Rummaging through Fred's kitchen items, Cree came across what he was searching for, a kitchen knife.
"Hmm, I guess that could work", Claire said as she held her chin and stroked it.
Walking towards the door, he was stopped by a panicking Fred. It was quite obvious that he wasn't on board with what he was about to do. If he a grown adult was hiding, he expected the younger one to do the same.
"The hell do you think you are doing!? Are you trying to get both of us killed!?"
"Not at all. I am just not cool with the idea of staying in one place and starving to death."
After he said this, Claire looked at him with a questioning look. It was clear to her that this wasn't why he wanted to get out of the building.
'Claire, I know you can read my mind so there is no keeping anything from you, however not everyone needs to know why I do what I do', Cree communicated with his thoughts.
Opening the door, Cree observed the environment around him. With no monster in sight, he came to the conclusion that the area was clear. As he stepped out of the room the grip around the knife in his palm tightened. His body began to pour out sweat as he walked through the hallway. The sound of multiple taps running could be heard from some rooms nearby. He had to assume that some of them were broken. Instead of being afraid that it could cause problems, Cree believed it could be used to his advantage.
Just as he reached a corner and wanted to turn, a ringing sensation flowed his senses like some kind of detector. Peaking through the wall's edge, Cree could see one of the flying creatures he saw earlier. Now that he could see the creature in full view, he could not help but be terrified. It looked just like an average bat however on a closer look one would notice the mantis like body parts which consisted of the arms and mouth. For some strange reason though it refused to move a muscle as it's long ears twitched up and down.
'There it is! What do I do now?'
'Well, Hollow bats are blind as you already suspected. They sense things in their environment through sound waves moving in the air, however they can't really hear extremely low sound frequencies. Use it's strength against it and I am sure you will be good', Claire explained as she floated towards the creature.
'Hey stop! It will notice us!', Cree panicked.
'Oh don't worry about that. Low level abstracts like these can't sense me in the slightest.'
'I am a low level being as well, right? Yet I was able to see you.'
Claire would not reply to this as she proceeded to play with her hair, pondering what he said. Cree's attention moved from Claire to the floor as he searched for something he could use.
As if out of pure coincidence, he identified a mug that laid motionless on the floor. He picked it up from the ground only to throw it at an edge in the hallway. The monster heard this sound in an instant and bursted into a full sprint in it's direction. Upon ramming into the wall the grotesque creature returned to it's former motionless stance.
Step by step, Cree approached the creature with caution, kitchen knife in hand. He used the running taps from earlier to mask each of his steps. His breath seemed to increase gradually with each step he took.
'Cree control your breath, it might hear you', Claire told him telepathically with a look that said she didn't mind that happening.
The next thing that came to his mind was to hold his breath as he reached the beast. Being face to face with this intimidating beast did not make things any better as his heart lost it. Rising the knife up in a controlled pace, he took aim of the creature's eyes before bringing it down with full force.
Shriek!
The monster responded with a loud cry as the blade sunk into one of it's eyes. It hit Cree away as it shook with violence causing him to leave his only weapon in it's eye socket. Wanting to remove the knife by all means, it ran it's head across the walls almost as if it was scratching it. Unable to remove it because of the pain it felt, it charged at Cree who was laying on the floor.
The Hollow bat opened it's mantis like mouth in an attempt to bite Cree's head off. Though he was quick enough to put his elbow under the creature's neck in defense. This would not matter however as it stuck it's mantis like arms into the ground, overpowering Cree as it pulled towards the floor.
Seeing that he couldn't stop the beast, his attention went straight to the knife in the creature's left eye. Using his one free hand, Cree pushed the knife further into it's head. This resulted in a massive down pour of black blood on his face and body. The Hollow bat got up with a louder scream before it fell to the ground dead.
Cree laided on the ground motionless taking breath after breath as his life had just flashed before his eyes. After a few seconds, Claire hovered above him before speaking.
"Well done Cree, you did it. Woohoo!"
"You could have helped you know", Cree said as he wiped the blood off his face.
"Uhm, I am not really allowed to do anything that could affect the selection process for the next Calamity god."
"Haven't you already done that, giving me advice and everything?", Cree asked dumbfounded.
Claire giggled in a low tone before giving an answer that made no sense. "That doesn't count."
Shriek! Shriek! Shriek!
Multiple shrieks erupted from the building causing Cree to believe that the monster's cry before it's death was some kind of signal.
"Darn it! This is bad!", Cree kicked against a piece of wood.
"Don't give up just yet Cree, you are yet to receive your gift from the Grand Order."
Just then something began to manifest before Cree's eyes causing him to jolt backwards. A flow of white energy could be seen moving from the Hollow bat's body into his own.
[System has begin granted to you by the Grand Order]
[Path to evolution has been opened to you]
[Level 2 Hollow bat defeated]
[You have successfully reached level 2]
[Proceeding to show current stats]
[Name: Cree
Level: 2
Race: Human
Class: None
Strength: 5+5
Stamina: 5+5
Agility: 5+5
Mana: 0+10]
Cree looked at the display in front of him in awe. At this moment even though his life was in danger, it was starting to seem like some sort of game.
"By the expression on your face, I am guessing you have seen the Grand Order's blessing", Claire said with a smirk.
"So what now!?", Cree looked around as he heard rumbling sounds heading in his direction.
"Drink the monster's blood..."
Looking at the Hollow bat's blood flowing on the floor, Cree turned to face Claire with a look of disgust
"You want me to drink that!? Stop joking around Claire!"
