As we sat there around the campfire, I started thinking of something back on Earth. Ronin. Samurai without masters. We were similar to that, wandering and doing jobs. Enjoying our free lifestyle. I looked up at the others who promptly stopped talking and all stared at me.

"Guys. I think we should be "The Ronin" instead. It's a word from my world that means wandering warriors without a master. You guys like it?" The others thought about it for a second, and Jane was the first to answer me.

"I like it. It fits our style of living." Jane smiled at me. I returned her smile. That side of her was what I loved the most, supporting every decision I made. The other two approved after a bit of deliberation. As we were chatting, I felt something was slightly off.

I slowly gripped my greatsword and swung an arc behind me. The sickening sound of flesh falling apart happened and I saw a wolf corrupted with an inky, purple-ish ooze hit the ground dead. More slinked their way out of the woods and I summoned my shield. The others quickly brought out their weapons and readied them.

Both sides waited and I made the first move. I rushed to the nearest wolf and brought my blade down, cleaving it in half. A few more pounced at me and I used a combination of my sword and shield to block the bites. Magic and arrows took down the wolves while Lance's footsteps stopped beside me.

The wolves were good training for me to tighten up my swings a bit. I had always swung widely and it could get me killed someday. I started using just enough force to cut the wolves and found that it greatly helped conserve my stamina. I felt that I could go for hours.

Lance weaved in spear strikes and the holy damage from his spear easily killed the wolves. Jane and Rose had to switch to close range combat and I turned around to see the petite Rose swinging a massive hammer. It looked a little comedic, but even I didn't want to get hit by that thing.

Eventually, the wolves backed off into the forest. This was when I noticed the sky was a dark color as if nighttime had become eternal. Placing my greatsword on my back, I turned around and gestured to the group to keep moving.

"No rest for the weary." I said under my breath.

We sped through the forest and fought off wolves along the way. I was usually the last one to leave the encounter area since I was tanky enough to hold them off myself and fast enough to escape. Once we exited that damned forest, we spotted the capital in the distance. Our only problem was...

Our path through the forest took almost two weeks to complete since we were bogged down by constant fighting and fatigue. Once we exited that damned forest, we spotted the capital in the distance. Our only problem was...

"Michael! It's under siege! We have to move quickly!" Rose shouted at me. She was the first one to spot the smoke coming from the city and the monsters surrounding it.

"Alright. This may be one of the most intense fights we'll have since we formed this group. Are you guys ready?" I wanted to confirm their resolve since we could die in our attempt to reach the gates.

"We're always ready, boss." Lance gave a confident smile and a little salute before holding his spear in a combat ready position. Jane and Rose also grabbed their weapons and nodded at me with determined expressions.

"Alright. I'll rush straight into the enemy and keep them away from you guys. Dish out as much damage as you can and use your close-range weapons when you need to. Take care to keep me from being surrounded, yeah?" I summoned my shield and observed the distance between us and the strangely coordinated army of corrupted monsters. All that separated us was around two and a half kilometers of scorched battlefield. It would only take about a minute and a half for me to reach them.

"Go." I kicked off my right foot and left a cloud of dust behind as I sprinted at an unbelievable speed towards the monsters. As I neared, a few noticed and responded by firing some dark magic at me. I blocked a couple with my shield and the others missed. Once I got close, I rammed my shield into a nearby corrupted skeleton mage.

The force smashed him to bits and I swung my Deliverance in a devastating arc. After taking care of 10 corrupted with a single swing, I fired my Ice Flechette at some spellcasters a couple dozen meters away and held out until the others arrived. Some lightning and ice spells flew over my head while enchanted arrows took out a couple monsters next to me.

Lance then arrived at my side and expertly maneuvered his spear to hit weak points on nearby corrupted. What disturbed me was that some of them were human and demihumans that had the corruption on them. Even if they were corrupted, they were still humanoids and died like a humanoid.

The battlefield was gritty, with corpses and innards scattered around us. As I was fighting, I realized the others were next to me and fighting in close combat with me. Lance was covering our backs and the two girls were holding the sides. Looking ahead, I saw a party of adventurers heading for us in the chaos.

Deciding to clear a path to them, I fired an Ice Flechette into the group of corrupted in front of me, shredding them. I fired it in two spell bursts until I ran out of mana. Now I was exhausted mentally and physically, but kept going since the capital was close. Cutting down the last line of enemies, My group met up with the dispatch from the city and we slowly fought our way to the city walls. Once we made it inside, the gates, which were more like massive doors, closed behind us.

I swung my sword to get rid of the viscera and other things stuck to it and hung it on my back. I'd give the sword a good scrub later. The leader of the dispatch was a female half-elf. She would be categorized as a beauty with her flowing silver hair, the small, cute face, sapphire eyes, and her hourglass figure. Why were there so many beauties everywhere I went?

