Chapter 35 - Oliver's Path

"Weak defense, my ass."

Rynold was tired from dealing with consistent and fast attacks against the Claw-type Ghoul and finally managed to kill the thing. Luckily, his most powerful attack managed to seal the deal because he doubted if he could hit it again.

Oddly enough, Rynold noticed the ghoul amassing what seemed like energy that happened once before. Only this time, there weren't any other ghouls that managed to be drawn by the energy.

Whether it was luck or just pure coincidence, Rynold was satisfied with how it turned out. Tired, but satisfied nonetheless.

Shyft patted his nephew's back, "good work," he said with an anxious expression on his face. It was thanks to the efforts of both of them that made them succeed in defeating the enemy. Clearly, though, they weren't built for dealing with this type of ghoul.

[Ghoul Evolution Material]

[A dark stone that is dropped from killing an Evolved Ghoul. Its dark energy attracts nearby ghouls.]

'Another one, huh?' Rynold thought to himself. The evolution material before was still sitting idly in his inventory and this time he got another one. What to do with it was something beyond his current understanding.

The second one dropped among two other pieces of loot, it just showed how tough ghouls are especially when they are under the process of evolving. Gaining more strength to the point where they're terrifying. It was imperative to stop them before their evolutions were complete; otherwise, there would be a much bigger problem.

Regardless, Rynold picked up the spoils of their victory.

[Wind Acolyte's Grimoire]

Magic Weapon

Durability: Infinite

Spell Power +10% of user's Intelligence

Equipment Requirements: Intelligence 60, Mana Bond

An ancient grimoire from a follower of the Wind God. Due to the passage of time, the grimoire lost most of its power.

Additional Passive Skill: Wind Anciency

- When bonded, reduces the bond's affinity with all types of magic by 15 except for Wind Affinity.

Additional Passive Skill: Call of the Wind

- Once bonded, the user generates spells based on the user's personality and actions. (Spells Unlocked: 1/12)

Spells Available:

- Active Skill: Wind Circulation

- By calling upon the formless wind, the user circulates wind within a sphere of influence, increasing movement speed by 10% and blocking projectiles to a certain degree.

- Cost: 10 Mana per minute

"Woah...," Rynold couldn't hold his amazement at how powerful this book is.

Even though most of the spells are dependent on how the user would use this grimoire and the spells that they've learned so far, it would still be undoubtedly powerful. A total of a dozen spells was no simple threat.

"What? What is it?!" Shyft was curious at what exactly was the old-looking book that his nephew was holding.

"This," Rynold shared the window information to his uncle.

Shyft wasn't as surprised as Rynold was since he never had really encountered magic thus far. Case in point, the grimoire wasn't applicable to him whatsoever so he all in all wasn't interested.

He dismissed the window, saying, "don't get what's the big deal.'

Rynold shrugged as he knew how helpless his uncle was when it comes to dealing with things he can't understand. Moving on, he grabbed the other piece of loot that looked different.

[Attachment: Drill]

Attachment Equipment

An item that needs to be attached to different equipment. Drawing Mana from the user, the drill spins that could serve multiple uses.

The drill was huge, to say the least. It was practically the size of a jackhammer and made it hard to believe that such a thing would be considered as an attachment rather than a piece of gear itself.

Rynold considered his options. He could either attach this drill to his right gauntlet but it would undoubtedly reduce his movement capabilities. After all, what use is a Speed-form if he couldn't even move?

He looked at the grapple on his left gauntlet and it looked completely snug — like it was a perfect fit.

Sighing, Rynold decidedly put the attachment to his inventory for now. He had the option to equip the thing later, anyway, as there was no rush for it to be put to use.

Speaking of rush...

Rynold realized that his buddy was in trouble on the other side of the town. He had to go and help him too.

"Can you get to town on your own?" Rynold asked Shyft, "there aren't any bigger threats up the road anyway."

"Hehe," Shyft let out an arrogant laugh, "don't count me out just yet!"

