Chapter 58: Training or Torture

With not much of an event happening, morning arrived.

Everyone had gathered at the living/dining room for breakfast and a short briefing. But all eyes were focused on the new face present among them.

Though quite a few had already guessed who he was, based on who was missing.

"Alright, everyone, listen."

Raive stepped forward as soon as everyone was seated.

"Let me reintroduce you all. This here is Khamish. His appearance yesterday was nothing but a fake, made to fool other people."

"Khamish here. Still the same, except my face, so don’t alienate me just because I’m no longer hiding it. I’m also known as the Great Thief Hundred Faces. Pleased to be working with you all."

"Hundred Faces?!"

"Wow! We’ve got a celebrity in our midst..."

"You’re Hundred Faces? For real?"

Of course, everyone was stunned by the reintroduction.

But more than that, Raive was shocked at how nearly everyone reacted to the alias—proof he really was famous!

Khamish’s lips curled into a smile, finally getting the attention he’d been expecting.

But well, they were in the middle of a meeting.

"Alright, that’s enough." Raive clapped, cutting the moment short. "Next, we’ll go over our plans going forward."

It was only the second day, but everyone had already hit their maximum stats. They’d also picked up experience clearing dungeons in smaller teams, so that would keep coming naturally.

Now, all that was left was to sharpen their battle senses.

As such...

"All of you, team up and fight me." Raive declared. "Land a single hit anywhere on my body, and you win—the exercise ends. Otherwise, we keep going until sundown."

It was a bold call.

He was essentially telling them they’d stop farming for the day and focus entirely on polishing combat ability and skill.

Everyone’s expressions dimmed hearing it. It sounded arrogant, facing all of them alone like that.

One person raised a hand, as if asking permission to speak.

"Yes, Hazel?" Raive nodded to her.

"You said you’d face us... You mean one against many, not one-on-one in sequence, right?"

"Exactly."

Raive’s stats were ten times theirs. In raw battle power, that put him at roughly three times each of them individually—speed, strength, senses, everything above the rest.

So, to make sure he got something out of this training too, he planned to fight them all at once.

Training himself for one-against-many fights. Building teamwork among everyone. Spotting weaknesses and strengths early. And, in general, raising their odds of survival.

This exercise killed several birds with one stone—the height of efficiency!

Raive turned to Khamish and Reinhardt too, smiling.

"Of course, you two are included. No excuses."

After that, they all had breakfast.

The air was a little heavy, knowing they’d have to fight Raive right after the meal, but nobody said they’d back off.

They knew this was a necessary step.

Toward a better chance of surviving this twisted god’s game.

An hour later, everyone headed to the nearby park—an old children’s park long since dismantled once it was deemed unnecessary.

What remained was just a grassy open field a few hundred meters across.

In the middle of it, Raive stood with a wooden sword.

Everyone else spread out to surround him, some grouped together as if they had a plan worth trying. Raive smiled, seeing they hadn’t come to just blindly attack.

"Come at me when you’re ready." He said, taunting them.

As if voicing everyone’s thoughts, Hazel stepped forward first. "Then let me start it off with a bang!"

Hazel waved her hand, using her skill to manipulate the ground around Raive. The earth rippled like liquid, throwing him off balance.

"Whoa!"

At that moment, Shymine and Therese moved together.

"Homing Ice Lance!"

Shymine fired ice spears at him from multiple directions. With her stats risen, she could now control them with far more precision.

Therese was the same. Her increased stats had pushed her control from six swords to twelve—and each of those swords could use her skill too.

"Sword Flash x12!"

Raive turned his head, watching twelve shining slashes bear down on him, alongside dozens of ice spears converging from every direction.

If it had been the old him, this would already be a dead end.

"But too bad...!"

Raive stomped his foot hard, snapping the shifting ground back to solid. Hazel, her control ripped away by force, felt a sharp pain lance through her chest.

With the ground steady again, Raive had nothing left to fear from the incoming attacks.

He sidestepped, dodged, and slapped attacks aside, carving an easy path to safety. Even mid-dodge, he stayed sharp—watching not just the ones already attacking, but the ones who hadn’t moved yet.

BANG!

"...!"

And just as he expected, it came.

A gunshot.

Raive twisted his body, catching the bullet with the Tree Knight’s sword. Wooden or not, the bullet ricocheted downward, burying itself in the grass instantly.

That’s right—they weren’t using rubber bullets. Live rounds.

"Khamish! Watch your line of fire!" Raive raised his voice, singling out the gunman. "If I hadn’t blocked that, you could’ve hit Shymine and Hershey!"

"But you DID block it!"

"That’s no excuse!"

Raive jumped, his figure vanishing for a moment.

Then he reappeared right beside Khamish, revolver still raised—the same revolver once carried by the cowboy who’d taken over the Sunrise Apartments.

"Reflect on your actions."

Raive swung his sword, catching Khamish’s face with the flat of the blade. Even so, the impact was heavy enough to knock him out cold instantly.

After watching the first offender get punished, the others realized this training wouldn’t exactly be peaceful.

Hershey moved fast, circling in to heal Khamish, but by the time she got there, Raive had already knocked out a few more. So she had to move again, heal, and rush to the next "patient."

Raive never targeted her once.

Moving around like a medic, healing people, was her job, after all—and on top of that, Kenny stuck close to her side, shielding her with a barrier, so attacking her wouldn’t have worked anyway.

"Good!"

Having knocked out everyone at least once, Raive smiled fiercely.

"Now! Land a hit, or this nightmare just keeps going!"

Their torture, disguised as training, had only just begun.