Hearing those words together immediately had me very scared, it was rare Lazarus was ever serious with me so this was definitely a worst case scenario. Had I scared him? Was he going to call the cops on me for killing those men? I definitely deserved it and I wouldn't blame- "Are you okay? I saw everything and I want to know that you're definitely alright. I have questions but your health comes first."
Now I didn't expect that, definitely not. "I... feel alright I guess... what about you? Are you alright?" I asked, feeling really nervous. All I got in response was a nod and I got to watch him head to the door and close it. "Gabriel. You used my crest. Now, either you always had a crest and wanted to hide it, or you just awakened it. I want answers and I want you to be completely honest." Ah shit, I can tell the truth, I just hope he won't be mad.
"I awakened it when they attacked you... I don't know what happened, I just felt this... burn on my chest then attacked them, I don't really know what happened." I explain softly, I felt like a little kid explaining they did something wrong to their parent. So when Lazarus sighed I got scared.
"Thank god, I thought for a while that maybe you didn't wanna show me a crest, well I'm glad you awakened it. The doctors said that as long as you felt fine when you woke up that you could leave. Come on, you're coming to my place. I'll text your mums and let them know you're alright." Holy fuck my best friend was amazing, if he was in an anime he'd absolutely be voted best boy. "Ah, okay... I feel okay to walk around..."
Best to actually try standing first though, can't run before I can walk after all. I swing my legs off the bed and gently place my feet on the floor, slowly pushing myself up, seemed I could stand alright, a little wonky but it could have been worse, best not look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Lazarus... thanks, that means a lot." Maybe he could help me make sense of my crest, maybe I should tell him about that 'System' that I received too. I'd leave that for later though when we were alone, didn't want others to overhear me. "Alright, let's go then while we've got the time, come on, dad let me borrow his car."
I just followed him out, managing to walk by myself mostly, I had to lean on Lazarus a little bit but eventually we got outside and he led me over to his dad's car. I wasn't a big car lover compared to some of the people I know but I knew enough to make some passing conversation if it happened to pop up, so I was a little surprised when I saw his dad had gotten a new car.
"Shit dude your dad upgraded? Not bad!" Dacia Sendero hatchback, simple but effective. "Alright enough flirting with the car, get in" Lazarus replied, snorting a little as he slipped into the drivers seat so I got into the passenger side and slammed the door shut behind me, quickly buckling up. "Since we're going to be testing your Crest out, I'm going to go over them a little as a refresher, I know I know you hate the discussion but it'll help." I groaned knowing that Lazarus was about to explain them again, I hated this little rant but I couldn't ever stop it.
"Crests as you know manifested at random many years ago, though they weren't as powerful as they are now since they were mainly small things, like moving little objects with your mind or people being able to light their fingertips on fire at will. Over time after they were studied and it was discovered that Crest's were a mutation, though eventually it spread to almost everyone. Many people couldn't gain one and were deemed 'abnormal' even though they are ACTUALLY normal."
Yep, same one as last time.
"People never awaken after the age of 16 either as that is the cut off point for the mutation to manifest, there has never been a single case of a Crest awakening after that, so if by the age of 16 you do not have a Crest your life is essentially set. But you? You've awakened to one nearly three years after the cut off point. Which makes you rather special my dear buddy boy." Oh god no not the nickname...
I decided I'd stop him there, I didn't want him to go on for the next hour. "Alright so I'm weirder than we first knew, in the meantime let's think about how it's weird that my Crest came in and the Doctors aren't already losing their shit since on my records it say's I'm Crestless. What happened after I passed out?" This was the important question, I didn't have any knowledge of what happened and I needed some big updates.
"So, the cops turned up to question me since you were still out cold, I told them that we got attacked but we both fought them off, then when asked about why they were dead I just told them that some masked Vigilante came and saved us. No idea what they looked like since I took a really bad blow to the head and I barely managed to get you here before passing out myself. Nice lie right?"
He's fucking nuts. That worked? That ACTUALLY fucking worked? I better buy him a bottle of booze for this.
