Leon remained in the same position he was for hours. Night came and passed, and the sun rose and lit up the land through those dull gray clouds that seemed to perpetually taint the purity of the sky. The angry millipede had long since left, not having spent even up to an hour after Leon had holed himself up in the cathedral.
‘I need to get stronger. Quickly!’ Leon had come to a conclusion after spending many hours thinking the day before. His mind had gone blank at a certain point in the night, and by the time he regained his awareness, he felt refreshed and his Health Points had returned to their peak.
Also, he got to welcome a small surprise.
[Durability +2]
[Agility + 2]
“Status.”
[Status]
Name: Leon Cromwell
Race: Obsidian Skeleton Soldier
Level: 13
Health Points: 330
Mana: 165
<Strength: 15>
<Agility: 10>
<Durability: 22>
<Intelligence: 15>
<Dexterity: 10>
Skills:
<Beginner Weapon Mastery level 2>
Titles: None.
—
It seemed that after his skeleton body had endured such enormous stress under the attacks of the millipede, it had grown even tougher during its healing.
As Leon was examining his status, he heard the sound of something moving about outside the cathedral. For a moment, he thought that it might have been the large millipede that was still angry, but he soon saw a smaller millipede crawl away from the cathedral through the hole in the wall. He didn’t dare to step out, but with the way the millipede avoided the cathedral, he was sure that he would remain safe within its walls.
An hour passed as Leon kept an eye out for the large millipede that had attacked him the day before. After the hour had passed by, Leon finally mustered up the courage to venture outside the cathedral.
When he stepped out of the hole, the first thing he did was to stick close to the wall and examine his surroundings. He was not able to spot the big millipede so he simply went on to explore the area around the cathedral, albeit carefully.
Scree!
A low screech startled him and he almost threw up his sword, but quickly regained his calm when he noticed that it was only an average sized millipede that was rushing toward him. He held up his sword and prepared to strike it when another millipede popped out of nowhere and began rushing at him too.
“What? Two? I should be able to take care of them if I’m careful.” At first, Leon was surprised, but he held himself together and remained firm.
However, his firm stance began to falter when a third millipede appeared. It completely crumbled by the time the fourth joined the group of raging millipedes.
“What the heck is going on?!” Leon yelled as he turned around and ran in the direction of the cathedral. Just like the day before, he had not ventured far, so he was able to get into the building before the millipedes were able to catch him. The group of millipedes lingered for a while before they dispersed back into the surroundings.
“Ha~…” Leon sighed deeply. “Did that big one tell them to stay in groups to make it hard for me to kill them?” He pondered on the possible explanation to their strange behavior.
“Fine, then! I’ll just have to take them out before they can group up!” He gritted his teeth and came to a decision. The millipedes that had chased him had not made it far yet, but they had dispersed enough for there to be quite some space between them.
Leon dashed out of the cathedral using all the speed he could muster. He knew that millipedes possessed compound eyes, so they would be able to see him coming, so he went around a pile of rubble quickly to avoid them seeing him, and intercepted the rightmost millipede, effectively ambushing it.
While it was dangerous for him to pick the one that was at the farthest of the bunch, it bought more time for him to do away with it before the others were able to get there and bail their friend out of trouble.
‘Got you!’ Leon mentally yelled as he jumped in the air and brought the tip of his sword down onto the head of the millipede. The blade stabbed through the sensitive eye of the creature and sunk into its brain, ending its life before it could even let out a cry for help.
‘Next one!’
Cheering himself on, he quickly left the area and made his way toward the one closest to him. This time, there was less cover so he just ran straight at it, allowing him to spot it. The creature managed to let out a defiant screech, but Leon quickly pounced on it and ended its life as well.
[You have leveled up!]
[Beginner Weapon Mastery gained a level!]
Leon had no time to revel in the notifications of his strength rising, as the two millipedes that had been part of the group that assailed him earlier rounded the corner, their many legs scrambling over the rough road.
“Damn.” Leon cursed and held his sword up. He did not want to charge at the two of them as they held the numerical advantage. Instead, he would rather wait for them to act and react to whatever move they pulled.
Like he expected, the two creatures mindlessly charged and him. Leon would have grinned if he could, but his bony face was stuck in the same expression for most of the time. Happiness was not one of the expressions that he could show on his face.
Firming his stance, he braced himself for the impact of the first millipede, using his angle and the force of the millipede to push it away to the side, and then turning on one foot to stab the second millipede through its eye.
[Beginner Weapon Mastery has gained a level!]
[Durability +1]
[Agility +2]
Pulling his sword out of the eye of the dead millipede, Leon rolled forward on the ground to avoid the charge of the last millipede, springing up to his feet immediately, before launching himself after it and plunging his sword into its head to end its life.
[You have leveled up!]