The silhouette was Oliver, and after Lachlan saw his logic-defying actions his mind became afire with curiosity. He had never appraised him before and decided that this would be the best time to do so. So with that in mind, he muttered softly, "appraise," which promptly showed the translucent blue screen he had become so familiarized with.
‹Oliver Blakeburn›
‹Race: Human›
‹HP 100/100›
‹Ability: Speed Manipulation›
‹Ability level: 5.8›
"Speed manipulation?" thought Lachlan inwardly, "So he negated the speed of the arrows and accelerated them backwards?" he wondered.
The System didn't provide clear explanations into how the abilities worked so Lachlan could only wonder for now and ask later.
Amid his contemplation, Nicholas, who had seen the arrow impale Liam, felt his heart drop to his stomach as he heard the ear-piercing scream that followed.
Shortly after, Liam, whose thigh had been impaled, fell unconscious as his body dropped to the ground.
Nicholas was extremely shocked from what had just happened, but even being so, he didn't stop at creating another gas cloud in between his hands. Even though he had seen Oliver come out fully unscathed and unaffected from his previous one, he still had faith. He never used his full-power previously, and this time around, he would use every ounce of power within him, wringing him dry!
He released it by swinging his arm when it fully manifested, causing the condensed greenish cloud to fly across the sky towards Oliver.
When it hit Oliver, the gas cloud —like the previous one— instantly expanded and covered the area he stood at.
Nicholas was out of breath after his attack and kneeled on the ground, but still kept his eyes at the gas-cloud with anticipation as he awaited the scene of the injured Oliver to show itself.
Though to Nicholas's fright, the smile which had been tugging at his lips at his prospect, fell abruptly, and his body trembled to the point of where his legs gave out.
Oliver, whose skin was supposed to be turning green from the cloud's toxicity, and heaving a handful of coughs, and also possibly vomiting out the food he had eaten beforehand wasn't shown. Instead, Oliver stood there like before, unmoving and unaffected, like he hadn't been hit by the gas-cloud at all.
Nicholas couldn't believe it, and his expression distorted.
He shouted in disbelief, with tears forming at the corner of his eyes, "Ho- How! How are you unaffected!"
Oliver replied, with a slight chuckle, "Your ability only works if it could pervade my lungs… but how would it be able to do that if it has no speed!"
When he finished speaking, a move Lachlan hadn't seen before was executed by Oliver, leaving his mouth agape and his eyes glimmering with astonishment.
Oliver accelerated his body to a missile's speed and swiftly flew across the ground till he was right in front of Nicholas. And as he was a meter away, he didn't halt his speed at all, but instead sped up as he lifted his foot towards Nicholas' head.
His foot made an arc throughout the air until it landed on Nicholas' jaw, which caused his jaw to snap backwards and for blood-colored saliva to erupt from his mouth like a fountain.
It was a grisly sight, and as Oliver's foot landed back on the ground after hitting Nicholas, his gaze was already on his next target like a hungry wolf out for blood...
The person who his eyes fell on was no one other than the stupefied Brice, and he said menacingly with a ferocious gleam in his eye, "You're next!"
Brice felt trepidation at the boy's words, but he had been trained for years in battle, not only in school but also by his father and brother ever since he was 5. Due to this, he had the instincts of a warrior and didn't falter in front of the vicious student and prepared his ability with full-force.
His facial veins bulged, and his eyes became solemn as he began encompassing his body in his golden force field. Afterwards, he got into a defensive stance to prevent Oliver from knocking him out if he flew towards him with that inhuman speed he just showed!
To Brice's expectations, Oliver did precisely that.
He sped up once more, which caused dirt to fly out from behind him as he passed through the air and hit Brice right in the stomach.
"Puhhh!" echoed throughout the forest, followed by a mouthful of saliva to spew from Brice's mouth. He took to the air and collided with an adjacent tree, causing a copious amount of leaves to fall from the crown of the tree, and for the bark to crunch from the impact.
Luckily, Brice had conjured a barrier beforehand which prevented any serious injuries to befall on his body, so he got up relatively unarmed— only heaving a handful of coughs as slight bruising formed on his muscular body.
After dusting the broken pieces of bark off from his shirt, He stared into Oliver's eyes viciously.
The punch Brice had been hit by from ignited his warrior spirit, and he couldn't resist taunting, "So you wanna fucking fight?! Then let's fucking fight then!"
He layered his whole body in his force field, followed by another force-field that caused the golden hue around his body to thicken extensively. It was one of Oliver's special moves, where he was able to momentarily layer his force-field on top of one another, which increased his defensive power extensively and his speed and strength.
