Chương 53: (Book 2 Chapter 4)

The huge spiders converging on Omar and the other guy were obviously dangerous, but they weren't the greatest threat. Omar's latest spell had lit up the surrounding buildings, and the brief flash had illuminated four gigantic centipedes crawling down the buildings from behind Omar. The spiders were the size of a mid-sized dog like a Beagle, the centipedes; however, were each the size of a large van, and they were fast.

By the time the flash had ended and my mind had processed everything, they had almost reached the street. I used quick step to rush ahead, and even in my slowed perception the centipedes were quick. The skill ended and I used it once again, going past Omar and reaching the guy defending alone against the small crowd of spiders. Against all my instincts apart from tactical insight, which approved of the plan, I bent down and picked two of the spiders before throwing them with all my might at two of the centipedes.

Not giving the spiders a chance to get over their surprise of a human suddenly appearing in their midst, I picked two more of them up, moving with such sheer speed that I was seeing these spiders like they were moving in slow-motion, and hurled them at the remaining centipedes. Then, I slashed at a spider who jumped towards me with my dagger and picked up the guy who was still behind his shield, before using quick step yet again and arriving at Omar's side.

"Alex!" he had the time to exclaim before I picked him up as well and used quick step once again, ignoring the other guy squirming in my grasp. I used quick step one final time before it got too much and I dropped them both unceremoniously to the ground and turned around, panting. The other guy swore furiously, while Omar just laughed while getting up. However, I ignored them both to see if my actions had brought us any time. Surprisingly, it looked like it had.

The spiders I had thrown at the centipedes were easily crushed by them within their mandibles. My eyes just caught the final spider being mercilessly bit clean through, spraying ichor across the street. This caused the other spiders to get enraged and to swarm at the centipedes, leaving us mercifully out of this conflict.

The centipedes were much more interested in us, probably because we were far juicier targets for them, but the spiders were serving as a great distraction, and I had every intention of utilizing the moment.

"Run!" I yelled, turning back around and following my own advice. Omar followed along, laughing heartily while the other guy reacted a bit slower but soon followed behind. I now recognized him as the same guy who had been accused of not doing his job as a guardian back when the buffaloes had attacked and killed a bunch of us, though I didn't remember his name. As we ran, a thought rose in my mind. Getting monsters to fight each other sure is fun…

We turned the corner and kept running, going past a few intersections before slowing down. I had kept looking over my shoulder to see if the centipedes were following us, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. All three of us were winded and panting, but Omar was laying down on the ground gasping for breath like he was dying. I sighed, and looked around to see we were quite close to a building that looked clear of any vines or bugs.

"Let's go inside to rest and catch up" I suggested. Omar gave a tired thumbs up while the other guy nodded. We both hoisted Omar on our shoulders and half-dragged him through the building's entrance. It was pitch black inside, but my perception allowed me to see well enough even in such low-light.

"Wait here while I check if this is safe or not" I said. Heading inside, I quickly moved past the elevators and reached the door leading to the stairs. Going under concealed presence, I opened the door and stepped through, looking up from between the gap in the stairs, but even my high perception couldn't see much further than two stories in the darkness. Still, I couldn't hear or smell anything, so I was reasonably sure that there wasn't anything in the immediate vicinity. Unless it also has a stealth skill…

Focusing back on the task at hand, I started climbing the stairs, reaching the first floor soon enough. I opened the door and found myself within a hallway, with three doors lined up on each side. I tried the first door to my right, but it was locked. The door directly opposite was locked as well. I could easily break the lock with my now increased strength, or open a door using my ability, but I figured trying the other doors would be the smarter thing to do first.

I had just about reached the second door on the right when I paused. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. My strength really had increased! I hadn't realized it, since I had increased my strength in the middle of fighting against far superior opponents, but hadn't I just picked two large guys, one of whom was in full-body armour, and had been able to easily run while carrying them both?

