Chapter 4- New Weapon

In the neighborhood that Talon lived in was a giant warehouse used mainly by the Seoul National University for food and other necessities that it receives every month from the government to keep the university running.

It was a very huge, concrete building with thick metal doors and had an almost impenetrable set of windows all around its walls. It was the perfect place to hide from Dimension Walkers. Not to mention the food it has stored in it which could be used to save Talon's life and perhaps the lives of other people.

So, without time to waste, Talon quickly started running through the destroyed streets of the neighborhood. 

The number of Dimension Walkers had dramatically increased during the time Talon was inside and so it didn't even take a few seconds of running before Talon was met with numerous monsters that saw him as a good target.

Looking around him, Talon immediately dashed around them as fast as he could. Luckily, even with their rather ominous speed, Talon was able to outrun them and escape. However, the more he ran, the larger the group of entities that tried to attack him grew.

"Why is everyone after me!" He cursed. "I can't even fight all of them!"

Running through the streets, he noticed another group of monsters right ahead of him, feasting on dead people.

"You might need a weapon, boy," Acrypha said casually as she followed him.

"I know! But where am I supposed to get one?" He asked.

"Crush one of those orbs that you got previously." She said.

"Huh? Why?"

"Just do it."

Talon did hear her saying that these orbs would give him rewards but considering the situation he was in, he had no other choice but to bet on these orbs.

So, rummaging through his pocket, he pulled out one of the orbs, precisely the blue one with the very faint light. Looking at it for a second, Talon gulped before he closed his eyes.

"Here goes nothing."

*CRASH*

With a simple exertion of strength, the orb was destroyed into pieces as the particles fell to the ground. At the same time, the faint blue light rested on Talon's hand as it suddenly grew in size.

Before the young man could even react, a long object was resting on his hand. Looking at it closely with a surprised gaze.

"A spear?" 

What he saw in his hand was a long blue spear with a sharp blade at the end of it. The blade had a beautiful decoration running across its shaft and ended perfectly at the point where the blade and the shaft merged.

"Wow…" Talon admired the weapon with an awe-filled expression. He only saw such weapons in fiction and drawings. Never did he expect to see one in real life and even touch it.

"Be careful." Suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts was Acrypha's voice that warned him.

Immediately, Talon looked ahead and saw the monsters that he was running to, rush toward him. They were two very similar-looking Dimension Walkers. Immediately, Talon grabbed the spear with both hands as he aimed it at the two enemies.

"Wait… I don't even know how to use a spear?!" Immediately, he realized the huge problem he had at that moment.

"Just thrust forward with all your strength," Acrypha said casually.

"Ugh! I hate your overly logical, borderline arrogant remarks!"

"Hate them as much as you want after you survive." She said.

Clenching his teeth, Talon finally met the first Dimension Walker. Tightening his grip on the spear, he thrust forward using all his power. The blade flashed through the air, aiming for the monster's head.

However, the creature suddenly moved its head to the side at the last second.

"Oh no!"

Talon realized that he just put too much of his balance into the thrust and it was about to miss. But, he had no other choice but to take the gamble now that he had done it. Using his whole body, he moved the spear forward as fast as he could. The blade reached the target and pierced through the side of its head with ease.

However, because it was to the side, the hit didn't instantly destroy the monster's core. Which meant one thing… The monster was still alive.

Extending its arm, the Dimension Walker grabbed Talon's arm and yanked him toward it. The young man felt his heart sink in at the horrible mistake he made. However, he didn't just let the monster do what it wanted.

So, in a split second, he gripped the shaft of the spear as hard as he could before he slid down, tackling the monster. Then, without waiting a moment, he pulled the spear out before he slashed horizontally at the second monster that was a few inches away from him.

The blade of the spear sliced through the monster's head with ease, decapitating it. Following that, Talon turned to the first monster and stabbed it with the spear, destroying its core.

"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Talon looked at the two dead monsters with widened eyes. Adrenaline was still running through his veins and his heart was beating loudly in his ribcage.

"You aren't too bad at using the spear," Acrypha commented as she stared at the two dead monsters. "Did you receive training before?"

"Military service… I learned how to use a few blade-type weapons… Mostly knives." Talon replied as he looked at his spear. 

'It's not as hard as I expected. However, I almost made the mistake of a lifetime. Guess that's expected, I will need to practice a lot to get the hang of it.' Noting down what he needed to do for the future, he focused on the notifications that appeared in his retina.

[You have killed level 2 Dimension Walker. +2 Health, +2 Agility.]

[You have killed level 1 Dimension Walker. +1 Strength.]

"Why am I getting fewer points with each monster I kill?" The young man frowned when he noticed that he wasn't getting the same number of status points as before. 

"The more of these low-level things you kill, the fewer rewards you will get," Acrypha replied as she simply looked around her curiously, not bothering with the apocalyptic nature of their environment.

"Aaah, is it to stop people from just killing weak enemies?"

"Exactly. The stronger you get, the stronger the monsters you need to kill become."

Nodding his head, Talon's eyes moved to the spear again. The reason for that was that a window had just popped out of nowhere right above the weapon.

[Blue Lapis Spear (Common Item): A spear born from the essence of the sea. At the base level, it can easily kill any enemy Level 10 and below. It can level up and max out at Level 10. At that level, it can kill any enemy Level 30 and below.

Level: 1/10

Bonus Points: +5 Strength, +5 Agility, More effective against sea creatures.]

"Nice weapon…" Talon nodded his head with an impressed look. A spear that can kill monsters levels above Talon and can even kill monsters at level 30 is very powerful.

Slashing with it a few times, he felt Acrypha's eyes on him.

"So, this is the reward you've been talking about?" He asked as he slowly peeked from around the corner of the street to check for any monsters.

"Yes. With each monster you kill, there is a chance that you will get a reward. It's not 100% the case every time, though. And the rarity also depends on the monster you killed and a lot of luck."

"So that's why those two monster orbs didn't have any shiny lights inside of them?" When Talon unexpected the two cores, they were completely gray, akin to pieces of stone in contrast to the colorful nature of the first two cores.

"Seems like you figured it out."

"I see." Rubbing the back of his head, Talon finally exhaled a breath and started moving again. The other monsters following him were getting closer so he had to continue to his destination if he didn't want to get stuck there.

The run to the warehouse was a 10-minute one. Since the neighborhood he lived in was small, the streets were also very small which made evading monsters impossibly hard. However, Talon found a way around that problem by using the destroyed buildings around him as hiding spots that he could move through without alerting the monsters.

With that, he continued running toward the warehouse as fast as he could. The darkness of the day cast its looming shadows on Talon. The weather felt cold even though it was summer and the ringing sound of the huge portal in the air was akin to a twisted background music that followed Talon wherever he went.

'I can't find any survivors!' Not even after he moved for minutes and minutes did he find a single living human being. Talon was starting to feel guilty that he didn't save anyone else in the apartment complex when he left.

However, he knew that there was so much he could do in that situation. Now, after barely 20 minutes since everything went into a frenzy, Talon was actually doing way better than he expected.

'I can save some people! I just need to find them before they get eaten alive!'

As he had that in mind, he suddenly heard a loud scream coming from a nearby street. Immediately, Talon's attention perked up.