In hindsight, I should've given my allies a heads-up before I went full-on barbarian on these asshats. But to my defense, we were already surrounded and there was no way to discuss a plan without the enemies hearing about it. We could have planned on the way here but… well, we were eating tacos.
As soon as I was within range, I swung my battleaxe at Baldy, who simply grinned and easily dodged my axe. He brandished two stilettos in each hand and stabbed both of them into my chest. There was a dull clang as they failed to penetrate my uniform's armor.
I swung at him again, but Baldy was too slippery. In the time it took me to make a single swing, he stabbed me five times in various places on my torso. All of them were blocked by my armor.
“Dammit, I'll save you for last,” I growled before I targeted Baldy's friends. Baldy took advantage of my opening to strike me all over my body, but I ignored him. And unlike their leader, the rest of the rabble did not fare as well against me.
Smuggler 1 tried to block my axe swing like an idiot by crossing his blades together. It did nothing to slow down my heavy axe as it bisected him from head to groin.
[You have slain a Lv. 18 Thief. Experience gained.]
[Congratulations! You are now Level 13.]
Smuggler 2 spat a weird poisonous dust cloud at my face that stung my eyes and blinded me for a few seconds. I opened my arms wide and ran at him with my eyes closed. The moment I touched him, I pulled him into a crushing embrace.
[You have slain a Lv. 13 Poisoner. Experience gained.]
My body quickly cleared out the poison in my eyes, just in time for Smuggler 3 to stab my neck with a shortsword. I Hardened my neck at the last moment, and his sword bounced off. My axe didn't when I did the same to his neck, though.
[You have slain a Lv. 15 Scout. Experience gained.]
[Congratulations! You are now Level 14.]
When I turned to Smuggler 4, the man was trembling and there was already a small puddle of piss at his feet. “Aw, that's nasty.”
I approached the last dude in Baldy's group, but Baldy, who had been striking at my armor pointlessly all this time, finally figured out the brilliant idea to try hitting me other than the armored portions of my body. There was a glint of a blade in my vision, and all of a sudden, my throat was suddenly spurting blood like a fountain.
[Hard as Fuck has leveled up to Lv.2]
[Physical Resistance has leveled up to Lv.2]
Baldy landed nearby, grinning madly. But when he saw my spurting neck, his jaw dropped. “How are you alive?! That should have beheaded you!”
Damn right it should've. If not for my Skills, I'd be a headless corpse by now.
I ignored Baldy and kept my course towards Smuggler 4. The pissy man tried to run, but he wasn't fast enough. My axe split his head in two and cut all the way down to his torso before getting stuck in his abdomen.
[You have slain a Lv. 12 Merchant. Experience gained.]
By the time I pulled my axe free of Smuggler 4's corpse, my neck wound was already closing. Just in time too, because Baldy went for another strike to my neck, causing another blood fountain once again.
But fool me once, shame on him. Fool me twice, I'm gonna rip him apart.
Just as Baldy was cutting my throat, I anticipated his move and managed to grab his right foot. To my amazement, his reaction speed was stupidly fast as he immediately tried to cut my hand off. Unfortunately for him, his blade hit the armored portion of my long sleeve.
I grabbed his captured leg with my other hand, and just like what I loved to do to my pencils during elementary, I snapped his leg in two.
Baldy's screams echoed throughout the street like a whistling kettle. In the distance, where I saw Lance and Warner fighting against the other group of smugglers, everyone paused as they looked my way.
“Sorry about the noise, I'll try to keep it down,” I called out before I stomped on Baldy's screaming head. My armored boot crushed his head like a piece of fruit.
[You have slain a Lv. 27 Dark Assassin. Experience gained.]
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Congratulations! You are now Level 15. You are eligible for a Skill choice.]
[Congratulations! You are now Level 16.]
[Please choose a Skill below.]
[General Skills Choices]
1. Minor Poison Resistance - Slightly reduces the effects of poison.
2. Minor Cold Resistance - Slightly reduces the effect of cold.
3. Woodcraft - Provides a boost to proficiency in activities related to basic wilderness survival.
4. Intimidation - People weaker than you become more susceptible to intimidation. Your actions become more intimidating.
5. Axe Mastery - Provides a boost to proficiency in wielding axes.
[Class Skills Choices]
1. Ignorant Fool - Attacks you receive that you are not aware of deal significantly reduced damage.
2. Blood Bag - Convert mana into blood inside your body.
“Get the fuck out of my face for a bit,” I growled at the notifications as I ran towards my two teammates. But it turns out they didn't need me. By the time I arrived, most of the group was dead save for one man begging for his life. Warner was currently tying him up.
