A TROVE OF MONSTERS (II)

Mark quickly noticed the shift in his friend's expression, and his gaze, once fixed on them, suddenly darted behind them. Instinctively, he leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the razor-sharp tarsal claws of the monstrous creature. The claws grazed his back, drawing blood in a painful swipe.

Anne, unfortunately, wasn't as lucky. Her shoulder bore the brunt of the monster's attack, and blood began to flow freely from the wound.

Leo, filled with anger and frustration, felt powerless as he watched his friends suffer.

Anne clutched her wounded shoulder, grimacing in agony, her face contorted by pain.

The monstrous abomination was now fixated on Mark, who thrust a spear at it in a desperate attempt to impale the creature before him. The creature, swift and cunning, shifted its hind legs to move out of the spear's reach and raised its forelimbs to strike at Mark.

Mark managed to intercept one of its forelimbs but faltered when he failed to block the other. The blow sent him tumbling across the floor, his lack of martial arts and weaponry skills evident.

In the heat of the moment, a deafening BANG echoed through the room as Anne fired her shotgun. The monster was slammed into the wall, wounded and disoriented.

Anne continued her relentless assault, firing shot after shot into the creature, each blast drawing more blood. She received a notification in her head, signaling the monster's impending demise.

20 points were surprisingly added to her soul energy.

The monster was now dead, unlike the monster rat. It died rather easily, indicating its weakness, but it still released more soul energy due to the numerous souls it had snuffed out with its assassination-like traits.

Mark and Anne rushed to Leo's side after they confirmed the demise of the spider monster. Blue liquid seeped from its wounds, its blood.

Leo lay there motionless, a mixture of emotions raging in his heart, he felt, relief and guilt. His negligence had almost cost him and his friend their lives.

He was supposed to be the protagonist, the one who saved, but now he was the one being rescued. A rescue that almost took the lives of his friends.

He felt shame, ashamed of himself for being too weak, ashamed that he had not only almost died but also almost killed his friends.

" I have more experience, but..."Thoughts raced through his mind as he continued to wallow in his regret.

"What do we do?" Mark panted.

"The infirmary should be close by, it had always been near the clubs just in case accidents were to happen. I believe it's either here or in the next room," Anne suggested.

" Yeah, we need to treat our wounds as well, I will go out and find the infirmary, stay here with him, nothing should disturb you here," Mark said as he got up.

He threw one last glance at his friend.

" Knowing him he will feel more pain from a sign of weakness than from the venom of a bullet ant," Mark thought to himself as he crawled back into the hole from which they had come, the light from the glow stick illuminating his path.

Anne sat beside the motionless Leo who was in a sitting position with his back on the webcovered wall.

" Leo, I know you can hear me.

Don't worry, Mark will come back with the medicine " Anne said trying to reassure Leo.

Leo who could only move his eyes avoided Anne's gaze, guilt still lingering in his heart.

Seconds passed creating minutes which in turn created hours.

Hours passed and Mark was still not back, Leo's vitality continued to dwindle but now at a slower rate, he had only 30 percent of his vitality remaining which continued to decrease.

He had calmed his nerves, causing his heart to beat less and reducing the effect of the poison. After an hour, his vitality settled at 15 percent. His endurance stat played a crucial role in helping him withstand the effects of the paralysis venom, which carried a slight hint of fatality potent enough to kill a normal man.

Leo's mouth twitched as he started to feel his lips, then his legs arms, and whole body. He had gained feeling in his body again.

He sat straight as he gazed at Anne who had fallen asleep beside him, as it was still in the middle of the night and she was exhausted from her earlier battle.

Leo willed his status screen as he looked at it noticing the change.

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24yrs 10mnths 2wks 4days 20hrs 10mins

NAME: Leo Allen

RACE: Human

Evolution: ???

AGE: 17/85

Soul energy: 4.1/50

Vitality: 18/100

Strength:32

Agility:32

Endurance:69

Intelligence:53

Mana: 0

Skills:

Poison resistance: 5%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" I guess that was the silver lining, " Leo thought to himself.

He had not taken a good look at the room they were in as he was still unconscious when he was brought in.

He broke a glow stick, adding luminance to the dimly lit room.

The room was almost entirely covered in white cobwebs, beautifully woven across the walls, outlining tables, cupboards, and flasks.

Leo recognized the room as the biology lab, as he had spent most of his time here for his research as well as to have a heart-to-heart with the biology professor, one of his mentors.

" That explains the spider," Leo thought to himself as he recognized the room.

" Mark is taking long, " Leo thought aloud a worried expression on his face.

" You called," Mark said as he entered through the hole.

He was covered in cuts and bruises, his entire body drenched in blood.

" What had happened for him to look like this," Leo's mind raced trying to imagine his journey. He had questions but failed to ask as he still felt guilty.

" Man, drop that attitude of yours, you would and have done the same for me," Mark said as he noticed Leo's expression.

"And don't worry most of these are not my blood" He added.

" Go and sit down, I grabbed a lot of medicine from the infirmary," Mark said as he pulled a bag from the hole, he continued to take out bags finally pulling out the fifth and final one.

Leo looked at his friend in awe, to locate the bags was another matter but to carry this through this trove of monsters was an entire story.

Leo knew that it should not be possible unless he had raised his stats while fighting the monsters. How many had he killed to gain enough speed and strength to bring this all the way here?

" Mark what are your stats " Leo inquired as his curiosity got the better of him.

" Too much of a hassle to mention, how I wish I could show you " As Mark said this Leo caught a glimpse of Mark's status screen.

"Mark, could you will or wish it for me to see it? I think it should work," Leo said as he grasped the mechanism of their attributes panel.

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24yrs 10mnths 2wks 5days 23hrs 5mins

NAME: Mark Evans

RACE: Human

Evolution: Feotus

AGE: 17/80

Soul energy: 40/50

Vitality: 99/100

Strength: 32~52

Agility: 29~40

Endurance: 57.2~70

Intelligence:31

Mana: 0

Skills:

Strong Body 100% ~ Iron Body 23%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo's eyes almost popped out of its sockets.

What had Mark gone through to grow this much?

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I would like to say thank you to Red 1 for the power stones, my first ever and a great motivation for me to continue.

Thanks a bunch