.... maybe something better than the usual shit we drink.
"Alright... well I really owe you. When we get to your place I'll explain a few things, just know I've NEVER lied to you" I wasn't really looking forward to this, not one bit. I knew I could trust him, but what if he looked at me differently? What if he didn't believe me?
I was silent during the rest of the journey, wanting to think about how to explain everything. I was going to mention the system, I just had to find out how to prove that it was real. I wonder if there's anything special about it... That's when I got an idea.
'System, I have questions' he thought, calming himself down a little as he tried to focus on it. That's when a window popped up in front of his eyes.
{Hello User: Gabriel. What is your question?}
Thank fuck it responded to thoughts! 'System, I need more knowledge about you, can you give me a rundown of what your purpose is?' It took a few moments for the system to respond before the window vanished and a rather large text box appeared in front of his vision, a few inches from his face.
{System purpose: The system is devised to strengthen Champions that are chosen by the Creator of said system. There are several systems in the world, currently a count of three including this one. This system is Designation: Gilgamesh, the system of war-' 'Holy fuck that sounds badass' '-You are the champion of the Deity Gilgamesh-' 'Wait was Gilgamesh a deity? No he was a Sumerian king... oh wait-' '-and this system is in place to make you into a Champion worthy of his influence. Lord Gilgamesh has left a few gifts for you to get started, a symbol of his trust that he desires you to use for your test. You will see them when your test begins. Upon completion of the test you will be assigned///////////'}
Seems I can't get any other information out of it on that subject at the moment, let's try another one. 'System, can you show me a list of the features I can currently use?'
{Usable Features: Shop, Inventory, Status Screen, Equip Menu, Spell list-' 'HOLY FUCK I CAN GET SPELLS' '-Crest List-' 'you fucking what-' '-Skill list, Allies-' 'okay that's interesting' '-Party. These are all the currently unlocked features you may access, others shall be unlocked at Milestones.}
Interesting, there's a few features there I'll be checking often, like the FUCKING CREST LIST. Easy Gabe easy, better not freak out. Stay calm and just squeal about that later on. In the meantime you just gotta try and find a way to prove the System is real, maybe there's a way to pass that knowledge on to Lazarus with it?
{Negative: Knowledge of the system cannot be passed on through the system. The user can admit it's existence but not show it unless done through the use of shop items} That was a pretty fast denial, seems Gilgamesh thought of that. Damn.
"Gabe we're here, in your own world again?" Lazarus teased me, he loved using that line whenever he could, what an old man line. "Yeah I was, sorry, just thinking..." I reply, unbuckling my seatbelt and quickly getting out the car, glancing around to see if anybody had followed them, didn't seem like it so far. "Let's head inside quick, I wanna explain everything to you as fast as possible." Thank god for Lazarus being quick too, barely thirty minutes had passed since I woke up and we were already at his place. Seemed like his parents were out too. He went off to the kitchen to go make us some food, he was the better cook out of us both.
"Hey Gabe, turns out mum and dad have had to go for a few days, I've got the house to myself!" Lazarus called from the kitchen, I could hear him tossing something paper in the wastebin, looks like they left a note. Why didn't they text?Maybe it's an old person thing, like playing Roblox or having no idea what a meme is.
Goddamn boomers.
Anyway, back to explanations before I get lost. 'System, open the store please, I want to see what kind of things I can get through you' He then waited a moment before the system replied {As you wish} and another window appeared in front of him, a window that was half his size while stood up. So he quickly began looking through it, humming a little. 'Interesting, so I can get weapons, armour and a ton of different items', that's when something caught his eye.
{Mystery Box (Common, Uncommon, Rare), contains a random Item, Weapon or Armour. Cost: Free X2} 'I HAVE TWO FREE ONES?!'
