Chapter 6 - Close Call

"X, keep him busy!" Rynold ordered.

His mind kicked into overdrive, thinking what the hell he could do. The space around the storage unit wasn't really big enough for the huge X to move out to its best potential, making its combat efficiency a lot lower. But X wasn't the only one that had trouble moving.

The creature that stood in the middle of the room was huge in comparison to Rynold. Looking at it, the structure and base of the creature appear to be humanoid but all sense of sensibility in its eyes seems to be lost. Its limbs seem elongated, laying down on the floor with no movement — like it knew that they weren't a threat.

Regardless, X charged with purpose onto the enemy. The closer it got to the creature, the more bewilderment filled Rynold's state of mind.

'Scan.'

Rynold's life depended on the results of the scan and how terrifying this creature would end up being. Its overall prominence and stature overwhelmed Rynold to a fault. The sword he held was trembling as his palms were filling with sweat. It especially didn't help that the only actual weapon he held was absurdly useless, seeing its nearly broken and dull blade.

[Stretch-type Ghoul Lvl 10]

A Ghoul-type variant with elongated arms for wider, longer-ranged attacks.

'No weaknesses, huh?' It was understandable with the six-level gap between Rynold and the ghoul.

Rynold readied his stance while X was pushing its way across the room. As soon as X reached halfway through the room, the ghoul suddenly moved and shifted its cold gaze onto X. The ghoul flicked its elongated limbs around and started flailing its arms wildly, targeting X with a mocking determination.

Rynold tried to find an opening but it was impossible to approach the ghoul since he couldn't even get close because of its attacks. X was also struggling to reach the ghoul with each attack knocking X back.

'Tsk. We're sitting ducks,' Rynold cursed.

"X! Try to grab its arms and hold it down," Rynold shouted with stern determination. The mech knight moved with purpose and tried to grab the limbs that are flailing too fast for the naked eye to see.

Dropping its longsword, X moved to anticipate the attack that's coming. Thanks to the mech knight's upgrade, X was able to move faster than Rynold first got him. Loud sounds came from the attacks of the limbs to the mech knight's metal body like the sounds coming from a blacksmith's hammering to straighten out metal.

Thankfully, X had high Health so the damage wouldn't make it disappear but Rynold could see the physical damage and change to X's metal body. Large dents and cuts started blooming out from the mech knight's shiny metal body.

X managed to pin one of the limbs of the ghoul with its metal hand. To Rynold's surprise, the mech knight's body was pushed back a few feet. If it weren't for the weight of the metal alloy that the mech knight has, X would have been blown away.

Rynold rushed to X's side as soon as the limb was held down. Drawing out every ounce of strength that he had, Rynold slammed down the dull edge of the shortsword onto the limb.

A small flicker of hope formed in Rynold's heart as he hoped that the shortsword was able to cut the limb. Instead, the shortsword shattered as soon as it came into contact with the ghoul's elongated arm.

'You're kidding me,' Rynold cursed.

Rynold looked around, thinking what else he could possibly do. The longsword that X dropped earlier was laying down on the ground. He moved, grabbing the longsword as he tried to dodge the second arm that was still flailing.

The ground was shaking because of the arm that was held down by X, struggling to break free. Meanwhile, Rynold tried to prop the longsword up, but it was heavier than a ton of bricks. The best that he could muster was to hold the handle with both hands with the tip of the blade still on the ground.

Slam!

The second arm hit Rynold before he even realized what happened — it was just too fast, he couldn't even block. The longsword was thrown out of Rynold's grasp as soon as he was hit by the swinging arm.

Rynold coughed up blood from the hit, taking good damage from the impact.

"Let me get this straight. You break my sword, fractured some ribs, and even damaged my mech knight," Rynold snarled. "What a shit show this turned out to be, heh," he managed to let out a smirk.

Pulling the only other weapon that he had from his inventory, Rynold stood up. He doubted the use of a blunt weapon in this scenario because it kind of seemed like it won't deal a halfway decent hit. But, at this point, he didn't have a choice.

"X! Drag him out of here!" Rynold shouted while running toward the door. It's time to leave the room in search of a better area. Both Rynold and X have a hard time moving around in the damned room, making leaving the only option.

Dashing toward the stairs leading to the first floor, Rynold kept thinking about what he could do once he reached down there.

Since the exit to the courtyard was boarded up, the only way for them to actually get out of here is to break open the door. The first floor of the cafeteria was the mess hall for the students so there should be enough room for X to move around in. Rynold then realized that his dependence on the mech knight is a glaring weakness. It was more obvious now than before.

In anticipation of the mech knight and the ghoul getting down the stairs, Rynold was thinking of what to do. There should be something to set a trap with.

Looking around, there were a few desks and chairs around but there was no way a ghoul would fall for something stupid like that. The sound of fighting was getting louder by the second and the weapons that Rynold had didn't really do anything.

His only sharp weapon broke easily and there was nothing he could do with a staff that's basically a glorified club. 'Damned those hardened limbs of his,' Rynold inwardly cursed.

Rynold's face then lit up because he realized something. 'That's it!'

He had no time to lose. Rynold propped up the tables and started to think of how the fight is going to work. In anticipation of the ghoul and X going down the stairs, Rynold hid behind the stairs with a few chairs in reach.

The fight and sound of metal clanging are now on the bottom of the stairs. Since Rynold was hiding behind the stairs, he can't really see anything that's happening. Scooching inch by inch to the side, the fight is starting to come into view.

X was getting beaten down on — hard, even. Rynold was waiting for every opportunity to attack but he couldn't make a move until the ghoul's back is turned.

Now!

Rynold threw a chair to the ghoul while yelling, "X, charge him!!"

The chair managed to hit and stagger the ghoul. Luckily, the same properties of a humanoid still applied to the ghoul — making its head an obvious weak spot. Rynold acknowledged that the tactic was only a cheap ploy but he had no other options to consider.

X tackled the ghoul the moment that it was stunned from the hit. The ghoul was actually close to recovering at the moment of contact but at least the hit managed to connect in time.

Throwing another chair, Rynold managed to let out a smirk — smiling in the face of adversity. The chair, unfortunately, missed the ghoul because X was still in mid-tackle. The mech knight kept charging head-on and straight towards one of the walls between the kitchen and the mess hall.

Rynold also rushed towards the enemy, staff in hand. Once he got near the ghoul, X managed to crush its torso and rendering it motionless indented into the wall.

He stabbed the staff to the motionless ghoul and did what came naturally — imbuing mana straight into the staff, making it shine with a low blue glow. Weirdly enough, the mana didn't directly blast the enemy but actually drilled more into the torso of the ghoul.

The mana didn't act as a direct weapon but more of a very corrosive poison. Rynold didn't stop until the ghoul turned into dust. The Wooden Staff was able to conduct mana, making this weapon a lot more effective than the bladeless sword.

Rynold collapsed to the ground and looked up to the ceiling while the world around him was spinning. He realized that he exhausted himself from pushing his stamina to the limit. And it definitely didn't help that he siphoned pure mana from his body to attack the enemy. Meanwhile, X was kneeling like it was acknowledging Rynold as royalty.

"Thanks, buddy," Rynold whispered as he rested lying down on the floor with the system declaring his victory with a simple, yet, welcoming light.

He leveled up.