While Jeff bit into the nearest rats to make sure the remaining pack would panic and run away too instead of coming back to protect the miniboss, I ignored the small fries and went straight for the ghoul that controlled them.
He reminded me of the SCP, which tracks you down relentlessly and kills you if you see its face. Its limbs were the same, stretched out and unnatural looking, as it charged at me. It might have been a human once before being mutated by the radiation, but it was far from that now.
Wait, is this place still irradiated? The gods wouldn't send me here just to be irradiated and die, right? Nah, probably not. I'm fine.
As the ghoul gets closer, it launches itself off the ground and flies through the air at me like a javelin. I stepped to the side, letting it fly past and crash behind me, digging into the concrete with hooked fingers. It hissed, crouching on all fours like an animal before leaping again, faster. This time, I dodged under its swing, twisting around and carving my blade across its ribs. The steel bit into skin, but it barely reacted, almost as if it didn't feel pain.
It tanked the hit to get an opportunity to retaliate. By now, it was too close for me to be able to dodge its elongated arm and claws, as I was already in the middle of another attack.
Its arm lashed out at me like a whip, catching my shoulder as blood sprayed everywhere from the wound. But since it tanked my hit in order to retaliate against me, I shall do the same. I grit my teeth and continue with the attack I was already winding up, going straight for its knee.
A good hit. The joint gave out with a snap. The ghoul fell forward, then kept coming, crawling at me like its body hadn't gotten the memo.
It lunged again, but this time it was slower by virtue of having one of its legs simply being dragged along for the ride. I leaned out of the way of the swipe that was aiming for my throat in a lethal attack, and answered with an upwards strike aimed at its biceps. Upon contact, its arm was almost cleanly cut off, but I did not have the strength to finish the job on its sturdy body. In the end, it was left uselessly dangling there.
Still, it didn't retreat or stop. It kept coming at me, now crawling slowly with one leg and one arm out of order, no longer able to be used.
It tried to lunge again, but failed. Better end it now.
Instead of backing off, I close the distance and move toward it. The ghoul tries to swipe its one good arm at me, but it's low and slow, so I simply smash my leg down on it to stop its movement.
Before it can try to drag in the rest of its body to bite my leg with its rugged teeth, my spear descends on the back of its neck. A second later, its body loses its remaining life and stops moving before becoming dust. Left behind is a single skill book.
At this time, the remaining rats also break free from whatever miniscule control he still had over them and start scattering away, no longer attacking the remaining humans. No longer needing to fight, Jeff trots over to me, spitting out half a rat's tail along the way.
With a few stragglers blindly running past me, I bend down and pick up the skill book. It's a blank one again, and since I already used the last one, I'm more interested in seeing what Jeff would gain from it. For me, it would probably just be a skill related to my weapon since I've been using it a lot, but as I don't know if or how long I'll be sticking with it, I don't really want to waste a skill book on myself for now.
"Eat up." I say throwing the book at Jeff. He looks confused for a fraction of a second before jumping up and biting into it.
[System Notification: Skill book has been used by Jeff]
[System Notification: Analyzing user and generating skill, 0%]
[System Notification: Analyzing user and generating skill, 100%]
[System Notification: Hide and Seek has been learnt by Jeff]
The process was much quicker than mine and without interruption from any of the cosmic beings. The skill book gave Jeff the skill 'Hide and Seek' which lets him burrow into the ground as if it's water and move around at a much faster pace which almost makes up for his low Finesse stat.
It is especially useful to someone like him who is supposed to be a healer. If he ever gets overwhelmed, he can just go underground and reposition to escape the situation.
And I have a feeling that the escape part will come in use very soon…
"HEY! DON'T MOVE!"
Multiple voices came from the direction of the scavenger outpost, or what was left of it, after the rat swarm did their damage.
I could understand them. Despite not being able to read the language, I could understand them speaking.
I looked up at the station and, sure enough, the remaining survivors, maybe six or seven of them, had their weapons raised and pointed directly at us. Bows, crossbows and a few guns.
That is a weird way to say 'thank you' but maybe it's a cultural difference?
A man with half his face wrapped in bandages yelled at me first. "You the one who tossed those firebombs?"
I raised both my hands in the air, weapon still in one. I have to clear out the dungeon, so I will have to take on these guys somehow. However, there are still defenses left on their base, so it would be hard for me to get to them right now. I want them to invite me inside. Jeff mirrored my actions of surrender in spirit by sitting down, tongue out.
"You the one who tossed those firebombs?" the bandaged man shouted again, stepping down from the barricade, his makeshift rifle loosely aimed in my direction. I could hear the click of someone loading another bolt behind him. They were getting twitchy.
I gave a slow nod, still holding my hands up. "Yeah, that was me. Saw you were in trouble. Figured you'd want some help."
Thankfully, the bandaged man seemed to understand me just as I understood their language. "Yeah? Funny how help usually comes before half the crew gets chewed to pieces."
Another scavenger, a woman with a makeshift crossbow and blood on her cheek, spoke. "You with a group? You look clean. Fed."
I look clean? I look down at myself and most of my clothes are torn to shreds, and I'm covered in blood. Is this what they call clean?
"I am part of a group, yeah. Was out with some others scouting, but everyone else got killed by the rodents." I say, making up some bullshit to make them interested in keeping me alive. I have a feeling they would want to know where my supposed group is located at.
In a show of weakness, I throw my weapon a few feet away, out of reach from me. The sudden action causes a few of them to tense up but none shoot. "Look, I'm not dangerous. You can lower your weapons."
"Yeah, right. Do you think we are idiots?" The bandaged man barks before doing exactly as I had hoped him to. "Keep your hands high up in the air and come over here. I have some questions and if I like your answer I might let you walk out of here."
