"Here, catch."
In a moment of quick thinking and cunning, Lirian, with a taunting and teasing smile, tossed the still-beating heart towards one of the kobold archers who had drawn an arrow, poised to strike him down.
Lirian wasn't above playing dirty when the situation called for it, and he knew that survival often depended on taking advantage of every opportunity. So he did it without any remorse.
The unexpected action caught the kobold archer off guard, causing it to instinctively swat the organ away with its bow, disrupting its aim and giving Lirian a crucial moment to react.
Lirian seized the opportunity. How could he not when he did something that disgusted even him?
He activated his movement-type soul ability, blinking away from the kobold archers and past the bewildered kobold warriors who were left momentarily stunned by his sudden disappearance. In a flash, he returned to Evan's side, his presence felt only as a gust of wind that stirred the dust at their feet.
"You catch on quite fast," Evan remarked, feeling impressed with Lirian as the latter had put his teachings to practical use just after hearing it once.
"I hear that quite often." Lirian boasted shamelessly, "I guess it's one of my inherent abilities,"
Kuhiiik!
The kobold archers issued a command that pulled the kobold warriors out of their daze as they each swiftly launched a few arrows in a heartbeat.
Whoosh!
A volley of six arrows flew past the two kobold warriors and headed towards Evan and Lirian with lethal accuracy and incredible speed.
Evan, Instead of backing down or trying to evade, stepped up and brandished his low-level magic sword.
"Arise from your slumber, Furious Demon of Frost!"
With a voiceless chant, he activated the special ability of his magic weapon.
Whoosh!
Several sharp shards of ice materialized out of nowhere, hurtling through the air to intercept the incoming arrows.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The ice shards collided with five of the six arrows, shattering them into harmless fragments, but the last arrow flew unimpeded, hurtling towards Evan with deadly speed.
Just as it seemed that Evan's fate was sealed, Lirian pushed Evan behind him and, with a wave of his hand, released a wave of invisible soul energy that crashed into the arrow, deflecting it away harmlessly.
"I got you covered," he said to Evan with a grin.
"Thanks," Evan replied to him.
Their vigilance raised as they watched the two kobold warriors charge toward them with swords raised.
"I will take care of the one on the right. You take out the other one." Lirian said as he swiftly sprang into action.
He moved with blinding speed, flashing up to one of the kobolds, intercepting it just as the other charged towards Evan uninterrupted.
The first kobold warrior swung its sword at Lirian, and it was shocked out of its wits as Lirian caught its sword in his hand.
He effortlessly wrenched it out of the kobold's grip before turning it around and plunging it deep into the kobold's chest.
Puchi!
The blade pierced through flesh and bone, emerging out of the kobold's back, causing it to crumple to the ground, lifeless.
Meanwhile, the other kobold warrior jumped at Evan, brandishing its sword with deadly intent. Its attack looked so slow in Evan's eyes that he didn't bother deflecting it and instead maneuvered his body with such precision and speed that he narrowly dodged the kobold's blade while closing the distance between them.
"This is the end!"
In one swift motion, Evan swung his sword horizontally, slicing off the kobold's head in a shower of blood and gore.
[Ding! You have slain a level 4 Kobold Warrior! You get four experience points and a two points increase in your Strength!]
The two of them had dispatched four out of six of their foes with brutal efficiency, leaving their lifeless bodies sprawled on the ground.
Lirian gave Evan a strange look. "You got some kind of monster-stabbing fetish or something?"
Evan rolled his eyes in disgust. "What are you talking about? Let's just keep moving."
Evan couldn't easily explain why he did what he did. It would be hard for anyone to believe that he had a system that helped him become stronger if he killed others. He might be taken for a crazy person.
And if such news reached the ears of the maniacs roaming the galaxies, maybe they would come after Evan to take the system for themselves.
The system was his greatest secret, and he couldn't tell anyone about it. Otherwise, he would be endangering himself and the people around him.
'Character screen,' Evan muttered as he and Lirian walked through the tunnel.
A transparent screen containing all the information about him came into his view.
Name: Evan
Age: 16
Class: Soul Manipulator
Cultivation stage: Soul Manifestation Stage
Level: Beginner (Level: 1)
EXP: 56
Experience needed to level up: 20
Stats:
Strength: 16 (14)
Dexterity: 21
Constitution: 11
Agility: 25 (23)
Stamina: 20
Evan couldn't help but feel better than ever.
After all, except for his constitution, all the other stats have increased significantly, especially his agility. His speed has more than just doubled since he remembered all the memories of his past life!