《A Warlock's Ascent》 Chapter 1 Kidnapped-1 ?Dave likes silence, that is why he likes to sit in a church, after his shift. After 9:00 pm, not many peoplee to church to preach, the handful of people that doe leave soon after lighting a candle. Considering how much he is a fan of silence, his job on the other hand ispletely opposite. He works as a cook in a local deli. The only time one can actually find that ce in pin-drop silence is when it closes. In such a quaint and peaceful environment he likes to think. As a high school failure who had no idea what to do in life, thinking helps a lot. It helps him get his priorities straight. He is not like junky parents who spend most of their life here in this shitty town. He wants to get out of here, live a little, and maybe fall in love. Like any other man his age, he wants to marry a beautiful girl, father at least two children, and make a house of his own. He can''t do that here, everyone in this ce knows who he is, know who his parents were. He cannot do anything here, the only way to change his life is by getting out of this ce¡­ The door of the church was opened slightly and an old woman walked in. The sharp sound of the woman''s heels echoed throughout the church. When the woman passed by him, he smelled the fragrance of jams and jelliesing from her, he also smelled a distinct smell that only old people have. He recognized the olddy, she is an owner of a local bakery. She makes jam and jellies which are 100% natural and made from fruits that are locally grown. People go nuts about her jams and jellies, he had never tried them before, but he sure had seen long lines in front of her shop just to get a jar of apple jam. After lighting a candle the olddy prayed for a minute, she then turned around and started going back. It was then a blue color wisp entered the church, no one seemed to have noticed that small wisp as if it was invisible to everyone present there. The wisp sped towards the olddy and entered her body. Without a sound of doing anything abnormal, it took over her body. Her demeanor changed. She became more confident and started smiling as he came toward Dave. The olddy snapped her fingers. And magically, Dave''s wallet which was safe and secured in his right breast pocket appeared on the floor beside him. He didn''t sense it, after all, he was busy with his thoughts. "Honey, I think you dropped your wallet." The olddy said while pointing toward his wallet. "Oh¡­ Thank you, ma''am." Dave said with a smile. He then picked it up and opened it to see whether the wallet belonged to him. He was confused, he remembers it perfectly that he had put the damn thing in his breast pocket. But it seems he might have been wrong. "No problem dear. By the way, you are John''s boy if I am not wrong?" Hearing histe junky father''s name, he smiled awkwardly and nodded. "I am sorry for your loss dear." With a sad look and sympathetic look, she said. "It is okay mam. It is not like my life had changed a lot since that car ident. Both my parents were never there for me for most of my life. So their death didn''t make any difference for me." "Is that so¡­" Her fake sympathetic eyes were making him nauseous, but he didn''t show it. It was then she pretended that she had a brilliant idea. She then started rummaging through her side purse. "By the way, you work at a local deli, right? Do you like that job? I mean, I have a job that I have in mind which would a perfect for a young man like you." "What kind of job?" Working at a deli was no price, so he was slightly interested in what the olddy had to offer. "Here." She then handed him a card. The card in question was a simple in ck color business card. There was no name, email, orpany name on the card, only a simple phone number inscribed on the ck card in golden letters. "What is this?" "It is the phone number of a bigpany. This number works 24/7 and you could get a decent job if you call this number. Try it." "But what is the name of thepany or organization that this card belongs to?" "Thispany is rted to the church. Just say ''yes'' when they will ask you whether you are ready to serve God." "But mam, does it need some educational qualification or something? I have not even graduated high school, let alone a skill school." "Don''t worry dear. You are qualified enough. Just call the number. This call will change your life forever. Believe me. Just make a call." "Thank you, ma''am," It was a weird card, but he was happy to take it. "Don''t worry about it. But promise me that you will make the call." "I promise. Thank you, ma''am." Dave said. Then the olddy said goodbye and started heading out of the church. He looked at the number in his hands weirdly. He didn''t know what to think about the number. The olddy did not mention what kind of job was it nor did she reveal any description of the job. But seeing the quality of the card, he figured that this card must belong to some high-end big-shotpany. He didn''t know whether such apany would even think about hiring someone like him, but it was still worth a shot. After all, he was just a simple cook at the deli. He was already at the bottom of the food chain. How much lower could he drop? He then safely pocketed the card and he then got up and started heading home¡­ *** As Dave got out of the church, he looked around the empty streets of his small town, there was no human nor a car in sight. He was not afraid of walking alone at the night, his town was rtively safe. But seeing the empty streets make him wonder how life is in the big cities. He had heard about New York and how it is a city that never sleeps. And here is his town which bes an abandoned ghost town just a little after 6:00 pm. He couldn''t help but wonder what kind of life people in big cities live. He had a long walk back home, it was while walking back, he remembered the card that the olddy offered him. She said that the phone line works 24/7, looking at the card he couldn''t help but wonder whether the card could be his ticket out of this town. As he had nothing better to do, he took out his phone and the card and dialed the number. TRING TRING "Wee R3T, how may I help you?" came a woman''s voice from the other end. "Hi, my name is Dave. An olddy gave me this card and told me that you guys can offer me a job of some sort." "We can offer you a job." "And I don''t have any good educational qualification so to speak of. Will that be a problem?" He asked, praying inwardly with his finger crossed. "Your education has nothing to do with the job. Any person can be qualified for the job who has a healthy body with no diseases like asthma, diabetes, or any sort of heart condition." "Is that so? What kind of job are you offering?" Thispany was very strange, after all, whichpany out there doesn''t recruit asthma patients? A normal asthma patient does not have any sort of weakness that could hinder any normal job. If he were to think about it, only people from the army would reject asthmatic patients because they wouldn''t be able to go through the harsh training required by the army. But other than which kind of job would reject asthmatic patients? "The job is that you have to work for GOD. Do you want to work for GOD?" the woman asked. "But still, what is the job?" "It is a work for God. Do you want to work for GOD?" "I will work for GOD. But I still need to know what work I have to do?" After getting the confirmation she needed, the woman was done talking. "Our agent will contact you soon. Good Bye." Dave looked at the phone screen and started thinking about the weird conversation that he just had. Thatdy didn''t even take his credentials so how the hell will their agent contact him? Maybe they recorded my phone number He then started thinking of the possibility of this being a prank of some sort. So he threw aside the card and continued walking to his home. But it was then, that he saw some lighting from his back, some car wasing towards him. The car came to a stop just beside him. Seeing that car stop by his side, he unconsciously reached for the gun on his back. This was a safe town, but still, humans are very vicious creatures. He had never used the bad boy on his back before but he always kept it with him, after all, you never know when you might need something like this. He didn''t know the model of the car, but it looked expensive. He bent over to see the driver of the car, a woman in her prime 20s was driving the car. She was wearing a two-piece suit with a hat on the top. It was pretty clear that she was a driver. Looking at her, he wondered whether she had stopped to ask for some directions or something. "Can I help you with something?" he asked cautiously with still his hands on the gun. "Are you the one they call Dave?" "That depends on who is asking?" "Well, I am asking." "What do you want with me?" he asked cautiously. "Hop in, I am here to take you with me. I am with people from R3T." "R3T? What the fuck? But I just talked to them." "We are very fast. Hop in." "Woah Woah¡­ This is way too creepy. I am not hopping in. Get the hell out of heredy, if you don''t want to get shot." "I am afraid, you can''t back out now." Thedy said. And it was then something incredible happen. He just blinked and thedy sitting in the car a moment ago suddenly appeared right beside him. This freaked him out, he took out his gun and tried to point the gun at her. But before he could do anything else, the woman pped the hand holding the gun. Because of the jerk, the gun went flying away. She took out what look like a small deodorant from her pocket and sprayed it on his face. The spray worked wonders and before he knew it, he got knocked out¡­ Chapter 2 Kidnapped-2 ?Dave woke up abruptly, he was lying in a dark room, his body was covered in sweat from top to bottom. He could feel a soft mattress under him, while he could feel any injury on his body. He ran his hands around the mattress to create a mental image of where he was lying and found out that he was lying on a hardwood bed. The bed that he was lying in was a small rectangr thing, small enough to fit a person. The cover on the mattress felt soft and was of very high quality. The room didn''t have any sort of smell nor he could hear anything in the room, there was just pin-drop silence and him. He sat up straight and then turned around to stand up, and it was then the room was suddenly illuminated. The bright light that suddenly appeared out of nowhere stung his eyes. He covered his eyes with his hands as well as closed his eyes, but still, the intensity of light still stung. It is only after a few minutes was he finally able to open his eyes. He looked around and saw that he was in a small cube-like room, it had no windows, no furniture except for the bed that he was lying in and there was only one door. No matter how he looked at it, this room gave him the vibes of a prison cell, which rmed him more. He started to have bad feelings about this ce. Upon further inspection, he saw that he was lying in the clothes he was wearingst night, his pockets have everything that he was carryingst night which included his wallet and keys. It was then he remembered that he had a gun. He unconsciously went towards his back to see whether he had the gun or not. Halfway through, he realized that his kidnappers would have stripped him of his firearm, after all, it was the basic thing to do. Still, his hands went to his waist and it was then he felt the familiar metal exterior of the gun. As he felt the gun, he immediately grabbed it. Upon taking out the magazine of the gun, he saw all the bullets were inside, which was weird as hell. ''Do these kidnappers not care whether I have a gun?'' he thought. Whether it was a mistake or not, he didn''t care, he immediately put the magazine back and loaded the gun, and immediately stood up and walked towards the door. The brown door in front of him had a simple knob, he expected it to be locked. But to his surprise, upon twisting it slightly the knob turned and the door swung open. He found himself in a brightly lit hallway, this hallway was filled with countless doors identical doors, like the one he came from, it was empty and devoid of any sounds or living being. Before stepping out, he cocked his gun, he was getting a feeling that at any moment one of these doors could be swung open and his kidnappers woulde gun zing. It was very a frightening thought, but he couldn''t stay put, he needed to know where he was and get out of there. There were two ways in front of him. He could either move towards his right or left. As he had no idea where to go or what to do next, he decided that he should trust his gut, after gulping some saliva, he started going left, after all, he had to start from somewhere. With a very fast pace he started moving, and only the echoes of his steps reverberated through the hallway, while moving he was tempted to check out other doors, but he didn''t dare to take such a risk, after all, it could alert his kidnappers. He was about to reach the end of the hallway, but it was then he heard a door being opened behind his back. He immediately turned around and pointed his gun in the direction. A skinny Asian man had walked out of the room, he was wearing a cheap two-piece suit and looked confused. When he spotted Dave pointing his gun, he was instantly rmed, he immediately put his hands in the air and started yelling in Mandarin. "DON''T SHOOT. DON''T SHOOT." Dave couldn''t understand Chinese so he called him out in English."Who the hell are you? And what is this ce?" "Don''t shoot! Don''t shoot! I¡­ beg¡­ don''t¡­ I have a family at the house. Please!" The man yelled with a very bad English ent. Before Dave say anything else, the doors around them started opening up one by one, and people started swarming in the hallway. These people all belonged to different races and gender, some of them were wearing pajamas while some were wearing formal suits. There was even a fat man who was in his underwear. Some people that came out when saw him holding a gun, were all startled. A few of them immediately went back inside, while the few who were caught in front of his gun''s barrel didn''t move. "Who the hell are you people? What is this ce?" he yelled. None of them answered, but all of them did put their hands in the air, While some plopped down to the ground as a sign of submission. Amongst the victims being held at the gunpoint was a middle-aged British woman in her 30s, she was wearing a nightgown and had her hands in the air. "I don''t where we are. Please don''t shoot. I have a family to feed, please spare me." Dave then finally put his gun down. He didn''t understand where he was, but by looking at these people he understood that they were all victims of kidnapping the same as him. And it was pretty evident that a fat woman in herte 30s could not be a gangster¡­ "Do any of you guys know what is happening here? Where the hell are we?" People calmed down as he put down his gun, some still didn''t trust him and kept looking at him suspiciously. "I don''t know. Thest thing I remember is that I was in my room. And then I woke up here." The fat woman replied. He also then shared how he ended up here. Some people in their group didn''t even understand English, but those who did understand him attested to the fact that they came in contact with people from R3T. Hearing all of their stories, he started to have a very bad feeling. From the looks of it, whichever organization kidnapped them must be very powerful, otherwise kidnapping so many people from different countries and regions is a very hard thing to pull off. Soon the hallway was flooded with people, some of them were shouting in differentnguages while a few of them had started crying. Because of thenguage barrier among most of the people, chaos started spreading in the hallway. Dave looked at the chaotic atmosphere of the hallway and decided to move away, part of him wanted to move away because of his paranoia, he knew that a chaotic atmosphere like this could soon convert into a very disastrous situation. From the looks of it, there were more than 200 people in this hallway. And that many peoplebined with the panic in everyone''s eyes was a recipe for chaos. Also, he is the one that has a gun with him, in a chaotic situation, it was very safe to assume that people woulde for him because of his gun. And he didn''t want that¡­ As he reached the end of the hallway, he encountered a very small passage towards his right, there were a few people already standing in the path. They were all standing there, trying to get a glimpse of something ahead of them, he got curious as to why they were standing there, so he pushed them aside and went towards the front. He looked at the yellow color barrier with astonishment, it was located in the middle of the small pathway. There was nothing visible beyond the barrier, when he tried to approach the barrier, one of the men standing in front stopped him. "What is this?" The man who stopped him was wearing a business suit. He then took out his pocket square, and with a thick Indian ent, he said. "Observe." Then the man took the pocket square and threw it at the barrier. As soon as the cloth made contact with the barrier, immediately it disintegrated into nothingness. Dave''s mouth was left agape as he saw this, he had never seen anything like this before, this looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. "So we are in some sort of high-tech prison," Dave mumbled. "Seems like it," Indian replied. BANG BANG BANG BANG It was then sounds of shots being fired echoed throughout the hallway. After the shots, there was pin-drop silence for a second or two, then chaos spread, and people started screaming and running here and there. Hearing the gunshots, Dave''s paranoia started kicking in. He wanted to go to his room right about now and lock himself in, but the room was far away, He started brainstorming possible ways that he could do in this scenario. But it was then he saw something that made his skin crawl. Because of the shots, the people standing by the curve at the edge of the hallways started pouring into the small path. They wanted to avoid getting shot so they wanted to get in cover. But the thing was, the small hallway was not spacious, and people started pushing in to make space. Dave and some other guys were standing too close to the barrier. And it would only take one more push and their bodies would touch the barrier disintegrating their backs¡­ They started receiving push, and they tried started pushing people back, but everything was futile. The volume of people pushing in was way more and they were easily overpowered. It only took one big push from the other side which made them fall on his back, through the barrier. AAAHHH! Someone yelled as they fell. Dave also closed his eyes to the pain. But the thing was pain never urred. Curious about what happened, he opened his eyes slightly and saw that his body was perfectly fine. But the same could not be said for clothes, shoes, and his gun. As he went through the barrier, everything vanished. Now he and a bunch of men and women were lying on the bottompletely naked on the other side of the barrier¡­ His paranoia then kicked in. He immediately pushed himself up and looked at the people for answers, which they also didn''t have. BANG BANG BANG Shots were fired once again. But this time, Dave didn''t stick around to see what happened next. He turned around and started running. He ran into the small hallway and eventually came to a red color door. He didn''t know what to expect if he happens to open it. Anything is better than that crazy crowd, he thought. So he stepped forward and pushed the door open. Chapter 3 Class Selection ?As Dave pushed the red door open, he was greeted with a very unusual scene¡­ The door led to a small cubic room, it had a desk and a pair offy chairs, and a stack of papers was lying on the desk. The weirdest part about this room was the skeleton that was sitting on one of the chairs. The skeleton was wearing a blue color two-piece suit, despite being a skeleton, it had long silky hair and a flower clip on the top. He didn''t know what to think anymore, whether this skeleton was supposed to be amusing or was this supposed to be threatening, he didn''t know. But it was very weird seeing a skeleton with full-length hair like that. "Oh good, it was bing a bit boring waiting here all day long¡­ What is your named?" the skeleton said. "The fuck!" He was startled. He unconsciously took a step back and collided with the door. The skeleton moved his jaw and a voice came out, that could not be possible. "Oh, did I scare you, love? I am sorry." Dave still didn''t move, he knew that skeletons don''t talk, let alone speak with a British ent. "What the? What what what¡­ what the hell! How are you speaking?" "Well, technically I am not talking. I am just moving my mouth while using a skill called [Telepathy]. With this skill, I canmunicate with anyone with their mind. It is a quite handy skill when you meet a lot of people with different backgrounds and ethnicities." It was then he realized something. "What the hell is going on here? Am I in hell?" Amused, skeleton shook her head. "No¡­ but I have heard that is quite a nasty ce love. You don''t want to end up there. But still depends on which part of hell you end up at¡­" the skeleton then started speaking about how awful the hell is, she spoke as though she had visited hell herself and was speaking with personal experience¡­ "OH BLIMEY! Look at the time. Sit down love, we have hardly any time left." Like amand given to a robot, as soon as those words traveled to his ears, his body started moving on its own, and he took a seat in front of her like he wasmanded¡­ He just couldn''t believe that skeletons could talk, then one that was sitting in front of him gotta be a contraption of some sort. He knew it. He carefully observed her to see whether he could figure out theplex contraption that is making her move. But he couldn''t. Now shemanded him as if he was a puppet doll that has to dance on her fingertips, everything that he had seen till now was making him think that this was not just any ordinary kidnapping, this was something more, something more dangerous. "Now love, I know you have a lot of questions in your mind. But I have a very small amount of time left to answer all your questions. So let''s just get this over it¡­" She then started rummaging through some papers on her desk and then he took a page out and passed it to Dave, then she continued. "You and all the people that you saw back there are here to participate in a very special game that we call R3T or Race To The Top. The game is pretty simple. You and the other participants would be thrown into a magical world. Where all you need to do is get to the top to finish the game. And after finishing the game, The Celestials or Gods will grant the winner any wish they want. Everything or anything is on the table, you could ask for power, you can ask for any deceased person''s life or you could ask for money, anything that you want. Pretty sweet deal ain''t it?" But Dave was not having it. "NO! I am not ying any sort of game. You guys are fucking kidnappers!" Seeing him yelling, the skeleton shook her head with disappointment. "Oh for fucks sake¡­ Look, love, I know you are scared. But believe me, this is going to get worse and I don''t have time or patience to answer all of your questions and usations. Now, look at this paper. And choose one of the sses." The skeleton said while gesturing toward the paper in front of him. He was reluctant to look at anything, but suddenly something took over his body once again and he started reading the paper in front of him¡­.. .....................¡­.. Name- Newbie Swordsman Equipment- A basic short sword, a knight shield. Description- A person who had gotten a sword from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it. Perks- Big inventory. Skill- .....................¡­.. Name- Newbie Spearman Equipment- A wooden spear, low-level armor Description- A person who had gotten a spear from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it. Perks- Skill- .....................¡­.. Name- Newbie Archer Equipment- A wooden short bow, a quiver full of 20 arrows Description- A person who had gotten a bow and arrows from somewhere and had no idea how to wield them. Perks- Skill- .....................¡­.. Name- Newbie Magician Equipment- A wooden staff Description- A person who got a staff and book from somewhere and had no idea how to wield it. Perks- Skill- , .....................¡­.. After reading about all the sses and their description, he was confused, he couldn''t understand why the skeleton was making him choose one of these. He wanted to ask her about it, but his body didn''t follow hismand, It was then he remembered, she ordered him to give the name of the ss that he wants to choose. ''If I am right, then I can talk to her only after making my decision about the ss.'' he thought. So he read all the sses once again. He was leaning towards Newbie Magician as his ss, but giving it another thought, he started to wonder whether this ss would be useful to him. The Magician''s equipment includes a staff and only two skills, given that he had no knowledge of any other spells, it might be a little bit disadvantageous to choose this ss. He didn''t know why they were making him choose all of this, but to be on the safe side, he figured it would be for the best that he ys by his strengths. And his strength was his physical ability at the moment. He started eyeing the Spearman and Swordsman ss. He didn''t know how to use either one of them but he was confident that if he practices well enough then he would be able to master them eventually. While Archer''s ss is interesting, he knew that he wouldn''t be able to handle the ss. After all, Archery takes years of practice before one could be proficient in its use. So that ss was out of the question. After giving it some more thought he eventuallynded on a decision. "I will choose Newbie Swordsman''s ss," "Wonderful, goodbye dear. I pray that you will survive the ordeal." The skeleton then waved her hands. "Wait I need to ask....." Dave wasn''t able to finish his sentence as got teleported from his chair. *** When Dave opened his eyes, he was lying under the shade of a tree, birds were chirping around him, and the air carried pure fresh breath which was very soothing. This might have been a good pic spot if wasn''t for his body. His head was spinning and he was feeling nauseous. He felt like someone dismembered him and then reassembled him in this ce. After getting his bearing, he saw dense vegetation all around him, maybe he was in some forest. He looked down and saw that he was wearing different clothes now, he was wearing a white color medieval-style shirt and brown leather pants, with ck color boots. While the most interesting thing about his outfit was the sword that was dangling from his waist. The sheath of the sword was strapped to the belt of his pants. He took out the sword from its sheathe to inspect it, its hilt was made up of ck color leather strips interwoven with each other. While the sword itself was pretty shiny and had some weight to it. ''From the looks of it, this sword was sharp.'' he thought. He swung the sword with his hands in the air making a whistling sound. It was a pretty great sword. DING It was then a message ringtone chimed in the air, it was then a blue color window manifested itself in front of his face. .....................¡­.. Wee to a New Reality yer, This world will be your home for the uing years. In this new world, there are many mysteries and powers hidden from the naked eye. Find those powers, refine them and make them your own. They will be useful in the uing arduous path. Reach to the Top, Fight, and most importantly survive. P.S- Please say ''Status'' to continue .....................¡­.. He tried to touch the interface of the message. But surprisingly his hands went through the window. A Fucking Hologram. From what he knew such kind effects shouldn''t be possible with modern technology, so how any of this was possible? "Status," he said out loud. Immediately the blue color window in front of him vanished and another window popped open in front of him. .....................¡­.. Status Name- Dave Gonsalves ss- Newbie Swordsman Level- 3 Stats- Inventory- Quest- Skills- .....................¡­.. The Quest tab of this window was blinking continuously, prompting him to open it up. With a simple thought, the tab expanded and another window opened. The new window was a list with only the top spot of the list taken. While the rest of the spots were empty. The top spot in the list had a quest called The Race To The Top. Dave thought about opening it and the details of the quest opened in front of him¡­ .....................¡­.. Name- The Race To The Top Rank- GOD LEVEL Description- The magical world that the yer has been thrown into is divided into 9 worlds. These worlds have many mysterious powers hiding from everyone in in sight. Gather any power that you can. And reach the 10th floor before anyone else. Reward- Any wish of the winner would be granted by God. Penalty- Time limit- .....................¡­.. Chapter 4 A Big Porcupine ?Dave sat there for a few minutes, he had a lot to digest as well as get familiar with his status window functions. Although blue windows floating in the air, the strange talking skeleton and high-tech barriers seem like something out of a sci-fi book, but this was his reality for now. And till he finds his way out of there, it wouldn''t hurt to get used to all this stuff. What he didn''t understand was, why him? There was nothing special about him, he was a normal man who lived in a small town, he didn''t evenplete high school, so why these people choose him as their ''yer'' was beyond him. He opened his status menu once again. He wanted to see what more this magical window could offer him. He opened his stats tab and another window opened in front of him¡­ ....... Stats Exp-0/100 .... Strength- 5 [+] Dexterity- 3 [+] Agility- 2 [+] Arcane- 2 [+] Intellect- 3 [+] ... Stats point avable-0 ...... He knew the meaning of the words Strenght, Dexterity, Agility, and Intellect, but he had no idea of what Arcane meant. He had guessed that this system of his, had somehow managed to quantify his physical capabilities and expressed them in numerals. But how was that possible? He opened his inventory next, which was a blue window with around 20-30 boxes. All these boxes were empty except for the first one, the first box, which had a small emoji of a shield blinking continuously. He mentally selected the box and a knight shield appeared on his left hand. The shield in question looked like something from medieval-style Europe, it was very heavy, and was made from a very thick metal, he was not an expert on shields or metals, but this looked like a very durable piece of equipment. After experimenting with his status window for a while, Dave finally got the hang of most of the functions, with only his mentalmand he could send stuff to his inventory, but the only condition to send something inside is that he needs to make physical contact with the thing. As he always stays in contact with his shield, he could send it in, with only his mentalmand, the best part was that he didn''t even have to open his inventory over and over again. He just needs to do a mentalmand and he could send any stuff he is holding in there. When he opened the skill tab, he found out that he only had one skill there, when he tried to select the said skill, a new window appeared in front of him¡­ .......... Name- Common Tongue Rank- Common Description- The bearer of this skill will be able to be fluent in reading and speaking themon tongue spoken in Midgard. ........... ''Who the hell designed this thing? Language is a skill, you gotta be shiting me.'', he thought. He started thinking about it and realized he really did have knowledge of a foreignnguage. He was 100% sure that in his lifetime he had only learned the Englishnguage, now he had knowledge of anothernguage without even learning about it. He couldn''t help but wonder what more surprises this world had stored for him. As he thought more about it, he remembered the Magician ss that he was told to choose from, he couldn''t help but wonder what kind of things that ss would be capable of doing. **** Tired of thinking and staying put, he then stood up, Dave decided to explore the ce. He knew that he was stuck here for now. Sitting idly wouldn''t help him at all, and waiting for help toe and rescue him didn''t seem like an option that he had. As far as he could see there was forest all around him, and the shrubbery of the area was so thick that he could see past 50 m, seeing this rich and green environment he couldn''t help but wonder whether there are some wild animals in this area. He didn''t know where he should go, so he chose a random direction and started moving. His swords rested in the sheathe dangling from his belt while his shield was back in the inventory. While venturing through this dense forest unknown forest with the sword, he started feeling like he was on an adventure of some sort, and he was enjoying the thrill¡­ The thrill of an adventure didn''tst long, after an hour of walking, he stopped. He looked around and saw, he was still in a very dense forest. He had been walking aimlessly for the past hour and now he was paying the price. He was thirsty and would be hungry as well in a few hours. He could not go on like this. Seeing his condition, there was a better chance that he would die of thirst or hunger before he could even get to the nearest civilization. He needed to change his strategy, immediately. While thinking he looked around and soon spotted a tilted tree in distance, it was a huge tree and was pretty long as well, seeing the gave him an idea. He immediately started running towards it. His idea was pretty simple, he would first scout the area, he wanted to see whether he could see any human establishment nearby, or better yet a river. The bark of the tree was very slippery, it was covered in a slimy substance that the tree of secreting, because of which he had a very hard time climbing up. He fell on his ass 5-6 times, and only then he got the idea of using dirt to lessen the slipperiness of stuff. But that even work and finally wasting half an hour on the tree, he gave up. ''And people say that we are descendants of the monkeys'' he thought. Most of the trees around were standing erect, so there was no way to easily climb them, he only had this tree which was steep enough that a person could climb it. As his mind was working on the ways from which he could try to get up, he get distracted when he heard a scream¡­ AAAHHHH!! ''It sounded like a female voice. There are other humans around here!'' he thought. The idea of meeting another human here got him all riled up, and without giving a second thought, he started running in the direction of the scream. While running toward the screams, he also started hearing the sounds of explosions as well. He didn''t know what was the cause of the explosion, the constant sounds of explosions were frightening him in some sense, but he could just not ignore the screams of a fellow human being. As he got closer, he eventually found himself standing in front of a small cluster of rocks, they were not very big and he could easily climb over them. He could tell that the sound wasing from behind the rocks, so he quickly got to the top¡­ In his town, he hade across many kinds of wild animals. One of them was a porcupine, which back at home was easy to deal with. They are usually the size of beagle and one just only needed a baseball bat to scare them away. But the thing in front of him was unlike any porcupine that he hade across. This thing was big, almost as big as a saint bernard. This creature had a long neck like that of a turtle. But its back was covered with green-colored quills like that of a porcupine. The creature in front of Dave was bleeding from many ces, and it was facing off against a brown man in his twenties. This man had somehow safely trapped himself in a small crevice between two rocks, as its only exit was blocked by the big ass porcupine, he was screaming like a woman. The interesting thing about the man was that he was holding what looked like a very small wooden cane, it had a blue color crystal at one of its ends and it was glowing, looking very mystical with its blue color. The cane was emitting some sort of energy that had formed a barrier at the entrance of the crevice, thus blocking the porcupine froming any closer. SCREE!!! The monster screeched again, while he on the other hand was shocked. After all, it is not daily you see a giant creature like this. Also, the way that the man was making a barrier to keep the creature at bay was also very interesting as well, it almost felt like a dream to him. It was then the porcupine screeched again and this time, it suddenly bowed its head and retracted it under its shell. In the next instant, all the quills on its back started vibrating, and in a blink of an eye, they were allunched from its back. These quills wereunched in every possible direction, one of them even wheezed its way right by Dave''s ear. The force of the quills formed cracks all over the barrier, and from the looks of it, the barrier would not stay there for much longer. The only good thing was that the porcupine was that it wasted all of its quills. Now his back was bare. But it was then Dave saw something that send a chill running down his spine. The quills of the porcupine''s back started growing at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. If he was right that then the porcupine would be able to do another quill attack within a few seconds, also based on the appearance of the barrier, the man would not be able to sustain another attack. "AAAHH!!!! KOI BACHAO!!!" the man yelled. It was then he decided to take action. The porcupine''s mind was upied by the man in front of it, so in a sense, it would not anticipate a sneak attack. Thus he quickly started circling the rock formation, running on bumpy path on top of rocks was difficult, but he didn''t back down. While running, he took out his sword He didn''t know whether his n would work or not but he had to try¡­ As soon as he got a good vantage point near the big creature, he tightly gripped his sword in his hand, took a deep breath, and then quickly jumped on top of the porcupine''s head. He wanted to cleave the creature''s head from its body. With the momentum from his jump and the sharpness of the sword, it might have been possible, at least that was the n. As his de made contact with the creature''s neck, it sliced through the meat portion but got stuck to the neck bone. The creature went into a frenzy from pain... Chapter 5 Level Up! ?The creature took some time to register that he was wounded, and then it went berserk. Blood started pouring out of its wounds as though a water pipe had burst in its neck, it started swinging its neck here to there in hope that the sword would dislodge itself, but that didn''t happen. Dave had somehow managed to lodge the sword in such a way, that it refused toe out. When the creature first started swinging its neck, he was thrown backward, the blow was powerful enough to shake every inch of his body, luckily no bone was broken in the process. The creature was experiencing an excruciating amount of pain, and as it moved its neck, the amount of blood pouring out of its vessels also increased, it was slowly killing itself by bleeding out. But it was not that intelligent and it didn''t know what was better for it¡­ Dave felt his whole body rammed by a pickup truck, he was feeling dizzy and felt like he has taking the worst beating of his life. But still, with the numbness, his brain was working perfectly. And he knew that he was still not out of the danger zone, this creature could still him with one hit, and if does that quill attack once again then he would definitely lose his life. He immediately got up when he saw that the creature was banging his head on a nearby tree doing only god knows what, but this was his chance. And it was then he nced at the man that he came to rescue. The barrier protecting the man was gone, the man was now in all his fours and was crawling his way out slowly. As he was able to crawl, he knew that the man was not injured. ''Why the hell is this mother fucker crawling? This stupid son of a bitch should be running instead.'' he thought. It was then something whizzed past his cheeks with an astonishing speed, making a rather long cut in the process, and soon blood started flowing down from his left cheek. He touched his cut as he didn''t understand what had happened, but then he looked back and saw a quill being stuck on the rock behind him. As he saw the quill, he started having a bad feeling. And sure enough, soon more quills were fired by the berserk creature in random directions. But luckily none of them hit the crawling man or him. But the quill that brushed off his cheek was a wake-up call for him. Thus Dave then quickly got up and started running toward the crawling man. He grabbed him by his shirt and quickly lifted him, over his shoulder. The man was skinny thus he was very light. After quickly grabbing him, he started running away from there. It was while running, that he felt a strong sting on his free hand, a quill had pierced his hand, but he didn''t stop to look at it. He just kept running straight, trying to make as much distance as he could between himself and the creature. *** Dave ran until he felt like his legs were gonna break. He only stopped, when he was sure that the screeching berserk porcupine was far behind them. He put down the stranger under a tree, and sure enough, that man had fainted. He then slumped down beside him and tried to calm down. With heavy breaths he could still feel the adrenaline flowing through his body, he couldn''t believe that he was able to pull something off like this. It was then he nced at his hand to check the quill that had pierced his hand. The quill had made a small pencil size hole in his right hand and most probably passed through it. Blood was still pouring out of his hands. He instantly took out his shirt and tied it around his wound. Now barechested, he turned around towards the man. He didn''t know whether there was something wrong with the man, or he had just fainted. So he shook his head, once or twice, the man finally opened his eyes¡­ AAAHH!! The man woke up screaming. When he saw Dave sitting beside him, he finally remembered what had happened. Tears suddenly started pouring out of his eyes and he started sobbing loudly¡­ "Dhanyawad Bhaiya! Meri jaan bachane ke liye." The man said in a foreignnguage that Dave did not understand. He could feel the emotion of the man and believed that he was trying to thank him. But he wasn''t sure. "Are you alright?" Dave asked in English. "I¡­ am¡­ well," the man said while sobbing. Hearing his word, he sighed in relief. "Oh great¡­ I thought you didn''t speak English." "I speak¡­. Little little" "Well little is fine by me. Do you know where we are?" "Where¡­ Forest¡­ We in a forest." "I know we are in the forest. I want to know where is this forest. Do you know?" "No." Hearing his answer he could only sigh. He felt a little bit down because even though he had found a fellow human being but he can''tmunicate properly with him. But it was then he remembered themon tongue skill that he got. He instantly started wrecking his brain and started the knowledge about themon tongue started pouring into his mind¡­ "Can you understand me now?" Dave said while speaking themon tongue of Midgard. The man was astonished to hear his words. "I understand you." The man spoke in English. "Try to speak thisnguage. If I am not wrong you would be able to speak thisnguage as well." The man looked confused, but when he started wrecking his brain he was surprised, the knowledge of a foreignnguage was in his mind. "How do I know thisnguage?" the man spoke themon tongue with a puzzled look. "I don''t know. It seems like something out of the fantasy book to me as well." "What is your name, kind sir?" "Me? My name is Dave Gonsalves." "I am Sanjay Singh." "Indian?" "Yes¡­ And you are from?" "America," "Oh¡­ Donald Trump. I know him." "Good for you¡­" Dave said awkwardly as he didn''t know what to make of his reply. "I owe my life, Dev. Thank you for saving me." "Don''t mention it. And it''s D-A-V-E, not D-E-V" "That is what I said. Dev." "Never mind. So what do you reckon is happening to us?" "Don''t know. Maybe God is punishing us because of our sins." "You were a sinner back in India?" "I was a butcher. Maybe me killing all those innocent animals has got me into this situation." "I was a cook. And I may have sold some weed when I was young but other than that, there isn''t any sin that Imitted." Sanjay was astonished by his reply. "You were a drug dealer? Were you part of a gang?" "I was a drug dealer when I was 17 something. But after my 18th birthday, I stopped." Dave said. "Oh." Both of them sat side by side to each other, there was still awkwardness between them so they didn''t speak further. But it was then, that Dave suddenly had a message ting in his ears. He looked around and then saw that there was a message icon floating in front of him. "Can you see that?" Dave asked while pointing at the icon. "See what?" "Didn''t you hear the message ring tone?" "No¡­ Did you hear it?" "Seems like it," Dave said and then he mentally tried to open the icon and soon enough a string of blue messages came pouring in front of him¡­ ....... You have in the Earth Porcupine. ....... You have been awarded 120 Exp for your feat. ....... Congrattion! You have levelled up. ....... 