Galaxy's First Ruler

[…

…

Agility: 101 (+4 +50 +23)

…

…]

BOOM!!!

A boom echoed in the surroundings of the hill. And Aldrich left behind a short cloud of dust where he had been standing. In the next moment, he appeared right below the eye level of the Crawler. The dagger's efficiency could have been dropped considerably by the Mana Burst Skill, so Aldrich went with the ways of Old School.

A left uppercut to the Boss' chin sent it high in the air. After reaching the highest point of its short flight, with its face towards the sky, the Boss was about to fall. But Aldrich grabbed the dagger in its chest and pulled it out. The dagger came slicing out of the chest, but it jerked the Boss up a little.

"Change."

[…

…

Strength: 77 (+3 +50)

Agility: 28 (+4)

Perception: 50 (-50)

…

…]

An evil, light red aura enveloped Aldrich's whole body. Every strand of his muscles cried to burst out with sheer raw power. The sound of him making a fist was mind-numbing. An image of an enormous fist going towards the sky could be seen for a moment in the Boss's eyes.

"HAAAA!!!"

And the almighty fist was smashed on the Boss's face.

CRUNCH!!! BOOM!!!

The Boss's body struck the gravestone, but it didn't slow the Crawler down at all and the gravestone burst apart into a million small pieces. Then, with the force of a small meteorite striking the earth, the boss collided with the hill. The impact made the round top of the hill completely fall apart. But it wasn't the end. The momentum had dragged the Boss down the hill and only at the bottom; it stopped.

Aldrich redistributed the Stats back to their original Attributes and came to the edge of the crater. He could see the motionless body of the Crawler laying face down at the foot of the hill. He saw several notifications had popped up and focused his attention on them.

[…

Quest 3 (optional) has been completed

Rewards:

1. Skill Points +5

2. Buckey's Cigarettes 10

3. 3 Miles Shot

…

Item: Buckey's Cigarettes (10)

Type: Consumable

Rank: Common

Description: Restore 10% of maximum HP at Common Rank

Warning: Effects would drastically decrease with every Level up in Rare Rank

Warning: Effects would drastically decrease if the current HP is less than 10% of the maximum HP

Warning: Item would occupy 0.1 Units of Inventory

…

Skill: 3 Miles Shot

Nature: Active, Not-upgradable

Cooldown: 00:10:00 hrs

Minimum Usage Condition: Perception 30

Consumption: 200 MP

Rank: Common

Description: Enhanced visibility and accuracy in a radius of 3 miles

Warning: Skill's effect is susceptible to the Rank of Item used

…]

Aldrich was quite satisfied with the rewards, and an even more outrageous thought had been birthing in his mind. But before he could act on that thought, he caught a movement at the corner of his eyes. The Boss was standing up and the frequent tremors in its body were visible clearly. Its entire face had been mangled up with blood. Aldrich saw as the Boss's hand reached into its pocket and took out a Cigarette. The Crawler lighted it with the shaking hands and took a deep puff.

"You must have been thinking of annihilating me now, don't you?"

Aldrich's eyes narrowed, seeing the HP of the Boss rising with every second. He also didn't like how calm the Boss had been portraying itself. Especially after that harsh beating. The difference in strength was quite apparent now. Even if Aldrich couldn't kill it with one attack, he could have drained its remaining Mana in a matter of minutes. But Aldrich had forgotten one thing. Or it would be justifiable to say he hadn't needed to remember that one thing.

The Boss raised his left hand, and a Sabre came flying in its hand. It was the Blood Thirsty Sabre.

"Even if it's such a rascal, I adore this Sabre." The Boss said, gently caressing the blade of Sabre. And with a sudden force, he plunged the Sabre into the wound which the Dagger had left open.

The Sabre, now soaked with blood, turned completely red and melted into a molten liquid. In a matter of seconds, the Sabre was no longer there, and the result was even more horrifying than the Mana Burst Skill.

"RIDERS OF DEATH."

