Grind-to-Cash System: Buy SSS Skills to Spam them Infinitely with Cash-Chapter 23 - A Fight Scene

The wheels creaked over uneven dirt.

Wood groaned under weight.

A narrow path snaked through a thicket of towering pine trees, their long shadows stretching like skeletal fingers across the road.

The sun had begun to dip behind the canopy, casting everything in filtered amber gloom. Birds chirped in the distance—soft, uncaring. The scent of bark, moss, and old sweat filled the air.

Six men walked alongside the cart.

They wore brown vests and coarse trousers, blades strapped lazily to their hips. One of them—bigger than the rest, with a busted nose and crooked teeth—chewed loudly on a stick of salted meat. Another, younger and scrawnier, dragged a cracked spear behind him, letting the tip rattle over rocks.

At the front strode the loudest of them.

Red sash. Sword across the back. Half-burnt cigar in his mouth. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"Lerin's gonna be balls-deep in her sister by now," he snorted, laughing around the smoke. "You should've seen the way he was fuming when she slapped him last year. Tch. The kid's been obsessed ever since."

A second man grunted. "Lucky bastard. That girl back at the house... gods, that mouth on her."

"Feisty ones are best," another said, adjusting the straps on his chest.

Then someone behind him—slimmer, with a scraggly beard—tapped his shoulder. "Well, this one's not so bad either. We could take turns, eh?"

All of them turned slightly toward the back of the cart.

The canvas flapped.

Tied against the wooden side—Maira.

Mouth gagged with a strip of filthy cloth. Ankles bound. Wrists behind her back. Her dress wrinkled and torn at the shoulder. She lay on her side, hair mussed, sweat glistening along her neckline.

She looked older than her sister—but only just. Her face was gentle even now, streaked with dried tears and bits of dust. Her cheeks flushed from the heat. Her lips trembled slightly, pressed against the gag. Her eyes—glass-green—kept darting around, flicking between trees, between the men's faces.

But her body...

She was curvy.

Full hips. Wide thighs bound tight by ropes. Breasts pushed forward by the awkward angle of her arms behind her. Her dress—once proper—clung to her figure like a second skin, damp from fear and dirt.

Her legs shifted every now and then, reacting to each bump in the road.

Every time the cart jerked, the ropes cut into her skin.

Every time they laughed... she flinched.

The man chewing meat leaned in, licking his lips. "She's gonna sell good. Those hips? Mmm. Noble bastard or drunk merchant, they'll fight over her."

"Think we'd get more if she's still pure?" asked one with a scar running down his neck.

"Probably," said another.

Then a chuckle.

"...But how would they know?"

A man in the back—the youngest—grinned wide. "Let's check it, then."

He reached for the cart door.

"Who's gonna stop us? Lerin? He's already got what he wants."

The bolt slid free.

Maira's eyes went wide.

She whimpered behind the gag, pulling at the ropes, struggling despite knowing it wouldn't help.

Her chest heaved with each breath. Her legs kicked weakly, bumping against the wood.

'Please... please, no...'

The moose-shaped crest on the cart door swung slightly as it opened with a creak.

They leaned in.

One of them stretched his hand as if wanting to hear the scream of the woman to turn his mood on as he pulled the cloth over her face.

Hungry eyes. Calloused hands. One of them reached down, palm aiming for her thigh, fingers twitching.

Her heart screamed in her chest.

"Please... someone... someone save me—!!"

And then—

A flash.

A sudden gust.

One of the men—middle-aged, balding, with a jagged axe strapped to his back—jerked upright.

A line of red appeared across his spine.

A moment later, blood sprayed.

"Gu—rgh!"

He dropped to his knees.

The others turned, startled.

"What the—?"

From behind him, someone stood.

Bare-chested. Golden-eyed.

Vex's sword was already half-drawn, blood dripping from the tip. He didn't say a word. His eyes were sharp, focused—cold like a predator too bored to roar.

He stared straight into their chaos.

And the men finally understood—

They weren't alone.

[ Use of Sword Energy Strike: - 1000 GC ]

'....I will definitely get paid for this,' Vex murmured after hearing how the System had copied the skill she had seen Lerin using against him and now sold it at a 1000 gold coin cost. While seeing those men, robust and strong enough, the sword strike earlier didn't even slice that man in half; it just cut his flesh and back, making him realize he needed a stronger attack.

'Ah shit, now the idiot is going to milk this fight scene for another Chapter...' His full-fledged novel again kept in mind, realizing that if this were to be written in Chapters, most authors would stretch the whole action scene over two Chapters, and when readers dropped, they would cry rivers.

"Can't we keep the fight scene short, for readers' sake—"

"KILL THIS BASTARD!"

'Brain rots'

Blades.

Too many blades.

They instantly lunged toward him. The man who had his back injured, given the wounds not being that deep, also sprinted while lunging his sword toward.

Vex ducked, and a sword whistled past his ear—close enough that the air sizzled.....

Oh, do you really think he can pull that stunt off like the main character?

Nah, he just smiled.

[ -10,000 GC ]

And got scammed out of 10K gold coins.

He retreated on his bare feet, with splinters digging into his soles, as his wooden stick—half a branch, surrounded in energy—lit up for a strike. Finally, after waiting, one of the men's daggers directly clasped on the dome.

Clang!

The blow reverberated through his arms like lightning, but the dome around him shimmered, flaring slightly, absorbing all of the force without a hint of effect.

Another man came from the left. Bulkier. Axe raised.

"Die, you bastard!"

Vex didn't dodge.

He couldn't. There wasn't room inside the shield. Not with six of them pressing in.

He tanked it.

Let the dome take the hit.

The axe bounced off the barrier with a metallic THRUM, sending sparks. The rebound staggered the man just long enough—

Vex lunged.

CRACK

His stick—reinforced with a glow of green dome energy—smashed straight into the man's nose. Blood sprayed as teeth scattered to the dirt like dice.

He barely had time to breathe.

Another one lunged from behind.

[ Enemy Skill Identified: Sword Energy Strike ]

[ Skill already copied. Cost: 1000 GC. Want to buy again? ]

Vex saw the sword arc from the corner of his eye—wide and clean, a move he'd seen Lerin himself use days ago.

'Don't try to scam your daddy, asshole!'

It was clear that the system was trying to make him purchase the same thing again, so ignoring its scamming, he focused on the battle.

He turned, spinning mid-air like an idiot in a kung-fu movie—then swung his stick.

'Use sword strike, now!'

The moment the skill activated, it felt like someone shoved a current of white-hot wind into his bones.

The wooden branch pulsed, glowing emerald and gold.

The strike met the incoming blade mid-air—

BOOOM

The sword shattered.

The man's entire body jolted backward, hitting the ground with a dull, wet crunch.

Vex landed hard, coughing.

But even that—that strike—hadn't killed him. 'What the hell are these guys made of...?'

Another man circled behind.

"You're dead now!" he roared, raising both hands for a two-handed cleave.