Ep. 3 — Chapter 13: Survival in the Wild (4)

Leon and I stayed on the roof of the factory, sitting near the edge. During that time, he would constantly ask me questions about myself. And I would ask him back to avoid some questions.

Below, the swarms of monsters were continuously growing more and more. I was surprised that a Trigger Quest didn't appear yet, despite this golden opportunity for it to come. I didn't know whether I should feel lucky that it didn't come or not. But, either way, it doesn't matter.

"How long do we wait here for? They'll be up here before morning, right?" Leon asked, looking around cautiously.

The number of monsters were definitely getting to him. Although, this early on, the monsters shouldn't be higher than a Rank D monsters. If we get lucky, we might run into a lower Rank C.

Thought that is a rare instance. At least for now.

"If they get up here, we fight them." I said and Leon nodded with a determined look. "There really isn't much else we can do."

"Can we take them all?"

"At once? I doubt it. They are stronger than the Mindless we fought in the beginning. And with this many of them? It'll be a suicide mission."

Leon nodded again in understanding. I continued on with my explanation, "But we would be able to repel them, as long as we steer away from crowds. We just need to remain hidden until the smoke disperse. Then, they won't be able to regenerate until the next 'Outbreak'."

"Outbreak?"

"We're currently in an 'Outbreak' now. The purple smoke is what allows them to regenerate. If we kill them now, they'll just get back up as long as the purple smoke is present."

"Ah, I see." Leon placed his finger and thumb on his chin, rubbing it. "Does this happen often?"

"Occasionally. Usually when the monsters gets few in numbers, the system resets them using these purple clouds." I said, pointing around at the smoke enveloped all around the city. "Not a daily occurrence, but happens often enough. Which is why we move to the safezones, where other players are at."

"Staying with a group is a better idea, right."

Good. This guy is getting it. For now, minimise combat as much as possible. It wouldn't matter if we kill them now since they'll just come back to life.

This first 'Outbreak' must be because the system needed to spawn in all of the monsters. Which is why it's lasting longer than usual. Or maybe it's because it's in real time now. And not in a screen.

As I thought, even staying in high places is not effective in the long run. These sweat smelling bastard…

A monster crawled up from the hole we came from, its drool slobbering all over the floor. Its teeth were grinding against the metal roof, crawling on all fours and moving in a sluggish manner.

And the thing I've been waiting for finally came.

—

Sub-Trigger Quest: [Extermination]

Difficulty: ★★

Requirements: Defeat [0/12] Slug (D-)

Time Limit: —

Compensation: 1,200 Points, possible drops

Upon Failure: —

—

Leon received the quest as well and held his spear, pointing it at the crawling Slugs. By now, around three of them had crawled up to the roof. It was surprising that a slow creature was able to make it up here before the rest.

I unfolded the chains from my belt and turned to Leon, instructing him. "Their bodies are a lot like slime. You may have trouble trying to stab into them. So instead, slash at them until you wear them down and strike into their chests. You'll know where to thrust into once you see it."

"Yes, sir."

Leon ran forward, yelling out a battle cry and I followed his lead with my chains. Unsurprisingly, my Agility level were higher than his and I outrun him, jumping in the air.

[Your Skill, 'Chain Mastery' is activated!]

I spun the chains around and threw one end, pulling it to loop around the Slug. It struggled to break free as I wrapped the chains around a metal pole, pulling hard at the chains. The Slug started to bloat, getting bigger and bigger the more I tugged.

At one point, I pulled hard enough and watched the Slug explode into pieces, gooey blood splattering all around.

I slowly slid down from the pole. Dark red puddle of blood slid down the slanted section of the roof.

My feet stepped on the puddle of blood, splashing it. The feeling was disgusting, but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. Not anymore.

[Your 'Mentality' has offset the mental shock.]

Leon did as he was told, slashing and cutting apart the Slug in succession. Each time he did, he let out strained grunting, veins bulging from his neck. What a random person would need at least 100 slashes of, Leon did it in 5.

I watched the body of the Slug, deprived of its slime-like exterior, falling down and the tip of his spear penetrating its core.

Leon pulled out the spear, blood splashing all around.

[2/12 Slugs (D-) killed.]

"Wasn't too hard, was it?" I asked Leon, jogging up to his side. I wrapped the chain around my left hand, pulling it.

"It feels disgusting."

"Get used to it. We'll be doing this a whole lot more in the future."

I saw Leon's expression brightening up as I mentioned, 'in the future'. He nodded his head, the grin reappearing on his face. He stepped forward, spinning around the spear with great control over the heavy weapon and charged at the group in front.

The tip of his spear directed straight at the group of Slugs and he continued to run towards them.

I ran beside him, drawing the blade made by Leon and twirling my hand to unwrap the chains on my left hand.

"I'll try to hold them down for you, and you give 'em hell!" I cried out, extending the chains towards the Slugs. The one that was tied down by my chains were torn apart by Leon's brutal attack, while I used my bladed hand to cut down my own opponents.

"Graaaaaaghh!!"