If I don't open this I'll be a fucking idiot, better wait till Laz sits down though. 'System, if I accept it will it spawn in my hand and be visible?' God I'm loving this thing. {Yes, the box will appear in your hand and upon opening it, your reward will replace it.} YES
'Thanks system, I'll accept it soon, I'll just wait till my friend is ready' I then focus on Lazarus, watching him make a couple of sandwiches and grab a- is that a 12 pack of Quavers? God please, let me steal half that packet. "Hey Gabe, you want a cup of tea?" he called out, that man knows all the right buttons to press. "Yeah please, definitely need it for this conversation" I reply, sighing a little and looking down at my hands. I could feel my nerves acting up again, easy man, just breathe. In and out nice and slow, relax and it'll all be good.
Gonna be honest, heart kinda sank when he came over, totally stone faced. That wasn't usually a good sign. "Alright, explain everything, start from the beginning and I'll say my piece when you're done." Ah fuck, this is gonna be hard for him to believe for a bit at first. "Alright, so... I really didn't have a crest until we got attacked Lazarus, I honestly didn't. I don't know what happened but when they hit you I just... snapped, I felt a pain in my chest and next thing I know I'm using your crest. Something else happened too, this you might not believe but, I gained something else." I paused for a moment to take a breath. "I got something called a System that gave me stats just like in a video game, it has a store, inventory, everything! I can prove it's real, do you believe me so far?"
So... he started laughing, ACTUALLY laughing at what I said. That's good... right? "You mean to tell me that you unlocked your crest in a moment of anger AND gained some kind of amazing Video Game UI and expect me to believe you?" Yeah, it was a mistake telling him, I should have known- "Because you'd be right, why would you joke about something like that? I know you better than that"
Wait what?
"You really believe me? You're not playing?" I had to check, just in case. Oh thank god, he nodded. "Okay, I'll give you proper proof though" I focused on the system again, reloading the store and glancing at the mystery boxes, accepting one and holding out my hand. {Mystery Box accepted: Open when ready} The box then appeared in my hand, Lazarus looked pretty shocked. It was only a small thing, barely the size of my palm and it was jet black, it felt like leather too and had a small ribbon resting on the top, a pink one. Was the system trying to be cute? "So, I have two of these, I wanted you to see what I end up with though. Hopefully I get good things from both~"
I was too excited to wait though and gazed at the box, slowly pulling the lid off. That's when my jaw dropped after I saw a blue light come up. 'That's rare!' Holy fuck what are the chances? I bet it's gonna be a badass weapon, or maybe a powerful armour set! I can't wait to-
WHY IS IT A FUCKING BELT. Seriously, a belt. Just some stupid ass looking blue belt with the dumbest logo ever. It straight up just has a resting bitch face, what am I meant to do with- {Rare item gained: Belt of Inconvenience} I'm so fucking pissed, what even IS the function of this?!
{Answer: This belt is sentient and will cast illusions at random, but only when it feels like it} Did.... did the belt just move? Wait- it's resting it's... arms? On it's... fuck it, this is too weird. "This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen, I don't even know how to react if I'm perfectly honest." Lazarus sounded very confused and definitely a little wierded out. Not that I could blame him to be honest, isn't often you get a clearly sassy sentient belt.
Seriously though what the fuck. How could it be useful? Fuck it, everything has a use, it quickly coiled around my waist, going through the loops on my pants and a window came up saying {Belt of Inconvenience-} 'I hate that name-' {-equipped.} "Alright, box two then." I looked at it then slowly lifted the lid off, placing it don and watching as a white light came out of it. Common, goddamnit, if only- WAIT. It's colour changed to blue after a few seconds and it was brighter than the belt's colour.
Seriously though FUCK that belt.
The box vanished and I found myself gripping the handle of something as the light faded, the scream of delight I let out was enough to make Lazarus cover his ears in pain. {Weapon gained: Rapier of Swiftness. When this weapon is equipped you may move an extra ten feet per second. +10 damage on attacks. +1 Strength boost.}
"So, I have a Rapier, bro I feel like all that time cosplaying Count Dooku was worth it!" I hadn't felt this excited about anything else before, looks like my hobbies were actually benefitting me in other ways. I wonder what else I'm able to get. Better check the store. 'System, can you show me if I have a skill tree or anything?'