5 Stats points have been awarded to you. ....... You have attracted the gaze of The Destroyer of Worlds ....... You have attracted the gaze of The All-Knowing Father. ....... You have attracted the gaze of The Monster Huntress. ....... You have attracted the gaze of Fat Fighting King. ....... You have attracted the gaze of Mistress of an Owl ....... You have attracted the gaze of The Wine Maker ....... Looking at the messages, Dave was confused. ''What do they mean that attracted the gaze? And who the fuck are these people? Destroyer of Worlds? What the hell? What kind of names are these?'' "What message did you get?" Sanjay asked. "It seems like the monster that I lodged my sword into had died. And I have leveled up" "What does leveled up mean?" "I have no fucking idea." "Then what should we do now Dev?" "I think we should go back o the creature that we killed," Dave said while getting up. "Why?" "Well, for starters I need my sword back. Secondly, we don''t have any food or water with us. That creature could provide us with enough meat that couldst for a few days." "But I am a vegetarian." "You are a butcher. How the hell is a butcher a vegetarian?" Dave said while looking weirdly. "What can I say, I am a religious man." "Whatever, look around you man. We are stranded in the middle of the forest with no way out. It is either dying of hunger or eating that meat. After all, it is not like there is a pure veg restaurant waiting for you just around the corner." Dave said and then he started walking back. While Sanjay stayed seated there for a second contemting the dire situation they were in¡­ "Wait for me!" Sanjay said. For now, he had decided to follow him. He doesn''t want to eat the meat. But he couldn''t deny it, that it is the only option that he got for now¡­ Chapter 6 Towards The Hill ?While walking back, Sanjay and Dave eventually started talking to each other, they both had concerns about the weird world they havee into, they might have been very different people back on Earth, but now they were two peas in the same pod. Talking to each other also helped them voice out their concerns about this ce. As they talked, they also shared things about each other sses, and Dave had several questions about Sanjay''s abilities. He was very interested in how he was able to make that barrier, also he was curious about the explosions that he heard. they didn''t sound like something to be caused by the rampage of that creature, it sounded as though someone was doing field testing of hand grenades. "Oh, that was my skill," Sanjay said. Sanjay was a Newbie Magician, with that ss, he got the staff and three skills, of which one was themon tongue skill. Out of the other two, one of the skills helps him fire a blue color ball from his staff, which exploded on impact. And the other one is the barrier that he saw him casting. Dave realized that the magician ss has offensive as well as defensive abilities, it is a pretty good ss considering the situation they are in. But it also has a lot of drawbacks. And the most lethal drawback was the fact that Sanjay was physically very weak. When theypared each other stats, he found out that none of his Indian friend''s physical stats were higher than two. The only stat that stands out in his stat window was his Intellect and Arcane. Sanjay''s intellect was 5 while his Arcane was 3. His level was the same as Dave''s, he was a level-3 magician. But now that Dave has leveled up. He figured out from the messages that if he invests stats points that are avable to him in his stats menu, he can be more powerful than he is now. For now, he decided that he would just wait for some time before investing his stats points, gather more information, and then invest them. Eventually, Dave had the idea to try Sanjay''s staff himself. He wanted to see whether he could wield it and do some magic as well. But his ns were foiled, as he touched Sanjay''s staff, a blue color message appeared before his eyes¡­ ...¡­.. You need 5 Intellect to wield the Beginner Magician''s Staff. .... "Hmm¡­ It seems like I won''t be able to use the staff after all" He mumbled as he read the message, Sanjay who was walking turned towards him¡­ "Why?" "Well ording to the message that I have received, it says that I need 5 intellect to use the staff." "How much do you have?" "I have 3 intellects." "So if you invest 2 stat points in the intellect stat then you could use the staff?" "Seems like it." "Well, that is good news. If someone regrets their initial ss choice, then they would be able to change it afterward byter on investing their stat points." "Right¡­ But you know, it is very strange that one could simply hunt these monsters and get strong. What physical training and what not, are they not relevant here?" "Seems like it." "And you don''t even have to be there physically present there to hunt a creature. I may have thrust my sword into that creature''s neck, but I didn''t kill it. Most probably that creature would have died from blood loss. But still, I was rewarded for its death." "But you were the one that inflicted that nasty wound on him, didn''t you?" "Yeah¡­ But what if¡­ Okay, hear me out. If suppose I am hunting a creature. And I inflicted a lot of damage to it, that it is on the verge of dying. And then suddenly some other guy swoops in and delivers the final blow to it. So then what would happen then? Will I get the points for it, or would that person who got thest blow would get the point?" "I don''t know¡­" Sanjay said while thinking about what Dave had said. The duo walked for 10 mins more and they reach the rock formation where they encountered the creature. It was then, Dave couldn''t help but notice that Sanjay was sweating after the walk, his breaths were heavy as if he was standing here after a session of power walking. While he, on the other hand, waspletely fine, he didn''t feel fatigued at all. Seeing this he realized that the stats menu is pretty urate. Not too far away from the rock formation was the body of the creature itself. By the time they had got to the body, flies were humming around the body. While the body itself was lying in a pool of blood. Dave straight away went for the sword that was stuck in the neck of the creature. It took a lot of strength to pull it out. But as the creature was not moving, it became fairly easy for him to pull the thing out¡­ "This was a very big monster," Sanjay said. "That it is¡­ So what should we do with it?" Dave asked. "Well, after killing an animal, one should usually pry open its stomach and take out all the organs like the intestine, heart, stomach, etc. And while doing so, one should also drain blood out of the animal''s body." "So do you think you can butcher it?" "With the tools we have? I really don''t know. I have never used a sword before to gut an animal before. Also, your sword looks pretty heavy and long to use it a skinning knife." Sanjay gave his honest opinion. "Do you think we could store a body this huge in our inventory?" "Inventory? You mean the one the tab we got in the system interface?" "Yeah." "We can store items in there?" Sanjay asked with astonishment. Hearing this, Dave understood that this idiot didn''t even try to use and understand the different functions of the weird holographic system. And ording to his stat, his intelligence is supposed to be 5¡­ Dave then ignored Sanjay for a second and put his hands on the creature''s carcass. And he tried sending it to his inventory. Hearing his will, his system''s response came quickly in the form of a blue color window¡­ ... Sending the carcass into the inventory will use 25 boxes worth of storage. Do you want to proceed? Y/N ...¡­.. Dave instantly answered ''yes'' and the carcass of the creature vanished from the ground. Seeing this, Sanjay was very astonished and started bombarding Dave with a question about the system¡­ *** After securing the food, Dave and Sanjay were stuck in a very familiar situation once again. They may have food but they don''t have water or shelter. Also, they don''t even know where they are. After Dave shared his concerns, Sanjay told him that everything will be fine¡­ "Don''t worry. I used to watch the Discovery Channel while back in India. So I will get you out of here." Sanjay said with a proud and confident smile. "How is your watching a science channel gonna help us?" "Let me show you¡­" It is then Sanjay did what Dave failed in doing previously. He climbed up a tree. It was pretty spectacr to see the technique that Sanjay used. He unbuttoned his shirt, and wrapped it around the tree, while using his shirt to support him, he started climbing. ording to him, he was used to climbing up the tree to pluck mangoes that used to grow on his grandfather''s farm. Seeing his skillful ascent and descent up and down the tree, Dave was fairly impressed, this man had its strength. After he got down, he told him about the geography of the terrain around them¡­ "Well, we are surrounded by trees in every single direction. But I spotted a few hills north of our position. While I also spotted a range of mountains in the east. I think we should move towards the hills in the north. They are close to where we are. Also, there is a better chance of finding ake or a cave in the hills." "Ake or a cave? How do you know that?" Dave asked. "Well, I used to watch survival series called Man vs Wild a lot. And the anchor used to tell a lot of crazy things about survival. And he used to say that three things are essential for survival. And those are food, water, and shelter. We already have food. Now we are left with water as our main concern, we may be able to find some in the hills. But even without water, we could still survive for two days at least. Also, the hills would provide us with a good view of the area that could help is located a nearby water source." "Amazing¡­ You are a genius." Both of them started their journey toward the hills. ording to Sanjay, they would reach the hills after a 3-4 hour walk. And as the sun is over their head then it could mean that they will be able to reach the hills before nightfall. And that was a good thing. While walking towards the hills, Dave noticed that his sword had been damaged. The part of the sword that collided with the thick and strong bones of creatures had chipped the sword, but he could still use it. *** With his sword in his sheath and shield in his inventory, Dave walked quietly beside Sanjay. He didn''t look tired at all, while Sanjay was huffing and puffing as if they were hiking on a mountain. As Dave looked at his pathetic condition, he felt pity for the man and insisted that they should take a break to cool off. And Sanjay agreed to it instantly. It was probably a good thing that they had not encountered another creature till now. And their journey had been a quiet one. While resting for a while, Dave started thinking that maybe other people that he saw back in the facility may had have the same idea of going to the hill. So there was a high chance that they would encounter more humans on the hills. After resting for a while, Dave and Sanjay eventually started moving again. As they got closer to hills, they eventually came across something that made them stop¡­ Chapter 7 Is That A Bird? ?"What is¡­ that?" Sanjay asked. He had never seen something like that before in his life, that thing was making him disgusted as well frightened at the same time, that feeling was mutual with Dave as well. Both of them kneeled in front of the ck stuff that had blocked their path and started observing it closely. It looked like a ck color tar that someone had smeared in the middle of nowhere, it was giving off a very rancid smell like that of a rotten egg. Also, they could see that steam was being emitted from the tar. But the scariest detail of the tar was the body of the creature lying in it. The body of the creature seemed like it had melted. From the carcass, it was very hard to determine what kind of creature was it, but there was no doubt that it was the body of a huge creature. This creature was as big as an full grown elephant, ording to Sanjay. Anything below the neck was melted from the ck tar, it looked like a very horrible way to die. Dave didnt care about the creature as long as it was dead, he was more concerned about the tar and where it came from. He looked up and sure enough, he saw that there were smudges of ck tar in the trees just above them. From what he observed, he determined that the tar fell from the sky and this creature was unfortunately below it when it fell. But seeing this, the biggest question that came to his mind was how the hell this tar stuff fell from the sky. "Doesn''t this creature look like the bigger version of the beast that you killed?" Sanjay said while looking at the face of the carcass. Hearing hisment, Dave looked at the creature once again. And sure enough, he couldn''t deny the fact that he does have a point. Dave''s face lost color, he just had an epiphany about their situation. "Do you realize what this means right?" "What?". "If that thing is indeed the bigger version, then it would mean that I killed a baby. Now, do you get it?" Sajay understood what he meant. "We need to get out of here as soon as we can," Dave said while looking around. The baby version of that creature almost killed Sanjay. If it wasn''t for Dave''s surprise attack, subduing that creature would have been impossible. From these facts alone they were certain that the adult version of the creature will surely have no problem killing both of them within seconds. "We should move faster." Sanjay insisted and Dave happilyplied. After seeing that tar and carcass, Sanjay suddenly started feeling energetic. He started walking faster and faster. And because of Sanjay''s newfound motivation, they were able to reach the hills faster than they had estimated. Whileing towards the hills, they found many puddles and sshes of ck tar, seeing this, Dave started thinking that maybe the tar was some kind of weapon, a human-made weapon. Otherwise, he could not exin how would a substance like this will fall from the sky. But now the question was, what kind of beings would use the tar as a weapon? Are they humans like them? And if they are not then are they friendly? "Dave, I know that I told you that hill will be a rtively safe ce. But now that we are here, I am having a bad feeling. I don''t think that we should be here." Sanjay said while looking at the scenery as they were approaching the foot of the hill. And Dave couldn''t agree more. The area around the hill was lifeless, this area was drying, leaves of the trees have withered away ages ago, now all that remained in that deste ce were some puddles of ck tar in various ces, barren and lifeless, just like the soil of the area. "Yeah, you are right. But we need to find shelter and water if we need to survive the night. This hill could be a good ce to scout the area, we cannot turn back now.." Dave said. "Fine you win, but we need to hurry. But after scouting the area we would leave this ce as soon as we can, do you get it?" "Alright." "Done then. Man, I just couldn''t shake the feeling that we shouldn''t be here. Am I being paranoid?" "No, you are not. This ce is making me paranoid as well." By the time they got to the foot of the hill, the sun had almost set. It was then that they encountered another problem, the hill in question was steep. A person could still climb up, but it would be very difficult. Seeing this, Dave insisted that he should climb up the hill and scout the area, and Sanjay should stay put for the time being. After all, they could afford Sanjay''s weak physique to slow them down at this time. Sanjay didn''t want to part ways, but he reluctantly agreed after some persuasion. After their conversation, Dave started climbing the hill, as fast as he could. His footwear was not ideal to climb this kind of hill, but still, he persisted somehow, it didn''t take him long enough to get up the hill. And it was there that he was greeted with a very strange scene¡­ There was a big crater on the hill, it looked like something made by a collision with an asteroid, it was as big as a football field, and smelled horrible. There were several big rocks were lying around the crater, as though they were meant for decoration. But the strangest part about the crater was that it was covered in a thick coating of what looked like tar, it covered every nook and cranny of it. He got on his knees and touched the ground to feel the texture of the substance covering the crater. It was ck, hard, and slightly warm. He figured that the stuff covering its surface is the same as the acidic ck tar that they found around the area. But this coating over here has been solidified and formed this hard flooring. He figured that this stuff was safe as even after touching it, he was standing there healthy as a horse. It was truly a bizarre scene, if this ce was man-made, then what was its purpose? And now as he was thinking about it, this ce look more like an arena to him... When he turned around, he could not spot any rivers or civilization from there, he could only see a green sea of trees. But then his eye caught the shadow of something flying in the sky, in a distance. It looked like a bird, it was flying around here and there in a zig-zag pattern, he figured that the bird must be hurt. The way it traveled, it looked like the bird wasing toward him. As he spot nothing from here, he thought about going south, maybe he could spot something from over there. He turned around and started moving. It was then he heard it. ROAR!!! He turned around, the bird was closing the distance between them, fast, and as it was getting close, it was also bing bigger and bigger. His heart started pounding faster, he started sweating, he understood that thing was not a bird at all. He looked down, the hill was not big, but still, it was too steep, he could slide down there fast, nor could he jump off. So he turned around and started running deeper into the crater, quickly ducked down, and hid behind one of the rocks ced around the crater. He then took out his sword and waited. He didn''t know what this creature was nor he wanted to know. He just knew that it was too big, and it hade here to eat him. Soon he heard a loud sound from behind the rock, something very heavy hadnded not too far away from him. He felt big gusts of winding from behind the rock, which must have been the creature''s big wings. The gust of winds was very powerful, they were pretty simr to the one that a helicopter produces while taking off. This made him understand the creature was very big and could fly at any moment¡­ ROAR!!! BAAM¡­ BAAM¡­ BAAM¡­ BAAM¡­ BAAM Dave then heard thumping sounds from behind the rock. The creature was on the move. He could feel the ground shaking under him because of the weight of the creature. From the sounds he understood that the creature would be walking past him, so he slowly started circling the rock, he did not want toe into the field of vision of the creature, so he was being careful with his steps. The creature started to make his way toward the center of the crater. It didn''t seem like the creature had any idea that he was even there. By the time the creature had got to the center, he had also safely made his way toward the other side of the rock, outside the field of vision of the creature. But now standing there, Dave faced a dilemma. ''What the fuck should I do now? If I make a run for it, then will that creature would be able to see me? Of course, it would see me, I know my luck. Then should I wait for it to sleep? But that could take hours¡­. OH MY GOD! What if, this creature isn''t alone? What if there is another one just like it around here?'' He thought. He could not see any way from which he could run away from here scout free. Dave then decided to be a little brave at that time, he knew that he had to make a run for it, and it would be a little bit less tricky if he knew what the creature had been doing at that time. So he slowly sat down on the ground. He took his sword and cleaned the dirt off one of its ends. He then slowly stuck out a shiny part of the sword out of the rock to see what he was dealing with. And what he saw behind him made him almost piss himself. The creature in question was a very big lizard. It was covered with a ck color scale and had golden crocodile-like eyes. It had two long-titled hornsing out of his skull. The creature''s front legs were and also acted like the creature''s wings. It had a very long neck and razor-sharp teeth. The creature in question was a very famous mythological creature that he had also heard of. The creature in question was a Dragon. But the most terrifying thing about the creature was not its features. The most terrifying thing was the fact, that currently, it was lying on its stomach. His golden eyes were shining in the setting sun and were currently staring straight in his direction. Chapter 8 Escape From Nest ?He epted his faith, looking at the dragon''s eyes from the reflection of his sword his soul was on the verge of leaving his body. He closed his eyes, he didn''t want to feel fear before he dies. He then just waited, patiently, the dragon woulde and either would eat him alive or would burn him, either way, there was no way he could outrun it. So hey there with his eyes closed. A few minutester when his death didn''te, he opened his eyes once more, as he looked in the reflection, the dragon had his eyes closed, it was resting. He smiled, he was happy that the dragon was not killing him, but it was then he started having thoughts about his situation. ''Did the dragon spot me or not? If it did spot me and still decided to ignore me, then I could simply run away. But if it did not spot me and I try to run away, then wouldn''t that mean that if I make a move, it would pounce on me¡­ FUCK¡­ I don''t know what to do'' he thought. Dave was stuck and now only a miracle could save him. He may pass a lot of his time in the church, but the thing was he was a big-time atheist, so he didn''t believe in miracles, he had spent most of his life denying the existence of god, but now, he could help himself, he got in his knees and tried to pray any god that might help him. BOOM BOOM The sound of explosions perked his ears, he opened his eyes and looked around, he didn''t understand what was happening. The sound wasing from down the forest, the ce where Sanjay was, he didn''t know whether that guy saw the dragon flying towards this hill or not, but he could help but curse him. He was putting his life in danger. And sure enough. BAAM BAAM The sound of the dragon''s footsteps started echoing on the top of the hill. Like before he decided to stay away from the dragon''s vision, as it came closer to his rock, he started circling it like before. He was not spotted. The dragon on the other hand stood by the end of the hill, looking at the vast expanse of forest in front of it, like the ruler of his kingdom. BOOM BOOM The explosions didn''t stop, to check his territory out, the dragon jumped down from the hill, making Dave chuckle with excitement, he did not waste any time, and started running¡­ He ran in the opposite direction of the hill, he would get down from there and then try to circle back to Sanjay, if he is even alive. While running he got to the center of the crater, where he saw some disturbing things. Not far from where the dragon was sleeping, there were six poles, dug around the creature''s bed, while his bed on the other was just a pile of bones. The silver poles were covered in weird symbols and didn''t have a lot of time to check them out, he just ran straight past them. He did notice the big insignia inscribed at the top of these poles. The insignia had a flying skull with wings covered in purple fire. It was a weird insignia, but he didn''t pay much attention to it. Another weird thing that he saw was a neon color skeleton lying amongst the piles of bones, but he didn''t give a fuck about it either and ran away with all of his might. When he got to the other side of the hill, he stopped in his tracks, at that time he forgot about the dragon, he forgot about why he was running, the scene in front of him blew his mind. In his childhood, he once went camping on a school trip, away from the town, and it was then for the first time in his life, he saw a sky full of stars. He could still remember that sky to this day, it was beautiful. The scene in front of him was simr yet so different. Below the hill saw millions of stars, twinkling brightly like diamonds. He rubbed his eyes, the sky was supposed to be up, not down. But here he stood, at the edge of the hill staring at the stars. It was then he realized, this world where he stands was very different from the earth that he knows. This world was just a piece ofnd floating in endless space¡­ Dave eventually got out of his stupor and slid down the hill, he took a detour, instead of going straight to their meeting ce, he first made some distance between himself and the hill. Only after making sufficient distance, he started going back. He would first scout the area, only if he see any signs of Sanjay being, then only he would move forward. After running for a long time, he finally started closing in on their meeting ce, there was no sign of the dragon, and the jungle was awfully quiet as well. But while moving, he started screaming, multiple screams. From what he could guess, the screams belonged to women, thinking that one of them might be Sanjay, he started running towards it. When he came towards the source of the screams, he saw Sanjay, he was with two other women, both of them were Asians. They all were fighting what looked like giant bats, and all of them were trying their best to kill those beasts, but they were all struggling to keep up. It is then he decided to move as well. He came running towards them with his sword in his hands, the beasts didn''t know his presence, as soon he got near one of them, he jumped and swung the sword as hard as he could with his hands. The sword cut through the bat''s body but got stuck somewhere in the middle. The bat fell down, and it was then other ones sensed his presence. As fast as he could he pulled out the sword from the body of his vanquished foe, it is then he saw that one of the other bats was making a move at him, it came flying down with its sharp ws up front, and it was going to scratch him. He mentallymanded his shield toe out as quickly as he could, and the bat collided with the shield, whose blow made Dave stagger backward. It was then a spear pierced through the bat''s skull, impaling him and thus killing it on the spot. The young Asian girl killed it. The only bat was left after the scuffle who decided to fly away, he could win against them. "Thank you. I am Dave." He spoke in themon tongue. The young Asian girl smiled. "Hello, I am Soo-Young" then she pointed at the other Asian woman in her thirties, "That is Shizuka" The other woman passed him a smile, and he did the same. Before anyone of them could talk any further, abruptly the roots of the trees around them came alive. Like a snake the started wrapping around all four of them''s limbs. Before they know it, they were all on the ground struggling to get up. They were bound to the ground. It is then he heard someone walking towards them. Chapter 9 That Is Not A Bird ?Death. Destruction. Despair. Things that the ck Dragon of mamity, ''Roghorth, The Dark'' leave behind whenever it invades one of the great cities. Since ancient times, whenever Roghorth had left its nest and wandered in the skies of Midgard, it had destroyed everything that came in its path. For so many years, many braves warrior and mages had tried to kill that beast, but still, no one was able to kill that monstrosity. As time passed, the great cities change tactics, rather than trying to kill it, they started preparing countermeasures against Roghorth. And most of the time, these countermeasures worked like a charm. But this fine evening something happened in the Great City of Ravenshade, that shook the city to its core¡­ Like every other day, the city was bustling with people. Vendors were doing brisk business, trying to sell as much as they could before the sun sets. Soldiers of the city were patrolling the area diligently, and children were running around from here to there in the streets, in all, the city was peaceful. But it was then it fell from the sky¡­ Without warning, without a sound, the Great ck Dragon, fell from the sky like a falling star, the behemoth body of that great beast when fell in the middle of the city, it destroyed half a kilometer area around it. The loud noise created when the Dragon fell was enough to stop the whole city in its tracks. There was a pin-drop silence in for a whole, everyone was trying to understand what had happened. And it was then¡­ ROAR!!! The elders of the city were all very familiar with that roar, after all, to them, the sound itself was like the zing horn of death. Chaos ensued in the city. People started running towards the shelter. The soldiers around the city were in disarray as they didn''t understand how can the Dragon made its way inside the city, without anyone noticing. The Dragon wreaked havoc around the city. With its Acidic breath, it destroyed and killed hundreds of people. By the time the Lord of the City and her other subordinates came out to face the dragon, it had flown off toward its nest. The Dragon only stayed in the great city for 10 min or so. But in that time, it had ruined a major chunk of the city and killed many people¡­ *** Ravenshade was one of the proudest and greatest great cities of Midgard. Because of the efforts of previous city lords, this city was able to make a securitywork around the city. The securitywork consists of various watch towers and patrols of soldiers. Because of the strategic location of these towers, any beast wave or attack from any other city could be reported to the main city within seconds. Because of how tight theirwork is, Ravenshade had been a proud fortress for more than 100 years. But all of that changed today¡­ For Brock, this was worse than a nightmare. He was an honest man and as the General of all the units under the city of Ravenshade, he is a proud man. He had beenmander for the past 50 years, during his regime he had set a record, no beast tide or dungeon break or any attack from Roghorth had been able to cross of the borders of Ravenshade. But his record was broken today¡­ He stood in a lit room, wearing his traditional ck color armor with a blue flying raven inscribed on his chest, for an old man in histe 60s, he had a very strict face, short hair, and a long gray beard. But his body still resembled any strong man in his 40s. In front of him were his 6manders that were responsible formunication and manning the walls that surround Ravenshade. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING?" Brock yelled at themander that was stationed at the wall when the Roghorth attacked the Ravenshade. "Sir, I swear on my newborn daughter''s life. We didn''t see anything. You can even ask every one of my men that is stationed on the wall whether they saw anything or not. And their answer would be the same as mine." Themanders replied. "So what the fuck are you suggestingmander? A mother fucking dragon who as big a fucking small mountain somehow got through all of our defensive measures and somehow ended up in the middle of our city?" Brock yelled. "Sir, I don''t know how he got in. But I can assure you that it didn''t get in because me or any of my men werezing around." Themander answered confidently. "If none of you dimwits saw the dragon, then how the hell did that Dragon barge into our city?" Themanders didn''t have anything to say, more precisely they didn''t what to say. Brock then picked up the ss of water on his table. He then gulped all the water in one whole sip. He then turned around and said calmly... "Listen carefully¡­ George and Lucas go and help the soldiers handle the mess that the big lizard had left us. While doing the rescuing, gather any information that you can about the incident. I believe that some of our citizens may have seen something. Investigate every single detail and get me something on which I could work. Anything at all." Hearing hismand two of themanders saluted him and went away. "As for the rest of you. Lock down the whole city. No onees in and no one goes out. I want the list of every suspicious person that had left or enter the city in thest week. Round everyone that is suspicious. Don''t leave any rock unturned. Understood?" "Sir yes sir." Themanders saluted and then went away from the room. After they all went he sat down on his desk and started ruffling through some papers, Roghorth may have left, but he had wounded the old man deeply. He didn''t know what had happened or how it happened, but he mes himself for this attack. He was angry at himself as he let all of this happen on his watch. He was also angry with another person, the City Lord of Ravenshade. She was pretty young for her position but Brock had judged her to be apetent person, despite her age. She was a very reliable leader who was very smart as well. But today she did something pretty stupid. After the dragon''s attack, instead of helping around the city, she flew away towards Roghorth''s territory behind the Dragon itself. He tried to stop her, but she didn''t listen to him and flew away. There was no way that she would be able to defeat The Great ck Dragon. So then why did she follow him home? It was a very bad move from her end. The worst part was, that the city council was in the dark about whether the city lord is alive or not. ''She should have returned by now. Oh Great Lord that created this world, please don''t let Carlin die.'' Brock prayed, after all he could only do that for the moment. *** It was a very strange thing. Roghorth made it inside the city without triggering any rms. Carlin knew that there was nothing wrong with the traps and rms that her ancestors had put in the surrounding the city. So the big question was how the hell that Dragon made its way there. There was no way that someone would have done something to rm. As the highest-ranking Mage in the city, she regrly makes sure that there is nothing wrong with the rms. She had done the inspection not too long ago. Yet still, somehow Roghorth made it to the center of the city. Another thing that confused Carlin was the fact that Roghorth fell from the sky. Dragons don''t just fall from the sky. Usually, the attack pattern of Roghorth is that it spews that toxic bile on his enemies. And after he had made sure that there was no danger to his life, only then hends. But this time it fell from the sky, and didn''t take any people or livestock with it. It just attacked the people around him. And then it flew away. And this is the very odd behavior of Roghorth. That is why Carlin suspected that something else is at y here. She decided to follow Roghorth home. To hide from him she used many precious artifacts that her ancestors left for her, but she didn''t regret it. She wanted to know how the hell that Dragon came to the city. And her only guess was that someone used a teleportation array to send him there. Roghorth was a pretty fast flyer, so he left Carlin behind in the dust. But still, Carlin persisted and went to the dark forest, while pursuing Roghorth. As she was not strong enough, she didn''t dare to approach his territory. So she stayed at the border of his territory and used a telescope to spy on him. Sure enough, she saw that Dragon was in his nest resting. While several silver color poles were erected, surrounding him, at the center of his nest. As soon as Carlin saw the poles, she instantly knew that her suspicion was right. There was someone who used a teleportation array to send the Dragon to Ravenshade. BOOOM!! It was then that Carlin heard a loud explosion near the edge of the territory of the Roghorth. She looked at the Dragon who had also heard the explosion. But to her surprise, he just ignored the explosion and went back to sleep. She sighed with relief as she saw that Roghorth was not interested in the explosion, but it certainly had rasied her curiosity. **** Dave struggled with the roots that were wrapped his hands and legs. He tried to break free of them, but to no avail, he could do anything. As he was struggling, he heard footsteps. A woman was standing in front of them. The woman in question looked like she was in her thirties. She had short red hair with blue eyes. Her skin was pale white as if she had not seen the light of the sun in ages. The woman was wearing a blue color cape, a white shirt, and ck tight leather pants. Dave saw that the woman had a small cane in her hand which had intricate carvings on it. While simr to Sanjay''s magic staff, this staff also had a crystal on the top. But her crystal was more defined and was shining very brightly in the dark. "Identify yourself scum or die a worthless death." The woman yelled. "Woah Woah¡­ Easydy. We mean no harm. We¡­ We should talk it out. What do you say?" Dave said while struggling with the roots. "What are you guys doing here?" the woman questioned. "Don''t wanna talk? Fine. All four of you will answer your crimes against the Great City of Ravenshade. I Carlin Nornorin with the authority of City Lord of Ravenshade arrest you all." Carlin said. She then started waving her staff in the air and started making aplicated magic circle in the air. After she hadpleted the circle, it started expanding and went up in the air. After getting to a sufficient height, the circle glowed brightly and teleported all 5 of them to Ravenshade city. Chapter 10 Torture Session ?SPLASH!!! Sanjay abruptly woke up in a dimly lit room, the cold water had waked him up thoroughly. His head felt very heavy. He could feel his legs and arms being restrained, he looked forward and saw an old man standing in front of him with an empty bucket. The old man was wearing a sliver color knight''s armor, he had a long beard and a bald head. That old man was ring at him, eyeing him up and down, scanning him like a predator. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he heard a whimpering sound from his behind. He slightly turned his head around and saw Suzie and Soo-Young sitting behind him, restrained in the same manner as him. "Now now as all of you are awake now, let''s start the demonstration shall we?" the old man said and then he moved towards the side. It was then the brick wall behind the old man changed into transparent ss. Behind the ss, they saw Dave being restrained in the same way as them. And two soldiers were apanying him¡­ *** KA-POW! Dave woke up when someone punched him in the face. He abruptly opened his eyes, his left cheek was stinging and he was sitting in a chair in a small lightly lit room. "Wakey wakey princess." Came a gruff voice. It was then he saw two men also present in the room. These men were wearing weird armor same as the knights used to wear in ancient times. Both of them weren''t wearing their helmets and had their face exposed. These men were middle-aged men and looked like crooks that one could find in the back alleyways¡­ "Bron look at this¡­ Princess is awake." One of the men said while staring down at Dave. "Let me see" one the man named Bron said as he came in front of Dave. He then grabbed his chin and made him look up. "Little princess looks ugly. I think she needs a little touch-up." Bron said. And he made a fist and punched him straight in his jaws. KA-POW! The punch broke four front teeth of Dave, the blow of the punch pushed the chair to fall back, with him. The soldiers acted quickly. They picked the chair up not giving any time to him to recover. Then one of them went behind the back and held the chair with his hands so that it could not fall back again. Then the other soldier started punching and beating the shit out of Dave¡­ "Sto!!! ..... NO!!" Dave screamed for mercy, but the soldiers didn''t stop. *** "STOP! YOU WILL KILL HIM! STOP IT!" Sanjay yelled. "Don''t worry. This is just the beginning. He won''t be alone, every single one of you will go through this. Think of it like aing-of-age ceremony." The old man said nonchntly. