南瓜影院

"Of course they are," he said, "From what I\'ve heard, anyone can die in them and that\'s what makes them perfect.

But I can\'t tell you more about my plan right now. When they assign us this evening, try to be a part of the Dungeon raiding party. I\'ve been getting passed up for weeks so I\'m long overdue. You\'re new though so you could get lumped up with Mercenary duties or something. If you\'re part of the Dungeon raiding party, we\'ll talk more."

Louis walked away after that mumbling to himself and nodding over and over again.

As he watched him go, Henry wondered if Louis could be trusted and then shook his head with a small smile. The boy\'s craziness was more cause for worry than some strange ulterior motive.

Henry went to sit on the empty bed in the room and cast his eyes about. Just as Louis had said, none of them looked all too eager to get away. Or eager to do anything at all.

They just sat down and stared off into space impassively waiting for the moment they would have to do their captor\'s bidding.

\'Horrible,\' Henry thought and looked down at the Cuff on his wrist to see it as more than a tool to keep him in check and more of a torture device.

That was what it was for everyone in the room.

It had jolted away their aggression and rendered them aimless sheep to be steered to their various slaughter for the benefit of the Fat-cat who he now knew was called Ralph Gribbo.

From Maude Aleric and other Wizards and Witches creating Vykers to Angus trying to create a Hive with the Vinculum and now to Ralph Gribbo with his Control brain-frying cuffs…

\'The people of this World are obsessed with Control.\' Henry realized and then let out a sigh as he added,

\'But I suppose it\'s the same for any world.\'

He activated <Insight> and studied everyone in the room. They all had good stats and all had Mana which was clearly a criteria to get captured and brought here in the first place.

\'Hmm, how about I incite a revolution— Arrgh!"

Jolts of electricity stopped his thoughts before they could be completed in his head.

\'Ah, yes. Another thing I\'m not allowed to think about,\' he thought in annoyance,

\'Bastards!\'

That Evening…

Ed and the other man from before came to the encampment and called everyone out.

The other man was the one who spoke. He spoke with an authority that made it clear he was the superior. If that wasn\'t already clear from earlier that day when Henry saw him order Ed to lead him to the encampment.

"It\'s time for your Assignments. Most important will be Tomorrow\'s Dungeon raid so we\'ll start with those who will be graced with coming along.

You. You. And you. Also you…"

Pointing at them one by one, the man began to separate a select few to stand apart from the larger bunch.

Henry saw Louis waiting patiently and when the finger eventually pointed at him, he mouthed \'Yes!\' before he went on to join the others.

"Alright, that\'s all," the Man said then and looked away from the six he had chosen to stand apart for the Dungeon raiding.

He turned to the larger bunch and said,

"I\'ll move on to other assignments now."

Henry caught sight of Louis staring at him with his wide eyes and so with a sigh, he stepped forward.

"I\'d like to be on the Dungeon Raiding Party," he said.

The man looked him over,

"You\'re new here. You\'ll get your turn eventually."

"I\'m sorry but I\'m too impatient for that. I want to get right to work…"

"There are other things you can do which is why I\'ll now get into the other Assignments…" the Man interrupted Henry, only to blink when Henry interrupted him in turn.

"It\'s just, I dare say I can fight better than any of the people you\'ve chosen," he said with a head gesture at the raiding party.

He wasn\'t actually wrong. Thanks to <Insight>, Henry had gleaned their stats and even when the difference didn\'t favor him, it wasn\'t to the point of causing a huge disadvantage.

So he continued,

"If the Dungeons are as dangerous as I\'ve heard they are, won\'t it be best to have someone like me along?"

"Someone like you?" The Man asked and laughed,

"That\'s a lot of confidence for someone whose talent is unknown.

Kid, you\'re new. You haven\'t been properly vetted—"

"Then vet me," Henry said, "Let me fight one of them."

"Oh?" The man said and looked from Henry to those he had selected to stand aside. Then he smiled and nodded,

"Alright," he said. "A spar."

He pointed at a member of the raiding Party,

"You. Step forward."

\'Sly old dog,\' Henry said with a small smile as his eyes fell on the man who had been called forward.

The physical stats of the selected man were;

[Strength: 62]

[Agility: 34]

[Stamina: 30]

Of all those gathered into the Raiding party, he undoubtedly had the highest strength Stat which made Henry sure the selection was not random. Hence his comment.

"We don\'t have time for some drawn-out spar," the man said as he directed Henry and his opponent to stand opposite one another,

The first person to hit the ground loses."

Henry\'s brows furrowed but he retained a slight smile. Clearly, the aim was to have this end as fast as possible by having his opponent overpower him quickly.

The man stepped back a few steps and watched with a smile. He had no idea what Henry\'s Stats were. There were ways to know but he hadn\'t bothered because so far, Henry was still new.

As such, if Henry lost, he didn\'t care.

But if Henry won… Well, that would be a development worth noting.

"Ready?" The man asked and then, "Fight!"

Henry moved immediately.

The theme of the fight was speed which was exactly how he liked it. His opponent was stronger so he was always going to charge right in.

With his Agility at 50, Henry looked like he blitzed and he was in front of his opponent in a second.

He didn\'t go right for a direct blow in the form of a punch but took advantage of his acceleration to leap and twist in the air to strike at his opponent with a kick to the side of the face.

"Hngh!" Henry\'s opponent groaned, his face twisted as he felt the impact but he remained on his feet.

The opponent swung his head and pushed Henry\'s leg away before drawing back a fist to punch him in the side of the face.

Henry, forced away by the forceful moving of his leg, had his face turned away so he didn\'t quite see the punch coming for him —at least not directly. His Perception warned him quickly enough though and he ducked so fast, the blow missed him and went swishing through the air.

The strength behind the punch was so powerful, a wind flow followed it but Henry didn\'t allow himself to be bothered. Still ducked, he directed punches at his opponent\'s midsection.

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

He landed three before his opponent, groaning in pain, struck down a double-fisted hit toward his head. But then, to complete his ongoing combo, Henry leaned to the side to avoid the double-fisted blow aimed at his head and as it missed, he rose to his feet with every bit of strength in his body and delivered a blow to his Opponent\'s jaw in a powerful upper-cut.

"BAM!*

The blow rocked the Opponent and with a slight wobble, he fell backward and hit the ground. He was still able to go on and stood back to his feet almost immediately but the requirements had been met.

The man who sanctioned the spar nodded,

"Those were some fast moves," he said, "You win."

"So…" Henry said and trailed off suggestively.

The man waved him off,

"Yeah, yeah, you can join."

With a sharp nod, Henry walked over to the rest of the Dungeon raiding Party with his defeated opponent a step behind.

Louis welcomed him with an almost blank stare,

"You made it," he said simply.

"I did," Henry said, "So will you tell me your plan now?"

"Sure," Louis said and gestured at the man whose approval Henry just fought to win,

"He leads the Dungeon raids and holds a Command Cuff specifically for the Raiding Party.

All we have to do is make sure he dies and we\'re home free."