The staggering scarecrow was cut into two. It was a small blade and yet it did not pale in comparison to the sword he once had, and he owed it to the red luster around the blade. Mana Sword was indeed a boon to his arsenal, and despite being under a penalty, it was still strong enough to be used.

But something was on his leg. Looking down, a straw hand wrapped around his ankle as the jaw of the scarecrow reached for a bite. Zach reacted immediately, forcing the tip of the knife, and rammed straight to the head of the scarecrow.

He thought he finally killed it. But he didn’t. The upper half of the scarecrow still squirmed on the spot as if death did not exist in its vocabulary. It tried to resist, striving to put a dent in Zach’s health points no matter what its current state was.

Zach was confused. Staring at this scarecrow that was more of a ‘thing’ rather than a creature. Then Identify was used.

[Lonia’s Straw Scarecrow(Lv.10)]

[Guardian of the flower fields. A deterrent against birds and pests that will ruin the delicate flowers of Lonia’s dungeon. It is created through alchemy, and can be considered a distant cousin of golems.]

He should have done this before clashing with the scarecrow. Zach made a mental note to change his habit of just jumping into the battle against easy-looking grunts. Reading through the explanation, he found a clue to end this scarecrow’s artificial life.

Zach eyed the lower half which was not moving and figured that whatever powered the scarecrow must be in the upper half. He pinned the scarecrow with the knife right through the ground as Zach went mad with the stomping. The lad was like a bully, stomping the shit out of the scarecrow before he heard a crack underneath his leather shoe. It was done. A message appeared as he expected to be congratulated, but whatever he read made him frown rather than smile.

[1st of ten waves completed.]

[Incoming 2nd wave in 10, 9,8…]

He kept his mouth shut and just prepared for what was about to come. The moment the count went to zero, two scarecrows merged under the flower bed like they had been hiding there hibernating. They were far between each other, and distant from Zach. It was as if giving him space to give some leeway to think of a plan.

But two was still a low number. Zach bolted across the flower bed, trampling against the innocent flowers as he drop-kicked the scarecrow right in the torso. He followed with multiple stabs in the torso as he figured it must be there, considering the first one he killed had its life source in the torso.

But a straw hook went for his face. He ducked and slid to the side, and cut the scarecrow in half. To his surprise, the upper half did not move while the bottom half of the scarecrow started kicking him. He dodged and tackled the lower half to the ground, and pinned it down. It took him a while before finally crushed the life force as now he realized things were not as simple as he thought.

Zach glanced at the other scarecrow which was already a few feet away. It was quick on its feet, and if Zach didn’t end the first one as fast as he did, then he might have to confront two at the same time. The second was quickly dealt with. He eyed the notification, it was the same thing alerting a new wave was coming. He readied his mental state, reminding himself to make it quick and clean. Cutting the scarecrow in half was the first step to identifying which part had the life source, and the rest was easy.

Four came to his sight as he clicked his tongue. The count was doubling as he hoped the wave would follow the increment of one. He could see a near future where many scarecrows would be a hassle to deal with. Nonetheless, he made it work. Zach ended the third wave and continued to do so until he reached the seventh wave.

The man in leather cuirass ran around like a maniac. He faced sixty-four scarecrows at the same time and fought in an efficient manner. Half-cut scarecrows scattered through the flower fields as Zach rendered their mobility to a snail's pace, especially for those who had their life force in the upper half, and thankfully most of the scarecrows he faced right now were the upper half.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

His forearm bled, and not due to the scarecrows. Cuts were made as his pain stack rose. In a situation like this, speed was everything. He used everything at his disposal, making sure he would be the one that come out alive in this situation. Zach fought on until the last of this wave finally stopped moving.

[You have leveled up.]

He broke the stagnating level twelve and reached level thirteen. Four points were rewarded and Zach was quick to dump it all into Perception. He figured in the later wave, Perception would be more useful than Strength, and Agility. From how he assumed Perception worked, gathered by the fights he had gone through over the last three days. It was sort of similar to Spiderman’s Tingle, or in a simpler term, a built-in warning system. Telling the person that danger was heading his or her way, and against many opponents, it would prove to be a great aid.

Zach gripped his knife tight, readying himself for the eighth wave, the beginning when the numbers reached three digits. But before those things popped out underneath the flower beds, Zach heard a call from behind. Looking back, it was Lindelof, who was waving his hand up high the in the air with a smile on that puffy face. That highbrow didn’t even know what he just stepped into.

Rather than happy about another helping hand, Zach frowned deeper. A level zero like Lindelof would be more of a liability than support. In a way, Zach had another job in hand, and guarding the highbrow was another unwanted task he needed to handle.

Zach ran to Lindelof, staring daggers at the latter. Confusing the highbrow. “Why did you decide so late to follow me?” Zach asked. His tone was rather rough. If Lindelof had followed him immediately then he would have been to aid him in leveling him up first before really facing the big threats.

“But I’m not though,” Lindelof said as confusion was plastered all across his face.

Then Zach realized it. “Fuck!” he cursed. Pacing in front of Lindelof as this fucking dungeon had a time difference according to entry time.

“I did something wrong, didn’t I?” Lindelof asked. As expected of a highbrow as he was quick to figure things out.

“Forgive me. It’s not your fault,” Zach said. Manning up to his mistake. “But I need you to listen to me, and follow—”

Lindelof’s jaw dropped. His trembling hand pointed at the far end of his sight. Those quivering eyes betrayed the immense fear in his heart. Zach snapped him back to reality as their eyes met.

“Listen. If you want to come out of this alive, listen to my words and follow them without a fault,” Zach said. “Do you understand, Lindelof?”

The poor fella was still in a daze. Deep down he regretted leaving the safety of that cavern space for a flower patch of hell like this.

“Hey!” Zach shouted. Gaining back the attention of the highbrow. “I understand your fear, and I am at fault for that. I do not expect the difficulty to be this bad, but I promise you, Lindelof. I won’t let you die. I, Zachary Gardwin, vow with the pride and honor of the Gardwin house that I will keep you safe.”

The look in Lindelof’s eyes changed. Fear was still there, but something else shared that space and it was hope. The name of the Gardwin house carried weight and Zach revealing his name and status bolstered a sense of security in the highbrow’s heart.

“I will follow your words, my lord,” Lindelof said with his trembling voice.

“Good man,” Zach said. He was younger than him by more than a decade and yet, he appeared like the older one.

Zach proceeded to explain to Lindelof on what to do, in battle and also in distributing his status points. He made it clear to Lindelof that he should not make an error in distributing those points as it meant life and death for both of them.

A hundred and twenty-eight scarecrows raced toward the two of them. They were like a stampede, and Zach was going to stop them.

“Cast,” Zach roared and burst forward.

Lindelof raised his wand, and the fireball grew in size. He had been meaning to try it, but never could as he had always been running and hiding his class from other people that he met.

Zach plunged his knife straight through his palm as another stack was given. While mana in his heart started flowing to his lower limb. He embraced the pain as nothing was much worse than death. Zach raced across the first line of the wave, slashing them into half while evading the onslaught of straw-based attacks. Before he knew it, the time was up.

A big ball of flame flew above him and slammed against the many scarecrows. They burned as smoke rose. Despite the low level of Lindelof, fire was still the bane for these straw scarecrows.

Zach jumped toward those who were burning, and by luck, he found what he wanted. A burnt scarecrow revealed the life force on its chest, Zach bolted and stabbed right into it, breaking it into pieces.

Then he heard a shout from Lindelof.

“I’ve leveled up!”

The plan was going well, and Zach was not going to stop.