“SON OF A BITCH!” Peter dashed back to spot where the mini-van was parked, but it was already over 100 feet away. Preparing to chase the van down, Peter activated his [Ring of STR] and [Body Enchant] at the same time. However, before he could take off, Rem pulled him back. Interrupted by Rem, Peter flushed red in anger and prepared to push Rem out the way. Yet, he was stopped again by James.

"Wait, Peter, just hear me out!"

Meeting Peter's ferocious gaze, he quickly said, "First, calm down! I know where Mt. Rose is. I was an undergrad at Princeton University before and I’m sure the town is fairly abandoned.” James also reassured Peter that there would be no danger with his theory that more monsters spawned in more populated areas. Hearing James’ logical explanation, Peter took a deep breath and calmed down.

“James, I hope you’re right.”

“Um, who…who are you trying to find in Mt. Rose?” Anne asked

“My big sis.” Peter faced the group with a bitter expression and sighed. “Forget it, I’m sure she’ll be fine. She used to kick my ass all the time. Plus, maybe it was a bit of a stretch. Let’s first stock up on supplies. We need food, water and medicine. HP potions are scarce.” He led the group in the direction the mini-van drove off, hoping to encounter the van again.

As they walked north, they noticed three distinct differences between NYC and Jersey. First, the structural damage was far greater than New York City. Secondly, there was rubble littered all over the streets, but no bodies. The most surprising difference was the huge holes on the floor. Following where the holes led with Mind’s Eye, Peter felt a chill down his spine.

These holes were tunnels that were all connected. ‘It’s an ant colony down there…’ Peter stopped probing and led the group around the holes.

“James, what time is it?”

“4:02 pm”

James was the only one in the group with a functioning watch. Their phones had either run out of battery or were damaged. In addition, whenever the group had a question, James would immediately answer. ‘It’s not much, but it is the only way I can be of use to my son and Peter.’

Finally, after walking by dozens of crumbled buildings, they saw a huge mall. Although the Newport Centre sign was drenched in human blood, the group remained unfazed. After facing Peter’s terrifying killing intent, killing their way out of the Holland Tunnel and fighting a 10 feet ogre, Rem and Anne were completely transformed. As for Peter, a former mercenary, the killing had always been second nature.

“I…I don’t think we shou..ld enter Peter.” Chattering his teeth, James pointed at the humongous wolf with a pair of blood red eyes looking down at them from the roof.

“Ding!”

[Boss: Evil Moon Wolf LV:??? Skills:???]

Peter menacingly stared at the pair of eyes on the roof and gestured with his middle finger. The pair of eyes narrowed while looking at Peter in confusion. “This is how we say hello in America. I’ll give you a proper greeting once we’re up there.” Peter winked at the eye and commanded the group into the building.

“Peter, are you sure we should do this? That wolf looks much scarier than the ogre from before…” James whined.

“That’s why we’re here James. We need to get stronger. Have you noticed the level of the monsters today? Most, if not all, were around level 15. The stronger ones at level 20. These monsters are getting stronger and we need to play catch up.”

Feeling everyone’s gaze, James reluctantly stopped talking. At the entrance, there was a dozen [Giant Rats] waiting for them. “Rem and Anne take the left, I’ll take the right.” James hung back again and watched Peter charge towards the biggest rat on the right.

Puchi!

Although the sword didn’t behead the rat, at least it cut half its neck off. ‘As I expected. I’ll use [Body Enchant] to quickly clean this up and help Anne and Rem.’ A bluish glow surrounded his body. Dashing to his next target, Peter raised his sword and sank it into its head.

The remaining five rats, surrounding Peter on all sides, charged all at once. Peter aimed at the two closest rats and shoved one sword into each of their mouths. Stretching his arms outward, Peter intercepted two more rats coming from the sides. As the last rat about to reach him, he whipped his right leg and punted the rat across the lobby.

A sickening splat and a bloody splotch on the pillar marked its death. Turning his body to the left, he noticed that Anne and Rem were struggling with the rats. They only managed to kill one, but their stamina was quickly falling. Rushing to Rem, he stomped two rats and beheaded one. With the boost from [Body Enchant], Peter had enough STR to instantly kill the rats.

After wordlessly nodding towards Peter, Rem rushed off to help Anne kill the remaining 3 rats. ‘Their teamwork is okay, but they need to get stronger and strike more ruthlessly.’

After the fight ended, James immediately rushed towards the trio and handed out water bottles. After quenching their thirst, James told everyone, “We have no more water.” Rem and Anne sourly looked at the few droplets of water left in the bottle.

