Fighting at the brigands' den

After walking for some hours, Natsuo arrived at the place indicated in the map. It was in the middle of a forest, a shady location. Probably there were still brigands around, he had to keep his guard up.

He took out his electric guitar and kept on following Olive’s pin. He felt like someone was observing him, so he paid attention to every noise. It was probably an ambush.

After a few steps, he heard rustling in the bushes behind his back. He instantly turned his head.

A muscular man got out of the bush, ready to punch him with his metal knuckle dusters.

Natsuo, taken aback, did the first thing he could think of. He held his guitar with both hands and hit the man in the head. The man collapsed to the ground, while the guitar remained intact.

Another two brigands got out of the bushes. They were both armed.

"Tsk, I don’t have time to waste with you" said Natsuo.

He had to find Olive as soon as possible.

One of the two men wrinkled his nose.

"Don’t put on airs, brat."

"Now that you came to our den, you’re dead" added the other one.

So it was like this: the group of brigands of before had brought Olive to their den and, without knowing it, Natsuo had entered the lion’s mouth following her location.

Those two men were in their thirties and were both well-built. Compared to them, Natsuo was very skinny, so they thought he was an easy prey.

The first one lunged at him. Natsuo transformed his electric guitar and pushed the handle in the man’s stomach. The brigand lost his breath and fell on the ground, stunned.

Natsuo twirled the scythe and hit the other man in the head, making him faint from the blow.

All of the three brigands were K.O. Natsuo was about to re-transform the scythe in guitar, when, suddenly, he heard someone laugh out loud.

He turned his head to the sound’s direction and a man appeared from behind a tree.

"Not bad, but they were just a bunch of idiots." He pointed with his chin to the three brigands on the ground.

Except for a gilet, he was shirtless and had his gray hair pulled up: it was Gregory.

"It’s rare to see someone who comes here of their own free will" he commented.

Natsuo prepared to fight again.

"Oh, really?" He smirked. "Let’s make it memorable, then."

Gregory’s expression warped into an amused grin.

"As you wish. Let’s see how you do against me" he said.

He stretched his muscular tattooed arm and opened his hand: drops of a grayish substance twirled around it until they formed a metal club.

Gregory was twice as wide as the japanese guy and he seemed stronger than the other three brigands. Natsuo had to pay attention.

The thug made the first move. He leapt forward and raised his club to hit Natsuo. He was incredibly fast.

Natsuo barely dodged the club and was ready to counterattack, but Gregory reacted faster than him.

He placed the club on the ground, rotated his torso to Natsuo’s direction and raised his left leg to kick him, using the weapon as a support.

Gregory’s heel hit Natsuo straight to his face, making him step back from the impact.

Natsuo felt a piercing pain and the world started spinning. Gregory was much more experienced than him, he was clearly ahead.

Damn it, what do I do? He thought.

Gregory didn’t give him the time to come up with something. He rushed up to him and punched him in his stomach. Strings of a grayish substance twirled around Natsuo and adhered to his skin, then transformed into thorns.

The metal pierced his skin and skewered his whole body.

"You were nothing special, in the end" commented Gregory.

The metal thorns disappeared and Natsuo fell on his knees, letting go of his scythe. He coughed and spat blood. His body was wounded everywhere and was losing blood in streams.

He couldn’t believe he would have died in that way, it was humiliating, and he still had to become famous.

I cannot be dying again…

His thoughts went to Olive. Because of him, she was kidnapped and who knows what was happening to her now.

Natsuo clenched his fists. He was tired of dying without accomplishing anything. Olive counted on him, she had entrusted her future to him: how could he betray her trust?

"Ah… I wanted to have fun, but you were too weak. What a drag!" Gregory complained.

Natsuo glanced at the thug, who was already leaving.

He wasn’t in the condition to play a song to heal himself, he had to find another solution. If only he had his headphones with him, he could listen to a song without the need of playing it… Wait.

He opened the Rockstar System menu and went to the skills. He intensely thought about a skill that worked like his headphones and heard a notification sound.

New skill unlocked: PLAYBACK.

He used it and chose a song to play. Immediately, the song started playing in his head and his wounds began to regenerate.

Natsuo grinned, satisfied.

System, add an attribute that boosts my strength. He asserted.

Processing the new attribute…

New attribute created: STRENGTH.

Natsuo added the new attribute to a few songs and got up.

"I’d watch my back if I were you" he said.

"Oh?" Gregory was surprised. "I thought you were already dead—"

As soon as he turned his head, Natsuo leapt forward and charged a punch. Gregory’s eyes widened.

The boy hit him right in his face and made him step back. His punch was stronger than expected.

Gregory placed a hand in the sore spot, shocked and excited at the same time: it had been a long time since anyone had punched him so well.

Natsuo wiped away the blood on his lips with a hand and smirked.

"You know, I was pretty good at fighting when I was in highschool" he said.