Because of this, he could throw out quick punches with earth-shattering force behind each of them, that would frighten anyone who found themselves on the receiving end of one.
He dashed towards Oliver at a high speed, and when he was about a meter away, he threw out one of his fists with the force-field surrounding it.
Oliver deftly avoided it by slanting his body, but Brice didn't let that deter him as he kept throwing punches, left and right, aiming for the vital spots.
Unfortunately for Brice, all of his punches were evaded.
It continued for what felt like minutes till Brice's breath had become so ragged and uncontrolled that he had to back off and pant heavily as his eyes fell on the ground.
"You can't beat me alone..." Said Oliver as he stared down the back of Brice's head, with a hint of ridicule in his tone.
Brice slowly lifted his head from the ground and uttered, "You're right…. But who said I'm alone?"
His face contorted into a wry smile, and he roared, "Now!"
As those words departed from his mouth, two boys left unseen by Oliver jumped down from an adjacent tree branch and swiftly activated their abilities.
Oliver's face steeled, and he swiftly turned around to combat the incoming threats.
Monty, one of the boys that had jumped down, shot out his ability, which was a bluish orb of light that exuded a mystifying glow.
It came faster than Oliver expected and connected to his abdomen. To Oliver's surprise though, he felt nothing from the impact apart from a slight tickle. He brushed it off as him just being too weak and redirected his gaze towards the other incoming boy.
The other boy, whose name was Clark, also activated his ability which turned his fists into reinforced steel, called ‹Steel fists› and aimed it right at Oliver's face.
Luckily, he was able to avoid it like he had avoided Brice's punches by applying ‹Speed Manipulation› on himself, but he felt sluggish as he did, like he was covered with a viscous liquid.
Right before he was about to turn around to face Brice again, a swift punch connected to his spine that made him recoil forwards into the ground, causing him to cough up blood and some of yesterday's dinner.
"You didn't see that coming, did you?" said Brice mockingly as he readied to throw another punch to the back of Oliver's head.
He threw his fist as quickly as he could, and a distorted grin formed on his face.
Fortunately, before the fist could connect to the back of Oliver's head. Oliver rolled on the ground, just barely avoiding the incoming fist.
He got back to his feet and readied himself by getting into a stance.
He could feel his breathing becoming more and more erratic, and the feeling of the vicious liquid becoming thicker as well. So he couldn't resist asking in betweenst heavy breaths. "What d-did you do to me?"
Brice only looked at him mockingly as he said grinningly, "Even low-levels have their purposes." He pointed towards Clark, the boy who shot out the orb of light and said, "Clark's debuff ability affects other's stamina, once you've been hit by it, you're stamina will continuously drop over time!"
Oliver felt his breathing becoming more unstable as the seconds passed and knew he had to finish this as quickly as he could, lest he becomes the loser in this skirmish!
He took a deep breath and said violently, as he sped towards Brice. "I'll make you pay for that!"
—-—
Nearby the fight was Lachlan, crouched over another unconscious boy, looking at him like a piece of fresh meat. "Finally, you'll be my first," he uttered as he dug out the knife from one of his pockets to stab into the boy's head.
The knife burrowed itself through the boy's eye, reaching his optical nerve in seconds till it eventually hit his brain, causing blood to trickle from the incision.
Red tears began to fall down from the boy's cheek, and soon after, a system prompt popped up in front of Lachlan, making his eyes flash with delight and for his hands to inadvertently tremble.
‹You have killed Nicholas Fletcher›
‹Ability: Acid Blast›
‹Ability level: 3.2›
‹Reward: 320 exp›
‹Would you like to activate the Plunderer Skill›
"Yes!" said Lachlan enthusiastically, albeit quietly as he didn't wanna risk bringing attention to himself. After all, a fight was raging right in front of him and making his presence known by being too loud could prove fatal. Luckily though, the boy known as Nicholas by the system, flew far enough from Oliver's kick which let Lachlan remain undisturbed as he slaughtered him..
The system prompt continued, making Lachlan's eyes gleam with anticipation.
‹Plunderer Skill Activated›
‹Attempting merge…›
‹Attempting merge…›
‹Attempting merge…›
‹Merge Failed!›
Lachlan's eyes bulged out of his skull when he saw the system's result, and he couldn't resist blurting out in a loud voice, "Are you fucking kidding me!"
A boy nearby, who Lachlan hadn't noticed before roared, "Who's there!"
Lachlan looked up in shock and saw that the fight was still going on, wondering who had screamed so loudly.
"Where did that voice come from," he thought as he leered around the periphery in search of the speaker.
As he continuously looked around the forest, and his eyes finally laid upon the speaker after some time, the hairs on his back stood up as he gulped loudly.
