The moment Sasha would activate the breathing technique a small window appeared saying "Ban Family Breathing Technique Activated." She would feel her Ki, or Mana in Sasha's case, flowing through her body with each breath, strengthening her as a green, misty aura, similar to Genji's when he used his Ki attacks from before, formed around her. As she aimed the Mana Revolver at the beast she would feel that with the mana flowing through her with her breathing, uniting more with her body it would be more focused and more powerful.

---

Sasha Mana Revolver: 57 - 23 Projectile Weaponry = 34

Hit!

Damage Dealt: 39

---

The attack was even more powerful than before thanks to both the Breathing Technique and the Inner Ki Technique. All of the bullets slammed into the creature, but its charge did not stop. If anything it just took the damage, gnashing its teeth more and letting out a bellow as with a few more very powerful strides. Now it was on top of Sasha, Genji unfortunately having to deal with around three of its other friends that were approaching the group in a similar blood thirst and rage. "Good thing about these creatures, is that when they rage they do it in groups to brutalize their targets!" Genji called this out to the others as he seemed to actually block two club blows against him with his arms covered in that same glowing, misty green energy that was probably Ki.

---

Kobold Attack: 92

Miss

---

Its swing was wild, but powerful Sasha would be able to dodge out of the way easily, but what was there when she was dodged was a bit unsettling. A small crater in the ground about a few inches deep and a few inches wide. The attack was so powerful that it actually damaged the ground, meaning that if it had hit Sasha she would have probably been killed by that hit, and somehow Genji was able to block two of those hits with his own abilities. The world of the abyss was quite incredible, dangerous, and ominous if people could do things like this.

Fortunately though, with the Kobold having attacked Sasha and her having missed, there would be an apt opportunity for Silas to strike now.

"Well this is interesting..." Lucian read the window declaring that he got a bonus +1 to his stats for hitting level ten, "I'm guessing that you knew that we got more stats at level 10 Ren? This is a pleasant surprise." He clicked the window to close it, then applying the rest of the points that he had gotten. With skill books having a requirement, it might be for the best if I get all my stats to a steady point, probably five for strength for a while, and the others to ten, then I can focus again on specializing, focusing in Intelligence and Wisdom, placing the next emphasis on my Dexterity and Vitality, shouldn't have any problems with that. He nodded as he looked it over, it would only take one more level to get to his steady ground. "Well, "I'm ready for another round if you guys are up for it." He spun his bo in his hand, the extra points in his dex and strength would make a difference if something broke through his defences, and made little tricks like this much easier. "Or if you aren't, then I'm going to hit the books."

Ren finished meditating, his HP more or less completely recovered give or take a couple of points. "Nope, lets go one more time, making sure they don't get the drop on us like they did last time." Ren first gathered the drops that appeared each time before they had created a new Pseudospace as Ren figured they could split and examine the items later, Ren recognizing the teeth, but the other two new items were new to him. The young boy then broke the Pseudospace then created another Zombie one as they all got to work.

Ren and Lucian both did quite well, not having to waste too much energy, Mana, or HP on these beasts. Mike, not so much, but with Ren and Lucian there his shortcomings were easily made up for, especially with Ren's powerful Eldritch Flame infused spinning mana blades that sliced through the zombies quite easily. Luckily Mike leveled up near the end of the fight, so his HP and MP were all healed. Ren and Lucian would still be down a bit of MP, Ren down a bit of HP since Eldritch Flame actually drained that every time it was used as well, but not a whole lot. The MP was more concerning. Lucian only had 54 left and Ren only 130, both down around 50% or lower of their MP.

The reason why it was bad was because, for those who had their minimaps out, a very large, dark red dot appeared not to far from them. Suddenly what appeared to be zombies all appeared in one spot, seeming to gather and climb atop one another, forming a giant mass of them that grew taller and taller, a cold chill of death running through the air as spirits of undeath seemed to swirl around this hulking mass. Ren cursed beneath his breath and took his guard, quickly taking the moment to chug a milk, a blue 10 appearing over his head as 10 MP was restored, Ren talking another one out and tossing the small carton to Lucian. "Drink it to restore MP... because we are in for one hell of a fight against the thing that... well... that killed me before pretty much...as it has 750 HP, can regenerate, is incredibly tough, immune to critical hits, and can use something similar to my Force Siphon skill to drain both HP and MP."

