Chapter 43: Negotiation
Ting!
[Side Quest]:
– Join the student council.
– Reward: ??
– Defeat the hooker.
– Reward: Disable penalty and talk with a woman for one day [No flirting allowed].
Carl flinched for a moment when he saw the words appearing on the system screen.
A smile quickly crept across his lips.
"Great! I’ll handle that girl as quickly as I can."
Carl tightened his grip on the sword, staring straight at his opponent, gauging her strength while trying to find a weakness beneath those damn tough scales.
He couldn’t miss this chance to shorten his penalty time because he couldn’t endure the system’s torture again before sunrise... The pain was unbearable.
And Carl’s enemy was in the same state as him. The teasing expression had vanished from her face. She knew that any cheap tricks wouldn’t work on Carl anymore. Instead, she kept her sharp gaze fixed on him, waiting for the perfect opening to strike—or maybe she was just trying to stall until her partners arrived.
Although she believed she could finish Carl off easily with her skills, that failed first ambush had planted a seed of doubt in her mind.
Carl wasn’t a prey she could take down instantly with sheer force. So, her best option now was to wait and attack when the chance came.
"Tsk! What a clever fox."
Carl frowned.
Realizing the hooker’s plan, he immediately dashed forward with all his might. He decided to make the first move—he wasn’t about to let her take control of the fight.
As for his opinion, the momentum of the tide of fighting was not going to stand on his side when time went by, Carl’s disadvantage might show.
Roy and the Hookers.
He believed that if the hookers outside this room hadn’t yet seen their partner—or Carl’s beheaded head—emerge, they’d soon rush in for backup, maybe even use Roy as a hostage.
"Fucking bitch! Why won’t you just die!?" Carl gritted his teeth, swinging his sword down hard against the hooker’s knife.
Again and again, Carl unleashed countless techniques and slashes at her. On the surface, it looked like the hooker was completely overwhelmed by his attacks—
And indeed, the several long, bleeding wounds on her body were clear proof of that, while Carl himself had barely taken any damage.
...However, as the fight dragged on, minute by minute, the tide began to turn in her favor as predicted by Carl. After all, the gap in their ranks couldn’t be closed by a few flashy moves or simple tricks. If that were possible, Carl thought bitterly, he’d already be the strongest man in the world.
"Damn it! That bitch is trying to drain my mana!"
Carl grimaced, deflecting her blows, then used the brief distance between them to unleash a flurry of swift thrusts.
But the girl was too fast—too slippery. She quickly leapt back several steps and took a defensive stance.
Carl exhaled sharply, his eyes darting around the room as he considered his strongest move—the one skill he could still use: [Dimension Slash] to finish the hooker off with one blow. But he quickly dismissed the thought. It required specific conditions to activate, and in this cramped room, with so little time, it would be a stupid choice.
Still, he wasn’t worried.
"It’s time for my item."
In the blink of an eye, Carl grabbed his Invisibility Cloak from[ Inventory] and threw it over himself. Luckily, the hooker was still Rank E, so his item would have at least some effect on her — at least, on this girl.
Stunned by Carl’s sudden disappearance, the hooker quickly glanced around the room, searching for any trace of him and trying to sense anything unusual in the air. Yep, she wasn’t just talented at draining her guests with her sexual skills — she was also an experienced fighter.
Even if she couldn’t see or sense his presence, the sound of his footsteps was still there, along with the faint disturbance in the air whenever Carl moved.
"You’re strong, my man. But your time’s running out."
To be honest, she had never met a man like Carl — still only Rank F, with weak star dragon souls — who should’ve been defeated with a single blow from her. But this time, things were different. She was stunned by his technique and swordsmanship, the kind that only someone who’d gone through a hundred battles and years of training could have. With an average talent like hers, that was unthinkable. If Carl could already fight like that at his age, there was only one word for it: genius.
Thinking about it made her a little jealous, though she quickly brushed it off with a bitter smile.
