After Alex said those words to Eri, he disappeared, he used void steps, he reappeared in the middle of the players and NPCs.
''Wh-"
That priest could not finish his words before his head exploded, a bullet blasted his head apart, blood and brain's matter covered the other, everything happened too fast. Alex and Maria exchanged looks; she seemed relieved.
''Golden Hour Five Seconds Time Stop!" Alex immediately activated his Time ability; everything froze around him. After cutting off the ropes that tied her, Alex gently picked Maria up and handed her over to Eri; he returned and unleashed hell on the men responsible for Maria's current state.
Bang Bang Bang!
Before the five seconds could finish, Alex had already taken care of the forty players and NPCs. For the players, because he noticed that they weren't the ones controlling their bodies, Alex killed them to send them off, the luckiest would resurrect, but the unluckiest would be expulsed from Exodus. As for the NPCs, apart from the controlled guards, Alex let the others survive, ten priests whose legs disappeared; they were wriggling on the ground like worms begging for forgiveness.
''Pl...ease let... us go... We promise to-"
Bang!
''Guh!"
To shut the man up, Alex destroyed his lower jaw with a bullet. Upon seeing this scene, the others became frightened; they didn't dare to breathe too heavily. The current Alex did not look different from a demon in their eyes; they forgot about their master, forgot how frightening she was. It was understandable because the current Alex didn't hold back his will to kill; he released his full killing intent, the thousand of monsters he killed, the long years he spent training where he fought many illusionary monsters, those monsters after getting killed, became part of his killing intent. Hence, the mix between the two produced something dreadful that struck fear into the priest's heart; they were shivering.
Alex felt nothing as he stared at the bloody sight he had created.
''When you were beating her, she said nothing, but now you are currently getting beaten, you dare to beg?"
''We..we are sorry.'' One of the priests lying on the ground limped and said immediately following his words, two bullets flew over and destroyed his remaining hand, the pain was so much that he fainted on the spot. The others felt their soul escaping from their body, especially after hearing Alex's following words.
''Wrong answer. No matter how much pain you are in, you must stay silent like my girl; if not, I'll show you the true meaning of hell.''
'Is this already hell?' Thought most of them but they dared not to voice out, they were too afraid, the grim reaper would kill them immediately he would first torture them until he was satisfied, better do what he told them to do maybe this way he could have pity on them and grant them swift death.
''Tell me why you are targeting my girl?" Alex asked; his voice was so cold that just from hearing it, they felt chill down their spines.
''We.. don't know, the supreme priest said it was for the goddess. She is the one that controls all the city and even the surrounding; nobody can go against her if either you follow her orders, or you die in the most gruesome way, and in the worst case, all your family will be killed. She is truly ruthless.''
Alex said nothing and processed the information he just got; it was a good thing that he knew the mastermind gender but hearing how ruthless this person was, Alex was sure that he must not let Maria fall into her hands. As for why Maria was reduced to such a space after Alex held him, he noticed some similarities to his past self; he remembered how his body was, how he was unable to use any of his skills before falling unconscious, she must have used a forbidden technique resulting in her current state.
Because Alex felt that he should quickly go after Eri and Maria to make sure that they were both fine, Alex, who had decided to torture the priests until he had enough, decided not to do it in the end as it would mean a waste of time.
Alex said nothing but kicked the ground and shot into the sky like a rocket; after he saw he put a reasonable distance between him and the limping priests on the ground, Alex aimed Silveria at them and fired.
''Crimson Bullet!"
BANG!
The crimson bullet tore through the air like a falling meteor, and before they knew it, the small crimson sun was before them before it engulfed them, erasing them forever from the tower, from Exodus. Strangely in their last moment, they felt gratified, as though they had been liberated.
Alex didn't linger too much in this location, he immediately stepped across the Void using void steps, he shortened the distance in an instant, he followed the direction where Eri and Maria should be but to his dismay they were not present, even they ran this should be the location they should current at, but they were not present.
Unconsciously Alex tightened his gun; his fingers became white because he put too much force in them. He used his Divine Sense to scan two kilometers around him but found nothing; it was as if they had disappeared.
'Maybe Eri used some secret method to escape.' Alex tried to convince himself, but soon this thought was shattered when he heard Eri shouting.
''Alex, help!"
It was coming from three kilometers in front of him, Alex disappeared, he used Accel and void steps to quickly reach the location where the cry was coming from, upon arriving he saw someone taking Maria with him while another one was dragging Eri away.
Alex didn't say a one and immediately went on the offensive. Still, before he could attack, a lightning bolt descended from the sky and struck him; at the last moment, he managed to cancel it with erase, but the shockwave sent him flying twenty meters; when he stood up, they were gone.
''Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
••••
A/N: For those confused about Artemia sending Maria on the lower floor while she was still unconscious, the reason is simple it was that or killing her. The rules forced her to either kill the challengers or beat them until they were unconscious and send them down.
Please check out my new novel: Crimson Overlord