Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 108: The trio from Hard Difficulty

There are three of them, two men and one woman, all of them around my age. I quickly identify them as people from Hard difficulty, the main reason being my inability to see their levels.

Well, either I can't see them because they are also from the Tutorial, or their strength is at a similar level to that of Lissandra. Seeing them fight, I'm more inclined to believe that they are from the Hard difficulty.

They aren't doing badly at all, and small groups of rats are dealt with by them. Yet, I can see that they are weaker than everyone from the Hell difficulty, even Isabella could probably take them on.

Still, I watch curiously, wanting to see the difference between Hell and Hard difficulty.

From the mana I feel from them or seeing their movement, it doesn't seem to be that the stat points are the main difference. Their bodies, and their mana, seem to be on a similar level to some of the weaker people from our Group 4.

What differentiates them the most is their poor use of skills and mana.

How to say it? It feels super amateurish if I can say it that way. They rely on their skills to do the heavy lifting without trying to understand them properly or try to help them, expand them. So it ends up with them using them in a basic way.

One of the men is using spears he creates from ice, they don't seem to be that strong but he can create them fairly quickly, replacing the broken ones while keeping rats away from them. Sometimes even throwing them. He also seems to be somewhat strengthening his body. But every time he does so he loses balance a bit, totally unable to properly control it.

The woman does something that stops monsters from using their skills or mana and then uses a bow to shoot them, creating projectiles out of her mana. The projectiles are weak and some of them even dissipate in the air before reaching their target. Her accuracy is terrible and she repositions every time monsters move even slightly closer to them.

The last one is the most interesting. He continues to watch and I feel his something similar to my [Perception] with the difference that he doesn't seem to be able to perceive mana.

But there is something that makes him super precious in my eyes.

The man uses some water-based attack. It takes a lot of mana from him, I can see and the total amount of his mana isn't that big, but he creates small blasts that he calculatingly shoots at the monsters, hitting their eyes as he is predicting their movement.

Well, well, well, isn't that great?

Wanting to make the best possible impression I continue to observe them from a distance, moving carefully so they do not notice me, only luring a bit more monsters towards them.

More and more rats rush them and the trio seems to slowly become more and more nervous at the sight of the neverending wave of monsters.

When I feel stronger ones moving towards them I dash against them, finishing them before they get into the range of their detection.

We don't want some pesky Alghoul to hurt my water dispense… ehm ehm… hurt my future colleagues.

I will let them fight more and more rats until everything seems desperate and only then, at the last possible moment, and with mighty mana around his shoulder the man will appear.

Nathaniel Gwyn! The man, the myth, the legend!

Plus my slightly psychotic little sidekick girl with a brain messed up by her sister.

But now on a more serious note. I don't trust people, especially not after seeing the way these three did talk in the forum, making fun of the Hell difficulty.

So yes, I'll show them a bit from it and then save them. I'll give them a little chance and instead of just forcing them to work with me I will try to make them thankful to me.

And hey, if they refuse we can try it the old-school way. But I'd rather not, having someone able to create even a little bit of water could be the difference between life and death here, but I can´t let him know, he might become too cocky.

While keeping an eye on them I continue to scroll through the community, checking the history and their old messages. In all of them, they seem to act cocky and make fun of this difficulty, most likely being one of the strongest people from hard and expecting it to be the same here.

Seeing how much trouble they have with just a small group of Rottenfang Vermin - rats as I call them with love, I kinda guess that they will wake up pretty fast to the dangers of this difficulty.

Hell, they didn't even get to fight Alghoul, Gargoyles, or Wererats.

Wanting to make a strong impression I start charging my mana and unlike my usual use, I do it more wastefully, letting a lot more of it leak from my body, wasted on something that might seem strong aura but to me is more like wasted mana.

Like a koala, Isabella already puts her small arms around my neck and clings to my chest, damn. That seems like the novice body pillow class is still on the menu.

I propel myself high in the air and then land in the middle of a group of monsters.

For a second they become surprised, the same as three humans but then my mana fires up even more, absorbing their kinetic energy and slowing them down to the stop, a monster with weaker mana than me and not that strong bodies unable to move and allowing me to absorb all of this energy.

I add it to the energy I absorbed before jumping here and then release it, obliterating almost the entire group of monsters, together with the wall of the nearby house.

The remaining ones get shot by projectiles made out of mana. This time I make them bigger, looking like arrows instead of my usual orbs, knowing that this will look more impressive.

Nice start! The trio is looking at me with big eyes, their bodies showing caution.

“Ciphermind, Frostfall, and Goldie?” I ask, saying their aliases from the forum.

Finally, realizing that I'm just another tutorial attendee they calm down slightly, but only slightly.

“Yes, and who are you?” the man that did use water-based attack asks but I feel him collecting mana in the palm of his hand.

“Noname, Hell Difficulty right from the start, this is Isabella, she is also from our Group 4.”

“Oh, the one who blew off his arm…” he cuts off.

Oi, what asshole is still spreading it around, even to rookies? Savant? I bet it's Savant!

Whatever, we better hurry.

“Let's leave first, stronger monsters always appear if you kill enough rats,” I say and it's not even a lie. It always happens. Usually, Alghoul and Gargoyles appear and then if you deal even with them Chameleon bats and Wererats.

“S-stronger than this?” the guy that used weapons made out of ice asks nervously.

Is he dumb? Did he think this is all?

“Obviously they would be stronger, don´t forget where we are,” the man with water-based skill tells him impatiently, “you can call me Cipher, he can be Frost and she is Goldie,” he says, not using real names but the ones people use in the community.

Nearly everyone does that and people don't give out their real names. Some of them like me for a reason that the system offered it, even while knowing our real names so there might be a reason for that.

“Follow me, then.” I start slowly running and they quickly join.

Huhu! I did pretty well, didn't I? The first impression is always important! From their POV, I'm super strong and even saved their lives. Still, I don't mind even if they only want to use me, I want to do the same.

Seeing that they are able to follow I speed up a bit more while continuously watching our surrounding and people following me.

Their physical stats seem to be nice. Surely even higher than mine if I'm not using mana or [Redistribution] to strengthen my speed or strength.

So is the difference only in skills? I can't wait to find out!

The system always was a mystery and other difficulties too. What floors are they getting, and what rewards? What are their levels, and how many groups do they have? And much more.

Finally reaching one of the higher buildings I open the door and enter, quickly closing it as they get inside. Isabella, as a few times before, creates a small orb of blue flame that hovers in the air and creates some light.

A bit more training and she will be able to use it to heat the room. All thanks to my mentorship and boredom!

So yeah, my portable heate… little girl gets off my hands and sits on the sketchy-looking chair that creaks under her and then I turn to my portable water dispen… man with water skill.

“Show me your skill,” I say, impatient and super curious. Hey, I did hold back for a pretty long time, right?

“What?” the man says and takes a step back, mana already swirling around the trio.

Uh? Did I say something wrong?