Joker was standing behind the building's door, having a smoke and waiting for RedBear's sign. He had explained him the plan in detail and sent him a party invite, now he was ready to strike. RedBear had left the door of his apartment open, so Joker could hear him, as soon as he was ready. He had told RedBead to just yell, now he was a bit nervous. He hoped everything would work out as he imagined it.
"Get ready but stay there. Don't come over yet and stay hidden!", Joker commanded his skeletons through his thoughts. He hoped his skeletons would be able to hold out, he had recovered most of his mana, but if they were damaged during the fight and he had to heal them constantly, he knew he would soon run out of mana.
He had talked to RedBear about his skills, to get an idea of what they could do and RedBear told him about the skills he had.
The [Martial Artist] class relied on hand-to-hand combat, as the name implied. It actually suited him pretty well, as RedBear had some experience in martial arts, Joker just didn't remember which one it was.
[Rock Smashing Fist] was the first skill on the list, a mana enhanced strike which hardens the user's fist and enables them to break rocks if the skill has a high enough rank.
The second skill was the [Open Palm Strike], which, if used correctly, proves to be even more effective. While [Rock Smashing Fist] causes external damage and can break ones's bones, [Open Palm Strike] left no visible outside damage, but it's effect on the target's inside was lethal. For example, hitting someone's arm with [Rock Smashing Fist] leaves a dark bruise and breaks the bone in one or two places. The [Open Palm Strike] would leave no bruise, there would be no visible damage at all, while the bone will be completely shattered. Of course that depended on both skills' efficiency.
The first skill you had to use your feet for, was the [Ground Breaker] skill, which strengthened the users' kicks. It could be used in any way the user wanted to, with a low kick, a high kick, even an axe kick, it didn't matter.
Last but not least was [Aura Body], a skill that surrounded the user's fists and feet with a light mist, made out of the user's mana. It was not an attack type skill, but one that, when activated, could be used as long one had mana to supply the skill. The higher the skill proficiency was, the denser the mist would become, until it would at one point be a clear layer of mana, not just surrounding the user's fists and feet but rather the whole arms and legs.
Joker was looking forward to see those skills, as much as RedBear was, without the right skills, lacking in ways of ranged fighting, efficient training and the correct use of those skills could turn him into a monster. Joker had given him some pointers on how and when to use those skills. He knew lots of martial artists in the past and he had also picked up a few tricks from them, which he could teach Red later on.
"I'm ready!", Red yelled from his apartment, Joker took a final drag on his cigarette and opened the building's door. He tossed the cigarette away as soon as the door was opened and took a few steps outside, after setting up a door stopper, to keep it open. He unsheathed his sword and went closer to the parking lot, still unnoticed by the goblins.
"HEEEEEEEY! FUCK YOU!", he yelled from the top of his lungs, in human language. They did not understand what he said, but that was not important. His goal was to get their attention and now he had it. All eyes on that parking lot were now watching him, but more than that. There were many curtains pushed a bit, because the people in their apartments heard him too. Joker turned around and saw Red watch him out of the window, who gave him a nervous smiled, Joker gave him a thumbs-up and turned back to the goblins, who were now watching their group of leaders. One of the shamans said something Joker couldn't hear and nodded into Joker's direction, and a group of five goblins rushed towards Joker.
"Only five huh? Yeah, keep underestimating me!", he thought, and defended against the attacking goblins. Their attacks were full of openings, which he could have used to end them quickly, but he chose not to. He dragged the fight against all five of them out and purposely wielded his sword in an inefficient and bad way, so they would keep underestimating him. If he completely dominated and killed them in a few moments, he'd risk all of the other goblins rushing him at once. If he could pull other, smaller groups of five to six goblins, he could slowly decimate their numbers, which would make the ongoing fight easier for him. When he killed the last of the first five goblins, another five ran over to him, followed by ten more goblins. With a short [Shadow Rush], he quickly cut down three goblins, shortly before killing the remaining two. Joker then slowly walked backwards, towards the open door to lure the goblins in that direction, fighting them as a group. He cut down two of them when he passed the door, luring the goblins inside the narrow space of the stairwell. Now, being out of sight, he slashed them down without holding back, two goblins at a time, as the stairs did not provide enough space for more than two goblins staying next to each other, while going up. When he killed the last group of them, he grabbed one goblin's head, which he had cut off,by the ear and carried it out. Stepping outside of the door, he held the goblin's head up and laughed, angering the remaining goblins. Joker knew, that an angry enemy is a dumb enemy that makes mistakes and enemies that make mistakes die quickly, because they're careless. But that was not the end of his provocation. He threw the severed goblin head towards the others in the parking lot, motioning them to come over.
