Sovereign Of The Scarlet Night

Level 20?

As Garret stepped out of the dorm, the world hit him like a nightmare that refused to fade. What lay before him was pure c*****e. The courtyard, once full of laughter and chatter, was now a graveyard of chaos drenched in death. Torn bodies sprawled across the cracked concrete, limbs twisted in ways they shouldn't be. The scent of burnt flesh mixed with the metallic sting of blood, thick enough to taste with every breath. A silence hung heavy, broken only by the sound of retching from behind him, the boy whose name was Dave and her sister Lucy. Their eyes widening, trembling as they scanned the ruin before them. Then, without warning, almost simultaneously, they dropped to the ground and vomited.

Garret didn't blame them. In fact, he only barely forced himself not to hurl like the two behind him. He doesn't move. He just stared ahead, past the corpses, past the flames. There was no comfort; only the hollow weight of seeing what was left behind.

Garret was very anxious to get to his sister, but he was no fool. He knew he would only be dinner to the zombies and whatever harrowing figures patrolled the campus. He needed first to find somewhere safe, somewhere that could provide shelter for the time being before night came.

"The gymnasium," Lucy weakly shouted.

Garret had also thought about the gymnasium, but he didn't think the weak feeble girl would project his thoughts.

"She can survive this world."

Moving toward the gymnasium, the duo followed him closely this time but still maintaining a distance. They had not yet forgotten that the cloaked youth was as dangerous, or even more dangerous, as the creatures populating the school. Garret walked ahead of them, his sword by his side. He didn't speak, he couldn't. His mind was fixed on one thing, his sister. Every second spent here was another second she could be gone, or worse…

The pavement towards the gymnasium was eerily quiet, all they could hear was the sound of their footsteps. As they rounded the path behind the dorms, shapes flickered in the distance, figures moving through the smoke. Garret froze, raising the Chixiao, he signaled the others to stay still.

Dave and Lucy also froze. "Did you…did you hear that?" She whispered.

But then came a voice, cracked but human

"Wait, are you from the government? Did you come to save us?"

From the shadows emerged a ragged group, fifteen survivors maybe more. Students, a teacher and one in a torn security uniform. Their faces were hollow, their clothes stained, their eyes flicking around like cornered animals. The security man, apparently their leader, carried a broken chair leg like a weapon. Slowly the faint hope of having been rescued from the horror evaporated as they saw it was only three youths who looked even more ragged than they were. One male in particular scorned at Garret. All it took was a look and a smile that wasn't at all friendly to make the poor guy shake in his boots.

"Fifteen of you made it out?" Lucy muttered, disbelief under her breath.

The leader, the one with the broken chair, nodded weakly. "We were holed up in the cafeteria. Had to run when the windows gave in. We are heading to the gym to seek shelter."

Garret's jaw tightened. "We're heading there also."

"We will be safer together as a group," Dave added.

Dave and her sister looked somehow relieved after finding human company. They had seen what Garret could do and were terrified of him. The siblings quickly got acquainted with the group, sharing their stories. But Garret was not stupid, the group was too haggard for people who were just camping in the cafeteria. When Garret looked at the security guard, he could see the tension in his face. The man kept flicking nervous glances toward the darkness behind them.

"Something was chasing them or something had scared them." Draven thought silently.

As the enlarged group began to move, their footsteps echoed softly over the blood-slick pavement.

"Something is not right." Garret, who had been left at the back, suddenly was feeling very uneasy.

Before Garret could react, a blur of green and silver dropped from above. The creature hit the ground with a deafening c***k, its forelegs snapping out like scythes. Screams erupted. In a single salvage motion, the creature's limbs sliced through the crowd, twelve people gone in an instant, their cries cut short. Blood sprayed across the concrete. The survivors froze, horror-struck, as the mantis reared back, its mandibles clacking, eyes glinting with hunger.

It struck again, aiming towards the man with the broken chair, and at that same time Garret moved. The surrounding area grew darker, the light absorption skill was always on, but it grew stronger, more vivid, in response to his emotions and, right now, he was quite angry. The security man panicked and terrified, threw the student beside him towards the creature. An action only witnessed by Garret. The creature lost its bearings slightly. That brief stumble gave Garret just enough time to close the distance as the creature prepared its third strike. He met its mandible and parried it with his sword. Surprisingly, Garret was forced back a couple of steps.

"Even with my strength being over 20, is this thing stronger than me? And what's with that speed?" Garret mumbled under his breath.

"Put all my status points into agility," he shouted in his mind.

Garret was already unreasonably fast. The shroud, when equipped, gave him 25 agility points. Now, after adding all his points to agility, he felt more confident. The creature moved, aiming to cleave Garret into two. Garret barely blocked it by placing his sword on his torso. Even after adding 20 points to his agility, he could only make out its appearance. The damn thing was just too fast.

"Damn it. How fast is this bastard?"

The mutated mantis struck first, too fast for the eye to follow. Its blade-like limbs tore through the air with a shriek, and Garret barely twisted aside, the wind from the strike slicing across his cheek. The impact shattered the ground where he'd stood a heartbeat ago. He darted back, sword raised. Light absorption was already darkening the surrounding space. But it didn't matter, the creature was faster, stronger, and utterly relentless. Every move he made was countered, every attack deflected or dodged with inhuman precision.

"I can't die here." Garret cried internally. "But I still have that skill."

He ducked under a strike that split the ground beside him and rolled, his blade humming in his grip. It lunged, forcing him to stumble, barely parrying the next blow. The shock ran up his arm, numbing his grip.

"Too fast… too strong…"

His breathing grew ragged. The mantis loomed over him, chittering, a towering blur of motion and killing intent. One clean hit, and it would all be over. As the creature lunged for the final strike, its claw snagged on a jagged steel beam jutting from the broken pavement, just for a split second, just long enough.

Now! He silently whispered, "Shadow Camouflage."

A whisper of air, his sword sliced through one of its limbs, cleanly from the joints, the edge so sharp it left no sound. The mantis shrieked, spinning in fury. Garret reappeared a few meters away, expression cold, eyes glinting with focus. The creature lunged again, but this time Garret was already moving, using the shifting shadows of the broken street, and his quick thinking to stay one step ahead.

"Shadow Camouflage"

A single s***h ended it. The blade pierced through the mantis's head, splitting its chitin in a burst of green ichor. The creature convulsed once, then fell still, its limb twitching against the ground. Garret collapsed to one knee, chest heaving. The surrounding darkness faded, albeit not completely. The Shadow Camouflage waning with his exhaustion. He looked at the fallen monster, disbelief flickering in his eyes.

"That… wasn't skill," he muttered under his breath. "That was luck."

{You have slain a level 20 mutated green mantis. You have received agility +5 strength+2

You have leveled up

You have leveled up…}

"I gained eight level huh, that's almost double my current level."

Curious, he called up his stats.

{Name: Garret Morte

Level: 17

Status points:16

Race: Human

Path: none

Distinction: None

Attributes: Strength:16(10) Agility:51(25) Health:22>>10; Stamina:25>>2 Mana:120(20)>>100 Magic:120(20)}

Skills: Darkness Manipulation lv 1

Soul Pact: Shroud of The Grieving Soul}