{Confirmation: Several Skill Trees are currently locked due to a lack of stat minimums. You have three basic Skill Trees open at this time. Rogue, Brawler, Duelist.} Oh that's real goddamn cool, I know which one I'm going to check out first. 'System, open the Duelist Skill Tree'
{Acknowledged: Opening the Duelist Tree now.}
{Duelist Skill Tree: Unlocked Ability- Stillness. Stillness Effect: Due to your focus on battling a singular opponent you are able to slow down the flow of battle in your mind, increasing your effectiveness at reacting to your opponents moves. Gain a +2 bonus to your reactions in combat. Consumes 1 SP per second in combat.} Another window popped up in front of me, it was my stats!
{HP: 50/50
SP: 150/150
Strength- 10
Agility- 15
Constitution- 20
Intelligence- 10
Luck- 30
Reaction- 10}
Awesome, wait I should probably actually get some insight into these things. 'System, can you explain what each stat does please?'
{Acknowledged: Strength is your ability to deal damage with heavy weaponry and to perform certain athletic feats such as sprinting long distances and climbing up buildings, this includes managing to jump long gaps easier.}
{Agility is your ability to deal more damage with small weapons such as daggers or finesse based weapons such as rapiers, machetes and sickles, it also allows you to handle more advanced weapons that can be use with one or two hands. Agility also affects your speed, ability to pull off more risky manoeuvres when running and jumping such as Parkour skills.}
{Constitution is your ability to resist poisons and other status effects, it also governs your health. There are other effects such as your ability to resist pain to maintain concentration and can also boost your defences at higher levels.}
{Intelligence affects your stat boosts each level, granting you more points to allocate to stats. It also affects the speed you read, gain knowledge and your SP count. It can also affect your ability to detect traps and hidden areas.}
{Luck is simply the chance you have of evading critical attacks and finding better quality loot from boxes or monsters.} 'Wait what? Monsters?'
{Reaction is the ability to counterattack before your opponent can deal damage or to block/catch weapons and ammunition thrown at you. Note: You cannot catch bullets. It can also affect your chances of catching subtle movements that may give away an opponents actions.}
'Okay, thank you System. How do I unlock new abilities?' I needed to know, the monsters question can come after, there aren't monsters in the world. Well, unless you count Paedophiles, murderers and abusers.
{Answer: By performing well in battles and simply surviving them you may gain abilities dependant on your actions. Different actions give you different abilities, abilities can also be upgraded with enough use. Passive abilities can only be upgraded through Cultivation} 'What-' {You may cultivate inside dungeons for double the benefits but with the added risk of being attacked.}
'Wait what do you mean cul-' {Alert: Bloodlust detected, Target: User and Ally Lazarus. Suggestion: Escape. Item provided to aid escape.} I felt a key appear in my hand, I couldn't mistake the shape of one but this one felt different, it radiated an otherworldy energy. "Lazarus, we're in danger, the system said we're the targets of bloodlust." I explain before turning my attention to the system. 'System, what our chances of survival if we stat?'
I paled the second I saw that dreaded window appear with just one number.
{0%}
It was a no brainer, we were getting out of here. 'System, I want to use the key, what do I do?' {Response: Request the door to appear, the key shall show it and allow you to unlock it.}
I take in a breath and whisper "Key, give me the door you unlock. We need to escape." A glow appeared in the room in front of me and I felt myself lose control of my body. {System Override: Temporary Control} Next thing I know my body moves, my hands gripping hold of Lazarus and I moved at speeds I never had before, pulling him out of the way of a hail of bullets which I practically danced around before slipping the key into the lock of the door that appeared and it flew open, a wall of fog in front of us and my body launched Lazarus through it, a bullet grazing my cheek before I fell through it.
I appear behind him, Lazarus lay on the floor and I felt myself regain control of my body, a little window appearing in front of my eye. {Control Relinquished: User back in full motor control of bodily functions.} Then another one popped up.
