Surviving as a Broken Hero

Chapter 10 – When the Party Ends (1)

Her mind seemed to catch up easier than mine had.

“The Snake?”

She was referring to their leader.

“I think so…”

The next question was, ‘What can we do about it?’

If the lord was knowingly in cahoots with a murderer, it would be difficult to bring about any form of official justice without also going against the city lord.

{{Quest

Solve the mystery of the killer before it’s too late.

Quest Reward: 1000 experience

Status: Complete!

+1000 XP}}

{{Level Up!}}

{{Current Experience: 1600/2000}}

{{Skill Tree Unlocked}}

{{New Skill Tree Selection Available}}

‘New skill tree selection?’

I hadn’t heard of such a thing. Usually, level-ups granted skill points and a skill at certain levels.

A soft golden glow pulsed over my skin for a moment before receding.

“What was that?”

Rhil asked.

“I received quest XP because we figured out who the killer was… The second system leveled up.”

“What did it give you?”

She was curious because she hadn’t heard of such a system before either.

“It mentions something about a skill tr—”

A sort of invisible shockwave passed over us at that moment and we exchanged a look.

The best way to describe it was the feeling of a thin barrier of water caressing our skin for but a moment in an outward direction from the hall.

An intense feeling of drowsiness overtook me as the shockwave passed. From the way that she held her hand up to her head, I could tell that Rhil was feeling it as well.

I glanced back through the balcony doorway to catch a glimpse of the hall and saw bodies littered over the floor. Were they sleeping?

A figure I recognized crouched next to one of the bodies, hand on the sleeping person’s head.

—The Snake.

The drowsiness only grew worse by the second.

{{Your earthen spirit provides support in resisting «Sleep»}}

It hadn’t mentioned anything about being able to resist mental effects before…

I didn’t have time to mull it over. Despite her best efforts, Rhil was slumping over towards the ground.

Awkwardly catching her before she could fall over, I braced myself and made the quickest escape I could think of…

I held onto her tightly and pulled us both over the railing.

A falling sensation, something soft against me, a hard impact, and the smell of flowers.

All those things registered for but a moment before, despite my best efforts and the assistance of the second system, I fell asleep.

* * *

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“Ugh…”

When I next awoke, a heavy weight seemed to be draped over my body, making it hard for me to breathe.

Something soft brushed past my nose, and I stifled the urge to sneeze as I regained my bearings.

The fall hadn’t been too far, only a couple of meters or so down into the bushes that lined the gardens.

…But it still hurt like hell. Despite the bushes having softened our fall, their branches had still torn at my skin and Rhil had landed on top of me, which was the weight I felt.

“What the hell happened?”

She spoke as I felt her clumsily roll off of me into the grass.

Still fighting the grogginess of that unnatural sleep, I pulled myself out of the bush to see her adjusting her clothes. I looked away.

“I think the Snake initiated some sort of spell. I saw him in the hall kneeling next to a few of the people who fell asleep.”

She must have noticed I was trying to avert my gaze at that point.

“What are you doing?”

I felt a slow heat rise to my face despite the danger of the situation. Then, I looked back at her.

Despite the fall having torn at her clothing and the bits of leaves still in her golden hair, she looked more beautiful than ever as the orange glow of the dawn highlighted her features.

“I…”

I found some difficulty speaking. I knew it was dumb to be hung over something so small in that type of situation, but the mind wasn’t always known to be logical.

‘Wait… wasn’t it just night?’

“How long do you think we were asleep for?”

I looked up towards the slowly rising sun.

“Probably most of the night.”

She had noticed it as well.

Rather than that, we were both looking at something near the edge of the garden square, a man who seemed to be digging at something on the ground just underneath one of the garden hedges.

“Hello?!”

From his garb, the man looked to have been one of the party-goers. He seemed ragged and there was a dark liquid staining his coat, but otherwise looked mostly intact from behind.

I tried getting his attention again.

“Hey! Do you know what’s going on?! What happened at the party?!”

Rhil placed a hand on my shoulder as the figure stopped whatever it was doing and I moved to approach.

“Aizen…”

She sounded concerned. There was certainly something off about the situation…

Then the figure turned to look at us.

I could see a body behind it as it stood and turned to face us. While the thing had clearly once been a man, it was something else entirely then.

—Crimson red eyes.

—Heavy, ragged breathing.

—Sharp claws that seemed to jut from his fingers.

—Pale, dull skin.

I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was clearly hostile towards us as it launched its way at us on all fours.

It must have used some sort of skill or ability, as it was almost too fast to follow.

I caught a glimpse of a blur headed my way like a cannonball and had just enough time to realize it was going to hit me before—

BANG!

A flash of light went off and a bolt of lightning struck it from the sky, blinding me in the process.

A warm, tingly feeling bombarded the front of my face.

“Sorry, I should have warned you.”

At least I knew why they had called Rhil the Skybreaker.

