She does palm reading Gregory supplied his expression tight and unreadable
Then everyone was looking at Tatiana expectantly Randidly offered her his hand Ricky Stain kept giving him but Randidly ignored it as best he could There was a moment of indecision and confusion in Tatiana’s eyes a small thing Her face didn’t even mood But Randidly could clearly feel that she was torn
Then she laughed her nose wrinkling up I’m really nothing so glamorous as a fortune teller but I do have some gypsy blood Can you tell Come give me your hand
Their hands touched As soon as it happened Tatiana’s eyes once again twitched She felt something then Randidly leaned forward curious If her Skill was powerful enough if he could obtain a clue here
You fucking bitch
Violent words ripped across the night There was a sound of impact of flesh on flesh Almost as one the group turned looking over toward the source of the sound Tooya stood tall above an Asian woman his eyes red and furious His brother was next to him his face surly as he joined his brother in glaring
Before he even realized what was happening Randidly felt the vegetation around him explode into motion Grass elongated and stretched up the side of the building running along the support pillars But then he hesitated forcing that impulse down His toes flexed It was discomforting to not be touching the ground although the threads of energy could still climb up through the rock and metal to reach him
And considering the cause of the commotion using a Skill wasn’t even necessary
Besides it seemed he didn’t even need to act Beside him the air around Tatiana became frosty
Chapter 512
Tatiana’s eyes shot open then they narrowed This was a yell she recognized one she had heard far too many times in the past to mistake The man Tooya was standing above Kari glaring down at the fallen women There was a fresh red mark on the side of her face where he had struck her
Then things began to happen very quickly
Her hands clenched into fists There was a hand in hers but it had slipped from her mind in the heat of the moment Abruptly she felt a flash of concern Her Strength wasn’t something normal people could take and she released the man’s hand Hopefully he would forgive her later
Then everything was lost in a flood of red as Tooya raised his hand for another blow
Ricky Stain was talking next to her Hey now none of that at my party
Launching herself forward Tatiana ripped through the 10 meters of space across the pool in a single step When she landed she leaped again and found herself next to the infuriated man and his grinning brother
It was that grin that did it It reminded Tatiana of grins she would rather forget
Her Sinister Presence smashed outward with all of the fury she could muster Intimidating Figure kicked on as well as Ambitious Strength The brother stumbled backward away from Kari while Tatiana’s hand casually rose and stopped Tooya’s next blow
For several seconds Tooya struggled as the brother regained his feet Almost at the same time they realized what had happened Their eyes narrowed in just the same ways they were truly related and the traits they shared were not ones that Tatiana would consider desirable She suppressed the urge to strike to man and kept her voice even Around them the party was slowly grinding to a halt
Take a step back
Tooya seemed to finally realize what was happening and why And there was only incredulity in his eyes All this for a fucking slut She was
Tatiana flexed her hands and her power gauntlets came out of her spatial watch and formed around her hands Back the fuck off you prick
Across the pool Ricky Stain was shouting The brother drew a plasma pistol but before he could get a bead on her a hand grabbed his wrist and forced the pistol down Griffith stood there towering over the brother
No need to escalate this He said calmly His gaze slid to Tatiana There was a warning in his eyes He would stand with her as long as she didn’t seek any retribution His gaze traced her gauntlet then flicked back to Tooya
Then as one Tatiana and Griffith realized that neither had paid close enough attention to Tooya
If you don’t let me go I’ll blow you the fuck to smithereens Tooya raved waving around a plasma grenade in his free hand Luckily Kari seemed to finally come to herself and she scrambled up and out of the middle of the standoff Someone in the crowd caught sight of the weapons and one person began to scream
Then dozens joined and people rushed away from the group standing around the pool
You’ll die too I’ll only have a scar Tatiana hissed hating that she would be forced back by this man’s idiocy
His eyes were gloating and vicious You think I won’t
No you won’t
The man Baloo was there and plucked the plasma grenade out of Tooya’s hand No he ripped it out of his hand breaking several fingers in the process The man began to howl The grenade beeped as it engaged Without a care Baloo tossed the thing into the pool
Even with the water that Griffith was saying but then the grenade went off a geyser of superheated steam and water shooting upwards in the air A shockwave of air hit the group staggering most of them Steam billowed outward blanketing them all Tatiana’s initial thought was that the plasma would eat through and drop on the apartment below but then she stood and spun because the brother had come free Griffith had let go when the shockwave hit
The brother was aiming but not at her Her guard slackened and she opened her mouth to warn Baloo but the brother already fired The bolt of plasma streaked towards the man
and he casually reached up and caught it then tossed it to the side Then as if it stung a bit he shook his hand vigorously as if to dislodge any remnant pieces
Did Baloo have some sort of gauntlet equipment too ’ Tatiana wondered But then she snapped back into focus and spear tackled Tooya to the ground before he could regain his balance With her non gauntleted hand she punched him hard enough to break his jaw Just one for the one hit he landed on Kari Then she stood
Griffith knocked out the brother Baloo stood there casually seeming to ignore the superheated steam The pool was a smoking crater barely any water remaining
It seemed the party was over
There was a cough
So The woman Sonya said swaying as she walked over towards them Who is up for a nightcap
The bars that serviced the steelworkers were always open It wasn’t Randidly’s first choice but he was annoyed that the asshole Tooya had interrupted him from getting his fortune told To his delight Tatiana agreed to meet them for drinks after she had checked in on the woman who had been hit Griffith agreed to come too
It’s rough out there Griffith was saying as the group sat in the corner of the bar where Randidly had been approached about this party They had gathered a small crowd of steelworkers who were listening intently to Griffith’s story The monsters in the borderlands they are made on a different scale Before 50 each one gets stronger as they Level but now they get smarter too I don’t know how much you pay attention to Ghost’s quarterly information releases but immediately after the borderlands opened up he released a supplement confirming that monsters had Skills
Before no monster had bothered to Level them Now it’s all they do They were designed to kill
Maybe A steelworker said as Randidly flexed his hand underneath the table But the Tier 5 guys can handle it This is what they trained for
Griffith just sighed Surprising himself Randidly spoke up eventually yes Griffith isn’t saying they can’t he’s saying that in the past there were Levels stats and Skills Levels could be adjusted humans would have higher Skills and monsters generally have higher stats But now the monsters have higher stats and higher Skills Until the people can get their Skill Levels up to match it will be hard And as the difficulty of Leveling gets so high above 50