When it finally fully formed it was a hulking, giant figure at least a good thirty feet tall or so, it was hard to tell. It looked like a giant zombie. Above its head in bold, dark red text was the words Mass Zombie Lv 19.

Ren quickly shot his hand towards the zombie, not wanting to take any chances. "Black Mark: Mark of Cursed Tasks!" Suddenly something beneath the bandages on his hand began to glow with a very dark black color. Suddenly a mark appeared on the creature, what appeared to be a magical pentagram that looked like something that would be used for black magic like out of a manga, pure black in color, only within the pentagram was also a strange looking symbol that had a slash through it. As Ren used this strange spell his HP bar would drain a little bit for some reason, as if the magic he used drained it.

The creature, however, would now seem a bit clumsier somewhat as it began to lumber over to them with its very long strides. Luckily there was still enough time for Mike and Lucian to act, and Lucian to drink the milk if he wanted to (which he would have had time to do while it was forming), this fight not going to seem easy at all.

"Well, last time you fought it solo and without the skills you currently posses, it will be fine." Lucian downed the contained milk and whipped away any remainder from his face as he watched the hulking creature form, Bo in one hand, Lucian was ready, he would hit it with all he had, and quickly, focusing more on offense then defense, as if he could keep his distance, it should really be a problem, or so he thought. "Well, if we alternate hitting it, and from different sides, the stupid creature shouldn't be able to properly focus any of us." It was truly hideous, but Lucian couldn't help but chuckle as it tried to move around, was that because of the thing that Ren had done? or was it really this challenged?

Holding his hand facing towards it, Lucian spoke again his voice commands, "Chained Mana Surge!" He had no desire to use his Shield unless it was really coming at him, it just used up too much mana for the amount he had left.

"Probably, its Int is only one because its a zombie. Just be careful, it has 50 Strength and can probably squash any of us like a bug in one hit... not only that... but it also likes to rip large boulders right from the ground and chuck them." Ren said to the both of them after Lucian voiced his strategy, Ren beginning to move to a different position as Lucian used his Chained Mana Surge Skill against the hulking beast.

---

Lucian Chained Mana Surge: 32 - 11 = 21

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 9

---

All three surges hit, but the damage of the second and third one were 0, as evident by the 0 that appeared above the creature's head when the two smaller surges hit it. It was a good skill, but on a tough creature like this seemed to lack real offensive capabilities. Lucian would be better off saving his MP for an emergency or not using the second surge.

Ren saw how somewhat ineffective the low level skill was and stopped running, turning to Lucian, calling to him, not needing to worry about the stupid zombie hearing their plans as with its Int of 1 it probably couldn't understand them anyways. . "Let me Siphon your MP! Your skill can barely dent it, I would be better of using it with my skills while you two play decoy." Ren wasn't trying to sound mean, he was only trying to make a point, and there was some truth to it. Ren had fought this thing before and seemed to have more powerful skills that probably also stemmed from his extra month's worth of experience with the power that let him figure out how to get things like this.

Lucian's shield still had about twenty four seconds left of activation time, but whether or not it could take a full hit from this beast and still let him live afterwards was a different story.

The creature was looking towards Lucian now, but Mike still had a little bit of time left to act before the creature began its counterattack, its somewhat clumsy counterattack.

Mike puff up his cheeks before quickly using Observe on it "ah, geez. Why couldn't I at least have a single Senshin no Ken move to level before my first mob boss battle? Force Pulse!" he cried out as he fired off the ranged attack from a safe distance "it feels like a waste; leveling a skill that I'm not sure I'll ever use again. I'd much rather get exp for my Katana Mastery skill...but there's no way I'm getting close enough for the thing to hit me as I am right now"

When using Observe on the Mass Zombie the following window appeared.



After that Mike used Force Pulse on the Mass Zombie, although whether or not it could do any damage had yet to be determined.

---

Mike Force Pulse: 86 - 10 Projectile Weaponry

Hit!

Damage Dealt: None

---

The blast of energy nearly missed the creature. In fact, if it wasn't for it stumbling a small bit into the blast as it seemed to be even clumsier than usual for a creature with a Dex of 4 then the blast wouldn't have even hit at all. Unfortunately when it did hit it did an insignificant amount of damage to the point where it had no effect at all, dealing 0 damage as a 0 appeared over its head when the blast hit, indicating that the skill wasn't strong enough to do anything. It did go up in level though, which was a good thing.

