Chapter 31 - Freeing the Town 2

Slash!

A ghoul turned to dust before Oliver's very eyes as he cleared his way towards the town.

When Rynold and the group decided to split up, Oliver and Strider took the left road that is a bit of a detour to the town but it was needed to be cleared to ensure the safety of everyone. Regardless, it was fun for him since he can suck all the experience to himself. Not that he gets a lot from low-leveled ghouls, that is.

Slash after slash, Oliver was having a very enjoyable time clearing his way past ghouls with Strider in tow. The wolf was doing its own work as well, providing buffs to Oliver as well as biting and clawing apart some ghouls that they would come across.

Even though the number of ghouls wasn't a lot, it still took some time to get rid of them until they reached an impasse that was guarded by an Enhanced Ghoul.

At first, Oliver thought as to how strong the ghoul before them would be, only to realize that he was much stronger. He activated the skills that he's gotten from his class advancement and the double daggers he was currently wielding.

[Backstab]! [Shadow Strike]! [Wolf's Frenzy]! [Chop]!

It didn't take long to kill the Enhanced Ghoul with the flurry of skills that he had cast, making quick work of the creature before him.

Meanwhile, on the right road...

Shyft was having a hard time dealing with the ghouls alone. As far as his spearmanship could carry himself to battle, it was quickly tiresome since the ghouls didn't seem to reduce in number. Nonetheless, he continued to stab and maneuver his way through the ghouls.

After a while, he finally managed to catch his breath but the cost of getting to that point was cumbersome. His stamina was shot and he had scratches and hits from ghouls that riddled his body.

Taking his time, Shyft decided to rest during this time of peace. It was his responsibility to clear this route but it didn't make sense if he pushed himself hard to the point of no return. It was then he realized that he had something that he had yet taken advantage of.

Shyft pulled his Attribute Window. It was his first interaction with the system.

Name: Shyft

Race: Human

Class: N/A

Title: N/A

Level: 4

Health: 50/50

Mana: 5/10

Attributes:

Strength: 10 Stamina: 8 Endurance: 5

Agility: 12 Intelligence: 5 Perception: 3

Attribute Points Available: 30

EXP: 32/50

'Right, I guess this is how you do this...' Shyft decided to experiment with how to make himself stronger. It was pretty simple for him to make himself stronger.

With a press of a finger, he put all of his points available to Attributes that made sense to his combat style. He didn't even question what each specific Attribute did.

'+10 to Strength, +12 to Stamina, +8 to Agility... That seems about right,' this was what Shyft thought to the splurging of his points that made the numbers more appealing to the eye.

If Rynold were here, he would have definitely said something to his Uncle but what was done was done. Shyft was satisfied at how his body felt, how much stronger he felt.

Spear in hand, Shyft moved out, ready to face whatever enemies he would come across with his newfound power.

Meanwhile, Rynold, Jack, and Skye were still resting in the middle road that led to the city. They were still recovering from their previous battle. Well, Jack and Skye were anyway. Rynold, on the other hand, was doing something else.

Rynold finally decided to approach his Mech Knight that had its latest upgrade.

"Hey, buddy," Rynold patted X on the back and didn't know what to expect.

Despite the information window saying that X had basic intelligence now, it was still vague on what that actually meant. It could mean that X had the ability to do advanced and theoretical reasoning or perhaps it had the intellect of a newborn child. Rynold just didn't know what it meant.

So he decided to test it out. His expectations and hoped bounced from one thing to another, from X talking to X just waving his hand.

In response, X raised its hand which made Rynold tingle with anticipation that his Mech Knight would wave. X, however, had other thoughts in mind.

The Mech Knight patted Rynold on the back, the way his liege did to him. Only this time it didn't go well.

Rynold was pushed to the ground since X's massive metal hand and metal frame didn't do just a simple tap on the back. It was a full forced push. Who knew that the Mech Knight couldn't control his own strength?

Rynold coughed and dusted himself off as he stood back up. He had a huge smile on his face, happy with how things turned out.

"Well, I didn't expect that to happen but at least you're acknowledging me more clearly now," Rynold let out a low chuckle. He continued to interact with his Mech Knight while Jack and Skye were watching him from behind.

"Damn, that was unexpected," Jack laughed at Rynold but made sure that he couldn't hear it. Despite his current expression, Jack was conflicted deep down.

He thought and knew that he had chosen wisely when he followed Rynold but he didn't know that the gap in strength was so huge. Jack thought that he was going to be admired as someone who had more experience and strength than the rest of the group but he was wrong, way wrong.

Regardless, during their aforementioned rest, Jack decided it was time to double-check his Attributes. Something he had not done for a very long time.

Name: Jack

Race: Human

Class: N/A

Title: N/A

Level: 7

Health: 52/60

Mana: 16/50

Attributes:

Strength: 12 Stamina: 8 Endurance: 6

Agility: 8 Intelligence: 25 Perception: 25

Attribute Points Available: 20

EXP: 23/300

Jack hadn't seen this for a while now and the last time he checked he was successfully level 6 at the spider den. Right now, he managed to level up once. During the time he's spent getting stronger, he decided to put his points into Attribute that made full use of his ability to shoot.

Perception and Intelligence while at the same time sprinkling a few points to his Stamina and Endurance as well, thinking that it might come in handy.

He managed to save 10 points from last time and decided to save them for a rainy day. Is it time for him to use those points? He considered his options carefully but decided not to. The main problem was that he couldn't use his full strength when he's overwhelmed by numbers. It's just wasn't his role to fight in the front line.

Disregarding the thoughts that riddled him with doubt, he decided to keep going with what he had. After all, his strength doesn't lie in this type of combat.

Skye, on the other hand, was still resting. She was tired more than anyone else right now and it didn't help that she didn't have the skills needed to keep fighting. Her current skills revolved around support and healing rather than direct combat. Therefore, she put most of her points in Intelligence instead.

Jack dusted himself off as he stood up.

He recovered faster than Skye did but a few more minutes ought to make sure he'll be fine. Out of everything, though, he currently had something in mind that took precedence over everything else.

"Hey, Ry," Jack called him from behind.

Rynold turned around with an annoyed expression. "Did you just call me Ry?"

"Uhh... yeah...," Jack responded. He was somewhat caught off-guard as he didn't really think that calling Rynold by a nickname would annoy him.

Rynold shot a gaze back and responded in a calm manner, "don't call me that ever again."

Jack mistook the calm voice as a threat and decided to never call Rynold something like that ever again. He chuckled and changed the subject to ease his tension, "what's up with all the smoke from the town?"

"What do you mean?" Rynold turned around and looked at the town. There were pillars of smoke all around and was somewhat confused by Jack's odd question.

"Well," Jack explained, "you know how this town is supposedly near the ocean? So what's the point with all the fire when water is so easily accessible to put it out. It makes zero sense even if you say that there's someone cooking something and forgot to turn the heat off. It wouldn't produce that kind of smoke."

Rynold thought as to what may cause that type of thick smoke that comes from different parts of the town. Jack was right, it didn't make sense.

"Don't tell me...," Jack laughed. "Can it be that some kind of idiot decided to add to the chaos and start fires? What kind of psychopath would do that?" he said in a mocking tone.