ALL NOVEL Chapter 27 “Unexpected Encounters”
Chapter 27
“Unexpected Encounters”
“Let’s make a deal,” Kalysto offered him. ”Say ‘status window.’”
“Status window,” said Koden, and a blue window appeared before him.
[Status window]
Name: Koden Scott
Age: 20 years old
Race: human
Level: 1
Fatigue: 92
Class: Tank (Heroic)
Profession: N/A.
Title: N/A
Affiliation: Kingdom of Balsac
HP: 95/100
MP: 100/100
Strength: 18
Vitality: 12
Agility: 15
Endurance: 15
Intelligence: 12
Charisma: 0
Luck: 1
State: Tired
Available points: 0
“So you’re a tank, huh? Alright, now are you willing to make a deal with me?” Koden nodded his head. “I’m sorry, but for the system to accept it, you have to say it out loud.”
Koden rolled his eyes and said.
“I agree to make a deal with you.”
A violet window opened before Kalysto.
[Does the user wish to enter into a soul binding contract with the user Koden Scott?]
“Yes,” said Kalysto.
[Stipulate the terms of the contract below.]
And she did so. As soon as she finished, a blue screen opened in front of Koden, who read it carefully before continuing.
“Do I also have to keep all your secrets?”
“I have an ability that apparently neither you, Edward, nor the wonder twins seem to have. It never hurts to be cautious.”
“The wonder twins are here?” He was surprised.
“Yes, they’re on the other side of the road full of dead people, on their way to the next town.” A shudder, along with a grimace of displeasure, crossed Koden’s face.
“Let me get this straight. Besides obeying you and treating you as my captain from now on, I must also keep your secrets? In exchange for a sword and a potion?”
“If you read carefully, you will notice that it says I will also give you a shield, since you are a tank, and in exchange for keeping my secrets I will save the shield for you as long as we are both in this world,” Koden frowned as he studied her silently. They had both moved far enough away from the second orc, who was still pounding the ground with his club back and forth, trying to find them, but far away from them.
“How did you get those weapons?” he questioned, full of curiosity.
“I took them as spoils of war from the army that tried to invade the city.”
“You stole them from the dead?” He was shocked at her audacity. Kalysto instead rolled her eyes, beginning to get annoyed with his attitude and all the time he was wasting.
If we don’t hurry, the twins will get to a safe place first, and there’s always more advantage in traveling in a larger group. She thought, but she was beginning to doubt it was a good idea to travel with Koden, always questioning everything she said.
“Look, I don’t have time for your endless collection of questions. Do you want the shield and sword, yes or no? I have to go help Edward and get out of here before someone else comes. So decide quickly or we’ll leave without you.” That seemed to make him react, and he hurried to press on the ‘yes’ button that appeared on his screen.
[User has successfully sealed a soul binding contract. Please comply with the stated requirements to avoid a penalty.]
Immediately, Kalysto pulled out a sword and shield from her inventory, along with a revitalizing potion, and handed them to Koden.
“Where do you get all that stuff?”
“I told you it’s a secret ability,” Kalysto evaded. “And with this, I have kept my part of the contract. I hope you will keep yours.”
Then she turned and ran towards the first orc, putting her bow in her inventory, and then pulled out two goblin knives and threw herself against the enemy’s back as he approached the tree where Edward was hiding.
After Kalysto buried twice the knife in her left hand and another three times the one in her right as she tried to climb the orc’s broad back and reach his neck, the orc, after failing to reach her dropped his axe and set about trying to pull her off him with his thick hands, but unable to reach her with his muscular and short arms, he began to smash his back against the trunks of the nearby trees.
“Kalysto!” Edward shouted in fright when he saw the sudden movements of that huge monster.
Kalysto on the other hand, had let go as soon as she saw that the tree was only a few inches away from her, and had to abandon her weapons and leave them attached to the orc’s back, so she pulled two more goblin knives from her inventory. And with her heart pounding hard against her chest, at how close she came to hitting the thick trunk, she couldn’t help but notice, that a small part of her, deep down, was enjoying the whole challenge and the adrenaline rush that this whole situation was giving her.
Since when do I like hunting? She questioned herself, but she didn’t have time to think about it.
And as the orc scratched his back thinking she was still on him, she stabbed his arm, from the middle of the forearm down, with both new knives at the same time, and thanks to the one in her left hand she managed to cut the inside of his wrist before jumping backwards and away from the orc, who threw a punch towards her with force, his fist crashing into the trunk of another nearby tree.
But she was far more agile than him and the damage was already done.
And the orc’s blood spilled over his wounds and dripped, falling on the ground and staining the dry leaves on the ground with violet.
Kalysto smiled, seeing that they finally had an advantage.
“Edward, attack his other arm!” she shouted, full of emotion. And the other young man left his hiding place and obeyed her orders, using his sword again as if it were an axe and cutting the orc’s side, arms and thigh, or any part that was within his reach. Edward swung his sword awkwardly back and forth as he tried to get used to using it, to feeling its weight between his hands. And though his cuts weren’t deep, they helped create leverage. But most of all, they helped distract him.
“This is... very tiring!” Edward complained after a few minutes.
“Don’t give up so fast. We’re already close to exhausting him!” Kalysto tried to cheer him up.
“But I’m the one who’s already exhausted!” Responded Edward, but he still kept trying too clumsily. While Kalysto took advantage of her agility to get closer to the enemy and bury her knives wherever she could, before putting some distance between them again or distracting him every time Edward was in danger.