The beast was looking at Lucian now, as the blast that hit it from Mike didn't even scratch it so it didn't really take any note of it. Suddenly it raised one of its mighty fists and then threw it towards Lucian, whose shield was still up. The attack seemed incredibly powerful, but also a bit slow. Parrying it would be impossible since the beast was too strong and too large, so Lucian would have no choice but to dodge.

---

Mass Zombie Punch: 58

Miss

---

Thankfully it missed. It hit the ground next to him, creating a somewhat large, fist shaped crater as it punched the ground. If that blow, which could crush the ground with its fist, had hit Lucian then his shield probably would have been ripped through like tissue paper and Lucian probably dead, or at least in the red and in a shit ton of pain.

Fortunately Ren was on the job here. Since Lucian was dodging he couldn't really open himself up to allow Ren to Force Siphon his MP, so Ren decided to attack for now. "Eldritch Flame!" That same green flame formed around his hands, Ren wincing as it actually seemed to burn him some and deal him damage the power also draining his HP a little when he used it. "Charged Spinning Mana Blades!" He put all the power he could into it as three spinning 'buzz saws' of mana with dark green eldritch flame licking over them as the three blades flew towards the Mass Zombie, materializing from the air around him as they flew towards the beast.

---

Ren Spinning Mana Blade 1: 66 - 30 Projectile = 36
Spnning Blade 2: 65 - 30 Projectile = 35
Spinning Blade 3: 84 - 30 Projectile = 54

All three Hit (2 Deal Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 194

---

While the creature was tough, it was by no means invincible. The three blades slashed deep into the creature, the flame seeming to only enhance the damage of the blades and make it roar out even more loudly in pain. Fire was apparently a good thing to use against it, the creature being an undead so it had no resistance to fire. Fire was always a weakness of the undead, the fire seeming to still burn the creature somewhat and slowly deal it some damage.

Despite how much damage that attack dealt though it still had a huge amount of HP left. Not only that, but Ren said that it could also regenerate, which meant that they would have to find ways to chip its HP down before it regenerated and Ren, who seemed to be the only one who could damage it of the three, ran out of MP.

Well this wasn't good. With Ren out of MP, they would be unable to hurt this thing fast and hard enough to kill it. Mike, it seemed, was completely unable to so much a scratch this this thing, so all that MP of his was going to be useless...unless. It was crazy, but it just might end up working. So far, there didn't seem to be any kind of set in stone limit as to what kind of skills they could learn or make. In fact, one of those skills was one the increased his mana restoration...so maybe he could make one that restored an ally's mana. Getting behind Ren, he put his hands on his shoulders and started to focus on them, like he did with his sword before "hold still for a second, I'm going to try something" and then he tried to will his mana to enter Ren, to replenish his empty reserves

As Mike suddenly placed his hands on Ren's oddly slender shoulders normally Ren would have punched him, but Ren could suddenly feel what Mike was trying to do. He could feel Mike opening up his MP and trying to transfer it to Ren.

---

Mike Focus: 5 - 27 Focus = -2

---

Try as Mike may, there was just no way to actively do what he desired without a skill that could let him control or move his MP, and Mike didn't seem to have the ability to do any of those things yet. However, he was able to open his spirit up to Ren through the grasp to his shoulders, doing so quickly enough that Ren immediately knew what to do. The moment he felt that large source of MP available Ren would say one single word. "Force Siphon!"

Mike would suddenly feel his MP draining from him as... something... reached out and grabbed it through his hands. Since Mike was willingly giving it up to Ren without any resistance a much larger chunk than normal was grabbed as the power of the undead Skill drained it from Mike to Ren. Fortunately the beast would just be turning to look at Ren as it had to take a little bit to do this as it was pretty slow and cumbersome, Lucian having some time to act, to maybe distract the creature a bit more while they did this exchange of MP.

Ren still had MP before Mike did this, a good bit actually, 53 to be exact. It still would only be enough for a few more Skills, so giving Ren a large chunk of his own MP was actually a good idea so that Ren could use a few more of his powerful skills, Mike still having 3 MP left. "Thanks, now let go and go act as a decoy while I try and wail on it some more, if I need more MP ill call you." Ren said this quickly as there wasn't time for showing gratitude or acting nice as they had a giant zombie trying to kill them to deal with, so as Ren said this he broke away from Mike, figuring he could drain more later from him or even this creature if he needed it, quickly closing the window that appeared as he needed to get in a good position to attack, although this was all happening while Lucian did whatever he was going to do as the beast was currently brushing at the fires licking its body, trying to put them out.

