17 A Suspicious Ryan

Shesmu walked slowly towards the dead goblin and pulled out his sword. Omega9 really have the worst of tastes. Making these monsters so realistic and have survival instinct…

Although his heart was still heavy, Shesmu kept his head high. From the corner of his eyes, he glanced at Leo.

The man was fighting with all of his might, he kept blocking with his sword most of the goblins' hits and whenever he saw an opportunity, he hit them with his sword.

However, even though he was putting a good fight, his HP was always on the decline due to the goblin from above throwing sharpened rocks at him. Shesmu was thinking about the goblins on top of the trees when he remembered the task given to DepressedRyan. He turned to look at the target that Ryan assigned to himself, only to see that it's still merrily throwing rocks at Leo. However, from beneath the branches of the tree, Shesmu could see a shadowy figure.

Oh, that's interesting…

Climbing a tree was already a hard task for a level 1 player. Doing so while not attracting any attention from the goblin on top was an unimaginable feat for a new player. Shesmu kept looking like the shadow slowly crept towards the goblin who was still unaware. The cold glint of the sword flashed for a second and DepressedRyan pounced on his target. Before it could even scream, he muffled its mouth and slashed its throat. He then activated empowered thrust and plunged it deep in the goblin's heart.

When Shesmu saw this scene unfold, he was at loss for words. He is definitely a pro. Is he someone from the future like me?!, Shesmu couldn't help but question.

Anyway, I'll talk to him later about this. For now, helping Leo takes the utmost priority.

Shesmu looked at Leo once again. Using inspect, he found that Leo only had 40 Hp left. However, before Shesmu could even Dash in to help him, Leo used Empowering Slash and took down one of the goblins. Surprised by this turn of event, Shesmu stopped for a second before thinking, Well, he is Leo after all.

"Leo, I'll leave the ones in the ground to you. I'll take care with Ryan of the ones on top, just don't die," barked Shesmu. He then immediately ran towards one the surviving goblins on top of the tree before jumping. The branch on which the goblin stood was four meters above ground. No matter how one thought about it, they could never see a way where Shesmu could jump that distance. However, the moment Shesmu jumped was the moment he vanished. He appeared like a ghost in front of the poor goblin and performed Empowered Slash Cancel.

Shesmu then took hold of the branch with one hand and watched as the goblin fell down. The damage it took from falling down on its head was enough to kill it.

Shesmu turned to look for his next target only to see the last two goblins running away. He couldn't use Dash for another 8 seconds, and by that time they would have already run away due to their superior agility. Tch, guess I can't do anything about that.

Now that his primary targets were gone, Shesmu decided to help out Leo with the goblin he was fighting against. However, before he could even jump out of the branch, DepressedRyan appeared behind the goblin.

"Empowered Thrust!"

Plunging his sword deep into the goblin's heart, DepressedRyan took out its remaining Hp. Blood gushed out from the goblin's wound painting Ryan's face red before it fell down.

"Huff, thanks, Ryan. You are a lifesaver," Leo was not in his best shape. He had to tank both the attacks of the goblins he was fighting against and the rocks that were thrown at him. At this point, he barely had 15 HP left.

"Don't worry about it. More importantly, how much exp did you get? They didn't say on the website how exp is shared so we might have to do some maths."

Shesmu jumped off the branch he was holding on and walked towards the duo. "Yeah, I'm interested too," Shesmu said.

Leo checked his exp bar before replying, "I got 70 exp overall."

"Oh, so that means you got 30 exp from the kill I took. Interesting, I got the full 40. We can use this to our advantage to level up quickly. We should test how this whole system works as fast as possible, so we need more testing," DepressedRyan replied, his voice implying his excitement and joy.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I'm pumped up!" Leo exclaimed. The passion of Ryan rubbed onto him and he became excited too.

However, Shesmu decided to calm the duo down a little bit.

"That's cool and all, but first we need to rest a little bit so that Leo recovers his HP. The effect of bread and water takes time after all."

Leo was confused by Shesmu's response, "The effect of bread and water? What's that?"

To his question, Shesmu quickly responded, "Bread gives you back Hp, and water satiates your thirst level. But both of these are not instant but regenerative effects."

This response raised more questions than it answered, as even DepressedRyan became confused. "Thirst level? I don't see that anywhere, where can I check it?"

Seeing the confused look on Ryan, Shesmu was surprised. He doesn't know? Or maybe is he faking ignorance? Is he trying to hide the fact that he came from the future, or is it me that overthought his actions and he really didn't come back from the future?

"Ehh, Shesmu?" DepressedRyan asked as he saw Shesmu deep in his thoughts, he then continued while waving his hand, "From earth to Shesmu, from earth to Shesmu, do you hear me?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something. We were talking about thirst level and whatnot, right?", seeing Ryan nod his head Shesmu continued, "Well, I didn't find it on my interface either. It's just in the description of the water in the inventory."

"Oh, that's weird," commented Leo, holding his chin, "you think it's a bug?"

"Maybe," Ryan responded. He then continued, "but we can't do anything about it. Let's just hide behind the trees and rest for now."

Both of Shesmu and Leo agreed with him, and thus the trio chose a tree to lean on. All of them took out a portion of their ration and started eating; Leo, because of his low Hp, and the other two because they were hungry.

They kept on munching on their bread for a while before Shesmu finished and said, "Hey, Ryan, wanna check out the surrounding? We will just look for another group of goblins so that once Leo is ready, we have a clear direction."

"Sure, I have no problem. But what about you Leo, are you fine staying here alone for a bit?" DepressedRyan asked, concerned for his friend.

To this question, Leo just laughed, "Haha, what do you think I am? A baby who still needs his mom, just go, sho sho."

To this answer, DepressedRyan just smiled in resignation.

"Well, you heard the man. Let's head out."

Shesmu just nodded his head and stood up. The duo just moved out in arbitrary direction while Shesmu was thinking, If there is anything that will blow his cover, it will be Armageddon, right? It's the biggest annual event of Ashes of Gods after all.

Confirming his decision in his mind, Shesmu waited until Leo could no longer see them before he asked.

"Hey Ryan," Shesmu then turned to face him before continuing, "Do you know about Armageddon?"

Shesmu was expecting many faces. He expected him to laugh, or be confused, or keep a poker face. But the face Ryan made was one that he didn't predict.

DepressedRyan looked a little bit confused first at Shesmu's question before it turned into one of understanding.

"Ah, Armageddon, you're talking about the battle of good and evil before the day of judgment, right? Of course, I do. I have read the bible after all."

Shesmu looked at Ryan for a second before his mind just went off, Huh?