Bjorn's hand deftly moved the dagger into different positions as he walked, getting a feel for the grip and the weapon's weight.
He'd never used something of such low quality in his previous life, but he had practiced with many different small-bladed weapons, and as a result, had no issues handling the poorly-balanced blade.
Having no gear aside from the starting clothes and his dagger, and having nothing else that might slow him down, the figures of Donny15 and his party eventually became visible on the road in front of him.
After walking some distance away from the road, the squad of new adventurers formed up and prepared for battle. A few meters in front of them was a fairly typical starter mob.
"Squawk??"
A fat chicken turned to face the group of seven armed men, its chest puffed out for a bit of extra intimidation.
It was too far for Bjorn to read the mob's name from a tag, but he didn't need to. He'd heard of the famously tasty dishes that could be made from the slightly magical bird.
'Hm. It's been a while since I ate chicken with my team. They aren't here now, but I wouldn't mind cooking some up for myself!'
Bjorn was plenty experienced with the term "KSing", and he intended to put it to use here.
Despite having abysmally low stats and no skills to speak of, when the young man advanced forward, his entire presence seemed to vanish.
His footsteps which had originally crunched quietly on the grated dirt road now made no noise.
Even while being careful not to make a noise, Bjorn still moved with such a pace that he got within a few meters of the party in seconds and wasn't noticed at all.
Crouching down behind a sparse bush, Bjorn observed as the party of seven battled their fierce feathered opponent.
From where he was crouched, Bjorn could see that they weren't actually taking the battle seriously. A few of them still moved a bit clumsily as they moved to strike at the large bird, but their actions grew smoother as the battle progressed.
Once one person was sufficiently used to fighting, they would swap out and let someone else take the lead.
'Hm, this group seems to be somewhat experienced. They'll probably split up to hunt, they don't seem threatened by this chicken. If I wait a bit, it could be a bit easier to take them down… Nah.'
Not only would it waste even more of Bjorn's precious time, but it would be bothersome trying to track two separate groups of players down.
Besides…
He wasn't worried about his chances of victory.
The moment the chicken's HP hit the red, Bjorn swiftly dashed out from behind the bush. Not a single member of the party managed to react before he'd already reached the bird.
A thin line of blood spurted into the air, joining the droplets that'd already been drawn by the players' weapons.
"Oi! Who the hell are you?!"
Bjorn ignored the player's angry words as he pivoted mid-dash, slashing his rusty knife across the rooster's neck a second time.
'Man, maybe this dagger really isn't worth five coppers! I could probably punch this thing to death faster!'
Even after two swings, there was still a sliver of hp remaining in the rooster's bar, and the leading player was reacting to Bjorn's unexpected attack, rushing to put an and to the bird before he could steal the kill.
Before the enemy's blade could reach the bird, Bjorn kicked off the ground, the toe of his shoe impacting on the chicken's fluffy breast.
-
Ding!~
Level up!
You hav-
-
"All points into agility."
In the same motion that killed the chicken, Bjorn followed through with the kick, stomping against the ground and side-stepping the incoming blade from the enemy player.
He spun his torso, impaling the rusty dagger into the player's neck before they had a chance to react.
-
Ding!~
Critical hit!
-
"Silence sound notifications."
Even after stealing the kill, Bjorn was still a level behind all of his opponents, and his first strike failed to fell the first enemy.
Withdrawing the dagger and taking a few steps back, Bjorn grinned at the shocked party.
"What the hell, man? Are you insane? Kill stealing on the first day, and against the top group in this town?"
Donny15- who was coincidentally the one who Bjorn had just stabbed in the neck- took an aggressive step forward.
"Hah, are you really that mad about me ruining your quest, and now you want to throw your life away?"
Donny spat on the ground.
"We'll make sure you never make it past level one for stealing that kill. Was it worth it?"
Bjorn tossed the dagger back and forth between his hands.
"I don't know, was it worth it for you?"
"Huh? What do you- shit!"
Bjorn charged forward, sweeping his dagger toward the enemy's throat once more. If he had to estimate based on his damage to chicken, he guessed that he probably only did roughly a tenth of Donny's hp with his first strike.
Donny's teammates weren't about to let Bjorn just walk up and strike their friend this time, though.
A bulkier fellow with a disproportionately small and trashy-looking buckler stepped up to block his attack, while two others withdrew bladed weapons and targeted the incoming attacker.
Whatever experience they had in fighting games wasn't an ounce compared to the endless practice Bjorn had put into Grandiunon's PvP system when training for competition.
His feet glided across the ground, carrying him past the buckler-wielding defender and under the stabbing weapons.
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
The professional assassin's arm moved with an invisible speed as he dodged the enemy attacks, scoring a hit on each enemy's neck.
"How the-"
Bjorn pointed at one of the weapons that'd come close to stabbing him.
"Your dagger is a lot better than mine. Want to trade?"
"As if! Die, prick!"
A few of Donny's buddies charged toward Bjorn, and the young Icelander let out a sigh.
"Item drops it is, then. Let's hope for good rng."
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
Cri…
…
…