A couple of other soldiers who clearly hadn't been aware of what was happening to the wider world also chimed in with their own questions, to which he always answered with 'I don't know.' But Lewis stressed the fact that there were several portals in his vicinity, so most people would have been able to reach them before the mutated creatures attacked, only a rare few being unlucky enough not to survive that initial wave.
After all, it was only because he was passed out for so long that he encountered so many creatures; the lack of bodies lining the streets proved that the death toll should be fairly low from his experience. Still, he remembered that man in the alley and that poor woman who got swamped and hoped the people these soldiers were worried about got out alright.
But after a minute with Lewis, somehow having become the go-to person to ask about the state of Earth--probably because he was the only civilian that stayed nearly the full hour-- a loud shout suddenly had all the soldiers instantly change, their worried expressions turning into a mask of focus as weapons were raised and aimed.
"Over in the bushes." Added the soldier who had called out, his rifle already aimed at the spot.
After a few moments of tense silence, the bush shook once again, and a child-sized creature emerged into the open. It was covered in brown hair and looked surprisingly similar to a teddy bear, only its limbs were elongated and tipped with black claws.
The entire group froze for a moment as they registered the strange new arrival, but the teddy bear quickly noticed them too, its maw opening with a bone chilling cry right out of a horror movie, its face distorting as it's mouth opened, revealing a double layer of yellowed teeth, the first row looking sharp and angular while the second appeared almost like saw blades. The entire thing was so unexpected on the previously unassuming furry creature that half of the soldiers immediately opened fire, a cacophony of bangs and pops going off right next to Lewis, causing him to flinch away at the powerful noises that made his ears ring.
He had, of course, heard guns go off before, but only ever from a distance and never such heavy-duty military weapons, certainly not multiple all at once and from only an arm's length away, the rifle rounds turning the creepy creature into mincemeat as it was utterly obliterated on the spot.
When the gunshot ceased barking a moment later, a tense silence filled the clearing before Patch--who hadn't been a part of the firing squad--angrily stepped forward.
"What the hell are you doing, the brainless morons, can't you see that we're in enemy territory, now the entire fucking area and everything in it knows we're here. Can't you idiots think for a solitary fucking moment before blasting the first thing you see? We even got fucking swords and magic and shit, that creepy thing wouldn't stand a chance, and we could have taken it easily without alerting every bloodsuckin' motherfucker in this alien fucking world, you goddamn cocksuckers."
More than the sudden gunfire, Patch's words shocked Lewis almost as much. He wondered if that guy had a lot of practice with shit talking. Was he one of those trainers who would colorfully insult you in training or something?
"Fuck you, old man. Ain't no goddamn way I'm using a fucking dagger on that creepy fuck when I got a fucking M4." A soldier replied. One that Lewis hadn't noticed before. He looked young but had an arrogant air about him. Like the kind of guy that always upholds a false sense of bravado and superiority, reminding Lewis of the street thugs that would pounce around anyone who looked at them too long to make themselves feel strong.
"Da fuck did you just call me? I'm 42, asshole." Patch shot back, giving the guy a death glare.
"42 is fucking old, dickwad." The soldier shot back, giving Patch the middle finger.
That seemed to tip Patch over the edge, and he moved forward to grab the guy while the thug soldier puffed out his chest and smiled, as the others got between them to de-escalate the situation.
"Hey, settle down, you two, can't you hear that?" Called the same soldier who had alerted them in the first place. The guy looked to be of Native American descent and had black lines painted under his eyes.
Everyone froze at his words as they listened out for what the man was talking about, and after a second, a distant cry was heard, the high-pitched noise sounding very similar to the one from the nightmare teddy bear they had turned into a fine mist.
"Well, shit, looks like we got company." Said the soldier that was stationed in Florida, his face paling as that cry was followed by a dozen others, the creatures seeming to be calling for backup. And it sounded like a whole lot of them.
"Dammit, we need to get to higher ground. We're completely exposed out here," Patch called, beginning to look around the clearing before his gaze landed on the rocky hill that seemed to lead to higher ground.
