Terror of the Future (I)

Cain noticed he was being followed but played it off as if he doesn't exist due to how weak Cain currently is.

"This guy is really trailing me good. I can't even get a read on him at all, or is it since I'm in such a weak state.."

Cain continued walking towards his base while turning a corner

"Shit I lost him" said the guy following Cain and suddenly feels a sharp edge on his neck

"Why the hell are you to follow me?" Asked Cain in a calm tone of voice.

he gulped and then answered "I was just curious about what you were doing around this area since it's the 'Western Circle' we've never seen anyone outside of the community so far I swear." Sweating while having his hands up

"What's your name, class, and where do you live" asked Cain in attempting to keep a calm demeanor.

"My name is Zach Hex. My class is blacksmith. I use to train in swordsmanship as well. I live over there." Zach then pointed towards a small but well constructed building on the other side of the street.

"Zach huh? Alright then Zach, let's get going to your house" drops the blade and sheathes it.

Zach walks over towards his house with Cain following him with a hand on his handle, as they walk in.

"is there an available room open Zach?"

"...of course there is, the last door on the left is one of the bedrooms we have. It currently has nobody living it, it needs a bit of cleaning though."

Cain sighs at that response but doesn't push it any further due to his body's condition and walks into the room and lays down while holding his handle of the sword.

A few hours pass by and someone walks into the building.

"Oh Zach, you're here already?"

"Yeah, there has been some interesting new developments..."

He said while looking down and sighing.

"What type of developments?"

She said while looking at him with curiosity in her eyes.

"Well, for starters I found someone earlier and I decided to tail him for a while. He turned a corner and I thought I lost him but then suddenly he had a sword to my neck, now he's currently in the other bedroom we don't use at all resting."

He said while contemplating choices he had made previously. He looked up at the girl who were standing there with widen-eyes looking down at him.

"W-what the hell. You're saying you found a guy, stalked him, almost got killed, and now he's in that bed in that room in this house right now?" She said while being a bit mad but also curious on what kind of guy he is and why he's around here.

"That is correct... even though I should say I don't technically like this current situation. It is better than being dead for the time being, well that is if this [First Stage] wasn't a thing so I'm not sure."

Zach said, still in his thoughts trying to remain calm about this situation, while being curious about this "First Stage" they all are talking about.

"Well, whatever. It doesn't concern me currently... but a word of advice don't keep him around for long otherwise things might be bad for you in the future possibly."

She said while walking out of the house.

30 minutes later, Cain wakes up.

"Where am I, my head is killing me." Said cain while remembering what happened

"Ah, that's right. So I'm currently in his house... alright very well. It's about time I start to practice before this [First Stage - Terror of the Future] begins."

He said grabbing his sword and getting up. Also being curious what the "Terror of the Future" means exactly.

Cain walks outside of his room and goes into the living room where he sees Zach sitting in thoughts still.

"Zach, that's your name right?"

Zach turns around to see Cain up with his sword in hand and gulps a bit

"Yes, that's correct. I'll go ahead and give another int-"

"No need for that. Just show me the way to where I can train, I'm planning on staying here for a few days. If I must remind you, if you dare to attack me. It will be the last moments of this hellish lifetime you'll ever see."

Cain said interrupting him, sounding like he's in a rush.

Zach is a bit curious about why Cain needs the training room the moment he wakes up.

"Uh, yeah. Just follow me. I'll show you where I train at on a daily basis. it's not that far away actually from the house." Zach says while still sweating from almost dying earlier by the same blade he is currently looking at.

Zach thought to himself for a moment and decided to get up from the chair and walked towards the door with Cain following him, unlocking the door.

A few minutes of them walking later, they both arrived at the training area Zach has used since the 'Tower" appeared.

"Thanks a lot for bringing me here. I'll be here for the rest of today if you need me for anything at all. Before I forget, my name is Cain, I am 23 this year."

Zach stood there looking at Cain with a curiosity filled face thinking. "Why is he telling me all of this? Is there something he needs from me? A warning? Or is he being serious and just telling me about himself from what I did for him?"

