Enhancing Flicker

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  Congratulations! Your talent, Flicker, has been enhanced!

  Flicker – Unleash the full power of your magically enhanced Dexterity in one condensed burst, granting you an instant surge of tremendous speed. The speed boost provided by this skill has been increased at the cost of additional stamina per use through enhancement.

  "Tsk."

  Lucius felt a bit cheated when he read how his skill had been enhanced. He would gain even more speed for a moment when he used the skill, but the already high stamina cost had been increased—meaning he would be forced to start adding points to stamina if he wanted to use the skill as freely as he wished.

  Casually pulling out his spear, Lucius stepped up to an air conditioning box mounted on the roof of the building to test his upgraded talent. Previously, he had been capable of unleashing around twelve rapid attacks with one activation of Flicker. Since the speed granted by the talent was supposedly enhanced, he wanted to check how many attacks he could now perform in a single activation.

  Garrick hopped onto the cement building that Lucius was standing watch on. The hooded archer carried a bowl of soup in his hand, enchanted with Roland's regeneration skill, intending to offer it to Lucius. As he landed on the roof, he saw Lucius standing in front of a metal box with vents on all four sides.

  As Garrick opened his mouth to speak, his eyes shot wide as a horrible, tearing screech sounded from before him—and the metal box suddenly exploded into a blur of shredded metal that flew through the air like shrapnel. Dropping the bowl of soup, he ducked to the floor and pulled the bow off his back, scanning the environment for whatever threat had clearly launched an attack on them.

  "Wow, almost twenty attacks! That is a pretty damn good enhancement."

  Lucius wiped the sweat from his forehead as he finally turned around to ask Garrick what he needed. That was when he noticed the horrified look on the man's face and the spilled soup on the ground. Stepping forward and scratching the back of his head, Lucius held out one hand to help Garrick stand.

  "Sorry about that. I was testing a new skill."

  Garrick stood there silently for a few seconds after accepting Lucius' hand up, blinking rapidly as he stared at the shredded remains of the metal box, before turning his gaze back toward Lucius as he realized what he had just witnessed.

  "D-Damn that is incredible... Oh crap! I spilled your food! Let me go and fetch you another one!"

  Garrick rushed off the roof excitedly, before quickly returning with a fresh bowl of soup for Lucius.

  Lucius accepted the food and sat down to slowly enjoy his meal, casually chatting with Whisper as he ate. A few hours passed like that without incident. The only notable occurrence was that Lucius assigned his remaining six attribute points after he finished eating—adding three to Stamina and three to Magic Power.

  "Form up!"

  Tiber's deep voice sounded from below, alerting all the soldiers that it was finally time to start moving once again. Lucius hopped down from the roof and took his place beside Tiber in the formation.

  The soldiers stayed close together as they moved through the city; the narrow streets did not allow much room to spread out. As Lucius observed the familiar surroundings of the streets he used to live on, he couldn't help but feel that years had passed since he had last set foot in this city.

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  Many buildings looked like they had been through a war, with broken windows, collapsed walls and roofs, and overgrown weeds everywhere. A few surviving pigeons and squirrels were the only creatures still living here, making chirping noises as they foraged for food.

  The group moved cautiously but swiftly, making good time as they traversed the urban landscape. Lucius did his best to steer them away from danger and was forced to use his weapons only twice in order to slay a few rather weak creatures that couldn't be avoided during the remainder of the journey.

  As they got close to the military base, Lucius was able to see signs of human activity long before he saw the first humans. Abandoned vehicles had been turned into barricades all around the perimeter of the base, closing off the streets to make access more difficult.

  As they approached the first barricade, a pair of uniformed guards stepped out from atop a nearby building and saluted Tiber.

  "Welcome back, sir! The commander will be glad to see you. The goblins have been raiding non-stop since you left—I don't think we can sustain much more of this!"

  Tiber returned the salute as he led the group toward the side of the building, where soldiers at the top lowered a rope ladder for them to climb. Once Lucius pulled himself to the top of the building, he was greeted by the sight of what looked like a campground. Hundreds of tents spread out around a large building at the center of the area, while human beings moved about completing various tasks.

  Some of the people had stalls set up where they appeared to be selling things like abyssal creature flesh, canned food, and crudely crafted weapons and armor. Lucius saw a group of children running along the outskirts of the tents, happily kicking around a soccer ball. The kids appeared healthy enough and seemed to be having a good time playing—until the bell sounded, followed by the screams.

  DONG ... DONG ... DONG

  "RAID!"

  A sound like church bells rang through the air as anxious expressions spread across the faces of the humans within Lucius’s line of sight. Everyone reacted in unison, dashing toward the large structure at the center of the tents as armed soldiers began flooding out of the building.

  Tiber and his men didn’t waste any time, rushing forward as they drew their own weapons. Lucius’s eyes narrowed as Sense Danger alerted him to the swarm of enemies approaching from the southern side of the encampment. He was surprised to find that there were over a dozen D-Class threats among the rapidly approaching creatures.

  In all the groups of creatures Lucius had encountered before, aside from the ants, having one D-Class in the group was considered above average. For the hobgoblins to be charging in with so many made Lucius immediately realize why the soldiers were having so much trouble.

  Without waiting for any instructions, Lucius activated his aspect and dashed ahead of his companions, swerving through the crowds of panicking humans as he finally caught sight of the threat.

  The southern barricade was built just as high as the rest, but it was utterly useless against the large spider mounts that the hobgoblins rode. At least fifty elite hobgoblin cavalry charged over the barricade as if moving across flat ground, at a speed that made it nearly impossible for the soldiers to summon a proper defense in time.

  Five archers on top of the central structure began firing at the hobgoblins, but from such a distance the creatures easily dodged most of the attacks. Only one or two out of every dozen arrows fired seemed to hit a rider or at least the spider underneath them.

  The creatures rushed forward, completely ignoring the soldiers as the hobgoblins expertly tossed nets—attached by long ropes to the abdomens of their spiders—over the humans. It was the same technique they had used to steal James back when the Abyss first descended upon this world.

  The crowds of humans scattered like panicked sheep as their defenders tried desperately to protect them, but with the massive speed advantage of the hobgoblins, the best they could do was cut a few ropes as the hobgoblins sped away.

  "Damnit!"

  There were too many hobgoblins for Lucius to prevent them all from stealing humans, but many of the enemy were merely acting as distractions to allow their allies to snatch up the fleeing people. So Lucius targeted the five or so hobgoblins that were already fleeing with their captured prey.

  With one activation of Flicker, he moved across the entire facility at tremendous speed, leaving a giant trail of dust behind him from the force of his movement. Lucius used the momentum he built up to hurl himself into the air, flying above a group of three massive spiders carrying their hobgoblin riders away from the chaotic battlefield. He clenched his fingers tightly around his spear as he arched his throwing arm backward, releasing a burst of might as he activated Piercing Throw and sent the weapon hurling through the air towards his enemy.

  The [Legendary] weapon beamed through the air with a whistling sound like hurricane winds moving through thick tree branches, before striking true.

  FWOOSH ... CRUUNCH!

  You have defeated Hobgoblin Equitatus, Level 23.

  You have defeated Arachnid Mons, Level 13.

  A giant hole opened up from the top of the hobgoblin’s head all the way to the ground beneath, allowing Lucius to see directly through the bodies of both creatures for a single instant before their own momentum sent them crashing forward in a rolling pile of blood and limbs.