Micheal was searching his mind to find anything that could help him survive in this world while the heavy rain was pouring from the sky. On earth, he would spend most of his time preparing before actually eliminating the target. He deeply valued intel and preparation but after searching his mind, he couldn't help but feel extremely unprepared.
"Am I missing, pink?"
He shook his head
"Hey, system, what happened to my body back in my world?"
"The host's body was disintegrated during the crossing over"
"Well, at least my reputation won't take a hit and those losers won't find me"
Since his body was destroyed, the cops and the federal agents wouldn't find him and he would still remain as a myth, a ghost to them who had a hundred percent success rate in assassinations.
While proudly grinning about his reputation, he suddenly heard footsteps and hissing sounds.
He quickly checked the other branches near him to see if there's a snake nearby but when he focused, he found that the sound of footsteps was coming from the ground.
As he was searching for the source, he saw a group of five strange looking creatures dragging something. If he saw these creatures on earth, he would have been shocked beyond words and even slightly terrified but because of Abras's memory, he recognized these creatures.
"Snakemen, freaky"
Some of their upper bodies resembled the body of a snake, in particular, a cobra's, and their lower body seemed to be human. And two of them had the head and torso of a human but had the body of a snake as their lower part.
Micheal knitted his brows when he noticed the thing they were dragging was not an object but a girl who seemed to be in her late teens.
"Datra, let's take a break here, I'm too tired to walk in this damn rain"
One of the snakemen complained and stopped his group.
"He's right, we are walking two days straight without any break"
"But we still have a long way to the Nagaland, we can't afford to lose her again, the queen will skin us alive if we did"
The one with a cobra head hissed but the others chuckled looking at the girl
"Look at her, Datra, the elders crippled her cultivation and now she's harmless as a butterfly, besides how can she escape with ropes tied around her limbs"
"And she can't turn into her true form anymore"
Micheal looked closer at the girl and found a small glimmer of snakeskin on her neck and realized that she wasn't a human but one of them.
"Three-body refining stage level seven, one level eight and level ten "
Normally killing them with his level of cultivation would be an impossible feat however the system gave him the perfect tool to kill them if he could catch them by surprise and kill them silently one by one without alerting the others.
But before that, he decided to open the system and browse the subordinate tab. At the moment, the interface was empty and on the corner, the system showed him the maximum number of subordinates he could have.
"Three huh? For the moment, it's enough, but system, explain how's this subordinate thing works"
"When the host wants to make someone his subordinate, you can activate the system's recruitment feature. The target must be willing to accept to be Host's subordinate and if the target is willing, the system will recruit the target as Host's subordinate"
"Can a subordinate betray me or know about you, the system?"
"Host doesn't have to worry about that, a subordinate cannot betray or harm the host in any way, and if the subordinate acts in any way that brings harm to the host, the system would activate the countermeasure and eliminate or punish the subordinate before the subordinate could harm the host. For your last question, except the host, none would know about the system's existence unless the host chose to reveal it but the system strictly recommend not to do that"
"Cool, that's what I like to hear, and im not crazy and dumb enough to say that I have a system in my mind"
He closed the system as the world before him came to life.
"Okay okay, let's take a break here, but after this rain stops, we leave here, get it?"
Datra said as they all sighed in relief except for the girl who kept wiggling against her ropes and tried to speak but the ropes around her mouth prevented her from making any noise.
"Good, go to sleep, snakes"
Micheal watched them from above and felt like the predator from the movies.
"If I only had my sniper or an assault rifle with a silencer"
"Does the host really plan to kill those snakemen?"
The system's voice appeared in his mind
"You do give badass points and rewards for killing them right?"
"Yes"
"Then there's your answer, I need to earn points and experience somewhere, why would I waste such a great opportunity like this? Even if things went south, I have a healing potion"
"Good"
"Huh?"
For a moment, the system sounded actually human in his mind but that feeling disappeared quickly.
Considering the branches of the tree were long and big, Micheal slowly jumped branch to branch like a monkey and checked the perimeter to see if there's another group of snakes on their way.
While looking at the group, Micheal witnessed Datra creating fire from his hand. A stream of fire flew out of his hand and fired up the bundle of wet wood.
"Cool Magic"
Micheal's eyes sparkled looking at this because this was the first time he had seen such a thing in real life.
"System, can I do that?"
He asked the system in his mind as the system showed him a red color card.
Skill name: Dragon fire
Class: Offensive type skill
Function: Host can send a stream of dragon fire from his hands
Range: small
Current Level: Level 1
Next Level: The range and the intensity of the fire will be increased, the host can use both hands at the same time to send the fire stream
Price: 600 badass points
"I must buy this"
A wide grin appeared on his face and he felt more motivated to kill these snake men and earn more badass points.
In his line of work, patience was crucial so he trained his mind to replay a movie whence he wants. And after replaying a couple of movies, the snakes started to hiss which seemed like a yawn and the forest grew darker and darker as only the campfire and the flashes of lightning provided light.
He blended perfectly with the tree like a chameleon because of his black robes and dark environment.
"We'll take the first watch"
Datra said and looked at the other cobra headed man.
"Fine with us"
Micheal was surprised that they didn't put anything under them like a bedsheet or blanket as they went to sleep on the wet ground.
After a few minutes, the snakes started to snore without minding the sound of thunderclaps while Datra and the other one kept watching the girl.
Micheal was waiting for them to look away from each other, so killing one wouldn't alert the other but after waiting for some time, they didn't seem to budge from their positions.
"Small distraction would do the trick"
He looked at the tree behind Datra which had a huge stem that would block the other snake's sight if he kills Datra.
Planning his next move, he leaped towards another branch and appeared right above Datra's head. He cut a small stick from the tree using his knife that felt like cutting a banana with a hot knife.
"Thup"
Micheal threw the stick behind the tree as Datra and the other snake quickly startled by the noise.
"Go, check it"
Micheal waited for one of them to go behind the tree and just as he thought, Datra, the leader himself stood up to check it.
"Watch her, I'll go check it"
The other snake nodded and kept his glance at the girl while Datra slowly moved towards the ideal place where Micheal planned to jump down and stab the knife straight between the eyes.
He was glad that at least Abras learned the weak points of several species from one of the elders in the sanctuary as a part of his training.
"Diddle diddle we are so"
Step by step, Datra reached the point where the other snake wouldn't be able to see him.
"Little"
Just as he said, he jumped down from the branch and stabbed the knife between Datra's eyes. The sound of the thunder clasp and Micheal's perfect athleticism reduced the sound of his landing.
Even after stabbing Datra, his body violently shook but Micheal used all of his strength and held his body against the tree until he stopped moving.
[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Body refining stage, level 10 cultivator. The reward is 7000 experience points as well as 200 Badass points]
He had no time to celebrate as his full focus was on killing the rest of them.
So before the other snake got suspicious, he swiftly moved towards the next target using the bushes and darkness as cover.
"Da"
Just when the other snake opened his mouth to call for his friend, Micheal came behind him and sent his Knife through his forehead, and dragged him away from the campfire and the sleeping snakes.
The girl's eyes widened in shock and surprise seeing the turn of events but she didn't make any noises that could alert and wake the snakes up.
[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Body refining stage, level 8 cultivator. The reward is 6000 experience points as well as 250 Badass points]