“Mt. Rose, what a joke. We don’t even have the supplies to last the entire trip and that’s assuming we don’t encounter any monsters, which is also highly unlikely.” Peter pessimistically muttered. Although the group didn’t hear what Peter muttered, they could infer that he was depressed from his downcast countenance.

“Let’s go find some food.” Peter signaled the group to walk in a single line formation against the wall to avoid ambushes. As they were walking along the wall, a familiar, but distant memory put a smile on Peter’s face. ‘East Nine Squad, hehe fun days.’ Walking past the first block of stores, they noticed patrols of goblins. Some rode on boars with two sharp tusks protruding from its mouth. The group hugged the walls and hid in the shadows each time a patrol group got too close for comfort.

Although Peter could easily handle the occasional patrol group, he couldn’t guarantee bea the reinforcements while protecting the trio at the same time. Noticing a frighteningly large number of goblins up ahead, the group ducked into one of the shops.

“sir, do we fight?” Rem whispered in a low voice. Before Peter could respond, he saw twenty green 2.5 feet tall long-armed creatures by the clothing racks behind their hiding spot and shook his head sideways. The green monsters had long tapered ears and sharp claws. Luckily, they were sleeping.

Skree! Skree!

Aii KAAAc! KAA!

The four watched as the goblins loudly hunted rats. The rats bit and gnawed at the goblins, but to no avail. Holding make-shift spears and swords, the goblins overpowered the rats and slaughtered them by the dozens. Anne shuddered and thought, ‘If we were welcomed by that many rats by the entrance, we’d be goners.’

Kraww

Alerted by a nasally voice, the four hidden behind two racks of jeans felt their hearts stop beating for a moment. Peter slowly turned around and noticed a long-armed creature standing a few feet away. Seeing its appearance almost made him puke. ‘Absolutely disgusting creatures.’ Inwardly chilled by the creatures cyst-ridden face, especially its large nose, Peter turned his head towards the group and gestured with a finger against his lips.

“Ding!”

[Gremlin LV: 29 Skills: Sacrifice and Claw Mastery]

‘Mastery?’ Peter thought

‘Does this mean you can also get Blade Mastery? Does Claw Mastery increase clawing damage?’

CROWL!

Interrupted by the sudden screech, Peter watched the gremlins charge out from the store. The goblins immediately diverted their attention away from the rats and attacked the gremlins with hate-filled expressions.

Seeing the two sides murder each other, Peter unconsciously grinned and emerged from their hiding spot. He walked towards the three gremlins sleeping on the floor and ended their lives with a stab to the neck. Picking up the white box, he went back to the trio and pulled Rem and Anne to fight.

“James stay here and watch the stuff.”

Following Peter outside, Anne and Rem tensed. The scene was horrendous, straight out of a war movie. Except, this scene was ten times gorier in comparison. Bodies of boars, goblins, and gremlins covered by blood were definitely not a place for two teenagers. Peter snapped his fingers and the duo regained their senses.

“Bloody huh?” Peter grinned and reminded the duo, “Don’t fight the gremlins; they are much faster and stronger than these goblins. Focus on killing one goblin at a time. Remember fight together.” Giving one last stern grip to the shoulder, Peter and the duo split away.

‘These gremlins are ridiculously fast!’ Narrowly dodging a pair of long claws, Peter jumped back almost ten feet. He activated [Ghost Walk] and [Body Enchant] and avoided the gremlin bolting towards him.

Watching helplessly as the puny human disappeared in front of its eyes, the gremlin halted in its tracks. Unlike the goblins with small ears, it wasn’t completely helpless because it could track Peter’s footsteps. Feeling a dangerous presence behind it, the gremlin turned around and clawed with full strength.

‘No way!’ Peter looked at the gremlin in shock but immediately recovered after seeing its demeaning grin. Slightly angry, Peter activated the ring and bolted at the gremlin again.

Snap!

The gremlin’s claws fractured upon facing Peter’s two handed swing head on. The gremlin’s face froze in place and winced. ‘These gremlins are pretty tough!’ Both the gremlin and Peter stepped back and looked at each other warily. Growing impatient, the gremlin ended the stare off and exuded a bright red aura. Its face warped into one of pain and madness.

The concrete floor slightly cracked as the gremlin charged towards Peter. Although Mind’s Eye was active, Peter still had a hard time pin-pointing the gremlin. Unlike its previous charges, it moved in a zig-zag like fashion.