Lachlan knew he was in trouble, but tried feigning ignorance as he was at a loss of what else to do. He said with a friendly tone, "Hey, I'm just a passerby,"
The speaker who Lachlan had spotted looked at Lachlan suspiciously.
The speaker was no one other than Robby, the ‹Thermal Vision› ability user, and because he didn't have a combat-specialized ability, he was told to search for the cripple that had brought the powerful ability-wielder here instead— as they were more confident in him doing so.
From a glance, Robby could tell that this was the cripple that they had beaten up previously in the back alley. He could tell from his timid-looking body and his face which looked skinnier than it should.
"You don't think I know who you are retard? I was the one who bagged you before."
He bared his teeth and said viciously, "You brought that powerful guy here, and I will fuck you u— " although before he could finished, he stopped abruptly when he noticed something at the corner of his eye.
It was Nicholas, the friend he had always bantered with during class, and the only person who had treated him friendly right from the start of school— even though his level was a 1.7.
They had formed a strong bond of friendship and Robby felt Nicholas would be a friend that would stick with him through thick and thin in his lifetime, making him extremely grateful.
Though, when his eyes skimmed across Nicholas's face, his face couldn't help but pale as his body visibly trembled.
Nicholas's face was covered in blood, and as he looked closer he could see an incision in the eye.
Seeing this, Robby felt his eyes becoming red and his facial expression becoming ashen.
Unable to keep his emotions from leaking out, Robby screamed furiously, like he had becomed possessed by a demon, "Wha- What have you done!"
Lachlan glanced at Nicholas and then back at Robby, "Oh him?" he responded casually, "He was like that when I got here..."
At Lachlan's answer, Robby felt blood flow to his head and his eyes becoming bloodshot.
He roared like a lion as saliva flew from his mouth, "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" with a deadly expression on his face.
He rushed towards Lachlan with an ugly expression and red eyes, giving off a murderous aura.
Lachlan panicked, and he didn't know what to do.
"Am I gonna die here?" he thought, his heart dropping to his gut.
The merge had failed, and it was the only thing he had counted on. The other boy, Liam, laid too far away for Lachlan to reach— and even if he got there, he would have to kill him and then activate the plunderer skill which would take up to much time!
There was nothing he could do...
In his moment of hopelessness, something he had forgotten with time flashed across his mind.
"Stat points!" he inwardly blurted to himself.
He had unallocated stat points he hadn't used yet from leveling up, and now was the perfect time to use them. He didn't know if it would make any difference, but it was the only thing he could count on as Robby was only a few meters away and rapidly enclosing, with a murderous expression plastered on his face.
Lachlan hurriedly opened up his status and allocated all of his stat points to agility and strength. Changing his status to;
‹Name: Lachlan Grayford›
‹Level: 2› — ‹Level: 4›
‹30/50 EXP› — ‹180/250 EXP›
‹HP 140/140›
‹Strength 8› — ‹Strength 11›
‹Agility 9› — ‹Agility 12›
‹Stamina 7›
‹Stat points unallocated: 6› — ‹Stat points unallocated: 0›
Due to him killing Nicholas, he had leveled up to level 4, giving him more status points than before, making him a bit more confident with his chances at beating Robby.
As soon as Lachlan allocated the stat points, he felt his body undergo a drastic change.
At that moment, it felt like time had come to a grinding stop
The approaching Robby who seemed to be going faster than a dashing rabbit before now looked he was going in slow-motion, and the fighting noises in the background stopped entirely.
It was unlike anything Lachlan had ever seen before and he became entirely entranced by the feeling.
In his trance, his slightly curved back straightened, his muscles expanded, and his legs felt like they had been transformed into rockets. He felt like he had gymmed for years straight within that split second and he no longer felt intimidated by the person approaching.
Lachlan postured himself and threw out a similar fist in response.
The two fists collided, followed by the sound of snapping bones and squelching flesh.
Unexpectedly, the person whose flesh and bones the sound came from wasn't Lachlan's, but that of Robby's instead.
Robby fell to his butt and let out an agonizing scream following the collision as his eyes fell upon his fist. It was entirely mangled, and one could see his forearm bones jutting out from his arm drenched it blood
It was a squeamish sight and seeing this, Robby's face grimaced and his eyes became doused with tears.
He apprehensively rose his head and looked at Lachlan with a trembling chin, "How- How a-are you so strong!" he stammered. "You're supposed to be a cripple!"
Lachlan didn't respond to Robby and only stared wide-eyed at his own fist.
"I can't believe those stat points would make me that much stronger," he thought inwardly, as his eyes stared at his fist with astonishment.