Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

But then something happened. A female student who had gone out with Lilly to clear the perimeter returned with an arrow in her shoulder.

"What happened?!"

"Some crazy bastards shot arrows at us! But we fired back right away, killed two of them, and came back to the motel."

"Raiders. Let's treat the wound first."

They were probably the Save Lots discount store group. Save Lots was a large discount store that also sold hunting supplies, so those survivors often used bows.

Anyway, the female student who was hit by the arrow was treated by Katjaa, Kenny's wife who managed the medical supplies. While that was happening, I talked with Lilly.

"What were their characteristics?"

"They mainly used bows and were wearing masks. There seemed to be about six of them, but once they realized we were good shots, they quickly ran away."

Then David, a teacher from Stone Mountain High School, gave us important information.

"I know them. They're probably the raiders from the Save Lots discount store. I've met a survivor before who fled after their group was attacked by them. According to that person, they'd come by every day to loot supplies, and once the supplies ran out, they attacked immediately. That's why we joined up with you all. We figured that being with a larger survivor group would prevent that kind of thing."

"You don't know how many there are?"

"No. I didn't hear that part."

"Save Lots discount store, right? Good."

I stood up and immediately gathered my weapons. Lee asked with a worried expression.

"Jin, what are you planning?"

"What do you think? I'm going to wipe them out. If we leave them alone, they'll keep causing problems. I'm an expert at this sort of thing, so leave it to me."

Then Lilly also stepped forward.

"I'll go too. I can't just let those who touched our people get away."

It was quite surprising that Lilly said this. She might not care much about the male students, but it seemed she had grown attached to the female students who had been diligently learning from her.

"Hoo... I'll go too."

Lee sighed deeply and picked up his weapon as well.

We got into the Scorpion MRAP and headed toward the Save Lots discount store.

Inside the car, Lee fidgeted with his gun and spoke with an uneasy voice.

"I expected we'd have to fight people... but I didn't think it would happen this soon."

"Lee, I warned you before. I told you raiders would show up, and when food runs out, even people who eat human flesh would appear."

"Yeah... I knew it in my head. But I think I was hoping in my heart that it wouldn't actually happen."

When Lee said that with a dark expression, Lilly lightly patted his shoulder as if to comfort him. Lilly could be prickly and hot-tempered, but she wasn't so cold-hearted that she couldn't understand how Lee felt.

The Save Lots discount store was quite far away. That's probably why it took time for them to affect the motel.

"It's huge. Can we really handle this with just us?"

As Lilly said, the Save Lots discount store was a large three-story supermarket with considerable size. In the original setting, it was even designated as a government shelter right after the outbreak, so its size made sense.

"You two wait here and take care of anyone who tries to escape through the front entrance. I'll go inside and handle it."

"Is that possible? It looks like there are a lot of people."

"Don't worry. In the Middle East, I've taken out over thirty heavily armed soldiers by myself. Guys with bows are nothing."

After saying that, I quietly approached the Save Lots discount store.

There were only two guys standing guard at the entrance. I quietly circled around and approached them.

Then I simultaneously sliced one guy with the Vector and shot the other in the head with the Yukimura.

Swoosh-! Phut! Thump! Thump!

It happened so fast that they fell without even knowing how they died.

Then I waved once toward Lee and Lilly's direction and entered the store.

Slice-! Phut phut!

"Gack!" "Keck!"

There appeared to be about thirty-five raiders inside the store. But I had [Observation Haki] and [X-Ray Vision] abilities. Pinpointing their positions, no matter where they were hiding, was a piece of cake.

Moreover, their guard was completely lax. Many were high on drugs and out of their minds, and in one corner, some were even frantically engaged in intercourse. Thanks to that, they didn't even notice what was happening around them. It actually made things easier for me to deal with.

Swoosh-! Thrust! Slice-! Phut! Phut!

"Gack!" "Ugh!" "Ah!"

I started eliminating them from the outside of the building inward. To make sure not a single one escaped.

When only six were left—the ones who had been frantically engaged—I quietly approached, pointed my gun at them, and said.

"Sorry to interrupt your fun, but if you don't want to die, don't try anything stupid—slowly raise your hands and stand up."

At that, the six stopped what they were doing with shocked expressions and slowly raised their hands as I ordered.

But then one of them tried to quickly grab a pistol lying nearby.

Without hesitation, I shot his hand.

Phut! Thud!

"Kyaaaah!"

The guy screamed, clutching his hand.

"I thought I told you not to try anything stupid."

Then the women urgently spoke.

"Don't shoot! We were brought here from other places!"

"Really? Then go stand over in that corner."

The women saw where I was pointing and hurriedly moved there. Then the guy who had been shot in the hand spoke through the pain.

"Grrr... You think you'll get away with this? The rest of our group will come swarming in here after hearing that scream."

At that, I chuckled.

"That's not going to happen. How do you think I got in here?"

"No way..."

"Yeah. That 'no way' is correct. It didn't take much effort to deal with those drugged-out lunatics."

I thought for a moment about what to do with them, then had an idea and spoke to them.

"Head to the store entrance. I'll show you a way to survive."

At my words, they glanced at each other and slowly began moving toward the store entrance.

But on the way to the entrance, they saw the corpses of their comrades I had dealt with, and everyone's faces turned pale. They must have realized that the numerical advantage they had relied on was now meaningless.

"Now, go out through the entrance one by one and run. If you survive, I won't chase you."

At that, the men started looking at each other, and the women spoke to me accusingly.

"You're just going to let them go like this? That's ridiculous! Do you know what we've been through!"