"Come die!", he yelled, spitting in their direction immediately after that.
The hobgoblin with the greatsword was anreaged, screaming at the others with a foaming mouth. He reminded Joker of a rabid animal, exactly what Joker wanted. Now every remaining goblin was sprinting towards him, their weapons raised, thirsting for his blood. Joker rushed back inside and went up the stairs, until he was on the third floor, in front of Red's apartment.
"How many are following me?", he loudly said, standing on top of the stairs, waiting for the goblins to reach him.
"All of them, except for the leader guys, like you predicted. They are all in front of the building now, trying to get in!", Red explained, while Joker had already started cutting the goblins down, which reached him. The dead fell down the stairs, their corpses being pushed aside by their companions, who were trying to get their hands on Joker.
"Perfect, thanks Red! Now everyone, attack!", Joker replied to Red's update, afterwards commanding his skeletons. It was now time for them to get in action. The goblins, standing in front of the open door outside, screaming and squeaking, didn't notice Joker's skeletons, until the first of them were hit in the back. Scars and the other skeleton that were armed, were furiously attacking them with their weapons, while the remaining eight skeletons were fighting them in their usual manner. Trying to claw their eyes out, strangling them and biting them if possible. Five goblins died until some of them turned around, the goblins now facing enemies from the front and the back. The started ganging up on the skeletons, which were now in a bad situation, having to face too many goblins.
"First load going down!", Red yelled and a few seconds later Joker could hear the goblins outside scream in the most painful and horrifying way possible, making Joker smile. His plan should prove to be a success.
Red had just emptied out a huge pot of boiling water on the goblin's heads, which now let go of the skeletons, some of them holding their faces or necks or all other parts of their bodies which were badly burned. The skeletons, completely unharmed by the boiling water, were now in a favorable position again, slaughtering the hurt goblins.
"Second load!", he now yelled and Joker could hear some more screams. He had told RedBear to try to hit as many as possible and hoped he did it. Hitting the same goblins twice would prove less efficient than burning more of them, giving them a handicap against the skeletons, who were slowly gaining the upper hand.
"Great, throw the third one and then follow me, we're going down!", Joker yelled and started moving down the stairs, while cutting more and more goblins down. The goblins on the inside, which didn't knwo what was happening on the outside, only heard their companions' screams, which terrified them. An unknown danger on the outside and Joker slashing them down like a monster, they slowly felt fear creeping up on them.
*Ding*
[Level up! Reached level 4!]
*Ding*
[Skeleton - level up! Level 3!]
[Skeleton can now use two handed weapons!]
[Skeleton can now dual wield]
[Skeleton - level up! Level 4!]
[Skeleton can now use leather armor!]
[Skeleton - level up! Level 3!]
[Skeleton can now use two handed weapons!]
[Skeleton can now dual wield!]
[Skeleton - level up! Level 2!]
[Skeleton can now use one handed weapons!]
[Skeleton - level up! Level 2!]
[Skeleton can now use one handed weapons!]
Many more messages were popping up in front of him, so many that some blocked his view a bit. One of his skeletons now reached reached level 4, just like him, while three other skeletons reached level three and the remaining six reaching level two., while his own level raised to level four. He was busy fighting right now, otherwise he would have distributed the points, but he was focused on the remaining couple of goblins on the inside. After he cut them down, he and RedBear stepped outside and saw his skeletons, all of them now carrying at least one weapon in their hands.
