One in a thousand
"Where did all the people go and what's up with this many monsters in one place?"
Covering their eyes with essence, created a sort of barrier around them, isolating their eyes from the influence of the surrounding essence. This allowed them to observe the surrounding without being hindered by low level illusions.
"Hey!" Ed gave Rey a jerk who was staring into space.
"Sorry... I was just looking at this quest. Did you also get one?"
"Nope"
"Soph, can I share this quest with him?"
[If the user wants it is very much possible]
*DING*
A system window displaying a quest appeared in front of Ed.
_____________________________
HUNTING QUEST
Kill all the monsters in the vicinity
Monsters killed : 0/200
REWARDS:
Random skill
• Failure may result in death
• This quest is shared with one other person
______________________________
The quest was mostly the same for both of them except for the reward, which was a memory fragment of the 'Shadow Warrior' for Rey.
"Where did all these monsters come from and that too 200 no less?"
Rey looked at his screen and then the woman as if trying to deduce something.
"I think I know what is happening. I know this is highly unlikely and crazy with 1 in a thousand chance of happening, but that woman is not an ordinary woman."
Ed was eagerly waiting to hear what Rey deduced but he expected a lot.
" I don't know what I expected but I can see that myself. The problem is what comes after."
" That is the normal part compared to what I am about to tell you,
That woman or better to say that goblin has a light attribute and we are in an illusion. Because people having light attribute are best suited for becoming illusionists among any other and seeing the concentration of essence in this area, I am very inclined to believe that this is some kind of illusion.
For the attribute part, going by the area of the illusion and details I guessed that it is a light attribute monster and a very high level one."
"Hmmm, your assumption is certainly plausible but what if we are wrong. What if there is some evil organisation trying to lure people here or what if the monster is not a light attribute one?"
"All I can say is that we can't be sure unless we go there."
"But we can't go there recklessly..... "
"Woah, you see that chick, she is a perfect 10!"
"You wait here, I'll go. With all these ugly people here my chances are pretty high."
Just like Rey and Ed had followed the voice, two other boys who also got their systems just recently also appeared. But unlike Rey and Ed they didn't put rather they couldn't isolate themselves from the outside essence and failed to notice the illusion. This was because covering one's weapons or body required extremely precise control. Even those studying with them were also only able to cover a small part of their hand with their essence.
"Just when we needed a noble sacrifice."
Meanwhile, the two sacrifices were now almost near the group of people when the area distorted and tens of goblins came into view. Due to the large area and number of peop... monsters under the illusion, such large movements disrupted the flow of essence and the illusion wore off.
The black haired one in the front tried to fight back against the goblins but the initial shock he got, sealed off any chance he had.
One goblin tried to rush at him but was met with a sword to its neck. As soon as the lifeless body dropped down, two more with shortswords appeared almost instantly and slashed at the boy's hand.
The boy managed to parry the strikes but a vine grabbed his wrist, restricting his movements when seeing the opening, the goblins cut clean his hand from the elbow below.
"Wind cutter" the boy's partner tried to help him by conjuring several wind blades to push back the goblins but in the moment of panick, he also injured his friend.
"What are you doing, dammit!" the boy screamed as his body was cut in various places and stumbled due to the sudden attack coming from his side.
As soon as he fell down, he was surrounded by goblins from all sides as they tried to stab and slash at the poor fellow. He was being cut in various places but managed to cover his vitals with his earth armour, avoiding any serious injuries.
On the other hand, his partner was not faring any better. He tried to help his partner one again but was blocked by goblins and vines who restricted his movements.
"Shit, I can't do anything with them sticking close to my ass. I should have paid attention to swordsmanship classes."
*clink*
The sword in his hand flew a few metres away as a goblin hit his wrist from his blindspot. Now unarmed, he tried to use his skills not caring about himself but after a few uses, his essence started to run low rendering him practically useless.
"Zeke, help me!" he called out to his one last hope, but the hope was still surrounded by goblins, his armour now reduced to only a small part of his chest and stomach.
"Sorry Sam this is my fault, please forgive me ahhhh!" Zeke was speaking when a goblin stabbed his spear into the side of his stomach which was left unprotected.
"Zeke I wanted to tell you this for a long time, I'll love you no matter what." Sam had tears in his eyes a he was dragged by vines further into the crowd.
"*sob* Sa.....Saaaamm *sob*" Zeke also stated crying as he saw Sam being taken away mercilessly by the vines. He was lamenting himself because it was because of his stubbornness they followed the strange voice. If he had just listened to Sam and held in his curiosity, they probably would have been safe.
"I.... I also *sob* love you!"
