The Squad Leader's New Weapon

The squad leader brought over a weapon that made my eyes widen. It was a pitch-black double-handed axe.

It was pretty damn useful. No unnecessary frills, and the concept was crystal clear.

'What a brutally savage axe.'

The weight was no joke either. The heavier it was, the more devastating the swing would be. It felt like it could smash through just about anything.

'The real question is how we're going to distribute it.'

Item distribution had always been a controversial topic back in WAW. It varied greatly depending on whether you were in a formal raid party or a pickup group. Most of the problems happened with pickup groups. Some people even died fighting over loot distribution in those.

Formal raid parties weren't completely free of friction either. Even if things were fine at first, cracks would slowly form over time. We needed to set the rules straight from the beginning so that kind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of thing wouldn't happen here.

'I don't need one right now, so I'll pass.'

These kinds of items were usually distributed based on who had the most suitable skill. The problem was that no one really had the perfect match. The squad leader was probably the closest. He had a swing-type skill, after all.

"Squad Leader, how do you think we should distribute this axe?"

"I'll follow your decision, Captain. Do you have any thoughts?"

"There are two main approaches for now."

"I'm listening."

Everyone held their breath and listened intently.

"One is to give it to whoever participated in the battle. The other is to give it to the raid member ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who has the most suitable skill for it."

"Hmm, in that case I think giving it to the most suitable person would be better."

The other squad leaders might have different opinions.

"What about you guys?"

"I agree with the squad leader."

"Same here."

The rest of the squad leaders felt the same. But my opinion was a little different.

"I see it a bit differently."

"What would you suggest?"

"Squad Leader, you take it for now. The reason is that distributing it to someone who didn't participate in the mutated entity raid would be unfair."

If I gave it to someone else, complaints would definitely arise later. Since this was our first raid and I had participated in the fight myself, no one would complain right now. But if it was between raid members, that would be different.

"Instead, when a weapon that suits you comes up later, we'll distribute it to someone else then."

Even if we gave it to someone else, it wouldn't necessarily be a loss for the squad leader. The stronger his comrades became, the safer he would be too.

"Sounds good!"

"I think this is the best approach."

The other squad leaders agreed as well.

"Here, take it."

"Thank you! I'll work hard!"

The squad leader took the axe and staggered slightly under its weight.

"Put some more points into Strength too."

"Yes sir!"

Even while staggering, the squad leader broke into a huge grin. Human greed was inevitable. Even though he'd agreed to give it to someone else eventually, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. That was just how people were.

"Let's head back for now."

"Yes!"

Since today was supposed to be a rest day, we decided to call it here.

"Aren't we going to hunt more?"

Hana already seemed disappointed with just one or two kills.

"Of course we're going to hunt."

The same way as always.

"Let's move out."

"Yes."

I drew the aggro of the two mutated entities visible in the distance. Then I summoned a tower right in their path.

The mutated entities simply passed through it. They were busy playing tag with the other towers. After that, two massive swarms poured in like a flood. I let them pass through as well.

Normal zombies had zero interest in the towers. To them, the structures were nothing more than obstacles on the roadside.

'All troops, fire.'

From behind the horde charging down the road.

The tsunami crashed over them. The massive swarm collapsed like a sandcastle hit by a wave.

It was all thanks to my Reaper's Walk passive.

Before, I had to aim for the head to finish them off. Now it was different. I aimed so that the arrows would pierce through as many as possible.

At their level, even a graze from a 4th tier tower was enough to drain their health completely, so they could never stand back up. A single arrow pierced through eight or nine of them at once. On top of that, if the two Spike Maul towers swung even once, they tore massive holes through the swarm.

The horde that had been rushing in vanished like salt dissolving in water. The two mutated entities playing tag died the instant they reached the apartment complex.

Thud! Thud!

They couldn't even react to the arrows flying from behind and died instantly.

"Nice! We got a remedy!"

Today's gacha luck was pretty decent.

After eating lunch, it was about time I asked. I needed to find out what skill Chae-i had awakened.

"Chae-i."

"Yes?"

But first.

"Do you remember anything from when you were a zombie?"

I had to check this. There was a part of me that felt a bit guilty too. Hmm.

Chae-i stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"No? I don't remember anything?"

She pouted her lips and looked up as if trying to play innocent. She seemed a bit more comfortable now. Her attitude toward me had become much more natural.

'But Chae-i, your acting is way too obvious.'

She definitely remembered something. The question was how much.

"Even the smallest thing. Is there really nothing?"

"Umm. There are some things that come to mind, but they're blurry like they're covered in fog."

This was a bit ambiguous. I couldn't tell exactly what she remembered and what she didn't. Still, I was glad that her memories hadn't completely disappeared.

"Then what skill did you awaken?"

"It's called One Blade."

That was a pretty unique skill name. Wait a second. Why was she casually saying the skill name out loud? If she was going to pretend she didn't remember, she should do it properly.

"Pfft."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Eh? Why?"

"It's nothing. Then could you tell me about this One Blade skill?"

"Okay. I'll read it out."

I wondered what kind of skill it was.

'What the hell is this?'

