Twenty minutes passed by and he defeated three more monsters. Three!
Finn had to admit he was feeling a bit smug. He did, however, remind himself not to be too arrogant otherwise his halberd could find itself outside the barrier one of these days.
He saw a few more monsters arrive to fill up the number he had just killed. While his status was decent, now that his blood was more attractive, he didn’t dare take too long to deal with these monsters.
As much as he wanted to fight them directly, he still decided to be a little resourceful in this fight.
He did not have much jerky prepared (he gave a lot to Syl), so he decided to make use of the carcasses instead. They wouldn’t nearly be as attracted to the blood of fellow monsters, which should give him enough leeway. That was to say: Distract the ones already here, but don’t attract more monsters from elsewhere.
He chose to take the innards of the ones already inside. If it were a domestic animal, he didn’t mind handling its innards and finding a way to make a dish out of them.
However, these monsters might have eaten humans at some point, and he wouldn’t be able to stomach that, so eating the innards in this world was definitely off the menu for him.
He gathered the innards (with Pang so helpfully making vomiting noises at the back) and then placed them on specific spots along the barrier.
He placed them in a way that two or three monsters would congregate and squeeze into each other while leaving him some space to target them better.
The dagger was too short, but it would’ve been helpful if the monsters had short noses or something, but for now, he was stuck with the halberd. With it, he could at least target the weak spots without exposing himself too much.
He lifted his halberd and swung it, swiping accurately at the monsters!
His main target would always be the eyes or the mouth. It was just that the eyes were a bit small and difficult to hit properly, while the mouth was protected by sharp teeth.
It was also boring to just keep poking, and he did want to learn and grow more, especially since he was given the advantage of having such a sturdy and convenient shield to save his life.
He also hadn’t forgotten some of his missions wherein he had to kill a thousand of certain types of monsters—The brootrats and the thornspawn creepers—within a few months. He had an inkling that those missions wouldn’t be so simple.
With renewed determination, he used his body weight to whirl at the enemies, causing blood to splatter to the side. Using the momentum, he made another swipe, but stopped midway, shifting the inertia forward for a stab, on or near the wounds that he had already made before.
ROAAARR!
He remembered this technique, memorizing the movements.
With a legitimate weapon, he could now cause direct damage to the monsters’ hard skin. Unlike before, where he could only target their wounds and their eyes, he had a much wider set of movements to use now.
As he fought, he focused on remembering the feeling of swinging the weapon against his enemy, memorising how they would react, and the feel of how the blade would react against their thick skins, at what angle, and at what force.
Occasionally, when he wanted to confuse them, he’d poke a piece of internal organ from next to him and throw it out. The single moment of distraction was enough for him to stab good places, ultimately killing them with less energy than needed.
Oftentimes, they’d step on each other, too. No monsters were killed just by this, but any pain caused to them was appreciated.
ROARR!!
He swung, stabbed, and parried with ease, at increasing pace and expertise. Even he was surprised by how smooth his movements were becoming.
Further, before awakening, this amount of consistent swinging would’ve made him sweat. Now, it was akin to swinging a pillow.
It was like he had trained for years to specialize in the weapon. His passive was awesome.
He stood in front of the barrier and continued to stab and parry, getting more and more used to his new weapon.
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
[Killed! Hissmal (Awakened)]
One by one, the monsters were killed. Then, he’d pull a portion of their body into the barrier with a single movement before pulling out the weapon.
However, at some point, a monster captured part of the spear!
"Shit!" he gasped, feeling his feet slide along the ground. For a moment, an image of his weapon getting taken away from him again passed by his head. However, unlike before, where he felt like he was carried by a tornado, he felt like he could fight the force pulling on him!
He gritted his teeth and stomped on the soil, creating more resistance. With a huff, he pulled it back, carrying the brindlejaw smack to the barrier! Fortunately, even if it was attached to his weapon, the monster wouldn’t be allowed inside the barrier.
In the single moment he made the monster hit the barrier, he pulled out the dagger with his free hand, stabbing at the momentarily immobilized monster smack into the eye and to its small brain.
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
[Upgraded! Blade Proficiency (Lvl1) → (Lv2)]
During this time, more and more monsters appeared, apparently attracted by the dozens of monsters making a scene there.
He couldn’t help but remember one of the missions he had.
[Active Mission: Kill 100 Monsters!]
[Information: Kill 100 Monsters of at least the Awakened level.
Progress: 19/100
Reward: 1000 Hearth Points]
It seemed like it counted every kill, as long as he was the last hit, and understandably so.
He nodded. Since this was happening, he might as well complete another mission!
With a huff, he pulled out his weapon from its embedment, the momentum causing it to move into a wide arc. Finn smiled and controlled it well, and a second later, the blade was once again pointing at the monsters in front of him.
"Bring it on, meat sources!!"