It truly seemed that the reasons they had just mentioned mattered little to them; to these people, Uriel was sure, they simply liked to kill.
"Hey, why do I still see that dress on?"
Once again, all eyes turned to Ininise.
"Hahhh… this is what I get for being so damn kind. Fine, I'm tired of this, I'll do it myself."
Masson, with his knife, intended to force Ininise to undress slowly; however, before he could get any closer, Uriel saw the opportunity to set his plan in motion.
"Stop, please, leave her alone—she's my girlfriend."
For a moment, Masson froze, and a sadistic smile spread across his face. "Oh, yeah? Well, that settles everything."
Masson approached Uriel, lifting his face.
"Look at me, you piece of shit." A blow landed on Uriel's face.
"I don't care what the hell she is to you." Another blow. Uriel struggled to feel pain; the strikes from someone of rank were quite weak.
"I'm sick of you, you stupid one-eyed idiot. We're going to torture your girlfriend right in front of you, and you won't do a damn thing."
Hearing those words, Elijah also began to approach Ininise. Now had to be the moment for Uriel to act.
At the end of the day, Uriel had encountered people like this countless times in his life. Some hid it, but in the end, whenever wicked people had the chance to unleash their emotions and desires, it always ended like this.
He had lived it when Cris had almost been kidnapped, and he had lived it long before that. Sometimes, when he had started saving money, he often came across scenes of people being extorted or beaten. Deep down, he had hoped the tower wouldn't allow people like this to enter.
But now he realized: among the climbers, not all were heroes; some were the very monsters of the earth he thought he had left behind. Did that mean he should kill these people? Certainly, Uriel wanted to. The way they spoke about Ininise angered him; the way they mistreated him, even while he was little more than a cripple in many eyes, disgusted him.
If he didn't do something now, they would do horrible things to Ininise. Who knew—maybe there had been others before, victims of people like this; perhaps they had already unleashed their dark desires on other women in this place.
Uriel lamented from the depths of his heart, but not because these things happened. At the end of the day, he couldn't control it, and he couldn't save everyone in the world. He didn't know how, and it was probably impossible.
But what Uriel wished for, from the very depths of his soul, was that he had encountered people like this before—much earlier—so that he could have purged them from the face of the earth, so they would never harm anyone again.
Smack!
Another completely gratuitous blow landed; however, Uriel wasn't angry. He pretended to be scared, but the truth was he felt confident in his new ability, and with the element of surprise, he felt it would be very difficult for him to lose in this situation.
Smack!
Did he have to act like a stray dog? That was fine, as long as he could accomplish his goals. He didn't mind being beaten like something worthless. Blows? The gods knew it wasn't the worst that had been done to him. A little pain was nothing, as long as it led to a sweet final victory.
Elijah was almost there. The next blow Masson tried to land would be the last—maybe for Uriel, or maybe for them.
"Die, you pathetic excuse for a climber."
At the end of the day, Uriel had no right to take anyone's life; however, was that necessary? When he killed Malexus, he had a brief moment of understanding. He understood the reason behind his actions: he was a desperate man, just like him. He could put himself in his place, and even so, in the end, he chose to kill him.
He was going to enjoy killing these people with all his heart. As cruel as it sounded, a righteous fury was rising within Uriel. He felt his heart guiding him, guiding him to fight against all these monsters disguised as humans.
Finally, another of Masson's punches came down.
But this time, it didn't meet Uriel's flesh; instead, it was caught by Uriel's hand, which gripped his tightly. Uriel was aware that he couldn't let his enemy fight where he had the advantage, so he immobilized him. He had complete confidence that his strength stats were higher.
Elijah, seeing this, rushed to grab Ininise to use her as a possible hostage; however, against all odds, Ininise deftly dodged his grasp, ducking down and then slipping back with the agility of a cat.
Uriel now realized it: Ininise's race, in general—from what he had seen—seemed to favor stats like dexterity, making them quite agile. Remembering Ralzire and the others, maybe that was why they didn't have a tank; after all, tanks didn't generally focus on speed and agility.
Masson's knife didn't stop, driving toward Uriel's body in hopes of inflicting a wound; however, Uriel was one step ahead and blocked the blade with his arm, unconcerned—after all, his body was durable.
Uriel's fist, on the other hand, struck with precise accuracy toward Masson's face. His nose deformed instantly, accompanied by the crunch of nasal bones breaking.
In a moment, everything had changed.