Closing his eyes, Peter focused on enhancing the rest of his senses and noticed the speed the goblin became considerably easier to follow. Sensing bloodlust on his left, Peter jumped into the gremlin and horizontally swung. Ducking the gremlin’s claw, his sword cleaved it in half from the waist.

~Huuu~

Exhaling loudly, Peter was both proud and shocked. However, he didn’t have time to savor his victory and briefly surveyed his surroundings. The original gremlin population diminished to three and the goblins to fourteen. He caught Rem and Anne by the corner of his eye bringing down an isolated goblin together. He inwardly gave them a thumbs-up because, unlike the goblins from the hotel earlier, these goblins were armed and higher leveled.

Aware that the gremlins were at a disadvantage, Peter sneakily attacked a few injured goblins and balanced the fight.

SKREE!

Another gremlin was slain and the two gremlins left were heavily injured. However, just as the gremlins were going to make their last stand, two daggers ended their lives. The goblins were deeply unsatisfied when they saw the gremlins become corpses. Yet, when Peter, Anne, and Rem emerge from the shadows, the goblins’ anger was replaced with fear.

The ten goblins nervously surrounded the trio. Peter [Ghost Walked] and cut open two throats. When he re-emerged, two goblins fell onto the ground clutching onto their necks with a bitter expression. The eight goblins tried to process what had happened but were caught off-guard by Anne and Rem. 3 more died. Finally, a combination of fear and anger overtook the five goblins left standing.

Watching four senseless goblins charge, Anne and Rem smirked. Senseless goblins were the easiest to kill. Peter smiled at the duo and stepped back. However, after the duo killed the four senseless goblins a bright light blinded them. Despite being unable to see, Peter noticed an abnormal amount of mana accumulating in front of the duo.

Finally, the iridescent light faded away and a 2 meters tall hobgoblin appeared in front of the group.

[Hobgoblin LV: 30 Skills: Blade mastery]

The hobgoblin stretched and slashed at the surroundings with its blade a few times before looking at Peter. During the blinding light, Peter had pulled the duo back and waited until it finished its transformation.

He examined the hobgoblin and mused, ‘Goblins evolve into hobgoblins…the hobgoblins I killed last night were definitely not as high leveled. This means the requirements to evolve are different for every goblin. Some evolve earlier than others... I wonder if stress is also a factor…’

Seeing the human ogle at it, the hobgoblin felt annoyed. However, it could also sense the human’s dense killing intent. Mustering up its courage, the hobgoblin finally roared at the human. However, contrary to his expectations, the human smiled at it. Smiled!

Charging at the human, the hobgoblin felt shocked how fast it moved. However, distracted by his new found powers, the human thrust his sword into its heart.

Puchi!

Surprisingly, the human missed its heart by a few centimeters. Tightening its chest, it pulled a safe distance from the human and snapped the sword from its chest, leaving only the tip imbedded. Holding onto the broken sword, fear crept into its heart.

‘What the hell? I just stabbed it in the heart!’ Grumbling to himself, Peter gauged the goblin again. ‘I swore I stabbed it in the heart...’ Taking out his puny spare sword, Peter vowed to get a bigger weapon. ‘If I had a glaive-like Anne, I would’ve surely killed it…’ The more Peter thought, the more regretful he became for missing the hobgoblin’s heart. Then he thought about how he barely won against the gremlin and began to seethe in fury.

Charging towards the hobgoblin, Peter inadvertently let his emotions flow. His trained cold demeanor disappeared and only the desire to kill existed. The only thought running through his head was, 'Either I kill it or I die and kill it.'

Peter sprinted a hundred feet in two seconds and swung with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. The hobgoblin felt an inordinate amount of killing intent pushing onto it and panicked. Unlike the vicious gremlins, the goblins were innately cowardly creatures.

Holding up its blade as a last attempt, the hobgoblin closed its eyes. Peter’s blade, coated in a red glow, hacked the hobgoblin’s blade in half as well its entire body. Feeling exhausted emotionally, mentally and physically, Peter weakly fell beside the corpse.

“Ding!”

[You are the 10th person to create a SYSTEM Skill!]

[Reward: 50 Achievement points]

Trembling and breathing loudly in the middle of the bloody battlefield, Peter suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins. Due to the severe lack of stamina and mana, his body had unconsciously activated [Mystical Mark].

Refreshed, Peter looked around and spotted Rem and Anne collecting the loot. Smiling, he yelled, “Status Window!”