Leon's cry resounded through the empty rooftop of the factory. His hand didn't cease its movements and continued to strike down the Slugs, one after another in succession.

Similarly, I started to cut them apart. Having a weapon more suitable for cutting than stabbing, I was able to easily cut through their thick outer layer and slash their cores. One by one, the Slugs fell to their death.

The chains spun around my hand and I struck a Slug with the chain, cutting off a piece of its glutinous outer layer from the impact.

A pained growl came from the Slug before I cleanly cut through its thick outer layer and right through the core.

Its slimy flesh fell to the ground, right below my feet. The blood spilled out and made contact with my shoes. I stared at it for a bit, watching its body slowly stopped moving.

"How many left?!" Leon cried out, still cutting the Slugs with the tip of his spear. It was a funny sight to see a man of his size using a weapon that he could easily wrap his thumb and finger around, moving up and down with it to cut down a slimy creature.

"Almost done. Only three left!"

"I think it will be a lot easier if you give me that sword, Sir Rayes!"

I stepped back, avoiding a claw attack from a Slug and turned to Leon.

"I need a weapon too, you know? And I doubt I can easily move that long stick around as easy as you do."

It was a repetition of attacking and talking between the Slugs and Leon. He started rushing in, using his body as well, using his entire body weight to create deeper cuts within their flesh.

I struck the Slug nearby with my feet and pushed it down to the ground. Gargling sounds were made from its open mouth, which looked like I could fit an average-sized child in it. I glanced over at Leon, surrounded by two Slugs and whistled at him as I tossed my sword.

Leon's eyes lit up, throwing his spear with his brute strength.

Guaaaghhh!!

I was shocked to see it penetrating through the thick outer layer of the Slug. Even though they were only Tier 1 Slugs, it shouldn't be possible at his current level.

"Who is the real monster here…?" I muttered under my breath, still in disbelief.

I felt claws digging into my calves and turned my attention back to the Slug struggling to break free of my chains wrapped around its neck.

"Yes, yes, I'll make it quick." I tightened the bind and pressed down on its head, pulling the chains towards me. The gargling noises only got louder but was soon forced to cease as the chain ripped right through its body.

At the same time, Leon ran forward, cutting down the two Slugs simultaneously, spinning the sword around and planting it on the roof with style.

It was like watching an action series. The moment he placed the blade down, they bled out and fell to the ground.

"Tsk, I'm all wet now." I brushed off the blood from my coat. But it was useless. Most of it had seeped into the fabrics, staining the brown coat. I decided to shed the outfit and tossed it off the side of the roof.

"How are you doing, Leon?"

Leon turned around, wiping the self-made sword with a cloth. "It wasn't too bad. Though it would've been easier if I had the sword in the beginning."

"Well, I needed something to fight with as well."

"You seemed to be doing just fine with the chains though, Sir Rayes."

"How long will you keep that up?"

"Huh?"

I shook my head at Leon, holding out my hand and he placed the cloth on it. I wiped the blood off the chains and gave the cloth back. "Calling me 'Sir', I mean. I'm not used to it."

"Even though you don't look 29, sir, now that I know, it's hard to pretend that I don't."

"29 isn't that old, though." I said, raising an eyebrow and looking at the man in front of me. Leon stared back as well and I quickly added, "Your words."

Leon laughed a bit. "Very contradicting."

"Very."

"Very." Leon sighed, walking over to the body of the Slug that he killed by throwing the spear. "I have started calling you that. It's hard to stop now, Sir Rayes."

I clicked my tongue, but decided not to argue any further than this. "Fair enough."

Leon ripped out the spear from its chest. He then tapped it against the edge of the roof to clean it from the blood.

"Say…" Leon started, walking back to me and giving me the sword again. "…if this is a game, then do those exist as well?"

I cocked my head. "Those?"

"Uh, what do you call them…mythical weapons, and such?"

I narrowed my eyes. Leon started stuttering, "Well, I read some novels like these before, and a lot of them had a class selection system in the beginning. Or they were provided random weapons that are attributed to them."

"Mhm?"

"So I was wondering if this world had such things…"

'This' world, he said. Seems that he was rejecting that this world is also the world he used to live in. Though, it really isn't a concept that is easy to take in, no matter how much you tried.

It was a completely different case with me. Not only my view of the Game, but my entire personality have taken a turn since this Game began.

I did things that I never expected myself to, oddly enough.

[Quest completed!]

[Distributing rewards…]

[You have received 1,200P! You have received 'Slug Mucus (D)' (x3)!]

Judging from Leon's reaction, he must've gotten the rewards as well.

"Slug Mucus?" Leon asked, sounding a bit disgusted. "It was already…bad enough having to feel the sensation of cutting through it. But to have it?"

I smiled a bit, "Give them to me. However much you have."

Leon did something with his screen and a message appeared before me.

[4x 'Slug Mucus (D)' have been added to your inventory.]

"I suppose there's something we can use them

for?" Leon asked, now sounding curious about it. I nodded my head at his question while also observing the bottle it came in.

"You asked if there were weapons and things like that earlier, right? There is. And this just might help us get it." I said, barely able to contain my own excitement.