Lazar had just spent the most intense 5 hours of his life. As he tried to fall asleep on the driver seat which he had just inclined, a lot of questions were polluting his mind.
This apocalypse simply didn"t make sense for him.
"It"s impossible to predict what will happen."
The announcement of the end of the world by the horn of Heimdall of Nordic mythology.
Hermes from Greek mythology as a messenger of the G.o.ds and his allusion to the seven seals of the Apocalypse which are in the New Testament.
And finally his meeting with a monster from Inuit folklore.
"By taking one by one the events that have just occurred, it seems that everything has been mixed between the different prophetic texts on the end of the world that I know. Fortunately, I have read books that talk about these subjects several times, I wouldn"t have to break into a library..."
The study of mythologies and theology was one of the rare non-practical readings that Lazar allowed himself.
Why?
Because it is only in this kind of texts that we can rationalize the fact that the Earth would have been born from the corpse of a giant, itself born from the collision between a world of ice and fire.
From there, how can we not find it exciting? Besides, this knowledge is proving useful today.
Another thing that bothers him is energy.
Thanks to the points he had invested in this statistic, he was gradually starting to feel it circulate in him.
"It could be compared to the circulation of my blood throughout my body. It"s still weak but I can feel it moving inside me when I focus on it."
He had to go to Boston as soon as possible, but he was taking into account what Lana had said.
If the situation was as s.h.i.tty as it had been on the highway with the flame column, then he had to enter the city either fully prepared or not at all.
Therefore, at dawn, he would train to be able to use the Energy Slash.
It became his prerequisite for going to Boston.
If he found himself making the crossing that he undertook in a city infested with monsters, he must have all his a.s.sets ready to be used.
...
The Moonlight was important enough to see that Lazar"s watch indicated 4:34 a.m.
He was supposed to sleep 7 hours ago, but he couldn"t get to sleep until 1 a.m.
It was only in his sleep that he looked peaceful... Vulnerable...
Although, even then, his right hand was on the handle of his blade.
But none of his precautions had prepared him for his peaceful sleep to be interrupted by a brick of stone that pa.s.sed through his windshield and ended its course right in his forehead.
When he understood what had just happened... The first thing he felt wasn"t the pain although the brick had left a large bruise on his forehead and blood was already starting to trickle from a wound.
It was pure anger.
Whoever it was, or whatever it was, this thing was going to die!
Hardly had he had time to regain his senses, that he saw something on the hood of his car.
Normally he should have felt that it had gotten on his car, but the brick blow he had taken prevented it.
Thanks to the moonlight he saw very distinctly a very small silhouette handling a large spear that was going to hit him.
"GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!"
He was surprised to understand what had just been said to him and he was convinced when he saw the silhouette that it wasn"t human.
That didn"t stop him from estimating the best thing to do in less than a second.
Such a ridiculously frail creature shouldn"t have had such a spear as a weapon, it seemed to use it with difficulty. Its spear swing wasn"t executed quickly enough to cause Lazar a problem.
"You don"t deserve it if that"s all you can do."
Having not let go of the handle of his blade, he drew it and stopped the spear in full swing.
"What?!"
It didn"t hide its astonishment.
Lazar wasn"t done with it, he was going to take his time.
He straightened up in his seat and although he couldn"t see the creature well, it seemed to start to panic.
With a blow of his blade, he managed to make fly the spear from the hands of the creature which had no chance to measure itself to the strength of Lazar with its skinny arms.
He went on with a kick into the creature"s rib cage.
He felt ribs break under his sole and sent it flying almost as far as the spear.
With his rib cage in such a state, no chance it could get up right away.
But Lazar still hastened to get out of the car.
This creature was endowed with speech and he intended to demand explanations.
...
As soon as he opened the door, he saw it crawl about fifteen yards from the car in the direction of its weapon.
"A very thin hope."
He advanced towards him and gave him a second kick in the same place, to let off steam and so that his back is facing the gra.s.s.
He wanted to see what his attacker looked like.
It was a rather disconcerting appearance he saw, an old red-eyed goblin with protruding teeth bathed in his own blood that he kept spitting.
He wore ragged clothes that would make you think of a peasant from the Middle Ages.
He also had a pointed red cap screwed on his head and from which it seemed to emit a pungent odor.
With this description, he had a choice between dozens of different creatures.
Lazar put his blade on the throat of the goblin.
"I hope you have a good reason for sending me a f.u.c.king brick in the face!"
It answered him with difficulty while spitting blood.
"You... are in my territory... you have to pay... with your blood!"
"Oddly I don"t remember seeing a goblin every time I came here. You are doing an error, it"s you who are on my territory, which makes you a parasite."
He slit its throat.
"And the parasites, I eliminate them."
[You have eliminated a Redcap (E ★★☆☆☆).]
[100 experience points obtained!]
Having been notified that he had obtained information about a new monster, he went to see what this goblin was really in the bestiary.
[Redcap ⠆British folklore]
♦ Danger level ⠆E ★★☆☆☆
♦ Description ⠆
The redcap is a type of malevolent and murderous goblin in British folklore.
He is said to inhabit ruined castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds.
When travelers take refuge in his lair, he flings huge stones at them and if he kills them, he soaks his cap in their blood, giving it a crimson hue.
"That explains why this s.h.i.t bag threw a brick at me and its disgusting cap."
More than 600 people had already killed a rank E ★★☆☆☆ monster but he still obtained 1 stat point as a reward in the Achievements.
He invested it in his energy statistic, which increased to 12.
"Maybe that"s all I need to realize this technique."
He hesitated to move the corpse of the Redcap.
With his disgusting beanie, it would stink enough at 20 yards to hinder his training.
He preferred to move away himself while making sure to keep an eye on his car.
After what had just happened he couldn"t sleep anymore tonight.
So he went to start his training.
He stood in front of a tree 15 yards away.
He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the flow of energy through his body.
It only took him 30 seconds to feel it.
It might seem long, but when he tried to do the same in the car it took him 2 minutes.
This small investment of 1 point in Energy really helped him.
He went to the next stage and drew his blade.
He held his arms stretched over his head in a position to give a vertical slash.
The fact that he had pulled out his blade had increased his control over his energy.
He then remembered the description of the Energy Slash.
"I need to focus my energy on my weapon. Easier said than done..."
He made a few failed attempts before having results after 1 hour.
"It was the right metaphor to see the energy of my body as the circulation of my blood. When you have enough control over your energy, you can redirect it to a specific part of your body at first. More difficult, I have to direct my energy towards my blade."
It took him 2 hours to successfully complete this step.
For three hours now he had been motionless.
But unlike the beginning, above his head, there was a blue aura all along his blade.
Fortunately, the twilight had risen for a while.
At night this aura would have illuminated all the clearing, attracting a lot of annoyances.
"It"s good."
He swings his blade and a 6 feet long blue slash went straight towards the tree that Lazar was aiming for.
Until now he had thought that the Achievements had something to do with the elimination of monsters only.
He was pleasantly surprised to see a notification from this category.
♦ Understanding a rank E ★★★★★ skill ⠆⌧
• 1st ⠆Lazar Sogorov.
• Reward ⠆8 stat points.