"I am not joking around", Claire said with a serious expression. "Two things could happen when you take in it, let's hope the best is the case."
The fact that Claire did not tell him what would happen was enough reason for him to back away from this, however he knew he couldn't do that now. The monsters that were approaching were coming to end his life. He knew he had no other option.
Kneeing on the ground, Cree brought his face to the blood on the floor.
'You have to do it to survive, remember', Cree echoed in his head.
Putting his mouth on the black goo he took in a little amount of it before continuing to go on. One thing was for sure to Cree at this moment, that was the fact that it tasted like shit.
Suddenly, a flood of intense throbbing pain filled Cree's skull. He fell to the bloody floor curling himself into a ball like position. It was obvious to Claire that he was in pain, though she did nothing as she knew this was part of the process.
[Anomaly in system detected]
[...]
[System adapting to drastic change in nature]
[...]
[Possibility of successful change out of 100%: 5%]
[Loading]
[Change successful]
[Displaying new status changes]
[Name: Cree
Level: 2
Race: ???
Class: None
Strength: 10 (15)
Stamina: 10 (15)
Agility: 10 (25)
Mana:10 (15)
[New skills acquired]
[Blood mutation (6th generation skill)]
[Echolocation (1st generation skill)]
After the displays on his screen had come to an end. Cree stopped feeling the intense pain from before. Getting to his feet he felt like a different person. This would turn out to be the case as he now had a more jacked body with a slight color change to his hair. Streaks of white could be seen flowing from it's middle to the end. His teeth had become slightly pointed along with his nails which had grown extra long and tough.
"Hmm, seems like it worked out. Well it isn't over yet, don't forget about the tenants in the building", Claire reminded him.
Removing the knife out of the creature's eye, Cree proceeded to find a hiding place. For some reason he felt more calm and alert than he did previously. If it was left up to him, he would say he was not afraid anymore.
The monsters that were approaching eventually arrived in the area, staying still as they listened in for any form of sounds. They would turn out to be three in number which was a huge relief for Cree, unlike their numbers from before. Hanging on the ceiling above them with his nails, he used his new skill 'Echo location' to his advantage. Hearing the sound vibrations around him, he was aware of which kind of sounds the creature could hear with ease.
Removing his phone from his pocket, Cree disactivated his skill before setting a timer for one minute. When the timer hit, he let it fall to the floor. The Hollow bat's went crazy rushing towards it with full speed. With his now improved speed, Cree went for an attack straight at one of the creature's eyes. In one swift blow it came down to the floor before accepting it's demise.
The others noticed this, however before they could react Cree had come to a stand still. Looking at the phone he had dropped earlier, he noticed that it had been destroyed. Luckily for him, he didn't feel like he would be needing it anymore. Picking a piece of wood on the floor, he threw it a distance away. The moment it hit the ground the two creatures lunged towards it. Allowing the first one go through him, Cree caught the second one off with a powerful stab to the eye, ending it's fight.
Unable to hide himself this time, he came head on to the last Hollow bat, fighting it head on. Grabbing hold of it's blade like arms, Cree held it back as it attempted to bite his head off. His new found strength would turn out to be useful in this situation. He was not so lucky for long as the struggle had caused his knife to fall on the floor. Fully aware he was out of options, Cree played a wild card. At that moment he allowed the creature to move freely on it's next attempt to bite off his head off. Moving out of the way with his incredible agility, he grabbed it's head with his hands before turning it all full 360 degrees.
Letting go of it, the creature's limp body fell straight to the ground. Soon after a barrage of notifications would appear in front of him.
[Level 2 Hollow bat defeated]
[Level 2 Hollow bat defeated]
[Level 3 Hollow bat defeated]
[You have successfully reached level 3]
[New status changes in display]
[Name: Cree
Level: 3
Race: ???
Class: None
Strength: 15
Stamina: 15+2
Agility: 25+5
Mana: 15]
Seeing the dead Hollow bats in front of him, Cree could not help but be surprised. For a second there it was almost as if he had entered some sort of terminator mode. Cree eventually turned only to see an even more surprised Claire levitating close by.
"Impressive...I always knew you had it in you..", Claire voiced out with an expression that said otherwise.
Not paying much attention to this, Cree carried the knife on the floor before speaking to her. "Now I can finally get out of this building."
Cree walked back to the room he had entered only to see that Fred was still hiding in the wardrobe just like before. When he entered his view, Fred bursted into tears as he realized that Cree was still alive.
"You..you...you are still alive. I always knew you could do it", he said as he wiped his tears off with his hands.
Having a full glimpse of Cree he noticed he was unharmed but covered with some sort of black goo.
"What is that black stuff on you?"
"Oh this? It is black blood from the monsters that were roaming the building. You don't have to worry now, they are all dead. I came to return this back to you", Cree attempted to hand the knife over.
"What!? You killed them all, but how? Uhhh, you know what, you can keep it", Fred said laughing awkwardly.
"Oh, Thank you. I also came to offer you a helping hand. Come with me, we can survive together", Cree offered with great enthusiasm.
"I am sorry but I can't accept your offer. I can't go out there, I will die for sure. It is best someone like me stays put..!"
Cree didn't press him further as he realized something. He shouldn't really have expected him to accept the standards of this strange world so easily. Besides the only reason he did was because of his brother who was still laying on a sidewalk.
Telling Fred good luck followed by a bow, Cree went on to the bottom of the building.