Aldrich knew the Boss had not yet used one of his Skills. But the Old Gambler, Mana Burst, and the Mana Bullets he had been using since the start had already consumed his MP. He did not know that even such a thing was possible. There was no mention of any Skill that had a description related to Blood Thirsty Sword. Even the Item itself had no detail regarding this. Then there was only one conclusion that he could draw.

It was neither an Active Skill nor an Item-specific Skill. It was related to a Passive Skill. Aldrich had checked the Passive Skills many times, but couldn't find any relevant information. This only meant that the Passive Skills had some hidden aspects about them. And Aldrich was familiar with such hidden aspects, one of which he knew himself–Shared Vision.

As soon as the Boss used the Skill, a huge blue-green portal opened up behind him. The ground beneath Aldrich and even the whole hill had shaken in a rhythm. The first thing that came out of the portal was a horse of twice the normal size.

NEIGHHH!!!

The horse neighed fiercely as it stood up on its two hooves and the sound got scattered throughout the forest. The Boss swiftly jumped on the horse and tapped the neck of the beast. But that wasn't the end. Hundreds of other riders came out of the portal, each with their horse, rifle, and sword. Following an unuttered command, they lined up behind the Boss.

"Men, you see that bastard over there?" The Boss called out, pointing the rifle towards Aldrich.

"…" The dead riders agreed silently.

"Well, let's teach him a thing or two about war," the Boss gave a menacing look to Aldrich and commanded, "March."

BANG! BANG! WHOOSH!

Even before they marched up, the summoned Crawlers behind the Boss had started the firing. A small party cut itself off from the group and went around the hill to attack Aldrich from behind. And another two groups separated themselves to surround him from left and right. But Aldrich had been observing all developments calmly.

[…

Time Left: 32 minutes

…]

He looked at the time and took a green-colored crystal out of the Void. Aldrich noticed how the smiling expression of the Boss crumbled as soon as it recognized the object. Aldrich didn't waste a second more for the farewell and crushed the crystal.

CLINK!

"YOU COWARD!!!"

A blue light had covered Aldrich, but he got to hear the last revengeful scream of the Boss. The next scene that showed itself to Aldrich wasn't much different from the one he had left behind. He could hear the cracking sound of lightning now and then but not from the clouds, but a huge hammer in the hands of a blue-haired man. And five black-suited Dreamers had been surrounding a man in shorts.

'Boomie?'

Aldrich made a guess why he could have come here. But a fight among Dreamers just before the completion of the time limit had become too rare. Seeing Aldrich coming out of the portal, all persons present there looked towards him. The terrifying mask, blood-soaked jackets and jeans, and the traces of a bitter fight were distinctly visible. One of the Anti-Dreamer agents left his position and moved towards Aldrich with a hateful look in his eyes. But Aldrich and Boomie had already been looking at each other.

Aldrich could hear the murdering thoughts in the air and as soon as he saw Boomie raising his foot, he shook his head lightly in refusal. Aldrich knew what Boomie had planned to do, but things hadn't gone that badly yet.

"On the authority given to me by the US Government, the ADA, and the UN, I arrest you for being a threat to National Security. Please hand me over your DL and take off your mask."

Aldrich was amused by this sudden turn of events. He cooperatively gave away his DL but didn't show any sign of taking off his 'mask'. The agent took this gesture as an insult and an act of defiance. There was no need to confirm the other Dreamer's level as he had been informed that this masked man couldn't be higher than level 5. He raised his hand to remove the mask in the hope to capture the masked man's face using the hidden cameras.

But suddenly, his knees buckled, the primal fear of being devoured by a ravenous beast took over his consciousness. The same thing happened to other agents, and all had whimpered, lying flat on the ground. The hammer-wielding man had fared better than the others. He had remained in an upright position using his hammer, but he too couldn't raise his head to look at the masked Dreamer.

INTIMIDATION.

[…

Time Left: 30 minutes

Commencing Random Dungeon Allocation…

…]

A bluish-green light enveloped all the Dreamers. But just before Aldrich could be teleported, he turned his head to the left and looked towards a distant alley.

Traces of a receding black fog could have been seen in a dark corner.