'It is said that when you stare at the dark for too long, you'll eventually see what isn't there.'
This was indeed true if only what you were looking for was in front of you and not behind.
At that moment, trapped in darkness and exposed to an unknown beast, Wolfram wished he had exceptional pupils like that of the sheep, which allowed it to see all around it.
The attack came faster than he had anticipated... In fact, it was faster than he could react to despite his swift reflexes. By the time he heard the sound of his enemy and opted for a hasty dodge, the other party had already launched its pre-emptive attack. It felt like a truck had his back, the pain was the last thing he could think of as his mind was quickly trying to think of an appropriate tactic.
The attack caused him to crash into the metal wall and it even broke one of his ribs. He could taste the bitter blood in his mouth, that and the momentary dizziness due to the blunt and strong impact into the wall.
Although slightly disoriented, Wolfram still raised his gun and pulled the trigger, missing the target but still frightening it and forcing it to stop its second assault.
'I hear the sound of flapping wings, and they're quite fast too. Whatever hit me from behind had a large body, at least larger than me. The force behind the first attack was strong enough to literally blow me away but not enough to instantly kill me, which means strength is probably not its primary attribute. If it were the case, a creature with such a big body would have been physically stronger. There's also the claws, which seem to be sharp enough to rip through my clothes and dig into my back. I'm sure its first attack was merely its way of probing me... perhaps it is as careful as I am.'
The gunshots bought him around four seconds, which were barely enough for the dizziness to go away. Wolfram took out the rifle and pointed at the air above him before pulling the trigger, not stopping until he was out of bullets. At first, he heard a shrieking sounds, but after a while, there was nothing but an eerie silence.
He must have hit it at first, but when it knew the danger of the rifle, it retreated to a safe distance and merely watched him. Not wanting to use the gun or fleeing to the illuminated area, Wolfram looked into the darkness and taunted the beast
"Come on you winged bitch! Come on! I'm right fucking here!"
His mocking and loud tone did it job as the creature responded with an unpleasant and ear-piercing screech. Amidst the darkness, Wolfram couldn't see it moving, but he 'knew' it was going to attack again.
Hearing the source of the noise, although it was a bit far, Wolfram still tried to pinpoint the position of the unseen target. The cards, which were hidden in his sleeves were swiftly thrown at the origin of the shrieks and screeches. Their speed and accuracy were decent, however, Wolfram's objective was to try and pinpoint the creature's location and finish it off using the handgun, which was more efficient and deadly than the cards.
Surprisingly, his cards did more damage than expected. They did wonders, actually.
He threw cards two times in succession, four cards each throw. The first four projectiles hit their target successfully and managed to cause the beast to cry out in pain.
It wanted to run from the second throw, but as luck would have it, the first one had struck its right-wing, thus making it unable to fly properly. When it tried to fly away and dodge the projectiles, it simply fell down, alerting Wolfram of its location and condemning its fate.
Wolfram followed with four quick gunshots aimed at where the loud thud was heard. Three of them hits their target, and the last barely missed. Fortunately, the damage done to the creature was enough to seriously injure it and render it unable to fly or fight anymore.
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It continued to cry in agony, trying to flap its wings. Sadly for it, its desperate flailing only sealed its fate as Wolfram was able to exactly pinpoint its location.
He walked right next to it and used all his strength to furiously kick it, sending it flying until it crashed into a wall.
Although it didn't have a body as sturdy as the Hobgoblin, it was faster and more dangerous due to this special environment it seemed to have created.
"How do you like that? Hah!?"
Wolfram kept kicking it until he was tired. At some point, the darkness around him greatly lessened, which meant that the creature was dead. Upon a closer look, this annoying monster was actually a large bat with two short legs and long sharp claws. It was very creepy-looking and the blood pool under it made it look even more frightening.
'To think a bat caused me this much trouble.'
Once he was done, Wolfram spat on the monster and sat down a distance away. Luckily, he looted two stats card and that was while excluding the reward from killing it.
*You have killed a Dark Bat (Elite) Lv1 : +1 Card Points.*
*[Search] Lv1 =＞ Lv2! +0.22 Card Points.*
*You obtained the first fragment of the trickster's set (1/12)*
*For every three fragments obtained, you'll be granted one item from trickster's set.*
*Cards will now deal 5% more damage to Darkness Monsters.*
'As expected, killing it was worth it!'
Wolfram happily examined the logs and then crushed the two stat cards obtained. This monster was an Elite, clearly different from the normal bunch. Its low level notwithstanding, it was considerably strong.
Wolfram was very close to levelling up, after a few more kills, he will, at last, reach Lv2.
As he rested and waited for some of his minor injuries to heal, he took out his dark card and examined his stats.
Wolfram Sakimoto
--
Race: No Race
Class: 1 Star Trickster
--
Cards Control : 3
Cards Sharpness : 3
Cards Speed : 3
--
Strength : 3.09
Vitality : 2.4
Speed : 2.36
Perception : 3.4
Magic : 2.41
Magic Control : 1.33
Magic Resistance : 1.19
--
Card Points : 1.39
---
Skills: Sneak Lv2. Dagger Mastery Lv2. Sensor Hearing Lv1. Lightsteps Lv2. Search Lv2. Gun Mastery lv1, Run Lv1.
The two stat cards increased his Speed and Perception by 0.21 and 0.39 respectively. Plus, he had 1.39 CP remaining so he started pondering where to put them.
It was alluring to put them on card stats again, but he stopped himself and opted for Vitality. The CP distribution went as such: 0.6 into Vitality, 0.1 into Perception,0.34 into Speed, and the rest into Card Sharpness.
He had a broken rib, which would take time to naturally heal, therefore, an increased Vitality stats would facilitate his physical recovery. Speed was necessary for either fleeing, chasing, or evading attacks. Perception's usefulness didn't need any explanation. It was one of the most essential Stats for survival.
Twenty minutes passed yet there were no signs of enemies approaching, soldiers or monsters. Even the nearby survivors didn't dare to send one of their fighters to see what had happened here.
When he recovered enough energy to move, Wolfram got up and walked up to the stairs a few meters away from him. He didn't immediately ascend them, instead, he looked down and noticed the existence of another floor under this one. Then, he glanced upwards and saw endless stairs that led to the surface.
"There have to be at least ten floors, fortunately, the stairs don't seem to be that damaged. It is possible to head straight to the ground floor."
Just as he uttered those words, a loud explosion reverberated and caused the ground to shake intensely.
Huge boulders and rubbles fell from above, almost hitting Wolfram, who managed to evade in time. Dust accumulated inside the stairs, blocking the view for a few minutes.
When Wolfram looked up again, he started cursing loudly
"Motherfucker! Why did I have to jinx it for myself!"
The stairs which led all the way to the surface were *officially* broken. They still led several floors upwards, but he would have to find another way to the surface once he reached the blocked area.
'Well, it's not like I'm going to escape this instant.'
After a final glance at the stairs, he turned around and walked toward the survivors' camp. His motive was to get rid of them lest they followed him and caused trouble later on.
Moreover, Wolfram still hoped to find the commander who had tortured him and even attempted to execute him. He wanted to exact vengeance, one way or another.