20 Fireball Against a Giant
"Brian, how much mana have you used for Small Fireball? Adam, what are you feeling after using Telekinesis?" After they had dealt with a group of three zombies, Dave wanted to analyze their fighting capabilities. Knowing the limits of your skills may help to last longer in fights.
"I had used 5 mana points for one Small Fireball," Brian replied shortly as he was familiarizing himself with the feeling of using magic.
"It didn't cost me any mana, but I'm feeling dizzy after using Telekinesis," Adam said.
Brian and Adam quickly explained their abilities to Dave. Hearing them, Dave started thinking about the weaknesses of their skills.
'Brian will be able to cast another 4 Small Fireballs, yet if we consider the usage of Life Pulse, it will go lower to 2 uses. Hence, Brian can't use it as much as he wants. Adam uses his spirit for Telekinesis, so he may find himself mentally exhausted if he overuses it. It is better to save their skills for stronger zombies.'
Dave quickly made plans for their skills. Mostly, he was interested in how they would perform against evolved zombies. Brian may not be as flexible as Adam, but his Small Fireball boasts fearsome attack power. On the other hand, the use of Telekinesis was more varied than Small Fireball.
"Both of you should make killing moves from your skills and save them for more strong opponents. In the next battle, you will fight using your weapons. Brian, if you detect any evolved zombies, we will try killing them."
Adam had no objections, while Brian was clearly depressed that he was going to fight zombies in close combat. He liked how easily he had killed that zombie and thought that Small Fireball was worth all the efforts he poured into learning it.
Seeing that colour was returning to Rebecca's face, Dave decided that it was already time to continue hunting. After they had dealt with a group of three zombies, they picked fights with several other groups.
As a result, their group had killed more than thirty of them. After killing zombies for more than 2 hours, Rebecca was less scared during group fights. She grew less fearful of zombies and was able to put a fight against them. Perhaps, after levelling up another time, she found it easier to handle zombies than before.
Under Dave's recommendation, she put another 2 points in strength increasing her attack power. If before she was a newbie who couldn't kill even one zombie, then now she was able to easily handle a zombie in a one-on-one battle.
Even though he had already saved her life several times, Dave was sure that Rebecca had overcome her fear of zombies. Dave was satisfied by the fact that they had another Enhancer among their group.
Suddenly, Brian flinched slightly as he checked his surrounding another time. Judging by his facial expression, he seemed to discover something.
"Dave, there is a giant zombie a hundred meters away from us. Should we move in his direction?" Apparently, Brian wasn't eager to meet other evolved zombies. It seemed that he still can't forget about how it banged the doors of the library.
"Yeah, guide us towards the giant. Also, you should get ready to fight with it." Dave replied nonchalantly.
"Okay, then...What? Shouldn't it be you who will kill it? Why me? No, no, you should be joking, right?" Brian was stunned by his words as he started protesting him violently.
He had never imagined that he will be the one facing it. Before the apocalypse, he already had a fear of muscular men since they resembled bullies from his mid-school. However, now he was going to face two and a half meters, a huge Giant.
"Don't worry so much! If something goes wrong, then I will help you out." Dave tried to assure him that everything will be alright, but it seemed that it wasn't enough to calm Brian. When Brian recalled how Dave said the same lines to Rebecca, he felt that his life was on the line. Knowing Dave and his personality, he knew that he will help him only when his life will be in danger.
'What's up with his face?' Dave couldn't help but be dissatisfied by Brian's reaction. He had a slightly pale face and wore a desperate expression on his face as he was going to part with his life.
After several minutes of moving stealthily, they had finally reached a Giant. It looked the same way as the Giant Dave had killed in the library. Thick muscles, burly figure and humongous hands induced even more fear in Brian's heart.
Adam and Rebecca also seemed to be fearful of it. It was much better for Adam since he had already seen how Dave had killed it. As for Rebecca, she clearly was stunned to see a real Giant before her. She had never seen a person as huge as it. It looked like even three university students summed won't be able to rival it in size.
"How a zombie can be so huge?" She asked Dave while still being stunned by the Giant. Nobody can blame her since it was a common response when a survivor sees a Giant for the first time. There even were people who were paralyzed by fear at the sight of a monster.
"As far as I knew, it is an evolved zombie which specializes in strength." Dave was unmoved by the Giant since he had seen much bigger once. There were even Giants who were taller than 5 meters and as big as a house, so he was pretty accustomed to fighting with monsters much bigger than him.
"Brian, you shouldn't fear it so much! Try using your Fireball on it and see how strong it is. Maybe you can kill it with one hit. Aim at its head, otherwise, you won't kill it."
When he heard that he won't fight it in close combat, Brian seemed to liven up. He won't stand a chance against it in close combat, but maybe he could kill it with his Small Fireball.
'Right! Why should I fight it in a close range? I'm a mage, so attacking from distance is my forte. I'm gonna kill it with one shot!'
As he thought about it, Brian grew more confident to kill it. He even felt excited to test his Small Fireball on the Giant's thick skin.
Brian started chanting the spell as unknown words were leaving his mouth. After 15 seconds, the fire was slowly gathering before him as it was shaped into a ball. Imagining how it will fly towards the Giant, the Small Fireball obeyed his will as it flew in a straight line.
Attracted to the sound of the chant, Giant was striding in their direction. When Brian saw how Giant was nearing them, he panicked slightly and a fireball flying towards its head slammed into its chest. It exploded loudly as big chunks of rotten meat was torn from its chest.
When the Small Fireball had slammed into it, Giant was sent several steps back and had stopped in its tracks.
"Idiot, you had a chance to kill it in one shot. Finish him!"
Dave shouted at Brian since he saw that he got distracted by fear. When Brian saw how his fireball missed its head, his face had paled. He was screaming inside his mind "Fuck!" repeatedly as he gazed stupidly at the smoke covering the Giant.
As the smoke was diffusing to the air, they clearly saw a huge hole in its chest. Perhaps, even its heart and other internal organs were incinerated by the fire. It seemed that the injury had reached its spine as it fell on the ground unable to move.
Seeing how it had collapsed, Brian sighed heavily as he wiped the sweat on his forehead which had formed from the high temperatures of Small Fireball and NOT from the fear. He didn't want to admit that he fucked up with the Giant.
"Stop standing like an idiot and finish him. It's unable to move yet still alive." Reminded by Dave, Brian rushed at the Giant lying on the ground. It looked even bigger lying on the ground than standing on its legs. Brian approached it hurriedly as he stabbed his Failed Dagger continuously into its head.
After turning its head into blood paste, finally, the white light emitted from its body as a White Chest had appeared near the Giant's corpse.
Even though he was being scared a moment ago, Brian was delighted to get another Treasure Chest. Previously, he had opened only one White Chest and this would be his second one. Apparently, he was nervous as he wondered what will drop from it.
As he opened it, the White Chest had disappeared from his hands, instead of it, the vial with a red liquid had appeared in his hands.
[Strength Potion
Description: Permanently, increases the strength stat by 2 points.]
"Hey, Brian, you are quite lucky to get stat increasing potion." Dave sincerely congratulated him. Even though Brian had fucked up his aim with Fireball, it still ended well for them. It was quite rare to get a potion that increases stats, even for a Treasure Chest, especially from a white one.
It was also great luck when Dave got his hands on Stat Potion. However, compared to Brian, he had gotten it from the Blue Chest. He wouldn't have regretted it even if he hadn't gotten a Stat Potion since every item from the Blue Chest would have been a great treasure no matter what it would have been.