Seeing as his attacks where all but useless on this thing, Lucian would no longer be trying to have the after surges hit the target, he was also only going to be using a few more spells, and mostly to get the creatures attention drawn away from Ren so he could get some prime strikes in on it. Lucian got close to the zombie facing the other way, and used his chained mana surge on it behind its knee, hoping to down it cripple or down it. He was then ready to run out of its arm's range. "He then called over to Ren, "I have a bit of mana left, would you prefer I use it to strike like this, or do you want it?" He would use his mana flow and flow his mana into Ren when the time was needed.

Lucian would attempt to try and cripple the beast with his Chained Mana Surge, although with how little damage it did before it probably wouldn't work, but still it was a nice way to get its attention off Ren cause currently that was where it was going to take its attention.

---

Lucian Chained Mana Surge: 4 (Critical!)

Critical Hit!

Damage Dealt (Main Surge): 35

Damage Dealt (Minor Surges): 22

---

The attack seemed to be a more powerful attack than normal, but was not a Critical Strike not in the conventional sense. Lucian managed to launch it with alot more power than it usually had, and even striking its knee in the way he wanted, but no Critical Strike alert appeared as it didn't really have weak points due to being a giant dead corpse. Still the creature was standing up and when the more powerful Skill hit the creature roared out as the explosion from the total power of all three more powerful surges managed to bring it down to one knee, making it glare to Lucian and slow it down.

Unfortunately this meant it had to try and get up. It wasn't crippled, but indeed slowed down for a bit and its attention was now turned towards Lucian, still trying to get the flames off of its body that were actually damaging it, a 10 appearing over its head making it roar. This meant Ren, from behind, had plenty of time to attack, launching another Eldritch Flame empowered Spinning Mana Blades. Before he did though he answered Lucian's question with a "Save your MP, that actually did something, and even if that doesn't work again it distracts it." He then launched his attack, saying the command words needed to send the fiery mana buzzsaws towards the creature.

---

Ren Blade 1: 23 - 30 Projectile = -7
Ren Blade 2: 42 - 30 = 12
Ren Blade 3: 68 - 30 = 38

Hit (All deal Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 213 Total

---

All three blades slashed deep into the beast, making it cry out loudly in pain once again and roar in rage as it was still standing up in those moments despite being sliced deeply it would suddenly, instead of standing up to attack now, begin to suddenly open its mouth, dead spirits seeming to appear and fly into it, slowly beginning to regenerate some of its health, Lucian and Mike still having time to act during this.

"Damn its regenerating, try and keep its attention during all of this and ill try and finish it off with Giga Spiral Bolt." With that Ren began to get into position while the others acted.

Having practically no mana left there wasn't much Mike could do. He couldn't attack it from afar since he couldn't even scratch it, and he couldn't go right up to it to attack it, since that would most likely have even worse results, and put him in the way of Ren's attack. That left him with only one option; distract it. Ren would need time to charge up his attack, so right now both Lucian and him needed to make sure he was safe to do so. With new speed he had gained from his boost in DEX, Mike ran over to the mob bosses side, not too close to it and out of Ren's line of fire "hey ugly! Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're not such hot stuff. Why I bet that you couldn't even take five steps without tripping over yourself!" Mike thought that he could dodge one of it's attacks, he only hoped that Ren would be ready before it could attack a second time. Taking a deep breath, Mike cleared his mind, like when he meditated with his sword. He waited for that one moment where it would be too late for the boss mob to alter the course of it's attack, that would be his chance to dodge. However, there was always the chance that it wouldn't be able to get back up in time

"Alright, Lets see what we can do Mi-" Lucian looked over to Mike, the two of them were to try and get the zombie's attention to stop it from healing and allow Ren to get a big shot on it, what Lucian saw Mike doing and heard, was more of an attempt to taunt a half brained monster that was trying to eat. Lucian fought hard to not face palm right then and there. Mike, thank you for reminding me why I think you re an idiot.

Lucian shook his head and then took action, with the zombie pre occupied and having its mouth wide open, Lucian thought of an annoying trick, a move that he questioned wither he would ever use again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the biggest coin he had on his person, "Coin Flick!" He flicked the coin aiming for its big gapping mouth, he would then follow up by shooting a Chained Mana surge at its knee from the front side. He was pretty sure if Mike's vocal taunting did nothing, he was sure to piss this thing off. Though he hoped it wouldn't squish him.

