When it was almost dark, she suddenly came across a group of monsters but only parasites, six in total.
"It's a bit crowded but that's fine, as long as that big guy isn't around we can fight comfortably."
Since it was already dark and the day was almost over, Ruminas decided to use the three-time slash this time. After all, it didn't stack, so it would be a waste to leave it for the rest of the day, and using it would count as using a skill for the mission.
"Kill two birds with one stone!"
Ruminas quickly got into a suitable position.
Under the red sunset, six parasites were wandering on a ruined street. They moved slowly, their lifeless white eyes scanning the surrounding space, as if searching for prey.
Ruminas silently hid on a collapsed roof, her sharp amber eyes observing her target. She tightened her grip on the dagger in her hand.
"Three times, just three times... must make the most of it."
Choosing her first prey, she held her breath and dove.
Whoosh!
Her figure passed through the night, the parasite had not yet realized her presence when—
Bam!
"Slash!"
The blade flashed, piercing straight through its skull. There was no scream, no resistance—its body instantly fell limp, as if it had never existed. The remaining five immediately noticed the abnormality. They turned their heads in unison, emitting angry screeches.
Ruminas didn't wait for them to attack first. She jumped back, throwing a piece of rubble away at the same time.
Boom!
The loud noise momentarily distracted the parasites.
"Now!"
Ruminas charged forward, aiming at the nearest monster. She spun around, swinging her knife in a sharp trajectory—
The blade cut through its flesh like paper, slicing the monster's body in half. No blood flowed out, only a lifeless mass of flesh collapsed to the ground.
Only four left.
This time, the monsters reacted. Two of them rushed at her from different directions at the same time, their twisted arms swinging as if to tear her apart.
Ruminas turned to dodge, her feet skimming the ground. One monster missed, but the other continued to attack—
She ducked, avoiding the swing, then jumped, landing right behind it. Without hesitation, she swung her knife—
"Slash!"
The monster's neck was cleanly severed. Its head rolled to the ground, and its body collapsed shortly after.
Only three left.
But at this moment, the remaining two had already closed in, one of them swung its arm to grab Ruminas. She leaned to avoid the attack but was kicked hard in the stomach by the other one!
Thump!
She was thrown back, her back hitting a cracked wall. Pain shot through her body, but she had no time to complain. The monsters were coming.
"Must end quickly!"
Ruminas gathered strength and jumped up, swinging the knife in an arc.
"Slash!"
The sharp blade tore through the monster's body right before her, splitting it into two pieces.
But just then, the other one grabbed her shoulder!
"Damn!"
Ruminas drove her knee into its belly. The monster staggered back, and she didn't miss the chance—
The blade flashed.
The monster's neck was severed in one clean slash.
Only one left.
The last parasite watched as its comrades fell one by one. It let out a soft screech, but this time, there was a hint of fear in that screech.
Ruminas stood up, panting. She knew she no longer had a Slasher, but having only one wasn't a problem.
She clenched her dagger, her eyes flashing with coldness.
"No skills needed this time."
She charged, and the monster finally fell under her blade.
The battle is over.
[Receive: 120 EXP, 6 monster skins]
Ruminas stood among the lifeless corpses, her breathing still ragged. She looked up at the sky—it was completely dark. Fortunately, she had used more black blood than usual this time, so the amount of power she had increased was also significant, which was why she was able to deal with it so quickly this time.
"Just a little bit more to level up, so I guess I'll go find two more parasites tomorrow."
"Good. Now let's find a place to sleep."
Ruminas decided to choose this place, she moved the corpses aside and used dirt and rocks to cover them, creating a relatively private place for herself to lie down.
"Sleeping in the middle of the street like that… is really a first time experience…"
Ruminas chuckled softly and slowly fell asleep.
…
The next day.
She woke up very early to quickly continue her journey. Since her food was almost exhausted, Ruminas was forced to reach that shopping mall in about two days.
"At least there's only about 100m left, come on!"
