Loiterous 011

GROWL!

The wolves circling Icicle glared at him and Leila, letting out menacing howls. Icicle seemed content, as if he was about to spar against a worthy opponent.

Icicle was remembering that one brutal paintball game fondly. It was supposed to be a "shooting practice". It hurt. A lot.

Reminiscing the times filled with joy and hards.h.i.+p, Icicle's mouth curled up into a smile.

Whoos.h.!.+

Three wolves jolted from their positions, trapping Icicle in a triangular formation. Icicle swayed to the right, allowing Leila to smack one of the wolves down, while at the same time swinging his sword horizontally.

Bang!

Bearing the brunt of the blow, Icicle's feet sunk into the soil. His legs were trembling, both from excitement and the strain.

Seeing the minor success of their brethren, the other wolves quickly followed, a.s.saulting Icicle from all sides.

Icicle closed his eyes, immersing himself in the feeling of [Sense presence]. He felt a strange familiarity. This sensation was fairly similar to the one people have when they are followed. Where you think that someone is looking at you and you turn around, only to see that there's no one there.

Icicle was realizing there are several factors to that feeling. His hearing was limited to the 3m area, perceiving any, even the almost unhearable, sounds. Grunts, panting, howling... Every audible action made Icicle narrow down the area of where the wolves actually were.

His sense of smell was put to work. The foul breath of the wolves, their stinky fur and even the smell of musty, old blood... these seemingly unwanted odors actually helped Icicle track the wolves' positions.

Tiny air fluctuations, vibrations in the wind that blew past him, every piece of information began to gather, slowly forming a clear image.

It was only when Icicle blocked out his sight that he was able to perceive these things, like a blind man who slowly accustoms to the world of darkness, honing his other senses. Loiterous made such hard to experience sensations possible.

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle came into play. Killing intent! Icicle felt the menacing stares and hostile disposition from all around him. His entire being shook. This was a new discovery!

As excitement washed over Icicle, he also felt a his body tingling. This change made him realize this was a life or death situation! However, he was already used to such situations in real life, how could he still fear them?

You can die if you breathe in some unknown chemicals. You might die from choking on a lump of bread. Since you can die even from such simple actions, would you fear someone with a gun? If you don't fear a gun, would you fear some sharp fangs and claws?

Icicle's reasoning was quite simple. If you can die from almost anything, why worry about it? It was good to be aware of the dangers, but should you be a worrywart? Constantly making sure that you won't fall and break your leg? No, that would cause you to become paranoid!

Icicle's mouth curled up into a smile. He felt like a tibetan monk in the middle of meditation, rested and calm, looking at his body from third person view. Various images started to appear in his mind. Wolf silhouettes appear one after the other like holograms. Those shadowy figures circled around Icicle, growling, howling, lunging at him. Leila’s hologram-like shadow was especially vivid.

As Icicle was experiencing the honing of his 6th sense, closely related to [Sense presence] skill, the other players glanced in his direction from time to time. They saw a madman with a squirrel on his shoulder dancing with the wolves, his sword slas.h.i.+ng air more often than not.

Although the sight of it was ridiculous, when this seemingly suicidal player turned, the players realized he had his eyes closed! He was actually disregarding the wolves to the degree of closing his eyes!

But that was the opinion of a regular players. Those "ambitious" ones immediately called Icicle a hacker, others thought of "developer" or "GM's friend". Many of those suspicious players started recording the proceedings of the event.

Icicle didn't know about any of this. Even if he knew he most likely wouldn't care. There are always those black sheep that envy others. He focused on developing his [Sense presence] instead.

While Icicle was "dancing with the doggies", Faura and her friends desperately fought back against the wolves. With the help of the elite black and reddish squirrels, it was easier than before.

Noticing that Icicle's health dropped to about half, Faura shouted "Enna, heal him!"

Enna quickly collected herself. She looked at the window and was surprised, her heal didn't work. "It's out of range!" she drawled out.

Faura started thinking about the strategy to make her party close the gap. However, before she even managed to formulate the plan, she saw Icicle's HP refilling. "Weird, he didn't level up." she thought, furrowing her brows. "Could it be an HP potion? He knows that merchant Adian after all..."

Faura shook her head. It would be weird if Icicle didn't have any special measures. He was the one who started the event after all.

...

About 15 minutes have pa.s.sed, the fierce battle went on.

Icicle continued honing his [Sense Presence], surrounded by the wolf pack. His mouth holding a perpetual smile, he slashed viciously. After 15 minutes of immersion he hit the wolves more often than air.

His jet black hair glistened in the sun. Droplets of sweat ran down his forehead, expelling the exhaustion and heat from his body.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open!

BANG!

The wolf in front of him was smashed dead by Leila. She proudly puffed her chest, showing her majesty.

"I have finally gotten the hang of it." Icicle thought with a wicked smile on his fatigued face. "Heh, right on time." He checked his inventory and saw there were only three small potions left, given to him by Adian, each recovering 100 HP.

Ding!

You have reached a new understanding of [Sense presence] skill.

[Intermediary sense presence] (pa.s.sive) – allows you to sense the targets of [Hide presence] level and below in 5m range.