Lucian was indeed correct. Mike's distraction did... absolutely nothing. He still had MP to attack with, but words against a mindless, brainless zombie that went off on feral instinct and blood lust was a strategy that had no chance of succeeding whatsoever. Even Ren would have taken the time to sigh, shake his head, face palm, or some combination of the three if they currently weren't using all the time they had to fight a gigantic zombie that could crush their bodies in one single blow.

Lucian's strategy, on the other hand, seemed to show more potential for success than Mike's did. The problem was getting it off in the few short seconds that he had before it finished its regeneration, its HP slowly beginning to go back up again by a good short bit as more dead spirits went into its mouth, an unsettling chill going about the air all around them as the undead monster used this power. Lucian wasn't naturally quick enough to do this, but if he could take out the coin and aim it quickly enough, then doing the same thing for aiming the Chained Mana Surge quickly enough, then perhaps he could pull it off.

---

Lucian Multi-Action: 77 - 8 Dex

---

Unfortunately taking a coin out of his inventory, aiming it, and then firing it with the Coin Flick Skill were all things he could not do quickly enough in the next few seconds as those things took a couple of seconds to do. Of course, a coin was a small, slow traveling projectile and getting it up the distance to the Zombie's gaping mouth would normally be next to impossible, but it was on one knee currently, so it was just alot more difficult now rather than next to impossible.

---

Lucian Coin Flick: 54 - 12 Projectile Weaponry - 5 Skill Bonus + 25 Distance Penalty = 62

Hit!

Skill Effect: Success

---

Normally irritating a brainless creature would also be impossible, but the creature could still taste, since things like these craved the flesh of the living. The sudden metallic taste of the coin on its tongue that would go down its throat somehow, by a very small chance, managed to throw off its concentration as it regenerated, making the beast roar out angrily. It still managed to recover some HP, 96 to be exact judging by the green 96 that appeared over its head. Fortunately though it was down a fourth of its MP now, but then took 10 more damage from the dark green fires still burning on its body.

It was still angry at Lucian, not noticing Ren behind it at a medium or so length distance. "Black Mark: Mark of Dark Searing" Ren aimed his hand towards his back, although it was hard to hear what he said due to the distance between the three of them and the fact that he didn't shout his skill commands, but more or less calmly said them. A black glow with a small, greenish tint to it came from the back of his hand as suddenly the beast howled loudly, another mark appearing on its body which seemed to glow with a glow reminiscent of Ren's Eldritch Flame, the mark seeming to actually be searing its skin. It seemed to drain just his HP, by a somewhat decent amount to, Ren deciding to just use HP to power the skill for now as he wanted to save every MP he could for Giga Spiral Bolt.

This dealt 38 damage on impact, which may not seem like alot but it was a rather instant affect that didn't have to be aimed or fired, which was always nice. After that Ren simply aimed his hands towards the beast and said "Eldritch Fire" followed by "Giga Spiral Bolt." Ren really hoped that the others could keep distracting it for just around ten more seconds as a large concentration of Mana was gathering in front of Ren with that dark green fire moving and spinning over its surface as it was very slowly getting bigger. Currently the Mass Zombie still had its attention on Lucian who now attempted to fire his Chained Mana Surge at the beasts knee right after his coin flick.

---

Chained Mana Surge: 31 - 12 Projectile Weaponry = 19

Mini Surges: Both Hit (Max Damage)

Max Hit!

Damage Dealt: 11 Damage (main surge)

Damage Dealt (2 Mini Surges): 0

---

The blast hit its knee as Lucian intended, but this only gave a growl out of the creature in response since it didn't really do a whole lot unlike last time. Unfortunately for Lucian his MP was also completely dried up, Mike and Ren, the first of which who only had 39 MP left, being the only ones who had MP left. Luckily Lucian's shield was still up for a little bit longer. Currently Mike would have some time to act, although currently with just 39 MP and a weapon that couldn't do jack squat against this creature, his options other than to continue acting as bait along with Lucian were limited.

