9 Chapter 9: Combat
"Get the f*cking plant!"
Oakley was awoken abruptly by the noise he could barely make out.
He was quite rested, waking up late into the morning, before noon.
Swish! Swish!
There were about a dozen people rushing at him, as well as the pomegranate.
He found out why after seeing a corpse some meters away.
He didn't say anything, nor think about it too much.
The only reason the plant would attack is if these people bore ill intent.
"Look at that thing, it's massive! We'll split it after." They were eyeing the large, juicy pomegranate with greedy eyes. It was as if the plant next to Oakley were some kind of valuable treasure, that they had laid their eyes on and decided to claim.
They didn't care about Oakley, they thought that he was dead meat.
'It's at times like this, when human nature is put to the test that their masks are torn down and people reveal their suppressed desires and nature.'
Oakley could tell that these people haven't had water and food for quite a while. And though it hasn't been too long since the Ancient Egypt theme, the harsh conditions of the desert ought to wear down most people.
If only these people had just asked, perhaps he would have given them some, but Oakley was not one to tolerate things like this.
He quickly shook his head at the previous thought after seeing their weapons covered in dried blood, which probably weren't from the dried mummified zombies.
He didn't even consider that the weapons could've been bloodied from the zombies prior to the Ancient Egypt theme. He had a feeling about it, intuition if you will.
The blood was mostly someone else's blood, killed off for some other reason.
'If they do it once, they'll do it again.' That was Oakley's thought on it, and he would show no mercy.
"F*cking h*ll, Kill it!" A balding man said as he was writhing on the floor, while rubbing his eyes fiercely with his hands, trying desperately to wipe something off his face.
In the time that Oakley was still analyzing the situation, the pomegranate had made short work of five people. When the seed covered in the flesh of the fruit was blocked, it sprayed juices all over their faces, blinding them with the moderately acidic liquid.
Oakley got up slowly, and ran forward at the group that seemed to be ignoring him.
He was planning to buy time for the pomegranate, as well as taking down some of these people.
He ran at the nearest person, a large man that seemed indifferent to Oakley's presence, as if he weren't even here.
The man didn't seem to take him seriously, and it would cost him for that.
"Oooh~, I'm so scare- Ugh!" A big, burly man jeeringly said while faking a scared expression on his face, but he couldn't finish, as his face was now warped into another expression.
Bam! Crack!
Oakley landed a hit, and then another, and the pomegranate lobbed in a shot, finishing the man off.
Oakley's power was definitely higher, so he was at an advantage in that area, and the enemies didn't take him seriously.
Oakley activated {Pomegranate-Pult} again, he don't want to make too much, as he wanted to find a somewhere to stay first. Each use of his skills meant less mana, and he always wanted to have an excess of the former.
Frankly, Oakley didn't need to make more, but he wanted to end the fight faster.
"It's the kid!"
Rather than fear, all the people felt was endless greed, their eyes were practically green at this point. Right now, Oakley looked more like a goose that laid golden eggs, more than anything else to them.
Their thought process were probably along the lines of catching him, and then forcing him into submission then somehow.
They switched their targets to him. A big blunder, but he wasn't going to tell them that.
"{Wind Blade}!" One of the people in the group seemed to have activated a skill, yelling out, and giving Oakley an idea of what the skill did.
Swoosh!
It was a green, arc-shaped conurbation of wind flying at Oakley quickly.
Quickly to everyone except Oakley, and maybe the plants. It looked quite slow in his eyes for some reason.
Oakley lunged to the side, dodging the blade.
Swoosh!
Another came, only for Oakley to roll forward, he was getting more proficient with such movements the more he fought.
He was covered in sand, but that didn't matter now.
Oakley actually backed off this time, kiting the idiots like the npcs from games he played in the past.
They actually followed him, away from the pomegranates, which were the real danger.
"F*cking cowar-" Was someone's last words, before their vision went black.
