Three against One: Extracting the Voidsting Blade

"Right... that goddess did say I could extract anything," Gabriel muttered in a somewhat lazy voice as he watched the system messages flickering in his retina.

"I can't believe I forgot something as important as this." He pinched the ridge of his eyebrows. "But come to think of it, it's just my first day here... things like this were bound to happen."

Although he was curious about what would happen if he extracted the skill, it had to be put on hold for now—he only had 4 EP left in his reserve.

Still, he wondered if he could use Extraction on a skill even after learning it.

Gabriel decided to take a gamble and learn the skill, [Vicious Pounce].

Fighting with a skill could make it much easier for him to hunt down monsters, and even if Extraction failed, he would just accept it.

Suddenly, just as he was about to learn the skill, his senses tingled—he sensed three presences behind him.

Because his perception stat was still relatively low, Gabriel hadn't sensed them earlier.

Calmly, with no trace of panic in his expression, he turned around, his gaze settling on the three individuals.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A solo adventurer carrying a skill scroll—and it's of uncommon rarity too," said a girl with short, spiky red hair and sharp, playful green eyes.

The man in the middle, a tall, bald guy with thick brows, chuckled as he bumped his fists together. "You know the rules, buddy. Anything you find in this area belongs to the guild. Hand over the scroll, and maybe we won't break a leg."

"Actually, scratch that," said the other girl—a white-haired beauty with pale blue eyes and a generous chest that jiggled slightly as she threatened, "Give us the skill, that sword, and all your mana cores."

Gabriel didn't respond immediately and simply assessed the strangers. Right now, he didn't have any skill that let him gauge their levels, but he could easily tell each of them was at least Level 5, while he was just Level 4.

Naturally, he knew these three didn't belong to any guild. They operated like bandits, taking advantage of newbie players.

He had encountered them in his past life—and once handed over his treasures.

His eyes narrowed as he gripped his [Voidsting Blade] and muttered in a barely audible voice, "I have only five strikes left."

His eyes suddenly flashed. He had an idea.

"Extract," he whispered under his breath.

[Would you like to extract the Voidsting Blade? | Cost: 5 EP]

'Not enough.'

"Hey, what are you muttering? Did he go nuts out of fear?" the white-haired girl sneered, frowning.

"It seems he's broken already. This'll be even easier."

"Right! An uncommon scroll fetches us a whopping 13,000 dollars or more!"

"Come on, let's get him!" the large bald man shouted as he summoned a giant warhammer, confirming his Tanker class.

Just as they were about to charge, however, the skill scroll suddenly disintegrated into millions of specks and flew into Gabriel.

The three bandits froze.

Gabriel exhaled as the method of using the skill was automatically ingrained in his mind.

"BASTARD! Hahaha, you could've just told us to murder you from the beginning!" the bald man laughed as he swung his giant warhammer, approaching Gabriel with a wide, barbaric grin.

BANG!

With a heavy stomp that cracked the ground, the bald-headed Tanker charged forward, swinging down his hammer with a mad gleam in his eyes.

At the same time, Gabriel also activated his new skill: [Vicious Pounce].

BANG!

The warhammer missed its target and slammed into the ground. The sheer force behind it exploded the earth, causing dust and debris to fill the air.

"Huh? Where did he go?!" the Tanker exclaimed as he pulled his weapon from the ground.

"Aghhhhhhh!"

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the clearing. The red-haired girl and the bald man turned toward the sound—and their eyes widened in shock.

The so-called weakling had pierced the heart of the only support-type mage in their squad.

"I've fought a fair number of your kind before," Gabriel smirked as he thrust the sword deeper into the white-haired beauty's chest. Blood spilled from her mouth.

His gaze was steady and cold. "You support types... although not strong, are very annoying."

They were the lifeblood of any party. That was why he had targeted her first—before she could use her buff skills and make the fight even harder.

---

[Ding! You've defeated a Level 10 Human!]

[Ding! You have received Experience]

[Ding! You have leveled up!]

[Ding! You have leveled up!]

[Ding! You have leveled up!]

[Ding! You received x15 free stat points!]

[Ding! You received +5 EP!]

---

"Miya!!" the red-haired girl screamed, unable to believe her eyes.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!" the bald man's eyes burned with fury as he charged forward and slammed his warhammer with the intent of splitting Gabriel in two.

BANG!

Gabriel parried the attack with his Voidsting Blade—a fatal oversight, as the weapon's durability immediately dropped to one. Furthermore, he was thrown several steps back due to the bald man's higher Strength stat.

From the side, he noticed the spiky red-haired girl was also charging toward him—and his only skill was still on cooldown.

Now that he had about nine Extraction Points, Gabriel didn't hesitate.

[Ding! Would you like to extract the Voidsting Blade? | Cost: 5 EP!]