Slasher flew back, tumbling across the road before crashing against the wall behind with a crack.

Mateo stared, daring for it to stand back up. He was tired. If the goblin stood then and there, there was no way he could win then. With two bruises, two cuts, and a burnt shoulder, he wasn't looking well enough for round three, though looking at the unmoving body plastered to the wall, he knew who already won.

He darted his eyes back to Spitter, laying on the ground motionless. He started, dragging his feet until he was inches away from its body, and with a grunt, he bashed another fist to its face. He wasn't taking any chances.

"Fuck." Mateo dropped to his knees, extinguishing the fire around his arms. "I did it. I actually did it."

He turned to his hands, seeing blood and gashes all over his knuckles. He could hardly feel the pain, but the numbing was there, waiting for his adrenaline to subside before stinging. He took a lot of hits fighting those two Walkers. Once the adrenaline faded, the pain started to press down, taking a heavy toll on his body.

"Agh!"

A grunt. Mateo turned his eyes, seeing uncle Pedro standing on top of three dead Walkers, raising his staff against one last–the giant. He stood his ground, but he was already on his last leg.

He was bleeding everywhere. Every bare skin was dripping in sweat and blood, with his face covered in red and bruises. He could hardly even stand, let alone fight the damn thing, but he did anyway, lashing against the giant with his snake staff, sending a whiplash from the hit to stun it for a second.

But only for a second.

The giant countered, winding its arm to a fist before striking.

"No!" Mateo winced. For a second, static silence, before he pried his eyes back open.

Streaks of smoke shot out from Marie the snake floating mid air, heading straight to the giant's eyes, effectively blinding it.

But the giant was tenacious. It lashed its fist, landing a glancing hit on uncle Pedro's arm.

"Motherfucker." Mateo needed to do something. His fight had been long over, but looking back, he only fought two of them. There were three bodies piled below uncle Pedro, and add to that the giant, that was four Walkers he had to stave off. Four.

It's a miracle he's still alive, let alone standing.

Mateo turned to stand, but his body hardly followed. His stamina was all but gone. He could hardly even move. He tried to summon a fire orb, but that too was to no avail. A small fire did start, a kindle, but fizzled out fast from his palm. He had little mana left to conjure another Flashball.

But maybe that was enough.

Mateo turned. There was rubble to his side, a piece of concrete the size of a basketball. In his state, he couldn't lift the thing. But he had mana. And that was enough.

He doused his arms in fire.

With the help of Helios Hands, he lifted the piece of rubble, winged it back, aimed, then hurled it towards the giant. The giant reared its head, but it was a little too late, with the rubble ramming right into its face. It wasn't enough to kill it, sure, but it was more than enough for uncle Pedro.

Uncle Pedro winded back his staff. Giving his all to one last strike, the staff lashed and connected to its face, the shockwave popping like a whip, sending the giant tumbling back with blood splattering from its head like crushed watermelon.

It dropped to the ground with a hard thud.

"Fuck you!" Mateo shouted, lifting a fist high up in the air as if drunk on emotion, his face stretched to a wide grin. They'd fought off six of them, and though it wasn't easy, the feat alone gave Mateo butterflies.

He couldn't have imagined hours before that he could fight back against the Walkers, let alone kill two of them. It was a hell of a hard time, but it lit up a fire of hope inside him. He can fight.

Mateo stood up, starting his way towards uncle Pedro with a limp. The gash on his thigh ran deep, and it would take a long while to heal up completely.

He was halfway there when uncle Pedro dropped to his knees. "Tito!"

"Never knew my time in the navy would prove useful." Uncle Pedro said, leaning on his staff. "Don't worry. Give me a while and I'll be back in tip-top shape."

"You sure?" Of course he wasn't. He fought off four Walkers. He ought to have a broken bone or two, or something even worse.

"Yeah." Uncle Pedro said, giving away a smile. He wasn't convincing, but if he really was fine, Mateo didn't need to pry.

"Matty… look at that."

Mateo followed uncle Pedro's finger, his eyes darting back to where the giant fell. Blue smoke emanated from the corpse, rising up before it vanished into thin air.

The giant's body changed, with its blue skin fading back to pale white and the protruding ice spikes melting to water. Worms wriggled out from the body, now squirming all over the ground, waiting for new hosts to take over.

The worms then burst to smoke, a thousand of them at a time, popping like bubble wrappers all around. Green mist clouded everything before vanishing, leaving no trail of the worms behind.

It was as if the worms evaporated to thin air. Last Mateo checked, worms weren't supposed to do that.

Those things weren't normal.

Looking back to the giant, its body had turned back to a human. The same happened to the other Walkers; with smoke rising, their bodies turned back to normal, though they were far from being alive and well.

They were dead, with only the husks of humans remaining.