They basically put themselves in a bad position, in between the pomegranates and Oakley.
Another person, seemingly in range now, activated a skill that made him leap up in the air. He held a kitchen knife with both hands tightly, and lifted it up over his head, like he were wielding a sword or something of that nature.
'I have to kill him, he's too dangerous. Then, I'll take care of everyone else, and those abnormally large pomegranates will be mine.'
Someone finally seemed to realize that Oakley wasn't merely some kid, but it was too late.
Up in the air, he was the perfect target for the waiting pomegranates.
Two shots fired in tandem at different angles from the pomegranates, made it even more difficult for the man to defend, not to mention that he himself had created this opening by jumping up meters into the air and choosing to attack in such an risky way.
The man finally landed, albeit, with two large, gaping holes on his body.
He was dead.
Seeing what happened to the man, those that remained chose to run away. There it was again, the fickleness of human nature.
Reality had set in, they realized that they wouldn't be getting anything from Oakley.
And, contrary to how he looked, Oakley could be quite ruthless and unforgiving when it came to his survival. That was the case prior to this situation that he now found himself in, and when he found out that he would be left alone in this merciless and cutthroat society that placed a heavy emphasis on individualism.
Of course, Oakley would not be letting these stragglers escape, because of troublesome loose ends that may bite him in the as* again and such.
…
"You guys wanted some pomegranate, right?" Oakley said to the last person, who did everything in his power to try and live.
Those people came wanting some pomegranate, and as such, Oakley made sure to oblige, albeit not in the way they wanted it.
They cried, begged, and groveled among other methods to try and live. Some mentioned their family, some defecated and such, while others just attacked him like they were cornered rats.
(A/N: Some of them pulled an Amber Heard.)
Unfortunately, their rhetoric and actions were all for naught, as he would not falter only to take a knife to the back.
Oakley wasn't that naive, especially with his increasingly better understanding of the fickleness of human nature.
"I should've majored in Psychology, what do you guys think?" Oakley appeared to be speaking to the pomegranates. He was taking classes required for the music major, not for any particular reason, aside from trying it out. He was exploring.
He was still relatively new to the college life, and knew he could switch majors as much as he wanted or needed to.
Their answer to his rambling? They offered him some pomegranate seeds.
"Thanks." Oakley took it, not sure whether they understood his plight or not.
[Out of combat, experience gained.]
"Huh?" He checked his interface, only to find that his power was much higher than he expected.
=============
[Interface]
Name: Oakley
Class: Lifeweaver 5★
Power: 30 {Select Skill}
Abilities: Pea Shooter 1★, Small Flower Pot 1★, Sunflower 1★, Magnet Shroom 2★, Pomegranate-Pult 3★, Witch Hazel 4★
=============
'Oh, it must have been when I escaped the gargantuars.' He remembered that he had indeed fought the group for a while, whittling away at them a bit before escaping. And, there was the fact that he was attacked all throughout the night, so the experience probably accumulated with the fight he just had.
His choices were as follows:
[Select Skill.]
{Pumpkin 1★}
{Garlic 1★}
{Potato Mine 1★}
The pumpkin skill most likely was a shell of sorts that covered the plants, protecting them for a while. More importantly, it probably did so, without obstructing the covered plants' view or shots.
Oakley remembered that the garlic skill's main function should just be attracting zombies to buy time. It could be used to help him escape or to stall out long enough for plants that need time to set up, like the potato mine. Aside from that, he remembered that the zombie that ate it would run away, which he thought couldn't be the case this time. Can zombies even taste anything?
And then there was the potato mine again, which he still didn't need it.
He would rather get the pumpkin skill to protect the pomegranates that were vulnerable in close range.
With Oakley's choice made, he picked up the two pomegranates, each atop a shoulder.
He didn't feel that they were too heavy, thanks to his high power again.
It was getting dark now, and he had to go find somewhere to set up his defenses.
He didn't like being out in the open like this.
