Sebastian could have sworn he felt the tiles of the bathroom floor beneath him crack and creak upon the force of his steps. His body lumbered forward as he tossed the Inferior Saber through the window from across the room.

The door broke. The swarm rushed in.

The obstacles within the room did little to hinder either party, human or rat. One used strength to simply break through the door of the stall, the other climbed over their brethren in the horde to leap at their prey.

They tore at the man’s clothes to get to the flesh underneath, more and more rats grabbing onto him as he grabbed the ledge of the window. The horde had begun to form into a shape behind him, one that didn’t bode well for him.

He pulled his weight through the window, his back covered in rats and torn clothing, squeaks making their way into his ears in between the sound of gnawing flesh. He felt the weight on his legs grow significantly. He could only smile wryly when he looked over his shoulder and saw the reason.

A good half of the swarm had piled together onto his legs, seeking to pull him back into the room and keep him restrained within. The only rat that didn’t move was an odd, green colour. Hidden at the back of the swarm, surrounded by a few larger rats. While kicking the swarm away from his lower half, Sebastian identified the two new variants.

[Lv. 9 Rat Hivemind]

[A rat that chose to forego a physical improvement for a mental one, the Rat Hivemind is well on it’s way to controlling it’s swarm in an effort to grow, devour, and consume. They feast.]

[Lv. 7 Infant Rat Vanguard]

[Rats specially nurtured by the hivemind to seek personal strength over all else. They live for the hivemind and die for the hivemind. Their sole goal is to protect their master and leader.]

Fuck. Me. He cursed inwardly, the weight on his legs growing stronger even as he pulled himself further and further through the window. He had to have killed dozens of these rats during the charge and the defense, but it hardly seemed like even a dent was made in their numbers.

More and more rats latched onto Sebastian’s form, his muscles straining his eyes bloodshot. He roared with all his strength as he tried to escape the swarm-

He felt a pair of hands grab onto his arms. Sword stood there with a dumb grin on his face as he revealed what he was doing this whole time.

He was moving a dumpster from the alley towards the window. The man needed somewhere to stand if he was going to help pull Sebastian out through the window after all.

Sword produced a strength quite unfit for his stature, their combined strength ripping Sebastian from the clutches of the horde as they fell backwards onto the pavement. The over a dozen rats still on the bladesman’s body squeaking in fury as they felt themselves leave the presence of their horde.

[You have slain Lv. 3 Infant Rat Swarmling]

[Awarded 15xp]

[You have slain Lv. 2 Infant Rat Swarmling]

[You have slain Lv. 3 Infant Rat Swarmling]

[You have slain Lv. 2 Infant Rat Swarmling]...

[You have slain Lv. 2 Infant Rat Swarmling]...

[You have slain Lv. 3 Infant Rat Swarmling]...

[You have slain Lv. 1 Infant Rat Swarmling]...

The duo very quickly removed those swarmlings from existence. Their strength entirely came from their numbers, and a pack of a dozen or so rats weren’t going to kill a pair of normal people, let alone those with even a few levels.

They ignored the blood and gore left from the crushed pests as the two laid on the ground to rest, breathing heavily as they stared at the morning sky. The hive refused to go through the window, god knows why. Sebastian had an inkling as to the reason, but he’d never confidently say he understood the thoughts of a rat swarm.

He turned his head to the side, looking at the skinny swordsman. The man probably, if not definitely, saved his life. He didn’t know why, but he felt like laughing.

So he started roaring with laughter.

At the insanity of it all.

It got a jump out of the other man, his reaction being to turn to the source with some fear, but upon seeing it was just Sebastian laughing, the man relaxed with a sigh of relief, before letting out a small chuckle. As if infected by it, he started laughing too.

Half a day ago, Sword was just another young man, barely 19. Old enough to drink, but nowhere near old enough to feel like he understood the world he was in. He was starting to get a hang of it, and he nearly had enough money saved to rent his own place. He had his regrets, sure, but he was finding his place in the world.

The only reason he was at the supermarket so late at night is because he ran out of snacks, and he promised his friends to pull an all-nighter with them for a birthday within the group. Now he was laying here, covered in rat guts, in an alley, laughing after escaping a fucking rat swarm.

Were his friends okay? Were his parents okay? He had no fucking clue. Everything electronic was fried when The Light hit, and the city has become a clusterfuck of corrupted animals. If the rats and squirrels are so dangerous, what about the dogs? Birds? Anything that wasn’t just a pest? He had no fucking clue. And he doubted if Sebastian did either.

So when he heard the other man laugh, he did too.

At the insanity of it all.

