12

I managed to get most my arrows in one quick run closer to the corpses of the beasts. A couple of them had broken, but that didn't matter. I used my high jump skill to jump back again. Angling my body to jump clear of the beasts before firing arrows at the beasts that were no longer blocked by barriers anymore. I nocked, and loosed arrow after arrow. 

Gaining experience little by little. These creatures weren't very strong. I was glad that they weren't super strong. That didn't mean they weren't strong enough to kill me if they got close enough. More fighters joined in as the battle started to spread out into the neighborhood. 

Many of them were simply the people that lived in the houses. The barriers would pop up again when I ran out of arrows so I could run up, and retrieve them once again. I didn't know where the barrier person was but they didn't use very many barriers, and seemed to be able to see the whole battlefield at once. They must be on the roof of one of the nearby buildings. Either that or they had some sort of sensory ability. 

I was actually starting to enjoy this. I'd killed over a dozen of these freakish insects, and I was enjoying it. I started allowing mana to flow into the occasional arrow. One shotting a few of them in the process. I killed one that was practically on top of me. 

Transforming it into materials, and using it's hard carapace as well as the vial of poison to create poisoned arrows. They were super effective. One arrow was enough to stop the insects dead in their tracks. Which made me glad I'd stayed out of the insects reach. The poison seemed to melt their insides. 

That would be a terrible situation if I were to get poisoned. I wasn't able to gather up the other materials because I was in the middle of a fight. I used high jump to get myself away from the insects whenever they got within ten feet of me. Preferring to maintain a gap between me, and the creatures. The number of creatures I'd killed surpassed twenty. 

I realized that I was actually receiving more support then some of the other people around me. It was about the time I realized I didn't have as many insects coming at me. Their numbers were thinning. I started branching out immediately. Helping the people around me. 

It was easier to fight the insects when they weren't coming after me. Was this happening everywhere? The ground rumbled, and the crack in the ground started to close slowly as the last of the beasts died. I frowned to myself as I tried to catch my breath. I wanted more. 

I scanned the surrounding area for any more insects before I started parting out beasts with the system, and started collecting the materials I got from the beasts. Using my crafting skill to create a pack. It was made from the insect carapace, and it didn't have much storage so I ended up making five or six of them to collect all the materials around me. No one else had started collecting materials yet. They all seemed to be focused on taking in the scene. 

Multiple human bodies were littered around the scene. Thankfully it didn't look like many people had died compared the number of beasts. I managed to collect the materials of around twenty beasts before anyone noticed that I was collecting materials. Several people looked at me as if I was some sort of heartless monster. I didn't care. 

I could feel the heavy weight of the multitude of materials I was carrying. Beast cores, carapaces, vials of poison, and dozens of loops of cable. The cable was stretchy, and it was thin. I could tell the cables were strong just by looking at them. The packs I'd made with my crafting skill were laced together with the strong cables. 

It was heavy, but I forced myself to move with the weight as I walked away. No one complained they were more worried about the dead people then they were of me taking the materials. All the materials would slowly be collected eventually. My muscles twinged painfully as I walked. My muscles didn't want to work with the weight of what I'd taken after the battle. 

I didn't care. I'd pushed myself much further then this not even a few days ago. I cracked my stiff back, and continued on to my apartment. I was tired, but I had work to do. I started running. 

I could only do it in short bursts, but the distance was counting extra since I had so much extra weight on me. I was glad that what little sprinting I was managing with all this weight was counting for so much. I'd have enough for a stat point or two by the time I got back to the apartment. I smiled to myself as I sped up to a sprint for a short burst again. I didn't stop for a break despite how much my body begged for it. 

Forcing my body to work harder then it wanted to worked well to help increase my stamina. The stairs up to my apartment were their own version of hell. I just dumped the bags in my tiny kitchen dining combo before running back to the battlefield with my bags to collect more. I needed a new bow, and those poisonous arrows were nice. I doubted they would be as useful as the higher level monsters started popping up. 

This crack appeared in a town, but that didn't mean the others were in populated areas. I didn't bother to look at the phone yet. I could look after I gathered as much of the materials as possible. My house was going to start looking like that of a hoarder if I kept this up. I didn't care.