"Too slow..." Shiraishi muttered to himself—the "reinforcements" he was waiting for still had not arrived!
Shiraishi Kuro had never imagined that one day, his "skills" would not be enough...
Shiraishi Kuro felt that if even his skills were insufficient, then this was not a problem humans could solve through "skill" alone!
But right now...
Clearly, the other side had not merely sent one or two groups. Under the Ryugenkai Clan Head's orders, both the direct groups and subordinate groups had mobilized in full!
And quite a few of them were truly willing to risk their lives, while others clearly knew a few tricks...
Several of the fighters were at roughly Lv7. If Shiraishi Kuro had not weighed 159 kilograms and had merely been an 80-kilogram Lv10, he would probably already be lying on the ground.
His powerful physique gave Shiraishi Kuro stamina, strength, muscle cushioning... all far beyond that of an ordinary Lv10.
But...
When the enemy started using "American Iaijutsu," Shiraishi found himself with a headache.
Fortunately, they were "only" using pistols, the weakest weapons in American Iaijutsu...
Furthermore, with the effects of Shiraishi's [Combat] skills and their extra boosts, he had maintained Lv10 performance the entire time. His intuition was sharp, and using "meat shields" to block for him, he rapidly closed in on them!
"You..."
Seeing this "T-Rex" charge toward him, the American Iaijutsu bastard panicked as well...
Bang—
Shiraishi Kuro slid low, instantly breaking into close range before sending him flying with an Elbow Strike!
(In the original work, Kyogoku Makoto could dodge shotgun fire, and Ran could dodge a pistol shot [though only after being fully prepared and putting pressure on the opponent]. So the protagonist being able to dodge did not violate science!)
Although the effects of Shiraishi's [Combat] and [Fighting] had remained at Lv10, [Lv9 (+1)] was still somewhat different from the previous [Lv8 (+2)]...
After genuinely raising both to Lv9, Shiraishi discovered that the traditional martial arts of various countries he had previously mastered, even techniques such as ancient South American War Dance, had become practical as well!
At first, Shiraishi had used Jeet Kune Do, Taekwondo, karate, Modern Muay Thai... but now, Tai Chi's "Left-Right Shuttle," Baji Quan's "Elbow Strike," and War Dance-derived "Sacrificial Kick" all came to him effortlessly.
Even his guard stance had changed from a "Fighting Stance" to the "small frame of Seven Star Fist" and the "Two Forms Stance."
With Shiraishi Kuro's [Fighting] and [Combat], traditional martial arts had been viable in actual combat before. But only after truly reaching Lv9 did he experience this feeling of them being "more natural" for the first time.
Having finally dealt with the American Iaijutsu user, Shiraishi had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly sensed something ominous...
No!
There was not just one!
Bang—
Shiraishi dodged as best he could, but a bullet still struck his shoulder!
Fortunately, Shiraishi Kuro's muscles were tight enough that the bullet did not damage his shoulder blade.
(In the original work, even a dagger driven down with all an adult man's strength could only sink its tip into Kyogoku Makoto's biceps. The protagonist getting shot without damaging a bone was perfectly scientific.)
At the same time, Shiraishi Kuro, whose eyes had already gone red, grabbed someone beside him and hurled him sideways at the second American Iaijutsu user!
Seeing his companion flying at him, the man instinctively raised his gun.
The others also saw it then—the "monster" had charged after him, but...
It was too late to warn him!
American Iaijutsu Number Two had just stepped back and dodged his own flying comrade when darkness filled his vision...
After Shiraishi Kuro struck with a "Great Dragon's Tail," he even heard the crack of the man's skull breaking!
At the same time, after being intimidated again and again, the people still standing around him all slowed their movements, visibly losing their nerve.
But...
Vroooom—
Screech!
Engines roared and brakes shrieked!
Several more black SUVs charged into the garage, recklessly pulling sideways into several lanes around Shiraishi Kuro without caring whether they scraped anything. Then...
Several "experts" in American Iaijutsu got out!
Fortunately, Shiraishi Kuro immediately saw that their American Iaijutsu was even worse than the first two men's...
At least those guys had proper pistols!
But the weapons in these people's hands...
Shiraishi Kuro recognized them at a glance. They had been assembled from 3D-printed parts—he had encountered Violent Organizations making guns like this in previous cases.
