Rats

Beep!

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[User: Noah Evans]

[Level 14]

[Strength: 14]

[Agility: 14]

[Stamina: 12]

[Mana: 13]

[Magical Circuit: 14]

[Health: 35/35]

[Mana: 33/33]

[Active quests: Acquire monster core(s): (0/1)]

[Reward: 500 exp]

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Noah stared at the blue screen in front of him. He'd levelled up twice since Hydragyros. And once while killing the emerald krait. His cold eyes bore into the screen as he stared at his stats. He was growing strong too slowly. It wasn't comparable to the rate at which he'd advanced before coming to KGS. His eyes flickered on the blue screen for a moment. His Stamina was too low. So was Mana. He'd have to improve these stats.

Beep! The blue screen disappeared. He could use this gate as a way to increase his weaker stats. Fighting high level monsters increased his stats one sidedly. So maybe killing hordes of weak monsters was a perfect way to increase his endurance stats.

Swish! A small gust of wind blew past his face, blowing his hair backwards slightly. He stared at the waving grass coldly. There would be hundreds of monsters inside this grass field. Some wouldnd he'd kill them all. He glanced behind. "Follow the sun."

"Huh?" Ethan stared at him confusedly. He didn't reply. Crunch....crunch....crunch. Dried grass crunched under his feet slightly as he walked into the dense grass. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Noah could har the sounds of leaves crunching behind him as he walked forward.

Ethan should be able to keep up. He already knew about Noah's powers, so he didn't need to worry about going all out. As the proverb went, "Keep all your eggs in one basket so you know who dropped them."

Slice! Noah swung his sword in an arc, cutting through the tall grass as he moved forward. There was a monster about 50 metres ahead. 1 metre tall. Level 10. An easy kill. Swish! He shot through the leaves, rushing forward as he moved towards the creature.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! The rat looked up, its snout pointed in the air as its ears pricked up at the sudden sound. Suddenly, a dark figure emerged through the fields in front of it. Its eyes widened. Whoosh! Noah's sword shot out, heading towards the monster's exposed neck.

Screech! It screamed in fear as it raised its claws, trying to defend. Slice! Splotch! Noah's sword sailed through the air, removing its head in a single strike. Splash! Drip...drip...drip. He ran his hand along his sword, clearing all the blood off it.

He stared at the monster's corpse. Now wasn't the time to play around. He'd have given the rat a gruesome death if it were any other time. But right now, he couldn't. Its screams would attract the attention of other monsters. Perhaps its comrades had already been alerted by its dying screech. He stared at his sword with his cold, dark eyes. Well, it didn't matter. He'd slaughter all of them anyways. Either they'd come to him. Or he'd find them.

Crunch....crunch....crunch. Noah could hear footsteps behind as somebody approached him. "Hey Noah! Where'd you run off to?" Ethan stared at the rat's corpse in front of him. He frowned. "Couldn't you have taken care of it quietly? You probably told every single monster where we are!"

Noah stared back at him. "Well, assuming that wasn't your original plan, right?" Shing! Noah sheathed his sword.

This damned idiot! Noah never ever gave a straight answer. Especially when it was a loge-threatening thing that he needed to know. It felt very cool while he was reading 'The Ghost System', but dealing with him in real life was extremely annoying. And scary. If he pushed Noah over the edge, he'd probably slice his head off.

Ethan glared at Noah's back. If he had a system, he'd be able to get away with this kind of insufferable behaviour. It was just dumb luck that Noah got the system instead of him. Couldn't the Mercator have offered him one?

Crunch....crunch....crunch. Noah walked forward, the dried grass crunching beneath his feet as he moved forward. Ethan winced slightly. Couldn't he be a little more silent? Noah disappeared onto the monster. "Goddamn..." Ethan rushed behind him, trying to keep up. He couldn't survive on his own in an F rank gate.

He'd probably die from an F-2 rank monster at the very least. Any lower, and he could handle them. Crunch! Ethan's arm shot towards his weapon as a loud crunch rang out. His body tensed slightly. It was a false alarm. He sighed.