"Not exactly a warm welcome, is it?" She placed her hand in front of me and I shook it. "Welcome to Yamasaki. I'm Xie Yan. And you?" Xie Yan was wearing an intimidating-looking plate armor that covered almost every part of her body. Like me, she didn't wear a normal helmet and just had a mask that covered her mouth. I need to get one of those. She held a tower shield that was inscribed with magical runes in her left hand and a sword was sheathed on her left hip.

"I'm Michael Adkins. Actually, are you a reincarnator from Earth?" I was curious, and if she didn't know what I was talking about, I could brush it off. Xie Yan went wide-eyed for a second before sighing.

"Yes, I did reincarnate from Earth. Did you reincarnate too? I've never seen emerald green eyes like that back home." Xie Yan spilled the beans but also fired the same question back at me. By now, the rest of the dispatch party had dispersed and only my party stood around awkwardly.

"Well, I don't know where the eyes came from. I did come from Earth though, ever been to Vancouver?" I casually conversed about Earth with Xie Yan and the others had dispersed to find a place to stay. We talked for a couple more minutes before I decided it was time to go find the others. I was pretty sure Jane was furious at me again.

I wandered around Yamasaki for a while before finding Lance's Longinus spear jutting out above the crowd. I made my way through the crowd to him and met up with him. I followed Lance to the Inn we were staying at.

Jane and Rose were sitting at a table inside, they gestured for us to sit down with them. I had an idea and went to the Inn's kitchen, where I asked the chef if I could try cooking something. He looked at me quizzically and finished cooking the remaining dishes. He then stepped aside and I grabbed a few ingredients from my inventory.

After some time, I'd made a batch of 18 cheeseburgers and brought them outside on a tray. As I walked by, the sight and aroma of the foreign food turned heads. I set the tray down on the table and gestured for Jane, Lance, and Rose to dig in. I sat down and picked up one myself, biting into it. The others followed suit and instantly became happy.

"I will never stop loving the food you make, Michael." Lance said to me. He bit into the burger again after complimenting the food.

"No problem. Keeping you guys satisfied is my job." I kept eating after saying that. The two girls, especially Jane, were too distracted to say anything. That was when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw a small crowd of people that were interested in the burgers.

"Can I try one?" A young man wearing leather armor asked. I passed him one and he bit into it, his expression turning into joy while eating it. "Wow! I haven't had anything this good in a long time." I looked at him and immediately raised five fingers to him.

"Twenty silvers per burger. Take it or leave it." By now I was fully intending to make some coin off of these. The man nodded and pulled the silvers from his pocket and put it in my hands. The other people in the crowd clamored about and started offering money for the cheeseburgers. I headed back to the kitchen and started making more.

That night I managed to make 40 gold.

All of us headed to the room we'd booked. Our room was spacious enough for all four of us to stay in and contained four different beds. We decided to take a bath first since today's activities made us sweat quite a bit. The Inn had separate baths for men and women, Jane didn't like it but she had to go with Rose to bathe. Lance and I went to the men's bath and sat down inside.

After soaking and joking for a while, we got up and dressed in our casual clothing. Even though I said casual, I still had the Basilisk Coat on and some comfortable clothing underneath. I wanted at least some form of protection in-case the city got breached or something.

Returning to our room, Rose and Jane were drunkenly having a conversation about carpets. I sighed and took their alcohol, which caused some protest. Lance held them back while I stored the set and we tucked them into their beds. I sat down at the table and cleared the table before setting Deliverance down on it. It audibly creaked even though I set it down as gently as I could.

Bringing out a cloth, I put some light oil on it before starting to wipe down my sword. Since the blade wasn't made of steel, it wouldn't rust like a normal sword would. This removed a worry I had for the blade. I carefully wiped down one side before flipping it over and doing the same. I then went to work on the leather handle. I starting carefully treating the leather with some quality paste wax I purchased. I'd learned these techniques online back when I was bored in the office. As soon as I finished with the sword, a window popped up.

New Skill! Maintenance Your ability to maintain your gear and make quick repairs as needed. Higher Mastery levels will hasten your repairs and cleaning and improve the efficiency of the repairs. Mastery: Beginner 1 Effect: 2%

I quickly closed the window and got to work on my Adamantium armor pieces. Storing Deliverance into my inventory, I placed the armor pieces on the table and arranged them accordingly. Starting from the larger pieces, I gave the armor a good polishing before putting it back into my inventory.

Once I finished taking care of these things, Lance sat down at the table. He took out his armor and spear, proceeding to place them on the table. I naturally offered to help and he gratefully obliged. We quietly polished Lance's items clean. Once we finished, he gave me a nod and I smiled back at him.

I lifted the covers of my bed and saw Jane laying snugly in there. There was a smile on her face, looks like she was dreaming about something nice. I carefully slipped into the covers and she naturally snuggled into me. I made myself a little more comfortable before drifting off to sleep.

Once we woke up, I heard hurried footsteps and someone shaking me awake. I turned around and saw Lance helping me up off the bed.

"Michael, it's bad. The main gates are under siege. We have to go assist the fighters immediately." The news made me wide awake instantly and I hurriedly put all my gear on. Jane also put on her combat gear, though she did complain quite a bit because of it. She must have a terrible hangover.