With a nod, Rynold left and went to where Oliver was. He hoped that the guy was still standing their ground but there was no way to confirm.

'Oh, right! The radio!' Rynold forgot the handheld radio that they had and went back to his uncle to hand him his.

"Use this if you're in trouble," Rynold decisively said before running out once more.

"Wait! Oi!" Shyft called out to his uncle's attention.

Rynold stopped and turned back, "what?"

"You didn't tell me what channel to use," Shyft calmly explained.

"C-channel..?"

"Are you stupid?!" Shyft yelled at his nephew, "geez. Common sense, kid, it's pretty useful. Set your radio to channel 4."

Rynold nodded and did what his uncle instructed before setting out once more. He had no time to slow down this time around since he had to go back up to the radio tower building as Jack and Skye didn't set a channel for them to communicate either.

'Boy, am I an idiot or what,' Rynold thought, on his way back from where he came. He was currently jumping on buildings the same way he did before. Only this time, it was his way back to the radio tower building.

Rynold couldn't help but feel worried. As much as he trusted his friends to keep each other safe, he still felt like he could have done more to help out. He cursed at himself for being helpless towards his friends even though nothing significantly bad has happened yet. He just couldn't help himself.

Meanwhile...

Oliver was still struggling to get away from the crowd.

The number of ghouls slowly dwindled but with every passing moment, Oliver grew desperate. Luckily, he had Strider on his side. Otherwise, it would've been a lot worse.

Darkened Strike!

Oliver swiped at a ghoul with his dagger's active skill but not advancing. He was in a precarious situation and didn't dare to get near the Stretch-type Ghoul's range. As much as he wanted to get away, he couldn't.

Time and time again, he was stopped by the Stretch-type Ghoul's limb. The ghoul seemed smart enough to trap its prey but otherwise careful enough not to advance. Like it wanted to use the lower-leveled ghouls as its pawns.

Swiping and biting, both Oliver and Strider finally managed to reduce the number of ghouls to being manageable.

They finally could get away. The Stretch-type Ghoul, though, had different ideas in mind.

Noticing that the number of its pawns were wiped out, the Stretch-type Ghoul finally took action for itself. It moved forward and lashed out at its target, every swipe whistled like it was fast enough to cut wind itself.

"You...," Oliver had an angry expression on his face while he dodged the Stretch-type Ghoul's attacks. He was faster than the limbs could reach him but it was tiring him out to keep it up.

The same couldn't be said for Strider. Although the wolf was behind Oliver most of the time, one of the limbs managed to swing Strider a good distance back.

"Annoying," Oliver had a terrifying expression on his face. It was the first time ever that Oliver produced killing intent.

"Piece of," Oliver pulled open his status window while simultaneously dodging the Stretch-type Ghoul's attacks. His instincts kicked into overdrive. It was as good a time as any to put his free points into his attributes.

3 points to Stamina to cool his tiredness. 23 points to his Strength, pushing this Attribute to a whopping 45 points, equal to his Agility. Lastly, 10 points to Intelligence, for more skills that would kill this damned thing before him.

"Garbage!" Oliver closed his status window after putting the points in, raising his power to another degree. He dodged the attacks that came from the Stretch-type Ghoul with calculated movements. His extreme focus and intent to kill driving him forward to danger.

He was so focused, in fact, that he ran past the Stretch-type Ghoul, breaking past its defenses. Before it could even react, Oliver lashed out all his skills that were available starting with [Wolf's Frenzy] for an Attribute boost.

Shadow Strike! Backstab! Wolf's Pride! Darkened Strike! Broken Wing Slash!

The flurry of attacks killed the Stretch-type Ghoul without even giving it chance to defend itself. After its death, Oliver continued to kill every ghoul in sight, not leaving these creatures a room to breathe.

It was the first time that Oliver had ever conducted a strong sense of death, even stronger than when he fought against the Rabid Alpha Wolf or the shroud of ghouls back at the academy.

This was the day that Oliver started on the dark path.