They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 138: It’s Time to Level Up [2]

{Jin’s POV}

"It’s time to level up," I said, more to myself than to anyone else.

And charged.

The stat points from my level-up were still unallocated, waiting for my decision. I made it while running, pulling up the mental interface with practiced ease.

All points to Agility.

[AGI: 26 → 31]

The change was immediate. The world seemed to slow down slightly, not actually slower, but my perception catching up to movements that had been fast to track before. My footwork became more fluid, each step landing exactly where I intended without conscious thought.

A wolf lunged at me from the right, jaws wide, saliva dripping from its fangs.

I activated debug vision, making a quick modification to the ground.

The wolf’s paws hit the modified patch and shot out from under it, sending the creature tumbling forward in an uncontrolled slide that carried it past me, snarling in confusion.

I spun and brought the axe down hard on its exposed spine.

The blade bit deep.

The wolf yelped, twisting violently, blood spraying from the wound but the spine still intact. It scrambled to its feet, favoring its injured back leg, and turned on me with renewed fury.

Damn. These are tougher than the hounds.

I had to dodge its retaliatory lunge, the jaws snapping shut inches from my arm. I swung again, this time aiming for its neck.

[Blade Sharpness: Enhanced 300%]

The axe carved through muscle and bone, finally ending it.

But it had taken two hits. And precious seconds I didn’t have.

Another beast was already closing in, a massive boar with tusks like spears, easily four hundred pounds of muscle and rage. It charged straight at me, ignoring Scarlet entirely, focused on the closest threat.

I didn’t have time to dodge, so I braced and swung the axe to meet its charge, modifying the blade at the last second.

The impact nearly tore the axe from my hands. The blade carved deep into the boar’s skull, cutting through bone, but the creature’s momentum was too much. It slammed into me anyway, the partial corpse driving me backward, my feet skidding on the cobblestones.

I hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from my lungs, the dead boar collapsing on top of me.

Shit!

I shoved the carcass off me and scrambled to my feet, gasping for air.

That could’ve been worse.

Behind me, I heard Scarlet’s distinctive growl followed by the wet sound of claws tearing through flesh. She was keeping pace, moving like a ghost through the chaos.

Though I saw her grappling with a wolf, her claws sunk deep into its shoulders as it thrashed and snapped at her. She had to strike three, four times before it finally went limp.

We fell into a rhythm without discussing it, I took the frontal assault, she covered my flanks and picked off anything that tried to circle around.

But it was hard.

The beasts kept coming through the broken gate, in steady numbers that pressed us relentlessly.

I cleaved at another wolf, the blade catching it across the shoulder. It yelped and retreated, wounded but not dead, blood trailing behind it.

I had to chase it down, finish it with a second strike to the throat while it was disoriented.

My arms were starting to burn with exertion.

I was also burning through mana faster than I’d like.

[LEVEL UP!]

[Level 18 → Level 19]

The notification flashed.

I allocated points immediately. Three to AGI, two to INT.

[AGI: 31 → 34]

[INT: 75 → 77]

The boost made me faster, sharper.

I cleaved through a dire wolf that had been circling for an opening, then barely managed to parry a boar’s charge with the axe handle, redirecting its momentum into a building’s wall where it hit with a bone-crunching impact.

The boar staggered, stunned but not dead.

I had to close in and finish it with two more strikes, the blade carving through its thick hide.

Then I glanced up at the two houses flanking the main street, the ones I’d positioned the crews in earlier.

Scarlet caught my look and nodded, understanding without words.

Hope they’re ready...

I raised my left hand and gave the signal, two fingers pointed up, then a sharp downward motion.

Immediately, multiple figures stood up on the rooftops of both houses.

Crew Two and Crew Three, six people total, three on each roof, holding collections of heavy stones, roof tiles, broken pottery, anything they’d scrounged.

Their job wasn’t to kill. They couldn’t.... not from up there with improvised projectiles.

But they could disrupt. Distract. Break formations.

A pack of three wolves tried to rush us from the left, moving in tight coordination.

The crew on that side let loose.

Heavy stones rained down, enough to make the wolves flinch, break their stride, look up in confusion at this unexpected threat from above.

One wolf took a roof tile to the head and yelped, stumbling.

Another dodged left, right into Scarlet’s path.

She was on it instantly, claws flashing, taking advantage of its distraction.

I rushed the third one while it was still off-balance from dodging projectiles.

My axe caught it in the ribs, and it dropped.

The stone-throwers weren’t killing anything. But they were giving us openings. Disrupting the beasts’ coordination. Making them split their attention.

It was working.

On the right side, two boars tried to circle around the houses to flank us.

Crew Three on that roof responded immediately, hurling their ammunition down in a concentrated barrage.

The boars were too heavily built to care about stones bouncing off their thick hides, but the constant impacts from above made them pause.

That hesitation cost them.

I caught up to the first one, Scarlet right beside me.

We hit it simultaneously, her claws raking its eyes, blinding it, while my axe bit deep into its shoulder. It squealed and thrashed, but between us we brought it down after several more strikes.

The second boar, seeing its companion fall, charged me in rage.

I modified its trajectory slightly with a ground friction edit, just enough to send it careening off-course toward Scarlet instead of straight at me. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

She met it head-on, claws extended.

The impact when they collided was tremendous.

But Scarlet was stronger than I’d realized.

Her claws sinking deep into its shoulders, her legs bracing against the cobblestones.

The beast’s momentum drove her back several feet, her boots scraping against stone, but she held.

Then, with a grunt of effort and a savage twist, she threw it.

WHOOSH!