After I handed her some water, I rushed out of the inn and ran towards the main gate. The city had four different gates but the main gate always faced had the most pressure. That's what I inferred from the state of the main gate and its guards. Arriving at the scene, the gate was about to be breached which made me spring into action.

I decided to go full offense and not summon my shield. With a quick, practiced motion, I drew the arm-blade and ran straight into the most critical area. As I cut down the corrupted enemies, I received thanks and some were even empowered by the help. A few followed me into the carnage and I let loose cleaving strikes with my sword. My arm-blade was thrust into weak points on the monsters I encountered.

Occasionally, I would let loose a kick or two which were highly effective in getting through armor due to my absurd strength value. Every time I kicked, I heard and felt the sickening crunch of bone or other material, which made me feel a little queasy but drove me forward at the same time.

As I killed and killed, I eventually realized that they were slowly sending bigger and bigger monsters towards me. The corrupted were slowly putting more and more pressure on me, but it was relieving the pressure on the other adventurers. Lance, Jane, and Rose were helping separate sections of the main gate's defense so I wouldn't be getting assistance from them anytime soon. I could only hope to pull through this myself.

A cyclops slowly made its way over to me. It looked down at me with disdainful eyes, which I found annoying. As soon as it swung, I cleaved its hand clean off and jumped up to its eye level. Before it could even react, I fired an Ice Flechette into its eye and quickly brought Deliverance down to create a massive gash on its shoulder to its waist.

it fell to the ground in pain and I took the opportunity to decapitate it and move on. The adventurers that survived following me into the fray were awed by the apparent "nonchalance" I showed in slaying the ogre. I kept killing to keep the heat off of the other defenders. The other reason I kept slaying was to level up.

I felt myself getting stronger little by little throughout the fight. My swings were now accurate and efficient. I managed to greatly reduce the overswing I previously showed whenever I swung Deliverance. After this fight, I'll check my status just to confirm how many levels I gained and distribute the points accordingly.

Slowly, the attack on the main gate ceased as the corrupted retreated. I was exhausted since I was forced to use Controlled Berserking near the end of the fight just to power through the fatigue. The battle had lasted four hours total and ended at noon.

Cheers sounded out from the adventurers around and me. My group and I were the MVPs of the battle as we managed to flip the tables on the corrupted army and push them back with our absurd strength. I pulled out my status card and distributed the points.

Name: Michael Adkins Class: Controlled Berserker of the Greatsword Arts Race: Human, Male Level: 119, A-rank Titles: Greatsword Enthusiast, Gifted By God, Controlled Berserker Class Effects: +240 to Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, Control; Doubles at level milestones; Going into a controlled berserker state increases your stats by a factor of 2x; Blind rage increases stats by a factor of 4x Attack: 1862 Defense: 805 Health: 2173/3250 Mana: 973/1400 Health Regen: 1.475/sec Mana Regen: 0.6/sec Strength: 300(+580) Agility: 155(+565) Dexterity: 140(+520) Vitality: 185(+240) Intelligence: 90 Wisdom: 140 Luck: 52 Leadership: 32 Control: 70(+240) Rage: 23 Combat Skills: Greatsword Mastery, One-Handed Greatsword Mastery, Arm-Blade Mastery, Throwing Mastery, Heavy Armor Mastery, Ice Magic Mastery, Ice Spear, Ice Flechette, Ice Flechette Mastery, Conjured Shield, Conjured Shield Mastery, Wind Enchant, Pain Tolerance, Evasion, Sneak Attack, Danger Sense, Deflect, Controlled Berserking, Blind Rage Secondary Skills: Bartering, Persuasion, Cooking, Trap Disarming, Camping, Maintenance Title Effects:

Greatsword Enthusiast: 1.2x Attack with Greatswords, 1.3x Durability with Greatswords, 1.1x Attack Speed with Greatswords

Gifted By God: 2x modifier to Strength, Dexterity, and Agility; 2.5x Experience Modifier

Controlled Berserker: Allows you to control your anger and direct it onto one enemy, creating an intimidating aura; Controlled Berserking bonus increased to 2.5x from 2x

I put the card away and went to go get some rest. I was starting to feel a bit sore now that I realized how dead tired I was. I met up with the others after picking them out of the crowd of people. They were also deathly tired, especially Rose since she had to constantly cast spells and crush things with a hammer. I let out a heavy sigh and lifted Deliverance to let it rest on my back.

"Alright. I really need a nap. You guys coming?" I yawned in the middle of the sentence and the others agreed with this and we started heading back to the inn, but not before Xie Yan stopped me.

"You and your group are complete monsters. I wish I could fight as well as you guys. Watching you take care of that cyclops so quickly was a sight to see. Say, how about I treat you guys to a meal sometime?" Xie Yan was clearly excited by the fighting prowess we showed in today's fight.

"Sure. Just let us rest for today, yeah? I feel really tired right now." She nodded and walked to address the other fighters involved in the defense of the gate. I turned back to the others and we headed back to the inn to have a nice and long nap.