19 The Dilemma
Everyone ran through the street, trying to avoid any monsters. They were glad that they didn't encounter another Pale Demon. The once beautiful city was now shrouded in a blanket of smoke. Just like Port Marbine, dead bodies littered the streets and buildings burned. The statue in front of the mayor's office crumbled to the ground. Weeps and screams echoed through the streets along with the occasional roars of monsters. Lily felt a sword pierce through her heart when she heard those mourning cries; she knew she would not be able to save them.
"Help me!" A young woman with blonde hair cried out in fear.
A huge monster wrapped its body around her. The monster had a length of two average adults and a width as long as a stretched-out hand. It resembled a centipede and had skin like that of a human. Hundreds of legs were moving individually on the side of the monster's body. It had two eyes on the top of its head and a long, vertical mouth below it with razor-sharp teeth.
[Name: Mortepede]
[Rank: F]
[Souls: 200]
Lily formed a fireball and threw it towards Mortepede's body. The fireball landed on its body, and Lily controlled the flame to cover Mortepede's whole body. The monster screeched in pain and dropped the young woman. In fear, she ran away towards Lily. However, a spray of acid landed on her body. In an instant, her body melted away as she cried out in agony. The young woman's body grew limp and fell to the floor; her body split in half as it was falling. The Mortepede had struggled to shoot out its acid spray at the young woman before it died.
[No kills. 50 Souls gained! Party bonus.]
Lily had a horrified expression when the young woman died. Her body trembled as she stared into the eyes of the young woman. Lily couldn't move from her spot, as if the guilt in her heart chained her feet in place. A feeling of nausea rushed through her head, and she threw up. Ian ran to Lily to help her. He knew what she was feeling right now. There was no time to console her as they needed to leave quickly.
"Ah, crap!" Marvin turned away from the corpse.
"We need to leave this place!" Ray yelled.
Ian grabbed Lily's hand and ran with everyone. An endless slaughter filled the streets with blood in front of them. A large, white ape broke through the walls of a building from three-stories high and fell towards them. The large ape had a muscular body with four glowing red eyes. It bared its sharp teeth at them with the intent to kill.
[Name: Albino Ape]
[Rank: F(Elite)]
[Souls: 500]
Ray shot multiple bullets into the Albino Ape's body before Ian jumped at it with his sword drawn. With full strength, he sliced its head off before he spun around and kicked its dead body into the wall while in midair. The wall broke from the second story of the building, and the corpse slid across the floor before coming to a halt. The group continued running forward then hid inside a building to rest.
[Albino Ape Killed. 500 Souls gained!]
"This is more insane than the time I found out that President Maniforde spoke to aliens!" Marvin yelled with panted breaths.
Conner turned to Ray. "Where do we go now, uncle?"
Ray didn't know where to go. The monsters had already infested the whole city, and the apartment building crushed the group's car as it fell. Even if they did have one, there was no guarantee of escaping from the Pale Demons' telekinesis power. Hiding for days will only prolong the dire situation since they lost all of their supplies. Food is tough since the stores are empty, and the military won't be able to hand out food rations. Ray tried to rack his brain with ideas, but he couldn't come up with any in this situation.
"Leaving the city is risky." Ray looked at everyone. "We can handle F-rank monsters, even if they're in groups. However, those Pale Demons are no joke; more than one of those could probably wipe us clean."
Ian sighed. "Maybe we can continuously kill F-rank monsters to gain more Souls. We can level up our abilities to take on more Pale Demons, boss."
Conner nodded his head and agreed. "Right, I also want to level up Domain Control. I will be able to extend my range of control to twenty feet at level ten."
Ray understood their plan for more strength. However, he was worried about the potential encounter with more Pale Demons along the way so countermeasures have to be made. Using the same fire hydrant method was out of the question for them.
"We have to set up countermeasures against the Pale Demon," Ray spoke out. "But how do you effectively beat something that moves shit with its mind?"
