Lack of Hesitation

As he wanted to increase his level quickly, the sight of the quest prompt tempted him.

Blake came here to check with the hope of gaining an opportunity that might make him stronger. If the opportunity presented itself like this, he definitely wouldn't turn it down, so he didn't hesitate to accept it.

Moreover, the quest reward is quite enticing.

In addition to the exp, he will also gain a reputation with a guild behind the two women.

Judging from the name of the guild, 'Infernal Veiled Assassin Guild', Blake can assume that they are quite a strong guild focused on as its name indicate, assassinations which are quite badass in his opinion.

'Maybe I'll join their guild? It would probably be a good move by me' Blake thought.

Despite not being a picky person in regard to pretty much anything, he can't help but wonder how convenient it would be if he managed to join a secretive guild of assassins on top of having the Limited PK VR helmet.

If that really happened, then he would be able to take quests that aim for players only.

[Player MoonDespoiler has accepted the quest given by Audrey!]

[Quest: In a Pickle]

Save the two women from the current threat of the mercenaries.

Quest Reward: 80,000 Exp, 50 Infernal Veiled Assassin Guild reputation, and NPC Bonus.

"In the future, I think you should think about this more. I know you killed the level 24 bear from earlier, but fighting a level 25 NPC can be quite harder. It's best you don't die at least until you reach above level 20" Salana gives her advice from the side.

Albeit her advice, Blake has total confidence in himself, he trusts that he can deal with this.

Inspecting the mercenaries, his eyes glowed red as he sees the blood coursing inside their bodies. "Are you doubting me again? I still have 12 Attributable Stat Points as well as Class Skill Points, and also 30 Racial Skill Points. It's going to be a piece of cake"

Since the fight earlier, he has amassed quite a bit of points.

Blake also has learned from leveling up that he gained 1 Class Skill Point with each level.

On the other hand, he didn't get even one Racial Skill Point, and it's clear to him now that Racial Skill Point is more valuable. And thus, it'll be good to save them until he creates a path for his racial skill tree.

For fighting against these mercenaries, he can rely on his Gladiator Class only.

Opening the class skill tree menu, he hovers over it before he inspected the skills that he can learn. While looking at the skills, he can't help but asks, "Are there masteries for the skills in this game?"

"Yes, there are. If you use the skill frequently, its mastery will increase" Salana replied.

Not stopping there, she then continues, "Of course, you could bypass this by using skill points to increase your mastery instantly over a skill. But it's better to reserve the skill points for stronger skills or evolving a skill after reaching Perfect Mastery"

Even though that is the case, Blake has other things in mind.

Gazing at the mercenaries inching closer to the two women, Blake knows that increasing the mastery over his Blood Lance skill will make the job easier. Summoning multiple Blood Lances at the same time would definitely be deadly.

But he dissuades that thought and focuses on his Gladiator Class.

At the start of the game, his Gladiator Class gave him the Thrust skill and also the Gladiatorial Focus skill that increases his focus during one-on-one and also increases his stats by a measly 3%.

If he wanted to fight these mercenaries, then these two skills are not going to be enough.

'Hmmm, I think I'll make do with this skill'

[Do you want to learn the Colossal Slam skill for 5 Class Skill Points?]

[Yes or No]

Deciding that this skill is the best one he could learn for this situation from the offensive section of the skill tree, he quickly clicks yes and learns the skill instantly. It will be his skill to take down as many mercenaries in one go.

[Colossal Slam]

Type: Gladiator Class Skill

Grade: C

Skill Cost: 400 MP

Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Description: A skill that boasts the strength of a Gladiator. Upon activation, the caster performs a strong leap into the air before slamming their weapon down into the ground with tremendous force, dealing a fixed 1,000 damage plus bonus damage proportionate to the caster's strength. Can cause knockdown and stun enemies within the area.

Blake also increases the mastery of the skill, spending another 5 class skill points.

A pop-up list of skill masteries can be seen after he spends the class skill points. From the pop-up list, he learned that there are five masteries, Basic, Good, Adept, Expert, and Perfect mastery.

5 class skill points increase the Colossal Slam to Good mastery.

Compared to the basic version, the Adept mastery increases the fixed damage to 2,000, higher bonus damage, reduced the cooldown to 1 minute, and also makes the knockdown and stun chance to be guaranteed to those three levels near him.

On top of that, Blake also decided to use his attributable stat points.

'I'll put all of the 12 attributable stat points to strength since the skill relies on strength stat'

Feeling the strengthening of his muscles, Blake's eyes then flashed with malice while looking at the mercenaries again. Readying his sword, he then starts his move, 'Alright, let's roll!' he thought before dashing away.

Swoosh!

Meanwhile, the two women are slowly becoming helpless.

Audrey was the one frightened and feeling helpless the most as the man that she saw earlier laughed at her when she asked for help through her eyes, this feeling of dread makes her sweat profusely, nervous about the situation.

