Damien and Ela were walking along a paved road. The road itself was from before the system arrived, but now it was littered with cracks and holes from various battles, as well as the mere passage of time. The landscape around them was a mix of overgrown vegetation and the remnants of what once was a bustling city. Abandoned buildings stood in silence, their windows shattered and walls covered in creeping vines. In the distance, the sound of rustling leaves hinted at the presence of wildlife reclaiming the area.
The road was filled with old rusted vehicles that no longer worked and were now just old relics... Looking at these cars and buildings Damien felt looked familiar and this wasn't the first time he had felt this way. The first time he felt it was when he saw Ela's necklace with their picture on it, but since then even seeing small details has caused it to return, such as the road they were walking on or cars along the side.
“What are those things on the sides of the road Ela? I feel like I should know what they are but no matter how much I try nothing is popping up.”
Ela paused for a moment, studying Damien's face with a mixture of empathy and curiosity. "Those are cars," she replied softly, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness. "They used to take people from one place to another.”
Hearing her explanation and the word “car” Damien once again had that feeling of remembering something before it once again slipped away like it never existed which in turn made him a bit frustrated, to say the least.
Continuing to walk along the road they eventually reached the outskirts of the blast radius, looking at the stark difference between the desolate land in front and the run-down abandoned city behind gave the scene a feeling of emptiness.
“This is it. Beyond this point, you will encounter monsters that are far more dangerous than those in the forest. Stay away from the center area and stick to the outskirts,” Ela warned Damien, her expression firm and resolute.
“What is so dangerous about the center?” Damien asked curiously.
“Well, for one, the monsters become stronger the further you go in, according to what people have said. As for the monsters near the center, that is unknown, as no one has been able to get far enough to find out. However, the main reason it is so dangerous is that the radiation levels in the center are high enough to kill you within seconds.” she responded
“Got it! Alright, let's go! I really want to test out my abilities on some proper enemies; the ones in the forest were simply too weak to fight back,” Damien responded excitedly at the thought of finally facing real opponents.
As Damien and Ela walked into the blast zone, they ventured deeper, searching for monsters to fight. Before long, they came across their first enemies: five massive, wolf-like creatures. Their bodies were dilapidated and rotten, almost resembling some type of zombie wolves.
These wolves were enormous, standing over eight feet tall for the lower-level ones. The alpha was around twelve feet, while the queen was about ten feet tall.
Inspecting the grotesque creatures, five prompts appeared before them:
- “Irradiated Alpha Wolf - Level 27”
- “Irradiated Queen Wolf - Level 25”
- “Irradiated Wolf - Level 22”
- “Irradiated Wolf - Level 20”
- “Irradiated Wolf - Level 21”
Seeing their levels, a massive smile spread across Damien's lips. “Now we are talking! I’ll take on the alpha, and you get the queen. How about it?” he asked, looking at Ela.
With a playful smile, Ela shook her head. “Sure, but if you get your ass kicked, I won’t save you.”
“Deal.” After deciding on their plan, they sprang into action. Ela swiftly entered her spirit form, while Damien chose to activate one of his abilities that he hadn’t used yet.
This ability allowed him to merge with the shadows and move through them. Fortunately for Damien, the blast zone was heavily shadowed, providing plenty of shadows to sink into.
Damien and Ela decided to sneak attack one of the lower-level wolves each so they could focus on their fight with the alpha and the queen without worrying about the weaker foes.
Sneaking up behind their targets, Ela was the first to make her move. She exited her spirit form and stabbed her short sword into one of the wolves, killing it instantly. Simultaneously, Damien emerged from a shadow beneath another wolf, plunging his katana into its underside and piercing its heart.
All of this happened in less than a second, surprising the alpha and queen. They snarled and jumped in front of the remaining low-level wolf to protect it.
Stolen novel; please report.
Without wasting any time, Damien activated his lightning-fast ability and launched himself toward the alpha, reappearing at its right side before thrusting his sword upwards at its stomach.
Even at over six feet tall, Damien barely reached the alpha's underside due to its massive size.
Surprisingly, Damien’s sword failed to pierce the wolf’s hide. Before he could react, the enormous creature whipped around and swiped one of its giant paws at him with incredible speed.
Managing to barely dodge the attack by activating lightning-fast again, Damien leaped into the air and struck down at the wolf, using his momentum to pierce its side.