Also, I had been able to launch the spiders at those centipedes with ease, barely even feeling their weight. Neat. I should figure out how my body has changed since I crossed the 10 threshold in all stats. Reaching out to the second door on my right, I tried the handle and found it open. The door opened with some effort, probably due to the hinges not being used for so long. Still, it mercifully stayed silent, and I stepped into an apartment.

A small hallway led to a quaint living room, with a tiny kitchen to one side and a door on the opposite end, probably leading to the bedroom. There was a door immediately next to the entrance of the apartment, which was open and I could see that it was the toilet. The apartment was furnished elegantly, but the look was ruined by the thick layer of dust and dirt. I did a quick look around, and found nothing inside. Even the windows of the apartment were intact. This will do.

Perhaps the most surprising thing since the system had arrived was what I was observing right now. Omar was obsessively cleaning. Muttering about how anyone could live in this dust hazard, he somehow found a broom and a dusting cloth within seconds of arriving and started tidying up. He first started brushing all the dust off the higher surfaces like the table-top and the kitchen counter, before he started brooming.

He moved like he had years of practice, and me and the guy, who I had finally learned was called Sam, looked on in sheer disbelief.

"Either help or get out of the way" snapped Omar, brushing past us with impatience. We both smartly went out of the apartment, where we stayed silently while Omar moved within the apartment like the greatest dust villain of all time. In no time at all, Omar had dumped all the dust in a huge pile outside the apartment, and announced that it was finally habitable. We both trudged in silently and looked in awe at the turnaround the apartment had gone through within a few minutes.

The entire place was spotless, and the shine on the kitchen countertop suggested that Omar had used some water from his inventory to scrub it clean. He had even thrown the windows open to let the stale air out, which I thought was dangerous, but I wisely kept the thought to myself." Now we can sit down and talk, come on, make yourselves comfortable" spoke Omar so naturally that it looked like he was inviting us over to his place for dinner. He has always been weird, but this is definitely not something I expected.

The increases to my wisdom stat shone through, as I once again kept my thoughts to myself. Instead, I moved over to the table and sat down, looking towards Omar to see if he would start setting the table now and offer us some food. He didn't.

"So, what have you been up to, Alex?" he asked instead. Silently disappointed at there not being any food offered, I started recounting what I had been up to since I got here. I also took out some canned foods from my inventory, and Omar found a few spoons in a drawer which he thoroughly cleaned before offering them to us. Obviously, he also cleaned the canned foods and checked for their expiry date, before remembering that none of us knew what day it actually was.

The canned food was then opened and sniffed intently before passing Omar's food inspection test. Soon, I had told them all that I had done and asked what they had been up to. Omar immediately perked up and started the re-telling in his trademark manner.

"Well, there I was, laying face down in the middle of the street with no idea what to do or where I was. I got up and looked around before I started heading right, which was lucky as I soon ran into Sam. He was running away from a large cat that was as big as a house! However, it was no match for me as I put the thing down with one spell!"

"It was five spells, and I was fighting the thing, not running away from it when Omar found me. Also, it was as large as a horse, not a house" interrupted Sam. Omar immediately deflated, but replied nonetheless, "Well, the other spells were just assurances… Anyways, that isn't important. So, the thing finally went down and Sam started thanking me with tears in his eyes…"

"There were no tears" Sam spoke up again in a deadpan voice. The entertaining re-telling continued, Omar repeatedly trying to exaggerate things while being mercilessly crushed by Sam. It turned out that they had been constantly fighting ever since they had met up, and were running low on all resources. They had faced large cats, foxes that threw magic attacks, a rabid pack of dogs, and finally, the spiders. Maybe concealed presence was the only reason I hadn't been attacked… But it still sounded weird.

I hadn't seen anything alive while exploring earlier, and yet they had repeatedly run into trouble. But why? Omar laughed in his usual loud voice, and I snapped my head up to look at him.

"What?" he asked. I didn't answer, for I was busy staring at the leg that had just become visible from the window.