As Roy blew out the guts of the abysshound, he was thrown back due to the pistol's recoil, and he felt his right shoulder dislocate. The bullets this time were larger, which increased the returning force!
"Argh!" He cried out in agony, but the other five beasts were upon them.
Abraham flung the dead hound away and grabbed Roy's shoulder. One of the Rippers was about to clamp down on the kid's leg when another black halo spread out from Abraham, affecting the five beasts.
Roy quickly noticed that, unlike before, when the D-Class Executioner activated this skill, his movements weren't extremely sluggish and slow. He wasn't at regular speed, but compared to the abysshounds, he was fast.
"I reloaded the gun with explosive rounds. I forgot to mention," Abraham nonchalantly said.
"What?!" Roy shouted, shock written all over his face, with tears even forming at the corners of his eyes from the pain. "My arm's broken, and it hurts like hell—"
"Ten seconds remaining, act now," Abraham quickly cut in, not at all minding Roy's plight.
Roy, however, understood the gravity of the situation. If the D-Class Executioner was fighting and doing the killing all by himself, the battle would've ended long ago. But since he had to help Roy level up while protecting him, the difficulty of the situation rose significantly.
Roy knew all this, of course, but the pain in his shoulder was far too unbearable. It had been a while since he felt anything like it.
Tears rolled down his face, and he voiced, "But… But why didn't you tell me they were explosive rounds? I could've known and—"
"Time's up."
In a black flash, the four weak Veinback Rippers either lost half their face, bore an open slash in their abdomen, or had their heads floating midair.
The alpha abysshound was faster than the others within the black halo and managed to dodge the chainsword aiming for it.
It was fast, too. And immediately the black halo receded into Abraham, it let out a deafening roar!
"Agh!" Abraham screamed and grabbed his head, as did Roy.
Abraham still held onto his sword, but he fell on one knee. It was as though their eardrums were constantly being directly beaten on.
The roar echoed constantly, lingering long past the time it was supposed to fade out.
Immediately after launching this attack a few seconds ago, the Strange Beast, Alpha Veinback Ripper, had turned around and fled!
After the roar attack faded, Abraham touched his ear and looked at his finger. There was blood.
He raised his head and looked at Roy, who had his back resting on the counter, and the boy's eyes were dazed shut, and of course, there was a trail of blood rolling down his ear. He had fainted.
Abraham took in the sight of the messy scene. The dark blood and the mutilated abysshound pieces lay around carelessly, and the entrance of the coffee shop was strewn with debris piled up on the ground.
"Tch."
* * *
In the APC, Roy lay in a health pod at the back of the vehicle while Donald stared down at a leisurely seated Abraham.
"I will ask one last time. What happened?" Donald voiced, his tone tinged with deep annoyance.
"You saw everything from the drone, didn't you?" Abraham retorted, referring to the floating spherical object that was always near him, videoing the battle from beginning to end.
However, it was destroyed in the Strange Beast's final attack.
"Don't mess with me, Abe. You know what I'm asking. Why didn't you tell Roy they were explosive rounds?" Donny asked, serious.
The D-Class Executioner held a cup of coffee and sipped on it calmly.
Abraham sighed. "You shouldn't have come with…"
But then his voice turned cold as he added, "But since you did, accept what you see. I forgot, end of story."
Donald squinted his eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
"I asked you to help safely train him. What the fuck are you doing?!" He screamed, pointing at Roy's casted arm.
Abraham calmly stood up, aiming to go to the front of the vehicle, but Donald blocked him. He and Donald were of similar height, so they could easily see eye to eye.
"You want extra protection from me for him? Add another five million."
Donald stared coldly at Abraham and nodded.
"So that's how it is, huh?"
He stepped away for Abraham to pass.
When arguing with an executioner as a normie, there was really very little one could do to hurt them or win. You couldn't even start a damn fight. So unfair.
"Urgh…" Roy groaned as he began to awaken. His eyes opened, and he tried to sit up but groaned in pain, reflexively touching his casted arm.
"Roy, how are you feeling?" Donald asked, moving toward the cocoon-like health pod where Roy lay.
"My shoulder is killing me. The explosive rounds…" Roy voiced, but then frowned and looked up at the front side of the vehicle, aiming to glare at Abraham.
'And did I faint? What happened?' he tried to remember.
"You're awake. Good," Abraham said from the front, not even bothering to glance back. "The Strange Beast back there roared and blew out your eardrums."
Roy gritted. 'That thing again… predicting my thoughts. Tsk.'
Abraham added, "…And get ready, we're leaving in thirty minutes to find more abyss creatures to kill."
Roy's eyes widened, but Donny exclaimed for him, "What?! No way!"
"Yeah! No way! And you said you forgot to tell me, but we all know you didn't!" Roy countered. How could such a calculated and precise individual like Abraham ever forget to do something, if not for an agenda?
Abraham peered his head into the back area of the APC.
"You know, so what?"
Donald's ears seemed to produce steam, and he pointed at Abraham.
"You bastard! Just tell us why you did it! You don't have to try to act so mysterious and wise!"
Abraham fell silent.
And then said, "I was testing Roy's resolve in matters of dealing with abyss creatures. He sucks, but that can be worked on. However, you, Donald, are an issue."
He got up from where he sat and walked to Donny.
"Only a child or a fool needs the comfort of a 'why' to press the trigger in the face of death. I'm turning a wuss into an executioner. What he needed was no explanation."
"..."
Donny had no response to that and wore a thoughtful expression.
"I-I'm not a wuss," Roy muttered and shrugged.
Abraham then turned to him, but Roy gulped at the intense gaze on him.
"Get ready. We leave in ten, now. Unless you want me to hold your brother hostage until you bring back the head of that abysshound."
Donald's ears perked up, and a chill ran down the back of his spine.
"Roy, get up! Can't you see your teacher is talking? Don't make him wait, you lazy bastard!"
The corner of Roy's left eye twitched. 'You sly baboon!'
The sun was almost drawing to a conclusion for the day, but that never stopped anyone.
'The pain is almost gone because of the treatment, but my right hand is my dominant hand. I can't hold a weapon like this.' Roy contemplated his situation carefully and called, "System…"