The emerald krait was an F-4 rank monster as well. However, it had almost killed him. He wouldn't be able to kill it now, even after advancing to G-9 rank. But that was because it was a reptilian type monster. Beast type monsters were much weaker than their reptilian counterparts. So killing one of them was much easier.

Crunch.....crunch.....crunch. Ethan moved through the tall grass, following Noah as he trudged forward. He could still hear a couple of screeched and roars in the distance. That meant that either they were in an area with very little monsters. Or that the monsters over here had found them.

Screech! Screech! Suddenly, he heard a series of loud sounds. Shing! Clat....clat....clat. He searched around wildly. There were about twelve monster, G-10 rank, almost 40 metres away from their position. His eyes shot towards Noah. "Noah! What's the plan? How are we going to deal with these monsters?"

Noah stared ahead, looking into the distance. Screech! The monsters grew closer, staring to enclose them in a circle. "Noah!" Ethan's voice grew more urgent. Getting surrounded by monster's wasa very bad idea. A group of beast type monsters could even take on an awakeners e whole stage above them.

Noah held up his hand. His eyes were fixed into the glass as they stared coldly, fixated on something. Ethan followed his gaze slowly. What could he see? What was he so focused on that was more important than the rats surrounding them? "Take care of them." Noah didn't look back. "What?"

Whoosh! Slice! Suddenly, Noah shot out, disappearing into the tall grass. Ethan clenched his weapon tightly. That damned idiot! He'd abandoned Ethan once again, leaving him stranded in the middle of a sticky situation.

Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. He started swinging his kusarigama in an arc, gathering momentum. This wasn't like his battles with Golden Lion. He wasn't pressed for time. So he could spend as mich time as he wanted swinging his weapon around.

Screech! Screech! Rustle! Suddenly, a bunch of dark skinned rats burst out of the tall reeds. Whoosh.....whoosh.....whoosh. Ethan glanced around. Four rats in front. Three on each side. And three behind him. He was completely surrounded.

Screech! A rat screeched at him, waving its claws in the air as its stared at him aggressively. It didn't attack him immediately. Apparently, it was wary of Ethan's kusarigama. Well, it should be. As a beast type monster, it was smart yet weak. It wouldn't last against him in a one on one battle. But it wasn't alone.

Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. Ethan's kusarigama swung through the air as he stared at the monsters, preparing to attack. Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. They stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Ethan was locked in a deadly balance with the monsters, staring down at them every single time they tried to get close.

Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. Screech! Suddenly, the scales tipped. Thirteen rats jumped into the air, making their way towards Ethan at once. Clang! Ethan's kusarigama swung in an arc, crashing against one of the rats' claws. Fwoosh! He ducked down as another rat jumped past, raking its nails against his shoulders.

Slice, suddenly, he felt a sting of pain from his leg. These damned monsters! There were too many of them. Whirrrr! Suddenly, mana began permeating through Ethan's body. Clang! Clang! Clang! He deflected another rat as he rolled on the ground, dodging a deadly set of claws.

The mana climbed towards his shoulders, entering his arms. Clang! Clang! Screech! A rat jumped at him, trying to claw his face off. Clank! He lifted his kusarigama into the air, smashing the blade into the rat's body. Clang! It lifted its claws, protecting its exposed flesh.

Whirrrr! The mana reached his thighs, making its way down to his legs. Clang! Clang! He deflected another set of blows as he tried to bat away the rats furiously. "Come on? Just...a...little..bit...." Whirrrr! Suddenly, Ethan felt something change in his body. He smiled. Mana had reached every single cell of his body, energising him. All of his senses were heightened, making him aware of every single enemy's location.

Screech! A rat screeched at him, as if it had noticed the chain. "Come!" Whoosh....whoosh...whoosh. Ethan's eyes glowed blue. Screech! The rat's red eyes glowed as it screamed in rage. Screech Screech! A bunch of voices echoed, filling the air with enraged voices.