Moments after defeating the monster—

[[New Quest

Escape From the City!

Reward: 500 XP]]

{{New Quest

Save the City!

Reward: 500 XP}}

I received a quest from both Systems that seemed to contradict each other.

“Did you just get a quest?”

I asked her.

“It says to leave the city.”

She replied.

It appeared that, for whatever reason, the original system had given out a quest to Awakeners to flee the city. I wasn’t yet sure if the quest was local to just us or if it was a mass quest.

Not only that, but interestingly enough, the body of the thing we had killed soon vanished, a sign of it being a system monster.

Before we went any further, while we were still in a moment of safety, I realized it would probably be best to take whatever benefits I could get for what we might face.

“Hey, Rhil, could we catch our breath here for a moment? I think I can get something that’ll help us.”

Rhil acknowledged my request and knelt in the grass, keeping an eye out for anything that might endanger us while also doing her best to relax for the time being.

I opened the menu for the second system, looking over what it had described as skill tree unlocks.

{{System

Archetype: Body

Level: 2

XP: 1600/1000

Elements: Earth

Skill Tree Selections

《«Way of the Eruption»》

A skill focus that emphasizes sudden force and bursts of speed and strength.

‘Harness the force of an active volcano to obliterate those that stand in your way.’

Grants increasing bonuses to STR and AGI.

Locks later subclass selections.

《«Way of the Standing Stone»》

A skill focus that emphasizes endurance and toughness above all else.

‘Harness the force of the standing stone to endure all those who would try to harm you.’

Grants increasing bonuses to END and Mana.

Locks later subclass selections.

《«Way of the Infinite Cavern»》

A skill focus that emphasizes analysis and adaptability.

‘Harness the cunning of the infinite caverns below the earth to stealthily defeat your prey.’

Grants increasing bonuses to PER and MAG.

Locks later subclass selections.}}

None of them seemed like necessarily bad options. My biggest worry when looking over the selections was the brief note, ‘Locks later subclass selections.’

I assumed that meant that the System would grant me further class selections down the line based on the first “skill tree” I picked.

I also wondered if that other system had a similar capstone ability unlock at level 5 that the usual system did.

The «Way of the Eruption» would help with speed and the impact of my abilities, while the «Way of the Standing Stone» would probably increase the amount of damage I could take and expand that earth-like armor I could use. Finally, the «Way of the Infinite Cavern» seemed more suited to stealth or surprise attacks.

I discounted the «Way of the Infinite Cavern» first. I would need the ability to confront my foes head-on in order to delve through later dungeons and deal with the threat to the city.

I debated the other two selections.

Either tankiness or more damage and speed…

My biggest problems thus far had been my inability to account for opponents that were too fast—the gang member I had ended up killing, the elf that had used a speed-like ability to drift around me, and the thing that had jumped at me faster than I could react only a few moments prior had all evidenced that.

With that reasoning in mind, I selected the «Way of the Eruption» from the menu.

《«Way of the Eruption» Selected.

Would you like to confirm your selection?

《Yes》 《No》}}

I hit the yes button.

Instantly, my body felt lighter, and I felt a tightening, prickly sensation in my skin as my muscles strengthened.

I pulled my main stat window open to take a look.

[[Mana: 100/100

STR: 12+4

END: 12

AGI: 10+4

PER: 10

MAG: 10

MANA: 10]]

My selection had increased my strength and agility by +4 points each. With the normal stat progression being +2 for each of a class’s two primary stats plus a free point per level, it was the equivalent of being roughly level 3.

“What did you end up with?”

Rhil asked as she noticed another golden pulse go through my body after I finished my selection.

I held out a hand to help her up as I explained it to her.

“It’s a subclass that granted me four points in STR and AGI. I’m not sure what else it might do yet…”

It could sometimes be a bit awkward how the nature of the earth control ability left things unexplained.

She wiped off the bottom of her dress, stained with grass, and let out a light chuckle.

“You’ll be protecting me soon at this rate.”

***

After that, we were able to circle back around the manor and reach the open gateway on the side of the structure out towards the main manor unassaulted.

The main street made the chaos that had been happening much more evident.

Bits of rubble and debris littered the streetway.

While we, thankfully, couldn’t see any bodies immediately after leaving the garden, we could still see that a struggle had occurred.

We had two options at that point.

We could either head back down towards the main streetway and work our way into the city proper, which was likely experiencing an attack by more of those things, or we could head up towards the castle gates.

Seeming to sense my thoughts, Rhil spoke again as we stood for a brief moment and looked down the street.

“You’re not thinking of running, right?”

Though she had only received the quest from the system that entailed doing so, she seemed eager to head deeper toward the castle. We couldn’t be sure yet, but the open gateway towards the castle ahead of us seemed to wait as if it were the maw of some sort of giant beast.

I smiled at her.

“I wouldn’t even dream of it.”

____