Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons

Now the man was acting as if he owned the world and had natural authority over everyone under his protection, displaying exactly the kind of corrupt behaviour that made Arthur's contempt for humanity's worst tendencies burn with renewed flame.

Arthur ignored the self-appointed leader's challenge entirely, his eyes instead scanning the assembled survivors as he searched for his actual target.

Unfortunately, after cataloguing every face within the shelter, Arthur realized that the nurse he was seeking wasn't present among the current occupants before him. However, that didn't mean she wasn't in the building as a whole.

Arthur's enhanced senses detected additional people scattered throughout other areas of the underground complex—some in separate chambers, others in what appeared to be private quarters or storage areas that had been converted into living spaces during the extended crisis period.

There were still some people in the building that Arthur could sense beyond those gathered in the main communal area.

Arthur then decided to take the direct approach to locate the nurse efficiently. Since he didn't want to search every room where females were present—and they seemed to be plenty throughout the facility—Arthur decided to simply ask the supposed leader himself for information.

For all Arthur knew, the nurse might've already died or left.

The awakened man stepped forward with the swaggering confidence of someone who had grown accustomed to absolute authority within his small domain. His expression carried an arrogant assumption that any newcomer would naturally defer to his established position and follow whatever protocols he had implemented for managing the shelter's operations.

"I don't know who you think you are, but this is my shelter," the man declared with pompous authority that grated against Arthur's already strained patience. "You don't get to just walk in here and act like you own the place."

The awakened guardian positioned himself directly in front of Arthur with aggressive posturing designed to intimidate through physical presence and demonstrated willingness to confront perceived threats to his established order.

"You need to provide identification before I answer any questions," the man continued with arrogance that suggested he had created elaborate procedures for his own entertainment. "State your name, age, and previous profession."

His tone carried condescending authority mixed with suspicious interrogation, as if Arthur were some random refugee seeking admission to his exclusive protection rather than someone whose summons had made the shelter's existence possible in the first place.

Arthur sighed with weary resignation as he processed the man's predictable response to reasonable requests for basic cooperation.

With a cold but annoyed tone, Arthur said. "You really are annoying. I tried to give you a chance, but that smug look on your face is just pissing me off by the minute. You can shut up now."

Without warning or additional conversation, Arthur's hand shot forward with supernatural speed that the awakened man's reflexes couldn't even register, let alone counter. Arthur grabbed him by the neck with a grip strength that immediately conveyed the overwhelming disparity in their respective capabilities.

Whilst Arthur wasn't putting any considerable amount of strength into his grip, to the man in question, it felt like Arthur was about to break his windpipe.

"A..Agh."

Seeing that the smug man was struggling to breathe, Arthur loosened his grip slightly before lifting him off the ground whilst staring directly into his eyes with cold intensity that penetrated far deeper than simple physical intimidation. The awakened guardian's arrogant expression transformed into genuine terror as he finally comprehended exactly what kind of individual he had chosen to antagonise.

The man's body became completely frozen, not through conscious choice but because Arthur's overwhelming aura had triggered involuntary paralysis that shut down his nervous system's ability to coordinate voluntary movement. Fear so absolute that it transcended normal psychological responses had rendered him a helpless puppet suspended by Arthur's casual grip.

The other shelter occupants, witnessing what appeared to be an unprovoked assault against their established leader, reacted instantly. Men pushed back chairs, boots scraped on concrete, and fists tightened around their weapons. Loyalty and fear blended into one impulse: defend their leader, the one who had kept them alive through the chaos after the strange creature left them.

"Don't just stand there, he's one man!" one of them barked, his voice mixed with urgency and some fear.

"Take him down before he does anything else!" another snarled, rushing forward with a jagged pipe raised overhead.

Arthur didn't so much as glance at them. His grip remained on the leader's neck, gaze fixed elsewhere as though the mobs trying to attack him were beneath his acknowledgement.

The awakened survivors closed in fast, attacking in waves, hoping their numbers and weapons would topple him. Their movements were desperate and filled with the aggression of men who had survived monsters already; they weren't fully fledged amateurs.

Yet Arthur didn't need to lift a hand.

His Shadow Monarch class stirred before he activated one of its skills. Beneath his attackers, darkness started to shift. Shadows stretched unnaturally, peeling away from their owners like oil dripping from flesh. They rose, alive.

"What the, my feet!?" a man shouted as tendrils wrapped his legs, yanking him down with a sickening thud.

"Get it off! Get it off!" another screamed. He couldn't even struggle against the coils of black that locked around him. His body stopped moving as the shadow immediately got hold of him.

Weapons clattered against the floor as one by one they were immobilised, shadows binding them like prey caught in a web. No matter how much strength they summoned, it meant nothing. Arthur's shadows didn't yield.

A terrified gasp cut through the clash. Screams filled the area as the weaker women couldn't believe their eyes.

"Shadows don't move like that! They don't move...just how is this person?!"

Another woman backed into the wall, sobbing as she pointed a trembling finger."They're alive! They're alive, oh God, they're alive!"

Children wailed, clutching their mothers, trying to bury their faces in cloth to escape the impossible sight.

"You, you're a monster!"

Arthur still hadn't moved. He didn't even look their way. The shadows acted as his wordless enforcers, merciless yet precise, crushing resistance without breaking bodies. He didn't want these people to die when he left; they were just protecting their leader, which was fine.

To the onlookers, it was worse than any beast outside.