"I-I see, well, its been nice to meet you Cain. I hope we can get on better foots with each other than how we met"

Cain put his hand out for a handshake. In a soft voice, filled with a tone of which you believe and trust in. "Like wise Zach, and I just want to apologize for almost killing you earlier. It just has been a long time since I have met anyone else."

Zach takes Cain's hand and shakes it. He signs for a moment and responds with "Yeah, no problem. I mean I don't forgive you or anything yet for it. Let's just move on from the past since we can't change it now that it has happened."

Cain looks at him, smiles, and walks away to begin training his swordsmanship.

Zach walks away towards his house with only a single thought on his mind

"I wonder just how strong is Cain really?"

Was the only thing he could possibly think of at that time. From being injured, to having a sneak attack ready for Zach, to have control in an environment of which he was injured during, and having the will to train the moment that he woke from his sleep.

Zach walked home and went inside, headed to his room and opened a closet which had two blades with sharp edges, a midnight purple color for handles on both blades. An all black blade with a single line of red in the middle.

"Well, it can't hurt to practice every now and again even if I'm a blacksmith. There's only so much time until this [first stage] happens... I am a bit curious on what will happen, but I guess I will find that out when it happens."

Zach said while it began to rain heavy, looking out of the window that Zach has in his room.

"Ah, damn, it's raining out now. I guess I'll still practice though"

A few hours has passed since Zach, and Cain decided to practice.

"Training is hard to do with my body being in a weakened state."

Cain has started to bleed from his wounds while swinging his sword, while practicing constantly for hours.

The giant screen appeared once again and said

[First Stage - Terror of the Future will begin in 3 hours due to circumstances. Please be prepared to face the waves or clear conditions.

Conditions for clearing:

Eliminate 5 waves of 100 goblins.

Defeat the 'Goblin King'

Defend against the waves instead of killing for 30 days.

(Clearing one of the above will be perfectly fine for clearing the First Stage).]

The screen vanished and some got into a panic due to the sudden change of time for the first stage. While others trained for the remaining time.

"System, how do I use my Stat Points"

Cain asked the system due to not knowing how.

[Player 'Cain Ravens' to use the "Stat Points" please open the "Stat window", then proceed to click on the stat(s) you wish to increase. Each click will increase your stats by one.]

"Hm, I see. Stat window"

[Current stats for Player 'Cain Ravens'

Agility: 021

Strength: 023

Magic: 000

Intelligence: 030

Skills: Commander's Voice – A+]

Stat points available: 22]

Cain proceeds to increase his stats using his 'Stat points'

Agility: 027

Strength: 033

Magic: 003

Intelligence: 033

Skills: Commander's Voice – A+]

"I am a bit curious on this 'Magic' stat ... I guess I'll find out later but might as well have some points in it just in case I get any skills in the future that needs it to be actived"

Cain feels his body beginning to recover due to the stat increase. His wounds heal completely, however the pain has yet to disappear.

"Only two hours left before the first stage begins ... I have a feeling this is going to be troublesome."

Rain continues to fall hard from the beautiful sky filled partly with clouds above, thunder begins to howl in the distance. Lighting strikes around the area.

10 minutes later, Zach came to Cain and asked for a practice fight to better himself with the sword.

"So Cain, are you ready for your first lost against a player"

Zach said while unsheathing his two blades with a midnight purple color for handles on both blades. An all black blade with a single line of red in the middle of the blades.

"I'm not quite sure you'll be able to defeat me or even put a single graze on me with your blades there Zach."

Cain said while unsheathing his blade, pointing it towards Zach.

Zach, and Cain pointed their swords towards each other for a moment. They both get into positions, and rush at each other.

Swords clashing, thunder howling in the back, lighting strikes around furiously.

"You're pretty good with your blades I must say Zach, what's the name of them."

Zach clashed one of his swords with Cain's while using the other to aim for his side.

Cain saw it for a slight moment before it struck him, kicked Zach away and backed up with a flip.

"Damn, I knew you were good Cain but I wasn't expecting you to be able to dodge that so easily." Said Zach while getting back into position for another attack.

"Heh, you said "easily" but honestly I barely caught it. You really do have a good bit of surprises huh"

Said Cain getting back into a position to attack again.

