Level Nine

Her words shocked everyone present. Even Edward couldn't help but take a step back from her. Her sclera was clearly visible above and below her bluish-lilac iris, with her iris reflecting them.

"I killed her. So what?" She asked once more with her eyes fixed on Andrew.

Gazing into those eyes, Andrew couldn't help but remember that day four years ago. The stormy night when she killed their father. Taking a step back, he said nothing, sweat covering his forehead.

Brody noticed Andrew's reaction, so he stepped up, asking, "Why?" His voice low, he asked once more, "Why did you kill her?"

Shrugging, Elizabeth kept her eyes on Andrew and stood up. She dusted the sand off her butt and blinked. Opening her eyes once more, they were back to normal as she smiled. "Why don't we clear the dungeon before the mob comes for us."

Just as she said that a group of twelve angry mobs marched towards them, three carrying spears made of sticks. Anger was clearly visible in their eyes, with the man leading them seeming the angriest.

"You fuckers first killed an unborn child than a woman! How crazy can you get!" He roared in anger, his eyes on Andrew. "We are supposed to be helping each other survive this world, yet you guys are doing the opposite!"

"You monsters!" A man shouted, charging at Andrew with his spear.

Brody quickly dropped one of his spears, getting between Andrew and the man. With one hand now free, he held the man's spear. "We mean no harm."

"Yes." Emma smiled, trying to defuse the situation. "You haven't heard our side of the story." Shooting a disgusted glare at Elizabeth, "Let's talk about this. How do you even know we killed that woman?"

"Who else but you guys?" A man asked, pointing his spear at them. "You killed the woman who went against your idea of killing that child."

"Oh, god. Stop bringing that up." Elizabeth groaned, shaking her head. "Just like abortion, we aborted that thing. It hasn't taken its first breath, therefore it wasn't living."

"How could you say that---"

"And the fact remains. If we didn't kill it, you all would be back in the city, probably dead by a goblin or wolf." Leonardo added, cutting off the person that was about to speak. "None of us killed that woman. Maybe it was an animal or even one of your group. But it wasn't us."

"It wasn't an animal. She was pierced through the heart by a pointy item." The leader spoke, his eyes now on Andy. "We just created our spears this morning, so please explain how it could be one of us?"

Emma was about to make a counterargument, but a man shouted. "You all will die before you can kill any more of us!" With that warcry, he ran toward the closest person to him, Ezekiel.

And with that, an all-out brawl between both sides started. Andrew didn't want to kill anyone, but the crazed eyes of the man rushed to him made him think otherwise. Biting the bottom of his lips, Edward stabbed towards the man's throat.

Though the spear wasn't too sharp, with his strength and through shared force, it went through the man's throat. Andrew let go of the spear, watching with trembling hands as the man stumbled back, choking and coughing out blood before his eyes rolled to the back of his eyes.

On the other hand, Edward quickly dodged the barrage of attacks coming from a woman. She seemed to know how to use a spear, her attack swift and smooth. If not due to his higher agility and strength, she would have hit him multiple times already.

Dropping one of his spears, he knew he could easily dodge her attack and kill her but wanted to use the chance to use the knowledge he got from the polearm apprentice skill.

He parried her attack to the side, using the chance to hit her spear out of her hand. The woman's eyes went from Edward to the spear on the ground and then back to him. Edward quickly tripped her, causing her to fall to her back.

He stood over her, ready to go for the killing blow, stopping once he saw the fear in her eyes. 'This path is riddled with deception and moral depravity.' A voice told him. 'This is just the start.' It repeated.

Using his hesitation, the woman tried to trip him, but Edward dodged it before using the back of his spear to knock her out. He then kicked up the other spear he had dropped, catching it with his free hand. With two spears in hand, he ran to help Leonardo struggling with two opponents.

"Yo...you fuckers." The leader of the other group stuttered, stepping back. His group was being slaughtered by the others. He was a level two, but by the looks of it, three of them were above level five. "Fuck this. You all will pay for this. God will punish you all!" He cursed, turning and retreating, five others following after him. Out of twelve that attacked, only five managed to leave alive.

"Well, am I the only killer now?" Elizabeth asked, drawing the glares from the others. With no care, she opened up her log, surprise crossing her face. "It seems as a team, the EXP you get from killing a human is sheared. We got 14,900 EXP! Isn't that great!" She shouted, a grin growing on her face. "Too bad we can only get EXP from killing a human once every three weeks. Such a tragedy."

No one said a word as they silently stared at her. "You are a crazy bitch." Ezekiel finally spoke, spitting on the ground. "I killed someone, but that was by accident. But you not only killed a woman but--"

"We should head to the dungeon. We have been stalling long enough." Brody cut him off. This team had too many conflicting personalities and ideals, something that would break them up. "Lead the way, Andrew."

Andrew didn't say a word as he turned around, walking into the grassland, the others following her. Edward waited for Elizabeth to walk up to him before taking his book from her. He almost put it into his Bag of Holding before remembering it had water, so he decided to hold it before following the group.

'14,900 EXP.' Edward thought, opening his status. He stopped walking, staring at his level. "Level 9!?" He mumbled, shocked.

Elizabeth, who was walking beside him, overheard him smiling. "Right?" She also opened her status, "Haah. To enter level 10, you need 20,000 EXP, and instead of killing that woman, you decided to knock her out."

Edward didn't respond to her and continued walking. He was in level nine with 7420/20000 EXP. Even though he had killed that woman who looked to be in her twenties, he would only have gotten 2k to 2.9k EXP. Not much compared to the 20K he needed to level up.

He also noticed he now had 16 AP, four extra from leveling from 5 to 9. Closing his Status, Edward couldn't help but sigh.