∼ DAY 24 ∼

[Orc has taken 260 damage, a critical hit!]

[LVL: 12 - Orc has been slain!]

[You have been rewarded with 623 points of EXP]

Everybody from my own motley group of monsters was currently staring dumbfoundedly at me, utter incredulity and shock coloring their eyes due to the sudden turn of events. Taking the initiative instead of dawdling around until we'd become reaver food, I hurled the shoddy halberd in my hands and instantly killed the unfortunate orc of the neighboring group to our right. Although the halberd was in disrepair and lacking severely in quality, it had actually made the weapon inadvertently more lethal as on impact with the tough flesh of the orc, it had exploded and fragmented into something like an improvised grenade of both metal and wood.

The impact alone had riddled the orc with fragments of rusty metal and the splinters of hardened wood, causing widespread internal damage. Although my body didn't possess the strength that usually was required for such a feat, my agility and dexterity made more than enough up for my shortcomings in that department. While I couldn't apply much force behind my throw with my strength, the sheer speed generated by agility and perfect coordination that dexterity gave my body acted like a substitute.

I couldn't explain exactly how dexterity and agility affected the body and how they differed from other stats as I myself only have the faintest and most basic knowledge of each attribute's essential and fundamental effect. I simply knew agility generally helped increase your speed, and that dexterity helped your body's coordination and maneuverability in all manner of things, anywhere from dodging attacks to the flexibility of your fingers when crafting.

So with my inhuman agility of fifty, aided by with twenty points of dexterity, this was the product. Another thing of note was something that I had recently discovered. It was that the value of each point in a stat actually increased as the stat accumulated points. For example, a human with 20 points of strength wouldn't simply be two times as strong as a human with 10 points in strength. He would actually be a decent bit stronger than just double the strength since each of his points valued more than the other human's with only 10 points.

While stats in the lower end like the tens and twenties didn't show too much difference or disparity between the value of each point, it began to become very pronounced the higher the stat reached. Saying that I was only 5 times as fast as a human had 10 points in agility would be a severe underestimation. I was actually many times faster than just that.

But all in all, attributes are extremely fickle things that take a million different variables into consideration to calculate their effects. They affected everybody differently, and fussing over it would only induce a headache. As another side note, I also noticed that attribute points were becoming much harder to come by with Siphon as I grew stronger.

Although I had been drinking the blood of more furiously strong and powerful monsters, I've seen a steep declined in the number of attributes I got each time I drank. I supposed this was some power-balancing of sorts, as I could've essentially become endlessly strong by continuously raising stats and causing an exponential effect of sorts. Only leveling seemed to always be a steady stream of attributes, only hindered by the amount of experience required for each new level.

But with this kind of logic, wouldn't it be best to only drink from creatures that excelled in certain attributes like agility, so I would maximize my gains? No, not really. While focusing on a stat or two was good, I couldn't forego any of the others as imbalance would start to occur. What good would a thousand agility do me if I had only ten points in intellect? My mind couldn't possibly be able to follow such inane speeds, and I would crash into a wall becoming insect paste before anything.

All attributes governed various different workings and areas of your body. Without a decent amount of intellect and dexterity to support your agility, your brain wouldn't even be able to properly coordinate and command your body to allow for high speeds or maneuverability. The same goes for strength, vitality, and so on. Each attribute was somewhat dependent on another to either fully-function or show their potential to their fullest.

Balance was key.

I quickly returned from my pondering to the scene before me. Almost instantly after the blood of the orc had exploded into the air, the reavers picked up on it. As I expected, their ability to smell was above and beyond that of a simple predator. These were killing machines made for hunting prey, and they showed that as just the very next second as the reavers launched into a maddeningly quick dash towards the unfortunate orc and his even more unfortunate group.

While most simply looked like deer in headlights as the reavers rapidly closed in on them, others tried desperately to get their stiff and petrified bodies to move as fast as they possibly could. But within mere seconds, the reavers were upon them. Some tried to brunt the apex predators' charge with spears and halberds, but they did little to nothing against the thick hides and robust bodies of the apex predators as they simply moved down the part of the group that couldn't move or was too slow to get out of dodge.

