Chapter 73: A Change of Plans

The afternoon sun hung low, somewhere close to four in the afternoon. On the the streets of the historical side of vienna there was a war on going. An otherworldy war with monsters, blade wielding and magic using humans. The air still smelled of blood and burnt fur. The fighting rolled on in waves, blades and claws and screaming layered together until it blurred into one long, droning noise.

*They seem to hold their ground just long enough to beat back a wave, then push forward again until the next one rolls in. That‘s a rather safe strategy. But too slow,* Michael thought, watching the group of humans fighting to hold their grounds.

He'd reached the far end of the human line, deliberately keeping his distance from the front, where Jakob was cutting through monster after monster like they were nothing. There was no room to level up next to him — nothing left to kill by Jakob who was on a killing spree.

Michael passed the last fighter still holding position, the point where the group's blades and the monsters' claws actually met. Unlike Jakob, the rest of them weren't advancing. They stayed exactly where they were, fighting in small, tight clusters, driving each wave back without ever chasing it. From where his point of view, he could count maybe thirty people holding the line in his immediate stretch alone, more further down where he couldn't make out details anymore. It made sense, Michael thought — nobody wanted to get separated from the group with monsters still pouring through in numbers nobody had bothered to count.

*I should adjust my plan,* he thought. *Instead of hunting twenty level 3s, I should be killing four level 5s. And now that I've put points into mana, I should be able to manage more than three teleports. I am counting on one kill per teleport.*

Fighting here was nothing like fighting alone had been. He wasn't clawing for survival anymore — he could actually choose his targets, take his time, size one up before committing instead of just reacting to whatever came at him first. For once he could stand back for a moment and watch instead of swinging blindly at whatever was closest or being on a run all time.

He scanned the field for the strongest monster he could find, and it didn't take long to spot one. It was hanging back at the edge of the fighting. It was not moving at all, only watching – for now. Something about the way it held itself made it look sharper than the others — not thrashing forward with the rest, not driven by the same blind hunger pushing the other monsters into the line. Its hide was a mottled gray-green, blending almost perfectly with the rubble behind it, its long limbs tucked in close instead of sprawled. Its eyes were locked on one of the fighters, tracking him, waiting for the exact moment his guard dropped. It would most likely end up in a loss of a human life.

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Michael vanished.

He reappeared behind it and swung before it even registered what was happening, tearing its back open in one long, vicious cut. Dark blood sprayed across the ground, thick and almost black in the daylight.

*KIEEEEEHHH*, the calculating monster screamed.

Michael had meant to cut straight through the monster in one hit but to his surprise he couldn‘t. He'd clearly overestimated himself. *Five points of strength apparently isn't enough to close the gap on a level 5. But this speed... it's unbelievable,* he thought, already winding up for a second strike. The monster spun around, one clawed limb slashing through the space where he'd been a heartbeat earlier, but he was already gone and back again, driving the blade into the same wound, deeper this time, felt it grind against something solid — and then the resistance gave way all at once.

[You have killed a Grand Tiger (Level 5)]

[You have received 250 Experience Points]

Three more kills and he'd level up. *Not bad, for a few seconds of fighting. It's refreshing — being able to use my talent freely, without having to weigh every single move first. Finally.* Buoyed by the kill, Michael went looking for his next target, but nothing obvious was left nearby. He drifted along the edge of the fighting, weaving between clusters that weren't his to join, scanning for anything strong enough to be worth an instant kill with the help of his teleportation-skill.

Most of what was left looked like level 2s and 3s, easy pickings he could have handled without vanishing at all, not worth burning a teleport on. A level 4 monster came hopping toward him in short, wet bounds — something frog-shaped, its skin slick and mottled even in the daylight, its throat pulsing with each breath. He sidestepped it without much thought – as he always did -, already lining up his next move, when he was interrupted as something shot toward his face out of nowhere.

A tongue.

He barely had time to register it before he vanished, reappearing behind the creature and driving his blade straight through it.

[You have killed a Frog Monster (Level 4)]

[You have received 100 Experience Points]

*Damn it! What was that?! I need to pay closer attention. Why did I just assume monsters couldn't have abilities of their own!?*

He most likely wouldn’t die by just a tongue attack but he had no knowledge about it at all.

Every other person Michael had watched so far, awakened or not, would have been helpless against an attack like that. Maybe it wouldn't have killed them outright, but there was no telling what the monster might have followed up with if it had actually landed — some kind of poison, a stunning effect like in games, or something worse than a bitten-off finger.

So he needed to be more careful.

After some reprimanding thoughts he shook off the shock and continued his search.

*This skill really is a game changer, It is my ace and I can have as much of it as the more mana I have. I need to keep at least one teleport in reserve at all times, no matter what.*