Who knows. Maybe I should have run for the forests and gotten away from the whole situation instead of going into a building. This was a war zone now, getting away would have been a better choice. Now I was in front of 2 human soldiers who seemed keen on killing anything on their path.
"Must be a scavenger" one of them said after a few moments of the most painful pause I had endured.
"Then he should know to get away from the main prize" the other answered.
Then the last one that spoke grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me to the side throwing me with ease to the ground and hitting a chair that broke. I saw a small number of -10 when I fell.
"What do we have here? Young and healthy... might sell well for slavery" said the soldier when walking over the dead parents and approaching the children, who were scared for their lives and started to cry.
He said slavery, they were intending to capture them and turn them into slaves? But those were just children. And they looked scared.
The boy stood up and got in front of her sister. Crying, managing to keep himself brave, he extended his arms in defiance, trying to block the stranger from harming his sister. The soldier, seeing the act of bravery, smirked, and then spit on the floor.
"Look at this one," He said.
He raised his hand and slapped him right in the face, causing him to fall.
"B-brother!" the sister yelled.
This was getting worse than I would imagine. I looked around me and saw a small vase on my feet. Probably fell to the ground when I was pushed to the side. I wanted to escape and avoid problems, and I would most likely leave freely if I just stood still and did nothing. Yet, what kind of person would I be if I just let two children be beaten and turned into slaves? Whatever that destiny would bring them, I could not fathom allowing it to happen.
I grabbed the vase with my right hand and stood up. My heart was racing at what I was about to do. It was not the first fight I got on, but this one I did risk my life. I was scared, but I was not going to allow me to do anything when I knew I could do something.
"Hey!" I yelled and managed to call the attention to the soldier.
Once he turned his face, I smacked him right in the face with the vase, causing it to break into shards. The damage appeared in front of me.
-50 CRIT (Stun)
Stun? What was that?
The soldier recoiled from the hit, and slowly turned his face towards me, angry and pissed from my action while a line of blood fell from the point I hit him. "Y-you little..." he said and raised his fist to hit me. Took the swing but failed, and his whole body twisted with the motion and fell to the ground.
He did not move anymore. His eyes were closed. A number appeared.
+50 XP
Oh, so I can win experience points too. Good to know. However, that did nothing for me at the moment as I still had to deal with the other soldier.
"You have no idea what you just did, scavenger!" he yelled and pulled out his sword, immediately jumping towards me.
My first instinct was to cut the distance and not let him take the swing with his sword. I managed to get in the middle of his attack and prevent him from attacking and followed with a head butt, which caused him to recoil back while I still held his arms.
-10
That did some damage.
We struggled as I tried to push him against the wall on his back. Numbers appeared once more.
STR check
21 vs ERROR
"W-what the hell?!" Yelled the soldier when the numbers appeared between us. Although I was sure his reaction was more about the error message. While I was more surprised about the fact that it showed a stat check while we were fighting for the sword.
Whether or not that did something, I was not sure, as more numbers appeared and the soldier's expression turned into one of pain.
-15
He received damage from somewhere! I looked down and saw the boy stabbed the soldier with a sword.
He pulled back and had trouble wielding it as the weight was too much for him. The blade of the sword fell to the ground as he was struggling to keep it up.
"You son of a-" the soldier answered when he managed to pull me to the side.
STR Check passed!
The system showed when he managed to get rid of my grip.
"Crush!" the soldier yelled this time and I saw a small light appear on his feet, raising the sword over his head and aiming for the little kid.
I jumped in front of him, trying to protect the kid and I received the weight of his attack on my back. I felt a heavy hit get to me and my whole world crumble in pain.
-80
The screen showed the damage I received from the hit. The pain was too much and I fell to the ground. I was seeing red.
WARNING. LOW HP.
The screen had a small message on the top right side of my view, the system warning me that I was close to death. This was it? I was going to die. I was not sure how much HP I had, but that part was working.
"Stupid scavenger. Did you try to play hero or to take the children for your gain? It doesn't matter, that was stupid on your side" Used his leg to make me turn on the floor and lay on my back "What are you? Level 1 still?"
The soldier used the tip of his sword to cut my face. I whinced in pain.
-5
"I owe... no explanation to you, asshole" I answered, trying to stand up, but the pain was too much to keep controlling my body.
"That's the spirit," he said, and raised his sword, aiming to stab me.
I closed my eyes and waited for the moment I would feel the hit. Remembered what was happening. My ex-girlfriend, my friends from college. Would I see them again in the next life? Would I get a second chance at life after this one would finish?
I waited... and waited... but nothing happened.
I opened one eye to look at the soldier... and he was frozen. The sword already going down but was not moving at all. I looked around, the kids were there, besides me. the boy trying to raise the sword again. And then I saw it.
A woman was standing there. Blonde hair, tall, a nice long dress that showed too much skin. She was a sight to behold.
"Seems you found yourself in quite the predicament, didn't you, sugar?" she said while looking at me.
She got close and inspected the scene, smiling at the situation.
"In a few more moments, you will die if you don't do anything. And those two kids are going to be sent to who knows where" she said.
"Wouldn't Queen Kali and Dara prevent them from doing it?" I asked, suddenly remembering them and their followers. The orc too. I saw their display of force earlier.
"Maybe, but these soldiers are not the main threat they are facing right now in the village" She crouched beside me and placed her hand on my chest, smiling softly. Her touch was warm. "I can give you the strength you need. You are the perfect vessel for the power I have on my hands."
"Why me? And what makes me a perfect vessel?" I asked, curious and drawn to her touch.
"When Malakith created your new body, he made the mistake of not properly initiating the Ad Infinitum System on you" she smiled "You should have taken a small sight of what it can do so far, but you only have touched the tip of the iceberg." she removed her hand, and then placed it on her mouth "If you allow me, I can fix that for you."
"What is there for you?"
"My my, how suspicious," she said and giggled with her eyes closed. "But it is fair" She stands up and looks down on me "Errors like that are entry points for people like me that are outside of this domain. And let's say, I want in. I will start the System for you, give you something special, and in exchange, you will have to do me a favor in the future. We both will benefit from this, I assure you"
I felt like making a pact with the devil. And I was sure that if I said no, I would be either killed by her or by the soldier right beside me. I just nodded, I would have to face the consequences later.
"Good boy. Now, grow strong, and live. We are going to do great things together" she said and kneeled beside me. Leaned towards me and kissed me on my forehead.
AD INFINITUM SYSTEM REBOOTED
NEW CLASS UNLOCKED: TABULA RASA