{Passive Skill- Pain nullification: Unlocked. 1SP per hour will be consumed unless deactivated.} 'Okay I bet that's gonna be useful.' "Lazarus, you good?" I looked over at him, he seemed alright at a first glance at least.
"Yeah I think I'm good. Bit sore but I'm alright." I look around the area while he gets himself up, mumbling to myself "Open Inventory" and when the window for my inventory screen popped up I reached out and touched the Rapier, feeling it appear in my hand. "Lazarus, stick with me, I know you can fight just as good as me but we don't know what's going to be waiting for us here."
After looking around I noticed we were in a forest of some kind, the place itself looked rather nice. "System, I have some-" Oh, a text window. {Current Objective: Survive} What the fuck... {Quest: Kill as many enemies as possible to Survive. The more you kill the more points you accumulate.}
"What's the purpose of these points?" Lazarus looked at me confused. {Answer: The points will decide the options you have for your class benefits. You may select multiple classes at the expense of more points however the price will raise for each one you choose. Your options will be shown after a wave when you have enough points, the waves will pause until you make a choice.}
"Lazarus, I'm going to have to fight a lot of enemies in a moment, this place is for me to gain a class. I... don't know how hard it's going to be so... do you think you'll be able to help me out?" I ask him, my gaze turning to him. I never liked asking him for anything, I saw it as a sign of weakness relying on him but this was different, if we didn't fight together I didn't think we'd be surviving what happened. I might have more of a chance because of my system but Lazarus? He didn't have any buffs or anything. Wait a minute 'System, do I have any shop currency?' {Answer: Yes, you currently have 1000GP to spend on items as you see fit.}
'YES!' "System, open the shop please" {Acknowledged: Opening store.} The text window vanished and a very large menu appeared in front of me, nearly the same size as me and it listed a large sum of items, weapons and armours that I could get so I pressed an Item tab and it quickly shimmered, rearranging everything so only the items were shown up. "Alright let's see...." I started flicking through the menu, taking note of everything. 'Health Potions, SP Potions, Status cleansers... there!' I finally found the thing I was looking for. It was a purple liquid swimming around in a round vial with a thing neck.
{Elixir of Resistance: Anyone who drinks this Elixir will take halved damage from all sources for five minutes. This effect can stack up to five times before consequences begin. Price: 200GP} 'hmmm, system, I'll take two.' {Acknowledged: GP has been removed and Elixir's are now in inventory. You have 600GP left. Do you wish to continue Shopping?} I had to think about that for a minute but then nodded, I had to see if I could get anything else to help him.
The menu reopened and I looked through it again and hummed as I noticed the price for those healing potions. '20 gold a vial, alright, I'll take ten.' {200 Gold removed, Potion's now in inventory. You have 400GP left. Continue Shopping?} 'Maybe in a moment, close shop for now.' The window vanished and I looked at Lazarus.
"Bud, try holding this." I held out my Rapier to him. If he could hold this then I knew what I'd have to do next. He reached out and took it and I let out a sigh of relief when he could hold it, seemed I could get him to use weapons too. "Alright, I'm going to get you a weapon, you need something else to protect yourself with. What would you want?" I had a guess at what he'd go for as he handed me back my Rapier, probably a Greatsword or someth- "Scimitar. I've not got much interest in heavy weapons, too slow in a fight and can leave me wide open if I make a mistaken swing or stab."
Well I'll be damned, a man of culture. "Alright, I'll see if the System has one." I then reopened it and took a quick scan through it, the variety of weapons was insane, there were even magical weapons but they cost a ridiculous sum of gold. I wouldn't be getting any of those any time soon. They made my Rapier look like a Pound Shop toy. Then I finally found it, the only Scimitar in the store. It would use up the last of my Gold but if it kept Lazarus alive even a second longer then it was worth it, so I pressed on it and paid my last little bit of money and grabbed it out of my inventory, tossing it over to Lazarus. I then opened up the System again and examined the Party menu. It seemed I'd grant benefits to both me and Lazarus if we partied up, much like your usual RPG game. Sweet.
