SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling

Ricky's panicked scream was drowned out by the sound of Luthra moving.

The other Syndicate members, who were still recovering from the shock of their leader being so effortlessly disabled, could only watch as Luthra whipped his chain in a wide, horizontal arc. The black metal did not aim for them directly, instead, it slammed into the stone wall of the building on their right. The chain ricocheted off the wall with impossible physics, its trajectory changing completely as it shot across the street and smashed into the wall on the left, before bouncing back again like a pinball made of dark iron.

The chain, now a blur of black energy, tore through the remaining six men. It was not a clean slice, it was a brutal, shredding impact that shattered bones and tore through flesh. Men were thrown into walls, their bodies crumpling on impact, while others were simply knocked off their feet, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles.

The entire exchange was over in three seconds. The street was now littered with the groaning, broken bodies of ten Syndicate members. Not one of them was dead, but not one of them would be walking away, either.

Rebecca let out a small gasp, her eyes wide with excitement, "Whoa! That was like a spiderweb! A really fast, cool, and painful spiderweb! You didn't even have to move!"

'I had to. They left me no choice.' Luthra thought, a surge irritation passing through him. 'This is exactly the kind of attention I didn't want.'

He walked over to Ricky, who was trying to crawl away with his one good arm, his bandaged hand a useless, pulpy mess. Luthra placed a foot on his back, pressing him to the ground.

"You shouldn't have threatened the kid. That was a mistake."

He then walked down the street, methodically stepping on the knee of every single conscious Syndicate member. Each stomp was met with a fresh scream of pain, a sound that quickly turned into a whimper. He was not killing them, he was making sure they would be a problem for someone else to clean up.

This was the part of himself he did not like, the cold, efficient part that treated threats as that needed to be solved in the most permanent way possible without crossing the line into outright murder.

The old woman, who was still sitting calmly on her crate amidst the chaos, let out a dry cackle, "Hoh hoh. You've got a mean streak in you, boy. I like that. Most of the young punks these days are all flash and no substance. You, you're all substance."

'Who the hell is she calling boy? And substance? I just made a huge mess that's going to make things more complicated.'

He ignored her comment, his focus already shifting to the next step in this increasingly problematic situation. The groaning men on the ground were a liability, and this entire street was now a crime scene that pointed directly at him and the small, blood-splattered girl standing beside him.

Rebecca, for her part, simply nudged one of the unconscious Syndicate members with the toe of her boot, a thoughtful expression on her face, "You know, for bad guys, they went down really easy. Are you sure they weren't just pretending?"

"They weren't pretending," he stated flatly, his gaze sweeping over the street, already calculating the number of potential witnesses who were now peering out of their windows.

[Your current physical parameters exceed the expected norms for an Unranked individual by a factor of 72. Your strength is, for all intents and purposes, abnormal.]

'Abnormal, huh? I'll take it.'

The old woman looked at the groaning men on the ground, then back at Luthra, and shook her head, "You really are a special kind of stupid, boy. You didn't just step on the snake's tail, you stomped on its head. Now it's going to bite back, and it's going to bring all of its friends. Silas doesn't break bones, he turns people into lawn ornaments. The only reason his top enforcers aren't here already is because this street belongs to Old Man Moria, and even Silas has to be careful not to make a mess on his doorstep. But you just went and made a huge mess for him."

'She's right. This was a mistake. I fell for their provocations.'

"Wow! You beat up all of them!" Rebecca announced, completely ignoring the old woman. "You're the strongest! They were all like, 'Grrr, we're so tough,' and then you were like, 'wham, bam, biff,' and now they're all sleepy on the floor!"

'Sleepy is not the word I would use.'

He looked at the ten men groaning on the ground, then back at the old woman, his expression unchanging, "You said this street belongs to Old Man Moria. That the Syndicate has to be careful here."

"That's right. They have to be careful not to start a war with him. But you just handed them a perfect excuse. They can claim you, an outsider, attacked them without provocation right on his territory. They can use it to justify bringing in their main force to 'restore order'. You've made a mess for everyone, not just yourself."

He knew his own strength. Based on the system's own analysis, his raw physical output was comparable to a mid-tier D-rank hunter, but that was it. He had no real combat experience against trained opponents, and his only weapon was a freshly-forged chain with abilities he did not fully understand.

The Gorgon Syndicate was a C-Rank criminal organization, and their leader, Silas, was a B-Rank.

To put that into perspective, the hunter ranking system was not a simple linear progression. A B-Rank hunter was not just a little stronger than a C-Rank, they were in a completely different league. A single B-Rank could single-handedly subjugate a gate that would require a full party of a dozen C-Ranks. They were walking disasters.

"Hey, Luthra, what's a B-Rank? Is it a lot?" Rebecca asked, poking one of the unconscious men again.

The old woman answered for him, her voice grim, "It means he's strong enough to turn this entire town into a crater if he gets angry, little girl. And your friend here just did something to make him very, very angry."

Rebecca just shrugged, "So what? Luthra's super strong, too! He beat up ten guys! A B-Rank is just one guy! The math is on our side!"

'Her math is terrible.'

He had made a critical error. He had allowed his annoyance to override his logic. A direct confrontation with the entire Gorgon Syndicate was not just risky, it was stupid. It was an inefficient use of his time and energy, and the probability of failure was unacceptably high.

He needed a new plan.

"I am not going to fight the entire Syndicate," he stated plainly.

Rebecca's face fell, "What?! But that's the whole point of the adventure! We're supposed to go to the mines and free all the slaves and beat up the big bad boss!"

"A frontal attack is suicide. There are too many variables and the risk is too high. It is a stupid plan."

"Then what are we going to do? Are we going to run away?"

"No," he walked over to the old woman, ignoring the groaning men on the ground, "This Silas. You said he was arrogant."

The old woman's eyes glinted with a sign of interest, "As arrogant as they come. Thinks he's a king because he can turn people to stone. Why?"

"I have a plan."