The group arrived in what seems to be an abandoned old room. The room have broken windows and its walls rotted and caved in. The doors were also splintered into pieces and various cobwebs littered the place.
"What the? Where are we?" Marco grimaced at the trash covered floor, his nose scrunching at the sight.
"Ping! ~"
"Well one thing is for sure. It seems that we're on the Challenge area" answered Ken as he poked a lump of trash with his staff.
[ Spring Clean Challenge! ]
[ The inn is in disrepair and has been nested by pests! Now is the time to clean the inn and make it anew! ]
[ Challenge 1 : Eliminate all the pest ]
[ 00: 30s ]
"What kind of pest are we talking about here?", Shaira asked, shuddering at the thought of wriggling slimy kind of pest. Her knuckles turning white as she grip her sword.
"What do you think?" Angelo immediately equipped the black steel tonfa, the steel glinting as it catch the light.
[ 00: 09s]
"Well no need to guess...we'll know it soon enough" Ken immediately take stance, staff at the ready as he charge for a spell.
[ 00: 04s]
[ 00: 03s]
[ 00: 02s]
[ 00: 01s]
[ 00: 00 ]
The timer flashed red as they wait in baited breath on what was to come. Their body tensed, ready for combat. Silence envelops them as they glanced around, waiting for the monsters to attack. Seconds passed by and Angelo's back felt cold, he gripped his tonfa tightly.
Squeak
"Did you hear that?"
"What is it?" Marco glanced at him, shuriken at the ready.
Angelo closed his eyes, trying to stretch his senses.
pitter patter pitter patter squeak pitter patter
Angelo opened his eyes, the sound of many footsteps echoing inside his head.
"Guys! Get ready!"
PITTER PATTER PITTER PATTER
SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK
"What is that?!"
Angelo have no time to answer Marco as the wall bursts open and a wave of black mass emerged.
"What the f-!"
Hundred of rats burst through as they came upon them. Their eyes staring at them in red menacing glow.
< Mutant rant Lvl 5 >
Even though they are only level 5, but faced with this kind of numbers, anyone can't help but step back.
"F*ck! Ken put them on fire!!" yelled Marco as the swarm of rats descended above them.
Ken wave his staff and a wall of fire engulf the onslaught of the mutant rats.
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>...
-----
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>...
<< You have leveled up! >>
<< You have gained 5 Allocation Points >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>...
<< You have leveled up! >>
<< You have gained 5 Allocation Points >>
Continues barrage peppered Angelo 's view as he kicked a mutant rat dead.
75 Damage
<< You have gained 23 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>...
"They're encircling us!" he yelled as he continued on bashing and kicking the rats.
75 Damage
<< You have gained 23 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>...
45 Damage
30 Damage
<< You have gained 23 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>
<< You have gained 3 Exp >>...
In a quick move, Shaira slashed her sword towards Angelo's direction.
"Whirlwind slash"
A whirlwind produced by Shaira's slash hurls towards the oncoming mutant rats.
38 Damage
37 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
38 Damage
37 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>...
Shaira then continue slash her sword, wave after wave, producing countless five whirlwinds in succession.
38 Damage
37 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
38 Damage
37 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>...
"Damn! There's no end to them!"
Marco gathered a ball of black energy in his hand and threw it with all his might and it descended upon the mutant rats.
It hovered above them and pulsated. The ball of black energy as if a black hole, continued to grow bigger. It also pulsates much faster the bigger it grows.
"Shadow Bomb"
As if the trigger has been set, the ball exploded leaving a shock wave in its wake, killing all the mutants rats in the vicinity.
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>
75 Damage
<< You have gained 27 Exp >>...
Meanwhile Ken continued on fueling his spell but despite leveling up continuously, and his MP being refilled, his mana regeneration can't keep up with the spell. He needed more time to allocate the skill points to the skill he needed. As a subcontractor under a class-based system, skill points are needed to unlock the whole skill tree of his class.
"Tch, you guys hold it for a bit!"
"What do you mean hold it for a bit? With these numbers, we will be completely overwhelmed the moment you stop!" shouted Shaira as she relentlessly unleased her sword skills.
On the other side of them, Angelo is bashing the mutant rats before him, he can be seen pausing his movement for a second before continuing again every time his HP decrease in half. But even a stall of not attacking for a second is fatal as he's been bombarded by the mutant rats attack making his HP rapidly decrease. He immediately paused his attack and relax his body making his HP became full again. The attacks of the mutant rats seemingly has no effect as long as he soften and relax his body.
One can see the passive aspect of his highest skill, <
He have to find some way to trigger the passive effect of his skill without compromising his attack power. Easier said than done as one needed to relax the muscles in his body to trigger the effect but to instantly kill the rats at his current strength points without exerting too much force is a total no-go.
Ken's fire wall wavered and the spell shrink in size, making some of the mutant rats past through him.
- 24 Damage
- 22 Damage
- 24 Damage
- 22 Damage
Ken winced at the pain, ignoring the mutant rats attacking him as he focused on maintaining the spell.
Angelo immediately came to his rescue as he bashed the rats to disintegration.
<< You have gained 23 Exp >>
<< You have gained 23 Exp >> ...
"Shit! No good, at this rate I'll be out of mana! Do you have any plans?" asked Ken, sweat leaking down from his forehead and his body tense.
In response, Angelo called for Marco and Shaira.
"Marco get over here and Shaira get close and cover the rear!"
"Ok"
"Roger!"
Marco summersaulted as he throw a kunai with a talisman attach to it. It strike a mutant rat and it exploded along within its vicinity.
"Marco, do you have any mana left? I want you to drop several shadow bombs within this area and trigger them as soon as I signal for you to do so."
"Ok...I can do that but I need to really focus for this"
Angelo stared at Marco seriously. "You can do this" , he clapped Marco's shoulder as he continued his killing spree.
"..." Marco stared at Angelo's back, he watched him kill the rats non-stop.
"Hoo...ok...let's do this" Marco concentrated the dark energy within his palm and shot it towards the first designated point. With great concentration, he withheld its trigger as it continue to grow. He then gathered another dark energy, his body tensing as he accumulate it in his palm.
While Marco's doing his task, Angelo turn to Ken.
"How are you holding up?"
"Not good Rey...if we don't settle this sooner, we'll die here" answered Ken solemnly, the fire wall shrinking but still holding out.
"But no matter how many we killed, it's like they're not even dwindling..."
"Whatever it is that you planned Rey, you need to do it fast"
"Hold out for a bit Ken. What I instructed to Marco will only just give us a bit of a time. What we really need to do is to figure out the source of this mutant rats."
"Well better figure that out, because I'm out of mana."
"What?"
At that moment, the wall of fire cease to exist.
"..."
"We are so screwed"