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" Suzie yelled while crying and terrified of what she was witnessing. "I want you guys to feel the pain." The old man replied. "WHY? WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU?" Soo-Young yelled. "That is right, you never did anything to me. You are right." The old man said. Then he went to the ss wall and knocked on it two times. This signaled the soldiers to stop beating Dave. He then turned towards the three¡­ "Now listen carefully. I will ask you some questions. If your answer doesn''t satisfy me, then I will resume beating that guy. Not only that, but one of you guys will also join him¡­ Also,dies, you should know those two guys are well-known perverts in our division¡­" the old man said with a sly smile. "Now question number one-1, were you in any way involved in the attack on Ravenshade." "I don''t know what is Ravenshade," Sanjay replied. "Wrong answer." The old man said. He then knocked once on the ss wall, and the soldiers started beating Dave again. This time his screams and yells became louder signaling that the soldiers may have increased their beating intensity. The trio could hear his screams, crying, and begging, but the soldiers didn''t bat an eye at his cries. "Please I beg you stop¡­ We don''t know what Ravenshade is. PLEASE JUST STOP THEM!" Sanjay yelled. "Yeah, we don''t know anything. We were h b lblo blo blod and then found ourselves there. Believe us, sir, we are good people¡­" Soo-young said while crying. "Look at this bitch''s audacity. Boys, take her and give her the taste of some of your medicine." The old man barked and soon, two soldiers came in. Then they started dragging her. "AAHH!!" Soo-Young started panicking and screaming. "NO STOP! You son of a bitch! STOP!" Sanjay yelled. With him, Suzie also started yelling. The soldiers didn''t listen to them nor did the old man. And when everything was lost, the door of the room was flung open once again and a woman hurridly barged inside. The woman in question was quite young and had red hair. The trio of Sanjay, Soo-Young, and Suzie recognized the young woman immediately as she was the one who ambushed them in the forest. That woman was the one because of which they are stuck in this ce. "Stop." The woman said and hearing hermand the soldiers stopped. "What is it Carlin?" the old man asked. "Stop that!" Carlin said while pointing towards Dave whose fingers were about to be cut. The old man then knocked on the ss panel and made the soldiers stop what they were doing. Carlin then walked up to Soo-Young and knelt. She smiled at her and wiped her tears. She then politely and softly asked her. "What were you guys doing in the forest?" "We¡­ we were kidnapped. And then we woke up in the forest." Soo-Young replied while whimpering. "Where were you kidnapped from?" Carlin asked. "I was at . And then we were here." Soo-Young said. But the old man was pissed as Soo-Young behaved like this in front of Carlin. So he stepped forward and¡­ SMACK!!! "Insolent woman!" the old man barked. "No, this is not her fault. She is an Earthian." Carlin said. "She is? Nah! I don''t believe it. She is just acting." The old man said. "No, she isn''t. I don''t know a lot about them, but I have heard that they are not allowed to speak the knowledge about their world because some sort of ancient magic is cast on them." Carlin said. "How do we know that these guys are not acting?" Brock asked. "Look at them. These guys are very weak. And I don''t think that this kind of job could be pulled off by people of their caliber." "So what should we do now?" "Well, let''s just patch them and keep them up locked for now for observation. I need some time to think what our next step should be¡­" "Alright¡­" the old man said. *** AAH!!!! Sonia yelled a loud battle cry. She raised her great sword and started running towards the Croc-man standing in front of her. The croc-man was injured by her team and it was now time to annihte the creature. It only took a swing from her sword and the head of the creature flew away. Sonia looked at the body of the strange creature lying in front of her. This creature had red blood like hers, but they were pretty different. The creature when alive stood on two legs and had a body structure just like that of a human. But this creature was nowhere smart and resourceful like a human. The creature had a green color scaly skin and a face of a crocodile. Like many of the strange creatures found in the dungeons of the great city, this creature was valued for its body parts. So before the body of the creature vanished and turn into ash, Sonia bend down towards the croc-man and started dissecting his body. She took outs the creature''s skin, liver, head, and nails. Her work was amateurish whenpared to the dissecting skill of the people of this world, but she can''tin. After all, it had been only six months since she came to this world¡­ Sometimes Sonia still couldn''t believe that all of this was real. She used to be a waitress at a small restaurant back in Moscow. She didn''t earn much and had nned on moving to America in a few months. She had contacted a guy that could sneak her into America and would also help in getting fresh new identification for her. All she needs to do is prepare $20,000 as his payment and she would sessfully enter thend of dreams. But s she was never able to realize her dream. In a quest of getting another job, she came across a job that wanted her to pursue god''s work. She thought that she would be doing some charity work for a church or something. But instead, she got kidnapped and now she is stuck in this world¡­ "§£§ã§Ö §ã§Õ§Ö§Ý§Ñ§ß§à?" came a voice from behind. Sonia turned back and smiled at Igor, he was a fellow Russian that was sent to this world. "Yes, I am all done. And try to speak Common Tongue Igor. I don''t like when people weirdly look at us because we are speaking anothernguage." She said while standing up. "Bull shit! We should be proud of our heritage." Igor said. "I am not talking about forgetting our heritage. It is just that we are not in Russia anymore. Hell, we are not even on Earth. And people here are racist as fuck. So it would be better if we justy low." "Well, we shouldn''t be afraid of these mongrels." "Yeah, we shouldn''t be¡­" Sonia mumbled and then she came back to her party. After hunting some more Croc-man, Sonia and her party came out of the Dungeon. She and Igor usually form a temporary party with other adventures when diving in the dungeon. Due to the strangenguage that they speak, the people of this world don''t like them too much. That is why they had to operate through temporary parties. Operating like that is not very beneficial for them as temporary parties are usually made up of either rookies or dead-weight adventurers. But there is nothing else that they could do as the racism of this world doesn''t let them operate freely¡­ *** "You know I could kill for some alcohol," Igor said while staring at the greenish liquid that he had his cup filled with. "If you don''t like it, then why do you drink it?" Sonia asked while taking a bite of the meatloaf in front of her. Currently, they both were in a lowly tavern and were having dinner. The tavern was packed with adventures who had just earned their daily wage. Some of the people were celebrating a good hunt while some were in remorse for arade that they had lost. But overall the atmosphere of the tavern was still very lively. "I don''t drink because I like it. I drink because I need it. There is a difference." Igor said while emptying the cup fully in one breath. "Don''t drink too much¡­" she said while ignoring Igor''s ranting. But it was then she heard a scream. Normally a scream would go unnoticed in a noisy tavern like this one. But for some reason, this scream gathered the attention of all of the people of the tavern. And soon a pin-drop silence ensued in the whole tavern. It was then with heavy steps some soldiers walked into the tavern, fully armed and with serious looks on their faces. Normally soldiers don''te to taverns where adventures share meed and bread, but this day was something different. The soldier leading the band ofrades came forward and red at people. "I am looking for Sonia and Igor. Who amongst you know where I could find them?" the soldiers asked. Hearing his remark every single one of the adventurers in the tavern suddenly twisted their necks and started looking at the couple... Chapter 11 Train Them? ?Sonia and Igor were very nervous, they were sitting in arge room, it was filled with various people, probably previous city lords of Vecrus. The whole room was giving off and very creepy vibe, one of the reasons being that the only source of light was a chandelier under which they were sitting. Just below the chandelier was a big round oak wood circr table. There were three chairs on the table, out of which two were upied by Sonia and Igor. While the third one was empty. "I don''t likeing here," Sonia spoke in Russian. Although she avoids using the Russiannguage as much as she could, after all, because of it she and Igor be outcasts in the Adventurer guild. But currently, she was using Russian because she was scared the residents of this manor to hear her remarks. "Neither do I" Igor replied in Russian. "Why the hell did that bitch call us? Did you do something again?" She shifted towards Igor and stared into his eyes, she could tell when he is lying. "Woah, easy there. I didn''t do anything." "Then why has she called us here? We just met a few days ago." "There is nothing else that we can do Sonia. She is our benefactor as well as the Lord of the city that we live in. We cannot decline her invitation." "I know that¡­ It is just, that¡­. I don''t like her very much." "Me too. But there is nothing that we can do" Igor said. "Yeah¡­ that is right," Sonia said while sighing. She remembers it very clearly when she came here from Earth¡­ When she came here, she was afraid. She knew no one. And people of this world do not trust people from other cities, while she on the other didn''t belong to any, she was dered an outsider and was shunned. Still, the news of people from other worldsing to this world spread like the wildfire in all the cities. The lords and other people started to get interested in Earthians and started gathering them, while some maintained their distance. They did not trust them, so they refused to take them in. The cities that did want them, took them in because of some prophecy. Apparently, the ancestors of the different great cities had left behind tomes that tell the tales of Earthians. ording to the tomes, Earthians are supposed to be powerful species that had the power to conquer the whole first floor, or Midgard as the locals call it. Earthians had the power to grow their strength to such an extent that the strength of fellow Midgardian would be nothing before their might. That is why some City lords and other powerful people started kidnapping Earthians. They wanted to train them or enve them as their people and make them loyal to them... Eventually, eyes also turned toward them as well. It was a stressful time for both Sonia and Igor. But the city lord of Vecrus came to their aid. She gave them a house, helped them train, and helped them settle in her city. As they were under her protection no one dared toy hands on them. The City Lord of the great city of Vecrus, Yureka Le Torneau, is a very dangerous woman. She likes to torture and kill her enemies and has a reputation as the worst and vilest lord of any great city in the past centuries. Her mansion also gives the vibes of eerie and despair which is why Igor and Sonia don''t like toe here often. But sometimes Yureka calls them for dinner to keep an eye on their progress and their strength... *** CLANK Suddenly the door of the room was flung open which startled both Igor and Sonia. They looked up and there they saw that woman had walked into the room apanied by a very old and grim-looking butler. The woman in question was wearing dark purple robes with a purple dress. The color of her robes matched her eyes. The woman looked very pale as if milk flows through her vein instead of blood. Her hair was white as an egg, with a charming smile on her face, thedy looked charming and scary at the same time. "Igor Sonia, I am sorry that I made you wait. You see I was preupied with something." Yureka said with the sweetest voice, she then sat down in the remaining chair of the table. "Butler, leave us alone." Yureka barked, her tone suddenly changed, the butler beside her bowed and went out of the room. "So, how is your daily life going?" Yureka asked with a wide smile on her face. "It is going fine, Your Lordship. With your protection and the marvelous house that you have provided us, we are living happily there." Sonia replied as politely as she can. "Marvelous. And what about you Igor, I hope you are livingfortably?" Yureka asked extra softly while looking at him. "Of course your lordship," Igor said with a smile. "Very well. I am very happy to hear that you guys are living a proper life. Speaking of which, I am really curious¡­ how strong have you guys be since thest time we met?" "My lordship, I have be a Level-49 swordsman and by my next dive in the dungeon, I would be a Level-50 Swordsman." Sonia proudly dered. "And I am Level-35 Magician," Igor said. "That is brilliant. Now, you guys have be a little bit stronger, I need you guys to do something for me. And I think that you guys would love the job that I am offering you." Yureka said mysteriously. "What do want us to do My Lordship?" Sonia asked. "Well, before giving you the task, let me tell you something that happened today. When the sun was high up in the sky, my soldiers captured some people that came through the forest. They were arrested because they thought that they were spies from other cities. But it ister that they realized that these people were very weak whenpared to the standards of Midgard despite being adults. Also when my soldiers started interrogating them, they all started fumbling when talking about where theye from. Does that sound familiar to you guys?" Yureka asked. "Ah¡­ I am afraid I don''t understand what Your Lordship is insinuating." Igor said. "What about you Sonia? Did you understand what I am trying to say?" Yureka asked. "Ah¡­ Fumbling very weak people¡­ Wait a minute. Your Lordship, are you telling me that your soldiers encountered more Earthians?" Sonia said with a surprised tone. "Correct. They all are detained and I leave it to you guys to determine whether they are truly Earthian or not. And if they are, I want you guys to lead them. And make a team out of them." Yureka said with a big smile. Hearing her proposition, Sonia was stunned for a few moments. There are more Earthians here on Midgard but she never had a chance to meet them. The other ones are under the banner of different Great cities, so they were not allowed to leave. She once heard that some Earthian did run away from the city of Cloudhold, towards the Great city of Ravenshade. She didn''t know what made them run away, but she did know that the Lord of The Ravenshade city intercepted these Earthians. And she then made an example out of them. From what she heard, the city lord of Ravenshade rip the skins off their bodies and roasted these traitors alive¡­ In this world, people with highbat levels are very valuable assets for each city. And losing one to another city is uneptable. That is why the great city lords of each city could go to very great lengths to eliminate the Deserters of the city. As Cloudhold and Ravenshade are allies, Lord of Ravenshade eliminated those Earthians so that their bond with Cloudhold does not suffer. The idea of meeting another Earthian was a very tempting offer. After all, it would be nice to meet some people who would not shun her because she was a foreigner. But this offer also came with a lot of baggage that Sonia was hesitant to pick up. She knew how hard it is to survive in this world. And she could give a lot of tips to new Earthians on how to survive. But leading them was one another thing altogether. She didn''t whether she was ready for such a responsibility. "We will dly ept your job, Your Lordship," Igormented. Hearing hisment, Sonia started ring at him. She didn''t want to ept the job. Better yet, she wanted some time to think about it. But she would have never guessed that her boyfriend would ept it without even speaking to her first. "Really? That would be wonderful." Yureka said with a very sweet voice. But it was then she noticed that Sonia was ring at Igor. "Sonia, do you have any problem with the job?" Yureka asked suddenly abandoning her sweet and melodious voice and speaking with an emotionless and cold voice. Hearing her voice a chill ran down both of Sonia and Igor''s spines. The temperature of the room that was sitting in suddenly dropped. Sonia''s mind started working on possible answers to quell Yureka''s anger. She knew and had seen firsthand, how cruel she could be. Thus she didn''t want to anger her. But for some reason, she suddenly started thinking of the possibility that if she does start leading people to their death, then she would never be able to forgive herself. The thought of doing something like this made her shiver with fear. So she instantly gathered some courage and started speaking about what was troubling her¡­ "Your Lordship, although I am very d that you offered us this noble task. And believe me, I am very delighted by your offer. But I was thinking that maybe Igor and I are a bit underqualified for such a task. Maybe you could find another person with a higher level than us, that is morepetent. That way there will be a higher chance that the potential of other Earthians would be utilized appropriately¡­" Sonia said. Hearing her remark, suddenly a smile bloomed in the expressionless face of Yureka. And then she suddenly startedughing wildly which lead to more chills running down Sonia and Igor''s spine¡­ HAHA! "You know the thing that I like about you, Sonia? You are not spineless, like the other morons that I have to deal with every day. And I liked that about you." Igor simply averted his gaze. She then continued. "Anyway,ing back to the topic, Sonia, you are a powerful woman. You have be powerful despite being shunned by my people. And let me tell you another secret, you are supposed to most powerful Earthian out there. So be proud of that fact. Without any help you can climb this high, so that does means that you have something that most Earthians don''t." Yureka said with a smile and melodious voice. Sonia didn''t know what to say anymore, she didn''t know that she was the strongest amongst all the other ones out there, it made her happy, but she didn''t know what to think of this information. "And while we are at it, let me tell you one another secret. You guys were not my first choice either. You guys are powerful and very valuable but I know for a fact that you are the qualified teachers I was looking for. But another incident ur today because of which I have to turn to you for help. Because of the incident, I cannot waste my men to help train some dumb Earthian." Although both of them were curious about the incident, but they didnt ask her. Yureka then continued. "So take the job. The other Earthians are captured in the prison area. Go there tomorrow and check them. Anything you need to train them will be provided to you in the city. So started training them as soon as possible. That is an order." Yureka said with a smile. Then she got up and left the room, leaving behind both of them. Chapter 12 Everything Is Fine ?In a dimly lit room, Suzie softly. Just a couple of days ago, Shizuka Minamoto, or Suzie, lived a very happy life. She worked as a nurse in one of the biggest hospitals in New York. Her pay was not that great but still was enough for her and her daughter. But somehow she ended up here, and where there are dragons and beasts, something straight out of horror books, and they roam freely in thesends. And the worst part was the fact that she had absolutely no idea about how she could get out of this ce. She misses thefort of her home and most importantly she misses her daughter. The natives of this ce were of no help either, they captured her and other people that were stuck here, and straight away they started torturing them¡­ It has been a very terrifying experience for her to watch Dave, the guy that she just met, and the guy that saved their lives, being beaten close to death. As a nurse, she had seen many bizarre and brutal scenes in her career, but it was her first time seeing someone being beaten so close to death. And the worst part was that she didn''t even understand why the natives were doing such things. After they had stopped, the soldiers dragged all of them and put them in these rooms for tonight. The room that she was in had two single beds and was pretty small. There was a reinforced window in the room, and the only source of light was moonlight''s glow,ing from the window. The door of the room was locked from the outside. Currently alone in the room, Suzie just sat on her bed and cried her heart out. She was scared. She didn''t know what was happening or why it was happening. And the worst of all she was worried about her daughter. Her parents kicked her out of the house when they found out that she got knocked up by a one-night stand, the man that knocked her up didn''t want anything to do with her or the baby. Since then she hadn''t been in contact with either her parents or any of her rtives. She didn''t know what was happening back on Earth, if she doesn''t go back then authorities might give her daughter to some social group, which in turn would give her daughter to a foster house. She couldn''t let that happen, so she had to return, as soon as she can. Many bad thoughts were guing her mind that night, her inability to do anything was making her cry more, finally, she became so tired that she fell asleep in bed¡­ She didn''t know for how long did she sleep, but when she heard the locks of the door of her room being opened, Suzie suddenly opened her eye and jumped on her feet. It was then she saw 4 soldiers march into her room, they were carrying what looked like a makeshift stretcher with them. And on that stretcher was an unconscious man, whom she instantly recognized, that person was Dave. She was scared of those soldiers. After all that the old man in charge of their interrogation had made it pretty clear, they could do all sorts of stuff to their prisoners. So she kept her guard up. But the soldiers didn''t look like they were interested in doing anything to her. They just came in, put Dave on the free bed, and left while locking the door behind them. As Suzie saw that the soldiers had left, she went to Dave to check on him. And as she looked at him, she was shocked. She could still remember the scenes of him being tortured very clearly. And as far as she could remember, there were many cuts and bruises on Dave''s face when she saw himst time. Some of the bruises would have disfigured his face permanently if it were a normal case. But right now, his face looked perfectly fine. There were no cuts, swollen tissue, bruise, stitches, or anything in particr about his face that could tell that he had been in a torture session with some brute men. The only thing weird about his face was that it was pink. Most of his face was dark pink while some parts of his face were white, which was his normal color. She could not tell much about his condition. After all, the only source of her light in the room was the moonlight that wasing in from the small window. She tried touching his pink skin. Dave groaned a little bit, from the pain. Seeing this she quickly retreated her finger. She then understood that maybe they had fixed him up with the help of little magic. And the pink skin is just a side effect of the magic that was cast on him. His pink face, reminded her once again that she was in another world. And she was stuck here¡­ *** THUD AAAHHH! Suzie woke up when she heard the sound. It was daytime and the room was now fully illuminated by the sunlight. She then looked around and saw that it was Dave who had screamed. He was currently on the floor, groaning with pain. She then looked at the door of the room and saw that it was locked like thest time she saw it. She instantly realized that maybe he had fallen off his bed in his sleep. She instantly jumped on her feet, and she then grabbed his shoulder to pick him up. But this made him wince with pain. Seeing this she realized that this was part too mended with magicst night. She then tried to grab his other shoulder. But this too made him wince in pain. "Hey! Don''t be a little bitch. Be a man!" Suzie yelled and then grabbed his shoulder once again despite him groaning with pain and pulled him up. She then made him lie on the bed, putting him way into the corner of the bed¡­ He had his eyes closed. He didn''t even realize where he was or who was with him. But when Dave felt the softness of the bed once again, he opened his eyes slightly and looked at the woman that was helping him. It took him a few seconds but then he realized who she was¡­ "You¡­. You are the woman from the forest." He said softly. "Yeah. My name is Suzie. You are Dave right?" "Yeah¡­ What happened?" "Well after you saved our lives in the forest, that red-haired woman kidnapped us. Then she had her men beat you up and made us watch. She wanted to intimidate us for some apparent reason. Then she suddenly stopped and let her men throw me in this room. Then they patched you up real good and left you here." He took some time, trying to process all of her words. "What did they want from us?" he asked. "I don''t know. From what tit-bit information I got, something or maybe someone attacked their city. And they thought that we were one of the perpetrators of the attack. That is why that woman captured us." "What happened to others?" "Don''t know. Maybe they are also being held in simr rooms such as this." "So what do these guys want with us? I mean what are they going to do to us?" "Don''t know about that either¡­ But enough about that. How are you feeling? You were beaten pretty badlyst night." She asked with concern. "Honestly. I feel like shit. There isn''t any inch of my body that is not in pain. While my head feels like it would explode at any moment now." "Well, you look fine. If I am right then they mended you with magicst night. There aren''t any scars or any sort of damage visible on your body. But the same could not be said about your internal body. And without the proper equipment, it is hard to tell whether everything is fine with your body internally or not." "Woah¡­ You seem like you know what you are talking about. Are you a doctor?" "Nurse. I am a nurse." "Well Suzie, I am feeling a little lightheaded. I will go back to sleep. So why don''t you do me a favor? Just wake me up, if something happens." Dave said slowly and then he closed his eyes once again. Suzie then got up and went to her bed again. She was feeling hungry, but then she clenched her stomach andy down on her bed. She then started thinking about her daughter once again. And slowly she fell asleep once again. *** KNOCK KNOCK Suzie opened her eyes when she heard the knocking sound. She then looked up and saw that the door of their room was wide open. And some soldiers were standing by the door and were looking at her. "The City Lord of the great city of Ravenshade, Miss Carlin Nornorin had sent an invitation to both of you to have supper with her. So wake up." The soldier spoke. Suzie didn''t resist and got up instantly. It was then she noticed that Dave has also gotten up on his feet. But his legs were wobbly, thus he fell on his bed again. "Wait a second." The soldier spoke and then moved aside. It was then another soldier came into the room while pushing an empty wheelchair. The wheelchair in question was made of wood and was making a squeaking noise when he was pushing it. But it would do for now. The soldier then helped Dave get into the wheelchair. And after that, the soldier started escorting both of them to Carlin''s manor¡­ They took their sweet time getting out of the facility, Dave''s wheelchair was not the best in existence. But as they got out, they were greeted by Sanjay and Soo-Young who appears to be just fine as well and were waiting for them in an armored carriage. When they were reunited, Soo-Young practically jumped on Suzie and started sobbing while hugging her tightly. While Sanjay on the other hand just smiled and started shedding tears while looking at Dave in the wheelchair. Seeing this Dave also smiled back at him. After their reunion was over, soldiers started making them sit in the armored carriage. And after soldiers had sessfully put Dave in the carriage, they locked the carriage door from the outside, then they finally started moving. Chapter 13 The New World ?Sanjay''s eyes were still wet from crying, he couldn''t help but ask "Are you alright Dev?" "My body feels like shit. But other than that, I feel fine." Dave said slowly. "Where did they keep both of youst night?" Suzie asked. "They kept us in a roomst night. It had two beds and a small reinforced window." Soo Young replied. "Same with us," Suzie replied. It was then Dave raised a pretty good question. "Is it me, or is anyone finding all of this very weird? Like these people were torturing us for some sort of information just a day ago. But then all of sudden they stopped, they fixed me up and now we are all invited by the City Lord. And the gal that invited us is the same ginger that captured us in the first ce." "It is indeed very weird." Suzie chimed in. For another few minutes, they all shared theories or exnations about what they could expect while meeting with the City Lord. None of them thought that something good would happen to them, listening to all this negativity, everyone started weeping, except for Dave¡­ When they first started their journey, they saw they were held captive in a very big manor-type building. When they left they started their journey in grasnds which were spread to the horizon. And after a few more minutes, they were finally able to see glimpses of the city in the distance. Sanjay was the first one to notice that they were approaching a city. Every one of them glued their heads through the small windows, surprisingly they all has just forgotten about the weeping and crying they were doing moments ago. Dave''s body was still aching, so he was not able to see for himself the magnificent walls in the distance. He was just happy as he heard thementaries of his friends. ¡­ After half an hour''s journey, they finally entered the big walls surrounding the city. From a distance, the big walls of the city looked very majestic. Looking at such a majestic structure, they all created a mental image of a magnificent city, hidden behind those ginormous walls. But what they saw inside was beyond their expectations of this ce. The ce looked as if it was hit by a hurricane. Most of the houses and buildings were destroyed. People were roaming in the city with bandages and clutches. People were still working on removing the debris left behind, and then there were smudges of ck tar-like stuff all around the ce. Looking at the ck stuff, Sanjay and Dave instantly recognized it, they hade across it once before. And it was then he started to understand the motive behind their abduction and their torturing. ''It seems like someone had either lured that Dragon of the forest to the city. And it had decimated most parts of the city. And the ginger was looking for the culprits behind the incident when she found them'' Dave thought. The whole city was in a very terrible shape. Looking at the ce reminded Dave of the photos that he once saw of war-stricken ces back on earth. There was death and despair everywhere one could see. Children crying while medics were running from here to there, with blood covering most of their uniforms. It was just terrible. Soon the carriage came to rest at a huge manor in the city, it was very grand and looked very old. The carriage door was opened by one of the guards of the manor. Then all of them were let out. After that few guards escorted them inside the manor¡­ The guards left them in a huge room. In the center of the room was a big table on which cutlery of all sizes and shapes. The room was filled with antiques and statues which made them feel like they were in a museum of some sort. As they were not supervised every one of them started looking around the room, inspecting the artifacts kept around. Dave wasn''t interested in those artifacts. He was more interested in the bigndscape size map that was hung on one of the walls of the room. And this map was nothing like he had ever seen before. The map itself was very weird. The map was divided into 5 different areas. The interesting part was that the map wasn''t divided into 5 parts by imaginary borders, but instead, it was divided by 5 rivers that were spread all across the map. In the center of the map was a red color ind, which seemed like the source of the rivers. That ind was marked and named Death Valley. At the north-southern corner of the map was a forest, which was marked as the Roghorth''s Domain. At the edge of the Roghorth''s Domain was a river, then came the part of the map which had two cities in it namely, Barcelma and Infragillis. After these two cities came a river, then started the domain of the city of Vecrus. The domain of the city is Vecrus ends by another river and then starts the domain of the city of Cloudhold. Then their domain ends with a river as well and starts the domain of the city of Ravenshade. As soon as the domain of the Ravenshade ends, another riveres into y and then the Roghorth''s domain starts once again¡­ CLUNK Dave then turned around to see the door of the room flung open, and with it came a group of maids and butlers. They were all carryingrge dishes of food with them, they could identify any of it, but it smelled very appetizing. And it was the smell of the food that reminded all of them of how hungry they were. He pushed his wheelchair towards the table while the rest of them also joined him by sitting on the chairs around the table. The servants one by one came and started putting dishes on the tables. Sanjay who couldn''t stop himself tried to grab something that look like roasted french fries. But as soon as his hand went to the dish, one of the butlers who was standing by the table quickly pped his hands. PATT! "Ouch!" Sanjay eximed. He looked at the butler for an exnation but the butler remained expressionless. Soon all the dishes wereid out, ready to eat. Everyone present at the table had their mouth watering because of how appetizing the smell was. It was then the door of the room was flung open once again and the ginger who invited them walked in. The woman had a smile on her face when she came. "Wee to my humble aboard. I am sorry I waste, you see my duties as a City Lord held me somewhere I was needed. Please start your meal, I know you guys must be feeling very hungry." On her cue, the butlers and maid that stayed behind in the room started doing their work. They started preparing tes for each of them. They served a little portion of each of the dishes that were present on the table. Ginger also joined them. Dave was getting suspicious, something was wrong. He can''t put a finger on it, but he knew that something wasn''t right. The way thatdy behavedst night, then the torture and the destruction caused by the city. All of these events were obviously connected. But in this grand equation where do, they lie? He could tell for sure that this woman wasn''t being generous because of guilt. She was being generous because she wants something from them. But the question was, what? As soon as the food was served, except for Dave, every single one of them started moving their hands towards the food. But before anyone could take a bite, Dave stopped them all. "Stop! Do not eat the food." Dave said in English. Hearing him exim everyone stopped at their track, even Soo-Young stopped even though she didn''t understand English. Dave remembers the description of his skill, Common Tongue. ording to the skill, this skill enabled them to speak the localnguage spoken in Midgard. So he insinuated that this meant that no one would be able to understand English in this world except for them. "Why? Do you suspect something is wrong?" Suzie asked in English. "Yes. Soo-Young doesn''t know English, right? Make sure that she doesn''t do anything stupid before my talk is over." Dave said in English to Suzie who was sitting next to Suzie. "What happen? Is something not right?" Sanjay chimed in broken English. "Let''s find out," Dave said as he turned towards the ginger who had also stopped eating when she heard Dave speak. By just looking at her expression it was very hard to tell whether she was able to understand anything that Dave just said. But from her reaction, it could be interpreted that she didn''t understand what they were talking about¡­ "Don''t worry. The food is not poisoned." Ginger said. "I didn''t stop them because I thought that the food is poisoned. I stopped them because I don''t trust you or anything that you give us." Dave said it. "Well, let me assure you. All of this is just a form of an apology." "That ain''t the truth and you know it. And I am pretty sure about it. You see I recognize that smile that you giving us. I know that smile all too well. Before I came here, I had a mentor who taught me how to cook. The poor old bastard died of cancer. But after he was diagnosed, his children whom he hadn''t met in years came running to him. They treated him to expensive meals and always use to smile in his presence just like you are. They did all of this so that the old man would change his will." "You think I want to kill you have an inheritance?" she sarcastically. "We don''t have anything valuable with us. Yet you are still treating us this well. This could only mean one thing. And that is the fact that you want something from us. And me and my friends are not eating your food until I know what is that you are after." Dave said. Hearing this, ginger could stop smiling. "Very well then¡­ You see you guys are not the first Earthians that we came across¡­" she was saying when Sanjay butted in¡­ "Earthians?" he asked. "Yeah¡­ I don''t know either. Some people from your world coined the term¡­ As I was saying, I am being this generous to you guys because of a certain quality that you guys have. And I could use some people like you." "Hah! Do you really think we will work for you? You are out of your mind." this time Soo-Young chimed in. "As I said, I was ''hoping'' you guys would work for me. This food is sort of an apology. But I do want that you guys to settle in my city. We will provide you with food, a good house, and some money from time to time so that you could live afortable life here." "What quality is that we possess?" this time Dave asked the question. "Well, this world is ruled by powerful people. I don''t know what kind of world you guys came from, but here strength reigns supreme. And Earthians possess the highest grade of potential that we had ever encountered. In simple words, you guys can level up faster than anyone that was ever born in Midgard. That is why I want you guys to live in my city and work for me." "And what kind of work you are thinking that we would do?" Dave asked. "There are many sorts of works that you guys can do. You could go dungeon diving. Or you could work for City guards." "So you want us to do work where we would constantly risk our lives?" Suzie asked. "Well, these are the highest-paying jobs out there in this world. When you guys wereing here, you saw the destruction. Do you know what caused it? It was the oldest creature of Midgard. And just like him, there are plenty of other dangerous creatures lurking around every corner of this world. People are needed to protect the cities from those creatures. That is why usually these jobs are so high paying." "What if we want to leave?" Dave asked. Hearing this, the smile on her face turned into a mocking one. "You could leave if you want. If you can survive the onught of the creatures that are out there then you may be able to make it to other cities. But believe we are the best option that you guys have. There are 5 cities on Midgard that could choose from. Clouldhold and Barcelma are poor cities that only make money by farming. Thus it is not safe. The city of Ravenshade with the cities of Infragillis and Vecrus are the three most secure cities out there. All three have their own dungeons. You could go to Vecrus, but Yureka, the city lord of the city is a very vile woman. I don''t think you guys will be happy under her rule. While you could go Infragillis. But it is so far away, that you guys will be killed before you could even take a step inside the city. So the only option that you guys are left with is Ravenshade. We will take very good care of you." "Can we think about it, before answering you?" Suzie asked. "Of course, please take all the time you need." "If it is alright with you, I had a question," Soo-Young asked. "Ask away." "When you said that Earthians have terrifying potential, what exactly do you mean by that? I am very new to this leveling thing, so I understand it properly" she asked. "To put it in perspective, think of it this way. A fellow Migardian would start at level 0 at birth. And then by the age of 30-35, they could reach level 45 to level 50 if they start training since they were kids. But an Earthian named Sonia who came to this world just 5-6 months ago was able to jump from level 5 to level 47 in the span of 5 and a half months. That is how terrifying the potential of Earthians is." Ginger said. "But we are not fighters. He is a cook, I was a butcher, she was a nurse and that girl right there was a student. We cannot fight." Sanjay added. "Well, you guys can learn how to fight. From what I have heard, Earthians are very fast learners¡­ Think about it. You want to earn a lot of money, don''t you? Make a decision fast, so that you could join the other people from your batch." Ginger added. "What do you mean by batch?" Dave asked. "What? Did you guys think that you were the only Earthians that came here yesterday? Well, guess what, you guys weren''t alone. We have captured some more people who are fellow Earthians just like you. And their training would start from tomorrow." Ginger added. Chapter 14 Orientation ?Sonia was not a teacher, Hell, she was not even a good student, during high school, she used barely pass exams despite going to ss regrly. She use to feel asleep in ss and never did listen to her teachers. So how could she even begin to imagine that someone would listen to her? She has a gut feeling that she would be a bad leader. And yet here she was, about to go in front of a bunch of people and give orientation about the new world that they havee to. She doesn''t even know this world well herself. This whole ordeal was bing a big hassle for her that she wanted to avoid no matter what. But s, it seems that there was nothing that she could do now¡­ Someone patted her shoulder, it startled her and brought her out of her stupor. "What are you doing here? Everyone is waiting for you. And boy, they have got a rowdy bunch out there. So be careful." Igor said. "Are they that bad?" "Yeah¡­ Some people out there are shouting that they have rights. Some crazy young man is shouting that the American Army would stand aside when their citizens are in trouble. Many people there share the same views. There was this woman who was barking as though the President of France will dispatch nuclear bombs to assist her big fat ass." Igor while chuckling. "Igor, I don''t think I can do this." "You cannot back out now, Yureka had given you a job. And if you don''t do it then she will be after your ass." "But I don''t think I cannot do this. I am not a leader Igor." "You always order me around. You can do the same to them." "That is different." "Well, there is nothing else that could be done right now. So let''s just get this over with this and start orientation. We will think about leadership skillster." He then started gently pushing her towards the hall that held around 25 Earthians that had recentlye to Midgard¡­ As Sonia entered the hall, she started hearing murmurs around the hall. To make them loyal to Vecrus, Yureka instructed the guards to not get very physical with the Earthians. She wanted to win them over by showing them generosity. When Sonia walked in, some of them turned towards her while most of them ignored her. She went on the tform that had been erected for her orientation. The people that had seen her quietly started paying attention to her while the people in the back were busy amongst themselves. It was then Igor stepped in and yelled "SILENCE!" Hearing him everyone stopped talking and finally saw Sonia who was standing on the tform. At the moment when everyone''s eyes fell on her, she started feeling strange. She started remembering her high school days. During that time she was an active member of the Drama club. She liked acting and had always dreamt about bing an actress when she grew up. She didn''t have any connections or money to pursue acting. It is veryte in her life, she understood that the world out there is not just roses and lilies. It is a very cruel world. If she continues her current path, then she would be doomed, she has to make some smart decisions, one of them being abandoning the idea of bing an actress. While standing in front of all these people she started observing them one by one. Some of them were fat. While some were so weak that they couldn''t even pick up a club. Observing all of them at once, she realized that she was much better than them when she came here. It was then she remembered the words of Yureka. She was a powerful woman and one of the strongest Earthians in Midgard. So she should have a little bit of faith in herself¡­ "Hello everyone. My name is Sonia and I have been made in charge of you people the City Lord of the city of Vecrus, Yureka Le Torneau. Now, I will be helping you guys to settle in this city and help you start a life here." She said. "BULLSHIT!" someone from the crowd yelled. And hearing that person yells, everyone started getting rowdy. "How the fuck do you expect us to live here. I love my country and I will rather stay there than in this dump!" a woman from the crowd yelled. "SILENCE!" Igor shouted again, which silenced the crowd. "Guys, I know how you guys feel. I also have a life back on Earth, I also had a family. But the reality is that you are stuck in this world for now. And there is no way out. Believe me, me and Igor are from Russia and we had been living here for the past 6-7 months." She said while pointing at Igor who was standing down on the stage. "Is there any way that we could go back?" a woman from the front asked. "Not that we know of. We have been here for the past 6-7 months. And as far as we know, there is no way back. We all got the same system and messages. ording to them, the only way to go back is to y this bloody game of Race to the Top. Other than that there is no way." One of the men, couldn''t take it, he started yelling. "I don''t believe that! There has to be a way out! My wife is pregnant for fucks sake. And her due date was supposed to be in about 2 weeks. I had to be home by then." Hearing him everyone started yelling and screaming again. Hearing them, Igor shouted again. But this time surprisingly no one listened to him. Soon people started getting rowdier and rowdier, even one of the women threw her sandal toward Sonia. It was not her fault that they were here. And yet these people started getting on her nerves. She was in the same boat as them but wasn''t ready to see that. Her blood started boiling with rage. And as soon as another sandal came towards her, she grabbed it instantly and roared in anger. "ENOUGH!" she yelled with her mana leaking out. The atmosphere of the hall then calmed down again. And then Sonia started speaking again but this time she left her calm and reasonable persona behind. "Listen here to stupid monkey brain fuckers, I am in charge of you people, not the other way around. So shut up and listen¡­ This world is very dangerous. And I am not talking stupid disease-spreading mosquitos at every corner of the alley dangerous. I am talking dangerous as in beasts of a size of an elephant dangerous." She had got everyone''s attention. So she continued.. "I have seen a turtle that is big as a double-decker truck. And that turtle can shoot 12 inches long spikes out his back. Even the small baby of that turtle is so dangerous that even with yourbine, you still wouldn''t be able to kill it. And if anyone got on my nerves again, I will personally see to it that the offender will be thrown in front of that creature with their arms and legs tied up. So behave while I still have patience." Sonia barked. It was then that an Asian man came forward. "Madam, I just wanna go home. I have a family back in the Philippines. I have a newborn daughter. I just wanna go¡­ home¡­" He started crying. Seeing that man cry, Sonia started remembering the time when she came here. She was all alone and powerless just like them. "Listen, guys¡­ We are stuck here for now. And there is nothing else that we could do about it. At least we could try to learn the ways of this new world and try to adapt. This world is very different from Earth. If you are powerful enough, then you would be able to live a happy and long life. But if you are not strong enough you will die at the corner of some alley and no one will bat an eye at your corpse." Her words were magic, everyone was paying attention to her now. "I can understand that you guys are scared. And it is okay. I was also scared when I came here. At that time I had no one that shows me the ropes. But you guys have me. And believe it or not, I am here to help you guys. And we will get through all of this. Together." Sonia said with confidence. And it was then Sonia noticed that blue color boxes started appearing in front of her¡­. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of The Destroyer of Worlds. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of The All-Knowing Father. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of Fat Fighting King. ........................... The Mistress of an Owl is interested in you. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of The Wine Maker. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of Jackal Face. