SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling

The man screamed again, clutching his shattered hand against his chest. Blood dripped through his fingers onto the inn's dirty floor. The other two Syndicate members jumped up from their table, chairs scraping loudly.

"What the hell did you do to him?" The second man pulled a curved dagger from his belt. "You're dead, freak!"

Luthra glanced at the approaching men, then at the screaming one. The Chain had absorbed all the mana from his punch and crushed every bone in his hand. It was completely ruined, twisted at unnatural angles.

'This is getting annoying and since when can my chain do that?'

The innkeeper slammed his club on the counter. "Not in my tavern! Take this shit outside!"

"Shut up, old man!" The third Syndicate member drew his sword. "This bastard just crippled Ricky!"

Rebecca peeked out from behind Luthra's leg. "Wow, his hand looks really gross. Like a smashed tomato."

The man with the dagger lunged forward, aiming for Luthra's throat. Luthra caught his wrist mid-swing, twisted sharply to the left, and the bone snapped with a wet crack. The dagger clattered to the floor.

"AAAHHH! My arm!"

The third man swung his sword in a wide arc. Luthra ducked under the blade, grabbed the man's ankle, and yanked hard. The Syndicate member crashed face-first into a wooden table, which splintered on impact.

'Are these guys not hunters? That was pathetically easy.'

The entire tavern had gone silent. Everyone stared at the three groaning men on the floor. One had a destroyed hand, one had a broken arm, and one was unconscious with blood pooling under his face.

The innkeeper's jaw dropped. "You... you just took out three Syndicate members in ten seconds."

"They started it." He reached into his pouch, pulled out the small bag of coins he had taken from the bounty hunters, and tossed it to the man with the broken hand. "For the medical bills."

Ricky looked at the coin pouch through tears of pain. "What... what is this?"

"An apology. Your story about your brother was terrible, but I don't need unnecessary enemies."

'I came here for information, not a fight. Now everyone will be watching us.'

Rebecca stepped out from behind him, walked over to the unconscious man, and poked him with her foot. "Is he dead? He's not moving at all."

"He's breathing."

"Oh. That's boring."

The other tavern patrons were whispering among themselves, pointing at Luthra and the Chain wrapped around his arm. Some looked impressed, others looked terrified.

"That weapon... it ate his mana."

"Never seen anything like it."

"Who is this guy?"

Luthra ignored them all, turned toward the door, and walked out. Rebecca skipped behind him, but not before sticking her tongue out at the man with the broken hand.

"Blehhh! That's what you get for being mean!"

They stepped outside into the dusty street. Other pedestrians gave them a wide berth after seeing them emerge from the inn.

"That was awesome!" Rebecca grabbed his sleeve. "You beat them up so fast! Did you see how his hand went crunch? And the other guy's face went splat!"

"It wasn't supposed to happen."

"Why not? They were bad guys."

'Because now everyone in this town will think we're dangerous.'

A group of children ran past them, chasing a mangy dog down the street. Market vendors were packing up their stalls for the night. The smell of roasted meat drifted from a food cart nearby.

"So what do we do now?" Rebecca looked up at him. "We still need to find out about the mines, right?"

"We need a different approach. The inn was a mistake."

They walked down the main street, passing shops selling weapons, armor, and various supplies. Every few steps, someone would notice the Chain on his arm and quickly look away.

'Word travels fast in a place like this. By tomorrow morning, half the town will know about the fight.'

It was getting late, and returning to the inn was definitely not a good idea, so he figured they would have to find another place to stay for the night. As they walked down a less-crowded side street, his eyes landed on an old woman sitting on a wooden crate, a blanket spread on the ground in front of her displaying a variety of herbs and oddly colored potions.

Rebecca tugged on his sleeve, "Hey, look at all that weird stuff! Do you think any of it is poison? I bet it's poison."

'This kid's first thought is poison? I'm starting to think I made a mistake keeping her around.'

He walked toward the old woman, stopping in front of her makeshift stall. The woman looked up at him, her face a web of deep wrinkles, and her eyes surprisingly sharp and clear.

"We need a place to stay for the night. Do you know of anywhere that's not the main inn?"

The old woman cackled, a dry, rattling sound, "Afraid of a few Syndicate goons, are we? I heard what happened. You made quite a mess of Ricky and his boys. That was a stupid thing to do."

'How is that even possible that word already reached this side.'

Rebecca puffed out her chest, "Luthra wasn't stupid! He was awesome! He made the guy's hand go all crunchy!"

"Quiet, Rebecca." He looked back at the old woman, "Do you have information, or are you just going to state the obvious?"

The old woman's sharp eyes appraised him for a long moment, "You're not from around here. You carry yourself differently. You're looking for trouble with the Gorgon Syndicate, but you don't seem to understand what you're up against."

"The innkeeper already told me about Silas and his petrification magic."

"Silas is a B-Rank, a big fish in this small pond, but he isn't the real power here," the woman said, picking up a dried, black-colored root and sniffing it. "This town, this whole territory, it belongs to Old Man Moria. Nothing happens here without him allowing it to happen. The Syndicate pays him a hefty tax to operate their mines, and in return, he looks the other way."

'So there's another layer to this. A retired A-Rank hunter. That's a whole different level of problem.'

"This Moria, where can I find him?"

The old woman laughed again, "You can't. He lives in the big mansion on the hill overlooking the town, and he doesn't see anyone unless he wants to. He hasn't left that mansion in ten years. But he sees everything that goes on in this town."

As she spoke, Luthra felt a sudden prickle on the back of his neck. It was the feeling of being watched.

"Hey, Luthra. Those guys from the inn are back," Rebecca whispered, her voice losing its cheerful tone. "And they brought friends."

He turned around. Standing at the end of the narrow street were the three men from the tavern. Ricky's hand and the other man's arm were wrapped in crude bandages. Behind them stood seven more men, all wearing the same black leather armor and snake tattoo.

Ricky pointed a trembling, bandaged finger at him, his face twisted with a mixture of fear and rage, "That's him! That's the bastard who attacked us for no reason!"

Luthra let out a quiet sigh, 'For no reason? He's the one who started it.'

One of the new men, a burly figure with a massive iron club resting on his shoulder, stepped forward. He was clearly the leader of this group.

"So you're the one who thinks he can just attack Syndicate members and walk away? You've got guts, I'll give you that. But now you're going to pay for it. The boss wants him alive, but he didn't say anything about the kid."

He grinned, a horrible, predatory expression, "We'll have some fun with her before we hand you over."

The moment the words left the man's mouth, something inside Luthra snapped. He did not know when he started moving. One moment he was standing still, the next he was right in front of the burly man. He grabbed the man's head, slammed it into the nearby stone wall, then grabbed his face and slammed it into the wall again for good measure.

The other Syndicate members were frozen in shock for a split second, and in that second, Luthra whipped his Chain out. He sent it low along the ground, wrapping it around the ankles of three men and yanking hard. They all crashed to the ground in a tangled heap.

"Get him!" Ricky screamed, his voice filled with panic.