I unleashed Overwhelming once again. First I slaughtered the Needlewood right in front of me and immediately followed with a diagonal slash to the right. The Skills effects have diminished by that point, but despite that I still followed the previous two attacks with a third one where I raised Durandal high into the air and slammed it into the ground with all my strength, slashing the third Needlewood cleanly in half.
I finally arrived in the corner that I wanted to reach so desperately, all the while avoiding the attacks of the monsters who were still right on my tail. With this, the angle they can attack me from has been reduced to about 90 degrees. Lowering Durandal to the level of my waist, I looked through the room to assess my current situation.
First thing I noticed almost right away was the enemys numbers were greatly reduced. I only saw that now because I actually had the time to look around calmly, without having to swing Durandal left and right to avoid being overrun by the brownish-green abominations. Now there was only ten or so of them left. This made me realize that one of my earlier statements was a big fat lie: while I thought I was staring death in the face calmly, I was never calm at all. All this time I was simply thrashing around like a scared child oblivious to everything thats been going on around it. If I just took a damn moment to actually observe what was happening around me maybe I wouldnt be so obsessed with going from corner to corner like an idiot. Yup, my observational skills are truly of the Godly levels it seems.
The next thing I noticed was the fact that my hands were sweaty as fuck. Like seriously, they are like friggin waterfalls right now. Thats why I have to be extremely careful. If I end up dropping Durandal, even by accident, thats probably going to be a game over for me. So I did the only thing I could have done in this situation: even if I knew Im going to get attacked, I wiped my sweaty hands in my pants. Several vines of the Needle woods attacked me during that short while, but there was nothing I could do about it, since that was more important to me. I gripped Durandal again, this time with sweat-free hands and run to the right.
First I dispatched the farthest Needlewood to the right. Now that so many enemies have been dispatched, I should be able to move however I want, or in other words: Go wild with my OP as shit holy sword!
I jumped forward, swinging Durandal all around me, ruthlessly decimating the branches that were shot in my direction. They are being cut down as if they were no more than the blades of wilted grass, and their owners soon follow after them. Continuing the battle with the leftover enemies in such a manner, I kept on pressing forward.
Another two Needlewoods came at me from the front, so I cut them down. Another one tried to ambush me from the left with its branches, but I dodged them and immediately countered with a slash that went upwards and to the left, and used the created momentum to deliver another powerful downward slash that instantly killed another Needlewood in front of me.
There are only three enemies remaining.
I am not going to run away now, and it looks like they are not going to run away either. I invoked Overwhelming again, defeating two of them with a single slash of my sword.
I finished gathering all the branches, and since theres nothing else here in this room, Id best be on my way. I already wasted enough time here as it is.
I brought up the Job Settings menu. My current levels are as follows: Explorer Lv.8; Hero Lv. 5, Warrior Lv.6, Villager Lv.5, Merchant Lv.1 , Swordsman Lv.10. I also didnt get any new Jobs, which is strange, because I was sure that singlehandedly defeating so many monsters was bound to get me at least one new Job. Also, the levels of my Jobs start to look really nice. Not to mention that when I used that last Overwhelming during the end of the battle, I wasnt feeling depressed or swarmed by the dark thoughts. That was probably due to the fact that my level had increased and my MP regenerated at that moment. That would also explain why am I not experiencing that gradual feeling of mental recovery that I used to feel whenever my MP was going back to the certain amount.
It is a little bit early, but lets leave the Labyrinth for now. After a round of walking around the town I returned to the inn. As expected, I caught no sign of bandits at all. If I want to find them, I guess Ill have no other option but to go deeper into the slums.
Id like to rent a room for another night. Ill also be having a dinner, and after that, give me a some hot water and a lamp.
As you wish, kid. So a diner, hot water and a lamp you know what, Im feeling generous today, so Ill be charging you only 245 Nar for all of that.
The Innkeeper told me. A single batch of hot water costs 20 Nar, and If Im remembering correctly the rent for the lamp (an oil lamp, by the way) was certainly 10 Nar. Curiously enough, when I bought the hot water yesterday my 30% discount didnt work, but today it worked like a charm! Maybe the discount is not taking effect if youre only buying a single item? That is a possibility that Ill have to check later.
Do I have to show you my Intelligence Card again?
No need for that if youre renewing your stay. Your room is the same one as before, do go ahead and enjoy our stay.
And he offered me a familiar key, which I took upstairs, feeling glad that I wont have to flash my Intelligence Card every time Ill be renewing my stay here.