Chapter 17 - Dead?

'It's almost been an hour...why haven't I leveled up yet' Quinn thought as he was running away from a horde of beasts which seemed like a wild duststorm chasing behind him.

"And how the hell do these bunnies have knives?!" he shouted without looking back. "They're killer rabbits...!" Petra replied.

"I know already!"

(E)

-Known for how fast they are. These beasts will chase any human they see till they kill them or die in their hands They hunt in big groups-

'Anyone would've figured that out after being chased for a while' Quinn thought thankful for his 40 points in Agility. 'But at this rate, Petra will get run over and be killed...so-'

'Shadow blade'

[-100 mana]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Level up!]

'As expected...E rank monsters can't help me with leveling up'

Even though the blade was big, only half of them were killed. Unfazed by the death of their kin, the beasts continued to run forward.

Two of them managed to headbutt Petra, throwing her to the ground. Just as the beasts were ready to stab her with their knives, she disappeared.

'So she turned invisible huh... I'll have to help her out later, she isn't good at close combat' Quinn thought as he took a glance at her, 'but right now I have my problem to deal with'.

***

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

['Killer rabbit' killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

"Petra... you good?" Quinn asked as he secretly put his dagger into his shadow. "Yes... I am sorry for the trouble I caused" she replied while bowing. "It's fine, let's go look for the others" he said, "but first we should extract the crystals from these beasts".

***

"Hey Petra....what do we do with these corpses?" Quinn asked after they were done with their extraction.

"We should take all of them with us, they can be used as materials so they sell for quite a bit" Petra replied as she chucked a few of the corpses into her backpack while Quinn swallowed the rest and then told her that he can keep them in some storage with his skill.

[Would you like to use the '???' skill on the body?]

'Haaah... I would've loved to try the skill but I can't use it with her around' he sighed. 'I'll just have to wait for more opportunities'.

***

(D)

[Desert wolf Killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

[Desert wolf Killed]

[Level up]

[Desert wolf Killed]

[Not enough EXP to level up]

'They seem to have stopped moving... are they taking a break?'

"We're really lucky to haven't encountered a single rockworm" Petra said out of the blue. "Why? Are they really strong?".

"Their hard exoskeleton makes it nearly impossible to kill them from the outside with abilities like ours" she replied "High or mid ranking enhancement ability users won't have much trouble with them though".

"They're probably still hibernating" She added.

Crack!

"MOVE!" Quinn shouted as he tried to shove her out of the way. A rock worm was coming out.

But he was too late to react. The hideous mouth of the rock worm had already swallowed her whole.

(C)

-These beasts love the meat of humans. Same as the killer rabbits, they will hunt down their pray till they kill them. They don't move In groups because they don't like sharing the meat of the prey-

Her left hand had been severed off and painted the orange ground blood red.

'Ahhh... she's dead... ' was the first thing Quinn thought of when he saw the hand falling down.

"Oi kid! Get off your ass and stand back" he heard someone behind him. It was the substitute magic weapon class teacher, Carl.

———

[Inspect]

Carl Windlow

Ability-???

Weapon in possession-

Obliterating Tonfa (Weapon rank: B-)

———

The instructor had already begun attacking the worm. With every strike of his tonfa, a big crack would appear on the rockworm.

*Ding!*

[A quest has been issued]

[Quest: Defeat the rockworm-

Reward: Random item box

Failure penalty: None]

"That's new..." he whispered to himself.

'Damn... focus!' Quinn psyched himself up, 'there is a chance that she's still alive'. Just before the desert wolfs had attacked them, Petra told Quinn that she can't get hurt when she is invisible.

He then started running towards the beast trying to get a clean hit on the cracks.

'Swift dash'

[-1 mana]

'Then use body modification...' he thought as his right hand turned into something that looked like a hammer. Having a 10 percent boost in his movement speed, he reached the beast that Carl was dealing with in just a matter of seconds.

"Didn't I tell you to stay back?!" Carl shouted at him while still focusing on the rockworm. His attacking speed was faster than Quinns.

"Petra...she's still in there!" Quinn shouted back. "I dunno if she was your girlfriend or something but I'm sorry, she's dead".

"I don't have time to explain but when she's using her ability, she can't get hurt...!" Quinn said as he got behind the beast and punched it with his modified hand. 'SO DAMN HARD!'.

"So as long as she's still using her ability... she won't die"

[-1 mana]

The punch barely had any effect on the beast. The rockworm didn't even bother turning around. Quinn then reverted his hand back to normal. 'Darkened hand'

[Added 6 AP Into strength]

"DON'T. FUCKING. LOOK DOWN ON ME!"

Boom!

'Damn! I stupidly invested into strength'

The rockworm was thrown down to the ground. While it was stunned, Carl took this time and used his ability, the pair of tonfas he was using now looked like scythes covered in green energy.

Quickly maneuvering around the beast, he was slicing it up all most ignoring its hard exoskeleton.

'But it was helpful'

Quinn saw this as an opportunity to use his shadow blade to pierce its flesh and then rip the beast apart, so he aimed at the biggest wound.

[-1 mana]

'Shadow blade'

[-80 mana]

He then dug his hands into its flesh and started to tear it up. The beast was making all sorts of unpleasant noises and throwing a tantrum. "Die....die...! JUST DIE!"

***

[Level up]

[Level up]

—————

User: Quinn Maw(Human?)

lvl: 23

Job: Assassin

Ability: Shadow/Darkness element

HP: 2700

Mana: 435

Strength: 49 Agility: 47

Intelligence: 38 Sense: 42

Stamina: 39

Remaining AP: 0

—————

[Quest: Defeat the rockworm]

[Reward: Random item box](Completed)

———

Killer rabbit magic crystal ×10

Desert wolf magic crystal ×3

Rockworm magic crystal ×1

———

[Swift dash] Lvl 1

This skill can increase the users movement speed by 10%(Will increase when the skill levels up).

1 mana(per 10 seconds)