"Wow, that was insane! I just got two messages, I leveld up to level three but I didn't do anything!", RedBear informed him.
"Remember the party invite I sent you before? You accepted, so all EXP we gain during fights is divided between the two of us. Also you did something, don't forget the boiling water!", Joker laughed.
The leaders of the goblin group were still standing beside the campfire, now moving an inch. They had just watched all of their subordinates getting slaughtered one by one, without moving a single inch. The one wielding the greatsword was looking directly at Joker, who could feel the immense bloodlust the hobgoblin was letting out.
*Ding*
[Extra stat - perception - created]
[Perception] was not one of the original stats people had from the beginning, but one that would be created through specific circumstance. The so called extra stats also couldn't be leveled up the regular way. People couldn't distribute their stat points into the stat, they could only level it up by repeating the action, in this case, perception of things was the key. It was one of the most important stats people could gain, which would later on prove to be very important, as it had many different ways of usage.
"I already told you how to distribute your stat points, do it quickly, we are going to fight those guys now!", Joker said.
When Joker was about to distribute his points, he suddenly heard loud cheers. The people who had watched from their windows were now screaming, opening their windows. Some had even come out of their houses and were on the street now, shouting different kinds of stuff.
"GET THEM!"
"You're awesome!"
"Kill them all!"
The people, who had watched the goblins murder and dismember other humans, even eating them, were now letting out all of their anger and frustration, some were even bold enough to start throwing things in direction of the goblin's leaders.
"Shit, let's hope they don't attract every monster in the area!", Joker said towards Red, both of them now chuckling and watching the dozens of people, men and women, old and young, scream their anger out.
They both distributed their stat points, slowly walking towards the remaining enemies, one of them walking towards the supermarket and entering it.
[Joker]
Class: The Immortal Emperor (5 stars)
Class description: Relying only on yourself you will stand at the pinnacle of all necromancers. Your enemies will tremble in the face of your armies, while you lead thousands into battle.
Level: 4
(Available attribute points: 0)
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 13
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 40
Mana: 170/200
Joker thought that his character info looked great, every level up gaining him ten stat points was a huge advantage. RedBear, who had a two star class, would only receive six stat points per level, but that wouldn't be a problem, Joker would later show him how to raise his character's rating.
"Hey you guys, which of you is on level four?", he asked his skeletons, when Scars stepped forward. Of course it was him. One of the dead goblins had some leather armor on, so Joker commanded him to take and equip it, which he did. He was also holding an axe in his hand, in addition to the mace that Joker had given him before. Joker could also see that one of the skeletons was holding two short swords, one was holding a spear and another one was holding a short sword and an axe. Those were the ones who looked the strongest among his skeletons. He also saw the female skeleton that was wielding two daggers.
"oh fuck.." RedBear said, shortly after the crowd of people turned quiet. Joker followed his gaze and was shocked at what he saw. The one gobling that had gone into the supermarket just came out, but not alone. Dozens of goblins were streaming out of the supermarket, the greatsword wielding hobgoblin now grinning. As if it wanted to mock Joker, it seemed as it's gaze was saying "how about that?".
"Shit, got another plan?", RedBear asked him, Joker shaking his head.
"Nope, none that would probably work. I'm afraid they won't fall for the boiling water trick again.. Running is also not an option. Do you see the tall ones between them? Those are hobgoblins, they would catch up with you. Shutting ourselves inside also won't help, they could just burn down the building and.. No way, are you kidding me!?"
The hobgoblin with the greatsword was wearing the best equipment, which was the reason that Joker thought that should be their leader, but now he realised how wrong he was. Between the dozens of goblins and hobgoblins that streamed out of the supermarket, one stood out especially. Tall and muscular, with a staff in it's hands and dressed in a black robe, that was the worst thing that could have happened to them since all of the others came streaming out. The true boss of them had just appeared, a hobgoblin shaman.