It was a bitter joke. As if reminding Mateo of what he did. He didn't kill monsters. He killed people, and that alone was made loud and clear.

"You didn't have a choice, Matty." Uncle Pedro said. "You know that."

"Even so–" Mateo's eyes darted to the corner of his vision. There were lights floating above the bodies, like fireflies circling over the corpses.

Mateo exchanged glances with uncle Pedro.

Limping, he drew close to the lights circling over the giant's. There were four of them: two lights shining blue, one white, and the last red. Looking closer, the red light came from a shard, while the white light came from a coin, and the blue lights came from two marbles, all suspended in midair defying the laws of gravity.

Mateo summoned his Magic Node. "Any idea what these things are?"

1 Combat Mage Magic Shard

1 Essence

2 ???

Mateo stared at the shard. This was a magic shard; an item that could grant magic prowess. This was how he got Helios Hands, though the magic shard that gave him Helios Hands already came bundled up when he absorbed the Fire Elder's Fractal: like a free DLC.

He turned to his Magic Node again. "What are the different types of magic shards?"

There are eight types of magic shards, namely: Tank, Fighter, Combat Mage, Assassin, Ranger, Artillery Mage, Enchanter, and Summoner.

"Combat Mage?"

Combat Mage Magic Shard

A shard that contains the essence of a Combat Mage. Once consumed, it grants a Combat Mage related magic skill, characterized by short range combat and spellcasting.

Mateo grabbed the shard floating midair. He then brought it up high, making sure uncle Pedro was able to see. "It's a magic shard!"

Uncle Pedro nodded, fanning his hand as if to say 'You can have it.'

"Thanks." Mateo mumbled, clenching the shard. "Absorb magic shard."

Which Fractal do you want to affix the magic shard to?

Fire | None | None

This was a new one. Essentially Mateo had to choose which Fractal he wanted the magic shard to take after, but since he only had the Fire Elder's Fractal absorbed, that was the only obvious choice.

"Affix the shard to the Fire Elder's Fractal."

The shard vanished from his palm, turning to immaterial light before dissipating.

You have absorbed a Combat Mage magic shard. Acquired the skill: Missile

Missile

Grants an explosive aftereffect when the user makes brunt physical contact. The power of the explosion is proportional to the force of impact. Low cooldown. Low manacost.

A new magic skill. This was going to be useful. Thanks to magic, Mateo went above and beyond fighting the Walkers. He wouldn't be here without it.

He then closed his eyes, feeling the warmth inside his chest replenish. His mana was already building back up again, but it would take a while to fully recover all of it. That Flashball skill took a lot out of him.

Now that the shard had been taken care of, Mateo moved next to the coin. The Magic Node said it was an Essence, but what did that mean?

Essence

Used to improve the five key attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Mind, and Soul.

So it's like investing a coin into one attribute. Mateo mulled over the choices, carefully playing in his head which attribute he should focus on before eventually giving up. This was a tough choice to make, so he pocketed the coin for later use when he'd have the time to think it over.

Mateo then moved on to the marbles, the ones the Magic Node didn't have data on. Looking closer, they were swirling with energy as if a mini snowstorm surged inside.

Staring, Mateo was captivated. Maybe he could make a necklace or something out of it.

In the end, he pocketed them along with the coin. He didn't know what to do with them, so he'll hang onto them until something comes up. Maybe he'll gift them to Ana when they meet up again.

Moving to the other bodies, there weren't any more magic shards floating above them. There were only the same coins and marbles. Heading from one body to the next, with Mateo trying his best to sway his eyes from the blood splattered around, he got in total six Essences and nine marbles before he doubled back to uncle Pedro.

"Tito look–"

Uncle Pedro coughed, spitting out spit mixed with blood. His condition had gotten worse.

"Matty," He wheezed. "Don't you have to get going?"

"But in that condition–"

"I'll… wait for you here." He coughed again, with Marie coiling on his lap for comfort. "I have little Marie here to keep me company, so you go on ahead to Ana and Isabel. You don't want to keep them waiting."

Mateo stared at uncle Pedro leaning against his staff. The longer time passed, the more the dirt below him soaked with his own blood. This wasn't normal. It wasn't this bad just a minute ago. Did the giant do something to him? Some kind of lingering debuff? Poison?

The wind howled, tussling Mateo's hair. He stood there nonchalant, with thousands of thoughts running across his head. Uncle Pedro needed help. But where could he get that help from?

The hospital? No. With all hell broke loose, there was no way the hospital was up and running. There also wasn't anyone around to help. Hell, there wasn't anyone around, period. It was only him. Him alone, and he needed to do something or else–

"Go."

Mateo bit his lip.

"Alright." His voice was queasy, as if trembling, before he then turned and faced the other way.

"I'll see you later, Tito."