Moving back and forth like a seasoned fighter, James kept dodging the monster's claws with sharp precision. Each swipe from its talons tore chunks of earth and stone, leaving the ground scarred, but none of them reached him. His body weaved between its attacks as though he had trained for years in combat. In truth, he hadn't.
The monster's weakness was clear, its eyes. James already knew that. But the beast wasn't going to make it easy. Every time he attempted to close in, the creature shifted its head, using its sheer size and ferocity to shield its vulnerable points. If it hadn't been for his activated attribute: The Gifted Hoodlum, which granted him instinct, knowledge, and the experience of a true fighter, James would already have been torn to shreds. Even with that edge, it felt like a twisted game of tag.
Who could catch who?
That stalemate gnawed at James, frustration tightening his chest.
He risked a glance at his status window. Still no skills. Nothing he could use to tip the scales. His eyes scanned desperately until they froze on a line he had overlooked earlier:
«AVAILABLE POINTS: 12»
James almost cursed aloud.
' What kind of fool am I? Running around like prey when I've been holding onto points all this time?'
Without hesitation, he opened his stats and distributed them quickly: six into Strength, six into Agility.
«DING… STATUS WINDOW»
NAME: Makinde James
LEVEL: 4
ATTRIBUTE: The Gifted Hoodlum
TITLE: ——
SAGA: ——
WEAPON: Ordinary Dual Knives
HP: 421 / 900
MP: 229 / 600
STRENGTH: 38
AGILITY: 30
SENSE: 10
HEALTH: 40
INTELLIGENCE: 25
AVAILABLE POINTS: ——
SKILL: ——
The change was instant. His muscles tightened, veins bulging with newfound power. His body felt lighter, faster, every step like a spring uncoiled, every breath sharper. With his boosted stats merging with the combat instincts granted by his attribute, his movements became wild, unpredictable, overwhelming.
The monster swiped again, claws whistling through the air. James ducked, twisting in close. His knives bounced off the thick hide, but that didn't matter. He clenched his fist, drew from his new strength, and delivered a brutal punch.
CRACK!
The monster howled, stumbling back to one knee, its hulking form now lowered to James's height. Seizing the chance, James roared and raised his knife high.
"AAAARH!"
The cry carried across the battlefield, even drawing the attention of the other two monsters fighting against Collins and Amara. Amara remained hidden, darting in and out with sneak attacks, while Collins faced them head-on with his machete. But James's shout stole even their focus.
His blade descended.
The knife cut the air itself as it plunged deep into the monster's eye. Blood sprayed, hot and foul.
"AAAAAARGHHHH!" the beast shrieked, its scream echoing through the streets and the forest beyond. That one mistake sealed their fate, its dying cry had alerted the rest of the monsters lurking nearby.
Collins's mental map pulsed with warnings. His senses burned as he detected a wave of monsters converging on their location. His jaw tightened.
"James! Hurry and finish it!!" he roared.
James gritted his teeth and shoved with every ounce of strength, driving the blade deeper until it pierced brain matter. With one final thrust, the monster collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
Breathing heavily, James staggered back, wiping blood from his cheek before sprinting toward Collins. Together, they faced the remaining two monsters. Collins's burden lessened, but the growing danger in the distance meant they had no time to breathe.
"James!" Collins barked, his machete flashing. "I'll distract them, find the chance and stab their eyes!"
James nodded, determination etched across his sweat-soaked face.
Collins changed his approach. No longer brute force, but speed. He blurred around the monsters, moving in unpredictable bursts, forcing them to lash out wildly at shadows. They couldn't pin him down.
James seized the opportunity, rushing forward. One monster noticed him and turned its focus away from Collins. Fatal mistake.
"NOW!"
Collins smashed his fist into the creature's ribs. Bone cracked under the impact, and the beast shrieked, stumbling. James leapt, knives flashing, and buried both blades deep into its eyes.
