Next Awakening

"The heck are we supposed to pass through THAT?"

Senna was flabbergasted seeing the countless Komodo dragon-looking creatures crawling all over the village, in the direction of the hall.

"God, they look vicious…" The gleaming red eyes, especially. If this were his previous life, Senna wouldn't approach them even from kilometers away.

"Red-Eyes Monitors. Just like everything that attacked us here, they're voracious carnivores," explained Brad, looking over from behind Senna's shoulder as they peeked.

"W-What do we do?" Ran, seeing the hall where his family was supposedly hiding being surrounded, panicked.

"…I wish I'd know."

Slashing wildly around while skating worked great for Senna at first, but as the number of monsters they encountered grew closer to the village's center, it became too dangerous for him to continue.

"Sis, what's my fuel?"

«Checking.»

< Mana: 19/180 >

He had been conserving his magical usage after that last about of Gaslighting, but his current reserve was still too low.

Light bouts of dizziness assaulted his head from time to time.

'Dang it. Nyaru was right. I really had terrible fuel efficiency.'

His usage of ATV did allow them to reach the village faster but at the cost of him being on the verge of fainting as soon as he arrived. To Senna's credit though, he never expected a genuine battlefield would be his destination.

"Gah!"

"El!"

They heard screams coming from another direction. Locating it, the group saw a pair of a young man and a woman chased by that humongous rhino-hippo hybrid Senna glimpsed upon when he first arrived.

"That's… Elrand! What he's doing?!" Brad exclaimed as he ran to the pair.

"He—Oh, come on!"

Losing a great pair of strong hands would reduce their chance of success. Meaning Senna had no choice but to follow him and prevent that from happening.

"Woy, Brad! Don't go on your own! Bel, take care of Ran!" Senna shouted his command as he dashed.

With panting breaths, he caught up to the axeman. "He's my hunting friend. No way I'd stand by just looking at him!"

Senna wouldn't comment on whatever relationship they had. "Then you have any idea how to take that thing down?"

"Just beat it bloody enough that it'll feel it."

"That's a nice plan!" The sarcasm was lost on the frantic guy. Brandishing the Bumper Sword, the duo sprinted to the chase going on in front of them.

"Brad! No, run away!"

"You can't outrun a charging Boulder Rhino, idiot!"

The young man called Elrand pulled on the hand of the woman following behind him. "Rem, jump to the side!"

"Ah!"

Just in time, both of them dodged the rhino's horn by a hairbreadth. It rammed the empty air where the woman had been milliseconds earlier.

«Warning: Foreign increase in Fate Level detected.»

"Huh? What? What did you—"

"Senna, it's not stopping! Scram!"

It seemed the beast wasn't bothered that it missed the two. It continued charging headlong and straight into Senna's position.

"Oh, fu—" Just like Elrand did earlier, Senna tried to leap to the side. However, this time also the rhino swung its snot as it rammed. "Huryugh!?"

*Clank* He had no idea how he managed it, but Senna used the Bumper Sword to block the hit. The power it contained still blew Senna away like a ragdoll, however.

He flew into a pile of debris on the side of the road. "Guuhh… This time my bones' broken for sure…" he whimpered.

The rhino stopped its charge. It turned around and faced his crumpled form.

"Senna!" Brad raced to his defense, holding his axe firmly in front of him ready to attack the beast if it rushed again. "Get up man, it's bad."

"…I'm trying." He felt as if his whole body was paralyzed and wouldn't move. "Sis… Any advice you can give to this soon-to-be cripple?"

«The current PPs are more than enough to unlock multiple new skills.»

< Progression Points: 86 >

Just as she said, due to his slaying of multiple Spotted Tigers on his way to Randel, along with additional slayings just now in the village, Senna had accumulated tons of points.

If his memory wasn't wrong, he would need a mere 10 PPs to unlock a skill. "Better than doing nothing, I suppose."

So he decided to invest in it.

«Using 10 PP to unlock the Mapping skill.»

"Tch!" He tried again.

«Using 20 PP to unlock the Baggage skill.»

"Useless!"

And he tried again.

«Using 40 PP to unlock the Horn Blast skill.»

"Ah!" Finally, he got a skill that didn't reek of mundanity. Although, Senna was peeved that each time he unlock, the PP cost doubled.

< Horn Blast >

< Skill attached to the title Taxi Driver. Allows one to blare the bursting sound of a car's horn. Very annoying, use it with care in crowded sites. Excessive use can damage eardrums. >

"Got it!" Senna forced his body to stand up, ignoring the pain all the while. The skill's description sounded perfect for the current dilemma he's facing.

Unknown to everything going on with his system, the other presents gulped with anticipation and fear as the rhino started to charge again.

"Give me your best, fat bastard." Brad, looking as if he facing Death himself, readied his posture.

"Brad!" shouted Elrand, running to his hunter friend.

The desperation was clear in all the faces present, all except Senna.

"Hey guys, cover your ears!"

The illogical command flew above their collective heads. Why would covering anyone's ears would help in this situation, they all thought. But soon, they would regret not heeding his words.

"Horn Blast!"

Covering his own ears, Senna yelled the skill's name.

*BEEEEPP!!!*

A mini earthquake struck the village. The source was the overwhelming vibration caused by possibly the loudest sound that ever graced this world.

Everybody present held their head in pain, their ears ringing with painful throbbings.

The charging rhino, as if startled by the sudden noise, flailed its head around. It then stopped its charge, turned around, and ran away from the area.

As for Senna? He collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness.

«Mana depletion critical. Entering emergency shutdown.»

The system declared, although with no to ever heard it.

«This is the best way to resolve the crisis,» it said. The reason why she was silent up until now was to let him learn on his own and grow faster. Handholding Senna through his journey would only set him back.

"Recovering Mana… Shutting down.»

She then cut off her own awareness, all for the sake of him waking up faster.