Clover shot into the crowd of Bone Rats, cutting down their numbers. It was easy – almost too easy. His aim didn’t matter – with the monsters packed in so tightly, he was guaranteed to hit one as long as he aimed vaguely in the right direction.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat – Level 2. +150 Exp.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat – Level 3. +175 Exp.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat – Level 2. +93 Exp.

…

Class: Blank has reached Level 4. +5 Stat Points.

It seemed he gained partial Exp for the Bone Rats that he injured with his stray shots once someone else finished them off. Because of this, he was already a good way toward reaching Level 5.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat – Level 2. +84 Exp.

Noticing the destruction Clover was waging on their flank, two low-Level Bone Rats split off from the main group and charged toward him.

Slightly calmer than he thought reasonable, he brought down the first monster in a flurry of bullets. Most missed, but eventually, he landed a shot.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat – Level 1. +100 Exp.

Now uncomfortably close, he took aim at the second. He pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. The gun was empty. He considered reloading the gun, but he didn’t have time to. Even if he did, he didn’t know how to. The gun didn’t come with an instruction manual.

Luckily, he had brought a second gun with him for this exact purpose. With mounting panic, he fumbled with the holster on his waist, trying to pull out the weapon. However, he was too slow. The Bone Rat was less than 15 feet away at this point. Its dark and beady eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

With only seconds to act, Clover took control of his golem. Bob the Elephant charged forward, intercepting the monster. Clay tusks met bone as the elephant-golem smashed into the rat’s legs, impaling one of the monster’s thighs.

The golem did not penetrate the Bone Rat deeply, but it did give Clover enough time to ready [Mana Bolt]. He raised his hand and activated [Mana Bolt: Barrage]. Two baseball-sized orbs of energy raced forward – faster and more powerful than before.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt: Barrage has reached Level 1.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 8.

The Bone Rats head snapped back twice, in quick succession, ending at an unnatural angle. Unfortunately, he couldn’t activate the Skill again immediately. He had to wait out a slight cooldown. However, that didn’t mean he was out of options.

Under Clover’s command, Bob the Elephant shook his head wildly with a tusk still trapped in the monster’s leg. Dazed, the ugly monster fell to its back.

Less than a second later, the recharge time ended, and Clover sent two more [Mana Bolt]s into the monster's head.

Congratulations! You have slain a Bone Rat – Lvl 1. +100 Exp.

Clover let out a sigh of relief. That had been closer than he wanted. He backed away from the fight a bit before he drew more attention to himself and took a moment to assess the state of the battlefield.

Congratulations! Driving has reached Level 1.

The group from the factory had been pushed back to the barricades surrounding the hospital. There a stalemate of sorts formed. Of course, if the Bone Rat’s acted together, they could easily break through. But without the two-headed monster’s direction, they were dumber than a toddler on Halloween.

In the center of the fighting, Shovel-guy pointed his shovel at the ground and a trench formed in a matter of seconds, cutting off the monster’s approach on the left side. Clover blinked; some people really had strange Skills. Across the battlefield, he spotted a few other people using weird Skills, changing the flow of the battle around them.

After looking around and checking that he wasn’t in any immediate danger, Clover opened his Path Screen and finished the Golem Link Path. There was no use letting Points sit there, especially when he was in the middle of a fight.

The distance between two becoming one and one becoming two has been shortened. Connections to golems have been strengthened. +6 Perception, +2 Myth.

Golem-Link Lvl 0 (Uncommon) – 5 Mp, 5 Sp

Track the ephemeral tether to its end, gaining insight into your golems surroundings. Passively grants more awareness of what travels through and along the tether.

The world snapped to focus, and Clover saw clearer than ever before. The Sub-Skill he gained was exactly as vague as he expected it to be. Though its practical use in this fight wasn’t as impressive as he hoped it would be, but the Stat Points he had gained more than made up for it. The Bone Rat's movements were now simple and easy to follow.

After figuring out how to properly use his gun holster, he returned his attention to the fight. Using his enhanced Perception, he spotted a man lying on the ground, desperately trying to stop a Bone Rat from eating him.

