Chapter 11

Seeing the hunting teams attacking the monsters I can finally feel relieved. Not like I'd let my guard down, there are enough of these creatures surrounding us to be a threat, we have to hold on for a little while longer if we want to survive.

"CHARGE!"

"KILL THEM ALL!"

"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"

Shouting can be heard all around us, followed by the cries of pain emitted by the dogs as they die. Watching our people attacking the monsters, I realize how weak these creatures truly are, when you take away their only advantage, numbers, they can barely fight back.

"We are saved."

I can hear the girl behind me muttering, now clearly more hopeful of her chances.

"Keep your guard up, we won't be safe until the last of these monsters are put down"

With renewed energies, I dash towards the closest dog, grabbing its neck by the side and pushing it to the ground, then I step on its head while keeping my eyes on the creatures around me. Most of them are too confused to react, turning towards the cries of pain coming from their brethren.

I finish the one below my foot and run towards my next prey.

Minutes later, people are cheering, excited after getting rid of all the dogs, the hunting teams took their time making sure to surround the area, leaving no path for the creatures to escape.

At some point, Nina arrived next to me, when I see she doesn't have any injuries, the tension from the battle escapes from my body and I let myself fall on the ground, too tired and hurt to do anything else. She sits down by my side and carefully checks my injuries, making sure I'm alright.

There were no casualties, our team was the most injured and had to be carried to the village, where Kat and six other healers were waiting.

Kat rushes to me first, a panicked expression on her face, I'm the one looking the worst amongst the injured coming back.

"Sure."

I try smiling to reassure her, which doesn't work as intended, as she activates her healing touch. I feel a warm sensation spread through my wounds as my body starts healing faster.

"If you could focus on healing my legs, I would appreciate it."

'Damned mutts, if they can't get your neck they go and grab your legs.'

She focuses her skill to heal my legs until I can stand on my own and the injuries in my legs are gone. After she makes sure I'm better, Kat leaves to help the others.

Most of the healers use the same skill as Kat, but there is one guy using some sort of healing water. I wonder how magic works, I would like to learn at some point, but somewhere in my mind I know the path of magic is not for me, not if I want to survive the trials to come.

With Nina holding my arm, we go back inside the village and walk towards our cabin. Once there, we can see Molly cooking inside.

She is relieved to see us come back alive, she was preparing meat jerkies for our future consumption and as a way to distract herself.

I sit on the ground and support my back against the wall, with Nina sitting by my side.

My thoughts wander to the battle, how close we were to dying, and I ask myself why did I even put myself in that position.

'Duty?'

'No.'

I remember feeling excited, my heart beating faster while the adrenaline kept me going, the truth is, I felt alive, completely and truly alive.

Nina tilts her head and stares at my face.

"Charlie is smiling."

And somehow, I didn't even notice, so I keep smiling at her.

"Are you okay? How did the battle go for you? I mean, using archery."

She takes a moment to think about her answer with a serious expression on her face.

"Bow and arrows lack power, Nina could help from the distance, but it was hard for Nina's arrows to kill them."

Now that I think about killing those monsters, I wonder how many did we get, so I summon the tablet and check my status.

[Name: Charles Green]

[Title: -none-]

[Level: 4 – 82/150]

[Health: 39/45]

[Magic: 10/10]

[Strength: 7(+)]

[Agility: 5(+)]

[Vitality: 9(+)]

[Intelligence: 5(+)]

[Wisdom: 5(+)]

[Dexterity: 5(+)]

[Luck: 5(+)]

[Stats points: 3]

I got 27 experience points, Nina and me were sharing experience and received 3 points per dog each, meaning that between the both of us there were nine dogs killed. That is surprising, there were at most fisty of those monsters, meaning that we got almost a fifth of them with only the two of us, not that we would have been capable of killing them without the help of the others.

As the team leader, all item drops are received by me, which means the people in the team need to really trust their leaders for the system to work. I hope the village hunting teams have decided how to distribute the loot fairly.

I try putting 1 stat point into stamina, my health jumps from 45 to 100. A feeling of vitality overcomes me, every part of my body getting revitalized, I can feel the energy flowing through me as never before.

'What happened? I should have gotten only 5 points.'

Not that I mind the additional 50 points of health, checking the log there is no answer, but I want to understand why I got more health.

"Is everything okay?"

Nina seems concerned about me, I don't want to make her worry so I explain what's going on.

