Surviving the Night

After escaping from the brigand's base of operations, Alex and his party boldly ran towards an unexplored direction. At least from the perspective of Captain Hunter's information network. They were taking a huge risk by doing this, but they were hoping they could throw the two factions off of their trail.

They were much smarter than the brigands and covered their tracks properly as they absconded into the night. After creating some distance between themselves, and the brigand camp, they decided to look for shelter for the night.

This was the first night Alex had been outside of a safe zone since he encountered that terrifying monster. Luckily for him, it did not appear to be following him at this time. He could only pray to whatever deity may be listening that he doesn't encounter such a creature again.

For whatever reason, the street they found themselves on seemed to be completely abandoned by humans and monsters. There was not a single sound in the distance, almost as if it was completely devoid of all life. Whether this was a good or bad omen, Alex did not know.

After nearly an hour of searching for a viable place to stay the night, they finally came across a two-story condominium that appeared to be completely vacant. Alex approached one of the empty condos and noticed the door was already open.

Alex and his team searched the empty condo and found that it was completely abandoned; there was even food still on the plates in the dining area. Though by now, it was rotting and completely inedible. It appeared whoever was living here got up and abandoned the location during the initial chaos of the fracture.

After making sure the building was void of any dangers, the party locked the door behind them and fortified the entrances and windows with furniture. For now, they had found a safe place to rest. Alex sat down on the leather sofa and opened up his level-up screen.

The first thing he searched for was the skill that Captain Hunter had mentioned, he searched for it in the Charisma tab, and after an hour, he finally found the skill.

[Aura of Domination]

Active

You have a chance to place those with lower willpower into a highly suggestive trance for up to thirty minutes. The area of effect is ten meters.

Cooldown: 24 hours

Prerequisite: 15 Charisma

Though Alex did not know the individual level of willpower of the slayers, he suspected it was not low to survive this long. He began to contemplate why the skill had been so effective. After some consideration, he concluded that it must have been the state the slayers were in.

For starters, they were both physically and mentally exhausted from an extended period of combat. On top of that, many of them were wounded from their fight with the hobgoblin. The final point to consider as to why the Captain's skill was so effective was the state of temporary shock they were in when they witnessed the Captain cleave the slayer that disobeyed his orders in two. If all of these factors were combined, it was no surprise that the tyrant could use his skill to such an effect.

After coming to an understanding about what had happened, Alex became less fearful of the Captain's intimidating skill; after all, even in his exhausted and wounded state, it still did not affect him personally. Thus, he was no longer worried about it and decided to move on his own advancement.

Alex pondered his options for attribute points for several minutes before eventually deciding to place one point in dexterity and one into his constitution. After doing so, the familiar feeling of exceeding his human limitations flowed throughout his body. However, it only took him a few moments to adjust to the new power that dwelled within him.

Looking upon the skill section, Alex decided rather than invest in a new skill; he would advance one of the skills he currently had. He ultimately decided to level [Iron Limbs] to level 2. Upon advancing the skill to level two, he could feel the intense heat from the skill spreading from his fists to his forearms, Reforging the extended areas into a substance as durable as Iron.

The same could be said about the rest of his limbs; the area of effect in which his iron limbs spread across his body increased substantially. Though the entirety of his skeleton had yet to become iron. Though, he could tell there was significant progress in that area. He felt that his entire skeleton might become as strong and durable as iron if he leveled up the skill a few more times.

Although the progress was incredibly painful, he gritted his teeth and endured it into the end. After having finished reforging his limbs once more, he felt ecstatic; not only that, but he felt entirely rejuvenated as if his wounds had vanished. However, he did not know whether this was the process of accepting a level up or merely an aspect of advancing his body. Either way, he felt great.

After leveling up, he noticed Emily was clinging onto him, with her head lying on his shoulder. She was fast asleep, though he didn't blame her. The events she had been through must have traumatized her. Now that she was in a relatively safe area, she could no longer keep her eyes open.

Alex picked the girl up, carried her like a princess upstairs into one of the bedrooms, and placed her down upon the mattress. He then covered her with the sheets and comforter before attempting to walk away.

However, before he could escape, he felt the warmth of a hand grasping onto his own; he turned around and saw the obsidian eyes of the half-asleep girl he had fought so desperately to protect this past week.

Emily closed her eyes and comfortably rested her head on the pillow before muttering in her half-awake state.

"Don't go."

Alex smiled fondly at the girl who was practically the same age as him; he then grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and sat down while holding Emily's hand as he, too, drifted into sleep. For the first time in a long time, he could get a good night's rest.

The weary party of slayers let their guards down and got some much-needed rest. Completely unaware of the dark forces dwelling in the shadows watching their every move with vile intent. For now, the monsters in the night stayed their hand, though as for tomorrow, only the gods knew what would come.