The man was stranded on the edge of the battlefield with no one to help him. As a silver lining, there weren’t any other Bone Rats close by. Still, Clover was the only one in a position to help.

The road behind him was still clear – he could make a quick escape if he needed to. Judging the danger as relatively low, Clover quickly wheeled over to help.

He didn’t trust his aim enough to shoot the monster without risking the man getting hurt, so once again, he would have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Bob the Elephant, also known as Bob the Bowling Ball, barreled forward, knocking into the monster and giving the man a chance to push it off him. In return for his heroics, the elephant-golem’s tusk cracked, not designed well enough to withstand this type of use.

Before the monster could get up, Clover hit it with a [Mana Bolt]. In short order, he finished the Bone Rat off.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 9

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 10

Congratulations! You have slain a Bone Rat – Lvl 1. +100 Exp.

Class: Blank has reached Level 5. +5 Stat Points.

“Are you okay?” Clover offered his hand. Now that he had gotten closer and the man wasn’t covered by an angry Bone Rat, Clover recognized him – he was the guy guarding the door.

The guard's mouth opened, and closed uselessly, trying to find the words. Clover helped him to his feet. “I thought I was dead. Thank you,” the guard said, tears threatening to spill down his face.

“No problem. Anyone would have done the same.”

The guard’s eyes widened in shock as he realized who had saved him. “I’m sorry for what I said.”

“Don’t worry about it. You were just trying to keep everyone safe.” Clover tossed him his empty gun and a clip of ammunition. “Take it.” The guard pressed a button and then smoothly slid it into the handle. Ah, so that's how you’re supposed to reload.

Back in the center of the fighting, a few unlucky souls had fallen – unable to make it to the barricades in time. The Bone Rats feasted on their flesh, pushing each other out of the way to greedily hoard the meal for themselves. A few of the monsters had undergone a drastic evolution, gaining a scary amount of power in a short amount of time.

These newly improved Bone Rats changed the tide of the battle, pushing the humans back now that they were running low on ammunition. Sure, a good portion of the monsters had died, but it was now clear that the Rats had the advantage. Things were looking bad for the group from the factory. Clover swallowed, his throat dry.

He glanced behind him, considering leaving before the situation got worse.

A troop of impossibly large ants marched down the street, cutting off his escape route. Shit! He was stuck in this fight now with nowhere to run. So much for staying safe.

The only brightside to the situation was that the ants were a minute away, giving him time to react. Though, once they got here, things were sure to deteriorate quickly. The group from the factory was barely holding on as is.

Since this was shaping up to be a long fight, Clover opened his [Status Screen].

He didn’t have time to consider the optimal distribution, so he did what felt right: five in Vitality, five in Mana, and five in Magic. It should allow him to survive the battle while still giving him some extra firepower. A rush of power raced through his veins, unlike anything he had ever felt. For a moment, he was invincible. The sensation faded, leaving him to face his grim circumstances.

“Follow me; we need to meet back up with the others,” the guard said.

Clover nodded and then followed him. He didn’t want to, but there was nowhere else to go. Approaching from a less active corner of the battle, they made their way to the barricades. 7 Bone Rats stood in their path. Luckily, their backs were turned, focused on trying to devour the humans in front of them.

While they were distracted, Clover and the guard shot at them. With his increased Perception, aiming was no longer a problem. He subconsciously knew where to aim the gun; the only problem was his body couldn’t execute on that information properly. His Dexterity was definitely lacking. He'd improve it next level.

He emptied his clip – around 12 bullets then finished off the rest with [Mana Bolt]. They didn’t know what hit them. Before the gap they created closed, they slipped around to the other side of the barricades.

A burly man stopped himself from swinging a plank of wood. “Jeb? You’re alive.”

The rest of what the man was trying to say was cut off as a large pillar of bone shot out of the ground, pointing diagonally over the barricades towards the sky. A chittering sound passed through the crowd of monsters then a Bone Rat with extremely large paws used the pillar as a ramp and leaped behind the barricades. More followed behind it.