"But that is good, no need to worry about it."

She just smiles innocently at me, trying to comfort me.

"Charlie is too tired to think clearly."

Finally, I agree with her and decide it's better to forget about it for now, focusing on distributing the rest of my stat points.

For the time being, I'm guessing 100 health points is really high, at least compared to other people, so I put my remaining 2 points into strength.

Just when I'm about to check the inventory, Kat enters the cabin followed by a naked girl who looks somewhat familiar to me.

She has what I would call caramel colored skin tone, curly black hair and a nice curvy figure. I can't help but stare at her big melons and well-proportioned hips as she stands confidently in her birthday suit.

"Who is she?"

Both Kat and the girl look at me with a strange expression.

'Did I say something wrong?'

Nina whispers into my ear.

"She is the girl you saved from the monsters."

I take another look at the woman.

'Oh right, she is the girl who was escaping from the pack.'

"The name is Maria."

She says while walking closer, while smiling at me seductively as she notices my gaze on her body.

'Okay, that's weird.'

She clearly wasn't comfortable around me before.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my life."

'Shouldn't she be thanking Marcus?'

"No need, we would have been there anyway as part of the plan."

"I don't mean for appearing there with the others, you ran from the tree when those monsters had me down on the ground, I thought that was it for me…"

'Oh… she meant that.'

I'm not sure why I saved her, my body just moved before I could think it through.

She pauses for a second, carefully considering her words.

"Now… now I owe you my life."

Her voice and the look on her face is serious.

"I'm not sure what to say, no need to thank me."

"Kat explained about the village and our current circumstances on the way here, I want to join your team."

"Charlie is mine."

Nina answers before I can say anything.

Kat looks amused and Maria seems confused for a second by Nina's words, she looks at Nina and then at me, I can see her eyes judging me.

"Ignore her, why would you join our team? There are only four of us, isn't it safer to be with a bigger group?"

I can see Nina pouting by my side, still, she strongly grabs my arm. Apparently, she doesn't like the idea of adding another girl to team.

"You saved my life, I owe you."

She stares directly into my eyes, I can see her determination.

"Besides, even though you look like that, I have the feeling that my chances of surviving are higher if I stick with you."

'Look like what?'

"What do you mean by look like that?"

"Uhm… haven't you seen your face? You look like a villain, one of the bad guys from the movies, intimidating?"

'I look like on of the bad guys…'

"Do I really look like a bad guy?"

I ask while looking at Kat.

"Yes."

Then I look at Molly, who flinches when meeting my gaze.

"A little bit…"

Finally, I turn towards Nina.

"But Charlie is handsome."

'She didn't deny it.'

Maria is looking awkward while staring at me.

"You didn't know? My bad, I didn't mean to…"

I stop her.

"It's okay, looks like I need to get a mirror."

And so, the girls start laughing, with Nina trying to comfort me.

A couple of minutes later, when I recover from the shock, my thoughts get back on track.

"Why should I add you to our team?"

She smiles, clearly she has an answer already.

"Your team lacks firepower, I want to be a mage."

This woman is very confident about herself, the way she stands there completely naked without a care, even though she just arrived she already has made her decision about her path forward.

'Well, yes, she has a point, Kat and Molly won't be of much use during battle, considering I can even convince them to leave the village to hunt.'

"You are right, but you need to understand that joining a team has certain problems, for instance, I as a team leader receive all the loot and I decide how it is distributed, do you trust me with that? Are you even willing to follow my orders?"

"I have no right to question you, I have no confidence of surviving, even if I join your team. As long as I have food and you keep me alive… I will do whatever you ask of me."

She winks at me.

'Wait what? I'm sure she doesn't mean that… let's not go there.'

Ignoring the last part, I'm impressed, she didn't even need to think about her answer, somehow, she seems like a confident person, yet, she is clear about her chances of survival in this world.

"What do you girls think?"

I look towards Molly, Kat and Nina.

"Don't ask me, I just do the cooking."

Molly is the first to answer.

"I don't mind, I think we will need more people if we are to survive."

Kat seems relaxed about it, I think she feels comfortable with more people around.

Then, I look at Nina, still pouting by my side, but she doesn't refuse.

"I guess you are in, let me send you the invite."

I go to the computer and add her as a new member to the team.

"Charlie's Angels?"

Maria looks at me while trying to hold back her laughter.

'Right, I forgot about that.'