They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 195: Shax

Uncle Shax?

Or more precisely, step-uncle—Vivienne’s younger brother.

The blood of the woman who made my life a living hell was standing right in front of me.

Behind me, Tessa swallowed hard.

"J-Jin... Do you know him?" her voice trembled, bouncing off the damp cavern walls.

Before I could answer, Shax’s eyes drifted past my shoulder. A slow, oily grin spread across his face as he took in Tessa and Scarlet.

"Well..." Shax purred, his voice thick with cruel amusement.

"My only plan was to gut you like a fish, Jin. But who could have thought I’d find such tight little beauties hiding here? The day keep getting better."

Tessa shrank back, her breath hitching. Scarlet let out a low, visceral growl, the metallic shing of her drawing her twin knives ringing through the cave.

Kill?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm. I didn’t move.

My hands stayed relaxed at my sides, but my fingers slowly curled around the leather grip of my sword.

"You’re here to kill me?"

"Surprised?" Shax laughed, a harsh, barking sound. "After what you did to my sister?"

He gestured casually to the man beside him.

"Here’s what’s going to happen, nephew.

I’m going to break every bone in your body. Then I’ll let my associate here have some fun with your little companions while you watch."

His grin turned vicious. "After that—if you’re still conscious—I’ll drag what’s left of you back to dear Vivienne. Let her finish what she started."

He tilted his head, examining Tessa with deliberate slowness that made my skin crawl.

"The brunette looks soft. Bet she—"

"Did to your sister, huh?" I said coldly.

My face an absolute mask of neutrality

"Just what did I do?" My voice dropped lower. "All she got was a mere expulsion from the estate."

I could feel my teeth grinding together, jaw clenched so hard it ached.

While she tried to KILL me.

I added in my head, my teeth grinding together so hard my jaw ached.

I had originally planned to just deal with Vivienne eventually, but if her family was already sending attack dogs...

Shax sneered, clearly losing patience. "What the hell are you babbling about?"

I exhaled a long, slow breath.

The coldness in my chest solidified into absolute ice.

"Forget it. The dead don’t need to know."

Shax blinked, staring at me for a second.

Then threw his head back and burst into hysterical laughter.

"Dead? DEAD? Who’s going to kill me? You? A defective piece of trash?" He waved a hand dismissively at the man standing beside him.

"Break his arms and legs. Drag him out by his hair. I want to give my sister a perfect, screaming gift."

Behind me, I felt Scarlet shift, her body dropping into a combat crouch, muscles coiling to spring.

I raised my hand slightly, gesturing for her to stop.

"Stay back."

"Jin—" Her voice carried uncertainty.

"I’ll handle this myself."

She blinked. "You sure?"

I nodded once, not taking my eyes off the approaching assassin.

Tessa’s gasp came from even further back. "Jin, you can’t—"

But I was already moving forward, walking toward the masked man with measured steps.

My debug vision flared to life.

[ENTITY_SCAN]

level: 21

class: ASSASSIN

The man drew his weapon, a shortsword.

He moved fast, closing the distance with professional efficiency.

His blade came in low, aiming for my leg, crippling strike, just like Shax ordered.

I made some quick edits.

My blade became lighter than a feather.

I flicked my wrist, my sword blurring faster than a Level 21’s eyes could track, parrying the heavy strike aside with zero resistance.

His eyes widened as his swing went wide, throwing him off balance.

Before he could recover, I shifted Oathstorm’s weight to maximum.

He tried to block.

But gravity slammed into my weapon

His sword shattered.

Oathstorm continued through, catching him across the chest, the impact sending him staggering backward.

Blood sprayed from the wound.

He gasped, tried to raise his broken weapon—

I re-edited, pivoted on my heel and swung my blade in a vicious upward arc.

Edited again.

The sheer, terrifying momentum tore through the man’s leather armor, shattering his collarbone and ripping clean through his shoulder.

He didn’t even have time to scream. Blood sprayed across the cavern floor as he collapsed in a heap of severed meat and broken bone.

I stood over the corpse, the heavy tip of my sword resting on the stone, dripping red.

Then I slowly lifted my head, locking eyes with Shax.

"Next," I said quietly. "You... Uncle."

Shax’s grin faded. His eyes darted to his dead man, then back to me, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his features before settling into a dark, predatory smirk.

"So, the trash learned how to bite."

He slowly drew his own sword.

I didn’t wait and surged forward, flooding my blade with mana, activating it’s skill, throwing my entire body weight behind a devastating, two-handed overhead strike aimed directly at Shax’s skull.

Oathstorm crackled with blue-white arcs.

The blade cut through the air with a sound like thunder.

But Shax didn’t dodge. He didn’t even use two hands.

He lazily raised his blade with one arm.

CLANG!

The impact sent a shockwave through my arms.

My blade stopped dead against his, trembling from the force. Shax hadn’t moved an inch.

He smirked, looking at me through the crossed steel. "Not bad."

His sword blurred.

I barely registered the movement before his technique hit.

"Cutting Gale."

His blade moved impossibly fast, the air itself seeming to slice around it, creating a wave of compressed force that slammed into me like a physical blow.

My felt my ribs shattered instantly.

I was launched backward, my feet leaving the ground entirely.

I flew through the air and slammed spine-first into the jagged cavern wall with a bone-crunching thud.

And collapsed to the ground, my vision swimming in dark spots. I opened my mouth to breathe, but all that came out was a thick, wet cough of blood that splattered across the stone.

"JIN!" Tessa’s horrifying scream tore through the cavern.

Scarlet’s knives were raised, her body tensed to attack despite knowing she was outmatched.

"Stay back!" I managed to gasp, blood on my lips.

Shax walked toward me slowly, his sword resting casually on his shoulder.

"You’ve got some skill," he admitted. "More than I expected from Aldric’s throwaway son. But skill isn’t enough when you’re facing someone with actual power."

He raised his sword, pointing it at me.

"Now. We can do this easy or hard. Easy... you surrender, come quietly, and maybe I let your little friends live. Hard... I break you here, kill them in front of you, and drag your corpse back anyway."

I could see Tessa’s terrified face, Scarlet’s frustrated rage.

[HP: 1025 → 634]

Fuck!

I forced myself to stand, using Oathstorm as a crutch, blood dripping from my mouth onto the cave floor.

Shax watched with something like amusement.

"Still want to fight? The Raith stubbornness. I see."

He shifted his stance, sword ready.

"Come on then. Show me what you’ve got before I put you down."

I gripped Oathstorm with both hands.

My vision swam, ribs screamed. Body threatened to collapse.

Not yet.

Lightning crackled along Oathstorm’s blade as I prepared to attack.

And lunged.