"Come on, follow me, we need to get out of the open." He said, holding his rifle pointing skyward as he began running through the clearing, tapping my shoulder as he passed, nodding at me. Taking the hint, I started sprinting alongside him, the other soldiers also following, although they had seemingly instinctively adopted a basic formation with the native-american still keeping his eye on the bushes.
It was after Lewis reached the rocky hill and began making his way higher, following a somewhat winding path that skirted some large boulders, that the first shot rang out. Looking behind him, he found a dozen of the long-limbed teddy bears spilling into the clearing with the soldiers opening fire and mowing them down. But even as the creatures were riddled with holes, two more simply rushed out to take their place. It was clear that if the number of creatures kept rising like this, then they would be overwhelmed in no time.
But before he redoubled his efforts to get out of here, he suddenly recalled one of the skills granted by his Forerunner title and focused on one of the many creatures with the intent of identifying it.
[Primavendy - Lvl 2]
Oh, wow. I guess it's not just descriptions that give minimal information, but [Identify] too.
Admittedly, being a level 1 skill likely had something to do with the low amount of information, but Lewis was hoping for something a little more, like a description of their strengths and weaknesses or some sort of hint as to how to get these swarming creatures off their backs.
"Shit, we're gonna run out of ammo at this rate," Patch growled, his rifle also firing at the horde of primavendy.
Without any useful skills, Lewis only had his kitchen knife to defend himself with, and he didn't fancy getting close enough to those creatures for that to be an option as he continued ascending the rocky hill, his ears hurting from the near constant shots.
Soon, he crested the top of the hill and looked out onto rocky terrain that seemed to lead to a sheer cliff face with forest extending on all sides. Patch was right behind him, his gun now only firing occasionally at small groups of the creatures as we had put some distance between them while the other soldiers were now rapidly climbing the hill to reach us, the clearing filled with the corpses of the primavendy.
The soldiers all trickled in, reaching the hill and training their rifles down at the still coming creatures, but whereas before there were over fifty of them, now only a dozen remain. Yet they didn't seem interested in their own self-preservation, fearlessly running at them with their double-layered teeth bared, their long limbs allowing them to close the distance surprisingly fast, yet they were defenseless against the soldiers' high-caliber rifles.
"Hold your fire, we need to conserve our ammo. I've already emptied two mags, so I know you guys must be low, and we don't know what else is out here. It's time we try things the system's way." Patch called, unsheathing his medieval-looking sword from its scabbard and briefly admiring the blade before standing at the top of the hill and staring down at the surviving creatures, who were also making their way up it.
But before he could swing the blade, a ball of fire flew passed him and hit the closest primavendy in its open mouth, the creature choking and gagging as it tripped and fell to the ground, its body spasming before it went still, its fur lightly smoking.
"Holy shit, I got a level from that? I've been killing these freaks in droves, but finishing one off with my spell pushed my experience over the edge. I even got free points to spend." Came the still excited voice of the young soldier, his demeanor not having changed despite being swarmed by a bunch of nightmare creatures.
Lewis couldn't help but feel jealous of the guy. Clearly, using our skills to kill monsters is our main objective for being here, but he doesn't have any attack abilities. Still, not wanting to be left behind, he moved closer to the hill and readied his knife, standing a few meters away from Patch to avoid getting hit by the guy's sword.
It didn't take long for the two dozen surviving creatures to reach them, Patches' sword swinging down with superhuman strength as he instantly decapitated the nearest one, much to everyone's surprise. Lewis doubted such a powerful strike was possible for a normal human, so Patch must have used some sort of warrior skill to enhance its power. As that thought entered his mind, another of the creatures was nearly upon him, so Lewis prepared to plunge the knife right into the creature's chest when he realized he might not be able to pierce its furry hide deep enough to cause fatal damage. He definitely remembered how difficult it was to kill that black rat, so moments before it was in range, Lewis focused on the only option he thought might help in this situation and willed [Spiritual alignment] to activate.
