Nicole eventually seemed to calm down for the most part, with a small frown resting on her face. While she still was sad, her eyes were clearer.
“If I want to survive, I have to be stronger.”
She opened up the system panel, displaying her stats.
“…What do I spend my points on?”
Kairos looked over at the panel.
[Rank: F]
[Stats –
Strength – 2.0
Endurance – 1.3
Agility – 1.9
Willpower – 1.1]
Kairos furrowed his brows.
“You added points into willpower?”
Nicole blinked a few times.
“Huh? I don’t remember ever doing that.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“I remember last time it was half of a point, but now it’s one and a tenth.”
Nicole let out a soft gasp.
“Ah! It did rise by a lot.”
Kairos tilted his head to the side.
“You really didn’t add any to willpower beforehand?”
Nicole shook her head.
“No… I only added strength and agility.”
Kairos came to a realization after hearing that. Just because one method of increasing one’s stats was via points, that didn’t mean it was the only way. It seemed like actual experiences could also contribute to that.
Just as he was nodding to himself after coming to this conclusion, Nicole spoke up.
“Wait.”
Her eyes widened ever so slightly.
“I don’t remember putting any points into endurance, but it seems higher.”
Kairos snapped to attention.
“What? Are you sure?”
Nicole nodded.
“I… think it was either one point or just barely above one. But now, it’s one point three.”
This immediately made Kairos a little weirded out. Although the increase in willpower was drastic, he could still accept it as a massive shift in one’s mind. However, the increase in endurance was quite different.
Kairos was pretty confident that none of his stats had increased at all without the help of the system. And he considered that pretty reasonable.
Though 0.1 seemed like a really small number, Kairos knew that it made a huge difference. An increase of 0.1 in strength equated to roughly a month of casual training in the gym for a person that didn’t exercise before.
If Kairos wished, he was pretty confident he could run at a speed of 100 kilometers an hour, given that he didn’t have to drag anything along.
These points were not anything small.
After running through various possibilities in his mind, he began to think that Nicole had just forgotten she added the points.
“You probably forgot. Those points aren’t anything small, after all.”
Nicole couldn’t help but close her eyes tightly, thinking hard.
“…No, wait I’m sure. My strength and agility were increased by a tiny bit as well without my points.”
The corner of Kairos’ lip twitched. He looked at Nicole’s current points.
[Points of Perfection: 3.3]
That was quite a large amount. When he began thinking of all the things that Nicole had killed, it really did seem she had an excessive amount of points that didn’t come from her kills.
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“Did you ever remember feeling an increase in strength despite not adding any points?”
Nicole’s mouth was slightly agape as she continued thinking.
“…The watch.”
She pulled out the watch from her pocket, looking at it intently.
“When I put it on and killed something, it made me feel a little stronger.”
Kairos looked at the watch a little more closely.
“…Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Nicole nodded.
“Ok.”
It turns out that the watch had some other function, giving one the ability to naturally get a little bit stronger while killing things. Though the effects were small right now, he could imagine that over time it would make a pretty huge difference.
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“Just spend your points on your physical stats for now. Make sure to wear the red watch when you fight and try to save up for twenty points.”
Nicole nodded.
“Ok!”
She then added her points among the three physical stat points. Once she finished, her eyelids were on the verge of closing, but she resisted, trying to stay awake.
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“If you finally feel tired, then go to sleep. Stop trying to stay awake.”
Nicole took one last peek towards Kairos through slightly parted eyes.
“Mm…”
Then in the next moment, she began snoring softly.
Kairos watched as the sun set, and the sky became a starry night. After a good bit of time, he felt like he was on the verge of passing out entirely. Before falling asleep, he shook Chase’s shoulder, prompting his eyes to shoot open.
He blinked a few times, forcefully shaking off the grogginess.
“Is there something?”
Kairos nodded while rubbing one eye.
“It’s your shift to watch.”
He then nudged Sydney until she woke up. Once she did wake up, she very slowly opened her eyes.
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Please keep watch with Chase.”
There was no response, but he was too tired to wait for one, so he got back down on the ground and fell asleep.
Kairos wanted to rest comfortably so he could wake up the next morning refreshed. Unfortunately, he would not be granted that wish.
He was gradually awoken by Chase screaming.
Kairos still felt very groggy, but snapped awake when he caught a whiff of blood in the air. But even though he was awake, everything was black. There was no light in the room as of now.
He forcefully rubbed his eyes and got up.
“What is happening?”
Chase spoke up, a little exasperated.
“There are a shit ton of feral bunnies outside. For some reason, they aren’t leaving.”
As though to agree with his statement, there were countless shuffling sounds coming from all around, along with muffled squeaking sounds. From the scurrying sounds on the roof, it showed these things did not even spare the roof. The most prevalent sound was coming from where Chase’s voice was.
Kairos thought for a moment before casting the fire spell, lighting up the room. He didn’t channel extra mana into it, just letting the fireball rest at the tip of his finger. But it was enough to light up the room.
Chase was currently pushing his back against the makeshift door. His hands were currently bloody, while a rabbit corpse laid below him not too far away.
As for everyone else, they seemed to be half asleep, but in the process of waking up.