I quickly designate Lazarus as a party member and a small list of bonuses came up in a text window. {Party active: -2 to damage taken By party. +2 to Damage inflicted by Party. Party can resist Status effects- +4 to Debuff resist attempts -automatically calculated by the system-. +3 to Item find. +3 to Loot attempts.}
"Alright. Stick close by, I'll cover your back and you cover mine yeah?" His grin was the only response I got. He was definitely putting up a tough front, I wish I could calm him down but who could really be calm when they are facing a very possible death? At least it showed we were human. That's when I heard an alarm go off in my mind and the System gave me an alert. {Wave 1: Beginning. Kill all enemies to advance. Remaining enemies-} I paled at the number shown.
{-40. Good luck.} Well, life was good while it lasted. Maybe I should just write up my will right now. Wait, I'd die of boredom. God dammit.... That's when I heard the trees around us rustling and footsteps began resounding in the area, both me and Lazarus standing back to back. I looked around quickly, scanning the area as I clutched my Rapier tightly. I wasn't going to die here, I absolutely wouldn't die here!
That's when I saw many shapes stepping out from the treeline, then I just started to laugh, same with Lazarus. "GOBLINS!" Naturally Goblin's aren't even remotely scary, well, unless you watch that one anime... either way this was going to be easy. Not like they're going to be a thr- DID THAT LITTLE BASTARD CAST A SPELL?! One of them just launched a fireball at me! It nearly burned my face, good thing it missed. "Okay maybe this will be harder than I first thought. If they have range we're at an immediate disadvantage." I said, opening my inventory and handing Lazarus one of the Elixir's I bought him, watching him down it quickly. "You want another one? They stack, for five minutes you wont be hurt as badly for now."
He shook his head and the two of us both took a breath before yelling "CHARGE!" and we dashed towards one small group of them, the one that launched a fireball at us. "Lazarus, you get the caster, I'll deal with the guards!" He ran off to the side and I sprinted as fast as I could towards the ones guarding their what I assumed to be a mage, perhaps a Shaman and I noticed I ran much faster than Lazarus, looks like my Agility stat made quite the significant difference in speed.
I reached the first of the guards and watched them pull out a dagger, a basic weapon but in the right hands it could be deadly. Time to remove that possibility. 'System, activate Stillness!' {Acknowledged: Stillness activated. 1 SP per second will be deducted until deactivated.} I may as well go all out, as long as I constantly shift my targets with my gaze I shouldn't waste any use of the skill! The Goblin swung it's dagger when I got close but to me it's as if it moved at half my speed, more than enough to lean away from the strike and I thrust my blade forward, the tip piercing the neck of the creature and with a quick flick I beheaded it, watching as the head hit the floor before I was upon another Goblin, a look of fear on it's face as it watched my blade descend towards it's face before it knew no more, my Rapier ripping through it's head with ease.
{Creature killed: Gain 5XP. Current XP- 5/100}
{Creature killed: Gain 5XP. Current XP- 10/100}
I disregarded those windows, XP was great but living was more important right now. I quickly took notice that the Goblin's were getting into a formation and before I knew it I couldn't keep up my skill anymore. They were beginning to swarm me, looks like the use of my Rapier was out of the question so I dismiss it. 'System, store my weapon!' {Acknowledged.} It vanished from my hand and appeared in my inventory, leaving my hands free to fight with. {Skill: Stillness Deactivated. SP will no longer decrease.}
I begin to dance around their strikes. A goblin thrust it's dagger at my chest and I sidestepped, grabbing it's thin arm and with one rough twist I managed to snap it, watching as it's bone broke free of the skin and I quickly thrust it towards the monsters face, impaling it with it's own limb and lifting it's body up, spinning and throwing it into a goblin that rushed me from my side. It was knocked over and I quickly swiped the dagger of the one I killed off the ground, grunting as I met the blade of another Goblin and parried it, dropping low and spinning with my leg outstretched to knock it off it's feet and with one smooth motion I plunged the crude weapon into the chest of the beast, killing it instantly.