Odd, you would think that the sound of someone's voice would be enough to agro a zombie, being as stupid as they were. Although, it seemed that that wasn't the case here. However, with it now focused on Lucian, that opened up some opportunities. This thing was so slow and stupid, that if all three of them were capable of doing decent damage to it, they could just kill it with ease by attacking it one at a time, so that it would keep shifting it's attention between them before it could even attack. Though in reality, Mike still didn't have anything that would help him here, so he just decided to fire off another Force Pulse, because hey, it was better then nothing

Mike would once again launch the Force Pulse at the creature, maybe its level up from before allowing it to deal some damage to this giant undead. Maybe...

---

Mike Force Pulse: 90 - 10 Projectile Weaponry = 80

Miss

---

Unfortunately, even with Mike's recent increase in DEX, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, even with whatever Ren did to it making it a bit clumsier. The pulse just sailed right past the beast before dissipating into nothing after a short bit. Of course, Mike wasn't that far off, but he did miss it by just a small bit, the beast not even noticing Mike's attempt to attack it as it was not only fixated on the pain it was under from the assault of Ren's Black Mark and Eldritch Flame, but also Lucian who threw that disgusting coin into its mouth. If anything, with the beasts stupidity, it might have thought that Lucian was the one making it feel alot of pain probably with the way it looked like it wanted to break Lucian in two as it was glaring down at him. Of course, that was if one could know what was going through this creature's lack of a mind.

There was no time to think of that though as suddenly the beast walked forward a few steps towards Lucian, easily getting over to him as it then raised its foot and attempted to, once again, kick Lucian into oblivion, his shield still being around thankfully.

---

Mass Zombie Attack: 5

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 52

Knockback: Success (10 additional damage)

---

The attack hit Lucian dead on. The moment it did the winds swirled a bit more around the shield, as if detecting the attack coming. The force of them managed to weaken some force of the kick, but the gigantic footeasily broke through that and the shield itself, shattering it with ease and slamming head on into Lucian with not as much force as one would predict. His own toughness, mostly thanks to his Vit, Str, and Physical Endurance Skill, managed to also reduce some of the damage as well from the weakened attack. Still even after all of that the force of it was immense, as was the body shattering pain as if Lucian had been hit by a car, sending him flying backwards a good ten or so yards by the kick as if he were a small ball with ease due to the creature's overwhelming strength. If there was anything good about this, its that both Mana Whirlwind Shield and Physical Endurance went up in level by 1, which was evident from the two windows Lucian received after he was on the ground, being thrown by the punch to the ground also dealing a bit of damage to him as he would have hit it hard.

To say it hurt, was an understatement. Even though his body wasn't broken, as thanks to the whole HP thing the gamers had going on, the pain of these hits was there, and this one hurt alot. The beast still had its sights set on Lucian though and Ren wanted to act, but he was currently charging up his Giga Spiral Bolt, so he wasn't able to do anything except pray that the two of them would help one another get away from this beast. As the beast looked like it was about to go and slam him again with its fist his first mighty punch, Mike still having enough time to act and, with his new 10 Dex, perhaps had enough speed to get over to help him get out of there before Lucian was flattened by this mighty beast as Lucian...

---

Lucian Endurance: 15 - 11 Vitality = 4

---

Would not be completely overwhelmed by the intense pain coursing through his body from that heavy attack that took more than half of his HP away in one shot, so he could still either get up in a slower fashion to keep his guard up so that he wouldn't be open to attack as he rolled away or in a quicker fashion if he still wanted the time to act and try something else after getting up, the beast still growling and roaring in pain as both the mark Ren used on it and the dark green flames damaged it still.

"Gah! Crap!" Mike cried out as he saw Lucian get stepped on. He highly doubted that Lucian could survive another hit like that. While Mike could run over to help him, his STR was so low that it would be very hard for him to lift the other boy, it would also make them both a tempting target for even the stupid zombie. So there was really only one course of action; agro it. "Give me a heads up before you fire that thing!" Mike called over to Ren before going into action. If there was one thing that Mike had learned from his time playing video games; it was that big and stupid are really bad combination. Using his new DEX, he began to run circles around the mob boss "hey stupid! Was that really your best shot!? Wow, I can't believe we were worried about this fight if you're so pathetic!" Considering the zombie only had 1 INT, Mike guessed that it wouldn't even be able to understand the concept of leading. Therefor, it would attack where he was, not where he was going to be. That and it might get confused by Mike running around it in a circle

Mike was no track star, so running circles around it in just a few seconds was not something he could do. Still with his new found DEX of 10 he could still get in its waking path, which for how far it bunted Lucian away, which was ten yards, the waking path from it to Lucian, for the zombie, was one step. When the beast suddenly saw the small, chittering human running in front of it the beast looked down and instead of walking towards Lucian, raised its already raised foot that it was using to walk with over Mike as Mike ran into its path, the beast attempting to squash Mike down into the ground by stepping on it rather than what it did with Lucian, which was kick him.

