Chapter 6: Chapter 6- Dimension Harvester (Part 2)
The moment the notification appeared in Talon's retina, his eyes flashed. It was a skill… His very first skill. However, it wasn't any normal skill.
Reading through the description of the skill, Talon could only hold his breath in surprise.
'Alternate versions? Parallel dimensions? This is insane!' He mused as he tried to calm himself down.
Meanwhile, Acrypha, who was standing behind him seemed to have noticed the change in his expression. However, instead of asking about it, she instead said something different.
"Whatever you got, just use it, quickly!" She alerted him to the monster that was rushing toward him.
"How?!" Talon asked panickedly as he grabbed his spear tightly.
"Just think of whatever you got and imagine activating it." She replied.
'Shit! Ok! This better work!' Taking a deep breath, Talon did exactly what she said. Immediately, he started feeling a cooling sensation running through his body. It was far different from anything else he ever felt before as it was almost akin to an ethereal energy moving through his body. His painful injuries felt less torturing and his mind cleared up.
At the same time, Talon felt something shocking. Weird knowledge and information started appearing in his head out of nowhere that he doesn't recall ever seeing in his life. The information was all related to Spearmanship, how to fight with a spear, techniques, movement patterns, and even a first-person point-of-view application of all of that.
His mind wasn't saturated with this newfound information but it was still a very odd and very insightful experience.
Meanwhile, the monster had already closed the distance between them and was slamming down with its hand.
"DODGE!!!" Shin-Il yelled loudly when he noticed that Talon was completely motionless. He didn't seem to have any intention to dodge or counter attack which made Shin-Il's heart stop for a second.
However, what he saw next completely blew his mind and made his brain freeze.
Talon's body suddenly ducked as he jumped in the air, reaching the monster's height as their eyes locked together. His movement was fast, fluid, and graceful yet also incredibly reckless.
'Is he intending to face the monster head-on without dodging?!' Shin-Il didn't understand at all.
But, his answer came a split second later when Talon's spear suddenly moved and when it did, everything changed.
*Swish*
The blade sliced through the air at incredible speed, cutting the monster's head in half. The hit was far more brutal than anything he had done before. The way he moved his weapon and the way cut the monster felt so masterful, far from his previous clumsy attempts. Then, Talon's landed on the ground before he quickly dashed around the stumbling monster and jumped in the air, landing on top of him then, with a loud grunt, he stabbed down, right at the monster's core.
The moment the spear pierced through the tough flesh, it pushed the core outside the Dimension Walker's body.
*BANG*
Immediately, the entity fell to the ground motionless… It was dead. Talon stood there for a good 5 seconds not saying or doing anything. The only thing indicating that he was still alive was his arms which were shaking visibly.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Exhaling and inhaling loudly, Talon finally felt all the strength leave his body as he fell on top of the monster.
"I… did it… Yes…" With a weak smile, he lifted his hand in the air and clenched his fist. The feeling of the bitter victory filled his body. Even in his condition, he felt good, enthralled, and for a fleeting moment, invincible. This was a deadly battle, one that he actually won.
The feeling of victory was amazing. Something Talon never experienced before. He never knew fighting to death and winning was this amazing of a sensation.
'Shit… I might get addicted to this…' Looking down at his spear, he recalled what happened in detail.
Using that skill made him kill the monster in one single attack. He felt as if his spear was simply an extended part of his body that he could freely control as he wanted.
[Ding!]
[You have killed level 5 Dimension Walker. +6 Agility, +6 Health.]
[Ding!]
[You have leveled up. +2 Free Points.]
[Ding!]
[You have leveled up. +2 Free Points.]
[Ding!]
[You have leveled up. +2 Free Points.]
A series of notifications appeared in front of Talon's hazy eyes. Immediately, a stronger rush of unknown energy filled his body.
'Health and Agility increased a lot… This is the result of killing something way stronger than me, huh?' He thought to himself as he started feeling his injuries going slightly numb. He was still heavily injured but his power increased by leaps and bounds.
As he was like that, Acrypha slowly floated toward him with an impressed look on her face.
"What did you get?"
"... A very powerful skill," Talon replied as he slowly stood on his feet with the help of the spear.
'A skill that can kill a Level 5 Dimension Walker while he's merely Level 1?' Acrypha didn't know how to feel about what she saw. The moment he activated the skill, his whole demeanor changed.