"Exactly! They're demons! They didn't just do this to us—they tortured and killed other survivors too. They even forced us to drink urine and treated us like toilets! You can't let them live!"

Listening to them, it seemed these bastards were more than just ordinary crazy.

"Don't worry. I'll handle it. First up is you—the one with the hole in your hand. I'll give you ten seconds, so run."

When I pointed my gun and said that, the guy clutched his hand and ran outside like crazy.

Bang bang bang!

"Ugh! Ah!"

Thump!

As soon as he got outside, he was hit by Lee and Lilly's shots and collapsed to the ground.

Only then did the women seem to realize my intention, and their faces brightened.

"Next."

"Wait, wait! This isn't what you said! You said you'd let us live!"

"What's different? I said if you run, I'll let you live. You, the one who just spoke—you're next. Ten seconds."

"Damn!"

Bang bang bang bang!

Pfft! Thump!

When the second guy fell, the last remaining one, having watched his comrades die one after another in front of him, sat down on the ground, even wetting himself.

"M-my legs won't move..."

"Really? Then just die."

Swoosh—!

Thud!

I swung the Vector and severed the guy's neck in one clean stroke.

There was a reason I chose this method.

Lilly had always been someone who didn't hesitate much to kill people. But Lee was different. He was fundamentally a moral person, so there was a high chance he would hesitate every time he had to kill someone.

Of course, that hesitation itself wasn't a bad thing. But in a world like this, a moment of hesitation could put even his comrades' lives at risk. So I was essentially giving him a preventive shot so he wouldn't hesitate when faced with a bigger situation later.

I immediately turned to the women and said.

"First, you need to put on some clothes."

"Ah... right."

At first, they had wanted revenge against those who had tormented them, but watching them die brutally before their eyes left them with mixed expressions. Then when I told them to put on clothes first, they seemed to realize for the first time that they were naked. So they hurried back into the store, found clothes to wear, and returned.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

When I asked, the women began sharing their stories.

"I used to be with a survivor group, but I don't want to go back. They sent me here by force to save themselves."

"My group was attacked by the guys here and scattered."

"Everyone in my survivor group is dead, and I was the only one brought here."

After listening to their stories for a while, I spoke.

"You went through this because you didn't have the power to protect yourselves. We can teach you how, so from now on, at least try to be able to protect yourselves."

"Yes..."

I called Lee and Lilly over. As they approached and looked inside the store, they saw the raiders' corpses scattered around and looked greatly shocked.

"Jin... you really are a monster. How many people have you killed so far?"

Lilly asked with a shocked face.

"Are you asking about just the ones I killed here? Or including up until before this outbreak?"

"Including..."

I thought for a moment and answered.

"Hmm... about two hundred and fifty?"

"..."

"I'm not bragging, but in my unit, there were quite a few guys who'd killed more than me. It's the nature of the job. Wiping out an entire enemy unit overnight wasn't uncommon either."

When I said it so casually, Lee and Lilly were speechless for a while.

"Oh, and these women were brought here from other survivor groups and have been through a lot in various ways. They're not raiders, so you can relax."

"R-right... That's unfortunate."

They seemed to have a rough idea of what the women had been through. When an armed group forcibly brings women in during a situation like this, you don't need a detailed explanation to guess what happened.

"We should probably gather supplies first. There's a lot of useful stuff here."

Indeed, since it was a large supermarket, there were plenty of daily necessities like sneakers and clothes. But there didn't seem to be as much food as expected.

Then Lee spotted some meat placed in one corner and asked.

"There's meat here too... Did they loot it from other groups?"

"That's human meat. Don't touch it. I know because I've seen it before."

At my words, Lee and Lilly both frowned at the same time. The women I had rescued also seemed shocked, their faces turning pale, and they immediately started vomiting profusely.

"All this time we've been eating human meat... Ugh!"

"Were they slaughtering people here?"

"No, no. I heard them say they got that meat from 'St. John's Dairy Farm.'"

"So there's another group that hunts people and eats human flesh."

At that, Lee looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep sigh. The story must have been too shocking to take in.

"Hah... Just what is this world coming to... No, is it already doomed..."

Then Lilly said to Lee.

"Lee, you have to accept it. I don't know what will happen from now on, but this is the current reality."

"Yeah..."

We rested for a while, then used even the truck the raiders had been using to haul everything useful—from weapons to daily necessities—back to the motel.

"Wow... What's all this? Sneakers, clothes... even a crossbow..."

"We took out the raiders and brought everything from their hideout. People who need clothes or sneakers can take what they need, and put the canned goods and flour in Carley's room."

At my instruction, the motel people began moving things in an orderly fashion.

But at some point, the people organizing the goods started picking out clothes and shoes they liked and wearing them. In an instant, the motel transformed from a survivor base into a small fashion show.

"How does this look on me?"

"Oh, that looks good!"

"These shoes are my size?"

"Dad, how does this look?"

"Wow~ my son looks great."

The motel survivors were having fun, but Lee, Lilly, and the newly joined women couldn't quite join in the atmosphere because of the human meat issue.

"We should talk about the human meat eaters, don't you think?"

Lilly came over and quietly asked.

"We should. But let's leave it for today. People are so happy right now, I don't want to ruin the mood."

"True... But I think we should tell them as soon as possible. They might get into danger without knowing anything."

"Yeah. You're right."

Three days passed after that incident.

The newly joined women were training hard, learning how to handle guns and spears from Lilly.

Meanwhile, I don't know what kind of magic they performed, but on the farm that Ben and Travis had been tending, mushrooms were growing instead of sprouts.

"I watered them twice to make them grow faster."

Due to their absurd excuse, even the teacher David ended up stepping in to help properly tend the farm.