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of Falcon head. ........................... You have attracted the gaze of Monster Huntress. ........................... Looking at the notification, Sonia looked confused. She had never seen notifications like these before. ''Who¡­ What the fuck is this? Falcon head, destroyer of the world? Who are these people? And what does all of this mean?'' Sonia inwardly thought. **** It was a very big room hall, there were monitors on every wall of the room. And they all were showing a bunch of green color codes and symbols, these symbols didn''t make sense nor did they have an order to them. The speed at which the code was flowing on the screens made it very hard to even read it properly. Yet the people who worked in this room didn''t have any problem understanding what was happening on the screens. Currently, there were 4 old men in the room. Three of them were sitting around a round table and ying cards. While the fourth old man was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room and was sleeping without a worry about the world. The three old men ying cards were identical to each other, they were triplets. All of them had long grey-white beards and all of them were in their boxers and simple white vests. "AHA! I WIN!" yelled the old man in weird-soundingnguage. "You cheated." The second brother yelled. "Yeah you are a cheater!" the third brother joined in. Hearing their yells, the old man sitting on the chair abruptly woke and started ring at the three brothers. "You fucking wankers! Keep it down. I am trying to sleep over here!" the old man in the chair yelled. The old man seated on the chair had big long goat-like hornsing out of his forehead. Like the other three, he was also in boxers and a vest and had a long white beard. "Shut it! All of you! I am the winner and that is final!" yelled the brother who won the game. "No, you cheated!." Yelled the other two brothers. "Oh for fucks sake! SHUT UP!" yelled the old man with horns. But the triplets ignored the old man with horns altogether. And then they just started bickering with each other like children. Seeing that everyone was ignoring him, the horned old man''s blood started boiling with rage. He then got up and conjured a miniature sun in his hand, From the presence of the miniature sun, the atmosphere got heavy. Sensing the magic of the old man, the triplets all got up in unison and started cracking their knuckles. All of them were bickering just a few moments ago and now they all became each other closest allies. "BRING IT ON YOU OLD GEEZER!" all three of them said in unison. One of the brothers then conjured a gauntlet made of brown beads in his hands. The other brother conjured a book in front of him. The book was pure white and looked as old as the universe itself. While the third brother conjured energy in his hands which looked like a pink color lotus. Everyone present in the room was ready to pounce at each other. And none of them were looking like they will back down. And when it looked like the fight was about to break out at any second, the door of the room was opened and two beings walked in. The beings that walked in were both wearing two-piece suits and looked professional. But these beings were not entirely human. One of them had the face of the Ibis bird with a normal human body. While the other being looked normal like a human, but he was wearing a headpiece that had a big milky white crystal ball attached to it. The being with the bird was discussing something with the other one. "And this my dear brother is where the magic¡­. What the fuck are you guys doing?" "They started it!" the old man with horns yelled while pointing at the triplets. "We didn''t. We were just ying when the old man conjured a sun. This old man is nuts we tell you." The triplets spoke in unison. "Can you guys please just behave like adults for a minute? Brahma, you are an elder god for fucks sake. What are you doing picking a fight with someone so younger than you?" The bird man spoke. "Well, he started it." The triplets said slowly. "And Mimir, they had been annoying since they came around. Try to ignore them please." The bird man spoke. "But they are so fucking annoying," Mimir yelled. "Oh please, they have gotten better. They were far much worse when their fourth brother was alive." The bird man spoke. "Hmph!" Mimir and the triplets grunted and then turned around and went back to their original seats. "Wow!!" the man with the crystal ball said sarcastically when he saw how they behave. "I know. Try working with them." The bird man said. "So this is where from where it is controlled?" the man with the crystal ball asked. "Yup. This is the control center of The Race to the Top. What you see here is the brainchild of me, Mimir, and Brahma triplets." The bird man said. "That is very amazing Thoth. So you can control everything from here? Like everything?" the crystal ball man asked. "Yup," Thoth said proudly. "So I was thinking¡­ What is going to happen next? I know that you have something big nned. Come tell me, brother." The man with the crystal ball eximed. "Can''t help you Khonshu. You know the rules. I cannot give away any information about the game to any of the Gods." "Ohe on, I am your brother." "Yeah¡­ no means no." "You are no fun," Khonshu yelled. It was then that one of the monitors in the room started disying red color codes. Seeing this Brahma triplet, Mimir and Thoth''s eyes started sparkling. "Finally, it is time for cataclysm," Mimir said while getting up. "What is cataclysm?" Khonshu asked. "We gave you a screen. Go and find out yourselves." Brahma triplet said in unison while getting up. "Alright boys, it is action time. Start the phase-5 of cataclysm" Thoth said. "Wait, are we not gonna use Phase-1 to Phase-4? You want us to directly jump at Phase-5?" Mimir asked. "Yeah about that¡­ I was thinking fuck the rest of the phases. I want to show our audience some actions and show some entertainment. So let''s give them something that they will never forget." Thoth said. Hearing this everyone started smiling while Khonshu started running back to his domain to see what would happen now. Chapter 15 Cataclysm-1 ?The moon was shining brightly in the ck sky. Most of the Midgard was asleep and was dreaming of a better tomorrow. But there were a few people in this world who didn''t have a shred of sleep in their eyes. Amongst that group were Dan, Suzie, Soo-Young, and Sanjay, who were all sitting in a room discussing their future actions¡­ "I say that we should run away from here." Sanjay dered. "I don''t think it was a good idea. We don''t know the extent of magical powers that the people of this world could perform. Don''t you remember that the red-haired woman was able to disable us with the roots of trees, then she magically teleported us to Ravenshade." Suzie said. While Sanjay looked confused. "What are you trying to say?" he asked. "I am trying to say, the powers that people of this world have are very alien to us. We don''t know their full extent, we don''t know their capabilities. So even if we make a run for it, the chances are that we would get caught immediately." Suzie added. "So running is not an option. So what should we do?" Soo-Young asked. "It is a very tough decision to make." Suzie then continued. "If we join her cause then we will be her puppets. And I don''t think I want that. I don''t trust that woman or anything thates out of her mouth." "If we can''t run, then why not join her for now? And then we would just run away afterward?" Sanjay added. "That is a good n. They would teach us more about magic, after we have learned about all of their abilities, it would be easier to run away." Soo-Young said. "So it is then settled, we would stay in Ravenshade for now then run away at the first chance that we would get," Suzie added. "Yes," Sanjay said enthusiastically. It is then he saw Dave, who had been quiet for some time. "Dev, what do you think?" But he got no response from him. "Dev?" Sanjay called him again. Still no response. So he shook him out of his stupor. "Yeah? Sorry, I was thinking about something." Dave said. "Dave-Oppa did you hear anything that we discussed?" Soo-Young asked. "No, I am sorry. I was thinking about stuff that happened today." Dave apologized. "So were we," Suzie said with little anger in her voice. "Anyway, we were thinking of taking the offer from Carlin. We would join the city of Ravenshade. And then we will run away at the first chance that we get." Suzie said. Dave nodded his head. "Right. That is the only solution to our problem. So it will work for now.". Sanjay then couldn''t help but ask. "Dev, what were you thinking about?". "Before? I was thinking about the race." Dave answered honestly. "The Race?" Soo-Young asked. "Yeah," Dave said. "Did you notice something?" Suzie asked. "A lot of things," Dave said. "Like what?" Sanjay asked. Hearing him, Dave sat down straight and started speaking¡­ "Guys, remember what is our goal? This is not supposed to be a game of survival of the fittest. But this is supposed to be a Race. The quest in our system says that we need to cross the 9th world to get out of this ce. That means that there is a way to go to the second world here and we just need to find it." "So what are you trying to say?" Sanjay asked. "This world is too small. As I have told you guys, this world is just a piece ofnd floating in space. That means somewhere in this world is a path, from which he could go to the second world. We should be focused on that as well." Dave said. "Yeah, we forgot about that," Suzie said while thinking about it. "And thenes the map of this world. Did anybody observe it properly?" Dave asked. "Was there something special about the map?" Soo-Young asked. "Everything was special about the map. The rivers of this world were originating from an ind called Death Valley which is situated in the middle of the map. But the interesting thing was, the ind was red, and¡­" before he could say anything else, they were interrupted. And it was at that exact moment, blue boxes started appearing in front of the eyes of everyone present in the room¡­ ............... Congrattions Sonia Ivanov for being the first yer to reach this far. ............... A yer had reached Level 50. ............... Special requirements have been fulfilled. ............... The cataclysm would start in 1 hour. ............... All the yers are advised to brace themselves for the cataclysm. ............... As the bunch of messages started popping up one after the other, everyone became quiet and started reading it. And once they were done, all of them looked at each other to confirm that they all got the same message¡­ "Guys, do you know what this cataclysm is?" Sanjay asked. "It usually refers to an event that causes a great amount of destruction," Suzie said. "So what does that mean? Is this world going to experience an earthquake?" Soo-Young asked in a scared voice. "I don''t think so, But something far worse than an earthquake is heading our way ." Dave said in a grim voice. *** 5 mins ago, Sonia was in her backyard, Igor was fast asleep inside while she was out there basking in the moonlight. She tried her best to quell any doubts that the Earthians had about their daily life. She answered them to the best of her abilities and she thinks that she did a good job as well. And now all she could do is wait. Yureka was pretty open about the future vision of Earthians in the city. Any Earthian who is willing to be a warrior or an adventurer would be supported by the city. They would be provided with homes and a certain amount of fees from time to time during their tenure under the city. But the Earthians who were cowards or were not willing to fight will be cast out by the city. The city will not provide any sort of facilities to them. And their movements would be restricted as well, they cannot migrate to another city. If they did so, Yureka would make sure that they would be hunted down and killed in a very brutal way. It was a little bit cruel, to force someone to fight to the death. But the morals of this world are very fickle, to begin with. And the sooner the Earthians recognize this fact, the better it would be for them. The only regret that Sonia had was that she yed a very important role in the maniption n by Yureka. ording to her instructions, she had deliberately portrayed an image of the world in their minds, from which they would think that working as a Guard or an adventurer is a pretty noble job in this world. And the people who do not work at these jobs are considered weak people and they are destined to die penniless. It was not exactly maniption, as it is the harsh truth about the world. But somewhere in her heart, she feels what she did was a little hical¡­ SWING Sonia took out her sword and started swinging it. As she couldn''t sleep she thought that she should practise her swordy a little bit. Maybe she would be able to get a stat point while practising. She realised that if one wants to strengthen their core attributes, they should do so by doing repetitive tasks, like swinging a sword, then they would be able to get a stat point for themselves. She used to practise sword swinging in her earlier days, the sword was very heavy for her, and it made it very difficult for her to fight it. To get used to the weight of her weapon, as well as practice some moves, she started swinging swords. She started exercising regrly as well, because of which she started gaining dexterity, endurance, and strength stat points. In the same way, Igor found out that when someone reads the books of this world, they gain intelligence stat points. It was a very neat way to gain stat points without killing anyone. Now she has reached the stage when swinging the sword doesn''t easily give a stat point. But she still keeps trying, after all, she needs all the power she could get to survive in this world. While swinging the sword, Sonia heard a squeaking noise from her left. When she turned that way, she saw a mole the size of a Corgi, munching vegetables in her vegetable garden. Seeing this she got irritated. She hated these creatures as they always destroy her garden. So stopped swinging for a moment, she gripped the sword tightly in her hand, and then she threw it towards the mole. The sword easily prated the mole''s skin and thus killed it easily. But it was then Sonia started to get a string of messages in front of her. ............... You have killed an Earth Mole. ............... You have gained 1 exp point. ............... You have leveled up. ............... Congrattions on being the first yer to reach the level-50 mark. ............... As a Level-50 yer, a special perk of Familia had been unlocked for you. ............... Now, you can join the Familia of God and get gifts from them. ............... The Mistress of an Owl has sent you an invitation to join her familia. ............... The Monster Huntress has sent you an invitation to join her familia. ............... The Jackal Face has sent you an invitation to join his familia. ............... The Falcon''s head has sent you an invitation to join his familia. ............... Special requirements have been fulfilled. ............... The cataclysm would start in 1 hour. ............... All the yers are advised to brace themselves for the cataclysm. ............... ***** Ravenshade is known throughout Midgard as the city of magic. The dungeon of this city had a lot of resources for magical arts, because of which they are known to produce the strongest mages in Midgard. And one of the biggest aplishments of this city is thework of Watch towers that they had built throughout their domain. Every watch tower had a certain number of soldiers guarding it. These soldiers go on regr patrols to see whether any beasts are spawning in the nearby area. And if there is then they take care of it. Or if beasts that had spawned are a lot then, they can contact the watch tower above them and order major reinforcements. And just like that with thebination of 50 small watch towers and 4 Big Camps, most of the beast tides are easily dealt with¡­ 3 soldiers of Ravenshade city were off on a regr patrol when they saw an orange light in the sky towards their left. Seeing this everyone stopped. Usually, the orange light in the sky means that there a monster had spawned just below the illuminated area. So the three soldiers started moving toward the light to scout the area. Their job was to look at the monster that had spawned and deal with it if they could. But as they were moving towards it, they started noticing a very peculiar thing. Usually, after the monster spawned, the orange light vanished without a trace. But today, that didn''t happen. It took them about 5 mins to reach the area, but the orange glow only glowed brighter and brighter as they reached the area. Ron, who was the leader of the group, had been working at his watch tower for 50 years and was quite an experienced soldier. "Why the hell is that light not going away?" one of the soldiers asked. "I do not know. Never saw something like this before." Ron truthfully answered. "What do you reckon that is then?" the other soldier asked. "Don''t know. But it is our job to find out what that hell that is." Ron said and with that, they started moving toward the spawning point¡­. *** 15 minster. The southernmost watch tower of the Ravenshade city was oddly quiet at the moment. 6 men were sitting around the table and ying cards. The silent game of cards was so intense that none of them noticed that 3 of theirrades who had gone on patrol under the leadership of Ron hadn''t returned yet. They would have probably not even noticed them missing. But it was then¡­ BAAM! The door of the watch tower swung open and Ron ran inside while covered in blood, he didn''t greet anyone, just ran straight inside. The men of the watch tower only saw a glimpse of the man, but they smelled the blood on him. All of them noticed that there was not a trace of the other two soldiers that went with him. Seeing this everyone got up and rushed inside to see what had transpired¡­ Chapter 16 Catclysm-2 ?The soldiers were quite surprised when they saw their oldest and toughest soldier run into the tower covered in blood and guts. They immediately jumped up on their feet and ran behind to ask what had happened¡­ "Ron! Where are Stewie and Brian?" one of the soldiers asked Ron who ran inside. But Ron didn''t even acknowledge their questions. He didn''t stop, just ran straight inside. He practically knocked down the door of themunication room of the tower, he created a lot of noise, which still wasn''t enough to wake up the sleeping operator of the device. Ron had seen the operator use the device a thousand time, so he straight away started using it. Themunication machine was a big chunky metal box that had many dials and switches. With this device, the people of the watchtowers were able tomunicate with any watch towers in the vicinity, as well as with the city itself. He started rotating some dials and immediately contacted the central tower which was responsible for all the watchtowers in his sector¡­. "This Control tower-3, whom am I speaking to?" came the voice from the speaker. Ron, who was very frightened from what he saw, practically yelled in the receiver."This is Ron from watchtower number 50. I need to report an uing beast wave!" "You don''t have to yell man, speak normally in the receiver." Came an annoyed voice from the other end. But Ron was not having it, he had very urgent news for the central tower, so he kept yelling. "No, you don''t understand. This wave¡­ This is different. It is very different from something that we had encountered. It is too big!" "FUCK! DO NOT SCREAM IN THE RECEIVER ASSHOLE! And give me specifics. You know the rules, without specifics, I can''t get this to my senior to sign troops." "I saw around 400 goblin riders. Around 11-13 Earth Porcupines. And there were I guess 23-30 Kobolds." The man on the other line paused for a second, and then he continued. "Oye Oye¡­ Are you drunk? Do you even realize what you are saying? This is a literal army, not a Beast Wave. You know that if this is a prank or we find out that you are lying then you will be executed." It is then the dam of Ron''s patience broke. "Listen to me you mother fucker! I just lost 2 of my friends. And I am standing in the watchtower covered in guts and blood. So no, I am pranking you. Nor am I lying to you. Just send the troops as fast as you can!" The person on the other end paused yet once again and then continued. "Roger. Stay there. I will get my supervisor then." The guy from the other end said and then he disconnected themunication. After he was done, Ron turned around and saw that all the soldiers were looking at him. They were all very frightened, all of them were hurdled together looking at him anxiously. Ron then gulped some saliva, then continued. "Men. Prepare for battle. I will inform the neighboring towers about our situation. Till then you guys go and suit up. This is going to be a very long night." All the soldiers took a few seconds to process his words and then suddenly everyone started running. The people of the tower started gearing up in preparation for the battle. *** Sonia and Igor were running towards the Yureka. They both got the message of the cataclysm. Neither one of them had any idea about what was about to happen, but they knew that there was one person in the city that could help them. And that was Yureka. Thus both of them were currently running towards her manor. As Sonia got to the gate of Yureka''s manor, soldiers at the gate stopped her. After all, she was visiting her at a very odd time. "Stop! You cannot go inside. Come back tomorrow." One of the guards asked her. "No, I have to meet her. Something terrible is going to happen and I need to inform her about it." Sonia pleaded. But before the guards could say another word, Yureka flew down from the sky. "Sonia? What are you doing here at this time?" Yureka asked in a very sweet voice whileing down. "Your Lordship, I just received a message on my system. It said that a cataclysm is about to happen, and I don''t know what that means. It said that all yers or Earthians are supposed to brace themselves. What does this mean, your lordship?" Sonia asked. "Cataclysm? I don''t know. Quite frankly I have never heard about such a thing before." She answered in a sweet voice. But it was then horns started to blow all around the city¡­. BOOOOOHHH!!!! [A.N- I don''t know how to write the sound of a horn.] Hearing the horn everyone was startled. After all, the horn represents a high-level attack on the city. It is usually used when Roghorthes to the city for destruction or another city is invading them. "Meet me at the Front Line," Yureka said, and then she flew away. Sonia nodded and started running again, Igor who was tired from the previous run mumbled some profanities and then started running after them¡­ Vecrus wasn''t an advanced city like Ravenshade. It is powerful, there was no doubt about it. But it didn''t have big walls like the Infragilis or Ravenshade. Also because of politics, Vecrus is a city that had no allies. Ravenshade and Cloudhold have formed an alliance on the left, while Infragilis and Bacrcelma have formed an alliance on the right. Thus there were no allies of Vecrus. With no allies,es no import-export. And because of this Vecrus is considered the poorest Great city. And with theck of funds, the great city of Vecrus could not make appropriate initiatives to guarantee the security of its people. Even though they do not have a great wall like Infragilis or amunicationwork like Ravenshade, Vecrus was still a great city. Its security measures, although not that efficient, are still considered great. Vecrus had made 8 strongholds in some strategic parts of its domain. Rangers from these strongholds regrly patrol the area and if they spotted a beast wave, they would use firecrackers as a way to inform the city about the wave. The main army of the city is then deployed towards the beast wave to take care of it. But tonight something very incredible happened. 3 beast waves were reported in the span of 5 mins. Because of this city lord had to set foot on the battlefield. For Yureka, defeating a beast wave would be a walk in the park as she is the second strongest being of Midgard. She is a Level-92 Warlock and is only second to the skills of the lord of the city of Infragilis. But the thing that one has to worry about was the fact that there were 3 beast waves. One of the waves could be dealt with by the army. She could take care of one. But thest one would still be able to reach the city. After all, even for Yureka defeating a beast wave within seconds is impossible¡­ As Yurekanded in the boot camp of the main army, she saw that the whole camp was awake. Almost everyone was ready and would be deployed in a matter of minutes. And it was then she noticed that themander general of the army was running towards her¡­ "Your Lordship!" the man yelled whileing towards her. Yureka nodded her head as he yelled. And when he came to Yureka he started whispering¡­ "Your lordship, something terrible has happened." He whispered. Commander knew that the news of three beast waves hitting at the same time could cause panic and may lower the morale of the men. That is why he had previously disclosed that there are only two beast waves, out of which one would be dealt with by the city lord. But the information that he received moments ago was a piece of very grave news. That is why he couldn''t help but whisper... "I know. That is why I am here." Yureka whispered back. "Your Lordship, the situation has changed drastically. Firecrackers and ravens hade from the other 5 strongholds as well. They have also reported possible beast waves." "What!" Yureka eximed. "Yes, Your Lordship. What should we do?" Hearing this, Yureka pinched herself to see whether she was dreaming or not. And sure enough, she was not. There was no way in hell that they had the manpower to deal with this. The people of the city would be ughtered at a veryrge scale if 8 beast waves hit them. It was also possible that the city of Vecrus would be gone by tomorrow. ''Eight beast waves, hitting at the same time is not possible. So what is happening right now? Wait¡­ Sonia! She said something about a cataclysm. This is bad. Very bad.'' Yureka thought. It was then she looked at the soldiers that were running around here and there. She then clenched her fingers tightly and started thinking carefully. Beast waves are formed when monsters spawn randomly at a ce. But the thing is that these monsters remain docile for some amount of time. And they would only attack when approached. After all the monsters are spawned, there is a buffer time in which they stay docile, but after that they go into a frenzy state and start running toward the popted area. killing anyone in their way. The only way to defeat the beast wave is to kill all the monsters of the wave or to wait it out. After a fixed amount of time, the beasts that had spawned turned into dust, like they were never there in the first ce. Waiting out beast waves is never a good option, as beast waves cause too much destruction to leave them be, which is why they are dealt with as soon as they are spawned. In today''s case, as they will not be able to defeat the wave, the only thing that they could do right now is to wait it out. Vecrus didn''t have outer walls like Ravenshade and Infragilis, but they do have walls located in the inner part of the city. That part of the city is where the rich reside. Therefore to appease them and maintain their security, Yureka made those walls. But at this moment, that wall was their best shot¡­ "Commander, I want you to send ravens throughout the Vecrus and tell them to gather in the inner city. If they are not able toe then seal the stronghold and hide. While I want all of your men to go and wake up the city. And get all the citizens to get behind the inner wall. And secure it." Yureka said loudly. "Your Lordship, what about the small viges which don''t have Raven coops?" Hearing this question, Yureka didn''t reply. Seeing thismander understood what she was trying to say. He immediately turned around and started barking orders to his men. While Yureka supervised him. She also instructed some soldiers to carry as many rations and supplies as they can, and take them to the inner city, they could be stuck there for a long time, and they would need all they help they can. Soon ravens were sent to all the strongholds. Yureka knew that the main problem with her n was the inner city wall itself. It was never made to withstand such a siege in the first ce. It is not that high and it would probably break apart if a high-ranking monster attacked it. And if her doubt is right then there will be several monsters in the beast wave who would have the ability to break those walls. "Your Lordship!" someone Yureka from behind. This broke her stupor and looked at Sonia and Igor who were running towards the Front. As soon as they came over to her, Sonia started speaking furiously¡­. "Your Lordship, it is very bad. We just received an emergency quest from our system." "What is the quest?" Yureka asked in an emotionless voice rather than the sweet voice that she used in public. And thus Sonia started narrating the quest to her¡­. ................ EMERGENCY QUEST Name- Survive the Cataclysm Rank- Gold Level Details- To scout the potential Familia members, an event had been organised by the Gods. yers had to showcase their power, during the event, to get invites from the different familia. In half an hour''s time, multiple beast waves would hit all the cities and establishments, all around Midgard. One has to survive the constant onught of the beasts. If any God recognizes the yer''s potential then they will make a familial bond with the yer. After joining the familia of a particr god, the yer would be able to enjoy a lot of benefits that the Gods would give them if they manage to entertain and impress them. ? The benefits may be some exclusive powers that the Gods have domain over. Rewards- Chance of joining the familia of a God. Penalty- Time Limit- Until Sunrise. ...............¡­. Hearing this Yureka immediately took out a watch from her pocket and checked the time. They had 6 hours before sunrise. And they had to survive till then. It was then that Yureka instructed Sonia and Igor to the inner walls and stay there. She would wrap up everything ande there¡­. *** The safest and most powerful city in all of Midgard is called The Infragills. The word ''Infragilis'' itself means something which is not fragile or unbreakable. And that is why the city was named such. Iit was not arrogance that made the people give this city such a grand name. Instead, the name of the cityes from the 10Km long walls that hide the city from outside influence. The 15m high, grand walls of Infragilis protects its citizens and had held the record of never being broken through once. But the wall itself is not the only thing that protects the city. The city itself is located in such a ce that it is surrounded by the abyss from three sides. While the fourth side is protected by the wall. Thus it is practically impossible to infiltrate the city. Anyone who wants to enter the city had to go through the wall. That is why even during the time of beast waves, the city remains imprable. This ce is also the home and under the leadership of the strongest mortal in Midgard, Damien Godric Grond¡­ On the top of the wall of Infragilis, many soldiers stood in formation with a quiver full of arrows and bows in their hands. There were many barrels ofbustible liquid with them as well, these had been prepared to deal with the beast waves. Amongst the soldiers stood two men with knight-like silver color armor. One of those knights was a very muscr and handsome man. He had short hair with a little bushy beard. While the other man was an old man with a grey beard and a battle axe at his back. "Your lordship if we believe those Earthians, then this assault would continue till dawn. But I am afraid that looking at the numbers of monsters that have spawned, I don''t believe that we will be able to survive that long sir." The old man said. "Do you think that monsters would be able to prate the wall?" the handsome man or Damien Godric Grond asked. "I don''t think they will be able to prate the wall. But I am more worried about the gate sire. There are three gates throughout the wall. And they are made entirely of wood. They don''t have the same thickness or integrity as the wall. And I am afraid that the constant onught for 6 hours may break the gate." The old man said honestly. "It seems that we just have to deal with it as ites. Infragilis had not fallen for over 100 years. And it will not fall tonight." dered the Damien with arrogance and confidence in his voice. Chapter 17 Mayhem ?As soon as Dave and the others saw the blue messages, they started panicking. They didn''t know what was about to happen, all they could do at the moment was brace themselves. Quickly, all of them jumped on their feet, open the doors, and went outside. For the moment, they thought that it would be for the best to inform soldiers, stationed around this facility, they could tell them about the message that they just received. The facility that they were staying in was made especially for the Earthians, it was the same one that they had stayed in yesterday, it was speciallymissioned by the city of Ravenshade. And ording to Carlin all the Earthians that had been officially identified, were all staying here. Their doors were not locked so they were able to roam around the facility. But the only thing that they had to make sure of was that they don''t leave the facility. Because if they leave it, they will be hunted down by Carlin''s men¡­ When Dave and others came out of their room, they started searching for soldiers who were stationed there. And it didn''t take them long enough and they finally found one. But the problem was that the soldiers didn''t believe them. They didn''t believe it even when every single of the Earthians staying in the facility came out, all of them started creating a ruckus because of the message that they had received, but still, the soldiers didn''t believe them. As every Earthian was a low-level person, they were not able to argue with soldiers on equal footing, after all this was not Earth, and this was not some government facility. But the hell broke loose when every Earthian was issued an emergency quest. And when they saw they there will be a constant onught of the beasts on them, till sunrise, everyone started panicking. People started shouting and throwing things at the soldiers. Dave stopped Soo-Young, Sanjay, and Suzie from participating in the assault. People wanted to get out there. They wanted to go to the Ravenshade where they will be protected by 10 m-long walls from all directions. No one wanted to stay in this facility anymore. And more importantly, they wanted their weapons back. Dave noticed that even though people behaved poorly, the guards didn''t do anything to them. They just deflected or easily evaded the objects being thrown at them. Seeing this, Dave realized that maybe these soldiers had been instructed by the city to behave this way. After all, they wouldn''t want the Earthian to feel threatened now, do they? And it is after the chaos started ensuing throughout the facility, someone finally went andmunicated with the Ravenshade. And after the call, miraculously, every soldier''s attitude took a 180-degree turn. They brought weapons from the storage unit that had been confiscated from the Earthians and started distributing them back. While some soldiers were handing out weapons, other soldiers went and brought all the carriages of the facility and quickly started evacuating it. Dave who got his sword and shield back looked at all of this mayhem with a frown on his face¡­ ''Based on how they are behaving, it seems that the threat about beast waves must be true. Probably the beast attacks would be very huge in scale, otherwise, they won''t be evacuating everyone in the facility.'' He thought. *** "MOVE YOUR LEGS! COME ON HURRY UP! HURRY UP! UP! UP!" the soldier yelled while practically stuffing as many people as he could in the carriage. Dave and his friends had stepped aside earlier, he wanted women to evacuate first, and then only he would follow. That is why they had to take thest carriage out. Most of the Earthians didn''t give a shit about manners and ethics, they just wanted to get out her as soon as they can. But Dave chose not to evacuate first, he insisted Soo-Young and Suzie go ahead, but they also stay behind, with him and Sanjay¡­ It was thest carriage out of the facility. Most of the people had left. He and his friends boarded the carriage from the back door, they had to put some effort to get in, as the carriage was jam-packed with people, but after some rough pushing, they were able to squeeze in somehow. While sitting in the carriage, he thanks his luck that Carlin had the courtesy of performing some magic on him. Because of this, he was fine now and was able to move independently. But it was then he received a red color message in front of his eyes¡­ ......¡­.. The cataclysm had begun. ......¡­. Dave quickly looked at his friend''s faces and realized that they had all received the same animous message. It was then Sanjay wanted to say something, Suzie who was sitting beside him, put a finger on his lips. She signaled him to look inside. People in the carriage were either crying or were on a verge of crying. While most of the people had their eyes closed and their hands sped. They were praying. Sanjay understood what was she trying to say and in turn stayed silent¡­ Ten minutes into their journey, the carriage moved, as fast as it could. Till now the travel to Ravenshade city had been mostly silent with the noise of some people''s whimpering from time to time. But it was then the people of the carriage started hearing noises¡­. AAAAWOOOOOOOO! Till then he had only heard the sounds of a wolf''s howling on television. And although the sound of howling is quite majestic on the television, now as he listened to the sound live, a chill ran down his spine. The sounds of wolves wereing from all directions, it sounded as though a big pack of wolves was following them. Hearing this the crying and whimpering of crying started increasing. Everyone became tenser as they knew that the monsters were approaching. It was then the soldier that was driving the carriage shouted¡­ "INCOMING!" And as soon as he shouted, two spikes which were around 12 inches long broke through the armor of the carriage. One of the spikes prated Sanjay''s arm who was sitting just by the door. At the same time, the other one stabbed one of the servants. "AAHH!" multiple people started screaming as they saw that blooding out of the woman''s body. ROAARR!!! Most people didn''t even pay attention to the roar as they were busy treating the woman who had her stomach impaled by a spike. But Dave and Sanjay did hear the roar. Both of them peeked outside from the holes made from the spikes. They saw multiple wolves running towards their carriage, but they were a little bit far away from them. The interesting part was that the wolves were being ridden by what looked like small green color humanoid beings. As they were far away, they could not tell clearly what they were, but seeing these beings glowing yellow eyes made them realize that they were not friendly. Just behind the wolves wererge porcupine creatures that he saw back in the forest. And from the distance, Dave could tell that those were not small like the one he had killed. These were the big ones. There were also some grey-skinned giants running beside those monsters. He didn''t know what they were, but he understood that they were dangerous, considering their sheer size. It was then he noticed that one of the giants, grabbed a tree, and like a professional disk thrower, it swung around and then finally threw the tree. BOOM! The tree missed the carriage by a hair''s length and crashed by the side. But that crash was enough to startle the horses pulling the carriage. The horses suddenly changed direction and thus titling the carriage to the side. And due to the weight of the carriage, it flipped, sliding on the dirt road that it was running on. As the carriage crashed, the door of the carriage at the back flung open and threw Sanjay and Dave out¡­ Dave whennded on the ground, felt like his world was spinning. But he was fine, had a few scratches on his arm, but he was fine. He got up quickly, people were crawling out of the carriage slowly. Out of four horses that were pulling the carriage, three of them had run away, while the fourth one was not too far away from them. He then looked back at the monsters that were approaching them. Seeing them getting closer and closer, his heart started beating faster and faster. He looked around and saw that there was a tree line not too far away from where they had crashed. But the thing was, even if they make a run for it, the monsters would still be able to catch them. And on foot, they will be surely killed. He understood that someone or something had to distract the monsters. And it took him only seconds to make a decision¡­ He ran towards Sanjay who was still unconscious. He shook his body, he was fine.