Chapter 38: The First Customer!?
Finn’s amber eyes sparkled as he saw them barrage the corner like life depended on it.
By this time, there were monsters on all sides of the territory; it was just denser where he was due to the bloodletting.
He went to the other three corners of the territory, doing the same thing, maximizing this odd technique he ended up using.
Thank goodness it didn’t seem like he had to keep wounding himself. He had once attended the groundbreaking of his restaurant, and he watched as a pig was stabbed and made to run around the future construction site. It was a tradition from his foreman’s side and had something to do with warding off spirits or something.
Whether it was spirits or beasts they were dealing with, Finn felt a lot like that pig somehow.
Anyway, he used this chance to take a few bites of his jerky as well (as if to remind himself he was not a pig).
Also, because he knew that actual damage would take a while, he decided to go to his room to take a power nap. As he was now, he wouldn’t be able to kill another monster unless they lay down without moving and waiting for death.
On his way to his room, though, he couldn’t help but cringe when he heard another ding.
[-1 Defense Point]
He gritted his teeth, but he had no choice but to rest right now, so he could only learn to ignore it. When he entered the inn, it was like he was greeted by warm air after being in the cold. After he entered the room, it felt like he was wrapped in a comforter.
The next few hours were like this. He’d take a half-hour power nap, go outside and kill a monster or two, before doing it again. Sadly, this also meant that more monsters would be attracted by all the chaos, just replacing the ones he had killed.
The more he killed, the more it just felt endless.
The jerky took a while before they got consumed, though. The monsters’ mouths were big. To bite the small piece of jerky he exposed, they’d have to open their mouths to the corner, but the barrier could not be chewed, and therefore their bites could not capture the jerky. They were brainless monsters that had no logic, so it took them a while to displace it enough to actually eat it.
But by that time, a few were already bleeding a lot. Their density allowed for some monsters to be in particularly vulnerable positions, and Finn, using his blade proficiency passive, took advantage to safely land some lethal attacks.
One, he stabbed it in the eye, several times, while the other he stabbed at its weakness between their hard armor at the shoulders.
[Killed! Glecksmar (Awakened)]
[Killed! Brindlejaw (Awakened)]
[-1 Defense Point]
However, he got a bit too excited after two subsequent kills, aiming to kill a few more. As it was now, there was a net increase of beasts. That was to say, even if he killed monsters, more would come in. It made him want to push for a few more kills.
He wanted to get a net decrease in monsters for once before he took a rest this time.
[Killed! Glecksmar (Awakened)]
[Killed! Hissmal (Awakened)]
There were still a dozen left even after all this, but he could barely breathe from exhaustion. He tried to kill another one, promising he’d take a nap after, but...it was too late. He got too carried away.
"Shit..." he cursed as he felt his vision darkening.
Finally, before he completely succumbed to exhaustion, he saw his stamina:
Zero.
.
.
.
[-1 Defense Point!]
"Ugh..." he grumbled, his face smothered on his "pillow", though it was hard and itchy.
Who cares...
[-1 Defense Point!]
[-1 Defense Point!]
His eyes opened wide when he finally realized what was happening.
"GAHH!!" he screamed as he tried to sit up, though he ended up down on the floor again due to the shock of the sudden movement. He was not only exhausted, but his whole body was sore.
He saw Pang bounce to his line of sight, and he looked at him worriedly. This guy must really not be used to non-combat masters.
"Shit... how long was I out?"
"About an hour," he said. "How many times do I have to drag you back in?"
He wasn’t even speaking in third person anymore...
Finn shook his head and rubbed his temple.
[-1 Defense Point]
[-1 Defense Point]
"Ah!" What the—
This decrease was way too fast. He ran back out and saw that there were more monsters indeed. However, it was not enough to reduce the barrier’s life so quickly.
He immediately looked at the Barrier’s status in the [Room] tab.
[Barrier]
[Remaining Defense Points: 9762/10000]
He took a deep breath. A few dozen awakened monsters shouldn’t be able to cause this much damage within an hour!
[-1 Defense Point!]
ROARR!
It was here that he realized it. His heart beat loudly as he stepped out, heading to another side of the barrier, and saw two new, unfamiliar monsters.
They were two beasts nearly twice as large as the others, and much more intimidating.
Those were not awakened-level.
[-1 Defense Point!]
He heard the panda tutting at the side as if it had nothing to do with him. "That’s a more powerful monster than mere Awakened monsters. You really have it hard, la.
"Even the previous Innkeepers who had battle experience were given a bit more time to breathe before they were thrown around like this."
By estimate, the Innkeeper should’ve been sent to a place with monsters only 1 rank higher at most. It was meant to allow space to grow. It had to be a place near the Event, but also not too dangerous to cut the Innkeeper while he was still weak.
But look at this...was he just unlucky?
Pang thought, if he comforted the Innkeeper, would he cook him a hornrabbit? As a last supper?
Finn had no idea what the pudgy bear was thinking about. Right now, looked at the mob of large rabid monsters whose meaning of life seemed to be to hunt him down, and his body turned cold.
[-1 Defense Point!]
[-1 Defense Point!]
[-1 Defense Point!]
Was this really how it would end?
It was around this time that an unexpected notification appeared in front of his eyes, changing the atmosphere around him immediately.
[A potential customer has entered the barrier. Please set an entrance fee immediately.]
!!!