Desperate Dog

Erix opened the crate as it glowed briefly and disappeared, leaving an orb with multiple things inside and a red-patterned pistol.

"What's that glowing thing?" Rin curiously touched the glowing orb on the ground, and the moment she did that, the orb disappeared, and her entire get-up changed.

A black robe appeared over her body, with a hat, gloves, and even boots. The robe was tied at her waist with a belt, and a knife was attached to the pocket.

[Novice Merciless-Merc Set: Includes a pair of gloves, a pair of boots, a ranger robe, and a level 15 knife].

[-Set effect 1: Stamina +10, Strength +10, Agility +10, Health+10].

[-Set effect 2: 5% chance to deal a critical hit that doubles your attack damage.]

"This is good," Erix nodded with a smile. "Now you have stats somewhat close to me, haha."

Erix picked up the pistol and checked it before giving it to Rin, "Take the pistol since I already have the dagger that I can control with my Metal Control skill."

[Flame Barista: A pistol firearm with fire-attribute energy bullets. Fully effective up to 30 meters and can damage everyone below level 30 according to their defenses and weaknesses]

"Alright," Rin grinned. "I am fired up now."

"Then let's start the hunt."

Both of them were craving more strength!

…

While Erix and Rin were hunting in the forest, the Mayor and the rest of the police officers went to check in the C building since the police officers Mayor sent there had yet to come back when they should have already reported back by now.

Alas...they were shocked to see four dead bodies lying in the hallway.

The most shocked one was Kanel. His mouth was wide open as fear started filling him, "I am dead… I should have trusted him," Kanel muttered in a daze as his body trembled slightly.

"Trust him? Bastard!" Mayor turned towards Kanel and slapped him hard with fury. "If what I heard about them is true, those two lunatics will come back here to kill my son!"

"FUCK YOU!" Kanel shouted with red eyes as he pushed away Mayor.

The police officers quickly held him down while Kanel thrashed around and became mad and desperate as he started shouting, "I am also dead! Dead!"

"I betrayed him, so do you think he will let me live!? He killed them, so he will also kill me! Fuck you all!"

However, Kanel's eyes showed a mad but calculative gleam in the depth of his eyes.

[You have ugly persistence and a selfish mind. Driven to the corner with an almost near-death sentence, you are still seeking your survival by displaying impulsive behavior intentionally to make yourself useful in one party's hand. You have gained a limited special skill: Desperate Dog].

[Desperate Dog: You can escape from death. 30-days cooldown after skill activates and a total of three life-time uses]

Hearing the notification ringing in his head and seeing the words flashing in front of his eyes, he was startled inwardly but didn't show it outside. However, he didn't use his newly acquired skill immediately and continued looking at the Mayor with a desperate expression.

The Mayor looked at desperate Kanel and narrowed his eyes. "If he doesn't leave you alive, then you should do your best to kill him."

"W-What? So you are not going to do anything to me?" Kanel said as he stammered.

"They will come here to kill my son and you, who betrayed them. Naturally, you will fight him for your survival, and I will help you in that because I also want them dead."

"I will! I swear I will do my best and do whatever you say!" Kanel said as he knelt and grabbed Mayor's legs. "J-Just… Help me, please."

…

Time passed as many talented individuals rose in these challenging times and gained power. Previous unknown figures displayed unusual calmness and talent as they became leaders of various groups and strove to survive in this apocalypse.

Erix and Rin hunted many mutated creatures in the forest. For one whole hour, they only focused on killings and leveling up.

Just like they were getting stronger by killing creatures, the creatures were also getting stronger as they encountered higher leveled creatures.

During this time, Erix and Rin found a few things regarding the mystical phenomenon of the status screen.

One was that the limit of skills was just five. They could only learn up to five skills; if they wanted to learn more, they needed to remove the previous one. Though they didn't know if this limit could increase later, they hoped it would.

For now, both of them learned five skills in total. However, aside from one 1st-Tier skill each had, the other four were Normal skills.

Another thing they found was about magic.

After exhausting their mana, they could recover it faster by meditation with their eyes closed while actively doing long breathing sessions.

"It's good that creatures over level ten gave us more mystic essences," Rin said with a smile as she looked at a small panel in front of her eyes. "I only need three mystic essences to get the class awakening. What about you?"

"I need one mystic essence," Erix said with a grin. "Let's find some and kill. After the job awakening, we will return to the campus and kill those three bastards. If we leave them alive and meet in the future, we'll definitely clash again."

It was better to kill them while they were weak!