¡­ "SANJAY LISTEN TO ME!" Sanjay opened his eyes, wide. He then continued. "Look there in the east there is a tree line. I will distract the monsters and then you guys go and make a run at the tree line. Do you hear me?" "What?" Sanjay asked, still disoriented. "Take care man. If we live another day, we would have a drink together the next we will meet. Till then, Goodbye." Dave said softly. He then turned around and started running towards the horse by the carriage. He then quickly climbed up on it and started running towards the monsters. All the monsters soon started paying attention to him, and with the help of his horse, he was able to change the direction of the monsters slightly giving his friends a chance to live¡­. *** "FIRE! THE FIRE ARROWS!" themander yelled and soon volleys of fire arrows were fired, killing many goblins and kobolds in the process. Simr scenes could be seen all around the great wall of Infragilis. Soldiers running around, firing arrows at monsters. While many workers down the wall were busy making as many arrows as they could and as fast as they could. While thebustible liquid, which was Infragilis''s secret weapon was running out fast¡­ The great wall provides good protection from invaders and monsters. But tonight is different. Monsters were spawning repeatedly because of which the stock of arrows that the army of Infragilis was diminishing at an astonishing rate. Another thing to worry about in this scenario was the gates of the wall. Soldiers couldn''t even use thebustible oil near the gates as they could not afford the gate getting caught on fire. So in a sense, they were stuck¡­ Still, everyone was safe. But for some reason, Damien felt, that something was wrong here. He could not shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. It was then it happened¡­ No one noticed a thing. In all the war cries and cries of the monster, no one noticed a very peculiar screeching sound approaching the city. Some of the people were lucky enough and heard it. But they also weren''t able to react in time when it happened. The thing came down from the sky like an angeling from the moon. It came down very gracefully, got as to the wall as it could, only then did people up the wall noticed. And simultaneously they all started yelling¡­ "ROGHORTH!!!!!!" But s it was toote. The Dragon opened his mouth and started spewing its toxic breath on the top of the wall. Many soldiers were instantly engulfed in the ck toxic breath and died immediately. There were some, who saw himing and thus jumped down the wall. Just like that Roghorth went and spew his toxic breath all over the 10km long wall and thus destroying tforms on which soldiers were supposed to stand and fight the monster horde. Roghorth only came to a stop at the gate at the far end of the wall. It then pped its wings and became stationary in the air. It then spewed another round of toxic breath on one of the gates and thus melted itpletely. Then the dragon flew away towards Barcelma¡­ Damien who was themander of soldiers was infuriated by that dragon''s action. For now, he had a better thing to worry about, he immediately ordered some of his men to go to the gate that had been broken into. He knows that the acidic and poisonous breath that melted the gate would provide them with some cover for now, as the monster who would touch that would either melt away or would die from poison. But things didn''t go as Damien expected. The monster under the frenzy started running over the toxic bile even though they were getting killed. Monsters who died because of toxic breath didn''t turn to dust, monsters who have behind used this great opportunity and they started running over them to get inside. This way monsters finally put foot inside the city of Infragilis after a 100-years. Chapter 18 Survival-1 ?As soon as he can, Dave got on the horse and pulled his reins, then that magnificent beast started running frantically. While he rode toward the horde of monsters, he realized something crucial, after distracting the horde, he didn''t know how he will escape. Maybe he should have given his point more thought before he started riding toward a bunch of monsters¡­ Thanks to a rich customer back in his weed-selling day, he had learned how to ride a horse. That customer''s dad was a very rich fellow, and he used to breed horses for races. They had a ranch with 50-60 horses and he had ridden many of them. The only difference between those horses and this one was of saddles and leather seats. And those things helped a lot in riding. As this horse didn''t have anything on its back nor did it have any sort of support for its legs, riding it was bing a very tedious job. The only thing great about this horse was its speed, and its white color, because of which he was able to gather the attention of monsters, thus shifting them from their current path¡­ With monsters at his back, Dave started leading them in another direction far away from his friends. While riding, he started appreciating the horse more and more as this thing had a lot of stamina and was perfectly keeping up with his running requirements. After running for a few minutes, he started noticing that fatigue was catching up to the horse. It was slowing down. He looked back and saw that big monsters like the giants and porcupines were not following him anymore. He hoped that those dangerous monsters hadn''t gone in the direction of his friends. While small monsters like wolves which were being ridden by green color humanoid beings were still chasing him. And they seem to be getting closer to him. Looking at the situation, he knew that he had to formte a n, fast. Looking around, he saw a patch ofnd in some distance, that patch had dense vegetation of trees. From where he was, the trees looked very dense. And in the darkness under the canopy of trees would give him a higher chance to get rid of those monsters at his back. Thus he instantly changed his direction and started making his way toward the trees. His horse was slowing down every second, but Dave still pushed him as hard as he can. While running towards the tree line, he then remembered a scene from the old action movies that he once watched. In that movie, the protagonist gets stuck in a simr situation that he was in. So when the protagonist gets near a patch ofnd such as this one, he jumps on the branches of the tree and leaves the horse running. The running horse then creates a distraction, thus luring away the enemies far away from him. Remembering that scene, he started to think that he should try the same maneuver. But the problem was that he was having doubts about whether he would be able to pull it off or not. He in no sense was an athletic man. He was a little bit muscr because of his work in storehouses in the past. But still, he didn''t have enough muscle power to pull himself up a tree branch or even perform a pull-up. Thus he was having doubts. But it was then he remembered that when he killed the giant porcupine, he got 5 stat points that he never used. Thus as fast as he could call his stat window. And then invested all of his stat points in his strength¡­ And as soon as he got into the line of trees, he saw one of the trees had a fat branch on it which he could grab. He slowly stood on the horse''s back, as slowly as he could, while maintaining bnce. When he got near the tree, he instantly jumped and grabbed the tree branch. The increase in his strength stat gave him enough boast power, that he was able to pull himself up the branch. His horse ran straight, deeper into the tree line. He summoned his sword from his inventory and waited. Soon enough small humanoid figures riding wolves entered the tree lines and they all followed the fleeing horse. He stayed up there for a good 10 min or so, making sure that those guys have left. Only when he was sure that he was safe, he finally came down. Now alone in a dark tree line, he started thinking about what he should do. There were 2 options in front of him. He could either stay here or make some distance between himself and this patch ofnd. If he goes back to the grasnds, then there was a chance that any monster could spot out in the open and attack him. But if he stays here then there was a chance that those creatures riding the wolves coulde back to look for him. And he doesn''t know whether he was up for a fight or not¡­ After thinking for another minute, he decided that he would stay here for the time being. This way he would be hidden from the majority of big monsters out there which he was sure could kill him within seconds. As far as those little monsters were concerned, he had to take a chance. As he made his decision he brought out his shield and started going deeper into the tree line. He wanted to scout the area to see whether there are any monsters in there or not. And he was grateful that he did it. As he made his way deeper into the tree line, he was assaulted with a very unpleasant smell. A smell that he was familiar with, because of his work in a ughterhouse. He raised his sword and put up his shield and started making his way toward the smell. He wanted to see where this smell wasing from. There was a chance that there was no monster around here and the smell was justing from the dead body of an old animal. But s, he was wrong¡­ Beyond the fat tree in front of him was the source of the smell. He crouched down and slowly started making his way toward the tree. There were old leaves on the ground which when stepped upon could alert any monster around him. Thus while being extra careful he made his way toward the tree. As he got to the tree, he slowly peeked. And when he did, he was shocked as there was nothing beyond the tree. There was a small clearing just beyond the tree, like a spotlight, moonlight shined brightly onto that clearing, other than he could spot anything. After making sure that there are no movements around the clearing, he got up. And sure enough, he soon saw what was the source of the smell. There was a huge amount of blood spread all around the clearing. Most of it had seeped into the ground making the soil red, but still, there were small puddles of blood all around the clearing. Seeing the amount of blood, he crouched down and inspected one of the puddles. The puddle had converted into a red glob, which was a sign that blood had been here for a long time. He steered the puddle with his sword, only the upperyer of the puddle was made not made of red glob. Seeing this he started sweating profusely and instantly got up. He raised his sword and started looking around wearily¡­ Blood is a miraculous liquid. It helps humans and other creatures seal their wounds, with the help of an interesting property. When it is exposed to air, it starts drying up. And after it had fully dried up, it seals the wound. The thin glob was the proof that the blood had been there for some time. But when he stirred the puddle he saw that most of the liquid hadn''t solidified yet. Which meant that this blood was not as old as he previously thought. Now alone in the clearing, he started cursing himself. Staying here was the dumbest idea that he had. He should have made some distance between himself and thisnd when he had a chance. Now he was stuck here. While looking around him, he was getting worried that he wasn''t able to see much. There was some light in the clearing, but beyond that, he could not see anything. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by darkness and there was apparently no way out. As he could not spot anything he started to think that he may be wrong. After all his information about the blood and its propertieses from survival shows that he used to binge-watch on Earth. And as he started to doubt his knowledge, it was then he heard it¡­ CRACK It was the sound of leaves cracking. Someone was here. He then started looking in the direction where he heard the crack from. But it was then he heard it again. CRACK But this time he heard the noise from his back. He instantly turned around. And still, he was greeted with darkness and nothing else. He then heard another one. CRACK But this time, the sound came from his right. He turn there but he could not see anything. And then hell was sent loose. He started hearing cracking noises from random directions. He was surrounded by multiple creatures or humans from all directions. He started sweating more heavily. It was then he heard it¡­ ROAR!!! When Dave heard the roar, he damn near pissed himself. It sounded terrifying. But the most terrifying thing about the roar was that, after it had sounded, thend was once more engulfed in pin-drop silence. No more sounds of the crackling of dried leave reverberated around him. And it was only after a second or so, he started hearing something terrifying¡­ GRRRR It sounded like a slow growl of a dog. And then he heard the sound of branches crackling from above the ground level, from the canopy of the tree. And before he could spot or see anything somethingnded in the clearing, in front of him. It was then he saw the thing that had been terrifying till now. It was a humanoid beast. Grey fur covered its body, and for hands, this thing had ws, which looked very sharp. The beast''s hind limbs were shaped simrly to that of a dog, while the paws of the creature were big enough that it could stand on its two hind limbs. The thing is exactly like a werewolf that he saw in a movie once. But unlike a werewolf, this creature had a human-like face. It had big ck eyes. While there were two long slits on his face for its nose. It had a rather big mouth with strong, sharp, and pointy teeth which were covered in blood. As he saw the creature and sensed the blood lust in its eyes, he felt like crying. He was scared. He wanted to run away but in the back of his mind, he knew that he was surrounded and there was no way that he would be able to run away. It was then the creature leaped at him and tried to scratch him with his paws. Luckily his reflexes kicked in time and blocked the blow with his shield. Sparks flew out with the sh of the creature''s ws and shield. The creature was very aggressive, as it saw that his attack before was nullified, it used its other w to scratch him. It was an instinct or maybe it was reflex, but before the creature''s other w could make its way to his shield, he swung his sword towards it¡­ When he first came to this world, he tried using his sword. He tried to swing and saw that it was pretty heavy and it would take a lot of time to get used to the sword. But now as he swung it, the sword felt very light. In fact, it could be said that it felt too light. And as soon as his sword touch the creature''s skin, it cut through it like it was melted butter. GRRR!!! The creature growled and stepped back as it felt the big cut on his torso. While he on the other hand got a pretty big confidence boost, he realized that maybe investing all of his stat points in his strength had given him a very significant edge in this fight. But the creature was angered by the cut. It took a few steps back. Seeing this, he thought that the creature was retreating. But he was wrong. After taking a few steps back, the creature got on his four and came at him with great speed. As it came closer, it jumped on him, trying to tackle him. He was startled by his move. So he raised his shield in the creature''s trajectory in the hope to block its attack. BAAAM He was sessful in blocking the creature''s attack. But the momentum and the force of that attack made him fall back. But while falling, he had an idea, thus immediately he thrust his sword forward, toward the creature''s stomach. And sure enough, while falling he was able to feel the blownding sessfully. But the creature didn''t die with the blow. As they fell to the ground, the creature started struggling and waving his arms and legs around. While Dave tried to push away the creature with his shield. It took some time but the creature stopped struggling. .........¡­. You have in a Kobold. .........¡­. You have been awarded 10 exp for your feat. .........¡­. He pushed the body away from him and got up. He instantly pulled out his sword and looked around. The tree line was engaged in silence once again. But it was then slowly three more creatures came from the darkness and started growling at Dave. Seeing this, he just cursed his bad luck. He then got into a stance and started thinking about a n on how to handle the situation. Chapter 19 Survival-2 ?The three kobolds in front of Dave were growling, making his heart beat faster than a rat, foam-like liquid was dripping from their mouths making them even more terrifying. They all looked pissed, ready to pounce at any moment. While he on the other hand was all alone. He was at a clear disadvantage and didn''t know how to handle this situation. He knew that he could not fight all three of them head-on. That would be suicide. As he had no idea what he should do, he decided to follow his instincts, so he decided to run away. But before he could act on his decision, the kobolds attacked him. One of them pounced at him, trying to tackle him to the ground. But he was ready for the attack, he raised his shield and tried to intercept the tackle. In the split second in which he raised his shield, he had a brilliant idea, he decided to use a maneuver from one of the movies that he saw As soon as the kobold made contact with the shield, the blow made him fall backward with the kobold on his chest. As both of them made it to the ground, enacting that movie scene, he pushed his shield hard upwards. With thebination of his legs and the push from his shield, he was able to throw the creature away from him. After he had thrown the kobold backward, he tried to get up quickly, but till then one of the other kobolds made its move. As he pushed his torso up to the ground, one of the kobolds came close to him and swiped its ws. And he was toote to react, and the kobold was sessful at its attack. The sharp ws of the creature were able to make an imprint of 4 red color stripes on his torso. The cut from the creature burned like hell. He could feel his blood pouring out of his cuts, it felt very painful. But the kobold who injured him was not done yet. As soon as it saw that its attack was sessful, it used its other w to swipe at him. He noticed it from the corner of his eye. He also noticed that the third kobold had climbed up to a tree adjacent to where he was lying. And based on the position of the creature it was evident that he was going to jump on him¡­ It was maybe adrenaline, but at that exact moment, he performed a maneuver that he didn''t know that he could do. He fell down on the ground, avoiding the strike from the second kobold. He then raised his legs up in the air, curling them to go over his head, thus performing the first reverse barrel roll of his life. With the roll, he was able narrowly to avoid the attack of the third kobold as well, who jumped on him from up the tree. After performing the barrel roll, he immediately got up and raised his shield. Surprisingly the kobolds didn''t attack him but only growled at him. Seeing this he was confused as these guys were so aggressive before. But it was then he realized why weren''t they attacking him. But s, he was toote. All of a sudden he felt something grabbing onto his shoulders, the kobold that he threw backward hade back. The ws of the creature punctured his shoulder, but that wasn''t enough to get the man down. He instinctively knew what he was supposed to do, he immediately started moving backward and then jumped on his back. Both the creature and hended on the ground once again. As theynded, the kobold''s grip loosened a little bit, he then rolled away from the creature and got up as quickly as he can. By the time he had gotten up, one of the kobolds came close to him and tried to slice him. But he avoided the attack with sheer luck. But this time he decided to retaliate, he swung his sword toward the kobold. The kobold saw that attacking and dogged the attack by stepping sideways. But this time he started getting aggressive, even when kobold avoided the attack, he didn''t stop attacking. He started to swing his sword up and down with the intent to slice the creature once but the kobold was more agile and was able to avoid his every attack with ease. Seeing that kobold was just ying with him, he started panicking. It is then, he was tackled from the side. One of the kobolds tackled him while simultaneously taking a bite off his left shoulder. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! It was very painful. He could feel the teeth of the creature rubbing against his bone, now he knew exactly how that baby porcupine felt when he struck it in its neck. The creature gripped his left arm and refused to let go. Using this to his advantage, he immediately mmed the handle of his sword in the creature''s eyes. SCREE!!!! The creature cried in pain, and immediately let go of his arm. It started wincing in pain while trying to cover its left eye socket. Dave then immediately got up and then thrust his sword toward the creature''s torso. The sword went in without any problem. And then the creature struggled for a few seconds before stopping for good. ......¡­ You have in a Kobold. ....... You have been awarded 10 exp for your feat. ........ He then turned around to face the other two kobolds, growling, with anger in their eyes. He then took out the sword from the dead kobold''s body and then raised it toward them. As his left arm was useless for now, he put away the shield back in his inventory. It is only after putting away the shield, he realized how heavy that shield originally was. Because now he felt very light weighed. Then one of the kobolds raised its hands and started running towards him. It tried to grab him, but he easily sidestepped and avoided it. And after he had avoided the attack, he swung his sword toward the creature who came running to him. SLING Originally he just wanted to slice the stomach of the creature. But maybe he still hadn''t realized his strength at that time. Because as soon as he sliced the creature, his sword cleaved the whole torso of the creature in half. Although it was not buttery smooth when he cut something of that size, still he was surprised as he was able to do it with a lot of ease. And now there was only one kobold left. Seeing that all of his friends had passed away, it got afraid. And after growling for a few seconds, it turned around the ran the other way¡­ *** He came out of the tree line and sat down at the edge of the patch, basking in the moonlight. He had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his left arm. He had lost a lot of blood and was thinking that maybe his time hase. He had already realized that if he don''t get medical attention soon then he would die. And considering his circumstances, no one wasing for him.. looking at the moonlit grasnds, he started to think that it is the best ce to die. It was very beautiful and peaceful¡­ He didn''t know what happened to thest kobold that ran away. Whileing here, he did check over and over again to see whether or not that creature was following him. And he could not spot him. But he was not sure. But now sitting at the end of his life, he wanted to die peacefully rather than by being gnashed between the teeth of a freak of nature. While lying in the quietness, he clenched his hands. He wanted to live. But s he would not be able to do so. He started thinking about his friends and started wondering whether they were able to run away or not. Thinking about them, he couldn''t help but smile thinking that if they are alive, then his sacrifice was worth it. At the same time, he felt a little bit angry at the kobolds. He wanted to slice down thest kobold as well, at least he could have his revenge before dying. As he sat there lost in thought, he started hearing some noiseing from the forest. He started hearing screams. The screams were very weird. It sounded much like a human was screaming in a very high-pitched voice, after inhaling a lot of helium. The sound was weird, but the concerning part about the scream was that it seemed like the source of the scream wasing toward him. He got up, raised his sword, and went inside the patch. He didn''t go deeper. He just went inside a little bit and then hid behind arge fat tree. He could hear the screams getting closer and closer, and the source soon came to him. As he was hiding by the tree, something rushed past him. He saw that a ck color beast was running behind a green color midget. And Dave instantly recognizes the ck fur beast as the kobold. The kobold chased the midget to the edge of the tree line and finally tackled him to the ground. The midget was screaming and yelling in a weird strangenguage. But the screams and yells weren''t able to faze the kobold. And before he knows it, the kobold went straight for the little creature''s neck. The sharp teeth of the kobold bit the soft skin of the little midget''s throat and then ripped it out. Before it could do anything else, Dave who had sneaked up to it, swung his sword and sliced the neck of the kobold and thus killing it¡­ ................ You have in a Kobold. ................ You have been awarded 10 exp for your feat. ................ "This is for my hand mother fucker" Dave cursed while looking at the kobold''s corpse. And then he slumped down by the corpses of the midget and kobold. Now he was truly tiered and had epted his faith. Once again he got lost in his thoughts, it is only after a few minutes, his attention was then suddenly shifted when the corpses of both monsters vanished in thin air. He was amazed and a little shocked as he saw this. The blood, of the monsters, was still on the ground. But other than that, everything had vanished like a fart wind. Along with the blood, something else grabbed his attention. There was a satchel on the ground where the bodies were just now. Curious about what was in the bag, he grabbed the bag''s strap with his leg and pulled it towards him. He was feeling a little bitzy at the moment so he didn''t want to get up. There were three ss bottles inside the bag. Two of them were filled with cheery red liquid, while the third one had green liquid inside it. He became curious as to what these liquids were. He first opened the red color liquid and smelled it. The liquid had a fruity smell to it. Thinking that it was a beverage, he chugged the whole red liquid bottle. After he had drunk all of it, he started feeling weird sensations all around his body. He then looked down towards his torse and was shocked to see that the w marks on his body were healing at a visible rate. He was very amazed. And after the weird sensation had ended, he started feeling better and more invigorated than before. He then unwrapped his cloth shirt to look at his arm. And he was shocked yet once again to see his arm looked better than before. His arm hadn''t healed fully, but still, it is better than before. Immediately he chugged another red liquid bottle and sure enough, then his arm started healing at a visible rate¡­ The two bottles of red liquid were not able to heal his armpletely. But it did a hell of a good job. His arm had stopped bleeding and his wound looks better than before. And the amazing thing now was that he was not only alive and he was sure that he would live. He then got up, he was full of energy. He then opened thest green liquid bottle to see what it contained. But as soon as he opened it, he was assaulted by a rotten egg smell that almost made him throw up. So he quickly closed the bottle. He didn''t know what is in the bottle, but still he decided to keep it. He picked up the satchel as well and started moving outwards. As he got out, he couldn''t help but smile, about 300 m away from the tree line he spotted a familiar horse grazing peacefully¡­ *** "Something is wrong," Thoth mumbled as he looked at the numbers. They had already calcted and knew that the number of death in the cataclysm would be very huge. But the numbers have surpassed their estimates. And they had surpassed it by 800%. This is something that shouldn''t be possible. "Guys, I think something is wrong. The number of deaths has gone up by 800% of what we have initially estimated." Mimir said from the other end of the room. "Brahma, could you take a look at it?" Thoth said to the triplets who were ying cards by the other end of the room. "Yes, we will." One of the brothers suddenly said and then snatched the cards from his other two brothers. "Whoa, I had a very good hand." One of the brothers protested. "And I had a very bad one. Now, let''s just focus on people." The brother who snatched the cards said with a smirk. "Fine" the other two brothers said and then all three of them got up. The triplets then came towards each other and put their right hand on each other shoulders and chanted¡­ "All for one. And one for all" A bright light then engulfed the tree brothers. As the light was extinguished, emerged a man with three heads. With one head in the middle and two on the side, a being who emitted a divine aura, which made him look quite powerful and distinguished. "Do you have to chant that ridiculous lines every time you guysbine?" Mimir asked annoyingly. "No. But we do it anyway, because of something called showmanship." The head in the middle said. Then Brahma started floating in the air. He then sat down in the air in the lotus position and magically conjured 6 different screens by his side. Then the three heads started looking at the screens simultaneously. And after a minute or so he finally found the mistake¡­ "It seems that Mimir''s code had a fault. And because of it, our whole calction was wrong. I would suggest that you guys should stop the cataclysm. Or otherwise, more or less no one in the Midgard would be alive by sunrise." He said. "My code isn''t wrong," Mimir said angrily. "I have sent you the report. You can check it out." The head in the middle said. Hearing this Thoth sighed in frustration. But then he immediately did what Brahma had suggested him to do¡­. Chapter 20 Survival-3 ?It was the happiest moment of his life, the grazing horse in front of him brought him so much joy that some tears fell down his cheeks. Before he had nned to stay here for the night. After all, the cataclysm was still underway, and he coulde across dangerous monsters if he were to roam in the grasnd, on foot. But now as he had the horse, he could travel anywhere he wants without worrying much. First, he brought the horse to the tree line so that it would not run away. And then he decided that he should probably rest for a while. He was tired from all the fighting so it would be good for him to take a breather before setting off. While sitting under a tree, he started thinking about what he should do for now. He knew that the best chance of survival, he should return to Ravenshade city. He would be safe there. But when he started thinking about the next move, he suddenly started thinking about the context of the emergency quest. As he didn''t remember what exactly was written in the description of the quest, he once more opened his quest menu and checked out what was exactly written there¡­ ording to the quest, beasts would constantly attack cities and other establishments all around Midgard until sunrise. After reading this line, he started to reconsider his n of going to Ravenshade city. After all, if beasts are constantly attacking the city then it would be very dangerous to go even near it. ''Wait a minute¡­ Why am I even thinking about going to Ravenshade in the first ce? I could just simply run away. That ginger is bad news and everyone could see that. If I run away, chances are that people would think I have died. And this could work to my advantage¡­'' he thought. The more he thought about it, the more his n made sense to him. He could returnter to help his friends out when he had gained some amount of strength. But till then he could roam this ce and gather information. He wanted to explore this world and find out the route to the second floor. And this was his chance to do so¡­ Before getting on the horse, he started to think about where he was supposed to go now. After all, it was not like he had apass or anything that he could navigate his way through this world. But after thinking for a while he decided to go in a random direction. He made this decision when he remembered the map of this world. The map of this world was fairly simple and easy to memorize. There were five cities in thisndmass. He doesn''t remember the names of the other cities, but he does remember the domain of Ravenshade city. From what he remembers the Ravenshade city''s domain is kind of shaped like a triangle. It was surrounded by two rivers from two sides and an abyss from the other. So he figured that even if he starts moving in a random direction, he would be able to find his way eventually¡­ He made his horse trot slowly while traveling. He knew that his horse may have rested for a good amount of time, but it was still tiered. And probably is thirsty as well. As currently, he didn''t have anything to give this horse, so he was trying to go easy on him. Also, he knew that if he gets attacked again then this horse was the only thing that could save him. So there was no way in hell he was recklessly using his only trump card. While moving in the open grasnds, from time to time, he would look around, to see whether he could spot any monsters. He wanted to avoid any confrontation for as long as he can. he did a pretty good job for half an hour or so. But it was then he heard¡­ ROAAAAAAAAAARR As he heard the loud roar, he looked to his right side and spotted one of the big Earth Porcupines running towards him. Seeing the monster made him confused, as he was sure that there was nothing towards his right a moment ago. But now a creature that was as heavy as a double-decker truck running toward him. It seemed as though the creature manifested itself out of nowhere. But he did not panic. He had a horse and could easily outrun such a huge creature if he wants to. Thus he pulled the reins of the horse to run away. He had only traveled for some distance when suddenly, the horse suddenly neighed loudly and fell down on the side. As the horse fell down, his foot got lodged under its heavy body. The horse neighed loudly and struggled. Its legs y around like it was suffering. At first, Dave was angry at the horse as it fell down. But it was then he saw that there were two spikes lodged in the bottom half of the horse. ROAAAR The Earth Porcupine roared once again, making his heart pound faster and faster. He started panicking. He used all of his strength and somehow was able to get his foot out. He then got up quickly and started running. But as soon as he started to sprint, he fell down again. His leg stuck under the horse''s body felt like it was broken. It may be a sprain, but still, he could not run with this leg. Still, in the condition, he got up somehow and started hopping away on one leg, he moved as fast as he could, but it was already toote, Porcupine had caught up to him, he could feel the steps of that monstrosity getting closer and closer to him. But he didn''t dare to look back. As he was running, he heard the whimpering of his horseing to an abrupt stop, followed by the crushing noise of bones. He instantly knew that his time hase. He had no cover and nowhere to run. At least he could face his death head-on. He immediately took out his shield and turn back, this way he would be able to intercept any spikes thates his way. It might be hisst stand and he wanted to go like a warrior. As he turned around, he saw that creature in a frenzy, it was mming its feet on the horse''s corpse, making a paste out of it. While doing so, it was ring at him, he could feel the bloodlust in its eyes. Before he had fought with the miniature version of this creature and had killed it as well. Now as he stood in front of the giant form of the creature, he understood that now he had no chance of survival. He stood there, terrified, ready to piss in his pants at any moment of time, but he didn''t let it show in his bodynguage. He stood on his ground bravely. It is then, he thought of an idea. The n was very suicidal and may not work at all. And there was a huge chance that it could backfire on him. But he simply had to take that chance¡­ The Earth Porcupine to made its move. The spikes on its back started moving towards the front, this one could aim its spike, unlike the small one. Any person would die for sure if theye into the range of the spikes. Dave had not foreseen this attack, but he was waiting precisely for the moment when the creature uses its spike attack. Soon all the spikes on its back were aimed at him, without a dy, the creatureunched its attack. At at exact time, he gave a mentalmand to his system and retrieved the body of the small Earth Porcupine that he had stored in his inventory. The body of a small Porcupine was big enough that it was able to intercept most of the spikes aimed at him. But one of the spikes made it through and flew by Dave''s right-hand shoulder, making a huge cut in the process The big Earth Porcupine was startled to see the body of a small Porcupine suddenly manifest itself in front of his target. But before it could make any other move, a small ss bottle was thrown at it, which coincidentally broke on the big guy''s nose. ROOOAAARRR The creature started wincing in pain and started going berserk. It started shooting spikes in random directions, he ducked down and stayed hidden behind the body of the small Porcupine. The big creature suffered for a minute or two before the sound of roars died down. After everything had calmed down, he peeked from the side, and it was then he saw that the big Porcupine was now down on the ground and was breathing heavily. It had fired every one of its spikes and now his back was spike less. He then slowly came out. The loud breathing of the creature told him that the green bottle must have contained a very potent poison. And as he saw the capability of poison he was impressed as it could take down a creature of this caliber. It was then several blue boxes started appearing in front of Dave¡­ ....... You have in an Earth Porcupine. ....... You have been rewarded 250 exp for your feat. ....... Congrattions you have leveled up. ....... Congrattions you have leveled up. ....... You have been awarded 10 stats points. ....... Seeing that he had leveled up didn''t make him happy. He was now stranded in the middle of nowhere with no transport and no rations. He felt thirsty and a little bit hungry. He was injured and he had no supplies. So it was hard for him to be happy at the moment. He then put away his shield and started walking again. He didn''t want to stay in this ce. The amount of blood in the area was bound to attract some monsters. And he didn''t want to stick around when theye around¡­ After walking for half an hour, he finally saw something that got his hopes high. The structure in some distance was a tower. He figured that he would be able to find someone there or maybe get some supplies there. So he started walking towards the tower. It was hard for him to walk with a limp, his leg was aching so much, even though he was not putting a lot of weight on it. While walking towards the tower, he was having second thoughts about whether the tower would be safe. Based on his luck tonight, it was safe to assume that this ce would be crawling with monsters. But as he had nowhere else to go, he decided that it would the best to check it out. As he closed some distance between him and the tower, another set of messages started appearing in front of him¡­ ....... Due to the huge amount of death during the Emergency Quest, the quest would be halted. ....... The monster spawned during the event would be despawned. ....... Congrattions to all the yers that were able to survive the event. ....... ''If all the monsters had despawned then that would mean that they are no longer roaming around here and there. That is some good news. It means that this tower would be safe. For now at least.'' he thought¡­ The tower was huge, it was nothingpared to the high towers made back on Earth. But it was still pretty impressive considering that it was made in a ce like this. The tower didn''t have any windows. It only had one door which was broken. The door had a lot of holes and scratch marks on it. He was familiar with those scratches, they were the work of the kobolds. He knew that all the monsters had despawned but still he took out his sword while stepping inside the tower. It was pretty hard to navigate through the tower because there was light in the tower. But from the smell of blood in the air and squishy things that he was stepping on, it didn''t take a genius to understand what happened here. After stumbling dark for a minute or two, Dave finally stumbled upon antern of sorts. Thentern looked fine and was not broken. There was a small dial on thentern and when he turned, made thentern lit up. With the light of thentern, navigating through the tower became very easy. The whole tower was filled with dismembered bodies of humans. Most of the bodies had their guts taken out and were half-eaten. Seeing all these dead bodies may have made him throw his guts out previously. But now he stood like a rock, with a cold look on his face. The past few days had been tough for him, so all of this gore didn''t faze him. As he went deeper into the tower, he found some sort of armory. There were spears, bows, arrows, swords, shields, armor, and many more things that one might need when fighting. After going further, he then came across a wooden door that looked untouched. It took some force to open the door, and after opening it, he found himself in some sort of pantry. There were boxes filled with fish preserved in salt. There were some barrels of water and some boxes full of jerky. He immediately stored water and a lot of food in his inventory. As he went deeper, he also found a machine. It looked like amunication radio. He stored it in his inventory as well, he figured that he might need it in the future. After scavenging some clothes and bandages, he then locked himself in a room. He secured the room barricading it with broken furniture. After that, he first checked the wound on his shoulder and leg. After bandaging his wounds. After eating some jerky, heid down on the bare floor and immediately fell asleep. Chapter 21 Invitations ?Dave woke up, confused as well as paranoid from the darkness that surrounded him. It was then he remembered what happenedst night. He then slowly calmed down, then started searching for thentern he foundst night. Before extinguishing it, he kept it close to him, so he found it pretty easily. After liting thentern up, he looked at the destroyed room where he spent the night, now it was filled with an unpleasant smell, probably because of all those dead bodies outside. He got up slowly, the pain in his leg has gotten worse. But he still endured it and limped his way out of the room. This fine morning, the tower didn''t seem as dark and eerie, as it wasst night. But the smell of the rotting flesh in the tower had definitely gotten worse. Eventually, he had to wrap a cloth around his nose to lessen the burden of smell. He started this morning by scavenging anything that could help him in his journey. He took some clothes, and candles, and found a pouch full of coins and many more useful things in the tower. After scavenging any useful stuff, he came to the armory. He didn''t know how to use a bow and arrow or weapon that was there. Yet still, he took the weapons that were in great condition. He figured he might be able to sell themter. Or he could try to use some of them. A bow and arrow is a good weapon and could help him eliminate his target from some distance. While he could throw spears at big monsters. As far as armor was concerned, he didn''t take it. All the armor had the insignia of Raven on them. And he didn''t want to be associated with Ravenshade in any way to avoid suspicion. After he had gathered anything and everything that could be remotely useful in his journey, he made a makeshift crutch for himself and started moving again. He felt bad for leaving the mutted bodies of the soldiers just like that, but there was nothing that he could do for them. His leg was hurting like crazy, he was in no condition to bury those bodies. So he left as they were¡­ After making some distance from the tower, he stopped, sat down under the shade of a tree, and had some breakfast. He ate the beef jerky that he found yesterday. He actually wanted to eat the fish that he found, but as he didn''t know how to start a fire, he had to use beef jerky for sustenance for now. As he was eating his breakfast peacefully a number of blue color messages started popping up in front of him¡­. ............ INVITATION FROM- The Destroyer of Worlds DESCRIPTION- The grand master of death; protector of weak beings, has shown interest in you. The Destroyer of the Worlds would formally like to invite you to join his Familia. RULES- A yer of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules¡­ ¡úThey cannot kill other fellow familia members. ¡úThey cannot kill familia members of allied gods. ¡úAll the yers must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members. ¡úIt is up to The Destroyer of the World to appoint or give a particr rank to any Familia member. Other than him no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be¡­. Soldier ¡úThey cannot kill familia members of allied gods. ¡úAll the yers must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members. ¡úIt is up to The Jackal Head to appoint or give a particr rank to any Familia member. Other than him no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be¡­. Soldier INVITATION FROM- The Monster Huntress DESCRIPTION- The greatest hunter of all time; the protector of wildlife, had you. The Monster Huntress would formally like to invite you to join her Familia. RULES- A yer of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules¡­ ¡úThey cannot kill other fellow familia members. ¡úThey cannot kill familia members of allied gods. ¡úAll the yers must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members. ¡úIt is up to The Monster Huntress to appoint or give a particr rank to any Familia member. Other than The Monster Huntress no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be¡­. Soldier "That was amazing. What was the potion that made me drink?" Dave asked the old man. "It was a high-tier Revigorating potion." The old man replied. "High Tier? What does that mean?" "The potionse in 4 different tiers based on their effectiveness. The one you drank is the second strongest tier of potion. So definitely it was strong." Martha added. "4 tiers? That is amazing. Can you also fix severed limbs from these potions?" dave asked. "No. The potions won''t help you with that. But with magic, it could be done. But it is a long and arduous process and requires a skilled Mage who is level 60 or above." The old man added. "Woah," Dave said in astonishment. "By the way, I still didn''t get your name son." The old man asked. "It''s Dave. My name is Dave." "With this, the debt between us had been settled. Now excuse me." The old man said and then he got up and left. His words felt like he had done him a big favor, which he had, but his overall tone was very rude. He mumbled sarcastically. "There was a debt?" "Don''t mind him. He is a high-ranking adventurer. You know how those guys are¡­ But he is not a bad man. He came to our aid when the beast tide hit us. And he had been protecting since then. He is a great man." Martha said. "Okay¡­" The group that had saved were the survivors of various viges from the east. The old man Grump (That is what people called him) was visiting that particr area. From what he heard, Grump was spending some time with his granddaughter and daughter that night. As the beast tide hit, vigers were able to run away, safely, with his help. And now they were traveling to Ravenshade. Till now they had rescued around 8 infantry soldiers of the Ravenshade, and around 20-30 normal farmers from their plight. A group of this size needs plenty of supplies to survive. That is why they send a group to the ruined town where they found him. They were there to scavenge anything they could find, but instead, they got spotted by a local goblin horde that attacked them¡­ Martha introduced him to the group and also gave him a meal. Both of them quickly became friends, and it is then she asked him, where was he from. He simply lied to her. He didn''t want to tell her that he was Earthian. And he couldn''t lie to her about being a local of Ravenshade as he didn''t know the local towns and viges well enough to lie about it. So instead he cooked up a bullshit story about how he gained consciousness in the middle of the grasnds with no memory of where he was or how he got there. He then added some small lies as well in the mix of his big lie about how he found a bow and quiver full of arrows and a sword by his side when he woke. So he thought that he knew how to use them. That is why he was sure that when he came to their rescue. In the end, the whole camp got interested in his story. As more people, got involved, he had to spin a web of lies around his story, which started giving him a lot of anxiety. And it is only after that, someone raised a pretty valid question that he should have thought about before cooking up the lie. "If you lost all your memories, and you can''t remember anything from the past¡­ Then how did you know that your name is Dave?" asked a little girl from the group. Hearing her, he finally saw the ring hole in his story. He started wrecking his brain to find a possible solution for the mishap¡­ When asked this question, he unconsciously put his hands on his head and started wrecking his brain. As he didn''t answer for a few seconds and stayed like that, people thought that this question must have really messed with his brain or something. With that, he started to get sympathy from everyone around the camp. It is then the older people of the group consoled him and told him not to force his mind in remembering the details. They let this matter go and told him to go, and rest. He desperately needed it¡­ The group weed him wholeheartedly. They shared their meals with others, even though they were short on food supplies. They gave him a separate bed and some soldiers when heard his story gave him some pointers as well about archery and swordsmanship as well. He felt bad that he had a lot of food in his inventory that he could have shared with people here. But he didn''t dare to do so. He didn''t want any suspecting that he was in fact Earthian. He knew that the final destination of the group was Ravenshade, which is why he decided that he would leave the group the first chance he would get. For now, he decided to stick with them. From what he remembers, there are roads from Ravenshade, that lead to Cloudhold. As he doesn''t even know the direction of Ravenshade, he figured it would be for the best to stick with them for the time being. And when he finds the road leading to Cloudhold, he would split up¡­ Most of the people of the camp were asleep in their tents. While a handful of people were still awake and taking watch duty around the camp. He volunteered in the first batch of night watch because he was not feeling very tired. He had slept through most of the day because of his injuries. So he was more than happy to stay up for the first watch. When the moon was high in the sky, he took his sword and went a little bit away from the group. He then took out his sword and started swinging it. He had no idea how to even start training with the sword, but once he saw a movie where the protagonist is ordered to swing the sword in the same pattern 300 times, which apparently is part of the protagonist''s training. He had no idea why this was important, but he had to start from somewhere. SLING Because of his strength, his sword started cutting through the air, while making a whistling sound. He kept up this for a few minutes before he heard a gruff voice from behind him¡­ "What the fuck are you doing here?" he turned around and saw old man Grump standing behind him. "I was practicing¡­ my swordsmanship," he replied nervously under the intense stare of the old man. "And you are doing that here?" "I didn''t want to disturb anyone back at the camp." "You do realize that monsters can easily bypass your eyes and get close to the camp because you wanted to swing a sword in peace." "Ah¡­ I didn''t think about that. You are right, I will return back." he said and quickly started walking fast towards the camp. The old man then suddenly said. "If you want to leave, then you can leave. I will not say anything nor will I hold you ountable." "I don''t what are you talking about old man," Dave replied nervously. "I am an adventurer boy. I have seen and faced more foes than there is hair on your head boy. I know and I can tell when a man is lying. And you, my friend, have been lying since you woke up. So as I said before if you want you could leave. I will not say anything to anyone about your whereabouts. But if you try to hurt someone from the group, I will have your severe every fucking muscle out your body and feed you to kobolds." The old man said and then he went past him. Chapter 24 Four Horsemen-1 ?"I don''t know what you are talking about." Dave proimed rather loudly. He didn''t know whether the old man truly knew that he was an Earthian or not, but he didn''t n to show the old man that he was panicking, after all, the old man might be bluffing, trying to get information out of him. Also, he couldn''t let the people of the camp be suspicious of him. After all, if someone opened their mouth in front of some authority figure from the city and they tried to investigate him, then his cover could be blown. It was a very long shot that it could happen, but based on his luck so far, he didn''t want to take any chances¡­ The old man when heard the loud promation from him, turned around and faced him head-on. He also stopped in his tracks when he saw the old man ring at him. Instinctively he felt fear and his hands went on his sword which was dangling from his waist. "Do you know why are still alive boy? Do you know why are still walking around the camp when I caught you in your white lie? Do you know why I gave you a new life with a healing potion that you wouldn''t be able to afford in a million years?" the old man asked. "Ah.." He didn''t know what else to say. "That is because you saved those people. You didn''t know how to fight yet you still jumped in front of a horde of goblins. That takes guts and some goodness in the heart. That is why you are still alive. That is the only reason. Now, I don''t know whether you are some sort of smuggler, a spy from another city, or a bloody fucking pimp for fucks sake. Because of your good heart, I am allowing you to stay here. So don''t mess with the good faith that is being shown to you." The old man said and then he turned back and started returning towards the camp. He stayed behind, thinking about the words of the old man, thinking. Heter returned to the camp and stayed up, till one of the other volunteers woke up to give him a break¡­ *** The next morning, he was woken up by Martha, most of the camp was packed, and they were about to set off once again. There was no breakfast as they didn''t have a lot of food, to begin with. So all of them just got up and packed their shit and started moving again. The old man Grump was the leader of the caravan, he was barking orders left and right which everyone followed, without asking a single question. When they finally started moving, the old man ordered everyone to move in a straight line. People who do not know how to fight were moving in the middle. While the people who can fight were ordered to maintain some distance from the caravan and they were told to keep an eye out for monsters. If some warrior spots a monster or a horde of monstersing their way, they were instructed to blow a horn, given to every warrior. And upon hearing the horn, everyone was instructed to break the line and started running toward the center, making a circr formation there¡­ All of the instructions were very detailed and to the point. Observing how the old man was barking orders and how he worked, he figured that the old man had done this kind of work many times before. Martha told himst time that the old man was an adventurer. He didn''t know what was the job profile of the adventurer. But he sure did get curious about what the old man did for a living¡­ Sincest night he had been feeling guilty. The people of the caravan were hungry, and he did have some food with him. It would be not enough to feed the whole camp, but it would help them a little bit. But he was hesitating to hand the food over. It is then he started remembering the words of the old man. Thinking about it, he started moving towards the front of the caravan to have a talk with the old man. As he came to the front, he saw the old man wearing ck color armor, a quiver full of arrows and a long bow dangling from his right shoulder, a long sword dangling from his waist and he had a great war ax in his arms. The old man was armed to the boot and looked quite menacing from the back. He gulped some saliva, increased his pace, and made it toward the old man¡­ "I never introduced myself, my name is Dave." "Fuck off." The old man said. "Ah¡­ Well, people told me that your is Grump. So is that your nickname or your real name?" "Didn''t you hear me say, Fuck off?" "I want to talk to you about something." "What the fuck do you want?" "I just want to say that I have no intention of harming anyone from the camp. I lied before¡­ Because there are some people that are after me. And I may have fooled them into thinking that I am dead. And I want to keep it that way." "Is that so?" "Yeah. That is why I have nned to move away from the camp tonight because ording to Martha, we would be able to reach Ravenshade by tomorrow morning." "Alright then, now fuck off." "Got it," he said and then he moved back a little bit and joined the caravan once again. It was then he realized that he didn''t offer the food as he had originally nned to do. But still, he remained at the back as he didn''t want to talk to the old man again. After a 4 or 5-hour walk, Grump ordered everyone to stop and make camp. Civilians started cooking food, while soldiers started scouting the area. He on the other hand helped around the camp. Within minutes, a fire was lit, they put on a pot on the fire to make stew and everyone started resting. While helping everyone, he couldn''t help but notice that Grump was still helping out and barking orders at the camp. And from his face, it was apparent that he was not tired at all. He looked just fine. Curious about what Grump used to do for a living, he decided that he would ask around the camp for some information. When lunch was served, he joined Martha. They sat down together and started chatting¡­ "How are you feeling now?" Martha asked while taking a bite of stew. "Fine. But my leg is still a little numb." "Well, of course, it would be. It contracted rot for fucks sake. I tell you, you should go and visit some pharmacy. They would be able to whip you up a concoction for your problem." "I will see to it¡­ By the way, what is the deal with Grump?" "What do you mean?" "You know, why he is always so¡­" Dave then started thinking of an appropriate word to describe the old man. "Behave like a dick?" Martha offered. "Ah¡­ let''s go with that." "Well, one can''t me him. I have heard that once he used to be a jolly good fellow. He and his adventurer party were pretty good. But one by one they all died, and now he is the only one left¡­ In his life, he had seen so many deaths that had made him this stone-hard man. And thus a dick." "Woah¡­ He had it hard." "Yup¡­ And do you want to know something pretty interesting?" "What?" "Do you see how he is armed to top to boot?" "Yes." "Well, he is carrying all those weapons because he is a solo adventurer. And from what I have heard, he is the strongest solo adventurer of the Midgard." "Solo adventurer?" "Yeah." "No, I mean what is a solo adventurer?" "What is a solo adventurer? Have you been living under a rock?" "Well, I don''t know. Remember me losing all my memories?" "Oh¡­ Yeah¡­. So you know what is an adventurer right?" "Ah¡­ Treasure hunter?" "No¡­ Well sort of. But no¡­ So you know how there are monsters everywhere you go." "Yeah." "So most of the time, the army of the city deals with the monsters, but they are very few in numbers. So they can''t do things like protecting traveling merchants, giving cover for harvesters who want to get some herbs from the forest, diving into the dungeon, etc. These kinds of work are done by adventurers." "Okay, they are like mercenaries, swords to hire." "Yeah, sort of. But adventurers are more than mercenaries. They fight monsters and sometimes humans, they have in-depth knowledge of flora and fauna and they also do some scouting works." "So they do a variety of jobs that the army don''t do." "Correct. And to do these varieties of jobs, most adventurers form a group or party to take on quests. These groups are not normal groups. Each member of the party ys a specific role in the group, some of the members would work as vanguard while some would work as healers. This way the sess rate of quest increases and the mortality rate decreases." "Hm¡­" "Now the amazing thing about Grump is that he is a solo adventurer. That means he takes on a quest that is meant to be handled by a group and evenpletes them." "So he is a mutli-tasker?" "Sort of. And he is the best multitasking adventurer out there." After hearing her words, he started looking at the old man in a new light. He understood that the old man was one tough nut. Till now he had fought only a handful of monsters, still, he couldn''t help but shiver from fear when he thinks about them. But that old man not only fights with those monsters on a regr basis but also does everything alone. That was very amazing¡­ As he was thinking about how badass the old man was, his train of thought was derailed, when a soldier came back to camp, huffing and puffing, with a horrified face as if he had seen a ghost. That soldier was one of the rescued soldiers of Ravenshade. The soldier went straight to Grump, whispered something in his ears, which turned the old man''s face ugly. He didn''t know what the soldiers said, but looking at Grump''s reaction alone, he understood that something had happened. Abruptly Grump got up and started barking orders¡­ "EVERYONE! GET UP! AND START MOVING!" he yelled. As he yelled everyone started looking at him as if he was insane. They had been traveling for a long time. And most of them are tired. "EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO LIVE GET THE FUCK UP! THERE IS A VERY DANGEROUS MONSTERS NEARBY. GET UP!" he yelled again. His words finally made people move. The old man was rude and kind of a dick. But he had kept them all alive till now. Therefore everyone in the camp trusted his instincts. Everyone started to get up. Soon Grump started bellowing at the people who were packing their stuff. He barked at them and told them to leave behind anything that they couldn''t take in the next 30 secs or so. He and Martha also got up and started helping people move. But it was then they heard it¡­ POOOWW!!! It was a horn. He then looked to his right side where the horn was blown. And it was then he spotted it. On just the horizon of the grasnds were these 4 figures standing in line. From the distance, he could not tell who or what those were, all he could were shadows. On the horizon were these guys, sitting on the horses, from their silhouette it was pretty evident that they were humans in fact, human. The panicked state of Grump while looking at those 4 figures in the distance made him think that maybe those guys were bandits of some sort. That is why Grump was panicking so much. It was then he noticed that Martha, who was standing beside him had taken out her telescope and was checking them out. "Martha!" Grump yelled from the other side. "Four of them. The horn bearer is the second one from the right." Martha yelled back. "EVERYONE LISTEN. START RUNNING. TOWARDS THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION NOW!" Martha yelled. And soon people started to panic and they started running. While he was confused. From what Martha had told him before, he assumed that Grump is a very powerful man. So why the hell was he making people panic when they are dealing with 4 measly bandits? "He would be able to handle them right?" he asked Martha. "Don''t know. One had to consider a lot of possibilities while dealing with them¡­ You should run as well." He was now more confused than ever. "But these guys are bandits, how hard could to take care of them?" "Those are not bandits. Those are monsters." Martha said while running towards Grump. But before going she tossed her telescope to him. He opened the small portable telescope to scope out the enemy. And what he saw on the horizon made a chill run down his spine¡­ On the horizon, there were exactly four people sitting on the horses, but he was wrong. Through the telescope, he saw that the silhouettes weren''t sitting on a horse per se. But they were half horse from the waist down. And from the waist up they were humans. The creatures were wearing armor made of bones and from what he saw from the telescope, the bones belonged to humans Seeing such a creature through the telescope, he was reminded once again that he was in a fantasy world. It was then the creatures in the distance started making their move. They started running towards their camp. He looked around and saw most of the people have run away. The only people who were still standing on the ground were Grump, Martha, him, and two other soldiers, while the rest of them had run away. Those creatures were very fast, it could be said that they were faster than the horse that he rode the other day. Seeing them running towards them, he gulped a big chunk of saliva and started preparing himself mentally for the battle toe. Chapter 25 Four Horsemen-2 ?Everyone was tense, those half-horse monsters were closing in on them with incredible speed, based on the faces of the soldiers present with them, Dave understood that they might be very dangerous. Grump mmed his big battle ax on the ground, making it stick to it, and then calmly started walking in the direction of the monsters. While moving he took out his long, dangling from his shoulder, and then he knocked one of the arrows onto his bow. Then he stretched the string of his bow and waited. Monsters wereing closer and closer as every second passed, but Grump didn''t do anything. He waited there patiently without a worry about the world. And as soon as the monsters got in range of his bow, he raised the bow in the air and then let it loose. Grump used a skill or maybe magic while shooting the arrow. Because as soon as he shot it, the arrow started elerating with a burst of wind. From his naked eyes, Dave saw that the arrow leave behind a trail of wind, it was spinning on its axis when cruising through the air and hence producing eddies that looked like a tornado. The arrow then made its way toward those monsters, striking down the one carrying the horn, the creature fell down, then did a barrel towards the front and stayed on the ground. Even with one of theirrade down, the other creatures didn''t break the formation. They still kept running towards them¡­ Grump then threw his bow away and started running toward the monsters AAAAAHHHHH!!! With a very loud warcry, the old man ran. Hearing his battle cry, the creatures also started shouting, resembling the battle cries of the old Native American Indian tribes. And it was then he saw, one of the creatures taking out huge swords from their back and charging toward Grump. It is only after seeing those big swords, he understood why these guys were panicking in the first ce. Monsters of any kind are a little bit hard to deal with. But when a monster starts to use a weapon, then its danger level increases significantly. The creatures in front of him were on a different level, now he understood that. He remembered those little goblins. They wererge in number and were using mostly blunt weapons to attack. But physically they were very weak and hence easier to deal with. But the creatures in front of him were pretty muscr. As well as the weapons that they were using looked shiny and sharp. Their weapons looked like something that was made freshly in a forge, making them even more dangerous¡­ Grump ran at full speed toward the creatures. The sheer speed of his sprint wasmendable, but it was nothingpared to what happened next. The three creatures were moving in a formation. One was in the front while the other two were in the back. As soon as they intercepted each other, the creature in front swung his great sword toward the old man''s forehead. While the old man avoided the blow by getting on his knees and sliding past the creature. As Grump slid past the first creature, he was met with the gazes of the other two. The old man then pulled out two Katakuri knives conveniently hidden behind his quiver. He then swung his knives, trying to cut the hoves of the creatures. One of the creatures got caught by his attack and thus lost one of its hoves. While the other creature narrowly avoided his attack by jumping at thest second. The one whose hove had been chopped off clean fell on the ground head first. While its partner, after jumping away from the old man, came back at him again. He tried to crush the old man under his weight, but the old man disyed incredible agility and narrowly avoided its attack while still lying on the ground¡­ While Grump was taking on two creatures at the same time, Dave and the people who stayed behind got into battle position as a creature that was making its way towards them. Martha who was an archer knocked her bow and fired at the charging creature. But the creature easily deflected the arrows, they were not as fast as the one the old man shot. Dave started fearing for his life. Martha''s arrows were in no way slow that one can deflect them with a sword. But the creature easily did so. He immediately took out his sword and shield from his inventory. Martha and the other two soldiers noticed how he conjured a shield and a sword out of thin air. But they didn''t say anything at the moment because they knew that now was not the time. He was also fully aware that his actions had sent a loud howler to the world that he was an Earthian. But he didn''t worry about it now. There were bigger fishes to fry currently. Martha fired a lot of arrows toward the uing creatures but none of them seem to be doing anything to him. It was able easily to deflect them with its great sword. As she saw, her efforts were fruitless, she gritted her teeth and knocked another arrow, whose tip was set aze as soon as she knocked it. She then pulled the string and held the arrow in its position. Slowly the fire started burning brighter and brighter. People around her started feeling the power of the arrow getting stronger and stronger as time passed by. But till then the creature understood what would happen to him if she fired the arrow. So it took out a small throwing knife from his back and threw it at Martha. Dave who was closest to Martha knew, how important that arrow was. And it may be their only chance to stop the advance of the creature. As soon as he saw that creature was taking something out of his back, he instinctively jumped in front of Martha to shield her from whatever the creature would throw at him. The throwing knife that the creature threw at her was intercepted by his shield. As soon as the knife made contact with the shield, it cut through it, as if it was made of cardboard. The momentum of the knife made him fly back. And unfortunately, he flew back towards Martha''s legs which made her tumble and fall on him. As Martha lost her bnce, she unknowingly let go of the bowstring. Because of this, the arrow flew away in another direction,pletely bypassing its target. And as soon as the arrow crashed on the ground, it created a very loud explosion which send shockwaves everywhere¡­ Now the creature was now upon them. As soon as it reached them, it was intercepted by the two soldiers who had both raised their shields in the air. As the creature came towards them, it swung its sword toward the soldiers on the right. The soldier took the full power of the blow on his shield. He fell down on his feet after taking the deadly blow. Using this opportunity, the other soldier, took his sword and swung it at the creature. But the creature avoided the attack after hopping backward. But it was then the creature abruptly jumped and turned around midair. Then as soon as itnded, it send a back kick toward the second soldier who was not able to block the blow of the kick. The blownded on the soldier''s head and made him fly backward. The soldier died immediately after the impact. Then the creature immediately moved towards the one who had fallen down. That guy was still having trouble moving, the blow did a number on his leg, refusing to move. He didn''t even see the big swording towards him and before one know it, his neck was cut in half¡­ Dave ran towards the creature while yelling a war cry. The creature only smirked at his feeble attempt, while Martha started firing a volley of arrows toward the creature. With Dave advancing towards him, the creature then pulled out another short sword from his back. The short was a saber that looked like a big army knife in its hand. When Dave came to the creature, he was greeted by a downward swing of the saber. Which he was able to dodge by a hair''s length. From the start, he knew that he had no chance of fighting the monster alone in a sword fight. So he devised a n that maybe he should at least try to decapitate the hands of the monster. That is why after dodging its attack, he quickly swung his sword with all of the strength he had to decapitate the monster''s arm. But the monster was more agile. It instantly hopped backward and avoided his strike. But in return, one of Martha''s arrows got through and struck the creature right under his right side chest. The creature bellowed with anger as it felt the arrow lodged in his chest. It instantly switched des in his hands. And then threw the saber at her. She tried to dodge it, but she was not fast enough. The saber struck the lower right side of her abdomen, piercing her like seekh kabab. But she was still alive. But the monster was not done yet. It threw its long sword as well, which struck her on her chest, killing her instantly. All of this happened in a split second, and the monster was upon him again, it took out another saber from its behind and swung it at him. He wasn''t able to react in time, the monster''s strength and skill made his sword go flying up in the air. The creature caught his sword with its free hand and then pointed its sword toward Dave''s neck. The creature had a smug look on his face, while he was horrified¡­ The situation was bad. But he knew one thing, he was not ready to die. Not yet. He had been through so much already, and all for what? To be killed by a monstrosity who wears human bones for ornaments. No, he was not buying it. He was not ready. It was then he had a crazy idea. He didn''t know whether it work or not, but at least he had to try. He then started staring into the monster''s eyes with a terrified face. But it was then he changed his expression to that one of happiness. He then started looking that the back of the monster. Seeing the sudden change in expression, the monster''s smug face vanished and it turned its face around. And that was all that he was hoping for. He immediately took out a spear from his inventory through a mentalmand and thrust it toward the creature''s face. The spear pierced through its face without a hitch. The creature took a step back, its arms started moving randomly, while its body started convulsing as if it had a seizure. And then it fell on the ground. ............¡­. You have in a centaur. ............¡­. You have been awarded 250 exp for your feat. .......... You have leveled up. .........¡­.. You have leveled up. ............. You have leveled up. .............. When the creature fell, it fell on the spear, thus breaking the staff of the spear in half. He then knelt down and took out his spear. It was then he turned when he heard some running towards him. He then saw Grump running towards him and the other while covered in blood from head to toe. "What happened?" "Killed the son of a bitch." he murmured and then he went to check on Martha, but she had passed away. "You killed him? Fuck. You are a very goddamn lucky kid." Grump said. Then he took out the Karakuri knife from his back and started opening the chest of the centaur. Dave who still kneeling by Martha, mourning her death, was shocked when he heard him cutting open the dead creature. He looked back and asked¡­ "What the hell are you doing?" "Taking out the mana crystal," Grump said while putting his hands in the creature''s chest. And a secondter, he took out a shining blue gemstone from its chest. "What the hell is that?" "That is the mana stone," Grump said. Then he tossed the stone to Dave who caught it in the air. "Now let''s go. We need to get out of here." the old man said and then he started moving towards the nearest dead soldier. He then started rummaging through its body and started pocketing anything he found useful. "Wait what about them?" Dave said while pointing towards the dead bodies lying around them. "They are dead. There is nothing you and I can do for them. We are in Centaur''s territory now. And it would be better for us if we get away from this ce as fast as we can. Because the next centaur party would be bigger than this one. These were just scouts." Grump said. "But we can''t just leave them here." "Sure we can. Just leave them." "But¡­" Dave was about saying something again. But he stopped midway. Grump was right. They had to leave them behind. His heart said that they should bury them at least. But then he started thinking about the corpses that he had seen so far. He had seen the mutted corpses of the soldiers at the tower and the corpses of the normal people in that ghost town. Those people also needed to be buried or cremated, but still, he left them as it they were. And the only reason that his heart refused to leave these guys was that he knew them¡­ But with a heavy heart, he got up and started looking at Grump for further instructions. Chapter 26 Deal With Devil-1 ?Dave was disgusted by the actions of the old man. Instead of getting out of there, the old man started rummaging through the corpses of the deceased soldiers and Martha. After he had pocketed their belonging, the old man then took his battle ax and the bow that he had thrown previously and then started moving. He didn''t like the idea of pocketing things from the dead, still, he made peace with his situation for now. He was enraged, but he kept quiet. As much as he hates to admit it, his first priority was to get out of there as soon as possible. When they ultimately started moving, he got confused when he saw the old man moving toward the East. The members of the camp ran towards the south. And he could see a stretch ofnd with big trees, due south. He knew that people from the camp would have hidden inside the tree line. But Grump was not going that way. "Hey, people from the camp are that way." "So? If you want then go, and join them," Grump said as he picked up the pace of his walking "Wait why are you not going to them? The monsters are dead right? So shouldn''t we return to them?" he asked while jogging to catch up to him. "You are an Earthian, arent you?" Grump suddenly asked as he stopped. The old man caught him off guard, he stuttered and denied the allegation. "Wha¡­ What? I am not.". "Yes, you are. You admitted that you didn''t lose your memories. That means you remember everything. But you didn''t recognize the monster you just killed. And no Midgardian that had ever lived does not know what a centaur is. And clearly, you don''t." Grump said while ring at him. The cat was out of the bag, even if he lies now, the old man was smart enough to see through his lies, and there was no reason for him to lie anymore. "Yeah, I am an Earthian. So what?" he admitted it in the feat of anger. Hearing this, Grump turned around and started walking again. "Wee to the Midgard! We just killed the scouting party of centaurs. If you must know these monsters or centaurs are pretty powerful and strong creatures. They kill any human in sight. They are excellent with swordy and are excellent trackers. So we need to get the fuck out of here." "Shouldn''t we inform people from the campsite about this as well?" "If you want, then you can go and inform them. I am not going there. I am getting the fuck out." "Wa.. How could you say something like that? Amongst those people are your granddaughter and daughter." "Nah¡­ That was just a cover. The granddaughter is a prostitute that I used to fuck. I went to meet with her as she was ckmailing me about a child we supposedly had. But as it turns out, she was wrong. I am not the father of the child." "Wa.. How do you know that? And even though she was not your child, isn''t your duty as an adventurer to save those people?" Hearing this Grump turned around and scrunched up his face as if he was talking to an idiot. "First of all, I saved all those people, not because of a sense of duty or something. I saved them because I saw Martha, and I wanted to get in her pants, and like you, she was a good person, I was acting that way, so she could let her guard down in front of me" Dave didnt what to think anymore. "You saved all these people to get in that girl''s pants?" "Yeah. She was a feisty one, it is sad that she is now dead." "You are kidding me right?" Hearing his words, Grump chuckled. "No. The only reason I even wasted my precious potion on you sorry ass was to impress her. Nothing else." "I¡­. I can''t believe you," He had to admit, he had never met such a scumbag in his life. "Also, those people and I were going to simr destinations so I didn''t mind that they tagged along." "Okay, I get it¡­ You are a scumbag. But we could at least help those people, we are so close to Ravenshade." "I don''t run a charity punk. I don''t do any job for free. If I go to them, then that would mean I have to fight with more monsters. And I rather avoid that." "What the hell are you talking about?" dave asked with an enraged voice. Grump grabbed him and made him turn towards the tree line in the distance. He then opened the telescope that previously belonged to Martha and made him look where he was pointing¡­ When Dave looked through the telescope, he didn''t know what he was looking at. But then he realized something, the trees that he had pointed towards had w marks on them. And based on 4 stripes on the tree, he knew very well, to whom those marks belonged¡­ "Kobolds. If those people had run to the trees then they would be dead by now." Grump said. "But there could be some people there that are still alive. We could help them." Dave said while folding the telescope. "As I said before, I am not that into charity work. If you want, then you go and save them." Grump said and then he started walking again. Now standing there, Dave faced a moral dilemma. He didn''t know whether he should go back and save them or whether he should move on. Those people had been very kind to him until now. They had shared food and a bed together. And he was very grateful for that. But he didn''t whether he would be able to fight off those kobolds hiding in the trees. There was even a chance that he simply die if he goes there. And after thinking about it, he clenched his fists and started running toward Grump. *** For hours both of them walked together. No one spoke a word to each other. And it was only after spotting another one of the stone towers in the middle of nowhere that Grump did speak. "There." He spoke and then he picked up the pace and basically started jogging toward the tower. While Dave silently followed behind him. The structure of this tower was simr to the tower that he had stayed the night in. The only difference between both towers was that this was not trashed yet. The front door of the tower was locked by not broken. But it waster broken by Grump to get inside. Most of the things in the tower were in their ce. But based on food on tes and pots upon the ash of fire, he figured that people in the tower left in a hurry. Grump, on the other hand, didn''t bat an eye at the tes, and went straight inside. As he followed him inside, he saw that this room had amunication radio in it, just like the one that he found in the previous tower. Grump, then sat down on a chair in front of the radio and started using it¡­ "Watchtower to Control center, can anyone hear me?" "This is the control center, may I know which watch tower am I speaking to?" came a voice from the other side. "Well I am not a fucking soldier, so I don''t know which watch tower is this." "What?" "Yeah, I am an adventurer. My name is Gilbert. I am an A-rank adventurer. And I am calling you guys because me and¡­" Grump or Gilbert then turned towards Dave. "Me and my nephew just hunted a scouting party of Centaurs. I wanted to report the location of the party, they were about, 17-19 li, due east towards the Ravenshade, from Heckshire town in the western front." "Got it? How many were there at the party?" "4 mother fuckers." "Alright¡­ And you do know that if your information turns out to be false or you used someone else identification then there could be a death penalty for you?" "I know thew punk, I break them all the time. Speaking of which I am currently in the watch tower that is northeast of Forgile forest. Can you send someone of your boys toe to fetch me?" "I cannot do that right now." "Why? I am an A-Rank adventurer for fucks sake." "Well, I can''t¡­ Since the cataclysm, we are short on hands?" "What are you talking about punk?" "You know big beast tide?." "Yeah." "It destroyed everything. The great walls of Ravenshade had fallen. The whole nation is in turmoil right now." "The wall had fallen? Fuck. How is the city now?" "Most parts of the city are in ruins. The situation over here is bad. And I mean really bad. So I suggest, you get to the city as fast as you can. Because, from what I have heard, the umtion is going to be started soon The domain of Ravenshade is in ruins." The voice said and then after some more information, Grump finally put down themunicator. "Fuck." Grump cursed after he put down themunicator. While Dave just stood there listening to their every conversation but not understanding what was happening. "What happened?" "You heard the man. The walls of Ravenshade had fallen. It means the safe haven that was once known as Ravenshade is not anymore¡­ You know Ravenshade is right?" "Yeah, I know what is Ravenshade¡­ But what is the umtion that you guys talked about?" "umtion is like the will of the world. We as humans have destroyed forests to build towns and cities and killed many beasts to take over this world. But we were never the rulers of the world. So the world fights and tries to kill to get back itsnd through umtion." This made him even more confused. Seeing this Grump continued. "To take back itsnd, the world spawns monsters from time to attack the human settlements. And after it had killed off pests or humans, it start to take itsnd back. Remember the town that you came across." "Yes¡­" "I bet if you go there now, then you will see that most of the bodies of humans would be gone. That is because the world swallows them. And not only that, the whole town would be covered in green nts by now. The whole geography of the town would be changed." "Is there any way to stop it?" "To reim what has been umted, one just needs to go to the ce and kill the neighboring monsters. And then just hold the fort for some time. Then the nts would stop growing and everything would turn normal" "That guy said that the nation of Ravenshade is in ruins? How exactly?" "The beast tide did a lot of damage. From the destroyed towns I came across, I knew the situation was bad. But I didn''t know it was this bad. If the walls of Ravenshade had fallen, then it wouldn''t be an understatement to say that the whole nation is on a brink of umtion. There is a possibility that maybe in the future, the Ravenshade would be erased from the map of Midgard." "Fuck¡­ That is insane. Is there any way to stop it?" "Yeah Fight back, kill monsters. But most of the poption of the city is dead remember.." "So what should we do now?" "We should head towards Ravenshade as soon as we can. Because now that the army of the city had retreated, there is no one to keep watch on the spawning of monsters. That means this whole piece ofnd will be a hell of a dangerous¡­" Grump said grimly¡­ *** Grump called the shots and he decided they should sleep in the tower for now. The night will be upon them in a couple of hours. Due to umtion, there is a higher chance that monsters would spawn on their way to Ravenshade. And he would rather stay the night under a shelter rather than stay the night out there in open. ording to him, he would rather prefer walking in monster-infested areas in the daytime. They could have better visibility and most monsters are not that active during the daytime. So he decided that it would be better for them to leave tomorrow¡­ Currently, Grump was cooking dinner for them. This tower too had supplies of dried fish and beef jerky in it. So he graciously took them out of the storehouse and was cooking fish stew for them. While the stew was cooking in the pot, Grump was sitting by the fire and was using this time to clean up his armor and other weapons. Among the weapon that he was cleaning were the things that he stole from the corpses. Seeing him so graciously cleaning those weapons, Dave decided to start a conversation with him. "Have you¡­ Do you do this often? Stole things from the dead?" "I take things from the dead because they don''t need them anymore. And in this world, one could always use a good weapon." "Do you not find it hical? Immoral?" Dave asked. Hearing this question, Grump scrunched up his face once again, as if talking to an idiot. "No¡­ It is not hical to me. When I was a kid living in the streets of Ravenshade, I used to steal for a living. People say that stealing is hical. But to me, it never was, it was the only way I could go to sleep with my stomach full. As for these weapons, I didn''t steal them. I just took them when the original owner didn''t need them anymore. So there is nothing hical about this." "Yeah right," Dave said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "So what about you? What do use to do for a living before you came here?" "I was a cook." "A cook? You were a cook and you managed to kill a centaur? What are your skills?" "Skills? I have just one, it is called themon tongue. It is through this from which I could talk, understand and write thenguage of this world." "And am I supposed to believe that?" "I am telling the truth you know." "Then I don''t believe you." "Fine." "And at least tell a good lie next time. You killed a centaur for fucks sake with your strength. No one would believe you if you tell them this lie." "I am not lying. I was able to kill that centaur because I am a very smart man." "So killed him with your brain? Is that what you are trying to tell me?" "Yeah¡­ Sort of. You see when he was upon me and was about to strike me down, I used my brain and devised a devious n¡­" then Dave told him about how he distracted the centaur and killed him. "Wait Wait Wait¡­ You are telling me that you conjured a spear? How the fuck you did do it without having the proper skills for it? Huh?" this time Grump spoke with a hint of sarcasm. "Well, it is not my skill per se. You see every Earthian has¡­ this¡­ pocket space¡­ with them where they could store things. And I have some spears lying around in my space pocket. That is all." "Wait¡­ Do you have a pocket space? And you have spears lying in it?" Grump asked while standing up. "Yeah." Dave said while being weirded out by his sudden action. "How much space do you have?" "Ah¡­ Why?" "Just answer dammit!" Grump asked. "A lot. I mean I have all sorts of things in my pocket space." "Dave, listen to me. It is apparently very important to me to know how much space you have. So just answer the question dammit." Grump asked aggressively, making him fear for his life. Chapter 27 Deal With The Devil-2 ?Grump''s aggression startled him, he knew that the old man was very strong, he had seen that man take down three centaurs in just a matter of minutes, that alone proved he was indeed very strong. So when a guy like that acted in such a way, he knew that he has to y it nice, otherwise he would be the next person on the receiving end of the old man''s big ax. So he yed nice. He started asking him questions about his inventory. He was very interested in his ability. He wanted to know what he had stored in his pocket space, so he conjured a spear that he stole from the tower... "Nice spear¡­ Where did you steal it from? This craftsmanship¡­. You stole it from some soldier''s barrack didn''t you?" "So what?". Then the old man handed the spear back to him and asked him rather nicely. "Listen kiddo. There is no easy way to say this but¡­ Earthians are a very costlymodity here in Midgard. Nobles and wealthy merchants would pay a huge amount for your ass. And after they had bought you, they will chain you up and make you their bitch. That means that they could do anything to your ass no one could do shit about it¡­ So now the question is whether you want your freedom. Or do you want to be someone''s bitch?" "Are you telling me that you will sell me?" "I was going to. But now I am interested in the ability that you showcase about a moment ago¡­. You know I am strong right? I can protect you from all the evil people out there. You just have to be honest with me." His words were like the temptation of the devil, he felt as if he was a child and a pedophile was trying to lure him into his room. He didn''t feel good. But thing was, he understood that he was stuck with him for now. He could not do anything to the old man. He could try to run away, but after hearing about umtion and all the shit that had been going on out there, he felt that even if he runs away that then there will be a higher chance that he would be killed by a monster. "What do you want?" He asked admitting defeat. "How much space do you have in your space pocket?" Grump asked with a big smile. Surprisingly when he showed him how much space he has, Grump''s smile widen, and he started looking like the grinch, smiling at his collection of Christmas presents¡­ He also showed the old man how much stuff he had in his inventory. And there was a lot of space still left in there. Seeing this the old man started smiling even more. He became so happy that he picked Dave up and raised him in the air and started dancing. After his constant protest, the old man finally let him down. And it was then the old man told him about what made him so happy¡­ As it turns out, the old man is an adventurer as well as a smuggler. And the smuggling job had a lot of money in it. But the only problem in this job was the taxation, there was strict regtion on trading between cities, as no one wants to share their resources with one