Distraction.

That was all the entire plan hinged on, Nathan grumbled as he walked towards the front gate of the Miners' Settlement, alone. The rest of the squad would follow soon; some would go from the sides, while the weaker members would follow in the wake of destruction that he planned to leave behind.

Status.

[Name: Nathan Orion

Moniker: N/A

Level: 30

Archetype: Blood Berserker

Class: Blood Pawn

Imprints: Balls of Steel, Demon Slayer, Skull Crusher, Bronze Dungeoneer, Wrong Underdog

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 15

Vitality: 14

Constitution: 20

Perception: 13

Dao: N/A

Ra'hal Coins: 34,750

Free Points: 2]

It had almost been a month since the apocalypse began, and Nathan's growth was commendable but worrying—his level growth rate had seen a steady decline with each level he climbed. Of course, most of that was his own fault, but at the end of the day, this Miners' Settlement was going to shake things up a bit. Grinning at the thought, Nathan closed the status screen just in time because up ahead were the patrols: two dwarves and a gremlin.

Whistling a tune, he casually strolled towards the guards at the gate. They'd just spotted him, and the dwarves were saying something to the gremlin, who kept shouting at the pair. Eventually, they all fell quiet as soon as Nathan got within range. The dwarves held up their warhammers for a swing while the gremlin said something to the pair on his arrival.

[Dwarf

Level 13]

[gremlin

Level 14]

[Dwarf

Level 13]

Pitiful.

Nathan internally scoffed at the information the system had provided after he'd analyzed the trio. In the dwarves' eyes, he saw bloodlust, but in the gremlin's eyes, he saw uncertainty. While Nathan highly doubted that Plan A would work, he might as well test it now.

"...I pull rank," the gremlin said before looking up at Nathan. "Hold. What is your business here?"

"Stop asking it questions, Vafir. It's a native inhabitant, and we should kill it where it stands," one of the dwarves growled.

Nathan shook his head at the words of the guards, his action only seeming to infuriate the already pissed-off dwarves, but he didn't care one bit. The trio would have better luck trying to get water out of a rock than blood out of him. Either way, he was running out of time, and it was time to implement Plan A.

"Step aside. I need to destroy your Portal, and then I'll be on my way," Nathan said.

"...Step aside... for you... to—" One of the dwarves hunched back in laughter.

The other joined while the gremlin chuckled uncertainly until its eyes glossed over and then widened like saucers. No doubt it had just analyzed him and now knew he was at level 30. Nathan was only one level away from becoming unanalyzable to anyone with the skill Basic Analyze(I).

Well, there goes Plan A. Time for Plan B.

Kill 'em all.

Almost lazily, as if he couldn't be bothered to rush his attack, his sword arched up, bisecting the gremlin that had just been about to call out a warning to the still-laughing dwarves. His sword tore through the body of the gremlin like it was made of dough. Blood erupted like a fountain from the lower half of the gremlin's body as the upper part fell off, spraying against his body and face equally, falling on the faces of the dwarves.

Not so funny now, eh?

Nathan grinned. His blood-covered face would've been perfect for a live-action horror show, but he'd have to settle for an apocalypse. With two swift strikes, he dispatched the two dwarves. They hadn't even been able to call out for help or pull back their hammers for a swing before Nathan's sword bit into their necks a little too greedily, the blade exiting from the other sides without pause—a swift and clean decapitation.

The heads dropped to the floor, and the bodies soon followed with an audible thud, the sound the only thing to disturb the silence at the gate. Nathan stared at the bodies in disgust; it had been way too easy for him to slay the guards, making it clear how far ahead he was compared to them. They'd been so beneath him that he could tell they'd barely helped him progress to the next level. He needed more, and the apocalypse had literally dropped a feast for him. He'd tried to parlay, so now he was switching to the gory side—he wouldn't feel bad about it. In fact, he felt pretty good about it.

Nathan stood still, the corpses on the dirt at his feet, blood dripping off his blade as he waited for the other miners to figure out that their guards had been killed. As if the apocalypse was trying to fulfill his every thought at that moment, a gremlin ran out to the front, staring at him in horror.

"You... you're a... monster," the gremlin stuttered.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Nathan did nothing but flash the gremlin a toothy grin, which wouldn't have been out of place at a movie premiere. But out here in the middle of nowhere in a freaking apocalypse, with blood coating him from head to toe, Nathan had no doubts that he looked like the boogeyman.

He watched as the gremlin turned and ran back into the Settlement, its short legs almost reaching the back of its head as it ran for all it was worth, no doubt probably on its way to inform whoever was in charge of the Settlement about the monster outside their gates. That would suit Nathan just fine; after all, he was to act as a distraction, and what better way than to let them come to him? A loud horn sounded from the settlement, no doubt their way of signifying they were under attack.

Fantabulous. This is about to get interesting.

The cries of alarm that rose from the settlement made Nathan's grin stretch wider, making his already disturbing face even worse. He twirled the sword by the hilt, patiently waiting for the miners to organize themselves into something of a reasonable size that might be worth his time—maybe. He highly doubted there would be anyone or anything in the settlement, apart from the so-called commander he had yet to meet, that would cause him to sweat. The rest were going to be sword practice for him.

Time to start swinging, I suppose.

Nathan thought as he stopped twirling his sword, instead holding it in a firm grip as he prepared for the incoming horde. Even though he'd hung back and waited for them, the miners hadn't seemed to take advantage of his gift. Instead, they were rushing out in droves; no doubt they planned to overwhelm him with their numbers, but that plan wasn't going to favor them as much as they thought.

