Beast Wave 4

Jon avoided a few groups of Molemen who gathered at the village's granary. The beasts were eats all the food that the town been harvesting. In the corner of a barn near the storehouse, Jon spotted a shadow in the corner. He snuck over to find a player hiding for her dear life.

"Shh...I don't mean you any harm. Are you okay?"

She just nodded back because she was terror-stricken and could barely move. Jon motioned her to follow him. The two crouched-walked away from the barn in the cover of the night. When they got close to Jon's place, he said, "Run as fast as you can to that building. If you see a big creature digging, ignore him and keep running, Okay?"

Very silently, she responded, "Okay." Jon nodded with satisfaction and took back off into the darkness. He didn't have too much time to spare before the Molemen's main force arrived. If the goblin attack taught him anything, it was the first wave just probed the enemy.

Finally, making his way to the north part of the village, he could see a dark wave of creatures marching this way from the mountains. "There's so many of them." He climbed down from the tree he used to scout the trail. It's too dark to tell how many of them are coming, but he knew that it wasn't going to be enough with the few fighters they had. Jon sped back off to lively parts of town to find any survivors.

Jon soon realized the miner's bar was ransacked, and only bits of bodies remained. The inn was in even worse shape. Jon knew at this point if they weren't at his base, then they're probably dead. He then decided to grab a blanket and some water from the inn and head back.

"Die you monsters!"

Jon heard someone fighting and dropped his supplies. He ran to the other side of a house to find an NPC boy defending his elderly mother. A quest notification popped up for Jon.

**Guild Quest: Save Leroy and Maude from the Molemen**(Accept) (Decline)

Clicking the accept button, Jon lept into action. He tossed out his knives, killing one of the two Molemen. The other realizing a strong enemy arrived stabbed his spear towards Jon.

"Goblin Smash!"

Kicking the ground, Jon flipped over the monster brandishing his spear at him. A few daggers, thrown mid-air, killed the Moleman instantly that attacked the two NPCs. Jon landed the flip awkwardly, but he ran over to check on the two. A Moleman appeared behind the older woman and crushed her skull with the pickax.

**Guild Quest: Save Leroy and Maude from the Molemen (Failed)**

"Damn it! I didn't see that one," cursed Jon. He ran at the beast as the son was frozen in place. The AI didn't know how to process all the emotions running inside him. "Get down." Jon pushed the boy out of the way just in time to not be killed by the Moleman's ax. Jon didn't care the quest failed, but it did anger him, seeing someone lose their life due to his negligence. "Rat Sprint!" Speeding directly towards the Moleman, he ducked to dodge the pickax and thrust his Iron Dagger in the monster's gut. Blood and guts sprayed Jon, but he was used to it by now. "Goblin Smash!" Using the palm of his hand to knock the hilt of the dagger deeper. Luckily he activated Lucky Hit, and the critical strike caused the blade to pierce through the monster entirely. The beast fell over dead.

*Ding* **Player Jon has leveled up**

Jon, covered in blood, looked back at the boy. "Leroy, we need to leave now. Once this is all over, we will bury your mother." The boy didn't respond at all, so Jon gathered up all his daggers. The boy just followed him around like a lost soul. After grabbing the stuff from the inn, Jon leads the boy back to his camp.

Dirknooth told Jon to stop when he got close. "Be careful. I dug many traps on this side."

Jon and Leroy walked around to the gate avoiding all the new traps. Mary walked up and said, "We were all worried when the quest failed."

"Yeah, I couldn't save his mother," responded Jon dejectedly.

Mary looked at the boy and said, "Here, follow me inside." She led the boy into the hut, where Geroge and Chou were healing. The boy slumped against the wall and spaced out. Mary returned outside to the fire to finish cooking a new Moleman.

Jon looked at Dan and Pedro and asked, "Did a girl arrive awhile ago?"

"Yeah, that Moleman," pointing to the cooking one, "chased her here. She's passed out as soon as we got her in the hut. This night has been a rough one for us all."

Pedro, not seeing Jon relieved at the news, asked, "What did you find out there?"

"Nothing good. Everyone is dead, and a massive group will be upon us soon."

Blue woke up from sleeping and saw the three men talking. "Pedro, you and Dan get some sleep. I will guard take over guarding until this hoard arrives."

Dan and Pedro shrugged at each other but decided to get what sleep they could. Blue looked at Jon and said, "You too. We need you at full strength."

"Alright. Alright. I'll rest up." He picked a spot near the fire, against the outer wall. "Mary, can you give me a piece."

"Sure," she replied happily. She cut a chunk off and handed it to Jon. He looked at charred meat and ate it right away. He then heard a notification go off he didn't expect to hear.

*Ding* **You obtained the skill Pack Mentality**

Seeing as he obtained a new ability, he opened up his menu.

--Player: Jon Ramos Lv 9--

Class: Monster Mage

Job: Hunter

+2 Stat Point

STR: 4

CON: 6

DEX: 5 (+1)

LUK: 3

WIS: 0

Skills:

Gathering Lv 4 (4/100); Throwing Lv 7 (3/100); Dagger Mastery Lv 4 (93/100); Lucky Hit Lv 2 (15/100); Iron Stomach (Passive) (MAX); Goblin Language (Passive) (MAX); First Aid Lv 1 (73/100); Goblin Smash Lv 2 (54/100); Crafting Lv 1 (44/100); Rat Sprint Lv 1 (1/100); Construction Lv 2 (23/100); Pack Mentality (Passive) (MAX)

Items:

Iron Dagger (low) (+1 DEX); Canteen x1 (low); Goblin Dagger x7 (low) (+.5 DEX)

Status:

Priestess Believer

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*Pack Mentality (Passive) (MAX) - A skill that allows the user's stats to increase by +1 when the vicinity of teammates or guild members.

Jon was pleasantly surprised by this new skill. It also explained why the Molemen were so strong together. He closed his menu cause if he kept looking, he would never get to sleep.

After only an hour of sleep, Blue awoke Jon. "I can see them coming." As the sun rose with Cyber Horizon, the biggest hoard the game has seen descended upon Jon's camp.