Chapter 10 : Group Hunt

Michael wasn't sure they knew what they were proposing. The Abandoned City Deashal was a city that had been invaded by bloodthirsty Zombies. They had killed most of the population, only a few escaping.

Strong zombies strived there, including, Zombie Rippers, Zombie Marauders, Titan Zombies.... If you came here without preparation, you would be ripped to pieces. 

"We are not strong enough to go to this place yet." he replied. 

"What gives you the confidence to go there? You would need to be at least level 10 and even at that level the place would be full of dangers."

"This." Arin replied, showing a grenade she took from an inventory. 

"I was lucky enough to find a chest full of grenades. We don't have to kill them or confront them directly. As long as you kite a lot of them with your speed and group them together, I will just throw the grenades" she said frankly.

"Joe, our priest, will put a protection spell, I Kate the ranger will snipe the ones that get too close to you, Paul will assist if it gets too dangerous and Arin will prepare a large scale spell." Kate elaborated further. 

Arin looked at Kate with approbation for supporting her argument then said : "Of course to be sure I would like us to get a few more levels before we go further I am aiming for us all to be level 8 or 9".

Michael pondered on their plan. He wasn't sure if the plan was feasible and if they could be trusted. Stellarion didn't protect against team kill after all. If they didn't care about his life, they could just throw the grenade at him, and he would be dead, blown up along with the zombies. They would end up collecting all the rewards.

"How can I trust that you will not just throw the grenade at me. I don't even know you enough to trust you". He replied.

Arin calmly looked at him, then answered : "Just the fact that we are exposing our plan to you should give you some trust. Also, I am willing to temporarily give you half of the grenades. If you die, half of my explosives will go with you into your inventory, and I would have made a huge loss."

Hearing this, Michael trust in them increased significantly. As long as they made good on their words and were competent enough, he was willing to give this party a chance and work with them. 

"Alright, I want to give this a try" he told them.

Arin smiled, even more sure of the success of their plan. Originally she wanted to use Kate to lure the zombies as she was a rogue and her speed attribute was high. 

The problem was that Kate's constitution attributes and equipment defense were low. She would be one-shot-ed if anything went wrong. 

Whereas, Michael as a warrior had great defense, and she noticed the way he danced around the zombies that his speed attribute was high. 

Happy with the result of their negotiation, she led him and her team to their hunt. 

Their formation was not complicated. Paul and him would act on the front line, while the rest would assist them. 

Michael had to admit that having a team was indeed efficient. His hunting efficiency increased considerably, and he could gain experience easier.

For example Joe first used [Aura Armor Of Protection] on Michael. A mini buff skill to protect him against damage.

It would reduce physical damage against him by 10%.

In their first hunt, he aggroed 3 teams of lvl 8 zombies on his own for a total of 18 zombies. He caused confusion among the creatures with his footwork but he still took some damage.

*slick*

*slick*

-18

-14

 A claw sliced him to the side on his left waist, another scratched him to his right arm he used to defend his head. He instantly lost 14 % of his health.

[Cure Wounds]

+24

Joe cured part of his damage, helping him deal with the problem.

Kate as for her was a rogue but she specialized in long range attack with bow and arrows.

She would interrupt enemies that could threaten Michael and dealt final blows to them with skills like [Bullseye] [Strong Shot] [Precision Strike].

Paul having put most of his free attributes into constitution and wearing heaving armor was protecting Kate, Arin and Joe.

Arin as for her was preparing the flaming spell [Searing Smite] a first class spell, that would deal good damage but took 1min to chant uninterrupted and a 2-min cooldown.

Michael sliced heads while blocking and avoiding some blows. His efforts were akin to walking on a tight rope. A single mistake would spell his doom. 

He had the most dangerous mission amongst the groups. He was distracting the Zombies, injuring them, even killing some of them, but his focus this time was not on killing but just depleting their life bar and surviving. 

He only executed some by accidents. He didn't even use any skills. The task was exhausting and times felt longer to Michael. What took 1 minutes felt like minutes. 

*fuiiiiiii*

Suddenly, Michael heard a whistle.

Hearing Arin's signal, he had to leave their encirclement. Ignoring damage on him, he focused his attack on the left. Using the combo [Triple Slash], followed by [Tornado Slash].

 He then used [Dash] leaving their encirclement followed by [Power Blow] to keep them from following, exhausting all his [spirit] attribute. It left him mentally exhausted.

*BOOM*

-80

-60

-5,5,5....

 As soon as he left, however, a ball of fire 2 meters (6.6 feet) in diameters fell on the Zombie group knocking them down, causing a small explosion and a deafening noise. The fire spread to the surrounding. 

The ones at the centers received damage to their life bar as high as 80 hp and the ones at the periphery 60 hp.

The fire even dealt -5hp continuous damage.

Most of the zombies died from the skill and the rest died from the continuous damage of the fire or from Kate sniper abilities.

As soon as the last zombie died, they received continuous XP notifications.

Michael being the lowest level was the only one to level up

+80 XP.

Immediately a light was emitted from him indicating his level up. It brightened his spirits and relieved his exhaustion. 

Satisfied with the hunt, he again focused on his agility and reaction speed, putting half of his attributes into both.

He received 6 attributes every level up thanks to his [Nova Knight] talents, whereas other only receive 5 so it was easy to divide. 

It put his agility a 21.46 and his reaction at 20.98

[Ding]

[Your agility exceeded 20 points]

[Due to your Nova Physique talent you obtain the skill Shunpo(Epic)]