Still, his body was in pain and he knew he was pushing himself badly. Reluctantly, he took a look at his stats.
[Status]
Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar
Race: Human
Class: Innkeeper, Chef
Level: Dormant
Awakening Type: N/A
Affinity: Unknown
...
VITALS
HP: 24/100
Mana: 80/100
Stamina: 11/100
Wallet: 150 Gold
Hearth Points: 1650 Points
...
Skills:
Active: [Scent of Flavor] [ Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis]
Passive: [Blade Proficiency - Growth Type (Lv 1)] [Monster Instinct]
Condition: Exhausted, -1 Stamina and -1 HP every 10 minutes]
Shit
What...are those low numbers?!
What happened when stamina became 0 again?
He shook his head, compartmentalizing the growing fear. He’d try to get a few more hits for now before giving up and resting.
His choice now was to risk a few more points in hopes of dealing with these few monsters somehow before they attracted more monsters. The other option was to just rest right now and deal with potentially dozens more monsters later.
He chose the former, at least until just before he fainted. The latter option was too scary, and he wanted to minimize it as much as he could. Besides, he could feel that at least 2 of these monsters were also at the end of the line (their cannibalizing of each other bit by bit helped a lot), so it wasn’t like the first option was hopeless.
Fortunately, Finn had very good body coordination and had entered a rhythm of sorts. His hits on their eyes, their open wounds, and other weaknesses increased, and all three monsters were already bleeding profusely by the time his stamina went down to one digit.
One more bleed, he thought, and took his sap-filled handkerchief and placed it over his open wound, pressing at the lower side to get it to bleed more.
By this time, the sap had already dried up and didn’t have the same effect anymore. It was the only loose cloth he had to splatter more blood effectively, so he could only use it.
Splat
With a wave of the handkerchief, more splashes of his fresh blood splattered all over two monsters, causing the monsters to attack each other manically.
ROOOAAAARRR!
They would stop as soon as these blots of blood would be consumed and Finn, who was literally bleeding to death, knew this was his last chance.
While one of the beasts had its companion’s teeth buried on its body, Finn immediately stabbed it right at its eye, even if he had to put his hand out there for a moment.
Afraid that it’d move and either pull him or his sword out, he immediately put out his other hand, which still had some of the blood from the previous bloodletting, making sure that the beast would be heading towards him and the barrier and not anywhere else.
ROOOAAAARRR!
Then, with his blade partially outside the barrier, he used the monster’s own force as it lunged to bury the blade deeper into its head, to its brain.
Monsters were stupid and weren’t able to catch on to his manipulation, and fortunately—at least in this case—he succeeded.
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
[One-Time Bonus Received: Killed a monster at Dormant rank!]
[Received! (1) Permanent +3 increase in Strength, +3 Agility, +10% permanent increase in recovery rate of all stats.
(2) Increased efficiency of (Monster Instinct) passive skill. Can now activate even if the enemy is at a slightly higher level than Innkeper.
Requirements: All damage to the monster must be inflicted directly or indirectly by the Innkeeper.]
He felt his body slightly more energized than before, slightly lighter, and less painful.
His eyes sparkled. Not to mention the reward, he really killed such a monster!
Even Pang was staring at the side, his beady eyes sparkling.
"FINALLY!" He screamed, but then he heard the dings again, causing his smile to fade.
[Personal Quest Activated]
[Active Mission: Kill 100 Monsters!]
[Information: Kill 100 Monsters of at least the Awakened level.
Progress: 1/100
Reward: 1000 Hearth Points]
...
[Active Mission: Gather 10 essence cores!]
[Information: Gather 10 essence cores of at least Awakened level.
Progress: 0/10
Reward: 1000 Hearth Points]
What? Complete one achievement and get a few more?
BANG!
[-1 Defense Point]
Ah, right. Not over yet.
Finn sighed and looked at the rest of the monsters again. His eyes twitched a bit when he realized his body was already shivering, but he was already here, and he was already so close.
How could he stomach letting more—uninjured—ones come in while he was asleep?
He had to get rid of them and pull them back in the barrier to stop them from attracting more enemies, and he could only pull them in when they were dead.New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel_fіre.net
Finn simply did what he did before, which had become easier after the first time, even with his diminishing conditions. It seemed like the [Blade Proficiency] also depended on practice, and he could feel its effect increase the more he fought.
Those stat increases and recovery increase probably helped, too.
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
Like this, he finally got rid of all the monsters he had so far, so now he had to bring them in before they attracted even more.
He had to step out of the barrier for a bit to grab the nearest brindlejaw. With one hand on its horn and the other in its mouth, he used his remaining strength to pull it in.
Slide
It moved by about a few inches.
"...."
Seriously?
Then again, these things were probably as big as a massive cow, so this wasn’t much of a surprise after all. Still—
"URGH!!" GAH! So heavy!
He looked at his sword and wondered if he could use it to pry-and-roll. He chose one of the monsters that was positioned parallel to the barrier. He took a relatively curved rock and placed it beside it, before placing the bone sword to make it roll bit by bit to the barrier.
Then he heard a crack, and he saw his sword crumble right in front of him.
"..."
" Ahhhh! " he gasped/mourned for his only weapon, and he immediately ran back to the barrier, afraid a monster would appear, and he was completely bare with no equipment anymore.
"Shit..."
He cursed. After working so hard to deal with it with his pitiful stats, would he still have to let these carcasses attract more monsters in the end?
He looked at his stats and, thanks to the bonus, they were somehow 2 digits again, but not for long.
He shook his head to compartmentalize for the nth time that day. Anyway, since he could move it a few inches, it meant he could still move it, even if it would take him a while.
And so, after about ten or fifteen minutes of pushing and pulling (and praying no monsters would get here), he managed to put a few inches of their bodies into the barrier. One had the tip of its horn, one had the bone on its back, and the other had a portion of its tail within the barrier.
He dragged himself to the barrier again and fell down, completely exhausted.
Was this all he could do!?
Unexpectedly, a certain ball of black and white pattered past him, placing its paw on one of the monster parts and then effortlessly pulling its entire body in.
"..."
He then continued until all three were fully within the barrier, now relatively unattractive to new monsters outside.
Finn gaped.
Was the panda a hidden top-level boss all along?