Julie’s eyes had changed since the last time we saw each other. I didn’t mean that figuratively, no, her eyes had completely changed color. I wasn’t a scientist before, but I knew that there has never been anyone that was born with a pair of red, almost glowing eyes.

“You’re here… just an hour short of the next attack.” She said, somewhat taken aback by my obvious stare.

Reghan shot a nod towards me when I shifted my gaze away from Julie towards him.

They were both mostly unharmed, yet there was an obvious exhaustion that was visible from the dark circles under their eyes. “I apologize for how we treated you last time. It turns out that you were right about those who are unwilling to take a stand for the gate.”

What is he- Oh… I might have had mentioned something among the lines of kicking those who weren’t inclined to fight yesterday, or was it 2 days ago?

“I take that the first wave was a lot more challenging than we expected…” Looking around the podium once more, I spotted quite a few of intense frown from the seasoned fighters on the stage, perhaps upset that I wasn’t here to help, Or, they were just exhausted and weren’t in the best mood possible.

I didn’t think much of it at first. There was absolutely no need for me to become defensive, after all, I did offer to stay and help. But that didn’t alleviate the fact that protecting the gate was my responsibility too. I would’ve been just like those who simply wanted to stay inside the walls if I didn’t fill my fair share of contribution towards the defense. And to be associated with those people were just… awful.

“Well, now that you’re here…” Julie’s red eyes glimmered as she approached. “Are you going to stay and help? We don’t have the time for chit-chats.”

At the first hearing, she sounded like she simply asked a question. But the way she was looking at me showed otherwise.

“I’m here to help, like how I was going to when I entered this camp for the first time.” Averting her gaze, I then shifted my eyes towards Reghan, who was listening to our conversation with a hint of guilt in his expression. “Let’s just say that things didn’t go well that day. My help was… unwanted.”

Julie’s eyes softened for a split second. “Doesn’t matter to me. What I need to know is what will you do now? If you’re helping, then you need to get up to speed with us. The next wave is coming. We need to get moving.”

While she appeared rude at first, I sensed the desperation behind her tone of voice. It was obvious now that she was anxious about the defense, and needed assurance from me to not fuck things up on my end. There was no point in making this more difficult for everyone, we’ve all dealt with a lot of shit as it is.

“Yeah. What’s the plan?”, The three of us headed to the table to discuss their current plan for the incoming attack.

“It is simple. We’ve divided our capable fighters in 4 groups to defend each side of wall. The 5th group will stay inside as a reserve for any unexpected guests.” Reghan described each part of his plan in detail, leaving no stone unturned. “The rest will pick up their weapons and stay close to the walls to prevent any wolves from reaching the gate.”

Julie held an indignant sigh that I could barely catch, thanks to my freaking innate senses, out of all things. I get how she felt; Nobody liked to fight for those who were unwilling to help themselves.

“But with you in the picture… We finally had someone to count on to defend the gate when a threat actually surfaced inside the walls. Initially, we had Julie in that role.” Reghan continued detailing his plans.

“You’re talking as if I was that strong or reliable to begin with.” I said, asking a rather obvious question. Nobody here had witnessed how I fought, nor do they know what kind of skills and classes I possessed. “Is it because of the dungeon clear? For all you know, I could’ve just been lucky.”

“It’s not that we could trust you immediately, Zane. We just don’t have a choice.” My question rewarded me with a frank reply from Julie. “We know you’re able to handle yourself, No amount of luck will allow you to clear a dungeon solo. Besides, You fight best when you’re alone, aren’t you?”

I was shocked for a few seconds. That was an incredibly astute observation from her.

Returning my gaze to Reghan, I noticed his eyes carefully searching mine. “Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you fight? That’ll help us a lot in the long run.”

“I fight mostly in melee. Although, I have a few ranged options here and there.”, I said, searching my brain for an easy answer. How do I even describe what I can do? “Also, I’ll say that I fight best during the night, or when it’s just dark around me.”

I noticed their brows furrowed upwards for a second. Were they unsatisfied with my answer?

Guess that’s good enough.” Julie clapped her hands, brushing her hair as she walked to the table. “Now, Let’s talk positions. Now that I’m no longer stuck here babysitting the others, I’ll stick with the ones on the front gate, the wolves are the most numerous from that direction, and my spells are the best to deal with their numbers.”

The rest of the conversation on the table went on swimmingly. Despite their apparent differences, Both Julie and Reghan knew to let their disagreements aside and focused on the most important thing in this encampment. Although, I did notice that look from Reghan at times; the look of envy.

In the end, I was stuck with the defense of the gate with those who were unwilling to go outside. That wasn’t a sign of good times ahead, but I was willing to tough it out since I kinda owed them one. Besides, sharing the levels here sounded like a good idea too, if the others could reach a point where they were strong enough to defend the gate without my help, that would give me more time to search and clear the other dungeons outside.

And, well, this way, I get to fight on my own. I planned to never count on any of those that stayed inside the walls in the first place.

