System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 34: Eve

"I’ve had plenty of suitors before all this... but I can’t say I had one chase after me in the middle of an apocalypse" the woman in front of him said, her red lips curved into a smirk.

"Suitors?" Damon raised a brow in confusion.

"What’s with all the spying? Too shy to make a move?"

"Huh? I wasn’t spying."

"No?"

The woman studied him for a couple of moments, her dark eyes moving from the sword at his side to Kitsune sitting on his shoulder, while Damon’s eyes did the same.

’She’s using a gun?’

Surprisingly, ever since the apocalypse had began, Damon haven’t seen anyone use a gun. He wrote it off as guns being simply too weak to kill monsters, with all the magic and classes in place, but staring at the gun pointing at him right now, his heart couldn’t help but hammer.

"Are you strong?" the woman suddenly asked.

"Strong enough?" Damon replied in a questioning tone.

The girl’s smirk deepened before her finger suddenly tugged against the trigger.

BANG!

Damon moved on instinct, his blade flashed through the air, barely deflecting the bullet which flew straight at his head.

He shifted his stance immediately, ready to counter, but before he would strike, he realised that the girl was not interested in taking another shot. Instead, she lifted the barrel of her revolver to her lips before blowing the smoke away.

"What the hell was that?!"

"I was testing if you were strong."

Damon frowned. "What if I wasn’t fast enough?"

"I had a feeling you were."

He stared at her with a perplexed expression. ’Is she crazy?’

But before he could reach a conclusion on the girl’s state of mind, she spoke again.

"I’m Eve Huang. And you are?"

Damon lingered for a moment. He studied her for a few more seconds before he finally sheathed his sword and replied.

"Damon."

"So, what do you think, Damon?"

Damon tilted his head in confusion. "About what?"

"About us teaming up," the girl replied as she put the revolver back in her holster. "I’m in need of a strong man to rely on-"

"No thanks," he replied as he stepped out of the broken window and came back out on the street.

The girl watched him take a few steps away before she added.

"Too bad. I thought you’d be interested in taking on a C-Rank rift"

Damon froze. "C-Rank?"

"Mhmm," her heeled boots clicked from behind him as she approached. "Aren’t you the one who cleared up all the E and F rank rifts in the western part of the city?"

Damon’s blood ran cold.

’How does she know about that?’

The way her red lips smiled offered no answers, only more unease.

"So what if I was?"

"One rift. After that, we can both go our separate ways, though I doubt you’d want to."

’C-Rank rift...’ the words echoed in Damon’s head. His progress had grown slow over the last week as he had cleared all the nearby monsters and rifts.

He had never taken on a C-Rank rift, he didn’t even know if he was strong enough, but he was certain that clearing one would definitely help make him grow stronger.

"C-Rank rifts are a lot stronger than E and D ranks... but they also offer a lot more rewards," Kitsune explained in his head.

’How so?’

"Starting from C rank, there is a treasure chest near each rift core. The soul of every being that died in the rift is being condensed in that chest to create Relics. It varies a lot, but at your current level, any relic will be a great increase in your overall strength."

"Lost for words?" Eve suddenly said as she stepped toward Damon, who, while talking to the kitsune, was staring at the girl in front of him, lost in thought.

"One rift," he finally replied, "then we go our separate ways."

Eve’s red lips curled into a victorious smile at his reply.

"I knew you’d come around," she teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Come on," she purred, strutting toward her motorcycle with an effortless confidence.

With a slow, deliberate motion, she straddled the bike, her hips swaying just enough to make sure he was watching. She glanced back over her shoulder, her smile wide and daring. "Hop on," she said, her voice dripping with unclear intentions.

Damon paused, a little caught off guard by her behaviour, but he quickly moved to sit behind her.

As soon as he sat behind her, Eve shifted subtly, pushing herself closer to him before revving the engine and taking off.

Sweet scent of her perfume lingered in the air as she tore through the city streets, her short hair whipping in the wind. Every nearby undead monster turned to watch them, drawn in by the deafening roar of the engine.

’Not the stealthiest way of travelling,’ Damon noted as he glanced back to see a horde of undead humans struggling to chase after them. ’But I guess it’s at least fast.’

It took no more than five minutes before the girl rode down to an underground car park, where on the second level down, a massive rift came into view.

The rift was at least double in size than what Damon had been used to. He managed to close many E-Rank rifts, countless F rank rifts, but not a single D-Rank, let alone a C-Rank rift.

The ground beneath the rift was completely broken, revealing a long drop to the car park’s lower floor.

Seeing him gaping at the massive rift, Eve moved beside Damon. She leaned on his shoulder as she whispered. "Ready?"

She didn’t wait for an answer as she moved toward the rift as soon as she spoke, stopping only a meter away from it to take another glance at Damon before she leapt inside.

Damon took a long breath. Despite the faint feeling of unease in his heart, there was also something else... the thrill of a challenge, one he had been longing for.

Without wasting any more time, he took a small run-up and jumped straight into his first C-Rank rift.