After all, with the controls on Violent Organizations growing stricter, getting their hands on genuine weapons was becoming harder and harder...
These guns were not only weaker, but also liable to explode in the user's hands!
Biu, biu, biu...
Shiraishi immediately rolled on the ground like a lazy donkey, using the cars around him as cover—even if the guns were weaker, he could not just take the hits. They would not miss vital areas every time!
"Hey, hey, hey, this is going too far... Those guys are really slow!" Shiraishi muttered.
More than a hundred people had already fallen in the parking garage, yet the other side still had men left—and had even brought so many American Iaijutsu users. In an era where the Anti-Boryokudan Act had already been in effect for five or six years, even two major Violent Organizations clashing would struggle to reach this scale!
At the same time...
Shiraishi had already "called the police" before coming down!
It did not take much thought to know that this response time was highly abnormal...
But Shiraishi was not worried that no one would come at all. After all... he had specifically informed police officers he trusted. They would definitely come, though since this was not their jurisdiction, they would naturally be slower.
That was precisely Shiraishi's goal...
Arresting so many people at once and causing such a huge uproar would surely drag the "dregs" behind them into the open as well. Shiraishi had already sent the details to several trustworthy colleagues.
Only...
"I never intended to die in the line of duty..." Shiraishi sighed as he sat with his back against a car, hiding behind it while listening to bullets batter the vehicle.
He had indeed miscalculated...
He had not expected them to bring so many people!
Shiraishi had originally taken the Professional Group exam so he could become a Bureaucratic Police officer and rise above others.
But sometimes...
People could not necessarily hold fast to their ideals!
Like Shiraishi, he had been tempted by this so-called "justice" and could not help straying from his "ideal."
If not for these American Iaijutsu users, he could have held on. But...
"Those with guns, don't come forward!"
"The rest of you, slowly press in..."
"Boss, that guy is too terrifying... Agh!"
"Anyone who retreats dies!"
"If we force him out, we win!"
The enemy gradually compressed the space Shiraishi Kuro had to evade!
Although Shiraishi used the parking garage's unusual environment to dart and leap about, taking down quite a few more attackers through surprise strikes, and although it was difficult to completely seal off his movements... he was still gradually being forced into a corner.
During that time, Shiraishi was also shot in the leg. The effects of his [Constitution] dropped further, and now, due to blood loss... his [Mental] dropped again as well!
"Want to take me down? Then give it a try!" Shiraishi assessed the situation and understood that if he kept dodging, things would only get worse.
"Confirm point allocation!"
Why was he still worrying about points?
Shiraishi even suspected that, even if he survived today, after causing this kind of mess, he might no longer be able to enter the National Police Agency and rise above others!
[Fighting], Lv10!
[Combat], Lv10!
Shiraishi pushed his combat power to the limit once more. Not only had he now fully integrated all kinds of fighting techniques, with every combat instinct flashing through him, but his reduced [Constitution] and [Mental] no longer held him back. And then...
Ding—
At that moment, something "unexpected" happened.
"Upgrade requirements met. [Constitution] attribute Lv11 unlocked."
A voice that only Shiraishi could hear sounded...
Shiraishi: ???
So there was an Lv11?
Since he had never seen one before, Shiraishi had always assumed Lv10 was the system's maximum.
Now it seemed...
It was not that Lv11 did not exist, but that certain conditions had to be met? For [Constitution], perhaps maxing out [Fighting] or [Combat] was a necessary condition?
But...
Shiraishi did not have enough points!
His remaining points were only enough to raise one Lv9 to Lv10...
And...
"One million? The required points jumped tenfold?" Shiraishi discovered that Lv11 did not follow the tripling pattern. Instead, it directly cost ten times more.
Great, he was completely out of points... Hm?
"Wait? One hundred thousand points... for a twenty-four-hour trial?"
Just when all hope seemed lost, Shiraishi discovered there was a "trial"—under normal circumstances, he truly would not have wanted to try it.
After all, over the past twenty-eight years, he had earned fewer than one million points in total...
And now he only had a little over one hundred thousand points left. Trade them for a "trial"... what kind of joke was that?
But Shiraishi was not joking now—if he did not use it, he was dead!
"Confirm trial..."
[Constitution], Lv11!
Before you continue