{Remaining Enemies: 34} That meant Lazarus got a few, good. I let out a breath I had held in and ripped the dagger out from it's chest, spraying blood across the grass around me and snatched it's dagger off it's corpse, duel wielding them. "Come on, kill me if you can!" {Skill Gained: Taunt. Gain a +1 to damage to all taunted enemies.} Nice. No SP cost either. I then dash into the group, swinging wildly at those who came close to me. I cut open the throat of one and listened to it's strangled cries as it began to blood out on the ground while I ducked under the slash of another, rolling on the ground and slamming my shoulder into it, knocking it off it's feet and stabbing one of my daggers through it's face, already on another Goblin and slashing open it's stomach before the previous one had even hit the ground.
That's when I took my first hit as a dagger stabbed into me from behind, right in my left side up to the hilt. {HP: 42/50} Shit they do more damage than I thought! "You little cunt!" I growl in anger and reach behind me, grabbing the head of the Goblin that had the audacity to stab me and I drag it in front of me, rearing my head back before headbutting it as hard as I could, the adrenaline pumping through my body making me feel even stronger than before. I hit it hard enough to cave part of it's skull in, killing it almost instantly. I then held it's body up by the throat, looking around at the other Goblin's nearby.
"Crest activate." My voice sounded hollow and it seemed to scare the Goblin's as thin Dragon scales began to slowly form across my body, starting from my chest and spreading out to my arms and legs before finally covering my face. I then grinned and with a sickening crunch I crush it's throat, seeing the looks of horror on the dead Goblin's allies faces as it's body fell to the ground without it's head. I throw the head at one of the shocked Goblin's and watch it dodge before I swing my scaled fist as hard as I could, ramming it through the creature's head up to my elbow and quickly ripping my arm out of it's head, letting it crumple to the floor.
{Intimidation Bonus: +4. Goblin's current status: Terrified. Increase damage by all sources up to 50%} They wouldn't live long enough to regret being my first victims. {Remaining Enemies: 25} Lazarus got a few more, almost halfway there. Three Goblin's seemed to recover and ran at me, letting out war cry's as they brandished their weapons at me but when they got close I caught the arm of one, the same way as the one form before and I swung it into the way of one of it's allies, watching as it died to the blade of it's friend {-24-} I then clench my hands together into one fist then slam them onto the head of the other and destroyed the top of it's skull, pieces of bone flying out from it's wounds {-23-} then I gazed at the last one of the three, the pathetic creature ramming it's blade against me.
*Clink* The blade snapped against my scales and I glanced at my health. I hadn't lost a single point form that attack. That's when I reached down, watching the Goblin shake with fear as I grabbed a piece of the broken dagger and use my free hand to grasp it's head, slowly starting to smirk at it. "Foolish." I then drive the point of the broken blade up from it's chin through to it's brain, letting go and watching as it fell back onto the ground. Blood had pooled around me from the many corpses of the Goblin's I killed, it was a small massacre and yet we still weren't finished. {18 Enemies remaining.}
From what I could see where Lazarus was he hadn't managed to kill the caster yet, he seemed fine so far though, like he hadn't been hit once. Lucky bastard. I hurried to join him, watching as a Goblin gave a wicked grin and attempted to strike him from behind so I let out a loud roar of anger. {Skill: Taunt activated} The Goblin turned to face me and my clawed hand was the last thing it saw before I tore the life away from it, my now sharpened nails ripping into it's face before shredding it's skin and muscle away. Now I was completely enraged.
