The Chapel

As he walked between the ruined buildings, abandoned homes, and empty roads, Nikolai felt the suffocation of an inevitable future. In ten years, most of the major cities would have fallen and they would look just like this place.

'Let's hope the Lords do a better work this time.'

Nikolai thought but he shook his head helplessly afterward. He was the only change that would occur this time around. The war between the Beastkin and humans will be the chance for the elves to strike.

'I need to grow stronger, faster than everyone, and then beat the crap out all those who refuse to unite against the elves.' Nikolai's thoughts stopped there when he heard the sound of clanking bones.

Nikolai took out his gun and dagger and leaned on a wall as a skeleton passed by him. These monsters had a low perception of immobile objects.

Nikolai wouldn't attack normal skeletons head-on. Except for the mage types, the rest were resilient to physical attacks and weak against magical attacks.

The skeleton marched on, leaving the area. Even if this area had weaker monsters, they were still F-rank, meaning they could kill Nikolai in a blow.

He planned on using their sluggish movement and perception to kill a few of them using his bullets. He checked again and the area was clear, making him go in.

The chapel was a grand building lined by many windows. The windows had colored glass that worked to depict the lives of the saints that had died.

Nikolai stood by a window with a part of its glass broken to peek inside. The wide chapel was lined with rows of seats that had been destroyed. Undead skeletons roamed between them as a single, smaller skeleton stood in the middle of the chapel.

'There you are.' Nikolai smiled beneath his hoodie. His eyes pierced through the darkness, looking for a way in. His eyes scanned the interior of the chapel and stopped when he looked at the ceiling.

Under the nagging of time, the ceiling has broken apart to reveal the inner frame. Thick wood beams intersected with each other, making a perfect ambush spot for Nikolai.

The only question was how would he get there without alerting the undead. He took out one of Silent Feet potion and poured half of it on his feet. As for the rest, he poured it on his gun.

The potion would absorb the sound that is close to it. Halving it meant it could absorb less sound, but Nikolai didn't need a lot of it. He tightened his grip on his gun as he sneaked around the building.

On the other side, there was a tall tree that Nikolai climbed. With his newfound stats, climbing it was a piece of cake. He would simply stab his dagger if he didn't find a place to grab, making him arrive at the top of the tree easily.

As Nikolai stood on the biggest branch of the tree, he heard chattering voices coming from somewhere. He frowned as he looked across the empty yard beside the chapel, but there was nothing but ruins.

'I need to hurry.' There could be other people after the mage skeleton, so Nikolai decided to hurry up. He crouched before sprinting on the branch.

As his foot stepped on the last part of the giant branch before it arched downward, Nikolai stomped hard before jumping. The air raced beside his ears as his body descended downward.

His hand grabbed into the edge of the roof before he fell downward. The sound his body made as it slammed to the wall was loud enough to make the undead grow uneasy.

Nikolai pulled himself upward and used his other hand to climb the roof. He took a short as he waited for the undead to calm down beneath him.

Nikolai stood up when the sounds died down. He went toward the hole in the ceiling and dropped down from it. The potion worked to minimize the sound his fall made.

As he walked on the beams, Nikolai counted the number of undead below him. There were six beside the mage, making them a seven in total.

If Nikolai wanted to fight them head-on, he would need to be at the peak of the F-rank to handle all of them alone. With some tactics and enchanted bullets, he could manage even if he was at the beginning of his F-rank.

The thing is, he wasn't even ranked yet. He was a superhuman but nothing that could match the standards of the world. That's why he would need to use the hit and run strategy.

The undead didn't have brains, so it was hard for them to remember things. If Nikolai could kill the mage and wait for a while, he should be able to find a gap after the others forget about him.

The beams were big enough for him to run on them. These basic balance skills were nothing compared to his military training. He marked down the pillars he could use as shields and took out his gun.

The first attack was crucial, so he injected mana into the gunpowder of the bullet. He didn't enhance the shell, but the firepower. It was useless to enhance the shell when the mage's bones held anti-magic properties.

The bullet left his gun's muzzle as the weapon shook in his arm. The stronger recoil came as expected and Nikolai steadied his arm, allowing the bullet to travel in the correct direction.

The bullet cut across the air and struck the unaware mage in its sternum, the central bone of its ribcage. The mage stumbled backward as it howled in range and looked upward.

Their eyes met as the mana gathered around the mage's bony hand. A giant icicle formed above its hand and fired toward Nikolai. Seeing it in foresight, Nikolai has already run away and hidden behind a pillar.

As the attack passed, Nikolai struck again from behind the pillar. The undead howled again and used a larger icicle that struck the pillar, freezing it in an instant.