---

Mass Zombie Free Stomp: 38

Hit!

Damage Dealt: 88

---

Mike barely managed to dodge in time, or more accurately barely missed dodging. As he would attempt to run out of the way of the stomp he suddenly found an incredibly heavy and immense pressure pounding on his entire body. This heavy weight seemed to stomp him right down into the ground, but under a part of its gigantic foot that wouldn't be as fatal as Mike managed to avoid the brute of the powerful stomp. Still it hurt, like hell. Mike's own toughness thanks to Physical Endurance and his Vit managed to spare him some of the attack, but to say it hurt was an understatement.

If Lucian was in alot of pain, then Mike was in twice as much, the pain incredibly powerful as Mike was in a small, foot shaped crater now as he was crushed onto the ground by the Zombie's stomp, which wasn't as strong as it could have been since it was also doing it in a walking motion, that probably having saved Mike's life right there as he was down in the red, this attack dealing more damage to him than Keiichi did. Still, this moment would spare Lucian a little more time to get up as the beast rose its foot off of Mike after stomping him, its attention still on the original person that aggravated it, but its attention was also now on Mike as well as it was trying to decide which target to finish off now, still angrily growling and roaring in pain from both Ren's Flame and Mark assaulting it with fire and searing heat.

Ren, in the meantime, was only just a couple of seconds away from finishing, eyes widened as he watched Mike effectively get flattened, but survive with just 18 HP left, thanks to a level up in Physical Endurance. This fight was getting down to the wire now as Ren wanted to kill this thing before it killed Lucian and Mike.

If any good came from Mike getting flattened, it would be the level of Physical Endurance he received. Otherwise...

---

Mike Endurance: 14 - 15 Vit = -1

---

Mike was not overwhelmed by the pain. Sure it was alot that wouldn't go away until his HP healed, there being incredible amounts as if someone had dropped a truck on him, but somehow he was not overwhelmed to the point where he was unable to act with how much there was.

"Of shi-" Were the only things to escape from Lucian's lips before he found himself soaring through the sky. It seemed like timed slowed down, or his thoughts were just going that fast, I got kicked by a giant zombie. This hurts a lot, and I still have to land. So today I got set on fire, and practically hit by a car. Huh...I should probably be dead. He landed with a thud, and rolled a bit due to the angle he was launched at and the way he landed. With every beat of his heart, he felt pain coursing through his body. He saw two windows open up, informing him of gaining a level in two different skills, he could truly care less about that at this moment though, he closed them.

He watched as Mike tried to come to his rescue, and nearly died in the process. He would have facepalmed again, if not for the pain he was currently in, and the fact that it was a lot more serious. "So...Ren, you are almost done right?" Lucian pulling himself from the ground, not a scratch on his body, "Cause I'd like to live to see tomorrow." Lucian wasn't sure what to do, he was out of mana, and his health was a bit too low to be trying to draw more agro than he already had. Mike was in a pickle as well, by the stomp he witnessed, even more so then he. "If I die, plant a tree on my grave." He would try to play the hero, if he were to succeed, Mike should live, and Ren would have a direct shot. Lucian started running, ignoring the pain that was intensified with the landing of every step, he started running towards Ren in a straight line, he planned to give Ren a perfect head on shot with his finisher, if this messed up, he knew he would likely not see tomorrow. He just hoped that the stupid zombie would leave Mike for dead and focus on the moving target. "Ren?!" He shouted mid run, fairly agitated.

The beast saw Lucian begin to run. "Almost done! Just a few more seconds!" Indeed, just a couple more as Lucian ran towards Ren, trying to garner the zombie's attention for just a little longer. Luckily it was still under the effect of Ren's 'Mark of Cursed Tasks', so it was still a bit clumsier than usual as it aimed one of its feet once again for the escaping Lucian, attempting another kick.

---

Mass Zombie Stomp: 67

---

Lucian was either lucky or just skilled at dodging. The stomp missed him by a good bit, leaving a foot sized crater, it roaring out loudly as it continued to be assaulted by the dark green flames and Ren's other Mark. Ren glared up at the beast.