She packed her things and quickly walked away. Even though the road was bumpy, it couldn't slow her down, but she could only avoid the monsters.
"Wait until we have enough food and then deal with them."
Finally, after almost a day of running non-stop, the huge shopping mall appeared before her eyes. She just needed to cross this bridge to get there.
And luckily this bridge is still relatively intact and monster-free too.
"Luck is coming!"
Ruminas ran away but when she reached the middle of the bridge she suddenly heard the sounds of metal clashing from somewhere.
"It seems to be below"
Ruminas walked to the railing and looked down, she discovered that on the other side there was a group of people surrounded by monsters, the sound was coming from them.
"I met you!"
Ruminas was a little happy that after about two months of living alone she could finally see someone but the other group's condition was not good at all.
There were two men and two women, but they were surrounded by dozens of monsters, including three low-level chaos monsters.
"Well, although it's nice to meet you, this situation is a bit tense… Even though I want to help, that number is beyond my capacity, they look exhausted too."
Ruminas gripped the railing tightly, her eyes scanning the entire situation below. The group of four looked like survivors, but their condition was not very good.
Two men, two women, all four had weapons, but their movements were slow, their breathing was rapid, clearly exhausted. They stood back to back, trying to fight off the monsters that were gradually closing in on them.
"The problem is those three low-level chaos monsters… Even if I use slash, it might not be possible to take them down immediately, not to mention the monsters nearby."
If it was just a bunch of parasites, she could handle it. But three chaos monsters at once was a different story.
She bit her lip, her hand unconsciously tightening on the dagger hilt.
"I have no reason to risk it." Those words echoed in her head, her reason telling her to leave. In the apocalypse, worrying about others would only lead to her own death.
But-
A scream rang out.
One of the men was knocked down by a parasite, its claws cutting through his shoulder, blood spraying everywhere. The woman standing nearby panicked and stabbed her sword at the monster, but her blow was not strong enough to cause any more damage.
"Damned!"
In the end, her emotions won out over her reason.
"If you use it well, you can quickly take down a chaos monster with two slashes, but the remaining two… Agh, let's think about that later!"
Ruminas ran across the bridge, then made his way down below. The three chaos beings were still focused on the other four, doing nothing but letting the parasites fight.
"Are they enjoying it? If so, then maybe we can take advantage of it, but we have to wait for the right moment."
Ruminas had approached but she was just hiding, even if she wanted to save someone, rushing in without thinking would only hurt herself.
The situation then became more and more tense, the most seriously injured man was lying on the ground. A chaos creature approached and was about to finish him off.
Ruminas then immediately noticed a small opening.
"Here it is!"
She took out the black blood and took a big gulp, then threw three stones in three different directions at the same time.
All three lower chaos beings stopped their movements and looked around, then one of them quickly realized something was wrong. It was about to turn around to check, but as soon as it turned around, Ruminas was already in front of it.
"Slash!"
Ruminas activated her skill and stabbed straight into its heart, it roared, attracting the attention of the other monsters. Another tentacle of the chaos monster struck, but Ruminas was much faster this time, so she easily dodged it and swung her knife again.
"Slash!"
This second slash completely finished off one of the chaos monsters. After finishing, Ruminas turned around and ran away. One of the chaos monsters and several parasites split up to chase after him.
"Good!" Her plan was not to fight all of them but to split them up, that way at least the other group would still have a slight chance.
This is all she can help with.
[Receive: 50 EXP, 1 low-grade chaos bone]
[Enough EXP to level up]
[Level Up Reward: 5 Optional Stat Points]
"Oh, leveled up…" Ruminas thought for a bit then quickly invested all five points into strength. Right now she needed strength to finish them off quickly.
As soon as she finished choosing, she felt her strength increase again. The distance from the other side was far enough, so Ruminas decided to stop.
Behind her were a low-level chaos and six parasites. They also stopped and looked at her warily.
"Great, let's play!"