"How ironic. I guess everything’s always fair, huh? You can’t have it all."
Carl could use his skill to make up for his low rank, but it was only temporary. Against absolute power, any trick would end up useless.
"Huh... they’re coming." The hooker’s red lips curled up as she sensed her partners outside. They must’ve realized something was wrong — she hadn’t come out yet with Carl’s head.
"I’ll give you some advice, boy. Surrender."
But then, suddenly, she got goosebumps as she sensed a wave of mana appear in the room. It wasn’t a violent burst — more like it was quietly leaking from somewhere.
Damn it! She finally realized Carl’s real intention. He hadn’t hidden himself just to launch a sneak attack — he was hiding his skill. With that kind of dangerous mana, there was no way he could’ve accumulated it without being noticed... unless he was preparing something.
She looked straight ahead with a horrified expression. The mana wasn’t huge, but the moment she felt it, it was as if her entire body had been sliced into a hundred pieces.
"Impossible! He’s not from the Stoker Class... or maybe a Mystery Class like me!?"
"Damn it! Just wait till my partners get here!" she hissed through gritted teeth, covering her entire body in scales for defense. There was no way to run now — it was too late. Carl could unleash his skill at any second. Her only chance was to brace herself. If she could somehow withstand that blow, victory would be hers.
Yeah... that was a huge mistake.
When the Invisibility Cloak could no longer hide Carl’s mana, he revealed himself once again — and at that very moment, he swung his sword, releasing a mana slash with all his might toward her.
The outcome was obvious. The hooker was completely overwhelmed by [Dimensional Slash]. A deafening scream of pain echoed through the room. A deep, dark wound split her chest open, and the blood that should’ve poured out instead evaporated as the dark mana devoured it from the edges inward.
She was still alive — barely.
It seemed she had used some kind of artifact to cling to life after Carl’s strike. After all, anyone below Rank C would’ve been cleaved clean in half by that attack.
[Dimension Sash] was a strong and rare skill, but it had too many weaknesses to exploit. For someone weak like him to have it was really strange, because everyone always underestimated weaklings — and that made them drop their guard.
"Come on, don’t die yet. You’re still a bit useful to me, bitch."
Carl controlled his mana over the hooker’s wounds and poured a few drops of healing potion — just enough to keep her from dying before she could finish her next role.
Ting!
– Defeat the hooker [Completed]
– You’ve received your rewards:
Penalty disabled. You can talk to women for one day.
"Yeah, finally." Carl let out a relieved sigh as all the tension and pain in his body faded. The thorned shadow veins along his skin vanished soon after. At last, he was free from torment.
Suddenly, the sound of the door cracking open echoed through the room, revealing several hookers stepping in, glaring at Carl with pure hostility. Some even looked ready to lunge at him, but were quickly stopped by the keeper brothel.
The keeper brothel glanced around the room — the wreckage of the fight — then down at the hooker lying pale and lifeless on the floor, a terrible slash carved across her upper body.
Countless furious eyes turned toward Carl, but the keeper brothel just sighed and said with a deadly voice,
"Boy. Do you have a death wish?"
Immediately, she unleashed a wave of suppressive aura, trying to crush him — but within seconds, her face twisted in shock.
Carl chuckled.
"Hey! Old bitch! That won’t work on me. So now, make a deal — if you want your subordinate to live in peace."
Carl slowly moved the tip of his sword toward the hooker’s left chest and looked up at the woman standing in the doorway.
"Right!"
The brothel keeper gritted her teeth and clenched her hand for a moment before raising it to signal her underlings.
Then, a boy was shoved forward from the crowd, his throat caught in the keeper’s clawed grip.
Roy’s face was bruised, his body covered in dozens of wounds. He looked around blankly, eyes dazed and unfocused. It was clear he had already suffered—more or less—from some torment.
The keeper glared coldly at Carl and emphasized her voice,
"Guess this boy seems important to you... So now, why don’t you kneel and kill yourself? Who knows, maybe I’ll spare your friend."