HAH!
Tim thrusted the sword forward hitting the hellhound below its jaw and the sharp end came out of its head. The monster died directly without even a single groan.
He kicked the dead body and pulled back his weapon. Blood spurted.
"That was the fifth one."
For some reason, there were many of them today. Even after killing those hellhounds yesterday and the five he encountered on his way here, there were still many in this area. He was surrounded by some of them at the moment, ready to attack at any moment he lowered his defence.
He glanced around. The place was littered with rubble. Some of them looked like mountains. This place was still part of the Swamp Site, but it was not the same area where he fought yesterday. Yesterday, he did a little research about the Swamp Site and he learned that the Swamp Site is not just a small area. It encompassed the whole abandoned 5 square kilometers of lot. Quite surprising.
But another surprising thing came up. Popped-up notifications appeared before him.
[+1 Exp!]
[Level Up!]
Tim leveled up again after killing that monster. And due to that, he found himself in a bad situation once again. He fell on his knee because of the sudden pain. That sudden pain whenever he levels up was a great predicament. Maybe he could buy countermeasures for it like medicines, but as a former warrior who bested many strong opponents, it would hurt his pride to rely on medicine just for the short pain that would not even last for a minute. Also, the pain was now bearable slightly.
Haur!
Seeing him seemed like writhing in pain, one of the surrounding hellhounds was smart enough to launch an attack at him. It jumped from the mountain of rubble.
Even while grimacing, Tim forced himself to stand up and swing his weapon vertically. *Clang!* The claws and sword collided and produced a high-pitched noise in the air.
His muscles quivered at the collision. The force that transmitted into his body had caused additional pain. Seeing him looking weak and hurt, the monster followed up by biting him, but Tim's experience in many battles gave him a little edge. He was a split second faster with his follow-up attack. With a twitching face, he swung his sword in a wide arc. A crescent-shaped light materialized in the air that connected to the monster's neck, decapitating it immediately. Blood bloomed like flowers in the air.
Even while being assaulted by pain, he still managed to kill it.
He had no time to rest though as another hellhound leaped high in the air right after killing that one. He was about to block the monster's attack but changed his mind at the last second. Instead, he leaped to the side. The rubble behind him bursted by an invisible force. He didn't block it because he felt some vibration in the air. The enemy's attack could generate invisible force so he needed to be careful of that.
After falling victim to that kind of trick one time, he was already mindful of it. Although he wasn't sure whether these small ones could use it or not, he didn't dismiss the possibility. And now he discovered that they could use it as well. Perhaps not all of them could use it, but some could.
His eyes slightly widened when the air screamed danger, indicating any approaching enemies. As he suspected, two shadows at the back of that hellhound appeared like haze. In just a split second, they passed it, and it was followed by noises of clashing. *Clang! Clang! Ugh!* He blocked the combined effort of another two hellhounds who charged at him at the same time.
His hand trembled at the recoil of blocking their attacks and he groaned. He could feel his hands briefly going numb. It was a sudden and unavoidable attack. He was surprised at their speed and strength.
'These two are stronger than the other hellhounds,' Tim thought at that moment. Although they were not as strong as the big hellhound yesterday, they were stronger when compared to the other smaller ones.
He noticed the two in front of him had their eyes bloodshot glaring. They were gleaming like mad predators. It was a sign that they were enraged. It looked the same when the big hellhound was about to unleash it. That time Tim avoided it by cutting its tail beforehand. However this time, he could not do it as there were two of them working together to defeat him.
HAR! HAR! HAR!
*Slash!* *Slash!*
Claw marks materialized successively in the air like gleaming holograms. All of them were directed at him. He fends them off by blocking using his sword and dodging. The backlash pain from leveling up was dulling his movement. Many times the monster's attack grazed him. Tim had to protect himself while enduring the pain.
He could not counter. The hellhound's powerful rapid attacks could not allow him to do it.
'Tch! What a wrong timing to face such opponents,' he said worriedly.
When he was about to escape from such a disadvantageous situation, the worst thing happened, the hellhound with invisible force in its attack also joined in. This was even more of a difficult situation now. He could fight multiple of them at the same time as long as they wouldn't surround him like this. Unfortunately, they were in that situation now and there was no room to evade. This was bad. He would get overwhelmed by their relentless aggression. Tim thought worriedly.
As he feared, there was no more room to dodge their attacks. In that case, there was only one solution to all of these. He didn't want to use it as early as possible as he would be left with little mana energy after using it. But if left with no choice, he could only rely on it. He already tested it in yesterday's battle. It could make the pain go away right away. It was due to that that he was confident with grinding levels here even with the awful condition that his leveling brought along.
When he was about to unleash his transformation, he suddenly heard hissing sounds in the air.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
ARRRGHH!!!
The next second, he saw the monsters struck with something like glowing spikes. But on second look, they looked like arrows coated with mana.
'What a strong attack!' Tim commented when he saw the three beasts died immediately.
He looked where the attack came from. He saw a silhouette on top of the mountain of rubble. A figure in a red and white coat stood there with a mask on its face and hood covering its head, and in its hand was a bow weapon.
"Are you okay?!"
A female voice reached him but it was difficult to identify as her voice sounded mechanical.