further in.
After a while, the mobs would inevitably respawn. When this happened, the worthless duo would be sent to their daily torment before they could escape.
"What the hell are you saying, get out of here before I break your face!"
Looking to solve the matter without a fuss, I realized I had skipped some details when I felt the fury of the voice ringing right next to my ear.
"Shut up, Little Emrah, go chase after your mother!"
When Sukrucuk intervened, the sidekick of the guy with plastered hair ran his mouth. I guess we had reached the end of the line; from here on out, I had to go where my heart took me.
"Your ancestors....!"
The reaction I expected came without a second's delay. Our fierce boy grabbed the sidekick by the collar with both hands and smashed a headbutt into him.
We were at the horizon of the evening of no return, and it was too late. My right fist had already taken its place by my body. Exhaling, I swung my strike like an arrow shot from a bow. I used my skill as if saying 'if that's how it is, this is how it goes'.
Thus, I would understand that the Fallen were actually quite durable, because when Useless took the blow to his head, the space above his shoulders was left empty.
The 'I ripped his head off' line came to life in front of me. While the sidekick's entire face was caved in, his older brother's head bounced like a rubber ball on the cracked earth.
As if waiting for this, when a strong gust of wind hit where we were, the ashes of the two thugs' vanishing bodies blew away.
Evil Points Received: +5
First Sinner Kill Bonus: +5
Goodness Points Received: +5
Protecting a Party Member Bonus: +5
As the notifications flashed before me, I realized we had done something big. Only I had seen these, but a moment later, an announcement that the entire village could hear rang in everyone's ears.
"The individuals named Max and Sukrucuk have gained Fugitive status by killing other sinners. They can be hunted like the Fallen for the next 24 hours. The torment counter of those who kill them will be reset, and they will not serve the torment penalty for one week!"
After what we heard, I was looking aimlessly at the tank of our party. While the name Sukrucuk had turned red, I was sure my name had also changed color to indicate I was prey.
"Big Bro, this place is very dangerous, come on, let's get inside the shield immediately!"
Our surroundings were still empty, and we would be sitting ducks for the people who wanted to attack us like this. If my guess was correct, they wouldn't attack us inside the shielded area.
"Attack!"
"They can't freeze us, let's kill them all together!"
"I'm not suffering that torture again, hit the bastards!"
The crowd had gotten riled up after the announcement. We were like a half-loaf chicken döner in their eyes; they were going to eat us in two bites in their minds.
"Big Bro, come on, let's go deeper!"
"Rimel, they can't do anything to you, run inside the shield immediately!"
There was no need to drag the girl along with us. If we were going to die, we had to handle this on our own.
The people had gotten really close, but Rimel was still where she was. When we started running, unexpectedly, she sped up behind us too.
"Girl, run inside, don't follow us!"
When Sukrucuk raised his voice in a fatherly manner, the young girl's eyes suddenly welled up. She started speaking, on the verge of crying.
"You don't have immunity to this zone, if I'm not here you'll eventually die!"
When her words finished, Rimel burst into tears. She was right in what she said, and the duo trying to run away knew this too, but they couldn't bring themselves to tell Rimel to come with us.
"Alright, stop crying, we're all going together!"
The young girl's facial expression was like a dazzling rainbow appearing after a torrential downpour. While her delicate facial features warmed one's heart, her sparkling pearly teeth shone like stars illuminating the night.
"I've got you, my brothers, clear the way you degenerates!"
Just as we turned our backs and were running away, a shout from the edge of the shield nailed us to where we stood. We all knew the owner of this outburst very well. Our other party member, Toraman, was approaching us at top speed.
"Get out of my way!"
The oversized teen wasn't just coming normally; he was coming swinging his hands like shovels, killing the people around him.
"The individual named Toraman has gained Fugitive status by killing other sinners. He can be hunted like the Fallen for the next 24 hours. The torment counter of those who kill him will be reset, and they will not serve the torment penalty for one week!"
I admit, I wasn't expecting this at all. This boy, whom I nicknamed the king of the sluggish bastards, had burned himself to help us.
The dumbfounded sinners would have to pause to understand what happened. When this happened, Toraman, who kept running, had already reached us.
The oversized teen was panting heavily; obviously, he had dashed over here the moment he heard the announcement. After a couple of breaths, when he gathered himself a bit, I found him and the other two looking at my face as if saying, 'What do we do now?'.