They began to rush at each other,striking each other with their blades colliding. Sparks flew as the blades collided with each other. Great amount of force came off of these two people sparing in the field. Thunder was heard howling and lighting was saw striking as they stood high, and as they moved it was as if watching a storm of beautiful clouds moving against each other from their swordsmanship.

"I won't be taken lightly by anyone even if I'm a blacksmith. I've trained with my father for years to master the arts of the sword."

Zach says while continuing to collide his blades with Cain. The air around the whole area has gotten denser, and the people living the area could start to feel the pressure from the both of them sparing.

"I'll be honest, you're the best swordsman I have ever seen besides my grandfather Zach. I have to give you credit. I'm quite surprised by how you're keeping up, what's the name of the sword arts you use?"

"My father told me it was called the 'Twin Storms of movement' since it is deeply involved with the ability and movement of the user. Or so that's what I'm told"

Continuing to collide their swords against each other while waiting for the [First stage] to officially begin.

All of a sudden, the giant screen appeared in front of them all.

[First Stage - Terror of the Future will begin within 15 minutes. Please make sure you have your skills, stat points, and anything else you need up to date for this event.]

They both stopped sparing and looked at each other.

"fifteen minutes huh? I guess we should rest for the amount of time we have left before it actually starts."

Zach said while looking at Cain with eyes of excitement from the spar just a moment ago.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. So how about this instead, we see how many goblins we can kill? Whoever kills the most wins, you down for that?"

Cain said while looking at Zach with excitement filled eyes for the first time since all of this has happened.

"Hell yeah, of course I'm down for that. Let's do it."

Fifteen minutes has passed by as they're resting.

[First Stage - Terror of the Future has now began to happen. Once again, here are the clear conditions:

Eliminate 5 waves of 100 goblins.

Defeat the 'Goblin King'

Defend against the waves instead of killing for 30 days.

(Clearing one of the above will be perfectly fine for clearing the First Stage).]

Cain, Zach, and everyone else who could fight got up and got ready for this hellish challenge or so called 'First Stage' out of a possible infinite amount of stages.

The goblins started rushing in from the north and west at first.

"Zach, go towards the west. I'll take care of the north with whoever else is there."

Cain runs off at a speed which was faster than the soaring march they had.

Zach couldn't even get a word in before Cain ran off but went west anyways.

.....................

"Shit, how do I always end up in these situations, even before the tower was a thing? I was already like this."

Zach said, while running off towards the west, to defend positions.

While on the north defend side already

"I activate the skill 'Blazing Swings"

Swinging his weapon from the right to the left sent a powerful wave across the monsters constantly coming at them, killing only 10.

"Fuck, these things are hard to kill."

Someone said whole constantly using his skills to make a path throughout the monsters.

Cain arrives and uses his skill 'Commander's Voice' skill applying +10 to all stats.

[Stats for Player 'Cain Ravens'

Agility: 037

Strength: 043

Magic: 013

Intelligence: 044]

Cain rushes into the monster's wave coming straight towards him. Cain slashes a few and jumps back to where the other people are.

"We need to control the wave. Does anyone have a skill to make a prison gate or something like thread to trap them?"

Nobody raised their hand or say's anything.

"Alright then. It's going to be a lot harder than I first thought, but we can do it. Just hold them off for as long as possible and try to do whatever you can to make their numbers decrease. I know you might not trust me, but it's either this or we all possibly die before we see the next sun rise"

Cain said, while slashing the goblins head clean off swiftly, while others are using skills, and their weapons to fight off against the enemy.

"Shit, I don't know who you are, but I think we all agree on that point of not seeing the next sun shit. Come on everyone, let's do this even if we have our differences"

Someone says in the crowd of people fighting

Everyone activates their skills, increasing speed, increasing power, increasing magic, summoning fire from their blades, making their hand as hard as a boulder, some uses skills made for martial artists.

Zach fights off monsters with his two blades, with everyone else there after already talking about the plan.

"So the plan is this, we kill them all and return to wherever the hell we all came from. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who doesn't trust each other just because we have to."

Says someone in the group with Zach.

"You're right, but presently can we really not trust each other considering we might die here together?"

Says another person, pulling out his arrows and a bow, activating his skill 'Hundred Arrows of Light' and sending it towards the goblins, killing 5 of them.