After some time Alex woke up feeling dizzy, the scenery different from what he remembered.
"Huh what happened. Where am I."
Hearing his voice the three chatting broke up and moved to his pew, worry written on two faces while the last one just watched on, aiming to pass off as nonchalant.
"C- Carol, Timothy. Where were you. I thought I lost you." Alex mixed sad sobs with speech, looking very different from the strong man who was able to hurl a 6 foot man, 5 meters in the air.
"Ew dad you're getting snot all over my hoodie. Do you know how many chores I had to do before mom got it for me– argh,my head."
A light bonk to the back of his head, courtesy of the wooden bat his mother was holding shut him up.
The innocent looking smile of his mother was what kept him shut.
Countless chores he had been forced to do revealed her for who truly was.
A tyrant, the side of her that only he knew.
To the rest of the world she was an angel, a sweet, kind and harmless woman.
But he knew the truth.
That smile she showed the world, came off at night.
During the quietest hours when he just wanted to laze about like he had been doing the whole day, she would strike.
Belt folded in the right hand, slipper in the left.
And after a series of strikes and combos an innocent 15 year old like him should never face, he would walk down the stairs from his room.
Into the kitchen, defeated and forced to wash his own plate.
And sometimes hers too, if she was feeling generous.
And that was why he would tank the bonk like a man.
Not because it didn't hurt, but because it did, and he didn't want more of that.
Seeing the shifting emotions on her son's face before the eventual acceptance came, Carol was satisfied and she passed the wooden bat back to Charles.
"Honey dear,how are you. Is everything okay. Do you have a headache or something.", chirped Carol like she didn't just smack her own son with a bat.
"Hmm. I feel a little pain in the back of my head, nothing too serious. Everything is fine dear. I've found you and that's all that matters."
Expecting more honey-coated words from his wife, Alex was shocked when all he heard was the roar of a lioness. Lucky for him he wasn't its target, Charles was.
"See I told you you hit him too hard, Charles."
"Hey what was I supposed to do, Carol. If I waited for even ten more seconds we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
Looking at his wife and employer/ close friend arguing, Alex did the most reasonable thing, stay out of it and ask his son the reason.
"Hey uhh Tim. What's going on?"
"Oh this, it's just mom and uncle Charles arguing over whether he should have hit you with a bat or not, nothing serious."
"What. He hit me with a bat, why?"
Left with more questions than he initially had, Alex touched the back of his head, where he felt the headache strongest.
"Oh don't worry about that, I patched you up real good. No thanks necessary."
Seeing the confusion on his dad's face once again, Timothy was about to explain but Charles beat him to it.
"See, long story short. The barrier wasn't alien Tech. It was actually a special skill, just like your BERSERK and my TIMEDILATION. The special skill is related to Chastity and it was the skill that basically all the nuns here got. No shocker there."
"Your family was already in the church when the world went to sh*t and the nuns cast this protective barrier to protect everyone,which you broke by the way."
"The problem was that they had a skill issue and didn't know how to disable the barrier and you got possessed or something and kept hammering on it."
"You didn't realise when it broke and kept punching forward, almost taking off your wife's head. Luckily I knocked you out with the bat I brought."
"I didn't know how much strength I should use since we're, you know, slightly evolved with enhanced bodies. Tim healed you with his special skill and the rest is history."
"Damn, that story was still long though."
Finally brought up to speed on everything that happened, Alex went through a myriad of emotions.
Shock, confusion.
More shock and confusion.
Pride at his son's skill.
And finally anger, at himself.
He had almost killed his wife, lost in rage that didn't have a genuine reason.
And that made him mad, so mad that he started seeing red.
Wait, red?
"Hey Dad. Dad…"
"Y- Yes Tim, what is it."
"Dad, we saw your name on the list. You had over 400 kills, that's so cool. I wanted to kill some mosquitoes as well, but we were stuck in the church. So… what was the reward."
Face clouded in confusion for the umpteenth time that day, he motioned to his son to explain, which he gladly did.
"The reward I'm talking about is the one that was given to the members of the top 100, according to the system. It was there in the messages along with something about a buff being disabled."
Alex subtly looked at Charles for confirmation, the shaking of his head sending the message that he didn't know about it either.
Truly the messages Tim talked about were minimised in the corner of their vision, small enough not to interfere but interactive enough to expand when thought of.
Aside Tim's messages were two new ones for both of them.
[Will you like to receive your reward - KEY TO THE BLOODSUCKERS' SWARM.]
[YES] [NO]
[DUNGEON CLOSURE- 06:17:42]
[ENTRY SLOTS LOCKED IN- 01:17:42]
Reading their exclusive messages, the duo found themselves filled with joy.
A whole dungeon filled with mosquitoes for them to kill.
This was basically an all-you-can level up buffet, and they were not going to miss this chance.
Though they first had to make it back to the fortress to settle Alex's family down and gear up for the trip.
The journey back home was easily three times as long.
With Timothy and Carol not having mosquito blood on their hands, it also meant that they were unevolved and slow, though Tim's Sloth given special skill, SKIP, teleported him short distances, making up for his lack of physical speed.
Carol on the other hand slowed them down by a factor of two.
With no speed increasing skill, she had to be carried, something her husband willingly did.
She also asked them to stop and help every injured person they met, smiling sweetly at Timothy who would heal them with his Charity given special skill, HEAL which he used earlier to help his father.
Charles was very tempted to gently tap the back of Carol's head with the wooden bat, but he wasn't really in the mood to test his strength against a BERSERK husband, nor was he ready to be the first to experience Carol's Kindness related skill, REFLECT.
All in all by the time they got home, the timer had dropped from about an hour and 17 minutes to 28 minutes.
[ENTRY SLOTS LOCKED IN- 00:28:32]