Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 1.4

‘I’m sorry, Callion! I want to live!’

It was bad enough having only 30 days to live, but I had no desire to die right now.

I quickly ran out of the cave.

With a rumble, the collapsed cave debris blocked the entrance. If I hadn’t escaped, I would have certainly been crushed.

Fortunately, there’s no sign of it developing into a landslide. It seems the other world I fell into isn’t a natural disaster blockbuster.

‘Thank goodness……’

Just as I felt relieved, I heard an ominous sound from behind.

“Grrrr……”

The rumble of a collapsing cave differs distinctly from the growl of a menacing beast.

……This is not the time to be thinking about such things.

I didn’t turn around, but judging from the size and shape of the shadow looming over my head, I could guess. It must be a monster with a chilling appearance.

Could this be the magical beast Callion mentioned?

As if impressed by my sharp deduction, I heard the sound of poor-quality applause, and a system window popped up.

[Skill Acquisition Chance]

Sudden quest! You have encountered a magical beast.

Scream with all your might.

Success if volume exceeds ???dB.

Success reward: Acquire skill [Screaming].

Thank you sooo much for kindly confirming that what’s behind me is indeed a magical beast.

But fighting or running away from magical beasts is one thing, screaming is another. If I scream, will it stun them?

“Gruk, guk.”

There was no time to think. The shadow raised something massive that could have been a hand or a foot.

“Grwooo!”

“Kyaaak!”

I screamed while dodging the magical beast’s strike. After barely avoiding the first attack, I could properly see the beast’s form.

It was as big as a house, covered entirely in what looked like black yarn. No, not yarn. The way it wriggled, it was as if thousands of living worms were attached to it…

“Huu, ah, aaaaah!!”

A scream burst out involuntarily from the physiological revulsion and fear of death. It was loud enough to momentarily deafen my own ears.

Perhaps because of that, I felt the magical beast hesitate for a moment.

‘Did it work?’

As I had that thought, breathless, a shrewdly minimized window appeared below the quest window.

[Current achievement: 77%]

Just a little more effort ㅇㅅ<

Time remaining: 5 seconds

Damn emoticon, confiscate it.

I screamed even louder, channeling my anger at the irritating system window.

“Help meeeeeee!!!”

Thud. It felt like the ground shook greatly, and then all sound disappeared. The surroundings seemed to move very slowly. Including my movements.

The monster rushing towards me appeared to split in half, then tear apart left and right.

Unlike the grotesquely bumpy exterior, what was visible between the clean-cut surfaces was…

Callion’s face, holding a silver sword.

“Ju-in! Are you alright?”

He came to save me after hearing my voice. As soon as I realized this fact, once again, with a mood-breaking fanfare sound, a slightly larger system window popped up.

[Consecutive Success!]

Congratulations!

You have successfully acquired the skill [Scream].

[Scream Lv.1]

Hearing your scream, allies rush to save you.

Effect: Doubles the speed of allies within range of your voice

Duration: 20 seconds

Can be stacked up to 5 times.

I thought it was an annoying act that would frustrate readers, but it turned out to be an ally buff. And it can be stacked up to 5 times.

At maximum stacking, it could theoretically increase speed by 32 times, meaning it could turn a marathon runner running at 20 km/h into 640 km/h.

That’s about twice as fast as a KTX train, is that even possible?

‘If I scream at that decibel 5 times for 20 seconds, my vocal cords might give out first.’

Anyway, I survived. I consciously shrugged my still stiff shoulders and thanked Callion.

“Thank you for saving me, Callion.”

“I came running when I heard the sound of the cave collapsing. I thought it was a safe place, but I put you in danger. I’m deeply sorry.”

So he came because he heard the cave collapsing, not because of my voice.

Well, I acquired the skill right after Callion bisected the monster.

“Don’t apologize. You were trying to protect me, Callion.”

The cave collapsing was this damned system window’s doing, not Callion’s fault. Even to me, it didn’t look like it would collapse soon. If I had just stayed hidden there, it would have remained an intact cave.

‘Come to think of it, from now on, I won’t be able to hide alone even in places that seem safe.’

The acquired skill was an ally buff, not something that gave me any abilities. Now, I can’t hide alone, do I have to keep running around and screaming “kya kya” every time I find a magical beast to give Callion a buff?

From Callion’s perspective, I must look like a troll who keeps running out and drawing aggro when told to stay put. He might want to kill me rather than abandon me.

‘Me, a troublesome troll… a troll!’

I’ve lived my life trying not to be a burden to others and working hard to survive on my own, but this damn system has turned me into a troll.

Callion said he would look for another safe zone and told me to wait, but I said I wanted to act together with him.

It was obvious that if I stayed alone in a safe place, something like earlier would happen again, and I didn’t want to die from a misstep while trying to escape.

Even if I end up trailing behind like goldfish poop, it’s best to stay with Callion until we reach the village.

Though I’m not sure if even that village will be safe.

“Understood, Ju-in. Don’t stray from me.”

From Callion’s perspective, it might have been annoying that I, without any strength or ability, wanted to come along, but surprisingly, he readily agreed. It seemed the cave collapse had shocked him too.

He had left me in what he thought was a safe place, but it turned out to be unsafe, and I almost died.

If I had really died, he would have felt even more guilty, so he probably decided it would be better to protect me directly.

Just seeing him slice that terrible magical beast in one stroke, I could tell Callion was strong.

If I diligently provided the screaming buff from the side, we should be able to reach the village safely somehow.

…Or so I thought, but I was wrong.

We were planning to return through the ravine to avoid the magical beasts’ habitat, but as luck would have it, that place was where magical beasts that had left their habitat were roaming in groups.

With only one direction in the ravine, we couldn’t escape and ended up cornered.

True to his name as a magical beast hunter, Callion managed to defeat them all, but he ended up with a serious wound on his chest.

“Callion, stay with me!”

If I had been alone, I could have distracted the group of magical beasts and escaped or hidden, but in order to protect me, Callion had to face them head-on and defeat them all.

If the screaming buff had applied to me too, I could have run away at full speed. It’s really not helpful.

‘It will be dark soon.’

We needed a place where the two of us could hide and rest during the night.

I desperately looked around.

There were no caves, but I found a large rock.

It was wrapped with giant tree roots from above and the gap was quite wide, seeming sufficient to hide for a night.