"I understand, I'm coming over!" I yell out to the group before quickly turning to the sitting Jeff and speaking quickly yet quietly. "Get out of here. Once I'm inside, come back and put my blade in the inventory. Then come help me once a fight breaks out."
Jeff didn't hesitate. Immediately using his new skill to dive underground, leaving just his fin visible as he sped away into the shadows. A few of the scavengers shot out arrows and took potshots at him, but none were even close to hitting.
I say nothing and start walking forward as their weapons are pointed back at me.
"What the fuck was that thing." The woman from before asks as I get closer, looking befuddled. "Some sort of new mutation?"
"I'm not sure. I ran into it along the way, and it followed me instead of attacking." I explain with a light laugh. "Guess it had enough of me now."
"As long as it doesn't bother us, I don't care." The bandaged man interrupted, shutting up the others who were whispering about the shark creature. As I got close, he circled around to behind me and stayed close with his gun against my back. The group opened the half broken gate and let the two of us inside.
"Alright, hero," he started as we entered the 'safety' of their base and the gates closed behind us. "You want to live? Then we want information. You got people? How much"
"Yeah, we've got around 20. Only about five of us can move freely, though, most are injured we saved from another base that got attacked. If you have any medical supplies to help us, that would be apperci-" I say, trying to sound naive and make this imaginary base more of an appetizing target to hit.
It works, as I see uncontrollable grins grow on all of their faces, listening to me. They all jump down and get close to me, trying to be intimidating, as the leader cuts me off.
"Shut up, you idiot." The leader barks. "I will tell you exactly what is going to happen. You will tell us where your base is, and we are going to go kill everyone and take what we want. If you help us out here, you can walk out unharmed."
"Wha- They are innocent people in need of help!" I act surprised but tense up as much as I can when the gun barrel behind me is dug into my back. "Okay, okay! I will tell you! We set up recently on the station north of here! Just don't kill me, please"
I had no clue what was north of here. I just hoped they didn't have one of their own bases there, as that would screw over my bluff. Luckily, they seemed to buy my story.
"Perfect. I'll be sure to give them your regards." The leader laughed, and I see those with guns put their fingers on the triggers. They were about to execute me. Time to get started.
Without saying a word, I lower my hand besides me as if I was no longer a prisoner and thought we had come to an agreement. Then pull out my weapon from the inventory, as Jeff had already put it back in there.
Taken out from the inventory, it directly pierces into the body of the scavenger leader behind me. He doesn't have time to be shocked or pull the trigger before I move out of the gun barrel and yank the spear out of his body violently, spilling his guts on the floor as his body falls.
The second his corpse hit the floor, the whole group froze. That was perfect for me, as I used their moment of confusion to strike.
The two scavengers holding crossbows were the first to react, raising their weapons and firing. Unfortunately, their aim was entirely off and both bolts missed me by a mile.
I lunged at the nearest one, a thin boney guy with a rusted hunting bow, still trying to draw his arrow. He managed to pull the string halfway before my blade ran through his gut. The bowstring snapped loose as he gagged on blood, dropping the arrow mid-pull. I twisted the weapon inside him before kicking him off.
With the second death, the rest of the group had woken up from their momentary shock and realized they were now fighting to live.
Gunfire was heard, and I felt pain in my shoulder. You might be surprised to hear this, but dodging bullets isn't exactly an easy thing to do, especially from such a close range.
I stumbled to the side, feeling blood flow down my sleeve. The wound was surprisingly not deep, and the pain wasn't absolutely killing me. It was deeper than the rat bites and scratches, but it was shallow enough that I could just grab the bullet and pull it out. Probably a mix of the gun being shit and my might increasing my defensive abilities.
The sound of gunfire was all Jeff needed to jump into the fray. He burst out of the dirt like a torpedo, as he launched upward and clamped his jaws around the ankle of the woman with the crossbow. She screamed wildly in pain and spun around as her leg was almost clearly bit off. She shot her bolt wildly, randomly managing to hit one of her own guys.
I love friendly fire.
I darted out and rushed the last guy with a rifle while there was chaos in the group. He got one shot off, but with his current state of mind, the bullet went nowhere near me. I shove the tip of my spear through his abdomen and with all my strength pull the blade upwards, cutting a clean hole nearly up to his neck.
Upon pulling out my spear, he collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Another bolt flew past me. I spun and threw my weapon directly into the final archer, catching him in the stomach with enough force to pin him against the wall behind him. He screamed and dropped the crossbow as he tried to pull the weapon out of himself, but only ended up cutting his hands on the blades badly.
Jeff was still chewing on his victim's leg, forcing her to crawl away in terror. She didn't get far before Jeff spat out the leg he was chewing on and jumped down on her and took another bite.
I walked over, yanked my blade from the archer and with a sweep, I disconnect his head from the rest of his body. The battle was over, lasting a grand total of maybe 30 seconds tops.
I let out a breath and rolled my sore shoulder. The gunshot wound still throbbed, but I could move my arm. That was good enough. Gritting my teeth, I grab onto the butt of the bullet and pull it out.
Jeff, done with his prey, waddled up beside me and blew a little healing bubble. It popped against me and the wound closed up in seconds.
"Thanks, my cute little murder buddy." I pat his head. He wagged his tail in glee.
With the scavengers dead, I could continue on in peace, but I think I've had enough for today. I still needed to finish copying homework from Gwen and get to sleep at a reasonable time for once.
With those thoughts, I opened up a portal and went back home.
***
Author note: This is gonna be it for dungeon stuff for a bit.
I'm going to a funeral tomorrow, so I'm not sure if there will be a chapter. Depends on how long it takes.