Nikolai repeated his actions several times, striking and running away. The first two strikes were the most powerful, but he should regenerate some mana in a while.

Mana attracts mana. The higher mana you have, the more regeneration of mana you would get. Having only two points in mana, Nikolai was far from a real mage. Even warriors have a higher stat in mana than this.

As his bullets rained on the mage, the rest of the skeletons got in a frenzy to catch him. They started trying to climb the pillars but that backfired at them as they fell on the ground because of their clumsiness.

The sound of clattering armor reached his ears and Nikolai ceased his firing. He hid behind a pillar as he looked at the entrance. From there, a group of people walked in while wearing steel armor.

“Is this the hidden spot?” A familiar voice asked. Nikolai strained his ears to listen in on the conversation. Luckily, he had used the potion earlier to make his shot silent.

He saw that there were several people and Nikolai was able to identify two of them. Julian and Scarman. It seems that Julian has hired these thugs to help him farm some crystals, leading the group to this place. This must be a part of his preparation for the mid-term exams.

‘Oh, he must be quite eager to get into the Lost Garden.’ Nikolai smiled sinisterly. ‘Julian, Julian, Julian. This is the beginning of my revenge.’

“Yes, Young Master.” Scarman smiled modestly. “We’ve caught winds of it a few days ago. They respawn every month here instead of the usual week, but they’re only at the F-rank.”

“Mm, very well.” Julian adjusted his blond hair while scanning the monsters. “I’ll rely on you guys to hold them off.”

“Of course, young master. Boss Crow asked to take care of you to the best of our ability.” Scarman said while rubbing his hands together.

‘Birds of a feather flock together. The Mackay Family must have dealings with Hyde Crow’s gang in the city.’ Nikolai noted. He hid behind a pillar and minimized his breathing.

His low mana stat made it difficult for them to be preceptive of his existence. As the team started to defend Julian from the mage’s attack, the psychopath Nikolai hated so much fought against a skeleton.

Another team member, a henchman of Scarface, helped Julian whenever he was struggling. Even though he was the son of a big family, Julian was just beginning his journey in the stats world. He was still barely an F-ranker.

He took down the first skeleton in fifteen minutes. The team blocked the mage’s icicles, depleting it of its mana. Nikolai decided now was a good time before he went toward one of the frozen pillars.

The veins on his arms bulged and Nikolai felt the power with them. However, there was also a backlash to this technique so he needed to make it quick. He struck the pillar with all of his strength, producing a ‘PA!’ sound followed by the crying of the building.

The roof began to cave in under its weight as the frozen pillars snapped in half as a result of Nikolai’s actions. Nikolai began running away as soon as he broke the pillar and jumped off the window to fall directly toward the yard.

The glass broke but the sound was masked by the building collapsing. As Nikolai rolled on the ground and felt the air leave his lungs, he heard the sounds of screams from inside.

“What the hell is going?”

“Cut apart the ceiling!”

“It’s too late for that, the whole building is crashing down! Get out! Get out!”

“AGH!!!” Julian’s scream came like a sweet melody to Nikolai’s ears. The superhumans inside and the undead won’t be harmed by this, but this final push should kill the mage who was weak to physical attacks.

This meant that Nikolai had no time to waste. He jumped up and waited for all of the building to collapse before he snuck in through a window.

The pillars and walls have only left narrow gaps between them for Nikolai to use. He crawled through the gaps and headed directly toward the mage skeleton.

He found it after several minutes of crawling beneath the walls and ceiling. The bones began turning to dust like they always do. All that remained from the skeleton, who had ironically been killed by the pillar it froze, was two crystals and its skull.

Nikolai stashed the two mana crystals and the ingredient he needed before trying to crawl away. However, the superhumans were clearing the rubble and it began to grow unstable.

‘I’ll be buried here if they continue.’ Nikolai realized as he thought of a way out. He needed them to stop before he was buried. His mind raced for a possible exist as he remembered another function of an item of his. ‘Emergency Call.’

He took out the Gunmen badge and injected mana into it. The badge glowed as a signal was sent toward the Gunmen Union.

‘The response time should be one minute. All I have to do is to survive until then.’ As he thought of this, the wood above him got slashed apart and it came crashing down toward him.

His hand bulged again as his blood rushed backward for a split second. Like a runner getting ready to sprint, the blood rushed through his veins.

Nikolai used the sudden strength to push his felt underneath a pillar. He curled into a ball as the wood came raining in the place that he was at a moment ago.

“There’s a giant pillar here! Break it apart!”

It sounded like a death sentence to him and Nikolai crawled out before they broke it as well. He crawled underneath the statue of the chapel and waited for the gunmen to arrive. He would use that chance to flee. He leaned on the statue to catch his breath.

[Here lies I, the great god of this land.]

A voice appeared in his mind as his back touched the statue. It was ancient and distant, but Nikolai knew what it was the moment it spoke.