His speed, accuracy, and techniques all evolved in a single instant and he overpowered the monster before it could even react. That was something she had never seen before in a Low-Level creature like the human in front of her.
Squinting her eyes, she kept staring at him silently. No one knew what was going through her head.
"M-Mister!! Are you ok?!" As the two were like that, a voice reached their ears and made them look down. Shin-Il had come running toward Talon when he saw that the monster stopped moving.
Even though he was scared shitless, he still was very worried about Talon. So, he ignored his instincts and came to check on his savior.
"I'm good," Talon replied as he spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood. "Well, mostly."
"Fuuuh, thank god!" Shin-Il exhaled as he smiled at Talon. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving me!!" Saying that, Shin-Il went down on his knees and bowed toward Talon. Tears welled up in his eyes as snot ran down his nose. "I thought… Hick… I thought was done for… Thank you… Truly…"
He cried silently as he kept repeating the same words to Talon. Meanwhile, the latter simply looked at him silently. He didn't know how to respond to such sincere gratitude.
Rubbing the back of his head confusedly, he replied. "Lift your head up, man. I just did what I saw to be the right thing to do. Just saying thank you is more than enough.
"Mmm… I'm sorry…" Rubbing his face, the boy stood up again.
"What's your name?" Talon asked.
"Ryan Shin-Il, sir!"
'Sir…'
"My name is Talon Everhart… You can call me Talon."
"Ta… lon?" Shin-Il seemed rather confused at first since the name was certainly not Korean.
"Yeah, Talon."
"Nice to meet you, Taron!"
"It's Talon, with an L, not an R."
"Oh, sorry! Talon… Talon… Talon… I got it!"
"Congratulations." Talon sighed inwardly. This wasn't the first time someone found it hard to pronounce his name. It was basically a daily thing for him. Because his father was a foreigner and was also an avid reader and writer of traditional fantasy books, he wanted to name his son after a character he loved greatly, hence the unorthodox name.
'Thanks for my name, Dad. Appreciate it.' Talon thought to himself with a small smile. He would always bicker with his father jokingly about his naming sense.
"Good memories. Anyway…"
'Wait…' Suddenly, Talon realized something. His eyes looked at Shin-Il and then at Acrypha and he noticed something odd. The boy didn't seem to look at Acrypha at all, or to be more precise, he didn't seem to realize that she was there.
"He can't see you?" Talon asked with a small whisper.
"Yeah, you're the only one that can see me. No one else in this world can." Acrypha replied with a calm yet also playful tone.
"So romantic…" Talon rolled his eyes. "You will explain why later."
"Anyway, Shin-Il. Do you have anywhere to go?"
"N-No… I was just searching for a safe place to hide before authorities could find me."
"I doubt authorities will be able to do anything considering the situation."
Looking above him, Talon noticed some military jets flying every now and then, but none of them seemed to be doing anything to stop this huge catastrophe. There was no cellular network to call or get connected to the internet either.
"I'm heading toward the warehouse. If you want to follow me or go on your own, it's your choice." Talon added as he climbed down from the monster's body.
"I-I will go with you!" Shin-Il replied.
"Good decision. But you will have to put your life at risk and fight one of those monsters when you need to. I'm not going to take care of a dead weight for a long time."
"O-Ok! I will try my best!"
"Good spirit. Now, let's go."
The two started moving again. Although Talon's body was quickly healing, it would still take a long time for him to fully recover unless he got some medical treatment.
"Ugh…" Groaning slightly, he continued walking using his spear.
"Are you really ok? Do you need some help moving?" Shin-Il asked worriedly.
"No need. I can move on my own."
The two crossed the street and headed south. They used small alleys to avoid groups of monsters. Talon had to kill a few weak Dimension Walkers as they moved which didn't give him any bonus stats. A few minutes later, the warehouse appeared in their vision.
"We're close. Hurry." Talon said as he peeked from a nearby street before he signaled for Shin-Il to move. As the two were about to move to the next block, they heard a loud bang coming from the nearby alley.
Talon crouched down as he signaled for Shin-Il to stop. Then, he slowly took a peek. There, he saw a group of people fighting Dimension Walkers.
'Another group of people.' Talon squinted his eyes slightly as he noticed a familiar face amongst them.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone