Unholy Player
Chapter 127: Return

Chapter 127: Return

As Adyr slowly ate his meal, his eyes caught the boy in the crowd—the one still staring at him with quiet focus.

He smiled, reached into the bag, pulled out another can, and called out.

"Do you want one? This one’s good. Boiled meat and vegetables."

Without hesitation, the boy ran from Neris’s side and approached him.

He waited silently for Adyr to open it. When he was handed the plastic spoon, he dipped it into the thick mix and carefully scooped out a bite, making sure not to spill.

The moment the taste touched his tongue—tender meat and soft vegetables melting together—his eyes lit up. It was, without question, the best thing he had ever eaten.

"It’s good, right? Told you," Adyr said with a faint smile, taking another bite from his own can. "What’s your name?"

"Boy," the child replied, lifting his head to meet Adyr’s eyes directly.

There was something in that look—something familiar, something distant. It stirred something in Adyr, but he didn’t let it surface. He simply kept smiling.

"You seem to get along well with kids," Neris said, approaching cautiously before sitting down beside the boy.

She was still tense around Adyr, and the edge of fear in her posture hadn’t vanished completely. But after seeing how he treated the child and knowing he had saved all of them, her guard had softened. At the very least, he deserved thanks.

"Yeah," Adyr said, eyes still on his food. "I was raised as an orphan, too."

Neris’s gaze softened. She reached out and gently brushed the boy’s hair as he happily ate beside her.

Seeing this, Adyr placed his empty can aside, reached into the bag, opened another one, and offered it to Neris with a spoon.

"Later on, I was adopted by someone who worked there. Saved my life, honestly."

Neris wasn’t especially hungry, but she accepted the food and nodded. What affected her more wasn’t the meal—it was the look in his eyes, and the weight in his voice. It told her something he hadn’t said.

Her gaze shifted back to the boy, and she smiled warmly.

"I understand."

What that child had endured was something no one his age ever should. And while the trauma wasn’t showing on the surface, she knew it had left deep scars.

There was only one kind of treatment for wounds like that.

Family.

In that moment, Neris made a decision. She would be the one to save this boy.

—

"Here. Your jacket, blades, shield—and this sniper too. I guess this one’s yours," Kara said as she returned with her arms full. She spoke to Adyr, who was sitting on the ground, finished with his meal, and resting with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, that’s all. Thanks." Adyr stood up and began putting his gear back on.

Kara continued speaking. "Since we only came with one vehicle, we don’t have the capacity to transport all the captives. We sent a signal to headquarters. They’ll dispatch a second support convoy. Until then, we’ll set up camp and wait. They should arrive sometime tonight."

Adyr processed the information, gave it a moment’s thought, then said, "Okay. I don’t have time to wait. I’ll go ahead."

He removed the jacket and equipment he had just put on and started packing them into a bag.

Kara hesitated. "Even by vehicle, the return trip takes at least 9 hours."

"Yeah. It’ll be tiring, no doubt." Adyr sighed and began unfolding the wings on his back.

Kara watched them extend slowly, first with discomfort, then awe. She had seen them once before—through night vision. This was her first time seeing them up close.

So this is the power of a 3rd-generation mutant. The thought slipped into her mind uninvited.

The others around them had similar reactions. Eyes widened. Heads turned. Awe, confusion, and fascination.

"Big brother, are you a devil?" Boy’s voice cut through the murmurs. His eyes were shining, fixed on Adyr with innocent wonder.

The question caught everyone off guard. The wings looked more like something divine than demonic. But only Neris, who had spent time with him, and Adyr, who knew how to mirror emotions, understood where the question came from.

Adyr gave a small laugh, knelt, and patted the boy’s head. "I’m whatever you want me to be."

Then he slung the bag over his shoulder and approached the Cannibal’s body. Wrapping it in invisible energy, he spent a little more than 8 energy points and sent it to Dawn Land.

Fuck. Why did that take so much energy? Adyr cursed silently, but there was nothing to be done. He had no intention of letting anyone else claim his prey.

He bent his knees slightly, snapped his wings open, and launched upward, scattering dust and smoke in all directions.

The crowd instinctively shielded their eyes from the blast of wind and debris, struggling to follow his rising figure.

He climbed steadily, gained altitude, then paused midair. With a sharp kick of his legs, he propelled himself forward. The sound cracked like a jet breaking the sound barrier, echoing through the area as he vanished into the sky.

"Calling him human feels wrong now. We should start calling him a fighter jet or something," Derek muttered, returning from his task and staring at the distant silhouette with disbelief.

Then a small voice answered him. Quiet but sure.

"No. He’s an Anvil," Boy said, his tone completely sincere.

Derek blinked, confused. Anvil? He tried to grasp the meaning. Maybe it was a word born from a child’s imagination—some mix of angel and devil. Something no adult mind could quite decode.

—

Wind slammed against him as Adyr’s glowing white wings carried him forward at high speed. As his acceleration began to drop, he activated Burst Hop—kicking the air and propelling himself again.

He repeated the process several times, triggering the skill over and over. But then he noticed something. The Burst Hop skill felt stronger than when he first purchased his Spark and tested it.

He attributed the difference to his increased [Physique] stat. The skill’s core mechanism relied on tensing and releasing the leg muscles in rapid, high-frequency bursts. It made sense that with stronger physical attributes, the output had improved.

But there was another theory forming in his mind.

The Pulse Hopper Spark was tied to the Astra path. And maybe, all Sparks had skills that scaled with their corresponding path stats. If that were true, then increasing [Physique] would naturally enhance Astra-based abilities.

What made this more than a guess was that he had also noticed a subtle boost in Fade Sense—a skill from the Null Maggot Spark, which belonged to the Nether path.

That skill was linked to [Resilience].

Ever since he had increased both [Physique] and [Resilience] using the energy crystals looted from the mutants, he had felt a clear and measurable improvement in the abilities tied to those Sparks.

I should start allocating my stats based on the skills I want in the future, Adyr thought as he continued flying through the air.

His theory wasn’t confirmed, but if skills really scaled with stats, then his character build would start to resemble that of an MMORPG—strategic, specialized, and deliberately constructed.

But before that, he needed to consider another priority: reaching [Evolution Step] 2. To do that, he would need to find a Spark capable of granting him a Rank 2 physical and innate ability.

He felt he was ready. The only missing piece was the right Spark.

There was just one problem—he still didn’t know how to trigger Step 2. The system hadn’t given him any indication that he met the requirements yet.

He planned to return to the game soon and speak to Malrik. That conversation would hopefully give him the answers he needed.

By the time he finished going over all of this in his mind, the 9-hour drive had been reduced to a 3-hour flight. As he crossed the final stretch, the towering walls of Shelter City 9 came into view.

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