Nox stood at the entrance to the cafeteria and took in the chaos. Tables were flipped everywhere, chairs scattered like someone had thrown a tantrum.
There were at least a dozen of those dog creatures prowling around, sniffing at overturned lunch trays and the occasional backpack. A few students were huddled behind the serving counter, looking like they were about to piss themselves.
Perfect. More targets.
He heard Ava's footsteps behind him, getting closer. She was breathing hard and sounded exhausted.
"Sheesh, how are you so damn fast when you look like that," she said between gasps, leaning against the wall next to him.
He turned to look at her. She jumped back like he had slapped her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it in that way," she said quickly, holding up her hands.
He didn't bother responding. What was the point? She meant exactly what she said. Everyone always did. They saw his skinny frame and ratty clothes and assumed he was weak. Well, that assumption was about to cost these monsters their lives.
He sprinted into the cafeteria without warning. The closest dog looked up from whatever it was chewing on and started to growl. Nox reached it before it could even finish the sound and drove his fist straight into its skull.
The impact sent the creature flying backward into a stack of chairs with enough force to snap the metal legs.
Another one came at him from the left. He caught it mid-leap and slammed it down onto a table so hard that the table collapsed underneath it. The creature didn't get back up.
"Holy shit," one of the students behind the counter said. "Who the hell is that?"
He looked older, probably a senior. They didn't recognize him, which wasn't surprising since upperclassmen never paid attention to anyone in the lower grades unless they were bullying them.
"Isn't that the kid that always gets bullied?" another voice said from behind the counter.
A third dog charged him while he was distracted. He sidestepped and grabbed it by the tail, then swung it around like a baseball bat before letting go. It crashed into the serving counter with a loud bang that made the hiding students scramble further back.
"Something tells me we should not piss him off," the first voice said again.
Nox overheard that and almost smiled at that. Finally, someone was showing him the respect he deserved. Too bad it took a bunch of monsters and supernatural strength for people to notice him.
Two more creatures approached him from different angles, trying to coordinate their attack. Smart for dogs, but not smart enough. He grabbed the nearest lunch tray and threw it like a frisbee. The metal edge caught the first creature right in the neck and nearly took its head off.
The second one actually managed to jump on him, its claws scraping against his chest. For a split second he thought it might hurt, but then he remembered his boosted stats. He grabbed the thing by its scruff and held it at arm's length while it snapped and snarled at him.
"You're not even trying," he said to the creature, then punched it so hard its jaw came off.
He dropped the body and looked around for more targets. There were still several monsters in the room, but they seemed less eager to approach him now. Some of them were actually backing away, which was interesting. Apparently even these things could learn.
Before he could move toward the remaining creatures, Ava was already sprinting past him. Red flames erupted from her hands as she launched herself at a group of three dogs that were cornering some kid near the vending machines.
"Get away from him!" she yelled, sending a stream of fire that turned the first creature into ash instantly.
The other two spun toward her, snarling. She didn't hesitate, just kept firing those red flames like she was using a flamethrower. The dogs didn't even have time to dodge before they were burning up.
Nox watched her work and felt something that might have been approval. "Oh, would you look at that, maybe she does have a spine after all."
She helped the kid to his feet and pointed toward the exit. "Get out of here. Find somewhere safe."
The boy nodded frantically and ran off without looking back.
She turned to face the rest of the cafeteria, her hands still glowing with that red aura. There were maybe six or seven dogs left, and they were all staring at her now instead of him.
"Come on then," she said to them. "Let's get this over with."
One of the creatures tried to circle around behind her, but she spun and caught it with a blast of fire before it could get close. Another one jumped at her from a table, and she grabbed it mid-air and held it while the flames consumed it.
Nox had to admit she was getting the hang of this pretty quickly. A lot faster than he would have expected from someone who had been running for her life just twenty minutes ago.
The remaining dogs seemed to realize they were outmatched. A couple of them started backing toward the kitchen area, probably looking for another way out.
"Oh no you don't," she said, chasing after them.
She disappeared through the kitchen doors, and Nox could hear the sounds of her powers going off. More burning, more ash hitting the floor.
The students behind the serving counter were all staring at where she had gone.
"What the hell was that?" one of them whispered.
"Fire powers," another one said. "She had actual fire powers."
"This is so fucked up," a third voice added.
Nox walked over to the counter and looked down at them. There were four students crammed back there, all looking terrified.
"You guys can come out now," he said. "The dogs are dead."
They didn't move.
"Seriously," he said. "It's safe."
"How do we know you won't kill us?" the oldest one asked. He looked like he was maybe eighteen, with short brown hair and a letter jacket.
He shrugged. "Because I don't feel like it right now. But that could change if you keep pissing me off."
They scrambled out from behind the counter so fast they were tripping over each other.
"We're going to get out of here," the letter jacket kid said, not making eye contact.
"Good idea," he replied.
They were halfway to the exit when Ava came back out of the kitchen, wiping ash off her hands.
"That's all of them in there," she said. "How many did you get?"
Before he could answer, a blue screen popped up in front of his face.
[Combat Summary]
[Dogs Slain: 12]
[Total EXP Gained: 340]
Wait, that didn't make sense. If he needed 100 EXP to level up, and he had 350, shouldn't he be level 4 by now?
[Note: Experience requirements increase with each level.]
[Level 2: 100 EXP]
[Level 3: 200 EXP]
[Level 4: 300 EXP]
[Current Level: Still 1 - Processing...]
"Are you seeing one of those screen things right now?" Ava asked.
"Yeah," he said, still reading. "It's telling me how many of those things I killed."
"How many?"
"Thirty-four."
Her eyes went wide. "twelve? In like ten minutes?"
"Something like that."
The screen updated again.
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 2!]
[All stats increased by 1!]
[You have 5 unallocated stat points!]
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 3!]
[All stats increased by 1!]
[You have 5 unallocated stat points!]
[Current Stats:]
[Strength: 17]
[Agility: 7]
[Stamina: 7]
[Endurance: 7]
[Perception: 7]
[Luck: 4]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 10]
That was more like it. He thought about where to put the extra points, then decided to keep things simple. Five more into Strength, five into Agility.
[Updated Stats:]
[Strength: 22]
[Agility: 12]
He felt the changes immediately. His muscles felt denser, more responsive. When he flexed his fingers, he could sense the power there.
"So what's your screen telling you?" she asked.
"That I leveled up twice and got stronger." He looked at her. "What about you? You getting any system messages?"
"Nothing," she said. "Just the fire thing."
That was weird. But now that he thought about, the notification from back then said he won the system, so maybe its just unique to him?
Another screen popped up.
[Dungeon Status Update]
[Total Monsters Remaining: 170]
[Dungeon Progress: 16.7%]
One hundred and seventy monsters left. That seemed like a lot, but also kind of exciting. Each one was more EXP, more levels, more power.
"We need to keep moving," he said to Ava. "There are still a lot more of these things around."
"We?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You can go off on your own if you want," he said. "But you're useful, and I'm useful. Might as well stick together for now."
She thought about it for a few seconds. "Fine. But if you try to leave me to die again, I'm going to burn your ass."
"Fair enough."
They headed toward the cafeteria exit, stepping over dog corpses and scattered debris. The four students had already disappeared, probably running for the main entrance.
"So where to next?" She asked.
He looked down the hallway. He could hear growling coming from the direction of the gymnasium, and there were scratching sounds from the second floor.
"Gym first," he said. "Sounds like there's a whole pack down there."
"Lead the way," she said, and he could hear the excitement in her voice now instead of fear.
Yeah, she was definitely getting the hang of this.