another. That is where smugglerse in. Smugglers had to pay a certain fee to the soldiers and higher officials to turn a blind eye to their operations. Sometimes bribes almost take 40% of the whole cut so making their profit margin even slim. For example. Ravenshade and Cloudhold were allies in the name. But the higher-ups of Ravenshade keep a very close eye on exports and imports from Cloudhold. And anyone is caught smuggling things to Cloudhold without a permit would have a bounty raised on their heads. And they will be advertised as criminals. Because of this, the smugglers had to pay a lot of money to the soldiers of both the city to keep their mouths shut. But with him, the smuggling job could be a lot easier. Because no one can check his inventory, which is why Grump had nned to use him as a smuggler''s vessel. He would use him to smuggle things in and out of the Ravenshade. As the walls of the city had fallen, Grump was eyeing this as a pretty good business opportunity. With his contacts, he would be able to secure good smuggling contracts. And he had nned to be rich as soon as he can and retire¡­. ? "So let me get this straight. You want me to smuggle things in my inventory and make you a lot of money." "Yes." "Okay¡­ Why should I agree to work with you?" "First of all, work on your listening skills. You would work for me. Not with me. For me. Second of all, I will give you a cut." "How much?" "10%," Grump said with a grin. "50%" "Fuck no! How about 25%?" "40%" "You are asking for too much." "Okay¡­ I will be happy with 25%. But¡­ I will only agree to it if you give me other types ofpensation along with the money." "What do you want?" "First guarantee, that I will stay anonymous. I don''t want to meet with anyone who would be involved in the deals. If I ever have to meet them then I will wear a mask to hide my identity." "Hide your identity? Sure¡­ It is a weird request but sure." "Second thing that I would need is your teaching. I need to learn how to fight monsters and humans alike. The ce where I came from is a very peaceful ce. It is nearly not as violent as this ce is. So in order to survive in this ce, I would need you to teach me things¡­'' "My teaching¡­ sure why not? I can surely teach a thing or two." "Third thing that I would need from you is a partnership. I know that I will be working for you. But I would have a full right to back out of a job if I see it as dangerous. And you will not force me to do anything against my wishes." "Yeah yeah¡­ So do we have a deal?" Grump asked putting his hands in front of Dave. And then both of them shook hands. *** When Gilbert woke the next morning, he felt oddly energetic. He was very excited because he had found a gold eggying goose. And he only had to do a few more jobs and he would be set for his retirement. The notion of retirement in his dream house with two maids had made him so energetic that he had decided that he would try to reach Ravenshade today, by nightfall. As he got up from his bed, Gilbert looked at the other bed beside him. And he found it empty. Seeing the empty bed, he started panicking. He thought the golden eggying goose had run away. He frantically got up and came out of the room, only to find Earthian by the firece. He saw that the Earthian was hanging from a wooden beam. There was the smell of sweat in the room. He saw that there was a sword lying beside the Earthian. And he was constantly pulling himself up and down the beam. Seeing this, Gilbert smiled. This Earthian reminded him of his younger days. "I see you have been working diligently." He said. Hearing this the Earthian finally got off the beam and turned towards him with his sweaty face. "You get the sudden motivation to get strong when you make a deal with a smuggler and you are constantly attacked by monsters," he replied. Hearing this Gilbert took a chair and sat on it. "Sleep wellst night?" "Nah¡­ With all the things that had been going on, I just couldn''t sleep." "Unhappy with the deal you struck eh?" "Sort of¡­ Back on Earth, I was a normal cook. And since I havee here, I have been constantly attacked by monsters, abandoned a few people so that I could save my ass, and now I have struck a deal with low life smuggler like you. I have done all the things that I would have never done back on Earth. And no I am just confused about what kind of man I have be¡­" "I tell you what you are¡­ You are a Dumbass!" "A Dumbass? Really?" "Yeah¡­ Why are you always crying about small things? You abandoned those people because they were of no value to you. You left the corpses of those people behind because there was nothing else you could have done at the moment. And you struck a deal with the smuggler because it is the best deal that you have which will not only let you survive in this cursed ce but would also nurture you. You did all of those things because they are beneficial for you. It is good to be selfish about yourself." "You wouldn''t understand what I going through." "Fine. I don''t want to understand. Because as far as I know, you couldn''t have done anything else to make these situations go away. And I am just saying¡­ Don''t beat yourself up because of things from the past. Just look forward and move on. Life is too short. And out all the amazing things that you can do with your life, you should not use to carry the burden of your past¡­" he then left the Earthian to cook breakfast. The whole thought process of Earthians was very weird. From what he had heard, most of the Earthians have a hard time adjusting here because their world is very peaceful whenpared to this ce. But still, it baffles him that the Earthians are such big babies. Like the one, he was stuck for now¡­ After eating breakfast, he went around to the tower to scavenge anything useful. He found a pouch full of money under a shady floorboard under one of the bunk beds. As Ravenshade was mostly destroyed, he knew that there will be a shortage of food there. So he made his Earthian friend carry all the crates of dried fish and beef jerky. He figured he could sell some of them for high prices as there is bound to food shortage in the city. After taking everything, they started their journey toward Ravenshade¡­ While walking, the Earthian stayed silent at the start. But after they have covered some distance, he broke the silence¡­ "How did you get this strong?" he asked. "Killing anything that got in my way," I said honestly. "Did someone taught how to use your weapons? Like did you have a teacher while growing up?" "Nah. Didn''t have any teacher of anything. And what is even there to learn about weapons? You just need to remember that to kill a being you just need to stab it from the pointy end." "Got it¡­". *** As they moved forward, Dave started to notice that Grump was acting weird. He was more vignt toward his surroundings, and he seemed to be overly protected for him. Seeing this, he started to wonder whether the old man swings that way¡­ Because of umtion, traveling has be more dangerous. That is why Grump insisted that they should travel as fast as they could. At first, he thought that Grump was an overly sensitive guy, things couldn''t be that bad. But soon he also started seeing the results of umtion during their journey. While they were moving, they eventually crossed a town that was in ruins. Based on moss and vegetation growing around the town, one might assume that this ce was abandoned a very long time ago. But ording to Grump, he visited this town around a week ago for the annual festival that is celebrated here. And he enjoyed the festival very much. Seeing the abandoned town and hearing Grump''s story gave him the extra motivation to push himself further. Now he was on board with Grump''s n to reach Ravenshade by nightfall and have dinner there¡­ The rest of the journey was quiet and they didn''t speak to each other that much. But when a group of goblins attacked out of nowhere, Grump once again showed Dave how strong he actually was. There were around 20-25 goblins in the group. But for Grump taking care of the goblins was like walking in a park. He swiftly killed them and never let any goblin approach him. Finally, by nightfall, they were able to reach Ravenshade sessfully. But when they came close to the great walls of Ravenshade, his heart started aching¡­ Long gone was the majestic city that had left him and his friends in awe. A big chunk of the wall of the Ravenshade was missing. The top of the walls was covered with ck color sticky goo, which he recognized very well. As they got inside, they saw that the hustling-bustling city was no more. Now the only people left in the city looked like zombies. There were many more homeless men and women on the streets. While most of them looked like they had been through hell. Seeing the condition of the city, he started to wonder, why would gods kill their own creations, for their entertainment. From the legends he had heard, all gods were portrayed as benevolent beings that cares about humanity. But the scene in front of him made him understand that all those legends are nothing but bullshit. Chapter 28 Grego, The Nutcracker ?The whole city of Ravenshade was in shambles. Most of the houses and buildings were destroyed. There were a few big bonfires throughout the city, burning the bodies of unidentified people. The beast tide hit Ravenshade two days ago. But still, the process of excavation of dead bodies was still underway. It was a pretty dire situation. Seeing just such mass destruction, made Dave feel sad for the people of Ravenshade. Most of the people that had died were innocent people and they didn''t deserve to die like this. Although, seeing the mass cremation also raised some questions about umtion. ''ording to Grump, the bodies of the people should have been swallowed by the world by now, so howe there were so many bodies still being burned in parts of the city?'' he thought¡­ As they got into the city, Grump told him that they first need to head towards Adventurer''s Guild. This ce was the ce where adventurers go to get paid, and get jobs. The old man had a few errands to run in the guild and then after that, they will find a ce where they could spend the night. As they wandered into the city, they were greeted by sick and hungry people. Almost all the people in the streets were injured in one way or another. Most of them were begging on the streets for food. While he also spotted some women offering their bodies for food or medicine. It was truly a very horrible sight. It is only after searching for half an hour did they realize that the Adventurer Guild of the Ravenshade city was destroyed in the attack. After asking around, they got to know that temporarily Adventurer Guild''s proceeding takes ce in the manor of the city lord. As it was nighttime then they could only visit the guild tomorrow. Thus they both started looking for a ce to stay. Or so he thought¡­ Grump brought him to a strange establishment. It was located in the middle of arge field, based on destroyed nts, he figured that huge field must have been a very garden. That ce was mostly destroyed. From the sheer size of the ce, he could only imagine what this would have been like before it was destroyed. Now, it was just a big ground with arge amount of debris, in the middle. He asked the old man about this ce, and ording to him, this establishment is supposed to be a very posh bar in Ravenshade city. That bar also serves as a brothel house for rich kids. As he is A-Rank Adventurer he has a special pass with him that could get him into the bar. Dave looked at the destroyed building, he was having a hard time believing that this was still a working establishment. After all, there was nothing here but debris. But he waster proven wrong when Grump took him to the center of the destroyed building The building itself was destroyed. But the entrance to the basement of the building was still there. And currently, there were around 20 men and women standing by the entrance and were guarding it. But these men and women apparently knew Grump. Some of them smiled at him while some nodded at him giving him their approval before giving him ess to the basement. The entrance to the basement was this old cer door which didn''t look like much. From the cer door started a series of stairs that led to a dark corridor. As they reached the end, they were greeted with a ck steel door. Grump knocked on the door and the peephole of the door opened. When the person inside saw his face, they opened the door and let them in. As they got inside, they were greeted with the sight of a posh bar and lounge area. People in there were eating, drinking, and chatting amongst themselves. Most of the people in there looked rich. The most astonishing thing about the ce was that it had things to eat and drink. Dave clearly remembers that people outside were begging for food or water while there were people here who were enjoying every luxury of life. Seeing the disparity between two sses of the same species, he was reminded of Earth once again. ''Humans are humans. Everywhere we go, we are the same.'' He thought. As they went further in, Dave saw that random people walking around the bar started nodding toward Grump. Some people greeted him in person. Seeing this he figured that the old man must be a very popr guy if all these rich people know him. The old man then took him to a booth at the other end of the bar. The thing about this booth was that only one guy was upying the whole booth. While there were 5 warriors armed to the boot protecting the man. The man in question was an old man who was around Grump''s age. He was wearing shiny and expensive-looking silks and jewelry. And he passed a big smile as Grump approached his booth. "Alright listen up. I will do all the talking, you just shut your trap while I am talking. That man their is Grego, the nutcracker." The nickname of the guy raised some questions in Dave''s mind, while the old man continued. "You just need to sit down and listen to our conversation. And I repeat do not speak in between. That guy is a very powerful man in whole Ravenshade, do not offend him." Then finally walked toward guards around the booth¡­ "He is with me, boys," Grump said while pointing towards Dave and then he went on to sit at the booth. The old man in the both smiled as he saw Grump''s face. "Gilbert! I thought you died in the beast tide." Hearing the old man refer to Grump as Gilbert made Dave realize that they must be good friends. Last night when he heard that the old man''s name was Gilbert, he tried to call him using his name. But the old man got angry at that. He said that only friends refer to him as Gilbert. While for the rest of the crowd, he was Grump. Old man Grump. "Grego, you know me. I have prophecized it 1000 times. I will only die with my stomach full of mead and my cock around the mouth of a whore at the age of 100.." Grump said. "Well, it is good to see you. Now tell me what brings you to my humble bar?" the old man asked. "I am here on business and we might need some privacy," Grump said. Grego''s smile widened as he heard his words. His hands then went to the bottom of the seat and he touched a button there. And was then a blue color force field covered their whole booth. "So what up?" Grego said after setting up the force field. "I want to introduce you to someone." "This young man right here?" "Yup, he is¡­ Davey. He is an Earthian. And guess what? This man has a skill, which let helps him grant ess to a pocket space, exclusive to him." This caught Dave off guard as Grump had made the deal with him previously that he would help him to try and hide his identity. But just a moment ago he threw him under the boss in front of some underground mafia boss. "How much space are we talking about here?" Grego asked now interestingly looking at Dave. "You can say that he could hold items 5 huge chests." "Fuck! That is might impressived!" the old man said while looking at Dave who was pissed. "Yeah. And now Ravenshade is in shambles, I was thinking of running some errands of yours, with the boy. And with his pocket space skill, we would be unstoppable." "That''s true. And you know what, I have recently received a job that guys would be perfect for both of you." "Perfect!" "But first let me rify something, Grump. After the beat tide, I lost most of my good men. And worst of all, I lost some of my trusted and reliable men. And the job that I have for you will pay big. But because of theck of people I could trust, you have to bend a knee a little bit." "What do you mean?" "I have an escort mission for you." "An escort? Forget it, I won''t do it. You know I cannot handle escort missions¡­" "The pay will be 5000 gold coins." Hearing the number of gold coins he would be able to earn Grump''s eyes started mysteriously glow. "Who is the client?" "That is confidential. You know how it goes, you would not get the details of the client until the day of the assignment." "Speaking of identity, the kid requested that his identity should stay hidden. He is an Earthian and all¡­ So take care of it as well." "Hm¡­ That might be difficult. You know how the business is¡­ Wait. He is an Earthian right? Does he have a way with weapons?" "Nah¡­ he is amateur at best. Why?" "Well, we can make him wear the executioner''s mask." "You still have that thing?" "Of course, I am not going to throw away a magical artifact." "It is the most useless piece of metal on Midgard." "But it could work for the kid now wouldn''t it?" "Hm¡­. It could work. I tell you what, he would take it. He was telling me that he wanted a mask. So that mask would do." "Alright, but the mask will cost him money." "How much?" "1000 gold coin." "Fuck no! It is too costly." "It is the mask of a legend. It would cost you that much." "He would be willing to let it go for 500 gold coins at most." "You know what, you got yourself a deal¡­" Grego said with a big smile on his face. Then they started conversing about the beast tide and the state of other cities¡­ *** Dave could only sit there, and pretend he was mute, as Grump had ordered him, he kept it quiet. As he listened to their conversation quietly he got a lot of titbits of information from the old man Grego. Apparently the devastating beat tide all the cities on Midgard. Considering that there were Earthians in all the cities, this didn''te as a shock to him. The beast tide has caused a lot of damage to all the cities. The old man also told them that Barcelma and Cloudhold are on the verge of destruction. Also, the city lord of Vecrus is in aatose state currently. And an Earthian had be the city lord of Vecrus. And this Earthian is apparently the strongest Earthian out there¡­ After chatting for a little while, the old man then deactivated the force field. Then Grump greeted the old man goodbye and he went to the bar to get a drink. And it was then Dave started bombarding Grump with questions about what transpired there¡­. "Wasnt my identity supposed to be a secret?" he asked while sipping a weird-looking green color alcohol. "Yeah, I kept my end of the bargain. I told the old man about it, didn''t I? And because of that, he would be providing you with an executioner''s mask. That is great isn''t it?" "But you told the old man my identity." "He is the boss of the establishment, also he is the big boss who provides people like usmissions. Of course, I have to tell him. Do you think he would just give his goods to a random guy? Before doing business, he needs to know who you are and what you are." "But is he reliable?" "He is reliable. He is one of my oldest friends. And listen kiddo, you are new to the business, so you don''t know anything. The thing is that our whole business is run by something called trust. And he is the most trustable man in the business." "If you say so¡­ So what is our first assignment." "I am d you asked¡­" Grump said and then he started exining to him about escort missions and how they worked. "Sometimes when a big merchant or family of powerful people travels to another city, they hire adventurers to protect them on the way. Adventurers have knowledge of most of the routes of the different cities because they travel to different cities frequently. That is why they are considered the best people for this kind of work." "Okay, I get it. So why didn''t you want to go on an escort mission, this seems like an easy job" "The escort missions pay well. But the thing is that most of the people that could afford to give this kind of quest are rich people. And these people are very obnoxious and quite hard to deal with. And I have a very temper, in the past, I may have beaten up his clients. That is why I usually don''t ept these kinds of quests." "I get it." After having a rather long conversation with the old man, he understood that the old man agreed to work on this quest, only because the client was forking up 5000 gold coins which is almost 3 times the normal escorting fee. And this was an offer that he couldn''t just refuse. *** In the control center of R3T, three Gods were sitting on a table. All of them were discussing the state of the game, because of Mimir''s mistake the game cannot be continued with the pre-written script. They have to alter a lot of things, which would be a very tedious job¡­ "Do you have a n now?" Brahma asked Thoth, while still in his united form. "No¡­" Thoth had his eyes closed, he was tired. It took him forever to change the setting of the first floor. And finally, after 24 hours of work, he was able to change major parts of the first floor, but still, there were a lot of things to be done. "Well¡­ I just wanna say, I am sorry. It is all my fault." Mimir said. "No, it is not. It is all your nephew''s fault." Brahma barked viciously. "Yeah. You could have never made the mistake on your own. It was his doing." Thoth also added. "Well, he is a goodd. It is just that he can be a little bit¡­ mischievous sometimes." Mimir defended. "Mischievous or not, I hate that guy." Thoth barked, then he continued. "He ruined my ns. I wanted the first-floor theme to be an all-out war between three kingdoms. But now because of him, the first floor has be an Apocalyptic world¡­ That is not what I have nned." Mimir sighed and tried to apologize."Sorry about that... But still, gods are still liking the settings of the first floor. And after the Familia setting has beenunched the traffic on theworks has gone off the roof. This is a good thing right?" Brahma chimed in, with a very grim voice. "It is a good thing. But the main thing to remember is that Loki somehow managed to manipte you and almost sabotage the game. This time we were able to save the situation somehow. But what about the future? We can''t afford things to run this way. We cannot let him sabotage the game further.". "What do you reckon we should do?" Thoth asked. "We should probably stay the fuck away from him forever. And that means no visitation to him in prison" Brahma added. "Alright. I will not visit him." Mimir said. "Good," both Brahma and Thoth said. Then they started discussing things that they could to make the games more interesting. Chapter 29 [Bonus ]Reunion-1 ?After having the most awful drink of his life, Dave and Grump started to make their way out of the bar. While they were drinking, they received a message from the old Grego saying that the escort mission will take ce one week from now. And till that time he requested them to stay low and not get into trouble¡­ After getting out of there, both of them were lost. They had no ce to go. Most of the buildings of the city were destroyed. The ones that were still standing were upied. And they didn''t have confidence that they would be able to get into any of them. So now stuck outside, Grump grumbled under his breath and said that they should ''wing it like they were in their youth''. They traveled through the dark alleys of the destroyed houses until they found a half-destroyed shed located on the outskirts of the city. Previously, Dave had taken pillows and bed sheets from the tower. He figured as they will be camping outside they might need something like this as they don''t have sleeping bags. When Grump the pillows, he hugged him, then snatched a pillow and a sheet and quickly fell asleep. As he was not feeling particrly sleepy at that time he started nning what to do with the week''s worth of time that he had. He then nned that in the week''s time, he would try to familiarize himself with his weapons. Also, he would try to get Grump to teach him a few tricks. Then he started thinking about whether it would be safe to work with Grump and the old man Grego. He had just met them recently and don''t know whether they could be trusted or not. For now, he has a feeling that he could trust Grump. He may be a dick, but in the end, he did agree to help out all these people who lost their homes in the beast tide. And he did that for free. He may not know much about the people of this world, but what he does knows is that selflessness is a virtue that is only found in a few selective people. And usually, they are good people. Still, there was a chance that he could be wrong. And the old man would betray him in some way in the future. That is why he had decided that he would be more vignt around the old man. And he would try to increase his strength as fast as he can. ording to Carlin, Earthians grow strong at an incredible speed. In the past few days since he hade here, he was able to raise his Level from 3 to 7. And he did all of that, without even trying to raise his level. That is why from tomorrow onwards he would try to level up as fast as he could¡­ *** Dave was sleeping peacefully under the half-destroyed shed. But it was then he felt someone poking at him. At first, it was a normal poke, which only made him shift his position. But it was then someone mmed a big wooden stick into his stomach, which made him open his eyes immediately. He then looked at the shadow of people that were standing above him. "What the fuck do you think you are doing here punk?" said the middle age man with the stick. "Wha.." he mumbled, still confused about what was happening. "Do you really think that you could sleep on my property without me knowing? Get up!" the middle-aged man said and then he swung his wooden staff and hit Dave on his shoulder¡­ BAAM "FUCK!" he yelled in pain, then he rolled away from the middle age man, and then he hurriedly stood up. "What is the matter with you?" he asked while rubbing his shoulder. "What is that matter with me? You are sleeping on my property. Get the fuck out of here or pay the fine" the middle-aged man said. And then the men with him also started agreeing with him. He looked at the bunch that woke him up. Thepound that they slept in waspletely destroyed. The only thing that survived the beast tide was a small shed which was empty when they camest night. And he remembers very clearly, there was no one around thispound when they came here. It is precisely because of this reason, Grump, choose to spend the night in this ce, he didn''t like to be disturbed when he was sleeping. And now these people came here asking forpensation. He understood that these people were just a bunch of scammers. The chances are they don''t even own the property, they just thought that they could scam the two persons that are sleeping peacefully here. And this made him very angry¡­ "Listen you mother fucker. Turn around and take all the people that you brought with you into the same hole that you crawled out of. Because I am very angry. And you don''t want to be near me when I lose control." he said while ring at the middle-aged man. "Is that so? What you gonna do boy?" the leader said while walking towards Dave while waving the stick in his hands. The leader may have been confident because of the stick. But as soon as he came close to him, the hell went loose. He grabbed the stick with his hands. He didn''t try to steal it from him. He just held it in its position. Then he mmed his head on the leader''s nose. The leader of the scammers got his nose broken from the sudden attack. He staggered backward, but he was done yet, soon heunched a spartan kick which made the leader fall to the ground. Seeing that their leader have been beaten up, the rest of his followers came running toward him. One of them jumped in the air and kicked him. But it only him stagger backward. But it was then he started receiving volleys of kicks and punches from all directions. He endured the kicks and punches, but still, he didn''t lose sight of his goal. He crouched down and then made a fist. And then he let out all of his anger at the groins of men that were beating him up. AHH! Two of the men that were assaulting him, fell down on the ground while screaming in pain. The rest of the men sense what he was doing and quickly backed away before he could have any more nut shots. He wasn''t done yet. He quickly moved toward the man that was closest to him. With great momentum, he charged at him, as he got close to him, he jumped in the air and performed a superman punch thatnded straight on the man''s nose. BAAM! The man fell to the ground. Till then the leader of the gang has also gotten up. And he grouped himself with the remaining two men. Dave turned around and saw their trio. The leader''s nose was broken and had blood all over his face, he looked quite angry. He was looking at Dave with a murderous gaze. It was pretty clear that he wanted to bury him alive. But before any of them could make a move, the expression on the leader''s face suddenly changed, and he fell down, it was then everyone saw a Kukuri knife stuck to the back of his forehead. Grump who was trying to sleep till now was woken up by themotion caused by the fighting. As soon as he woke up, he instantly threw his knife at the person which was closest to him¡­ "You fuckers have messed up with the wrong guy''s sleep. Now die." Grump said slowly in a menacing voice. Seeing their leader had died, the people who were still standing got frightened. They lost the will to fight. People who could move, all ran away. Surprisingly Grump didn''t chase after them. Instead, he came towards the people who were on the ground and started kicking them on their asses. "GET LOST MOTHER FUCKERS!" he yelled while kicking them. And soon everyone left. And now only Grump, Dave, and the dead body of the leader were left on the scene. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Grump asked when everyone had left. "What?" Dave asked. "Those people came to fight you. They started beating you up. But you didn''t do anything in return. I know your strength. You could have easily killed off one or two of them and made them run for their money. But you instead fought with your fists. Why?" "Because they¡­ they are people. I mean¡­ I can''t just kill someone because one just woke me up from sleep." "You are a bigger idiot than I thought you to be¡­ Listen to me, Davy. I don''t know what kind of ce you came from. But this world is very different from your world. There is a word for people like you in our world. And that word is cowards¡­" "Really? A coward? I am a coward, just because I refuse to kill someone?" "Yeah, you are. People are these vicious beings that wille and spit on you till they bury you deep underground. But if you want to live in this world with your head high, you need to get your hands dirty. You need to show the people of this world what it means to mess with you. You want to me teach you, right? Take this as your first lesson." "It''s not easy for me you know. I can''t just kill someone. I am not that kind of guy." "See there showed your idiocracy again¡­ Do you think that I was born a killer? No. I was a weak little boy like you, who thought that human life is precious. And because of my thinking, I was always bullied and beaten up in alleyways. But the day I changed my thinking, my life changed. And I don''t regret a thing." "I don''t know what to say¡­ I don''t know what happened to you, but I cannot change my ways." Hearing this grump clicked his tongue in annoyance. He then kneeled down and picked his knife from the dead body. "One day, you will be forced to change your ways. Because this world is like that. And based on what I have seen so far, I am 100% sure that you will change your ways." Grump said. Dave shook with annoyance at his remake¡­ After that Grump used water from his bottle to clean up his knife. While he went back under the shed to pick up their sheets and everything. He then put them back in his inventory. After cleaning the knife, the old man picked up the body of the leader with its leg. Then with his immense strength, he started spinning in its ce. And as they have reached enough momentum, he let go of the body. The body of the scammer flew away over some building, out of their sight. What Grump didn''t think was that blood would start pouring out of the body, as he would spin it around. The blood spattered all over the ce. Dave who was standing beside him got covered in blood. Dave stood there shocked to see what he had witnessed. Before he could give he old man a piece of his mind, they heard someone running towards them. Two soldiers came running toward them. Apanying them, was one of the men that got punched in his nuts earlier. The soldiers came running towards them with their weapons out. Seeing this he thought that they might get in trouble, but something strange happened as the soldiers came to them¡­ "What the fuck do you guys want?" Grump grumbled as he saw the soldiers approaching them. "Mr. Grump. It is good to see you, sir." One of the soldiers who recognized him greeted him kindly. "So what do you want?" Grump asked again while staring at the soldiers. The soldiers in turn looked at the man that had brought them there. Both of them had a mental talk with each other and said¡­ "Sir, we heard that you return back to Ravenshade yesterday. And¡­ our lordship, Lady Carlin wants to have a talk with you." The second soldier asked. "What does she wants?" "I am sorry sir, we don''t know. But we would be happy to go and ask her of her wishes." The other one said. "Sure why not¡­ I wanted to go to Adventurer''s Guild. So might as well I will go and talk with her." Grump said. "Of course sir." The first soldier said while sighing with relief. "And listen, boys, this is here is Davy. He is my nephew. And I would be very upset if something happens to him. Understood?" Grump said while gesturing towards Dave. "Certainly Sir. Mr. Davy, you seem to have gotten injured. Why don''t you go to the treatment camp and get yourself patch up." One of the soldiers offered. "Not a bad idea. Davy go to the treatment camp. I will meet you there" Grump said. While Dave looked at the man as if he had gone insane. ''Did this stupid mother fucker forget that I am not supposed to show my face around Ravenshade?'' he thought. Before Dave could voice his opinion on the matter, the boat had already been sailed. One of the soldiers took Grump to the City Lord''s Manor. While the other one volunteered to show Dave the way to the treatment camp. He was not even able to protest because till that time Grump had already left. Begrudgingly he had to follow the soldier to the treatment camp. And while going there, he just prayed that no one would recognize him. Chapter 30 Reunion-2 ?The treatment camp was this hugend that was cleared for all the injured people. People were lying in the open field on bamboo mats, most of the people lying there had one more of their limbs missing, while some were simply injured. Only a select few of them were in fact struggling for their lives and have ck patches on their body. After ncing at those ck patches once, he could only think of one thing that could have caused that type of injury, the ck gooey stuff. After bringing him to the camp, the soldier stood there and waited till he went deeper into the encampment. To act, he went deeper into the camp to show the soldier. He kept his head down while going inside so that no one would be able to see his face. And after walking a little further, he turned around and saw that the soldier had left, he decided to return back. But as he turned around to go back, it was then he saw someone that he recognized. He saw Suzie. The middle-aged woman of Asian descent was going rounds around the wounded. While there were a few people following her around and taking notes and doing what she was telling them to do. Seeing this, Dave smiled. He remembers that she was a nurse back home. And now she was working and trying to save people of this world. Seeing this he felt happy. She looked like an angel that was sent to Earth to help people in need. He was looking at her from afar, but he could tell from her face that she was tired. There were ck circles around her eyes which showed that she was very tired. And he appreciated the fact that despite being so tired she was working hard for these people. He wanted to talk to her. As she was alive and kicking, there could be a chance that Sanjay and Soo-Young could be alive as well. He wanted to ask her about them. But he was hesitating as he could not just go and talk to her. If someone see him with her and started asking questions then he could get into trouble. So if he wants to talk to her, he had to do it discreetly¡­ So he started stalking her around the camp. He also happens toe across a discarded bed sheet. So he wrapped his body with the bed sheet. He made sure that his face and his upper torso are fully wrapped and no one will be able to recognize him. After he was done he started roaming around the camp while stalking Suzie. She on the other hand visited every patient that was lying on the mats. And after she was done she left the camp altogether with some physicians from the camp who kept following her. She then started making her way into the inner parts of the city. As Dave followed her, he saw that she was going inside an army encampment on the other side of the city. There were various tents around the ce and soldiers bearing official Ravenshade insignia wereing in and out of the camp. And she went inside the camp. Now stuck outside, Dave started formting a n. Luckily he had predicted something like this would happen. That is why when he went to the second tower with Grump, he took a pair of official soldiers'' armor from the tower. He took it as he thought that it mighte in handy in the future. And he was right. So he back for a moment and started looking for a small corner where he could put on the armor. After he was done, he put on the helmet of the soldiers over his head and started making his way inside the camp. As he got inside, he walked with confidence. He didn''t let any of the people of the camp feel that he didn''t belong there. As he started roaming the camp, he understood that no one cared about what he was doing there. Everyone was busy in one way or another. So he focused on finding Suzie. But he was not able to find her. After searching for her for some time, he was able to spot the people that came to the camp while following her. They all seemed to be standing outside a tent and were talking to each other. And after some time they left. Dave then went to the tent that they were standing by to peek inside. And sure enough there he saw Suzie lying in the bed of the tent. He then immediately looked around to see whether anyone was watching him. As he saw the road was clear, he immediately went inside. He then approached the sleeping Suzie. As he got close to her, he quickly put his hand on her mouth. This startled her. She then immediately woke up and saw a soldier holding her mouth¡­ "Shhh¡­. Suzie, it''s me, Dave. Do not scream." Hearing this Suzie''s eyes widen with shock. She then looked at him closely and recognized him. She immediately wrapped her hands around him and hugged him tightly¡­ "Dave! You are alive? How did you got rid of the monster horde? And are you hurt?" He on the other hand, felt embarrassed, he got aroused by her gigantic breasts which were pressing against his torso. He pushed her away gently and hid his tomato-red face¡­ "I am fine for now, but tell me about you guys. Are Sanjay and Soo-Young fine?" "Yes, they are both fine. But Sanjay has been beating himself up for your death. While Soo-Young is just sad because of training." "Training?" "Yes, after the beast tide, Carlin dropped all of her pretenses. She started behaving like a dictator and started forcing every Earthian to train. She wants to rebuild the forces of Ravenshade as soon as she can. As I have some medical experience so I was sent here to be taught under the healers of Ravenshade." "Did Carlin cast any magic on you guys that forced you guys to work for her?" "No." "Good. I knew that we couldn''t trust that bitch. I knew that everything that wasing out of her mouth was just a bunch of bullshit." "Yeah¡­ She is practically torturing people to make them stronger and better." "A word of advice, Endure it and get strong¡­ Carlin may be torturing you guys for her benefit, but that doesn''t mean that what she is doing wouldn''t be beneficial for you guys in the future. So work hard." "But Dave we are not warriors. We are normal people. And she is making a soldier out of us." "Suzie you don''t understand. For the past two days, I have seen things. I have fought monsters that could kill us within seconds. I have realized in the past two days that we may have been normal humans till now. But if we want to survive in this world, then we would have to change our mentality and start working on ourselves. Or otherwise, we won''t be able to survive for long." "What should we do then?" "Right now, the world out there is very dangerous. From what I have heard all the major cities of the world have copsed. But there is a major city called the Vecrus. We could go there. I have heard that the city lord of that city has recently fallen ill. Because of it, an Earthian had takenmand of the city. If we are able to make it to the city then we could settle down there." "Do you think that we might be able to run away from here?" "Right now we don''t have a chance. We will be found soon. And from what I have heard, that ginger would probably kill you guys after you are caught in a very painful way." "So what should we do?" "For now I will suggest you guys learn, grow and adapt. We don''t know anything about this world. Even if we are able to run away then there is a chance that we would be killed by a random monster out there." "Is outside really that bad?" "Yup it is. If you don''t have food and water then you will need to hunt out there to survive. And believe me, none of us will be able to do that." "What are you gonna do for now?" "Me? I will also be doing the same. Try to learn, adapt and grow stronger. I have seen the horrors there are outside this city. So I will be training." "All of this is frightening me." "I am scared too. But just try to hold on. We will survive this¡­ Also, do not tell anyone that I am alive." "Why?" "I don''t want too many people to know that I am alive. I will help you guys when you are ready to run away. But till then it would be better if a few people know about me." Dave said while getting up. "How will I contact you?" "You won''t. I will¡­ if you don''t hear from me then assume that I am dead." "Don''t say things like that." To her worry, Dave just passed her a small smile. "Alright then¡­ Goodbye." *** After talking with Suzie, he made his way out of the camp. He kept his talks short as he didn''t want to linger around her, more than he had to. After all, he was still in enemy territory. After getting out, he returned to the ce where he and Grump had spent the night. Whileing to the ce, he was very vignt and paid attention to whether someone was following him. Only after he had made sure that no one had followed him, he changed into regr clothes and waited for Grump. While Grump on the other hand came back not long after he had returned. As he returned Dave noticed that the mood of the old man looked worse for some reason¡­ "I told you to stay at the treatment camp," Grump said angrily. "You know as well I do that''s the reason why I wasn''t there," he said nonchntly. "And what that might be?" Grump asked in an irritated tone "You are kidding right?" "What?" grump asked irritatingly. "I am an Earthian¡­ I need to protect my identity and all. I thought we had a great length of talk about that stuff." Hearing his reply, Grump''s expression softened. He then sighed and said¡­ "Oh that¡­ I forgot." "Yeah¡­ So anyway why the long face? What the fuck did that ginger want with you?" "Ginger?" "A man or a woman with red hair is called a ginger from where Ie from." "That¡­ Ginger¡­ wants me to clear some of the monsters in the surrounding area. And if some tough monsters appear, then I need to report it." "So what is the problem? I thought you were supposed to be good at this." "I am good at the stuff. But it is going to be such a hassle. I would bezing around all day for a week. But it seems I need to work." "By the way, why do you even have to listen to her anyway? You can just refuse." "I can. But that would make me her enemy. And I don''t want that." "Is she that strong?" "She is strong. Also, she has a group of strong individuals with her. And when ites to fighting a group, one has to be cautious." "So what now?" "Now I will be going around the city to see what is up,". "Wait about my training? You said that you will help me get strong." "Oh yeah¡­ That¡­ I tell you whates with me. You will be in danger if you stay here. It''s better that you apany me on my endeavor. Also, you might learn a thing or two about the monsters of the world¡­" After having some breakfast, he with Grump started heading out of