8 Monster Slayer

Liam stepped out of the alleyway.

All the monsters in the area either heard him or smelled him as their body began to shiver violently. These monsters were all a killing-hungry entity.

Liam, while on his stance, stared at all of them as the zombies moved the sharp claws that displaced their fingers, and as the four-legged monster, or the skinless hounds, revealed their long pointy teeth.

Tap!

"Three."

Three hounds dashed towards Liam. One on the ground and two on the air. They were surrounding him on all sides.

Perhaps it was his skill Inference, or it was his high Wisdom stat, but he already predicted what the hounds would do.

Liam moved and jumped after forcefully stepping on the hound which was on the ground. In mid-air, he dodged the incoming monster, and taking the chance, he pressed his dagger on its chest.

After landing on the ground, he held his dagger on a reverse grip, and as the other hound on the air fell down, he stabbed it in the head.

Hearing something behind him, he turned around and ducked. It was a claw attack of a zombie.

Liam stepped forward while still lowered at the same time he stabbed his dagger on its neck. Believing it was not enough to kill it, he moved behind it and pressed the dagger on its head.

While his attention was still fixed on the zombie, the hound which he stepped on earlier already flew towards him.

As the dagger in his right hand was still stuck on the zombie's head, Liam took a step back, while the hound follows, he rotated his hips, and delivered a punch.

As if it still wasn't enough, within a second, he stretched his leg upwardly and moved his right foot higher than his head, and let it fall upon the hound's body with the powerful force that surpasses the normal attacks.

The two attacks were made in a mere 3 seconds. Almost all parts of the hound's body exploded, leaving every meat it have to scatter all over the place.

Liam grabbed his dagger and once again made up a stance.

This was just the start. There were dozens of monsters more around him since he was near the epicenter.

PSHLK!

Liam's monster slaying began.

Tap!

A few minutes passed since he started killing monsters. He began to sweat profusely while he leaned on a car to catch his breath.

Zombies are strong with their claws and Hounds are fast with their four legs, but they both lack endurance which makes it easy to kill them was Liam's estimation of their abilities after fighting dozens of them for a while.

He remembered that he even killed a few zombies in one strike after slashing a part of their body, and he realized that it was the dagger's 'deep slash' effect.

He just rested for a moment before going in the middle of the street again. He decided to finally go forward to his house since the monsters weren't coming for him anymore.

When he took a step, he realized,

"They're not coming for me anymore...?"

The monsters were not initiating to attack anymore. To be precise, they were still on one spot.

Liam looked around from every side but it was the same.

They were not moving.

At that moment, a chill ran down his spine. Feeling something gloomy, he turned around.

In the entrance of the monster's cave, one can clearly sense a menacing aura coming from it.

A few moments later, four monsters stepped out of it one by one.

'What are these monsters...'

Four of them have the same exact appearance. Their body was that of a man but their head was that of a boar with fangs that were pointy and also long enough for it to show itself coming from their mouth. They have no skin to hide their flesh and their fingers were replaced by something like an edged blade.

A monster made with both the zombie and the hound.

Liam's expression turned grim. He suspected it was the middle D Class monster but...

'Aren't they a bit too strong...?'

It's just one rank higher than the zombies and hounds but just by having to sense the four monster's aura, which was overlapping with each other's, made him feel weak.

'Is this also why the zombies aren't moving?'

Just as more questions kept materializing inside his head, his phone rang.

Ding!

'The app!'

While the four monsters were still not moving, Liam decided to quickly open the phone to the app, believing it would help him.

[The user collected a total of 29 Power Cores.]

[14 low-class and 15 middle-class white Power Core was placed in the inventory.]

Liam was slightly surprised after reading the first notification. Not because of the amount, but because the app said 'collected'.

Right now, he thought that he didn't need to think about it, given by the direness of his situation, as he went for the next notification.

[The user killed his 10th and 30th monster.]

[Rewards shall be given.]

[The Heaven's App bestowed the user 800 coins, 4 level increase for every attribute, and 4 level increase for every skill.]

[A high-class normal dagger, 3 low-class skill emblem, and 5 low-class attribute emblem was given to the user.]

[Upon reaching 1000 coins, a new option was loaded inside the Store.]

[Item Sell.]

"This..."

He instantly came back to his senses and immediately went for the Inventory.

A new dagger floated above his phone. He didn't immediately grab it as he moved the phone away from it, and continued with the app.

He went for the middle-class white Power Core and pressed the Use for about 4 times.

[4 levels of Vitality was increased.]

[4 levels of Intelligence was increased.]

He was about to get more...

[4 levels of Strength was increased.]

[4 levels of Vitality was increased.]

But he felt something very strange sensation...

It was like nature was telling him that he's in danger.

Liam only averted his gaze on the phone when it became stronger...

And a meter in front of him...

He saw one of the four rank D monsters was nearing him.

'Fast...! I didn't even notice it... But...'

In an instant, he grabbed the dagger floating in the air and crossed his arms to block the incoming attack while thinking that it was a good thing that he didn't use its claws.

'It should be lacking stren-'

The moment the fist landed on Liam's arm, it didn't stop but it even went further to impact his chest.

Keuk-!

Liam drifted a few meters away after receiving the intense blow. The monster also have a strength which was enough to make him fly slightly above the ground.

'I thought my Endurance was raised!'

The pain was a bit hard to take but he can still move normally as he stood up and went for a stance to prepare against the monster.

But.

There was also another monster behind him.

The same strange sensation earlier crept up on Liam once again, but this time, he immediately turned around.

A claw was about to hit him.

But he saved his life by reflexively jumping sidewards.

The attack left a deep dent on the asphalt ground.

Liam stepped away from the monsters but another one as he suspected, there was another one behind him so he didn't continue to walk behind.

While in his front, another walked slowly.

'They have intelligence...?'

"KWRAAAAAAAAAGH-!!"

All four monsters screamed which was enough to make a man's ear to hurt constantly.

'I take that back!'

Their growling soon stopped but unfortunately for Liam, they moved towards him.

"Shit."