The group that reached Nathan numbered roughly thirty from a rough head count. Dwarves and gremlins made up the numbers, and they seemed bloodthirsty, their bloodlust showing in their movements as they charged towards him. He randomly analyzed a few even as he prepared to clash with them. His brief check revealed no one above level 18; sure, he hadn't analyzed every single one of them, but he'd done enough to gauge their relative strength.

Fodder.

They weren't going to be a challenge to him in any form or fashion. The words he'd uttered in jest after killing the guards might just be true—maybe he was just going to have a little bit of sword practice today. Of course, he didn't put it past the system to throw up some surprises, but until it did, he was going to have a little bit of fun. Maybe a lot.

"Rarrrrrrgh!" Nathan yelled as he charged.

"Graaaahh!" The group yelled in response as they spread out while still charging at him.

Slow motion. That's how everything felt to Nathan; his mind processed everything a lot faster than them, and it showed. The unfortunate gremlin who'd been the first to be killed by Nathan in the charge had died without even being able to swing its pickaxe, which wasn't surprising considering how fast he'd mowed down the guards. This was going to be like a stroll for Nathan.

It was. Nathan's diagonal slash tore through the gremlin, starting from the left collarbone to its right hip, the Berserker moving on to the next would-be attacker before the gremlin's body could even hit the ground. That attacker was lucky enough to pull back her hammer for a swing before her hammer and the hand wielding it fell to the dirt, his sword already arcing to the side, decapitating the dwarf before she could let out a horrified scream.

Thwuck!

Nathan felt something pointy try and fail to pierce his side, his constitution way too high for the puny gremlin wielding the offending pickaxe to pierce. The look of displeasure on Nathan's face was the last thing the gremlin saw before its skull was crushed by Nathan's free fist.

The gremlin was only the first to land a hit; soon enough, more followed—hammers and pickaxes alike. Nathan thought he saw a pair of daggers, but he couldn't be too sure. While there were definitely different weapons being used to attack him, he could say that all attacks by the miners had one thing in common: they had little to no success in harming him.

Sure, the occasional blunt hammer hit to his skin caused it to rattle, but even that still didn't hurt him at least as much as his strikes hurt the group. Nathan hacked and slashed, system notifications popping up in his field of vision as euphoria filled him, but he dismissed both, focusing on tearing apart the few miners that had survived his rampage so far.

[Life steal triggered]

It wasn't the first time the skill had activated during the fight, and to be frank, Nathan hadn't needed it. From what he could feel, his health hadn't even dipped lower than ninety-nine percent since the fight started. Sure, the miners were many, but they weren't experienced fighters. No doubt they'd been hoping to find a dumb and powerless human they could bully with their numbers; unfortunately, they'd been visited by the Blood Berserker himself, Nathan.

Five.

Scratch that—four. That was the number of attackers that remained from the initial group of thirty, and even then, the number dropped by one as Nathan's sword whistled through the air, tearing through the kneecaps of a sneaky gremlin that had hung back during the fight, trying and failing to nick him with its blades.

I knew I saw daggers.

The gremlin didn't last longer than the thought, his fist already completing the work that his blade had started, brain matter splattering on the floor as Nathan's fist pushed out the contents of the gremlin's skull, emerging from the other side before Nathan pulled it back.

[Life steal Triggered]

Nathan dismissed the system information as he faced the other three. He could see the fear in their eyes, but still, regardless of the obvious emotions on their faces, they charged at him, all at once. For such bravery, Nathan did them the honor of killing them swiftly and cleanly, his sword commending them for their courage as it whistled through the air, tearing through the necks of the closest two. For the last one out of reach, Nathan thought about finishing it off with his fist but held back. He had promised them a quick, clean death, and he planned to deliver on that promise. He let the gremlin's pickaxe hit his bare chest, the metal bouncing off his skin, but even before then, they had both known the attack was futile. For its effort, Nathan swung his blade, decapitating the gremlin and watching with a grim smile as the body and head dropped to the floor.

"What a waste."

Status

[Name: Nathan Orion

Moniker: N/A

Level: 35

Archetype: Blood Berserker

Class: Blood Pawn

Imprints: Balls of Steel, Demon Slayer, Skull Crusher, Bronze Dungeoneer, Wrong Underdog

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 15

Vitality: 14

Constitution: 20

Perception: 13

Dao: N/A

Ra'hal Coins: 58,650

Free Points: 12]

Okay, I don't really need to do this but:

Two points to constitution

Three to strength

Four to vitality

[ Strength: 33

Constitution: 22

Vitality: 18

##

Free points: 3 ]

Confirming his updates, he closed the screen with a thought. He hadn't really needed to upgrade his Vitality, but he had points to spare, so he might as well. Glancing to the side, he looked for the signal that Ciara was supposed to send when they got into position to do their own thing.

"Come on, where are you guys?" Nathan muttered to himself.

Bingo!

Shit!

A fireball shot up from somewhere deep in the settlement, heading for the crimson sky before it fizzled out. The problem came when a second quickly followed after the first, fizzling out after making it around the same distance up in the sky. One meant they were in position; two meant they were in position and currently needed help. Nathan turned and was about to head in that direction when he heard a sound, a sound he'd almost forgotten.

Screech!

"You've got to be kidding me," Nathan mumbled.

Turning to face the direction of the screech, he couldn't believe his eyes. Rushing towards him were demons—a lot of demons—and behind the variety of different demons he'd never seen before was one that stood out among the rest, towering over them even as they charged towards him. It had to be a good three feet taller than him, and the mace it wielded in one hand made him wince. It had horns, and its face looked familiar to Nathan as if he'd seen it somewhere. They were still far out, but once the demon noticed that he'd seen their charge, it let out a loud roar that carried to his ears, causing him to grin.

"Finally, something worth my time," Nathan said with a grin.