“Fall back. Retreat to the hospital!” someone yelled; Clover wasn’t sure who.

He didn’t question the order. He had no desire to be anywhere near these ugly rats. He wheeled away as fast as he could, swerving around hastily constructed barricades. Still, he was slower than most, which meant he ended up near the back of the pack. As a consequence, an inordinate amount of Bone Rats targeted him.

While moving, he used his elephant-golem as a distraction, doing his best to keep the monsters away. In the process, Bob the Elephant took heavy damage – a hole was stabbed through his stomach, part of his leg was missing, and he was riddled with scratches.

Even with the sacrifice of his golem, some Bone Rats reached him. He blasted them with [Mana Bolt]s, quickly burning through his Mana Pool to keep himself alive.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 11.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 12.

An oversized rat with bone scales lining its back leaped towards his head. He swerved to the right, making it miss. Someone bashed the monster in the head with a baseball bat as it crashed to the ground. He didn’t have time to see what happened next.

Congratulations! Driving has reached Level 2.

“Raise the walls,” someone yelled just as Clover reached the hospital doors.

Shovel-guy magically dug two trenches, slowing the advance of the oncoming monsters. At the same time, stone walls slowly crept out of the ground, forming a last line of defense. The only problem was that the wall was too slow. Already, a group of around 15 Bone Rats led by a Level 6 were climbing out of the closest ditch. His golem lay in the trench, unable to stop them.

Concern filled Clover as he breathed hard, his lungs uncomfortably warm. If they managed to make it in: the walls would become a death trap. He or someone else needed to stop that group of monsters before they got any closer.

An idea struck Clover like a brick. Earlier, when he had tried to channel [Mana Bolt] through Mr. Cat, the golem had violently exploded, which at the time he had regarded as a failure. The golem’s remains did little more than make a mess. However, with the elephant-golem’s super-hardened clay, it may prove to be an effective attack. Really, he had nothing to lose.

“Sorry.” He closed his eyes and found the tether connecting him to the golem. It was thicker and more robust than before – almost double the size. Right now, that wasn’t important. He let his consciousness drift to two different places at once, and Clover activated [Mana Bolt] within the tether.

Energy gathered at the crossroads, ready to burst forward. However, he did not release it just yet. Instead, he activated [Mana Bolt] two more times. The link shook violently, gathering barely restrained Mana. Satisfied, he allowed the energy to rocket down the tether’s length. It tore, unable to handle the strain.

Within a second, the Mana exited the tether and entered the golem. He opened his eyes just in time to see blue light arc off the golem's side. With a flash, shards of hardened clay exploded outward, pelting the Bone Rats. Monsters collapse as the remains of Bob the Elephant stabbed into them. He flinched as one of the elephant’s tusks stabbed into the asphalt by his feet.

Congratulations! Golem-Link has reached Level 1.

Congratulations! Golem-Link has reached Level 2.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 13.

Class: Blank has reached Level 6. +5 Stat Points.

Class: Blank has reached Level 7 +5 Stat Points.

He coughed violently as a spike of mental backlash hit him. The world spun. So, intense was his vertigo that he was unsure what was up and what was down. By the time, he regained his vision, the walls had risen to their full height. He hadn’t fully recovered – he still had a nasty headache, but it would have to be good enough. He was safe for now, but he knew that wouldn’t last long.

It was only a matter of time before the walls fell, and with the monstrous ants on the way, the situation would only get worse.

He clenched his jaw tightly and reloaded his gun. There were slight gaps where the walls intersected, large enough for him to poke his weapon through. He intended to thin their numbers before they were able to break through. Wishing he was anywhere but here, Clover steeled himself for a long battle.

However, that battle never came.

From the second floor of the hospital, the sound of a heart beating rang out, loud enough for him to hear more than 50 feet away. The sound stopped. Then propelled by a dark red liquid, a Bone Rat smashed through the wall and impacted the ground twenty feet below.

All was silent as tendrils of blood rushed out of the dead Bone Rat's body, forming blades.

What the …?