Tbou: Hopebreaker

Chapter Eleven

Fight for Survival

William's perspective

My father and I ran through the city, or what's left of it, as pieces of the buildings were scattered around. Maneuvering around the city took a lot of work. Massive chunks of collapsed walls blocked many of the city's roads—the corpses of the people lay bare for all to see.

My heart ached each time I saw a corpse, either of an animal or people, Blight or not. They were all dead. I was grateful that my father was there to snap me out whenever I froze.

However, with each turn we took, a horde of Blightfiends was at the ready. Luckily, my father gave me his storage ring, allowing me to put the rifle away when I needed to use my sword.

I held my rifle up and began firing at the fiends, slowing them down as my father shot them with his bow.
[Blightfiend killed]
[Blightfiend Killed]
[Blightfiend killed]
[Blightfiend killed]

I felt a tingling sensation across my mind as the messages appeared in my head and vision, but I blocked them out.

My rifle clicked, telling me I needed to reload. I pulled the magazine out and channeled magic into it, causing it to glow. Slapping it back into the rifle and doing what my father calls racking it, I started to fire once more, killing more Blightfiend.
[Reload Skill increased from Level 1 to Level 2]

Seconds felt like minutes as the sound of the rifle echoed through the collapsed buildings, the air reverberating from each bullet that was flung out of the barrel.

I pushed back the words as a blightfiend swung an axe at me, forcing me to jump back. My father told me to think of the item I wanted from the storage, and he would give it to me. Doing so, I felt the gun vanish from my hands.

[Old Homemade Magic Rifle has been stored in storage]

Reaching behind me, I brought down my sword in time to collide with one of the blights. Sparks flew as our blades clashed. I've gotten used to battling these fiends by now, taking good care of them as I cut off one's leg and then another's head. My father covered my back, making sure no fiend either snuck up on me or charged at me.
[Blightfiend slain]

I spun my blade back around to the fiend that I crippled, finishing it off.
[Blightfiend slain]
[Basic Sword Skill Level increased from 13 to 14]

I had no time to rest as more fiends ran at us. I kept swinging my sword over and over again, decapitating all that got close until more eerie screams filled my ears. I looked to the destroyed building to my sides as more fiends lept out, charging at me.

Bringing my sword over my shoulders, I focused my magic, channeling even more than I had before. Remembering my father's teachings, channeling my magic into my limbs.

My muscles tensed as magic started to spread across my body. As the fiends approached me, I felt power and strength radiate from my arms, legs, and sword. I steeled myself, staring down at the newly arrived fiends. Their eerie snarls and screams would leave anyone scared. But I'm not. I'm ready. This time, I am.

I braced myself, gritting my teeth as I pushed off the ground, ignoring the road cracking beneath my feet. My grip around my sword tightened as I flew at the fiends, the world fading away as my vision narrowed until all I saw was them as I swung my sword as hard as I could. As my vision returned to normal, I saw three of their heads come clean off, while the last one was sent flying, hurling back towards the building.
[Sword Skill: Slash]
[Three Blight Fiends Slain]

Ignoring the notification in my head, I dash past the newly dead bodies, approaching another wave of fiends as my vision becomes narrow once more, focusing on my targets. The world around me shrinks again, leaving only the fiends and the path to them in my sight. I swung widely at them, watching their heads roll in front of me and their blood splatter across the ground. Those who weren't killed were hurled back into the building they came from.
[Sword Skill: Double Slash]
[Four Blight Fiends Slain]