They laughed with all their strength until their throat dried and their lungs gave out, loud coughing filling the air instead. They must have laid there for an hour, but they didn’t mind. In fact, that hour of doing nothing but laughing until their lungs gave out might be their favourite part of the last twelve hours.

Sebastian recovered first, partly due to his favour over constitution than any other attribute at the moment. He knew Dallas would be worried if no one came back, and he was unsure as to if Jacob and Mariah made it out, so he decided he’d pick up the slack for the last hour.

Pulling Sword up, placed the man’s arm around his shoulder and helped him walk. It was only then that he realized he kept calling him Sword, and didn’t know his actual name. As if he could read his thoughts, the skinny man piped up on his own.

“My name’s Ken. My friends called me Zen.”

“I’m Sebastian. I’m not really called anything.”

“Really? Not a single nickname in all your life?”

“None that stuck. How’d you get Zen anyways?”

“Well, my friends say I’m usually rather mellow, quiet. You know, ‘zen’. Match it with my name and it just kinda stuck.” The man shrugged the best he could in his position.

“The Zen Swordsman sounds rather badass too, doesn’t it?” Sebastian smirked.

Ken felt his face redden slightly as he heard him, letting out a nervous laugh.

“T-that wasn’t what I was going for at all, no..”

Sebastian laughed, leading into another coughing fit. The two continued talking as they made their way back to Dallas’ Deals.

He learned that Ken had a lot of interest in history, especially their weapons. Apparently swords were his favourite, so he picked one when he had the choice from the pile. He had long lost it, but there were definitely some left he could replace it with.

When they finally returned to the supermarket, they were quickly greeted by another patrol group. They conversed in hushed whispers as they saw the wounds on Sebastian and the exhaustion in the duo, but so long as they were led to the infirmary, he didn’t mind. So long as Dallas showed up to meet him soon, they could do whatever they wanted and he wouldn’t care.

It was only when he was sat down for treatment that he finally felt he could check the notifications from Scorn that he previously ignored. He had to sit still as a man bandaged his new wounds anyways, so what else could he do.

[Congratulations on reaching Lv. 4]

[You have learned Inept Saber Expertise]

[Through the continued use of a saber, you have learned the basic ways of maneuvering the weapon in combat and taking advantage of it’s qualities. You’ve set foot on the path to domination with a Saber. ]

Sebastian was wondering when he’d learn more skills. The only two options were the system gave more as you levelled up, or it simply helped quantify them as you learned them yourself. Maybe there was a third option that was a mix of both, but for now it seemed like the second option.

Either way, it was a plus that he learned how to use a Saber, even if it was only Inept. As Scorn said, he had only taken his first step on that path, and he had a feeling he’d be walking down it for a long, long time.

The level up did surprise him somewhat, as it means he levelled up twice from the horde. Each monster seems to only give 5 more xp for each level, but he hadn’t been counting how much was needed for each level up. He knew it got harder, but that was it. He must have killed dozens during his escape, either through slashing or stomping his way through.

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

The question now was where is he supposed to put his new stats.

[Attributes]

Strength: 19

Agility: 8

Constitution: 20

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom:8

Perception: 5

Attribute Points: 5

His constitution and strength have nearly synergized, but he felt a lack of control over his body, one he could probably restore by upping agility somewhat. He knew what perception did, but not Wisdom or intelligence.

He could top off both intelligence and wisdom, or both intelligence and agility. He had already decided his strength would probably be enough for anything up to level ten when you throw his saber into the mix.

Asking for a coin from a random passerby, he decided to do a coin flip. Heads, it’s wisdom. Tails, it’s agility.

He tossed the coin into the sky, and..

Tails.

Immediately he allocated the points. He felt the warmth once more, almost feeling as if his body became more flexible. The effect of intelligence was less pronounced, but it instead gave two feelings. First, it helped his memory and recollection. He had remembered things he thought he’d long forgotten about. Second, he felt a weird feeling. As if he sensed something new in the air. He felt it against his skin as he moved his hand about, but the feeling was so vague, so illusory, he didn’t know how to describe it.

He decided to invest into wisdom for his next level up, round it off to ten, round strength to twenty, and then wing it for the rest. For now though, he just wanted to check his total stats.

[Sebastian Albrecht, no title]

[Lv. 4 Human]

[Class: N/A]

[Profession: N/A]

[Attributes]

Strength: 19

Agility: 10

Constitution: 20

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom:8

Perception: 5

Attribute Points: 0

[Skills]

[Identify] [Inept Saber Expertise]

There was little change, and he even felt like the stats page was a little small, but he knew it would only grow from there. He smiled lightly, and then looked up at the approaching group. His smile only grew brighter when he saw Dallas at the front, but his expression froze over immediately when he saw the two trailing behind.

Mariah and Jacob.