Unfortunately, the attack was shallow and didn’t seem to hurt the wolf much. ‘This isn’t going to work…’ he thought to himself before deciding it was time to try out another of his race’s abilities.
While Damien fought the alpha, Ela was seen dashing around the queen with an astonishing speed. Her summoned spirit was attacking the queen head-on, but the wolf was struggling against Ela. The mismatch in their abilities was evident; the queen relied on magic attacks that couldn’t hit Ela, who was moving at incredible speeds, disappearing and reappearing at will.
The queen's only saving grace was her tough hide; being a wolf, it was incredibly hard for Ela to pierce. At this point, it had become a battle where if Ela ran out of stamina, she would lose, but if the queen accumulated enough wounds, she would eventually succumb.
Noticing that the queen was managing to fend off the summoned spirit easily and that her own attacks weren’t making much impact, Ela knew she had to change her approach. Fortunately, after the system had fully integrated, she had gained quite a useful skill.
Status:
Name: Ela Heart
Age: 200
Level: 25
Race: High human (F rank)
Bloodline: N/A
Titles: Spirt summoner, spirits blessing
Class: Spirit Walker
Stats:
Health:225
Mana:225
Strength:120
Agility:210
Defense:120
Intelligence:140
Perception:130
Willpower:120
Points to distribute:0
Skills: Spirit summon (Epic), spirit walk (Legendary), spirits voice (Rare), sword goddess (Legendary), Spirits cleave (Epic-NEW)
Spirits cleave - A ability of those who wield the power of spirits - Allows the user to summon a giant spirit that cleaves all who stand in the user's path in half.
Quickly activating spirits cleave Ela watched as a giant spirit materialized before her, swiftly swinging its massive hand down in a chopping motion at the queen wolf. The queen wolf, upon seeing the attack, tried her best to dodge, but she was a moment too late. The blow struck her, instantly splitting her in half and resulting in a fountain of blood that erupted from the wound, followed by a final, anguished cry before the wolf died.
Upon hearing the queen's dying cry, the alpha wolf looked over. When he saw his queen split in half and lifeless on the ground, he let out an enraged howl and charged at Ela with a fierce snarl that could only be described as rage.
However, before the wolf could reach her, Damien suddenly appeared in front of it. It seemed to Ela that he had materialized from nowhere, taking the form of a shadowy figure with wings on his back.
Glancing down at his hand, Damien felt intrigued but decided to hold off any exploration for later. He knew that using this skill too long would weaken him once he deactivated it. With this in mind, he attacked the wolf with his katana. Almost immediately, Damien noticed an increase in his strength, effortlessly slicing through the alpha's hide.
Feeling the blade slice through its hide with ease the alpha wolf reluctantly focused its attention back on Damien knowing it had to take him seriously after seeing that last attack.
Leaping forward with its massive jaws, the wolf attempted to snap them shut around Damien, but quickly realized it had bitten into nothing; the attack passed right through him without causing any damage.
In this form, Damien understood a few crucial things, which was why he had allowed the wolf to attack him in the first place. While in this form, he was immune to physical attacks; only magical attacks could harm him.
Smiling to himself, Damien activated Lighting fast and rushed forward, appearing below the wolf's neck. He sliced upward before reappearing next to Ela. Turning his head back to the wolf, he watched as the alpha's head fell to the ground with a thud.
*DING* user has killed - “Irradiated alpha wolf - Level 27”
Ignoring the notification, Damien deactivated his form, and a wave of weakness washed over him, causing his face to instantly turn pale with fatigue. Noticing his condition, Ela quickly supported him. “Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’m fine, Ela,” Damien replied, quickly explaining why he felt so tired and the skill he had just used.
After about ten minutes of rest, Damien felt his strength return, a genuinely refreshing sensation. It seemed he had used the skill for five minutes, resulting in ten minutes of weakness. This weakness was no joke; if he deactivated that skill, he would be nearly useless for the duration of its effects. He realized he would need to be careful about how and when he activated it in the future.
Standing up, Damien opened the system interface to check how much time was left until the event started. “System event starting in - 10 hours,” it informed him. It had taken him and Ela about four hours to reach the blast zone from the town, and their recent fight had lasted around fifteen minutes.
Looking over at Ela, Damien said, “Alright, shall we go fight some more monsters?”