Chapter 181: Distraction is the Key

'System! Save me!' Neena bellowed mentally, flustered when she was bit a second time. She then focused her Core Skill onto the cobra, causing it to move away from her when it tried to close in on her once again.

<Ding!>

[Fear not, Host]

Upon hearing the System's voice, she visibly relaxed. After all, in her mind, the System was omnipotent, capable of performing anything.

It was because it bestowed upon her unimaginable power in a world where superpowers seemed a thing of fiction. Moreover, it had pulled her out of tough situations quite a few times already. So, her level of confidence in her System was at an all-time high.

Immediately, her laboured breathing returned to normal as she noticed the two wounds on her hips close automatically. Moreover, she felt slightly stronger than usual, causing her to feel another bout of surprise.

'Hahaha, I'll become unrivalled one day.' She recalled the abuse she had experienced, the eve-teasing she had to endure, and the bullying she had to face every day. That had been one of the reasons she trekked on Mount Craire almost every time.

It wasn't because she loved nature that much, but this was her only way to escape from the stress of her daily life. She had a shitty working environment, a shitty family that never tried to understand her and shattered her dreams, and a shitty husband who was also an alcoholic that leeched off of her.

Once she obtained the System, the first thing she did was use the ability on her husband, causing him to walk straight into a moving truck, ending his life.

Her colleagues that had tortured her mentally too suffered the same fate. Some died from traffic accidents, some stumbled from the flight of stairs, or some simply lost balance, hit their head on a sharp object and died.

The cause of their deaths varied, but all of them met their justified end. Her power appeared simple at first glance, but it was enough to wreak havoc in anyone's life.

Her boss, a careful man was one day showing a dignitary through their office. She didn't explicitly use her abilities. Rather, all she did was subtly affect the actions of the boss's right hand, causing it to feel up the dignitary's nether regions in public.

In actuality, the boss had planned to pick up a file placed on the nearby desk. The rest was a pitiful history of his shame.

With the ones that troubled her gone, she was able to work better, receiving praise from the director that immediately noticed her talent. Within a week since getting the System, she received a promotion and destroyed everyone that caused her suffering in the past.

Even though countless rumours went about in the office about her, making it seem as if she had personally killed everyone, she didn't care about it. There was no proof. So, it could simply be brushed off as the jealousy of others.

Besides, her work ethic and calibre were indeed noticed by the director and a couple other people of importance in the company. Countless changes happened as soon as she obtained her power, allowing her to control people in the palm of her hands.

After all, she could simply affect the hands of people, making them slap others, place them in inappropriate places, prevent them from working, etc.

Anything related to motion, she was able to affect them. Unless the world was a static place, her ability couldn't be guarded against.

This was the source of her confidence.

Now that the venom in her had been purified, her injuries healed while her body strengthened a bit, she felt confident. Suddenly, she closed her eyes, using her ability to scan her surroundings, observing everything that moved, noticing the figure of Compass Carburettor pulling Rhizen with him as they reached the main path.

'Dammit! My plans were foiled because of this stupid snake.' She grunted in anger, deciding, "Anyway, I still have the rest of the day. I'll complete it before then."

Getting up, she began to walk towards the duo, wishing to find another opportunity to target Rhizen again.

...

'Success!' Compass Carburettor pumped his fists mentally upon noticing that the effect of Directional Misalignment had vanished once the cobra had bit Neena.

The ability was actually used by the Host and not the System. A System was unable to use any ability beyond simply activating it.

It was how the Slave Harem System had activated the Skill of Overdrive. It was the same for Slave Harem too. Regriel was the one using and manipulating the abilities.

Similarly, the Directional Misalignment System had given the ability to Neena, allowing her to activate it on free will. Therefore, she had to consciously control the effects to ensure the affected people moved according to her wishes.

The moment her concentration was broken, the effect of the ability vanished.

This was the reason Systems used Hosts in the worlds apart from the System World. It was because the most they could do in such worlds was to simply activate their ability. They were unable to control the abilities like they could in the System World.

Therefore, the System Host was a necessity to best control this ability.

This was also the reason the Coincidental Luck System never showed its identity to Rhizen. It only kept its ability active, causing him to unconsciously use it according to various situations.

Having understood this process, Compass Carburettor had worked to disrupt Neena's concentration. And, the moment the effect vanished, he hurried through the mountain slope, shouting, "Rhizen! Where the heck did you go?"

"I'm here!" Rhizen shouted in response, hearing his voice faintly.

The both of them then followed their voices before meeting up with each other, "Did you also get lost?"

"Yeah," Rhizen said, wiping his sweat, "I'm not used to mountains. So, once I walked away from the trekking path, I lost my way. So, I was just planning on descending the mountain and returning to the town."

"That was risky," Compass Carburettor said, bringing him back to the main path as he showed the view from the height, "If you had continued to descend in that direction, you would have entered the forest nearby and not the town."

"You would probably have taken a bath with the leeches."