Lazarus was fine, not a single wound on him which I was pleased with and I began to defend him from rear attacks. He'd activated his Crest like I did which made sense why he hadn't taken damage yet, but these goblins were stronger than the ones I dealt with, I was sure they'd eventually wear him down so I had to help him end them before they became a problem for us. {10 Enemies remaining.}
I grab the head of one Goblin and quickly thrust my hands towards each other, popping it's head in a shower of blood, bone and brain matter before slamming my elbow into the head of one on my left, stunning it and with a quick leg sweep I get it onto it's back and raise my leg, slamming my foot down on it's face and looked at the last few Goblin's. {Alert: High level's of magic gathering in Goblin mage. Survival will reach 0% chance upon their success.}
"Lazarus! The caster is building up something big!" {15 seconds until magic power is at insta-kill level.} I sprinted straight at it, a few of it's remaining guards trying to block me, if they stopped me we were finished! Lazarus was still dealing with a few of the others so all that was left were the ones ahead of me. "Outta my way!"
{10 seconds remaining}
I shoulder charge into the first one and knock it back, following up with a slash of my claws at it's face and I tore off it's jaw, it would bleed out soon enough.
{9 seconds remaining}
{9 enemies remaining}
Another jumped in my path and swung at my face, I let the blade hit me and I could feel a scratch open up and I quickly snatched the blade out of it's hand and thrust it into the beast stomach before tossing it aside. {Hp: 40/50}
{7 seconds remaining}
{6 enemies left}
The caster looked scared, I wasn't too far from it now, I could practically taste it's fear from here. Another guard rushed me and I just rammed my fist into it's face, crushing it inwards and just shoving the corpse away, my path was clear.
{4 seconds remaining}
{3 enemies left}
Wait, shit! I won't make it! Those last two bastards have shields! I might be strong but I wouldn't be able to break them in time, maybe I could jump them! I crouch a little and then leap, Yes! I was going to clear them! That changed as I got above them, my Crest was starting to wear off and my scales were disappearing, I forgot about the time limit!
{3 seconds remaining}
I wouldn't be able to dodge, my reaction and Agility stats meant nothing now! If I'm going out at least it'll be around my best friend. Next thing I knew, the Goblins crumpled to the floor, shields cut from their hands and Lazarus was there, sprinting towards the caster. That was all that remained.
{2 seconds remaining.}
{1 enemy remaining}
We can do this! I hit the ground and grit my teeth, running quickly "System: Activate Sprint!" {Skill: Sprint- Activated} I just had to get there in time! Come on! Just a bit further!
{1 Second remaining}
Come on! Body don't fail me now! My legs were burning, I barely recognised another text box coming up as I got within a few inches of the caster. This is it! It's over! "Die you son of a BITCH!" I let out a roar of anger and desperation and thrust my fist forwards, the Goblin staring at me and I paled, it had just finished gathering it's magic.
Oh god no.
{0 seconds remaining. The caster has gathered all required magical power. Odds of survival-} This was it, we'd failed, even though we fought hard we'd failed.
{-100%} What? But it gathered all it's power. We couldn't- wait... there's no way. I look forward and realised that I no longer had the caster in front of me, there was simply a trail of something red beneath my feet and had gone a little further. That's when it hit me. I'd killed it. I looked further ahead and saw, impaled on a large tree branch, the head of the caster, I heard a thud behind me and looking over I saw it's body drop to the ground, completely devoid of all life.
"Lazarus? We did it! We won!" I cried out, Lazarus just giving a weak chuckle and falling back onto his ass. Looks like he felt as tired as I did, I ended up dropping to my rear too and finally noticed the window that had popped up earlier.
{Skill: Sprint has upgraded. SP cost now 2SP per second and the speed has doubled. 1 rank left before max rank is achieved.} Holy shit! That was good to hear! Next thing I know several windows popped up in front of me one after another.
{Level up Achieved}
{Level up Achieved}
{Level up Achieved}
{Level up Achieved}
{Level up Achieved}
Five level ups? That's.... worrying. Why did I level up so fast? All my years of gaming told me this was bad. Oh shit, there were more waves! Alright, guess I better see what these levels ups give me.
{Answer: You gained stat points for each level. You currently have 25 stat points to allocate. Designate the stats to level up.}
Oh this was going to be good. I knew where my choices would go. "System, allocate points to-"