"Its done!" With a loud shout he fired the giant, swirling blast of mana and flame towards the creature, praying that this would finish it off and end this fight as he put all the remaining MP he had into the blast.

---

Ren Giga Spiral Bolt: 35 - 30 Projectile Weaponry = 5

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 258

---

The blast hit square on, as if by pure chance, as it looked like it wasn't going to for a moment, or not hit it in the right spot to finish it off, but as if by pure chance the beast, in its attempt to get to Lucian, stepped so the blast hit it square where the heart should be. It was no head shot, but it seemed to do something. The spinning of the blast seeming to give it extra edge as the beast howled out in pain. For a moment it looked like it wasn't going to finish the creature off though, but with the flames on it also burning and attacking the creature on the blast as well seemed to give it the extra kick needed, the creature's tough body giving way.

The blast, within moments, tore through the creature's body, only going for a few more yards before dissipating as if there was just enough power in it, or even not enough, to pierce it as though the flames had given it the extra power needed. The creature howled now as dead spirits seem to begin pulling and flying from the creature's body, its body beginning to crumble and melt as if the entire thing was made out of other dead spirits or zombies. A haunting chill arose through the air as the creature continued to crumble away.

Soon enough it was over, a small chest in place where the beast was, reminiscent of the other boss chest that they had seen before. The cool, refreshing feel of a level up would wash their pain away as it restored their HP. The fatigue of battle would still remain, making them all a bit tired, a good bit especially from all of the other grinding they have done today as well as Mike's sword training, as he did take a very heavy blow from Keiichi and do alot of sword swings, and Lucian, from his grinding of elementals.
Mike would get the same window that Lucian did alerting him that all of his Stats had gone up by 1 after hitting Level 10.

Not only that, but the two of them also would receive one other window.





"Alright... that was fun...got a lot accomplished today and you two nearly died... lets divide up this loot and then go home, its getting a little late..." Ren walked over to the small chest and touched it, it opening and then vanishing in a flash of light. Where the small chest once stood was a decently sized stack of yen bills, which Ren grabbed. It did this before, so Ren figured it would do it again. The moment Ren put it into his inventory, the stack vanishing in thin air to the other two, their own inventories would appear, alerting them that they both received 80,000 Yen as the Yen counter at the bottom right hand corner of the window went up by 80,000.

"Wow, 80,000 a piece, 240,000 in total. That was more than last time, I guess the amount they give is different each time like in games. Lets see what else we have here."

Ren then looked at the other three things. There were two slightly bigger Health potions in a bit nicer looking bottles in and one blue potion, a Mana Potion probably, in a same kind of bottle. There were also two other potions, one small health potion as they had seen before and another that looked just like the small health potion, except it was blue, so it was a small mana potion most likely. Ren uttered Observe for the bigger Health potion. "Ill just have the bigger health potion, you two can figure out how to divide the other four potions." Ren picked up the bigger health potion and slipped it into his inventory.

Ren then looked at the other two items. What looked like a rune stone that glowed slightly black with some ominous chill of death. "Another Death Rune like before... you guys would have no use for this, ill hang onto it if I ever take my black magic studies to necromancy." Ren picked it up and then looked at the fourth thing. "Another book..." Ren looked at it, using Observe on it as he picked it up. "And speaking of Necromancy... lets see if I can learn this since I am already studying up on dark magic, what's the danger of adding Necromancy to the mix..." Ren attempted to learn from the book, but nothing, a sigh as he just shook his head.

"Requires Intermediate Black Magic... ill just hang onto it for now since neither of you know Black Magic." After that Ren stood up, figuring that giving the other two more of the potions made up for taking the other drops, but its not like they were in this for themselves, the other two just had no use for the two things Ren picked up, which was his reasoning for taking them. "Those drops were a bit different from last time, I guess they are randomized, but I think we were luckier this time..." After that, Ren did a quick application of his Talent Points and Stat Points, saving one for a later occasion instead of spending it. He decided to amp up Wisdom a bit so that he had more MP, pleased that his MP regeneration went up by one as well.

Ren decided to send a PM to both Silas and Sasha while the other two played around with their level ups. (Note that not gonna put it in here since the two of you won't get it until you are done grinding since Ren, Mike, and Lucian are ahead in time).