“Before you leave…” I said, holding my hand up. When I caught their attention, I reached over to my backpack and retrieved 2 bottles of the potion from the dungeon. “Use these as you see fit. It’d be a shame if you died out there.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Losing them would be disastrous towards the progress of our defense.

Their eyes shone momentarily from what I’ve shown, but kept their excitement to themselves. Julie was the one who picked it up first, showing close to no hesitation, while Reghan waited until her turn was over. A short round of thanks and appreciation later, they headed to their respective roles.

Reghan led the others into their proper group and formations in a record time, even with the slight change of plans; It felt like they had organized this beforehand, right before my arrival.

Julie’s party were separated into different groups since each of them performed different roles, despite them wishing otherwise, visible from the way their faces were contorted. Or, they could just be anxious about the next defense.

I thought I saw Edward amongst the faces within the crowd, but I couldn’t be sure.

The next few minutes were filled the constant voices of those who stayed behind as the other group had split into 4 different directions, defending each side of the walls. Now that their leader was gone, they had more freedom to express themselves and how they truly felt about this whole mess.

Normally, I wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying from this distance, but… my hearing was that much better than they expected.

Honestly, most of them were simply afraid about the incoming attack. The majority of them had never fought before, or even if they did, dearly wished to never fight again. Some of them were talking about how disappointed they were that Reghan forced them to fight, and a tiny minority of them - no - just one of them, spoke about me specifically.

Paul…

Nobody had to guess what he was spouting off to the others, He was being as friendly as always. Some people are just that way, I suppose, nothing you can do about it.

How did they survive from the stalker in the first place? Were they here simply because the stalkers were busy killing the others, or were they spawned where it was safe?

[Task #2 - updated : Defend the gate. The wolf mother is planning to destroy the gate. A wave of enemies will strike the gate in : 00 : 12 :01. Waves cleared (1/3).]

12 minutes…

Unlike the others, this would be the first time that I faced the wave. I knew that they were numerous and their abilities mimicked the wolves that you can find in the forest from the short time we’ve spoken, but to be present in the defense was different than hearing about it from the others.

Regardless of my experience, I knew that the next wave will come with a terrifying surprise. Everybody thought about the same thing.

“You again.” A voice which I so wished to ignore echoed on the podium. “Where were you last night? We fought tooth and nails to defend the damned gate and you go out there to claim all the dungeon rewards by yourself?”

Reghan and the others fought tooth and nails. Not you.

“What are you going to do about it?” I said, adding a tinge of my anger to my words this time. “Speaking of the defense, How many of those wolves did you kill yesterday?”

His face reddened from my obvious attempt at pissing him off, but he couldn’t answer me. That’s right, because he killed as many wolves as I did on last night’s defense, which was zero.

Stomping off, he cursed under his own breath as I calmly gazed at the night sky. Normally, I’d be more upset with someone like him, but I just didn’t feel like it. Compared to all of the things I’ve gone through, I found his temperament to be… insignificant. Hell, Ezekiel’s so much more annoying than Paul was in my head.

He returned and grouped up with the others, sharing his sinful ideas of Reghan betraying their trust, or something amongst those lines.

Some people are just… irredeemable.

Ignoring that guy’s speech, I opened up my stats to check if everything’s in order.

Player : Zane Black

Race : [G - HUMAN]

Level : 19

Health : 386/580

Stamina : 136/580

Mana : 124/200

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

ATTRIBUTES

Physical [28] :

[Strength] - 72 [base : 28] [sub + achv :21] [equipment :10] [bonus 1% : 1]

[Ally of Darkness bonus(Active) : 20% * 60 : +12]

[Dexterity] - 88 [base : 28] [sub + achv :33] [equipment : 7] [bonus 6% : 5]

[Ally of Darkness bonus(Active) : 20% * 73 : +15]

[Constitution] - 53 [base : 28] [sub + achv : 19] [equipment :5] [bonus 1% : 1]

Mind [3] :

[Intelligence] - 15 [base : 3] [sub + achv : 11] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]

[Willpower] - 12 [base : 3] [sub + achv : 3] [equipment :5] [bonus 1% : 1]

[Capacity] - 15 [base : 3] [sub + achv : 11] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]

[Free Main Attribute points : 0 ]

[Free Sub Attribute points : 0 ]

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

Classes:

[The coveted Shadow - epic (11)]

Skills :

[Daggers mastery - novice(2)] [Spear mastery - intermediate(2)] [Sword mastery - Novice(5)] [Dark arsenal - intermediate (1)] [Shadow step - epic] [Death siphon] [Death resistance - novice (1)] [Empowered throw] [Ally of Darkness]

Skill modifiers :

[Dark arsenal] - [First strike]

Achievements :

[Death’s door(2)] [Big game hunter] [The first of many] [the trial seeker] [Mark of the elite] [The Dungeon Runner]

Affinities :

[]

Talents :

[Innate sensory] [Deathborne]

Wow… I didn’t know the system showed the bonuses from Ally of Darkness. Just by having the skill on its own, I was given more than 25 points worth of extra attributes. Honestly, the bonuses were kinda nuts, if you gave it a second thought.

I hope this is enough to defend tomorrow’s wave.