Villain: 10x Rewards Begins With The Protagonist's Mother

A man stepped out of the warehouse, a cigarette hanging from his lips and a phone in his hand.

"These old fucks keep ordering me around. Can’t they order food with those apps?" He grumbled under his breath, shoving the phone into his pocket.

He didn’t even make it three steps before something hit the back of his neck and his body dropped like a sack of rice.

The cigarette rolled across the concrete, still lit.

A few minutes passed before someone else’s swearing could be heard from inside.

"What is taking that little shit Jin so long? Did he run off to the brothels with the money?"

The man walked out and immediately saw Jin lying face down on the ground with his eyes rolled back.

"SHIT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!"

When he looked up, he found three figures sitting on the hood of a black car under the dim streetlights.

The one in the middle was cursing at his screen while mashing buttons on a mobile game. He was wearing a plain black mask that covered the lower half of his face with a grinning mouth painted on it.

The one on his left was massive. Built like a truck that had been fed protein shakes since birth. He was wearing a simple white mask with two fist marks printed on the cheeks.

The one on his right was a woman. Her mask was pink with cat ears on top.

She looked like she wanted to kill someone, just not the people inside the base.

"I told you I am NOT wearing this." Freya muttered through clenched teeth, her killing intent leaking everywhere.

"Your codename is Kitty Crusher. You’re the one who chose it, not me." Dante said without looking at her.

"I will crush YOU." She said in an irritated tone, as if she ever had a better choice.

"See? It fits perfectly." Dante nodded with satisfaction.

"Jester, Two Punch Man, and Kitty Crusher. We will be the rising stars of the underworld!" He added proudly, shoving his phone into his pocket.

"Please stop talking, both of you." Felix said, but even he couldn’t fully hide the pain behind his mask.

"Tell me again why we’re wearing these when we already have Phantom Masks?" Freya asked, tugging at the cat ears with visible disgust.

"Because Phantom Masks change our faces. These give us a unique identity." Dante answered with a grin.

"Nobody fears a nameless thug. But Kitty Crusher? That keeps people up at night."

’The only person losing sleep over that name is Freya.’ Felix thought silently.

The three of them had done some preparation before heading out. Felix and Freya equipped Dante with a few items from the Phantom Force.

The Phantom Force had been serving the leaders of Eden’s Gate for thousands of years. After what happened to Ryan, Natasha handpicked a few of its members and formed a secret guard unit to protect her students. The Phantom Masks they were wearing came from them as well, designed to completely change the wearer’s face.

On top of that, they had also raided the armory at Raven Arms, the weapons division under Raven Group.

’If we wreck enough of White Tiger Union’s bases, Crimson Hollow will come to us on their own.’ Dante thought, watching the thugs pour out of the warehouse. ’Nothing attracts criminals faster than someone doing their dirty work for free.’

’And when they do show up, I’ll have the perfect story ready for them.’

About a dozen men poured out of the entrance with pipes, bats, and knives in their hands. A few at the back were holding guns.

Dante looked at the small army charging toward them and then at the two people beside him.

"You two have fun. I’ll be watching from over there." He said with a smile.

"You mean hiding." Freya corrected.

"That’s just slander." Dante shrugged with a pitiful expression. "How is it hiding when I’m sitting right out in the open?"

Felix cracked his neck and stepped forward.

The first thug charged at him and threw a punch straight at his face with everything he had.

Felix didn’t dodge. He didn’t even flinch.

The fist connected with his jaw and the thug’s knuckles cracked on impact like he had just punched a concrete wall.

Felix looked down at him. "Is that your full power?"

The thug’s face went pale.

Felix returned the hit with a single punch to the gut. The man flew backwards and crashed into three others, sending all four of them tumbling across the ground.

"One punch taken, one punch returned." Felix muttered, repeating what Dante had told him before the raid. ’Because a second one would kill them.’

On the other side, Freya had already closed the distance on a group of five. She moved so fast that by the time the first one raised his bat, the other four were already on the floor. The last one standing looked at his fallen friends, then at her, then dropped his weapon and put his hands up.

Freya knocked him out anyway.

"I said I’m not in a good mood." She said to no one in particular.

While the two of them were turning the base into a disaster zone, Dante sat comfortably with his legs crossed and pulled up their status panels.

[Name: Felix]

[Realm: Mana Core Formation Early Stage]

[Bloodline: Mountain Titan Bloodline (Epic)]

[Talents: Endurance(S), Aptitude(B), Raw Strength(B), Iron Will(B), Combat Instinct(C)]

[Luck: Super Rare]

’Not bad at all.’ Dante raised his eyebrows.

’Mountain Titan Bloodline. That explains why he’s built like that. The man literally is a titan.’

He scrolled to the next one.

[Name: Freya]

[Realm: Mana Core Formation Early Stage]

[Bloodline: Tempest Spirit Bloodline (Epic)]

[Talents: Speed(S), Aptitude(A), Blade Mastery(A), Perception(B), Intimidation(C)]

[Luck: Super Rare]

’He’s strength and she’s speed. Is that why they were paired together?’ Dante thought. ’Freya’s stats are slightly better overall, but Felix has Iron Will. That’s probably the reason he can still match her realm’

He was impressed by both of them equally.

Freya’s stats were a bit higher, which made sense because she was female. It sounded biased as fuck, but it wasn’t actually a good thing for her.

In the novel, the author gave every female character a 10-20% stat buff. In return, any woman who entered Ryan’s radar had a 100% chance of getting pulled into his harem.

The buff was less of a gift and more of a curse.

He closed both panels and nodded to himself. ’Both of them are at Mana Core Formation Early Stage with epic bloodlines. That’s way above what I expected.’

’These two are definitely staying with me.’ He thought with a scheming grin forming under his mask.

Right as he finished that thought, a faint sound came from behind him.

Click.

His body moved on instinct, but not fast enough.

BANG!

The gunshot echoed through the warehouse and Dante felt the impact slam into his back.

Then a blue shimmer rippled across his body and the bullet bounced off harmlessly, clattering onto the concrete floor.

The protective charm Felix had given him before the raid had done its job.

Dante slowly turned around and looked at the guy standing behind him with a pistol and a face full of disbelief.

"You shot me." Dante said, his voice cold.

The guy’s hands were shaking. "W-what the fuck are you?!"

Dante picked up a thick wooden stick as he walked towards him. He weighed it in his hand for a second.

"I’m the Jester." He said.

Then he swung it across the guy’s face with everything he had.

The man spun like a top and hit the ground hard.

Dante looked down at him and then at the stick, which had cracked in half from the impact.

"I need a better weapon." He muttered, tossing the broken pieces aside.

His eyes landed on the pistol the guy had dropped.

He picked it up and looked between the man on the ground and the gun in his hand.

BANG!