What followed was a bloody scene of pure carnage, of a magnitude I hadn't seen since my encounter with the ghouls. Limbs were torn, flesh was shredded, and lives were taken. Although these predators had been blinded and had their hearing impaired, their cooperation and coordination between each other were staggering. They seemed to almost know the exact location and movements of each other as they herded the desperately fleeing monsters into their waiting talons and teeth-riddled maws.

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I even saw one of the reavers charge a saurian woman and blunt her high into the air with the side of one of its hammerhead-like extremities. Before the saurian could even get fall back down into the ground, another reaver stormed past and intercepted her descent with its open maw, catching her directly out of the air like she was some kind of circus trick. The display of pure teamwork that was currently being enacted in front of my eyes stunned me. I could hardly believe that these creatures, even with all their impaired senses, could perform such perfect coordination.

Even with the now blood-spattered earth and reavers, they had no trouble finding their next targets, even if they themselves weren't bloodied. I didn't know what was allowing them such insane tracking and hunting capabilities but I just knew they weren't to be underestimated. Taking my own advice, I had already begun a sprint across to the opposing side of the fighting grounds.

My goal had been to sacrifice that one group to acquire some time for me to assemble all the other groups into a united defense. Our only option was to band together if we ever wanted to make it out alive. Luckily I wasn't the only one that had realized that as all seven other groups, my included, were currently gathering with each other.

One slight hiccup in the plan though, was that some leaders had opposing interests and wanted to form their own groups. I wasn't the only strong fodder in the Mauling, as some of the other groups had a few strong of their own. The ones who wanted to flaunt their strength and wanted to spearhead the largest group were currently releasing their auras to gather the most people under their wings.

As I was running with my group in tow, the haphazard mingling of monsters from the other groups had already started to take shape. To my dismay though, it seemed instead of founding one big group out of the seven, they had actually formed three different large groups, spearheaded by each their own leader.

Due to the competitive and arrogant nature of these stronger individuals, they had actually refrained themselves from relinquishing their authority to someone else even though their lives were at stake. One group even had two strong monsters already fighting against each other, vying for leadership of the merged group.

I could only scoff in disdain at the idiotic monsters wanting pride and dominance, since I could do nothing about it due to the time I've bought myself have run out. In the distance, the corpses and bloody limbs of the group sacrificed were the only things remaining. By now, the reavers had all redirected their attention towards the merged groups.

My group and I were now only a few dozen meters from the closest merged group, currently spearheaded by a very arrogantly glaring beastkin. He was tall with lean muscles and the vicious and predatory look of a canine. He was obviously a wolf-varaint of the beastkin race and I quickly pulled up his status.

-Appraisal!-

Status - Fjende

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills -Name- "Fjende" STR 32 Skills ??? -Race- Lycan VIT 25 Traits ??? -Sex- Male AGI 35 Titles ??? -Rank- E DEX 16 Resistances

-Level- 35/35 INT 15 Health 202/202 CHR 10 Physical Resistance 6 Stamina 88/88 WILL ??? Magical Resistance 1 Mana 0/0 MAG 0.5 Mental Resistance ???

Decently varied attributes, and around or above Gurok's normal strength. With his strength confirmed, I didn't hesitate as I suddenly used Blink to deliver a surprise attack. I knew I had just thought it as idiotic for the monsters to fight amongst each other for the little dominance they could have over their groups. But I had already confirmed that this guy's existence would foil my plans and strategy.

The sheer arrogance and pride within those predatory eyes that were currently glaring at my form as I headed my group towards his, was more than enough to tell me that he would never allow me to make any commands or decisions. So I once again took the initiative to finish off the guy as time was of the essence.

With the speed that was granted to my body with Blink, the disappearance of my form where I had just been to the appearance right next to the beastkin, had greatly surprised him. I didn't hesitate as the very moment I had closed the distance, my Weak Infusing Slash already heading directly towards the furry nape of the beastkin's neck.

But this time it was my turn to be surprised, as a flicker of something with insane speed blocked my attack...