“Good job guys,” I said as I walked up to them. “Did I miss anything?”
Lance spun towards me, and though his face was mostly covered by his helmet, his eyes displayed his anger. “Are you out of your Godsdamned mind?! Why would you charge in like that without even a signal?!”
“Sorry 'bout that, I forgot you were with me,” I said with a shrug. I had been too used to being alone.
“What you did was dangerous, you big oaf,” Warner said as he finished tying up the sole survivor. “If Lance and I had been normal rank-and-file guards, we'd already be dead trying to hold back multiple assailants by our lonesome. Our blood would have been on your hands.”
“Yeah, I'm not used to working with a team. Next time, I'll tell Camille to send me on missions solo.”
Warner shook his head at me. “You're even more hopeless than the kid when it comes to listening to your elders. Nobody can survive alone, even with your stupid regeneration.”
I chuckled at his words. “Watch me, old man. I'm a more stubborn bastard than you think.”
The three of us decided to spend a short time piling the bodies inside the warehouse. Warner didn't want to leave them lying on the street like that. So Lance and I started dragging the bodies inside while Warner interrogated the captured smuggler.
As we did our tasks, I took the opportunity to read my notifications. A grin split my face.
“Hold on, why are my Skill choices suddenly split between ‘General’ and ‘Class’ Skills?” I muttered to myself. When I asked Lance, he told me to pick Class Skills every time.
Apparently, everybody was allowed to choose a Skill every five levels. At level 5, people could only choose from General Skills, while at level 10, the Skill choice was replaced with a Class choice. Starting at level 15 though, people were given the chance to choose between General Skills and Class Skills.
“Are General Skills really that bad?” I asked Lance, still confused why he didn't want me to waste my choice on a General Skill. “Some of them seem promising.”
“Don't get me wrong, General Skills can get as powerful as Class Skills. But you can always obtain General Skills through training, while you can only ever get Class Skills through choices.”
Oh, now I see. That was certainly a good reason.
“Hey Lance, which Skill do you think I should pick,” I said as I brought the last body into the warehouse. “The first one reduces the damage of any attack I'm not aware of. The second one allows me to convert mana to blood.”
Lance stared at me with wide and sparkling eyes. What the fuck was up with that? “W-Wow, I didn't know you trusted me that much, Mister Bob.”
I gave him a weird look. “Stop being sappy. I'm just asking for advice.”
Lance gave an awkward laugh. “Sure, Mister Bob. Normally, the first Skill you described would be the better choice in almost any circumstance. However, you should choose the second one. Creation-type Skills are always more valuable than any other Skill.”
“Creation-type?”
“Yeah, Skills that create real stuff out of mana. They're very useful and versatile most of the time. As an example, your second Skill choice means that you will never bleed out from a nasty wound as long as you have mana. And while out of combat, you can also use that Skill to sell your own blood or donate it to those in need. But I don't advise giving out too much of your blood, though. Witches and warlocks can cook up nasty curses if they get ahold of your blood.”
I didn't get to hear the rest of Lance's advice the moment he said I could sell my own blood. Holy shit, wasn't this an infinite money glitch, then?
[You have gained Blood Bag Lv. 1]
I instinctually knew how to use the Skill, but as much as I wanted to test it out immediately, Warner returned from his interrogation. I noticed that the smuggler was not with him. Probably dead.
“I've got good news and bad news,” Warner began. “The good news is that the leader of the Black Traders is supposedly inside the base as we speak. It turned out that today was the day they received a shipment of contraband from who-knows-where. The bad news is that there are only three of us.”
“Then let's just call for reinforcements, then,” I suggested.
“We could, but by the time they arrive, the leader would have been long gone,” Warner said. “These smuggling rings are certain to have a mole working in the city guard. They can't operate here without it. So if we call for reinforcements, that's the same as telling them we're coming.”
“Probably, but not like we have a choice, do we?” I asked. “We can't just go in there with the three of us, after all. Might as well get on with it.”
“But the leader! He'll escape!” Lance exclaimed.
“Yeah, so? That's not our mission anyway,” I replied. “Our mission is to kill the smugglers and seize the contraband. If the leader is no longer there by the time reinforcements arrive, well then, too bad. We'll get 'em next time.”
“How can you be so uncaring about this? Innocent people's lives are at stake here!” Lance exclaimed angrily.
“How the hell are lives endangered by smuggled goods? I've never heard of people dying because the government lost some money from a few untaxed goods.”
“Didn't Lady Camille tell you what the contraband was during your briefing?” Warner asked me.
“No, I didn't ask.” More like I probably wasn't listening at the time.
Warner gave me the most intense look I've ever seen on the old man's face. “Child slaves.”
“Well shit.”