The situation seemed to be in control for now, as the bunnies were still outside. Though Chase was struggling, it wasn’t too big of a deal for him to hold the door.
Kairos sucked in a deep breath.
“Has it been like this for a while?”
Chase let out an annoyed sigh.
“They only showed up a little while ago, but they seem really persistent.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I first saw a few bunnies watching us from outside. Their fur was a little red while their eyes seemed to glow a little. Not wanting to take any chances, I began pushing the door closed.”
Chase clicked his tongue.
“Then they all went crazy, trying to get into the place.”
Kairos nodded.
“They don’t seem to be that strong, right?”
Chase shrugged his shoulders.
“Not individually. I was able to kill one of them pretty easily with just my hands. They are only at the F rank.”
Kairos looked towards Nicole, who was paying close attention to the conversation.
“You should put on the red watch and get ready to swing.”
Chase couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“You wanna let those things in?”
Kairos cracked his neck.
“If we only keep a small gap open, then it should be fine.”
Chase frowned.
“But once they push through the crack, they could use it to make the gap wider and let even more through.”
Kairos walked up to the door.
“Then just let me do it. My strength should be high enough to hold them down. As for you all, get ready to kill the bunnies.”
Sydney was still crouched down sitting but slowly got up to her feet. As for Tori, she did a few stretches before walking over.
“Never thought the points would deliver themselves right to me.”
Nicole silently put on the red watch and got close with the fire axe raised.
Kairos kept one hand on the door while the other held onto the fireball, swapping out with Chase. Then, he slid it ever so slightly to the side.
The moment the tiniest of cracks appeared, the sound of scurrying and squeaking filled the room. There was only a faint moonlight outside, but it was enough to make out the glowing eyes.
The bunnies violently pressed their faces against the crack, pressing their slightly reddened fur against themselves tightly just to get a little closer. However, Kairos was holding it down strong, making it too hard for them to fit through the gap.
Nicole was the first to act. She got up close to the door, raising her fire axe just above the tiny crack, lining it up.
With a grunt, she brought it down.
Various cracking sounds filled the air as blood splattered over Nicole.
Her axe did not go down smoothly, frequently getting caught on the various skulls. However, she clenched tightly onto the axe, continuing to push it down further.
In the end, a pool of blood had formed at her feet. The bunnies from behind continued to struggle, but there were only corpses at the front.
Kairos decided to make the gap a little wider. Almost immediately after, the corpses were pushed out, tumbling into the room. And behind them were many more bunnies that were shoving their way in, squeaking aggressively.
The bunnies were stacked up on top of each other and quickly entered the room. In just a moment, ten were inside. Nicole swung, but was only able to take care of a few. However, Tori quickly followed up, quickly beheading the remaining ones.
However, many more continued filing into the room, making both Tori and Nicole work damn hard to kill all of them.
Chase didn’t seem to want to give up on this opportunity, but also didn’t just want to charge in with his fists. After a bit of hesitation, he pulled back his bow, letting a mana arrow form on it.
After waiting for a gap between Nicole and Tori’s swings, he let the arrow loose.
It zipped through the air before ripping into a few bunnies at the front. However, it didn’t lose its initial momentum, tearing violently through many more. The bunnies were even somewhat pushed back by the recoil the corpses faced.
Chase even raised both eyebrows in surprise.
“…That was a lot of points. It seems that there are far more.”
Tori clicked her tongue as she continued slashing.
“I suppose it will be a lot of work, but also very rewarding.”
Chase nodded as he drew back another mana arrow, waiting again.
Tori and Nicole continued to slice up the bunnies that entered, causing a mound of corpses to fill up the front. The stench of blood was already pretty strong from the dried blood on their clothes, but now it was not only prevalent, but fresh.
Though countless of the bunnies have died, it seemed that the bloody smell was enough to motivate them to try even harder.
Chase let out another arrow and killed quite a few more bunnies, reducing the burden that Nicole and Tori had to face.
But it did not take long for him to run out of arrows.
By the fourth one, he was already heaving, unable to cast any more.
Kairos was still pushing hard, leaning his body into it slightly to get more leverage. There would be times where he felt like he was losing control, but a forceful push resolved that.
Now that Chase wasn’t shooting arrows, the bunnies were gradually beginning to overwhelm Tori and Nicole. After roughly ten seconds, one of the bunnies went unaccounted for, charging towards Tori with its tiny teeth bared.
However, Chase grabbed onto one before that, prompting the bunny to struggle fiercely. That is, until a clean snap rang out, making it fall limp.
As time went on, Nicole and Tori were both getting tired. After all, they were both exerting themselves fully as hard as they could continuously.
The bunnies that slipped out gradually got out of even Chase’s control. Just when Kairos thought that he would have to act, Sydney joined in.
She slammed down on a bunny that charged towards her fiercely, exploding it into a mass of flesh. The wooden baseball she was holding onto cracked slightly, while the bunny was very clearly dead.
The force behind her strike was obviously unnecessarily large.
And her breathing was a little heavy.
It seemed that while she was silent, a lot of anger had built up.
Kairos was wondering if that was a normal reaction and whether or not he should say anything.
In the end, he let her be.
And so, Sydney ran forward while screaming loudly.
