"Stay here and play dead!", he commanded his skeletons, which dropped on the floor and stopped moving. The parking lot was swarming with goblins, dozens of them, more of them probably inside of the supermarket, so he couldn't take them with him. He wanted to sneak to Sergej's place and see whether he was there, without immediately attracting all of them there were too many, this time he knew that if they surrounded him and his skeletons, fighting them wouldn't be as easy as before. This time they had the advantage, as the goblin's strength was in their numbers and there was a huge amount of them here. These goblins were also better geared than the ones he encountered before. Their weapons looked a bit better, some of them even wore shabby looking leather armor. In the back he could spot a group of eleven, which sparked his interest the most. This group, that was overseeing the other goblins, consisted of two kinds of creatures.
Four of them were goblins, just like the others, but equipped differently. Each of them had a long wooden staff and was dressed in shabby looking black robes. Joker knew there was a chance of encountering goblin shamans, but four of them at the same time, finally things became interesting. It was also possible there were more goblin shamans inside the supermarket, he couldn't but, but should be prepared to face them.
The other seven were hobgoblins, the stronger, quicker and more intelligent version that goblins turned into when they evolved. All of them were either as tall as Joker or taller, broad shouldered and muscular with good weapons in their hands, armored in leather armor and one of them even wore chainmail. Again, there could be more of them inside, this time he knew it was definitely impossible for him to get out of this fight unharmed. On the other hand, if he could get them all, the experience he and his skeletons would get would be immense, he just had to think of a good plan.
The group of eleven, that watched the others, was standing next to a campfire, roasting a human torso, while passing a human leg around, each of them occasionally taking a bite.
They were too far away, so he couldn't hear them, but he saw they were laughing, which made Joker furious. For a split second he lost control and the bloodlust he let put was noticed. One of the hobgoblins, who was about to take a bite out of the leg that was passed around, suddenly stopped and looked around. It was the hobgoblin wearing the chainmail. He looked around, his eyes carefully observing the area. Joker held his breath, he didn't dare take a move now. A creature that's able to detect bloodlust is on another level and Joker was actually surprised to see a hobgoblin that's able to do it that soon. With this skill, he expected him to be this goblin camps' leader. When the hobgoblin turned around, Joker was able to see the weapon that was strapped on it's back. It was the best weapon out of all the goblin's weapons, a huge greatsword with a shining red blade. If someone asked him, Joker would bet his right arm, that this weapon was at least a magic grade weapon. Maybe it was a rare grade, Joker couldn't tell without inspecting it, but he knew that he wanted to have it. He prefered a bastard sword, or even a long sword, but acquiring a magic or rare grade weapon on the first day after the system activated would be a great thing and he was sure to put it to good use.
The goblin's leader turned back to his comrades, he probably thought there was nothing and he was just too cautious in this new territory. Joker slowly began moving, now hiding behind the car that was immediately parked in front of Sergej's house. He went to the door, pressing the small button next to his name and putting his hand over the intercom's speaker. He waited for a bit, before he pressed the button again, after there was no response. He almost wanted to turn back, when he suddenly heard a voice, dampened through his hand over the intercom, so that it didn't attract too much attention.
"Who's there?", the voice said. Even after all the years he had not seen him, Joker immediately recognized that voice, it was Sergej.
"It's me, open the door!"
"Daniel?"
"Yes, now open the door and let me in!", Daniel whispered, when the door finally opened. He entered the building and quietly closed the door, trying to make no noise at all. After walking up to the third floor, he saw him and rushed there to hug one of his best friends that he had not seen in close to fourty years.
Sergej was a bit smaller than Joker, around 1.85m tall, with a broad build and a cleanly shaved head. He was the type of person that might seem intimidating to people, until they noticed his friendly looking eyes and the wide grin he usually had on his face, which somehow made him look like a huge teddy bear, what he was also often called by his friends.
"Woah.. Ok ok, get in!", he said, pushing Joker inside and closing the door of his small apartment.
"How did you get he.. Is that a sword?", he asked.
"I walked and yes, that's a sword.", Joker answered.
"No, I didn't mean that. I meant to ask you how you made it here! Have you seen what's going on outside with those things? I've seen them murder so many people, what is going on!?", he asked.
"Ok, try to calm down!", Joker said and then he slowly started explaining. He didn't tell him about the reset and that he came back from the future, but he told him everything that happened from the start of the system until he came here. He also told him about the system and skills, asking him whether he registered an username. Of course he had not, so Joker made him register a name and Sergej registered the name "RedBear".
"My character info.. Hmm.. It says [Martial Artist] and there's two stars next to it, why is my class so bad?", Sergej asked.
"That's ok, I'm sure there's ways to raise the class' rating and to evolve your class.", Joker told him. As a matter of fact, he knew that there was a way, but he didn't tell him, because it would just make Sergej ask unnecessary questions, which Joker could not answer yet without telling him about the reset. And even if Sergej believed him, Joker didn't know how he would react, so it was safer to pretend to not know anything.
"Listen, we should stick together, that's safer."
"of course we'll stick together, we safe here for now. My fridge is stuffed, so we'll be able to hold out for some days."
"We can't stay here, I think we should look for the others!", Joker said and laughed when he saw Sergej's shocked expression. That was a natural reaction, every sane person would try to stay inside and hold out, hoping that either the police or the army would arrive. But as Joker told him, there would be no help coming. The police and the army were also in the same boat as everyone else, as the system had deactivated all modern weapons, which meant that guns were not working anymore.
Nobody knew the reason for that, but in the past there had been one theory which actually made a lot of sense. The system shutting all modern weapons down, was there to force people to rely on their skills, which would prove to be more effective anyway. At one point people would be fast enough so that dodging bullets wouldn't be a problem anymore, even if guns were still working. People's skills would also prove to be more destructive than any gun could ever be.
"Are you crazy? You ware lucky to get here without them noticing, I don't think we can sneak past them!", Sergej said, but Joker thought he was wrong. They would probably be able to sneak away, but Joker wouldn't tell him that.
"You're right, that's why we're not sneaking away. We will fight them!", he said, making Sergej's jaw hit the floor.
"Have you lost your mind!? Do you know how to count? Can you see how many there are? What the fuck, are you trying to get us both killed!?", Sergej asked, while he grabbed Joker's shoulders and started violently shaking him.
Joker laughed, that was the reaction he expected from Sergej, he had always been like that.
The two of them first met when Joker was sixteen, Sergej was seventeen by that time and went to a school that was next to the school Joker visited. Joker couldn't remember anymore, maybe they had a friend in common, but they became friends very quick and stayed friends for all those years. He considered Sergej to be one of his closest friends and he was happy to see him. In the past he had not went out to search for his friends, later on he had never seen them again or even heard anything about what had happened to them. At one point, he knew that they had probably all died. That was the day a part of him had died as well. Now he felt euphoric, knowing that at least one of his friends was now by his side.
"Listen, it's not that crazy, we just need a good plan and I happen to have a pretty good attack plan. If I remember correctly, is it your kitchen window that's above the buildings' entrance?"
"Yes it is, why?", Sergej asked. When he saw Joker's grin, he knew he was up to something.
"That's great, now let me tell you about my plan.."