He's My Friend

No stones today so we'll just double up on chaps today ;p

Carefully, I slow down. The sounds of battle are coming from up ahead. But fortunately, I can hear weapons clacking, the growls of cold undead. None of the loud explosions and destructive power which accompany a System Skill user. To be honest, I'm quite confused. Not only should it be unlikely for there to be someone with a System Skill at this point, but if they did have one, it should be a fairly weak one. However, whoever we heard back there was clearly way more powerful than a low-level Hunter has any right to be. Maybe the Hunters in the North were more powerful than the ones in the West? But we never knew because they all got wiped here? Ugh, would that even be a good thing? If that was true then our chances of surviving are even lower!

*Clank!*

"I'll distract them! You guys attack when they go for me!" A familiar voice calls orders. Yin and I pop out of the side-alleyway to enter another main road.

Charlotte Avenue

A dozen men and two women are trying to coordinate their attacks on a small group of three undead. Unlike in the forest, these are not Fresh Undead, but a higher grade, Daemonic Undead. They appear similar to their weaker counterparts, but are sturdier, tougher, and rot more slowly. Additionally, their eyes glow in the dark, this fiendish red color which has been known to mesmerize those with weak minds. From my prior memories, they can take on any level, but in a starting area such as this I don't think they'd be above Lvl. 11. Of course, that would be true if this wasn't a Secret Dungeon. Honestly, even I'm not sure how hard the System intends to push these new Hunters because of that.

"Look, they're hurt!" Yin shouts. She's right. Two men, one a scruffy homeless looking kind of fellow and another, a thicker medium build construction worker are lying on the ground, groaning. Their comrades press against the Daemonic Undead, the front-liners are using trash can lids and rubber tub tops as crude riot shields. It's a clever plan. While the three zombies attempt to get through the barriers, the other men strike out over the top and sides with various clubs and knives. Unfortunately, even if the basic plan is sound, the execution is a bit lacking. The people attacking the Daemonic Undead are hopelessly bad dealing a killing blow. Though even zombies will take damage from being stabbed in the guts and legs repeatedly, their combat power will take a long time to deplete like that. "We have to help them!"

"I agree…although," Something worries me. Looking at the man holding a trash can lid at the very front, I recognize his face. It's the guy who was talking about the counter outside the city. What was his name, Mr. Sung right? "Their comrades have been bitten. Both of them."

"Oh no!" Yin turns pale when she spots the bites. One has been bitten on the arm, another on the leg. It's a terrible situation. "There has to be something we can do!"

"They're going to die in a minute or two. Look, it's already spreading." I point out the purplish corruption snaking out from their bite wounds. Soon it will travel through their veins and reach their heart and brain. "I'm fine with helping them, but only if we get ALL the experience. I don't want you joining their party."

"Damnit, how can you think of things like that at this time?" Yin is furious, seeing my reluctance as selfish cowardice. Maybe it is. But it's in her best interest to survive. "Come on, Lin! Get your cleaver out and let's go!"

"No." I sigh, though my hand enters my coat pocket just in case. "I told you, you can't save everyone. And you're going to need every bit of experience you can get. But I'll admit, I respect that you want to do things your own way. As such, if you want to ignore my plans, then you'll have to do it yourself. I'll be watching over here." Planting my feet on the ground, I ignore Yin's angry looks. She stomps her feet but eventually sees that I really won't intervene.

"Fine! Watch all you want then! I'll do it myself!" The gorgeous girl flourishes her katana menacingly and charges in to help the floundering newbies. Shaking my head, I stay tense in the back, observing the situation carefully. No matter how badly I want to teach Yin a lesson, if it looks like she can't deal with the situation, I'll obviously intervene. Unfortunately, the damn girl knows me too well. So, she's feeling confident and stretching her wings. I just hope she doesn't fly too close to the sun and get burned.

"Miss! It's you!" Some of Mr. Sungs compatriots call out greetings as Yin joins the fray. As a Lvl. 9 Hunter, compared to these Lvl. 1's, it's a completely different story. Her first act is to charge around the front-liners. The snarling Daemonic Undead don't have the intelligence to keep an eye on their surroundings. Swiftly, she goes for the one closest to her side and lops its head off with a single blow of her replica katana. "Holy! She's strong!"

"Ugh…" I groan as Yin has the audacity to flash a smug smile back at me before dancing onwards to the next one. Mr. Sung himself calls out encouragement to her while wrestling back the last zombie until she can finish. Feeling a little miffed, I roll my eyes as the men begin to cheer. "I taught her that move!"

"Woo! Young Miss you really know how to scrap!" Mr. Sung congratulates Yin as she decapitates a second zombie. The other men help him use the trash can lid to wrestle the last zombie to the ground. Standing over it, five men just barely manage to hold it down with hands and feet. While it struggles, he quickly talks to Yin. "Hey Miss, it's a bit embarrassing, but do you mind forming a party with us? We're a bit new to the System, so we could use an experienced Hunter such as yourself. How about it?"

"Of course I'll help!" Yin gracefully accepts his invitation and I resist the urge to facepalm. Kneading my temples, I grit my teeth. This…girl…will…be…the…death…of me! Obviously, he just wants to party up so he can share more of the experience with a skilled Hunter! No one in their right mind would party with newbies so readily when they're not high enough level to survive this dungeon themselves. However, there's nothing I can do. I never entered a party with Yin to begin with because I didn't want to accidentally share in her experience. This way when we get a kill only our contributions to damaging the enemy count. But since she's part of their party now, a greater share will be split.

"UGH UGH UGH!" A sour taste erupts in my mouth as I watch Yin dispatch the last zombie for them. "Yin…I swear to the System, I…I'll…make you…" My brain furiously searches for a suitable punishment, but in the dungeon, I don't dare assign anything like brutal military exercise or tough disciplinary punishment for fear of lowering her physical status. "ARGH! Damnit! I'll figure it out after we get out of here!"

"Yippee I'm Lvl. 3 already!"

"From Lvl. 1 to Lvl. 3 this is really too awesome!"

"I feel stronger already!"

While Mr. Sung's men marvel at their newfound levels, I just continually roll my eyes in the back. Yin finally remembers I exist and looks my way, only to start jumping up and down and waving frantically. It's obvious she's trying to get my attention.

"Relax…I know already, Dummy." I mutter to myself as I spin around and bend forwards at the waist while kicking backwards. My left heel catches the incoming Daemonic Undead sneaking up on me and throws it into the concrete. Quickly jogging away, I make a half-hearted attempt to appear scared. "H-Help! It's going to eat me! Can someone kill it!"

"Lin?" Yin's shocked expression is almost worth the humiliation of my number one disciple partying up with a bunch of Lvl. 1 noobs. "Are you…okay? What are you doing!"

"I'm scared, can you kill it for me!" I make up some stupid reason for why I'm not hunting zombies and make it seem like the kick was an accident. After staring at me for a while, Yin gets it and dashes off to finish off the undead before it can get back up. A second later, a small bit of experience fills up the bar in the corner of my vision. Well, at least there's one good thing. Now that Yin's in a party, I get even less experience than before. I'm not too far off from Lvl. 8 but even the Daemonic Undead which was slain is not enough to push me through the gap. Yin returns, introducing me to her new friends. Of course, most of them already have seen me before outside the city.

"Hi guys, this is Lin! He's my…uh my friend!" She says and I almost choke on nothing as she hides her expression with a hand.

Really? I teach you all that, protect you through multiple painful deaths and that's all I get introduced as? A friend??