Chapter 8 - Demon

Night had fallen.

Darkness engulfed the abandoned orphanage, but the maniacal laughter of the goblins continued.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

A murder of crows decided to join the banquet. They pecked the slain goblins and flew with their entrails, leaving only black feathers in their wake.

Enemies or allies, the blood-crazed goblins now attacked indiscriminately. Whoever stood in their way was an enemy and this madness inscribed fear in the hearts of the humans who cowered under the staircase.

The four captured humans trembled at the sound of carnage. With their eyesight compromised by the dark surroundings, their sense of hearing sharpened to pick up the smallest noise – from the scraping of metals to the crunching of broken bones and they thought, 'What if I'm next? If I come out from under these stairs, will they also rip me to shreds? I'm scared!'

Indeed, human nature will always be the same.

Whether young or old, the fear of death and pain always overrides purpose.

These four adults were actually neighbors who went out to search for their missing children. They came to the orphanage which used to be frequented by their kids, determined to throw their lives away if it meant saving their precious children.

But now, that courage was long gone.

Now, all they wished for was to escape, unscathed, from this hell.

What they did not understand was why the goblins suddenly rioted. Sure, the goblin who threw the spear was the definite culprit, but the subsequent behavior of the monsters made no sense.

Suddenly, the strongest goblin became furious and the others also shouted insults as if some entity was urging them to fight. And when things calmed down, this entity would cause havoc by throwing weapons at random monsters…

'I-I definitely saw that dagger fly without anyone touching it!' one of them thought as goosebumps erupted on his skin.

'D-demon! There's a demon in this orphanage!'

'I have to get out of here!'

Somehow, every one of the adults concluded that Mikael was a demon more terrifying than the goblins.

Meanwhile, the so-called demon Mikael, unhindered by the lack of light, attacked monsters with the numerous weapons lying around.

Whenever two monsters fought, he would control a nearby object and sneakily attack them from behind. He skillfully aimed at their vital points in time with their opponent's attack. This way, the goblins think that they killed their enemy without realizing that Mikael helped them. Thus solidifying their belief that they were strong and further encouraging them to fight.

Ting!

<System Notification: Your proficiency in Active Skill: Psychokinesis Lvl. 1 increased!>

Ting!

<Active Skill: Psychokinesis has leveled up!>

<Skill Update: Psychokinesis Lvl. 2

Description: Control small objects simultaneously within a 5-meter sphere.

Current Limit: 10 objects

Skill cost: 4MP per minute per object.>

Mikael beamed at the glowing panel that only he could see, 'Nice! The skill cost lowered, and the limit increased to ten objects!'

Elated by his progress, Mikael diligently attacked the monsters. Even his initial aversion to killing was now gone as he temporarily detached himself from his morals and treated the situation like a game.

'It's okay. They're monsters anyway. They are bad and this world will be better off without them.' He reasoned with himself as he enjoyed the satisfaction of killing.

Ttring!

<Alert! Player Mikael is on a 'killing spree'!>

<The system is calculating the accumulated Karma points…>

<Calculating…>

<System notification: -100 Karma points have been added as a consequence of 'killing spree'.>

<Total Karma points: - 1340 KP>

Ping!

<Due to excessive bad karma, Player Class is degraded from 'Poltergeist' to 'Low Grade Demon'>

<Low Grade Demon's innate skill: Possession Lvl.1 is generated.>

"What the hell?!" Mikael could not help but curse at the system. After all, he was killing MONSTERS to save HUMANS so this result was unexpected.

"Are you kidding me?! I want to be an angel but what is this?! You're penalizing me for killing monsters?!" Mikael grabbed his hair in frustration, "Not only that but I only got 10 karma points for saving a child but this killing spree cost me 100 karma points?! How is that fair?! Ugh!"

Mikael was tempted to stop everything and just become a bystander. With his efforts unrewarded – Penalized, even – he thought it was useless.

Just as he was about to abandon his self-imposed mission, one of the goblins discovered the crouching humans.

"Kekekeke! Me getting tired of fighting. Me is hungry…" it roughly pulled a woman up by her arm.

"No… No, no! Please! Help me! Please!" she pleaded to her companions, but none of them helped. Instead, they scooted further back into the small space with looks that undoubtedly said, 'I'm sorry but please be the sacrifice. Please don't tell them we're here too.'

The woman sobbed at their betrayal.

'See? They won't even help themselves… why should I do all the work? I'm just helping to collect good karma but what's the point if my actions backfire on me?

The goblin licked its greasy lips as it raised its dagger.

'Ugh. I hate myself. I hate this job. I hate everything.' Mikael grudgingly thought but he still controlled the dagger.

Fwoosh!

The weapon that aimed at the woman's white neck suddenly changed its course and stabbed the goblin instead.

The monster released the woman whose legs gave out.

Thud…

She slumped on the floor and stared at the goblin who was repeatedly stabbing itself.

'What in the world is happening?' she thought until a disembodied voice suddenly talked to her.

"Don't just sit there! Go up the third floor. Third door on the right. The kids are there."

"Uhh… wh- who are you?"

"Argh! We don't have time for chitchat! Do you plan to have another goblin attack you? I won't save you again so hurry up!"

The woman flinched at Mikael's irritated speech, but she forced herself to stand and run up the stairs.

'Whatever. I'm done. I'll just finish this task since I already started it. Haah… so freaking tired…' though not physically exhausted, Mikael sighed as he went back to killing the remaining goblins.

Hours passed and at the dawn of the second day, even the mighty Kuro reached his limits.

Ting!

< You have leveled up! >

< You have leveled up! >

< You have leveled up! >

The only consolation that Mikael got from his killing spree was that he leveled up three times during the course of the battle and with his level 2 psychokinesis skill, killing the worn out Kuro did not pose much difficulty.

Mikael controlled three weapons simultaneously and sent them flying from three different directions.

True to his position as the strongest, Kuro caught two weapons coming from his front and back, but with both hands occupied, he was unable to defend himself from the heavy hammer that dropped over his head.

Crack!

His skull cracked from the impact and the strongest goblin breathed his last breath.

--Chapter end—

_________________________________________________________________________________________

State: Killing Spree

> The act of taking pleasure in killing multiple targets in a short span of time.

> Activation requirements: Psychological: pleasure

Time interval: Less than 5 minutes

> Result: Addition of Bad (negative) Karma