After several minutes, the orc’s movements began to slow. His cheeks seemed paler and his arms moved awkwardly. His once seemingly eternal vitality finally began to diminish significantly.
Kalysto again made another deep slash from the elbow to the wrist of the orc’s other arm in a coordinated attack with Edward, who slashed the back of his knee, causing the enemy to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Immediately, Kalysto lunged at his neck and stabbed him on both sides, from behind. Repeating the blow with her right hand several times until the orc stopped moving and a pair of signs appeared before her, one blue and one purple.
[You have gained 250 experience points.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have gained +1 vitality point, +1 strength, +1 stamina, +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +1 free point.]
[You have gained +1 vitality point, +1 strength, +1 stamina, +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +2 free points.]
Great! She congratulated herself, feeling vindicated after a well-deserved victory and with adrenaline heating up her veins.
“Kalysto I’ve leveled up!” Edward was thrilled as he sat down on the floor and regained his strength after such an exhausting battle.
“Good job!” Kalysto congratulated him with a half smile. “Now spend the points you have free to increase your strength. You’re going to need it.”
“Captain, I need a little help around here too!” Koden growled.
And while Edward was exploring his status window lying on the grass with his arms sore from holding the sword, Kalysto closed all her windows and pulled her knives out of the orc’s body, putting them in her inventory, along with the orc’s axe. She then drew her bow and shot an arrow at the second orc just inside its ear, knocking it off balance. And Koden took the opportunity to wound him in the arm. The sword penetrated the skin, but did not cut him enough to detach the arm. However, a thin trickle of blood gushed from the wound.
But the scream the orc made before lunging at Koden reminded Kalysto how dangerous it was to stay there.
“We’re leaving!” She told them, and they both looked at her in surprise.
“No! If Edward could kill one of them, so can I!” Koden objected. “I want to level up too! It’s not fair that only he did it, and even though I didn’t see you get a notification, I’m sure you leveled up too! So help me to level up too!” shouted the indignant young man.
“Stop shouting! If the orcs haven’t attracted more enemies with their shouts, surely yours have! Have you forgotten that there are more monsters and a dragon out there, along with the city army that killed all those people on the road? Do you want to end up like them? “
“But...” Koden tried to refute, but Kalysto interrupted him.
“Edward, get up! We’re leaving! I’m not going to stay here and risk my life for nothing! And if we don’t want to sleep in the forest, we must hurry to get to the nearest town before the sun goes down.”
“But what about Koden?”
“He can level up some other time, for now we must concentrate on staying alive,” then she shot at the goblins that were coming out of the undergrowth and approaching the unsuspecting Koden’s back.
And just as she had thought, three arrows in their necks were enough for her to be notified of their deaths.
[You have gained 20 experience points.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
She immediately closed them and was about to refute Koden, who opened his mouth to go against her again, when a chilling voice she had never heard before crept into her bones.
“But what an interesting gift the spirits have given us this time, Gal’oth. Look, more prey.”
A shiver ran down Kalysto’s back as soon as she saw a group of about fifteen skeletons surrounding a hobgoblin, walking towards them. But what surprised her most was the figure of the strong orc, whose armor she recognized immediately.
“You!” Kalysto growled, and before she could think what she was doing, she pulled an arrow with penetration stats from her inventory and shot it immediately into the left eye of the orc that had almost killed her a few hours ago when they were still on Earth. “Run!” she shouted to Koden and Edward as soon as she checked that her arrow had hit its target.
“Ah,” sighed the hobgoblin, “I’m afraid I can’t let you go, young huntress. I’d lose all those experience points if I did,” he added with a thin, condescending smile.
“What?” she muttered.
Does he have a system too?
And it was at that instant that Kalysto realized something she hadn’t noticed before as she ran along with the boys, away from the skeletons that were now chasing them.
How is that I can understand what they are saying?
But she didn’t have time to stop and think about that. The now familiar war cry of that orc echoed through the forest before darting after her.
Kalysto sped up, putting more distance between them, but she noticed how Koden, and especially Edward, lagged behind. And again that strange pressure in her chest surged again.
Shit, what the hell is this about? She worried, and the next second, as she turned around, she caught a glimpse of Edward stumbling and falling to the ground as the corpse of one of the goblins she had killed earlier but had apparently been revived now tried to reach him.
She immediately stopped and shot him with an arrow in both eyes. Alive or not, he needed his eyes to search for his prey.
“Don’t stay on the ground and get up at once, Edward!” She scolded him. And she had to start running again, as she saw that the advantage she had gained against the orc had been considerably reduced. But just as he was about to catch her, a fireball smashed into Gal’oth’s face.
And Kalysto took advantage of his distraction to run to where Edward was and help him up. Immediately, the pressure in her chest ceased.
What the hell, it’s not like I like this guy! So what the hell is going on?
She pulled hard on Edward’s limp body and yanked him up, forcing him to run to her side as, behind them, the hobgoblin and his small army of undead followed close behind. But then, ahead of them, a group of hooded men joined the fray, hurling fireballs at the skeletons and orcs.
“Wizards of Balsac, attack the invaders!” shouted one of the hooded men, and Kalysto froze.
Shit!
But before she could react or think of any solution, the terror-filled scream of the Black twins echoed through the forest.
“Kalysto, look out! Behind you!” But by the time she turned around, it was too late, and all she could see was a huge club just inches from her head.
I knew we should have left earlier! She managed to think before the pain shot through her skull.
And as Kalysto’s body fell to the ground and darkness devoured her consciousness, the last thing she caught a glimpse of was the silhouette of the two moons high in the sky.