This was a passive skill? It was stronger than most active skills and it didn't even cost mana. Even my Deadly Pierce had a condition that required hitting a vital point accurately. But this?

'The very first attack is guaranteed to ignore defense and sever a body part?'

And since it worked once per target, it would be great against groups too.

'Is this even allowed?'

If this were a game, it would have broken the balance completely. Players would have rioted. Of course, since this was reality, I was just happy about it.

The only downside was that it had no effect from the second attack onward. On the other hand, Deadly Pierce kept its effect even with its strict condition. Looking at it again, Deadly Pierce was pretty broken too. Since I had the highest accuracy, the condition wasn't that hard for me.

"I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glad you got such a good skill, Chae-i."

"Is this a good skill?"

That little glare of hers pissed me off. Why did all the girls around me have to be such good actresses?

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Even when I glared at her, Chae-i just put on an innocent face like she had no idea what was going on.

"Never mind. Anyway, you can speak casually to me. We're basically the same age."

"Umm, should I?"

She immediately switched to casual speech as if she'd been waiting for permission. What the hell? I couldn't figure her out at all.

"I'm twenty-two. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty, oppa."

"Oh."

Oppa? She called me oppa. What a sweet sound. I'd never heard anyone call me that in real life before.

"What did you say?"

"I'm twenty."

"Not that."

"Oppa?"

Yes! That was it! It really was a pleasant sound. I was her oppa.

"Ugh, your expression is weird."

"What about my expression?"

I quickly put on a serious face as if I'd never made any weird expression at all.

"You look like a suspicious pervert uncle."

"What are you saying?! There's no one as upright as me! How can you call the person who saved you a pervert uncle?!"

"Thank you, oppa."

My facial muscles kept relaxing. Hearing a pretty and cute voice call me oppa made me feel good just listening to it.

"Hehehehehe."

"You really are a pervert uncle."

"We're not even that far apart in age. Why uncle? Just call me pervert oppa instead."

"Hmph!"

I needed to move on before she started disliking me.

"Now show me your skill tree."

"Umm...."

Even the way she furrowed her brow in thought was cute. Just yesterday she'd thrown herself into my arms. Damn it.

"There's nothing in the skill tree? Just One Blade."

"That can't be. Check the other tabs too."

"Other tabs? There aren't any?"

"Ah, you don't know how to switch tabs? Try thinking about moving to another tab."

She really was a complete beginner.

"Can you see them now?"

"No?"

"Huh?"

What was going on here?

"There are no other tabs?"

"Nope."

"You can't even see the next tier skills at the bottom of the skill tree?"

"Nope."

What the hell was this? A skill with no next stage? Even though the patch had created all sorts of unique skills, this one was completely different in both tone and style from the others. To think it had neither next-stage skills nor other tabs in the skill tree.

"Is it bad that there aren't any?"

"Normally, having them is the standard."

"Then what should I do?"

"It's fine. There's a way."

Of course, having next-stage skills and other skill tree tabs would be better. But that didn't mean she was ruined. She could just learn other skills from skill books.

'With a skill this unique, I was hoping the skill tree would be good too. That's a shame.'

But there was something more important right now.

"Chae-i, do you have any skill points in your status window?"

"Yeah. It says skill points are zero."

"That's a relief."

At least she wasn't completely unable to obtain skill points.

'I'd like to check if she can get skill points from leveling up, but...'

That would be too much for today. She'd only just regained her sanity. I couldn't push her too hard.

"Chae-i, want to test out your skill?"

"Yeah! I want to try!"

She took the blade with a bright smile spread across her face.

'Is it that exciting?'

Hana was the same way. People who handled swords really didn't have any aversion to real blades. Speaking of which, she'd been answering with "yeah" for a while now. It suited her cute appearance so well that I hadn't noticed until now.

'Isn't she too cute?'

I felt like patting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her head.

"Try cutting this first."

I pointed at the wooden desk I'd left out after clearing the first floor. It was a test to see the skill's range of effect.

"Won't the blade get damaged if I hit the desk?"

"That's fine. We can repair it at the forge."

"Okay, I'll try?"

"Go ahead."

Maybe because she'd called me oppa earlier, even when Chae-i made a serious face she still looked cute. I felt like I was turning into a doting fool.

Slash! Thud!

Unlike the sound of cutting through air, it only left a slight dent.

"Oof."

She frowned slightly, probably because her wrist stung. She wasn't hurt, was she? After shaking her wrist once, she seemed fine.

'As expected, it doesn't work.'

It was probably because the condition was severing a body part. A desk was an inanimate object. Then what about a living tree?

"Chae-i, try cutting this one next."

A small tree shouldn't hurt her whether she succeeded or failed.

"It's pretty thick. Will it work?"

"It's just a skill test, so don't worry too much and give it a try."

"Okay, here I go!"

Chae-i made a serious face again and twisted her waist. Then—

Shaaak—

The tree trunk was sliced cleanly as if it were a lie.

"Wow, it worked!"

"Nice job!"

So it worked on living things after all? I'd been half in doubt whether she could even cut a tree. Then...

"This time, test it on me."

"What are you talking about?!"

Chae-i took a step back and hid the blade behind her.