The class window closed.
With it came the next wave.
They came from the east this time. Arthur had predicted it based on the movement patterns of the earlier packs, beasts clustered around their spawning points, and three of the largest spawn zones in the region were to the east of the farmhouse.
"Incoming!!" Leon called from the watchtower they had built.
Three days ago, Arthur had ordered a basic watchtower constructed. Two platforms, wood, rope, a crossbow mounted at the top.
It had already saved them twice.
"Numbers?" Arthur called back.
"Too many to count!!"
Arthur turned to Jack.
"Full kit."
Jack said nothing and went to get ready.
The wave wasn't random beasts this time.
It was organized.
---rustle---rustle---rustle
The treeline shook hard. The Carlos brothers had long since reinforced the farmhouse walls with leftover windigo bone plating that they had managed to press flat. It wouldn't hold against a sustained charge but it would slow things down.
"Grin frogs on the left flank." Leon announced from above. "Crater wolves on the right. And..." His voice changed.
"Arthur. There's something bigger."
"Size?"
"....fifteen feet at least. Moving slow. Everything else is clearing a path for it."
A fifteen foot beast.
Arthur had seen that in his past life too, but later. Much later. It shouldn't be appearing this early.
'Unless...' He thought in his mind. 'Unless this one survived from before Orlong arrived.'
A legacy beast.
Something old. Something that had been dormant and was now awake.
"Change of plans." Arthur said.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
He sent Jack and Leon to hold the flanks.
Frogs for Leon. Wolves for Jack.
The big one was Arthur's.
(You can do this.) He thought in his mind. Not from excitement. From cold calculation.
Predator class. Beast Knowledge from all his previous kills. Bone Sense.
He had to use everything.
---ROAR!!!
The trees at the edge of the forest split apart.
What stepped through was something that had no clean name yet. It would eventually be called a Goremaw by survivors who wrote about it later. But in this moment it was just a wall of muscle and scale, moving on four thick legs with a head like a battering ram and teeth the length of Arthur's forearm.
It ignored the chaos around it.
Its eyes locked onto Arthur.
(It can tell I'm the threat.) He realized.
Not the gunfire from Leon. Not the massive form of Jack.
Him.
(Good.)
Arthur took a breath.
And ran toward it.
---woosh
[Predator — Bone Sense: Active]
As the distance between them closed, the world shifted slightly. He could feel the structure of the beast. Spine. Ribs. The dense plating over its skull. The thinner bone just above its left eye socket.
There.
Arthur raised the breaker.
---BOOM
The Goremaw swiped with one leg and caught him across the torso, sending him tumbling backwards.
He hit the ground hard.
'Cracked rib maybe.' He thought. 'Keep moving.'
He was already rolling back to his feet.
[Stamina: 102/145]
The blood rage dagger.
He'd drawn blood from the swipe.
The Blood Rage passive had already started working.
Arthur charged again.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
It took twelve minutes.
Twelve minutes of the most vicious close-range fighting Arthur had done in this second life.
Three times the Goremaw had hit him. Two ribs cracked on the left side. A gash across his right forearm. His left knee had been slammed into the ground hard enough that it swelled on the spot.
But it was dead.
The Exploit skill had given him the opening.
Ten seconds of perfect strikes. He had used every one of them to hammer the weak point above the Goremaw's left eye socket with the head of the breaker, driving the venom-coated bone directly through.
The paralysis had set in within seconds.
The beast had gone down.
And then Arthur had finished it.
[Ding!!
Legacy Beast slain: Goremaw
+4500 Exp
Bonus: Solo kill against superior enemy. +2000 Exp.
Title awarded: First Blood Against the Old World.
Effect — Against beasts of legacy classification, user receives +15 to all stats.
]
[Ding!!
User has Leveled up to Level 8
User has Leveled up to Level 9
User has Leveled up to Level 10
Awarding attribute points…
+15 attribute points.
]
Arthur sat in the mud next to the Goremaw's body and breathed.
Just breathed.
Leon appeared first. He had cuts on both arms but he was standing.
"You look terrible." Leon said.
"Frogs?"
"Handled."
"Jack?"
"One wolf got through his guard. Arm cut. He killed it with his bare hands after."
Of course he did.
Arthur almost smiled.
"Help me up." He said.
Leon grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
The farmhouse clearing looked like a battlefield. Which it was. The Carlos brothers stepped out from the reinforced farmhouse, eyes wide, surveying the destruction.
"...you killed that?" Carlos the elder pointed at the Goremaw.
"Yes."
"....alone?"
"Yes."
Both brothers looked at each other.
Then back at Arthur.
They didn't say anything else.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
That evening,
Arthur sat in the corner of the farmhouse and distributed his attribute points quietly.
+5 speed. +5 physical strength. +5 stamina.
He pulled up the full stat screen.
[Name: Arthur Naldir
Physical Strength: 34
Stamina: 170
Speed: 39
Will Power: 200
Class: Predator
Level: 10
Exp: 0/5000
Passive Skills: Beast Knowledge / Bone Sense
Active Skills: Exploit (Cooldown 1hr)
Title: Ahead of His Time / First Blood Against the Old World]
Two titles.
Both active simultaneously.
In his past life he had reached level 10 three months after Orlong appeared. He was doing it in under two weeks.
(Good.) He thought.
Then he looked at the Goremaw extraction.
Inside the beast's chest cavity, the Carlos brothers had found something that hadn't been on any blueprint Arthur gave them.
A core.
Round. Dense. Pulsing faintly with a dark amber light.
[Ding!!
Legacy Beast Core: Goremaw Marrow Core.
Effect: Can be fused into a weapon to grant the weapon the Legacy classification. Alternatively, can be consumed directly.
Warning: Direct consumption is not recommended at current strength level.
]
Arthur set the core down.
He would not rush this decision.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,