On the contrary, the older woman grips her daggers tightly, steeling her resolve.

Seeing the mercenaries, the older woman understands that she wouldn't be able to survive this ordeal, she could only make way for Audrey to escape safely using the last bit of her life.

"When I attack, you run in the other direction, okay?" the older woman whispered.

Despite being unwilling to leave the older woman alone, Audrey could only nod her head heavily. Smiling lightly, the older woman then prepares herself, 'I'll have to at least take down three before going down'

Looking at the older woman's face, the leader of the mercenaries smirks maliciously.

Just her expression alone shows her plan, he knows every motive the older woman might have to get out of this situation. "If you resist me, I promise you that your death will be a painful one"

"Why do you even bother protecting her? She and her father's fate are already sealed"

Upon seeing the troubled expression the older woman is wearing when he said that, the leader of the mercenaries' smirk blooms even wider, "Oh...? Is that really your reason, Tara? Do you genuinely care about that girl?"

"If that's the case then you're a failure, you broke rule one of being an assassin" he added.

Shaking his head in disappointment, the leader then raises his hand, and the other mercenaries started chuckling excitedly as they ready themselves to take down the two defying women.

But when the leader was about to signal to them, a figure suddenly appeared above them.

Audrey saw the shade of the figure that appeared above the mercenaries before her eyes went completely wide, she saw the same man that laughed at her earlier jumps in straight into the fight.

Raising a glistening sword to the sky, Blake swung down powerfully and uses his new skill.

"Colossal Slam!"

Swoosh!

Under the strengthening effect of the new skill that he learned, the sword in his hand vibrates with a reddish hue before he swung down powerfully, creating a beautiful arc in the air that catches everyone off guard.

Boom!

When the sword landed on the ground, the impact was destructive as the ground cracked.

Each one of the mercenaries alongside the two women felt the ground trembling violently, most of them fell down and were dazed except for the leader of the mercenaries and also the older woman, Tara.

Seeing that the skill has done its job, Blake smiled as he instantly make use of this chance.

Blake watches as seven mercenaries dropped to the ground, he then used 500 HP to cast his Blood Lance skill at one of them. Simultaneously, he used Shadow Step to move near the two other mercenaries.

It was already planned, and his movement is smooth thanks to that.

Knowing that he would need to fight the leader of the mercenaries last since he's quite strong, he decided that he would take down as many mercenaries as he can in the first surprise attack.

A yelp escape the two mercenaries' mouths when they saw Blake's purple eyes.

Not giving the two mercenaries any time to react, Blake gripped the handle of his sword tightly before he swung it in a crescent arc, aiming for their necks. Despite not having any experience with a sword, he managed to do just that thanks to the two mercenaries being dazzled.

[Critical Hit!]

[Level 17 Mercenary killed!]

[Level 15 Mercenary killed!]

[Obtained 11,900 Exp]

[Obtained 10,500 Exp!]

[Level up!]

Similar to the two mercenaries, the other mercenary also died when the Blood Lance skill stabbed right through its heart. The man didn't even realize what happened before a hole can be seen in his chest.

[Level 20 Mercenary killed!]

[Obtained 14,000 Exp!]

[Level up!]

Just like that three mercenaries were taken down in a heartbeat.

As soon as Audrey and Tara recovered from the Colossal Slam skill, their eyes witness Blake standing in the middle of two mercenaries' corpses that are holding their slit necks. Both of their mouths are opened agape.

Out of the two, Audrey was shocked the most as she was not expecting this.

Earlier when she saw Blake hiding in the bushes, she was hoping that he could at least create a distraction so that the two of them can escape. But to think that he could take down three mercenaries this quickly is beyond her expectation.

Still having a couple of seconds of surprise, Blake's body morphed into a shadow once again.

Thanks to leveling up earlier, his MP was increased immensely. Currently, he still got half of his MP and can still use the Shadow Step skill multiple times without stopping. Compared to some of his skills, the Shadow Step doesn't have any cooldown at all.

If he wanted to, he could use the Shadow Step and Blood Lance endlessly.

Like a ghost, he appeared behind two other mercenaries who had seemed to regain their standing. But they had an ominous feeling on their backs as a glistening sharp edge of a blade headed towards them.

Slash!

Without any remorse, Blake decapitated two other mercenaries with one swing.

Salana who is watching this from the side completed Blake mentally.

Judging from how Blake handles this situation, she nodded her head in affirmation as he has a great talent for fighting, and he also lacks hesitation which is very much needed in a fight. If he keeps going on like this, it wouldn't take long for him to actually be an expert.

On the other hand, the leader of the mercenary looks at Blake in shock.

In only a few seconds, five out of the seven of his men died, he was not expecting an external force, such as Blake to help the two women. 'Who the fuck is this guy?' the leader questioned inside his head.