The monster roared, thrashing madly, arms raised to tear James apart
But Amara acted. She didn't know why, didn't even think, her body moved on its own. Grabbing a massive stone, she lunged from hiding and smashed it against the monster's head. The impact staggered it just enough for James to escape.
Heart racing, James stumbled back, swallowing hard as fear gripped him. Death had been too close. If Amara hadn't acted, he'd already be gone.
"Thanks," he muttered, voice tight, before rejoining Collins. He had learned a brutal lesson, his attribute made him a fighter, but those instincts weren't truly his. He had lived a peaceful life before the apocalypse. He wasn't some hardened experienced warrior. Overconfidence had nearly killed him.
This time, he would fight with caution.
Collins meanwhile hammered the second monster with relentless blows. His machete struck again and again, but the thick hide resisted every attempt to finish it. He was fast, but not fast enough to land the killing stab to the eyes.
Frustration boiled inside him. He checked his mental map again and froze. Dozens of monsters, closing in fast. They had less than a minute.
'Orúla' he called desperately in his mind. 'What do we do?!'
Orúla: «THERE IS NOTHING TO DO BUT RUN.»
'Run? There's no way out. We're surrounded.'
Orúla: «IF YOU WERE LEVEL 10, YOU WOULD HAVE CREATED A SKILL, EVEN IF A MINOR ONE, ENOUGH TO ESCAPE.»
Level 10… He was only Level 5. It felt impossibly far.
'Then what can I do now?!'
Silence.
'Please, Orúla!' Collins begged.
Finally, His cold voice returned.
Orúla: «THERE IS A WAY. BUT IT WILL PUT YOU IN GRAVE DANGER. DO YOU ACCEPT?»
Collins's jaw tightened. Leaving one danger for another… But if they stayed, they'd all die. He glanced at James and Amara still struggling against the monster's flailing claws.
No more hesitation.
'Do it' he snarled in his mind.
Orúla: «VERY WELL. I CAN GRANT YOU ONE SECOND. USE IT WISELY.»
One second?
Orúla: «YES. ONE SECOND. THAT IS ALL I CAN GIVE.»
Collins's heart pounded. What can I possibly do in one second?
Orúla: «YOU WILL SEE.»
Suddenly, energy surged through his body like lightning. Time… stopped. The world froze around him. Monsters hung in the air mid-swipe, their roars suspended like echoes trapped in glass. James and Amara were locked mid-motion, knives and stones raised.
Collins gasped, awestruck.
But this was his chance.
He sprinted toward his allies, lifting them both with supernatural strength. The fabric of space bent, folding like paper, and in the blink of an eye, they were outside the forest. The world blurred past until the energy drained from his body, leaving only pain.
Agony ripped through him. His body convulsed as if breaking apart from within, black cracks spiderwebbing across his flesh.
Orúla: «THIS IS THE PRICE FOR USING A POWER FAR BEYOND YOUR CAPABILITIES.»
His voice echoed coldly in his mind.
Time resumed. James and Amara stumbled, swinging at enemies that were no longer there, then froze in confusion at the sudden change in scenery, from the forest to an alley.
Before they could process it, Collins's scream tore through the night.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!"
He spasmed on the ground, his body wracked with pain. Black cracks spread across his skin like living veins, crawling deeper with every passing second.
"Collins! Collins!!" James dropped beside him, panicked, but the moment his hand touched Collins, the cracks flared and the screams grew worse. James flinched back, horror etched on his face.
"What happened?!" Amara cried out, shaken.
"LIKE HELL I KNOW!!!" James shouted, his voice breaking, eyes wet with tears and rage.
Amara's own fear twisted into frustration. "Don't shout at me! It's not like I caused this!"
They were both helpless.
Then, in the tense silence between Collins's screams, a sound reached them, footsteps.
Heavy, deliberate. Drawing closer.
James and Amara instantly shifted into battle stances, weapons raised.
Ready and determined to fight any monster