"Should we interfere in their little heartwarming moment?"
"Yes or else they would become a heartwarming meal for the monsters."
Ed and Rey were watching the two boys retaliate against the monsters and decided to intervene when the situation got worse.
They both stood up and stepped away from their cover attracting the nearby monsters.
*SCREEEEEE*
The monsters gave out a loud scream and those attacking the other duo also shifted their attention, giving them some time to breathe.
"Hey Ed, I just remembered something."
"Be quick"
"I just realised, we are seriously under levelled."
Ed- "....."
The boys listening- "....."
"Don't you think it's a bit too late for that?"
"Better late than never"
"Let's try not to get killed or we have those flares in case of any danger."
Rey took out his brass knuckles dusters with spikes on the end whereas Ed took out two hammers resembling meat tenderizers with pyramid shaped spikes which were abnormally large on both sides. The hammer was larger than normal to cover half of an average human's face, with a large spike in the middle extending from the handle.
"Let's do it one at a time"
*whoosh*
Rey disappeared after giving Ed one last glance and the next moment emerged from a goblin's shadow, bashing his skull with his knuckles, his spikes making four deep holes in its brain.
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Shadow Movements (A) Lv. 3
A movement skill of the 'Shadow Warrior' optimised for stealth and surprise attacks. Gives the user the ability to travel via shadows on a given range.
Range: 50 metres (can be increased with levelling up the skill)
Cooldown: 7 seconds (can be decreased with levelling up the skill)
• For the skill to take effect, the shadow must be static and not in any kind of movement.
_______________________________
Rey punched the goblin a couple more times before a notification came.
____________________________
You have killed a Goblin Spearman
+40 exp
____________________________
"Woah Ed! these gobos give a ton of exp. I just need one more to level up. Let's kill one at a time and slowly reduce the level gap before destroying them."
Ed on the other hand, brought down his right hammer on the head of the half naked goblin, stunning it. Seeing the opening, Ed thrust the large middle spike straight into the head of the goblin, killing it.
____________________________
*DING*
CRITICAL HIT
You have killed a Goblin Robber
+45 exp
Level up!
_____________________________
"Yeah, I see that. One at a tiiii....me" Ed was almost stabbed by a spear, unfortunately for the goblin Ed reacted faster than his thrust and it only slightly grazed his left arm.
"Careful they are faster than expected."
"They may be fast but not fast enough to catch meeeeeee.... "
Rey was trying to dodge the attacks, finding an opening and failed to notice the vine that was creeping up behind him. As soon as Rey stepped back, the vine wrapped itself around Rey's leg, making him fall and giving the nearby goblins a chance to surround him.
*clink* *clink* *clink*
They stabbed with spears, knives and broken swords but before reaching Rey they were blocked by a big, black and thick..... shield which covered his whole body.
At the last moment Rey materialised a thick shield using his skill and now he was too low on essence to use any other skill. The bright side being that the weapons attacking the shield were losing their durability much faster thanks to the decaying property of darkness attribute.
'What do I do? This shield is not strong enough to hold on for much longer and I am almost out of essence otherwise I could have used Shadow Movements to get out of here.'
Rey was in a tough spot as the goblins kept attacking him even if their weapons broke, new ones were brought in. This resulted in a minor crack appearing in the bottom side of the shield.
[Why not distribute your unassigned points?]
'Ah, hello Soph long time no see. Would you like some drinks and snacks?'
[Quit taunting me otherwise it won't take long for them to munch on your limbs as snacks, hmph!]
'*sigh* I'll handle her later. Status window'
_______________________________
Name: Rey Shelding System: A-1927
Age: 15 years Attributes: Darkness
Lvl: 4
Exp: 40/60
Titles: The one who achieves the impossible, Bibliophile
Class: Shadow Warrior (Epic)
Affiliation: Sandalwood Empire
Str: 175 Dex: 120
Agi: 162 Sta: 143
Int: 196 Charm: 200
Senses: 70
Unassigned points: 80
Skills: Close combat (F), Quick steps (E), Season mastery (A), Shadow Movements (A), Shadow Assimilation (A), Materialisation (C)
Passives: Conditional idiot (A), Unrivalled genius (A), Increased knowledge acquisition (A)
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/// Sorry guys for the slow update, I had my practicals the past week and didn't get time to upload a chapter. This will probably go on for a little longer as my final exams are also coming. I'll try to upload whenever I can but it won't be a lot.
I hope you guys understand and continue supporting my story.
One more chance, in the last chapter I ranked Materialisation as (A) which was a mistake on my part and now I have changed it back to (C). ///