Ray felt a splatter of blood hit his forehead as he watched the Grand Dune-fish perform another figure eight movement before delving deep within the earth, uprooting grass and bush alike as a faint indentation lead back to the desert it came from.
Though not without casualty on either side, the dune-fish had shed an entire layer of scales and had a ruptured hide. "If only we could have kept it here, maybe the bastard could have been killed" Ray muttered to himself.
He took one last look at the battlefield. The scent of iron perforated the field and the red gleam of blood all but soaked a 40 meter radius. Splatters of human remains and torn corpses were everywhere.
'this, this battle was tons more dangerous than the Zerran' Ray was Aghast at the notion, for the past few years he assumed That Zerran being a high-level monster was as dangerous as it gets. 'I'll have to look through that beast encyclopaedia when i get the chance.'
Ray silently climbed back up to the ramparts and met up with Elana, neither of the duo had friendly expressions and neither was in any mood to talk. So they continued their daily work in a sombre silence.
Thankfully Ray didn't encounter another monster attack before his shift was over and night set, Ray set off to the barracks medical centre to get the rips in his palms tended to. His palms were shredded and pouring blood from multiple cuts where his metal gloves dug into his skin when enduring blows.
after his check-up he had to continue with his training, not so arduous now he could do it at his own pace Bodybuilding was already done Afterall so he decided to read through the monster encyclopaedia during these 3 days of peace.
Three days later on the northern boarder...
"RAY, GUARD ME WHILE I SHOOT!" Elana shouted while readying a metallic short-bow.
The Limbs of the short-bow were reinforced with a bone-like metal lattice called Endrua metal forged by casting an inverse bone of a Endrua then burning it as extremely high pressure to create a metal-bone capable of bending.
even this short-bow had a draw strength of 160kg due to it, the limbs of the shortbow were sharpened gradually into points allowing it to be used as a offensive weapon to a lesser extent, whilst the fibre used on the string is spider silk.
Each arrow fired by Elana's bow would penetrate the skull of a Squallor without issue or even losing much momentum ensuring 2-3 kills per arrow if the area is dense enough.
Ray was wielding his trusty Greatshield, still heavily dented in places due to the Dune-fish's previous assault.
Surrounding the duo was a whirlwind of pitch black claws and beaks. during their patrol the duo was ambushed by a couple thousand Squallor's hiding in the dense undergrowth of the forest, even the tower watchmen were caught unawares and swiftly disappeared in the maelstrom.
Elana, thanks to her extremely expensive armor could probably stand-still in the storm and be untouched, maybe only a few bruises from high-speed impacts. but Ray on the other hand was much less fortunate.
even with his higher than average Vitality his body was gradually getting covered in wounds.
"I don't- cough, know how much longer i can hold steady" he was spitting blood from the impacts, while fighting them off.
Ray was fighting blind, he could hear reinforcement's from outside the his current location trying to fight through them but couldn't even see a step Infront of him.
"RAY, WHERE DID YOU GO!" Elana lost track of him for a second, and the maelstrom swallowed them both separately.
A Squallor hit him in the check, his helmet deflected most of the blow but it knocked him dizzy, another took the opportunity to hit the back of his head with a equally strong impact.
[Health: 68/120]
A silhouette appeared vaguely withing the haze, 'What's that'. "Elana im here." Another Squallor flew directly into his back seemingly knocked off its original course.
he turned his back and saw 3 Squallors all connected on the floor by a singular arrow. "wait, Elana? which guard are you?" he looked back at the silhouette In front, but it was gone and in its place was the blood-soaked edge of the ramparts.
"Fuck.." was the last thing he said before the wind carried him hurtling 30 meter down to the treeline below
...
A white light filled his vision as Ray awoke, 'W-where am i' he thought as he opened his eyes.
The warm fuzzy sunlight he was so used to before was gone. And in its place, the cold uncaring gaze of moonlight.
Ray tried to reach out and felt the wet bushes around him and a puddle of thick liquid beneath.
'Blood', He didn't have to see it to know. Ray had been bathed in blood multiple times in the past week Afterall. "i-is it mine? or- cough, well that's mine" he coughed out a mouthful of blood into the palm of his hand before trying to get up.
below where he fell was a veritable pile of Squallor corpses, as he looked he saw thousands of them, a few were even on top of him too, he was buried in the mass.
"Status" he muttered.
--------------------
Name: Ray
Age: 15
Health: 15/120
Strength: 10 (weakened)
Vitality: 12
Agility: 10
Mind: 8
Skills:
Tough body (level up conditions met): your body has been strengthened from years on the streets. +1 Vit (you've met all the conditions to level up Tough body to level 2, doubling its effective stats. final condition you must be equal to or higher level than your skill's level)
Common slaughterer (not unlocked): You killed your first Common beast, yet they are endless. kill some more. requirements: slay more 933/10,000 (on full unlock +1 mind, +total common creature knowledge)
... (author note, for simplicity skills that haven't experienced any change will be hidden, please refer to prior chapters for details)
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"Fuck... i really took a beating didn't i" Ray winced in pain. It felt like his entire body had been put in a vice and wrung for all the blood and energy he had.
but eventually he pushed to his feet with sheer willpower and followed the edge of the wall around back to the gate.
As he reached the wall he noticed his left arm was bent in a un-natural angle and couldn't be used without extreme agony. 'Fuck i hope its not broken to badly'.
"w-which way was it?" he was heaving in pain. and struggled to speak properly from it. 'we were at the northern border right? then i need to follow it to my left for the eastern gateway.' And so, a lone and wounded soldier could faintly be seen pushing through his own agony as he tried to get back to the safe embrace of home.
'Thankfully i didn't encounter any creatures on the near crawl back to the town. a lone chicken could probably end me.' he thought with a chuckle as the gates main entrance appeared within his eyes.