Lying on the cracked ground, Magnus felt his exhausted body return to peak condition. Even his hearing, that he thought was impaired, returned to normal.
Glancing at the stat window, he then checked if he had gotten any useful skills.
[Name: Magnus (changeable)]
[Level: 13]
[Experience: 1391/16000]
[STR: 52] [SPD: 50] [INT: 11] [WIL: 49] [-] [-]
Then he began scrolling his skills window, noticing that he had a lot of skill that cost 0 points by now. Yet due to them having potentially dangerous or even fatal side effects, he never even entertained the thought of getting them.
Instead, he thought the system might have a solution.
'Hey system, is there any way to sell the skills I'm not going to buy, or trade them in for something else?'
[Yes, but there's something else you need to do. Preferably now.]
'Huh? What do you—'
His thoughts were interrupted, as he heard the sound of stones being moved. Accompanying it, an ominous chanting came from the the collapsed keep.
His hair stood on ends.
[System quest: Kill the reincarnator.]
[Reward : ??? ]
[Penalty : Death ]
[ Personal note : if you can't kill him, you weren't worth my time.]
He didn't even register the text, rolling on the ground.
Tzzzzzt!
A massive lightning dragon passed where he had originally stood, melting stone and metal in its wake. Turning to look where it had come from, Magnus noticed a lone figure coming from the ruined castle.
Taller than most orcs by a whole head, with a similarly burly body. Yet unlike other orcs that wore iron armor, this orc was covered in thick fur coats, and tattoos covering his exposed skin.
"You NPC! How dare you ruin the stronghold I've spent years of my life on! How dare you kill my women, how dare YOUUUU!" his roar, filled with malice, seemed to shake the very heavens.
'Harem? NPC? Is this guy another reincarnator!?'
"I'll skin you alive before I turn you into experience for this daddy!"
Saying that, the shaman raised his hand. Electricity arched across his entire body, concentrating at his fingertips, before it shot out.
TZZZZT—
Having already sensed the crisis, Magnus once more evaded the lightning dragon.
"This fucker!" Magnus shouted, one of the bolts arched and hit his hand, and a feeling of numbness spread through his arm.
Lightning dragon after lightning dragon shot towards him, each one being just barely avoided. Whether due to frustration or something else, the shaman changed his chant.
One of the rocks, originally a part of the castle, began floating mid air, before shooting towards Magnus at breakneck speeds.
'A rock can't be too bad!'
With such a thought, he threw a punch towards the projectile. With a resounding bang, the entire boulder crumbled to dust.
The shamans eyes narrowed, once more changing the chant. Magnus, who had been running towards him, stopped in his tracks.
'I got a bad feeling about this one!'
True to his gut feeling, vines and wood gathered from the ground, forming some sort of ritualistic totem. Each segment had four sides, and there were in total 20 segments.
"KATAN GOT!" The shaman shouted, and wolf heads began sprouting from each side. Two golden portals shimmered into existence, before a horde of wolves ran out, heading towards Magnus.
'He's trying to exhaust me!'
As the first wolf closed in, he sidestepped it's gaping jaws, followed by a punch. Seeing its head burst from one hit, Magnus stopped looking back and began killing in earnest.
Occasionally, a lightning dragon or a rock was shot towards him, yet those were dodged or parried. Even when the wolves managed to bite down on his body, they simply bounced off or were broken by him.
Yet his stamina was slowly being drained, and by the time he had cut down the last wolf, he was gasping for air. And as he turned to look at the shaman, he scowled.
'Oh fuck off!'
Two more totems were summoned, and the shaman threw him a smug look. Four portals poured out 160 wolves, all charging towards Magnus.
As he was about to just charge straight through, a war horn interrupted the battlefield, and a low hum began to echo—
TRRRRRRR!
Turning to look at the gatehouse, the dwarves had deployed a gattling gun. Bullet after bullet rained down on the Incoming wolf horde.
'...They have cannons, I shouldn't even be surprised at this point.' he shook his head, smiling.
Magnus and the shaman's expression had swapped, one scowling and one smiling. Seeing the wolves being slaughtered, the shaman chanted the lightning chant, aimed at the gatehouse—
Only to see 6 barrels aim towards him.
He panicked, grabbing one of his amulet and crushing it. A water bubble formed around him, spinning at high speeds, and the bullets failed to pass through.
As he was about to begin chanting, he noticed a shadow besides him. Summoning a wooden shield hastily, he instinctively blocked —
BANG! CRACK!
Only to see a hand punch through his shield, continuing towards his neck. Panicking, he raised his other arm in defense.
Bang! Crack!
The punch connected, and the shaman was sent flying, his left arm bent at an unnatural angle. Rolling on the ground, he howled in fury, sending a weaker lightning bolt towards the charging Magnus.
Yet instead of rolling sideways, Magnus had jumped into the air, rapidly closing the distance towards the shaman.
"I WON'T FALL TO AN NPC!" the shaman roared, crushing another one of his amulets. A wall of earth shot high up into the air, obscuring Magnus vision.
Magnus threw a punch towards the wall, and a dense web of cracks spread. Seeing it still standing, he rained down punches on the increasingly cracked wall.
The 8th punch blasted a hole through it, revealing the scenery behind the wall. The shaman was gone, yet in the distance, he saw a trap door leading underground.
'Oh you're not getting away, you disgusting summoner!'
Magnus gave chase, before throwing a quick glance at the system notification.
'Wait— I CAN'T LET HIM ESCAPE, FUCK!' he thought, as he began running as fast as his tired legs allowed. Gritting his teeth, he threw another five points into strength, somewhat recovering him stamina.
He arrived at the trap door, and saw a staircase leading into the depths of the earth.
As he hesitated for a moment, he wondered if he was being duped and he wasn't hiding. Luckily, the system provided help.
An arrow appeared, pointing down the staircase.
'Thank you, system! Wait no— I'm dead if I don't get him, fuck you system!'