Everyone pondered for solutions but couldn't think of any. They felt like they hit a barrier they couldn't cross.
"What we do know is that they need to be able to see an object to move it," Conner said. "So hiding from its sight is an option."
"I don't know if this helps, but when I was a kid, I was into ESP and other supernatural powers, and I tried my best to concentrate on moving stuff with my mind," Marvin added and stared at Ray. "In the end, I gave up since this dumbass made fun of me for it."
"That's because you looked like an idiot doing it." Ray retorted.
Ian's eyes brightened. "Concentration! All we need is for it to focus on one person while the others kill it."
Conner slapped his forehead. "How can we be so stupid. A simple solution was right in front of us. We all saw how Ian threw Bounye at the monster to focus its attention on him before attacking it."
Marvin crossed his arms with a smile full of pride. "Hmph. My knowledge knows no bounds."
The group discussed strategic plannings for a while and were ready to head out. The simple plan was to hunt as many F-rank monsters while avoiding detection from the Pale Demons. If they came across one, then they would follow the plan to kill it. Ray opened the door and walked out with the group.
During their hunt, they encountered a monster that had dark blue, wrinkled skin. The monster had countless spikes on its back and stood on four legs, resembling that of a grasshopper. Its eyes were pitch black with green, glowing pupils. Drool came out between its asymmetrical, jagged teeth as it growled at them. Bounye took offense to this and growled back. Right behind the monsters were a few others. Two of them had an upper humanoid body, but their lower body resembled an octopus as the monsters floated in the air.
[Name: Plague Hound]
[Rank: F]
[Souls: 200]
[Name: Murklich]
[Rank: F(Elite)]
[Souls: 500]
The monsters launched their assault on them, and Conner finally displayed his ability. The Plague Hound came within proximity of his ability's range. It aimed for Conner's neck with its teeth coated in venom. However, Conner threw a straight jab at it, and the Plague Hound's body began distorting. In an instant, half of its body disappeared, and blood spilled out. The Plague Hound's green eyes dimmed, and it died.
Conner stared at his fist in amazement. "I didn't know it would be this strong."
One Murklich stretched out its tentacles to wrap around Lily, but she held onto it, and a cyan flame began to spread. The flame covered Murklich's body and burned it to ash. Lily stared at the monster's corpse with an angered expression. Ian finished off the last one by slicing its body into pieces with Bounye's help. The evening finally arrived, and the group stopped hunting for today. They lost track the number of monsters they killed, but it was not a small amount.
On their hunt, they encountered a Pale Demon and had no choice but to fight it. Going with the plan, Ian distracted the monster before Lily created a fire wall and surrounded it. Ray fired multiple shots at its limbs from far away, rendering it immobile. Lastly, Ian dealt the finishing blow by slicing its head off like before, and the battle ended, lasting about five minutes. After the battle, Ian checked his status system and leveled up his skill to twelve. When it passed level ten, Ian's skilled evolve and had a new name.
[Profile]-[Summon]-[Party]
[Name]: Ian Sawyer
[Title]: N/A
[Skills]: 1
1] Robust Physical Form (Passive): Immensely enhances users physical and mental condition. This includes strength, stamina, speed, accuracy, defense, perception, and immunity to diseases. (Level 12/50)
Cost to level up: 6000 Souls
[Souls]: 1250
[Summons]: 1
[Name]: Bounye - Descendant of the Wolf God
[Rank]: Mythical - Evolvable.
[Skills]:
1] Absolute Form (Passive): Grants tremendous improvement to the user's physical and mental conditions. This includes strength, stamina, speed, accuracy, defense, perception, and immunity to diseases. (MAX LEVEL).
2] <Locked>
3] <Locked>
4] <Locked>
Ian's skills spiked up in cost after reaching level ten. Each level increased in Souls by an increment of five hundred. He wanted to summon another beast, but it costs one hundred thousand Souls. As the group walked into a five-story building, a group of strangers walked towards them.
