The Second Skill

<(Heavenly) Gluttony> <Passive Active>

Without a clue of what it could do, Alden activated his second skill.

"Eh!?"

"No way…"

"What in the world!?"

Everyone present, including the animals, had the same look of surprise towards Alden.

A white aura had covered his body as if he were some kind of saint or religious figure. Using the surprise to his advantage, he ran forward even harder and left the soldiers behind.

The wild animals were usually cautious about picking their fights, but caution was no longer something they could afford. Between "that" and what was in front of them, they chose to continue to charge.

<- 1% Damage Resistance>

<- 1% Damage Resistance>

<- 1% Damage Resistance>

Multiple targets got too close to Alden and felt a strange sensation, it was as if a part of their will was destroyed. Though it barely reduced their defenses, the incredibly sick and disorienting feeling it gave to them was enough for Alden.

"Rest in peace!" Alden swung the rusted swords at the bears and cats without fail. Though they were not in the condition they once were, the build quality of the swords still made them dangerous.

"Incredible." Fleyn commented to Nylane as they started to concentrate their mana.

"That light? Perhaps that was what I sensed?"

"He has holy power, there's no other way to explain it! That's how he killed those draugr and possibly why they found him."

"It looks and feels similar to holy power…"

"But?" Fleyn frowned, Nylane had a keen sense about things and she was usually right.

"That light, it feels "harsh" there's no other way to describe it. It's merciless, those animals seem like they want to throw up."

It was true, every animal Alden got close to was stumbling and then received a blade to their vitals. Just as they intentionally displayed their skills in front of him, Alden was displaying his in front of them.

<Level Up!>

<Level Up!>

'If leveling up <(Demonic) Gluttony> requires multiple uses on targets, maybe leveling up <(Heavenly) Gluttony> needs me to debuff many targets instead'

Without further testing, Alden could only arrive at this conclusion. As a result, he ran after and slew more of the rampaging animals.

"He's probably getting tired, let's help him out." Fleyn said after they watched Alden fight for a significant amount of time. He had no discipline and his moves needed work but his power more than made up for his lack of experience.

"I'm ready when you are, he's certainly someone we can't ignore."

"All soldiers, full retreat!" Fleyn shouted as the squad of archers behind her readied their bows. Reinforcements had arrived from the mayor and they were now ready to finish this.

As everyone started to run, Alden knew that as the vanguard he would have to cover their retreat. He took a swipe at the ones that got too close every once in a while.

Eventually, a particularly ambitious bear ran up to him even after it received the debuff and clamped down on Alden's hand.

"Damn it!" Alden swore as it was also the hand the draugr shot with an arrow. He stabbed at the bear with his free weapon but it held on tight, it was trying to do as much damage as possible.

"Huginn." Daiyu said as she watched from the sky and with no hesitation, Huginn dived with her claws ready.

"Raooorgh!"

The bear roared in pain as its eyes were slashed by Huginn's swift claws. It let go of Alden's hand and he ran to catch up with the rest of the soldiers.

<Flame Wall>

Fleyn unleashed her magic and a wall of flames suddenly appeared behind Alden. The remaining pursuers all stopped in their tracks except for one.

"Ruauuggraigh!" The blind bear was now howling in pain as its fur and flesh were burned by Fleyn's flames.

"Tough bastard he is." Alden said as he looked over his shoulder for a moment. The air was starting to fill with a burnt smell.

"Alden! Get down!" Fleyn shouted as Nylane was about to unleash her spell as well.

"Huginn!" Alden reached out and took his feathered ally into his arms. Birds were not meant to be carried like this, but he was currently closer than the sky for Huginn.

<Lightning Surge>

In a fraction of a second, a powerful current of electricity arced out of Nylane's hands and through the flames. The animals all started to fall one by one, even the blind bear had finally fallen. They were all convulsing from the lightning and eventually died or became severely injured.

When Fleyn's flames dissipated, arrows rained down upon the survivors. It was finally over, there were no more wild animals outside the gates.

"Are you alright!?" A soldier asked Alden as he saw him cradling Huginn while his other hand was extremely bloody.

"I'll live." Alden said as he accepted the man's outstretched hand.

<- 1% Damage Resistance>

"Ugh!!?" The soldier knelt and started to throw up, he felt like a tiny part of his soul had just been cut out with a dagger.

'Oh no… this skill targets everything near me. It can't distinguish between friend or foe' Alden backed off from the man in a panic and tried to turn his skill off.

<(Heavenly) Gluttony> <Passive Deactivated>

A little while later, Fleyn and Nylane approached Alden with complicated looks on their faces. Many of the soldiers had started to move the corpses of the animals onto carts for transportation. Having so many carcasses near the town would be bad for it.

As the soldiers carried off their comrade who was affected by Alden, Nylane handed Alden a potion.

"As promised. But we need to talk though." Nylane said with some concern in her voice, trying to approach this topic delicately.

"I didn't mean to… do whatever I did to that man. I didn't know my power would do that."

Alden took the potion but couldn't bring himself to look at Nylane and Fleyn. It would be one thing if the man was an enemy or someone trying to kill him, but he was someone on his side trying to help him out.

Nylane and Fleyn exchanged looks, seeing his guilt was enough for them. As long as he knew what he did was wrong, they could move on past it. Now they needed him to work on how to control it or when to properly activate it.

CAW

Huginn hopped by Alden's hand and started to rub her beak on it. Her eyes implied she was extending her sympathies to him.

"Thanks Huginn!" Alden smiled and petted her head just as he frequently did.

"That power is a strange form of holy power for it to be hurting people like that. I hope you can learn to control it better in the future, it looks useful in combat."

It was the first time Nylane saw or heard of holy power that hurt something other than demons, dark and evil entities, or undead.

For a regular human to be hurt, meant it should be a cause for concern.

But it was a white aura similar to normal holy power, so there wasn't much evidence to suggest that it was an evil power.

"We're going to have to report this to Kane though." Fleyn sighed as she shook her head, Nylane had already said most of what was on her mind.

"Give me your hand." Nylane sat down next to Alden and started to pull the bloody bandages off Alden's hand.

"Draugr did the hole there, and now that bear took a good nip. I'm lucky Huginn came in before he tore my arm off."

<Heal>

Nylane's spell started to close the hole in Alden's hand as well as the ones where the bear's fangs had pierced him. Unfortunately, his pinky didn't regenerate, the spell was not that powerful.

"You're still going to need some rest. I'll save the second potion for when you want to practice more control with your power."

"Thanks." Alden stood up off the ground and was considering what to do next when something caught all their attention.

"GAOOOO!"

The sun's last rays were just disappearing when a ghastly roar resounded through everyone's ears.