Something inside him clicked into place, and Lewis found his mind sharpening to a point, all distractions fading to the background as he focused entirely on the primavendy before him, the creature's maw opened wide as it prepared to lunge at him and sink its teeth into his flesh. But he didn't hesitate; that part of his mind had been silenced as a newfound strength flooded his body, the feeling almost intoxicating as the world slowed.
Moving nearly twice as fast as he would normally be able to, Lewis felt a control over his body he could only ever dream of, every muscle moving to his command as he took a stance he had seen before but never tried, his leg moving forward to brace himself as his entire upper body spun, building the motion of his strike as he not only used his arms to stab but his entire body strength. While in this heightened state of focus, Lewis changed targets from the creatures center of mass to the smaller yet more vital target of its neck, the blade easily sinking into flesh as the primavendy's eyes seemed to change in slow motion, first shock, then realization and finally fear as time resumed and the furry creature collapsed to the ground with its neck gushing blood.
A distant part of Lewis noted the similarities with the man in the alley, telling him he should feel guilt for inflicting such a fate on a living creature, but it was easily ignored as a pointless and empty distraction with his newfound clarity.
Even though it felt like time was moving in slow motion for Lewis, only a moment had passed, and another Primavendy had taken its place of the fallen, seemingly oblivious to its impending fate as it mindlessly rushed up the hill to its death.
With the same almost detached precision, he stabbed his knife up through this second one's skull like he was cutting into a watermelon, the creature's flesh barely putting up any resistance as he utilized every muscle in his body to exert the maximum amount of force, amplifying the power of his strike with more strength that would be evident in his relativly skinny frame.
The rest of the world was blocked out as Lewis only had eyes for the primavendy, killing two more before he felt his brain start to hurt and his body felt strained as if he had pulled a muscle. Still with a calm and focused mind, he theorized that this spell was allowing him to push the limits of what his body and mind were able to do, and so staying in this state too long could seriously damage him. There are limitations on the human body for a reason after all, and although he didn't believe he had pushed into irreparable damage territory, he definitely felt his muscles straining like they would after a few hours of intense exercise.
Letting his super focus slip significantly, he realized most of the others were also using their system-granted weapons to attack the creatures, with most of them having been wiped out, and only a handful still attempting to climb the rocky hill to reach them, these being the stragglers that arrived late to the party.
Willing his spell to fully deactivate, he felt his mind snap back into place, as if it had been put into a higher gear and was struggling to keep up, the precise control he had felt over his body slipping away as the beginings of a headach were coming on, muscles he hadn't even know he had sending waves of pain through his body as he stepped away from the hill and breathed heavily, feeling a wave of weakness overcome him.
He noticed Patch glance around, his sword covered in thick, dark, syrupy blood as he spotted Lewis and walked over, giving him an affirming nod.
"Nice job out there, kid. You looked like a real pro with that knife." The older man with a broad smile wiped the blood from his blade on his shoulder before putting it back into the sheath at his waist.
"Did you also get a level? I'm nearly at level 3; it seems the system didn't like the fact that we were using our guns since it barely gave us any EXP for shooting the bastards." He added, his words getting Lewis's attention.
He had been so focused on killing the primavendy that he had ignored anything else, including the system. Quickly bringing the notifications up, he felt his headache recede slightly as he realized Patch was right.
You have slain Primavendy - Lvl 1 (+1 TP)
You have slain Primavendy - Lvl 2 (+2 TP)
...
You have slain Primavendy - Lvl 1 (+1 TP)
Congratulations! You have reached Level 1 (+3 free points awarded)
Awesome, I wonder if I can use these free points to increase my magic and use this system shop to buy an actual spell now that I have TP. I'm glad I was able to level up, but I doubt I'll be a very good mage if I have to use this crappy kitchen knife any further. If I wanted to stab things to death, I would have picked the rogue class.
Without hesitation, Lewis located that strange feeling at the back of his mind, the one that had appeared when the system message about the system shop had shown up, and found that he could no longer feel a block stopping him from reaching out to it.
As if entering a door inside his mind, Lewis felt his consciousness drift inwards as he willed himself to enter the system shop.