Fwoosh! Swish! The rats pounced once again, shooting towards Ethan. "Not so fast, vermin." Bzzzzt! Noah wasn't here. So he wouldn't see what Ethan was doing. And anyways, he'd been practicing using mahe type mana for more than two weeks now. He deserved to use it in battle at least once.

Spark.....spark.....spark. The air grew slightly hazy, tiny sparks littering the air in a two metre radius. Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. His kusarigama spun in an arc, dragging the sparks with it. The dark spike blade grew slightly brighter, a tinge of orange appearing on its surface. The same colour of his dragon mask.

Spark....spark....spark. This eas it! A symphony of mage and physical type mana that no awakener could achieve. Except for him. Bzzzt! Whirrrr! The rats Drew closer, entering the two metre radius around Ethan.

Spark.....spark.....spark. Ethan's body was supercharged. The air around him was littered with sparks that couldn't do anything by themselves. But with the kusarigama, they could shine. Spark. Singe. This was the perfect complement to his close range defence art that he'd first used on Hydragyros. Firestorm.

Whirrrr! Bzzzzt! Clang...clang...clang! The kusarigama shot out much faster than before, parrying every single attack as its spun in the air. It wasn't too fast. It wasn't too slow. It was at the perfect speed required to party every single monster's blows.

Spark...Screech! Suddenly, a loud screech ran out. Thud! A rat's nails had been sliced of by the searing hot blade. It stared at its fingers in shock. Ethan smiled. "Gotcha!" Splotch! The rat didn't stand a chance. All he'd needed was a single moment of hesitation to slice its head off.

Screech! Another rat screamed in rage at the loss of its comrade. Whoosh! It jumped through the sparks, pouncing at Ethan in anger. Slice! Eleven left. Slice! Ten left. The other monster's eyes widened. Anger wouldn't get them anywhere. And neither would false bravado. They turned around, trying to run away.

Slice! Slice! Slice! Three heads fell to the ground. Seven left. Ethan wouldn't let them get away. They'd attacked him first, after all. Screech! Screech! A rat screamed at the other monsters, trying to rally them in a final attempt at surviving. Slice! Ethan's kusarigama shit through its face, splitting its skull in two. Six left.

Slice! Slice! Slice! He swung his weapon in an arc, slicing through its nearest subordinates simultaneously. Three left. Screech! The last three rats screamed in terror as they left Ethan's attack radius, trying to run away. "Oh no you don't!" He gritted his teeth in anger.

Clank! Whoosh! Splotch! It'd taken more energy, but he'd managed to throw his kusarigama beyond his two metre barrier. Screech! Two left! Screech! One left! Slice! His blade missed the last monster, slicing its leg off.

Screech! It fell down to the ground. Whirrr! Bzzzt! Ethan withdrew his mana. "Huff...huff...huff." He breathed heavily putting his hand on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Firestorm free a lot of energy. Especially when he was using his Mage type mana to increase the lethality of his attacks.

Summoning proper, full-fledged flames took everything out of him. He had to make do with these petty sparks for now. He was starting to understand why mage type awakeners had such a high mana stat. But, to be honest, it wasn't so bad. If he hadn't used Firestorm, then the monsters would have most definitely hurt him a lot more. Being an augmented was definitely much better than being a normal physical type awakener.

Squeak...squeak...whimper. Ethan glanced at the rat's quivering body. He raised his kusarigama into the air. Squeak...squeak....SQUEAK! Splat! Zero left. The last monster had died. He stare at his weapon in revulsion. No matter how terrible monsters were, killing them still wasn't easy. Mentally. They acted like normal animals when they were the closest to death. That's why he preferred killing them in one hit. It lessened the value of their of their lives in his eyes. And, it made it much easier to kill them.

Clat..clat...clat. Ethan's kusarigama shrunk back to a dagger. Splat! Drip! His ran his hand along the blade, clearing the blood off it. Well, there was nothing he could do. It was either hunt or get hunted. At the very least, some person would live because of the slaughtering he was doing today. He turned around. He shouldn't be worrying about thar when he was in a gate. No, there was a more pressing concern. He stared at the vast fields of grass in font of him.

Where the hell was Noah?