the city. As they got out, Grump immediately got to work. They started making their way around the city and he started babbling about how one should identify the habitats of monsters¡­ "Kobolds are a bunch of savage monsters. They eat anything thates their way. But the thing about those monsters is their habitats could easily be spotted. If you ever spot and with dense vegetation there is a very high chance that there is a pack of Kobolds there. If you ever go to Cloudhold, you will see plenty of Kobolds and Kongs there¡­" Then he babbled about the best way to kill Kobolds to set fire to the forest area where they live. He also showed him the marks that the Kobolds leave behind. These makers help hunters to identify the ce which is infested with Kobolds. He also gave a detailed lecture on Goblins and the ces where they live. He on the other hand tried to absorb as much knowledge as he could. As a good student, he also asked the old man various different questions regarding monster hunting which Grump was happy to answer. And it was after a lot of exploring did he asked a question that made Grump stop and looked at him as if he was looking at a child¡­ "What is the best weapon to use against monsters?" Grump repeated his question. "Yeah." "Oh Dear Lord that created the world¡­ You are a bigger idiot than I thought you to be." "What? It is a genuine question." "The answer to your question is nothing. There is no weapon out there that could be used against every monster out there. Bows and arrows could be used from a distance. But when you fight against monsters like Earth Porcupine, you will find out that the arrows don''t have that much effect on them. Unless you have dipped the tips of your arrow with Roghorth''s poisonous breath." "You mean the ck gooey stuff?" "Yeah¡­ But it is hard toe by. After all, nobody wants to go to his territory so to get a vial of poison. And if you rely on swords then you will be only good at closebat. While spears can be used at mid-range as well in closebat, it would be useless against a person that uses a saber as his weapon." "It is veryplicated," He mumbled "It seemsplicated, but believe me it is not. When you have higher stats than your opponent you can kill them with ease. It doesn''t matter what weapon you use. The battle gets really interesting when your and your opponent''s levels are the same. It is then the person with a better mastery of the weapon orbat art that wins the bout." "This brings me to another question, how do you fight? What is your choice of weapon?" "Me? I jack of all trades." "Does being a jack of all trades help?" "Yup. It is the reason that I became just a good hunter." Grump said with a smile. Chapter 31 [Bonus ]Preparations ?As Dave roamed around Ravenshade city with the old man, he started respecting the old man more. The old man was very knowledgeable about the affairs of the world. He knew all there is to know about the monsters that roam thisnd. And he also knew the effective ways to deal with them without getting harm''s way. When he told him about his encounters with different monsters, he started giving him advice on how effectively he could have taken care of the monsters¡­ The old man told him that when he had encountered Kobolds it was a very wise thing that he stopped and didn''t run away. Kobolds and pretty fast while running on their four limbs but their movement are a little bit clunky when they stand straight on their two limbs. That is why it was better not to run away from Kobolds. Also, he advised him that for future encounters with Kobolds, it would be wise to pack a bunch of Kobo powder with him. Kobo powder is a special type of powder made from a certain root. And it is a boon to Kobolds because they have a keen sense of smell. The powder would have irritated them enough to let their guard down and then one could strike them down. But also one has to think wisely before using the powder becauserge quantities of powder could make those monsters go berserk. The old man''s strategy to take care of goblins for someone of his level was simr to what he tried to pull off. If he was stuck in that situation the old man would have used bows and arrows and killed goblins while maintaining a distance. While fighting Goblins hordes with a Goblin Chief, Hobgoblin or Goblin Shaman could be a little bit tricky. But he advised Dave that he should never stick around when he knows that one of those entities is around a certain area. The old man didn''t have much advice for Earth Porcupine. ording to him, the only weak point of the Earth Porcupine is its stomach. While its neck is vulnerable but it is not weak enough to kill it quickly. Then the old man talked about Trolls, Screeching bats, Kongs, Croc Men, and many more monsters. And after talking about all these different monsters, he asked him about a monster that he was curious about ever since he got here¡­ "What about Roghorth, that big fucking dragon?" "The flying Dread? Well, that is the only monster in this world that is unkible." "But a moment ago you said that there is nothing in this world that is unkible." "Yeah, but that beast is unkible... We know that the monster has been alive since the formation of this huge piece of rock. Many people who were far stronger than me tried to kill it. But every one of them was killed in the end by that gigantic lizard." "Come one, there should be a way to kill it." "No there isn''t. Get this, in all these years, you are not the first one to try to think of a way to kill that thing. There were many people before you. And they all failed because that thing is like a fortress on wings. The scales of that monster are too hard to prate with arrows. While there was some amount of damage that could be caused by swords or spears but you have to be an Aura user to do it. And there is of course the toxic breath itself which is dangerous to go around even when you are an Aura user." "What is an Aura user?" "Something that you will learn about when you get to a certain level. Other than toxic breath and an imprable body, that creature has wings. Combined with an acute sense of smell and good eyesight, that creature literally has no weaknesses." "How good are his smelling sense?" "Very Acute. Some reports have even stated that the smelling sense of the Dragon is better than that of a Kobold." Hearing Grump''s statement, he remembered the day when he came to this world. ''If what he was saying was indeed true then this doesn''t make any sense. Because he was at that Dragon''s nest. There was a time when the Dragon passed by him. And yet it didn''t attack him. But the question was why?'' he thought. He could only think of a few possible reasons why Roghorth didn''t attack him that day. One of them being that it was disoriented for some reason. That is why he wasn''t able to smell him that day. Or there was a high chance that Grump''s knowledge on the matter wascking. And he is spouting bullshit. "But still, if you have the chance to subjugate the damn beast, how would you do it?" "Well¡­ If a dayes when I lead its subjugation squad that I have to n the shit out of the whole quest. That is for sure¡­ First and foremost, I would advise my squad members to maintain some distance between them and as the toxic breath is very hard to handle. Then the other thing that I would probably do is find a way to cripple that fucker''s wings. You know, if he can''t fly away then he would be stuck. Then I would try to shove explosives down the fuckers throat. Because I believe even he is sturdy from the outside. I can bet he would be soft from the inside¡­" *** He spent that whole day with Grump surveying the surroundings of the city. And he learned a lot of things from him that day. And by the time they came back home, he had a lot to think about¡­ One of the most important things that he had to think about was how he was supposed to roll from now on, should he join a group or should he roll solo like Grump? And after a lot of thinking, he came to the conclusion that rolling solo was probably the best thing for him. He did not have anyone he could trust right now. Grump may be helping him for now, but he trusts him. All he knows is that if someone pays good money for his head, Grump wouldn''t think twice before selling his head¡­ After he had decided that he is gonna run solo, started nning further about his fighting style. The fighting style of any person is heavily connected to how he invests their stat points. And based on how stat points are invested one has to decide what kind of ss they would carry one with. Based on Grump''s knowledge, there are three kinds of sses in Midgard. There are Mages who fight with the help of magic and magic staff. Then there are Weapon Users who use something called the Aura to fight. And then there is a mixture of both Weapon Users and Mages called the Warlocks. To be a Mage, one must need two qualities. First, their intellect should be superior. Second, their mana should be of higher purity. And the purity of mana is referred to as Arcane. Combined with both of these qualities one could be a Mage. So if someone wants to be a Mage, then they could start by investing their stat points in Intellect and Arcane. Bing a Mage was very tempting as it is man''s dream to cast fireballs out of their hands. But he didn''t think that a Mage would be the right direction for him. As he is gonna go the solo route, so, bing Mage wouldn''t cut it. He remembers how weak Sanjay was when they were in the forest. He had a lot of firepower, that is for sure, but the Mage''s route was not for him. While being focused on weapons was also tempting, it didn''t seem viable to him as well. Mastering every type of weapon has various advantages, but not having any knowledge of magic is equally dangerous. After all, Magic is the wild card of the world. Not knowing its capabilities is just suicidal. And when he asked the old man about his concerns he started cursing him loudly¡­ "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you thinking about it so hard? If don''t like fighting with weapons, then be a Mages. If you like weapons, then be a Weapon User like me. Or if you want to be the best of both worlds then be a Warlock for fucks sake. Don''t make it soplicated." He grumbled. "Then I guess, the path of Warlock is for me¡­ So what do I need to be a Warlock?" Dave asked. "How the fuck should I know that?" Grump asked annoyingly. "Well, aren''t you suppose to be you know¡­. Well-versed with knowledge of warriors of Midgard? After all, you have been living here for a very long time." "Oh am I now? I may have been living in this shithole longer than you have, but sorry, I don''t anything about being a Warlock. If you want to be one then go to Vecrus for fucks sake." "Vecrus? Why? What is there?" "Oh yeah, sometimes I forgot you are an idiot from another world¡­" he then sighed and continued. "There are three dungeons in this shithole. One in Infragilis, one in Vecrus, and one in Ravenshead. Now the special thing about Dungeons is that not only it is good hunting and training ce, but it also provides people with skill and equipment if you offer the souls of your prey." "Did you say the one can sell the souls of their prey in Dungeon Shop right?" "Yeah, so?" "You mean real souls?" "Argh¡­ Think of the dungeon as a hunting ground. When you go inside, you hunt animals. But after hunting animals, you don''t eat them, rather than that you sell them to the Dungeon Shop. When you sell your prey there, you will not level up. But you can get some interesting items from the Dungeon Shop." "Wait, wait, wait¡­ You said you can sell the prey. Even if I wrap my head around that fact somehow, how the hell I can''t level up? I mean from what I have seen so far, once you kill a monster you level up immediately¡­" "Yeah, for that you need to carry a Dungeon Orb with you. It is a small ball-like thing that you got to have when you don''t want to level up. The orb absorbs the prey that you or your party has killed and then you can take the orb to Dungeon Shop to sell your wares." "An orb huh? What does it look like?" "When you dive into the dungeon, you will find it out soon enough. Now don''t waste my time." "So what does Vecrus has to do anything with being a Warlock?" "Well, every Dungeon has a Dungeon shop. These shops sell wares and skills rted to a specific ss. Like the Dungeon from Infragilis excels in skills for Weapon users, Dungeon from Ravenshade excels in Mage skills, and Dungeon in Vecrus excels in Warlock skills." After this conversation, he realized once again that he knew nothing about this ce. He had heard Carlin mention Dungeon over lunch but he didn''t pay attention to the word nor investigate what it meant. After all, why would he? Now after knowing the significance of Dungeons, he was tempted to visit one of the Dugeons of the Great cities and see for himself what kinds of things it could offer him. But then he remembered how weak he really was. So he postponed the n of visiting a Dungeon until he had enough confidence in his skills. After that, he would go and challenge a Dungeon¡­ The next day, he didn''t go with Grump. While the old man out there went to survey the surroundings of the city, he started practicing his bow and arrow skills on the outskirts of the city. There was a chance that someone will spot him, but he didn''t worry about it that much, most of the people that had seen him and could recognize him as an Earthian are the top brass of the Ravenshade city as Grump had pointed it out. And those people are busy as it is, so there is very little chance that he woulde across them. Also, he didn''t have a choice, as he could not go far away to practice as outside as it was not safe. So he could only practice in ces that Grump and he had surveyed on the first day. While practicing his archery as Grump had instructed him to do, he started to realize a lot of things. And one of them was that Carlin was wrong to say that Earthian potential was far greater than any Midgardian. The pace at which his aim with the bow improved was very terrifying. When he first used the bow and arrow in the abandoned town, he made a fool of himself. But now he could see for himself how far he hade. That day, he was barely able to hit the wood log, his official target. But from the third day onwards, he was not only able to hit it, but one of the arrows even pierced the log itself. Now he does not much about Bow and Arrow. But he had once watched a documentary about archery, people had to practice a lot they could get hit the bullseye. But the pace at which he was growing, it was monstrous. He also started practicing spear throwing, increasing proficiency in archery, and practicing swordy with a dummy log, he realized something. And that was the fact that he could increase his stat points with exercise as well. As he trained his body for the week, he was able to gain 2 stat points in both Endurance and Durability. Which was fascinating in itself¡­ The old man Grump also was swayed by the diligence that he showed during his training. And on the 4th day, he helped in his training. He gave him some pointers on his swordy and also some pointers on how to make his aim more urate. And just like 7 days passed in a breeze and the day of Mission by the old Man Grego came close¡­ Chapter 32 Escort Mission-1 ?The thing about dried and preserved fish is that they are tasty when you eat them for the first time. It is fine to eat when you have nothing else to eat. And it bes tastier when you are starving. But when you have to eat it seven days a week for every meal, the fish losses its taste. And the food starts to feel like something that is given to prisoners. Dave who has been eating salted fish, every day, for the past week, was feeling like he was in a prison. As the world has undergone a very big change recently, the prices of basic necessities like food were at an all-time high. And as he didn''t have any money, he just has to eat the food that he got. Although there was a time when Grump offered to catch a goblin for him. He was shocked to learn that people of this world ate goblins, from what he heard, their meats a little gammy, but other than that goblins didn''t taste that bad. But he couldn''t get himself to eat something that is humanoid and resembled a human. Grump called him an idiot once again after hearing his chain of thoughts. But still, he still refused to eat a goblin¡­ After waking up, he excitedly roasted some fish over a fire and had a very fulfilling breakfast. It was his first day on the job, so he was very excited. Although there was high chance that he could die during the mission, but the prospect of earning some money excited him, at least after the pay day he would be able to have a decent meal. He packed all of his stuff and got ready for the long journey. But it is then Grump burst his bubble, they were supposed to meet Grego and the client that night. Not early in the morning. That day, he didn''t go to practice. Grump instructed him that he should rest today. And also if he has so much time he should sharpen his weapons. So he did just that. He also put on the ck colorbat clothes that Grump had bought him. They were not as durable or effective as the old man''s own personal ck armor. But they were of the same color. ording to Grump, wearing the same color clothes would make people realize that they are from the same party. And he forced him to wear it. And soon the time went by in a breeze and the moon came out. And just like that Grump who had vanished during the morning came to fetch him at night. "Oi kiddo¡­ Grego sends his regards." Grump said, tossing something toward him. It was a pitch-ck metallic mask. It only covered the nose and mouth of a person. While the eyes and the forehead were out in the open. The thing that confused him was, how was he supposed to wear it. There were no strings nor any sort of attachment that could make the mask stay in its ce. And it kind of smelled as well "This smells fishy," heined "Of course, it smells fishy. It was attached to a corpse for more than 20 years." "Wait? 20 years? Really?" "Yeah¡­ The mask belonged to a guy named executioner. He was amoner and hell of an Artifact Craftsman. He used to wear the mask and hunt down evil merchants and adventurers that are corrupt and all¡­" "Woah, and you found this on the corpse of that person." "Yup. Me and Grego when we were about your age." "How many years ago did you find this mask?" "Why the hell is that important?" "Well for starters, if you have had this mask for several years then none of you had the courtesy to wash it?" "Well¡­ fuck you. You want the mask or not?" "I want a mask. But this¡­ it is smelly and also broken. How the fuck am I supposed to wear this thing?" "Just put it on your nose." He followed his instructions. As soon as he pressed the mask to his nose it got stuck to his nose, refusing to fall down. "Now try to think about removing the mask from your face." Grump further instructed. He followed his instruction, and it is then he sensed that the mask became liquid, it started flowing along his chin. And the liquid started to collect itself behind his ears. And soon two metal tes gathered themselves along his ears. Grump then added. "The mask is a magical artifact. If the wearer of the mask wants to remove it then the mask bes liquid and gets collected along the ears of the wearer. And then if you want to wear the mask again, all you need to do is think about it." "Is that so? This is great." "Yeah. But the mask literally has no other function. And it does not even cover the whole face. It is just useless. But it could work for you." "Yeah¡­ remind me to give my thanks to Gregoter." "Yeah right¡­ You are not in the circle kiddo. You cannot talk to Grego." "Oh! Is that the reason why you didn''t want me to open my mouth in front of him?" "Yeah. You are not in the circle yet. That means you don''t get to talk to him." Grump said. *** He and Grump stood under the moonlight in the middle of nowhere. Grump was fully armed to the boot. While he had his bow and arrow with him. They both were around 2-3 km away from Ravenshead. This was literally a no-man zone. There was not a monster nor a human in sight. Yet they stood there like it was a regr morning for them¡­ "So what are we waiting for?" He asked after finally losing patience. "That" Grump said while pointing towards their north. He looked in the direction of his finger and saw that from distance a carriage wasing towards them. The carriage was emitting a dim light, which was still visible from where they were standing. As the carriage arrived, two people controlling the carriage hopped off. They then went and opened the two doors of the carriage on either side. And it was then Grego hopped out of the carriage. Following him, another guy with a hunched back. His face was covered with a cloth but his eyes were visible. And he could see the wrinkles around the guy''s eyes. So he figured that this must be an old man as well. Following the old man came another man. The man like the old man was also wearing a disguise and had his face hidden with a cloth. But this person''s short height and wrinkle-free and smooth skin gave away that this person was very young. He could even be a teenager based on his height. "Grump, I hope you are you are fine." Grego greeted Grump with a smile. While on the other hand, Grump looked super pissed at him for some reason. "This is the client?¡­ Are you out of your fucking mind Grego? If Carlin found out that he is not in the city anymore, she would be super pissed. Do you really want to make an enemy out of that woman?" He barked angrily. "Things have changed my dear friend. The world that we used to live in is no more. And Carlin doesn''t hold that much power now." Grego said while putting his hands on Grump''s shoulder. "But still it is too much Grego. If she founds out that you helped him and I let you help him then we both be in trouble." "Let me handle her Grump... I tell you what, if you are that concerned about what might Carlin do, you go and stay in Vecrus after the job is done. I will send you a Raven when things over here have finally cooled down." Grego said. "As my oldest friend, I have to ask you again¡­ Are you sure about this Grego?" Grump asked while being genuinely concerned. "Yup I am¡­. Now let''s get going. You know the client Grump, so there is no need of introducing anyone. Now the mission is that you have to escort this client to Infragilis. Now, as this is a hush-hush mission, I have hired only you. And I think with your expertise you will be able to handle the mission. I have already talked to the client about some ground rules, so he would y nice." Grego said to Grump with a big smile. Then he turned towards Dave who was standing there in his mask. "You,e with me." He followed Grego to the carriage. There the old man made him put 4 big trunks in his inventory. He also made him keep two-three boxes worth of food and other supplies as well. After everything was locked and loaded, Grego greeted them goodbye and went off with the carriage. After Grego went off, Grump looked at the old man and the teenager that were their clients¡­ "Now listen up people. Here is the n. We would start moving now and continue our path along the Midgard bridge. We will maintain our distance from the Midgard Bridge until we leave Ravenshade. And after that, we will continue our journey on the Midgard bridge. During the journey, we will try to avoid any contact with people as much as we can. That means we will sleep outside and only go to civilization when there is an emergency. Other than that, we all remain in a group. Is everything clear?" Grump said while looking at three of hispanions. All of them nodded their heads. And with that, they started moving¡­ *** ording to the orders from Grump, all three of them were moving in a formation. The old man and the teenager were moving in the middle. Grump was leading their group and was moving in front. While he was at the back. And in the silence of the night, all of them were moving inplete synchronization¡­ Grump had instructed him beforehand that all thebat would be done by him. And he was to only interfere when the lives of him or their clients are in danger. And other than that, he was not allowed to make any move. He didn''t really understand why wasn''t he allowed to make a move, but he didn''t question Grump as he seemed to know what he was doing. Grump had instructed him to be vignt during their journey. But his mind was preupied with their clients. The old man and the young man seemed very mysterious to him as they had still not removed the cloth hiding their faces. They were trying to hide their identity just like him, but he didn''t understand who were they. Grump seemed to have realized who the old man was despite not being able to see his face. Seeing this he figured that the old man must be someone important. He had previously decided that if he will pursue smuggling in the future then he would make sure that he would not be so big that he would be recognized by the major powers of the Midgard. And he would only attempt doing something ridiculous when he would have the strength to back it up. But seeing how his first job may put him on the map of someone like Carlin, he really started to believe thatdy luck had cursed him since he had met Grump¡­ *** In a room illuminated by amp, sat ady, facing a bowl of porridge. Thedy was sitting in a wheelchair. Her right leg and arm were missing. While her face and most of her right side were covered in ck color patches, making her look hideous. The woman looked pitiful. But if someone was to go back in time just a few weeks ago, they will be able to witness that this woman was never like this. Once she used to be a powerful Warlock. Her pale white skin, her glossy white hair, and her purple eyes could have enchanted any man on Midgard. But a simple mistake in the past left the woman in such a state¡­ It was the door of the room was flung open and a man walked in. The man closed the door behind him. He then stood beside her. "Igor." The woman said slowly. "Yureka¡­ my love." The man said with the utmost affection. "What do you want now? Came here to beat me? Or fuck me?" the woman asked dejectedly while still staring at the porridge in front of her. "Tch¡­ Tch¡­ Yureka. How can you say something like that?" "Well for starters I know you. I know your kind. I have met many like you in the past." she said with her dead eyes still looking at the bowl of porridge. "Alright then¡­ If you know me so well, then guess what I am here to do?" "Well, we have fucked many times in the past, behind Sonia''s back¡­ I have dominated in the past¡­ Also now that Sonia has be City Lord, you are here to silence me. You don''t want to anything happen to your position as City Lord''s lover. Isn''t that right?" Yureka said softly. Hearing her Igor passed her a smile in the dark. He then pulled her chin up. "You are right," Igor said. And it was then he made a fist and punched the pitifuldy in the face. And then continued to beat her up. He only left her when she was very close to death. Chapter 33 Escort Mission-2 ?It had been about two hours since they had left the meeting point. And in the two hours, Dave had started to notice various things that have changed in the general topography of Ravenshade. From what Grump had told him, the domain of Ravenshade consisted of mostly grasnds. And there were some patches of dense vegetation of trees here and there, but mostly the domain of Ravenshade consisted of nothing but grasnds. But since they started walking, they havee across many patches of dense vegetation. They avoided most of the patches as they could be infested by Kobolds or Goblins, waiting patiently to ambush them from beyond the trees. But while avoiding the patches like a gue they dide across a horde of Screaming Bats. There were 5 to 6 bats in that particr horde. They were all hanging out by the side of a big rock, but as soon as they spotted their group, they came flying straight to them. But Grump quickly took care of all of them with his bow. And then without any confrontation, they started moving again. Witnessing how easily the old man took care of the Bats, made him remember his previous encounter with the bats. Then he was with three other people. One of them was even a Mage. But still, they had a very hard time taking care of those cursed things. Thinking about his previous encounter, he realized that he could have handled that situation better. And who knows maybe he would have handled the situation so properly that they wouldn''t have been spotted by Carlin. And hence they wouldn''t have been captured in the first ce¡­ It was then his train of thought was disturbed when Grump stopped walking. And following him, everyone stopped on their track. The old man without turning back signaled from his hands toe forward. Seeing the signal, he quickly ran to his side. "Hand me the telescope," Grump whispered. Hearing this, Dave quickly nce back to see whether the old man and the young man were not close enough. He acted like he was rummaging for something from his shirt, but in reality, he mentallymanded his system to retrieve the telescope from his inventory. He then quickly passed it to Grump. The old man took the telescope and started looking towards their north. Seeing which direction the old man was looking, Dave also started looking in that direction. He could not tell for sure what it was, but he did spot a bunch of rocks in the north. But they were too far away to tell what was exactly wrong with those rocks. While Grump on the other hand was looking at the rocks with great interest. He then changed the direction of his search and started looking over patches of trees that were on the left from the rocks. And it was only after looking through a telescope for a minute or two, he folded it and gave it back to him. He then turn around and said. "We have a problem," Grump whispered. The old man then came forwards along with the young man and asked¡­ "What is it?" "There is a horde of Earth Porcupines north from here. And we have to go around them if we ever want to make it to the River on time." "Can''t we take a detour?" the old man asked. "No. You know that we don''t have that much time. And even if we take the detour then we would face another set of problems. If we go from East and circle around them then we would find ourselves on Midgard Bridge. And we can''t be spotted there. But if we go from the south and then circle around then we have to go through a patch of forest. And you know what that means." "Damn" the old man cursed. "Wait¡­ What if we could create a distraction?" this time the young man spoke in a child-like voice. "Create a distraction?" Grump asked while looking at the young man. "Yeah. Grandpa, we could create a Boom Cracker with a timer, just like the one I made it a few months ago. That could create a distraction and then we could safely cross the patch of forest." The young man said. "Wait wait¡­ What is a Boom Cracker?" Grump asked. "It is a small thing that he created. It is a small orb made from explosive powder. And he could explode the ball with simple Runic Circuit." The old man rified. "How loud would the explosion be?" Grump asked. "Considering the silence of the night¡­ Very loud." The old man said. "And how much time would the ball explode in?" Grump asked. "Around 4-5 mins give or take." The old man said after some thinking. "Good. We could use it. Do you have one with you? Or you would have to make one?" Grump asked. "I have one! It is in my trunk!" The young man said enthusiastically. But it was then the young man received a tight smack behind his head from the courtesy of the old man. "Lower your voice, Ricardo" the old man then angrily said. "Yes, Grandfather." The boy said softly and with a sad voice. "Davy, quickly take out the trunks that you have." Hearing the instruction he simply nodded and took out the trunks. It was only after taking out the trunk that he realized that the old man and his grandson probably knows about him being an Earthian. After all, he had been carrying their luggage. So he didn''t have to pretend in front of them. He could freely use his abilities in front of them... After getting his trunk, the young man started rummaging through it. He then fished out what looked like a small metal ball from his trunk. He then passed the ball to his grandfather. It was then the old man took out what looked like a weird-looking pen from underneath his robes. Then he started scribbling some weird symbols on the ball which started glowing as soon as the old man finished drawing them. Before the old man drew thest symbol he looked at Grump, telling him he was ready¡­ "Okay then¡­ I will run towards the East with the ball and then I would nt it there. And then make a run for it. You guys stay here for the time being. And as the explosion would resound, the Earth Porcupine would start running towards the explosion. Then you guys make a run for it. Is it clear?" Grump said while looking at everyone. And every one of them nodded their face. Then the old man finished drawing thest symbol and the ball started vibrating. He then threw the ball to Grump, who caught it and immediately started running towards East. Dave then hurriedly put the young man''s trunk back in his inventory. He then took the bow that was dangling from his shoulders and stood there patiently waiting for the signal¡­ And soon an explosion resounded from their East. And that was their cue, the trio started jogging towards the horde of the Earth Porcupine that was resting in the North¡­ Hearing the explosion the Earth Porcupines, what he previously thought were rocks, started standing up one by one and started running towards the explosion. As soon as the Porcupines were out of their way, the trio increased their pace and started running. As they were moving from the side of the patch of the forest, he saw a glimpse of something moving in the trees. At first, he thought that it may have been his mind ying games on him. But it was then he heard something fly past his head. He quickly nce back and saw that the thing that flew past him was an arrow. It was then he looked at the forest once again and saw that there were tiny green color midgets running along the border of the forest. And some of them even have small bows and they were firing arrows at them. Seeing this, he started to have a bad feeling¡­ The intensity of arrows being fired at them started to increase. With the increased intensity of the arrows, automatically all three of them increased their running speed as well. And at that time, thedy luck shined their grace on three of them. Most of the arrows that were being fired at them flew past them without even touching them. At one time Dave started to get a feeling that maybe none of these arrows could touch him. But his line of thought broke when the young man who was running in the front tripped and fell down. The old man who was running behind him immediately stopped and knelt down on the ground to look at the young man. Seeing this Dave immediately equipped his shield from his inventory and gave cover to the old man¡­ "We need to leave now," he said while blocking some arrows that came their way. The young man was not injured in any way and started running again after hearing his voice. And following him, the old man also started running. And as soon as he realized that the old man and the young man had run away, he also started running after them¡­ After evading all the arrows with their amazing luck, the trio finally made it past the forest area. And they only stopped running when they have made some distance between themselves and the forest. As they stopped, the old man and his grandson fell down on the ground wheezing for air. While he on the other hand was fine. He too was breathing very heavily but he was not in bad condition like the other two. AWWOOO It was then they heard the sounds of wolves howling. They turned around and saw that there were three goblins riders making their way toward them. The old man and his grandson quickly got up as they also spotted the wolvesing towards them. Looking at the riders quickly closing in on their position, he started wrecking his brain, trying toe up with a strategy¡­ ''If we were to start running now, then there was no way that we would be able to outrun them. Especially these two don''t look like they are in any condition for another sprint. So we have to make a stand. And we have to do it here itself.'' He thought. It was then he tightly gripped the bow in his hands. He then took out an arrow from his quiver and knocked it. He then aimed at the iing goblins. He looked at the trajectory of the said goblins and started breathing slowly. He concentrated for half a second and then he let the arrow go. His arrow wheezed through the air and got stuck straight onto one of the wolves of the goblin riders. The wolf who got struck with the arrow rolled over and fell down on the ground. While the goblin was riding it was thrown forwards with the force. Seeing that he was proficient in archery, the rest of the goblin riders split up. One of them went to the right while the other one went left. Then slowly both of the remaining riders started circling the trio. He then knocked another arrow onto his bow and aimed at the one on the left. After a split second he let the arrow go, but this time the goblin avoided being hit by the arrow by making its wolf jump in the air. And then they changed their trajectory and started moving in. Seeing that the goblins were closing in on them, he immediately knocked up another arrow and shot it. But the goblin made its wolf jump towards the right to avoid the iing arrow. Sensing the urgency of the situation, he knocked another arrow, this time he took some time before he fired the shot. The third arrow hit the goblin straight on his head. The arrow to the head made the goblin get knocked off the wolf. But the wolf that the goblin was riding didn''t stop even when its rider had been knocked off. And it started making its way towards him. It was then he saw a bright light, making him remember the other goblin rider, but he didn''t dare to look back because the wolf was almost onto him. As the wolf came close to him, it jumped on him baring its fangs. But it was then he threw its bow away and took out his shield. First, he blocked the wolf''s pounce, by blocking it with his shield. Then immediately after that, he took out the broken spear and quickly stabbed the wolf''s stomach with the spear. The wolf struggled for a few seconds after being pierced but then it flop down dead. It was then he turned around and saw that the old man and the young boy were fine. And in front of them was the body of the other goblin rider and its wolf burned thoroughly. It was then he figured out that the old man used some sort of magic to kill the monster¡­ "We should keep moving." The old man said while looking at Dave. In return, he nodded his head and started moving again. After moving for some time they finally met up with Grump. Then they continued on towards their journey¡­ The young man and the old man were very tired. And it could be seen by the way they were both walking. Their speed had significantly reduced in thest hour or so and this was also noticed by Grump. But he still persisted in moving on because they were on a very tight schedule. And finally, after a 2-hour walk, Grump agreed on a 15 min break as he saw the condition of his clients. Dave, the young man named Ricardo, and the old man sat down on the ground and started resting as soon as Grump announced the break. While Grump with his monstrous stamina stood guard as the rest of them rxed¡­ Chapter 34 Ricardo ?After running away from the goblin riders, and walking for that long, Dave and their clients were in desperate need of rest. As Grump announced the 15 min pit stop, they ally on the ground, catching their breath. After about 5 min, he got up. The old man and his grandson sleeping on the ground, they were clearly more tired than he was. He walked to Grump to talk to him about their next step. Grump was standing near them, keeping a watch, and he didn''t look tired at all. Looking at his energetic face, he really wondered about what kind of training would an old man like him must have gone through¡­ "Need some rest?" he said while walking towards the old man. "No. I am fine." "How are you fine? We have been walking for like 4-5 hours now. And then we ran like 1-2km when we met those gigantic Porcupines. And even after all of that, you are still standing in front of me like that you go another round. What is your secret? How are you so¡­ you know.. Still standing?" "I have great Endurance kid. You don''t get to be a Solo Adventurer without great Endurance." "Speaking of Endurance, what about them? They look like they will break into two pieces if we end their break now." "They would be fine. That old man is a Potion Maker. He would have a fresh batch of Stamina Restoration potion with him. They would both need a bottle each and then they would be able to walk just fine." "Stamina Restoration potion? Something like this exists in this world?" "Yeah. Earth didn''t have anything simr to the Stamina Restoration potion?" "No." "Well, that is just sad. Because I tell you, in the right situation that potion could be useful. Especially when you have a very energetic woman in your arms." Hepletely ignored his snarky remarks and asked him again. "Are you sure, you don''t want to rest?" "I am fine. You go on and rest for a while. You will need it." Grump said. "Sure." He went back, flopped down on the grass again, and shut his eyes. He only woke up when Grump kicked him, it was time to go. And then they all started walking again. The amazing part was that now the old man and his grandson looked fine. They looked as energetic as they were when they started their journey. They must have taken that Stamina Restoration potion, he thought. It was then, the young man slowed down a little bit and started walking side by side with Dave. "Hello. My name is Ricardo." The young man said introducing himself from under cloth that he was still using to hide his face. "Hi, I am Davy." "You are an Earthian right?" "Yeah." "Woah¡­ I never met an Earthian before. You know when I heard that Earthians have started toe on Midgard, I pleaded with my Grand Father to get me one too. But he never got me one." Ricardo said with enthusiasm. But his innocentment made a chill run down his spine. These little fucker! What does he think, Earthians are dogs that he could put a lease on. Grump had warned me about something like this would happen to me, but I never took it seriously. he thought. "By the way, I have to ask, did you have an interest in swordy in your original world? " Ricardo asked. "Not per se. We didn''t have use for sword in my original world." "I know that. I am interested in why you choose Swordsman as your official ss?" "How do you know, we had a choice while choosing a ss?" "I have a friend in Infragilis. Her family hired two Earthians for their house. Since Earthians havee to Midgard, we have been exchanging letters. And she was the one that told me that Earthians when came here were given 4 choices of sses to choose from." "Is that so..." "Yeah... Did you know beforehand that it is one most useless sses among all the other sses?" He wanted to p the boy and tear him a new one. When he was choosing the sses, he didn''t know what he was getting himself into. So he chose what first came to his mind. "No, I didn''t know. That is why I am trying to do better by working on mastering other weapons because of how useless my ss is." "Good for you¡­ Also, did you know beforehand, that this ss would have no skills? Or despite knowing that, you choose this ss?" From what he remembers, he didnt understood what was happening in his meeting with that talking skeleton. He just choose this ss because he felt like it felt cool, and more recognizable than any other ss. "I didn''t know that." "I knew it! Because it felt weird to me that why would someone even choose Swordsman if they knew that the only perk thates with the ss is bigger Pocket Space¡­" "So is it true? Archery and Mage Combat don''t have bigger pocket space whenpared to the person with Swordsman?" "Yeah. I thought you knew that?" "No. I have not met any Earthian in ages to know this." "Is that so? That is sad¡­ So do you not know what are the skills thate with Archery and Mage Combat?" "No." "You should at least know that much¡­ Anyway, let me tell you. There are two skills thate with Mage Combat. One of them is the ability to fire balls made of mana. And the other one is the ability to cast a shield in front of the Mage. And they have supposedly the least amount of Pocket Space. While Archers have a skill called Sharp Shooter. they could use this skill thrice a day. And when the skill is activated, they could slow down time for 5 sec from which they could urately shoot an arrow. It is a pretty amazing skill¡­" Ricardo then went on and on about knowledge that he had gathered about the Earthian from his friend. Although one might think that he was getting bored while hearing the bbering of a child. But that was not true at all. That child''s bbering was giving him some valuable information¡­ That chile told him that most of the Earthians are present in the Infragilis. And some of them have even made Party called Hope. Before the beast tide hit, their party was not considered that strong. After all, there were many parties in Midgard that could outrank them. But since the beast tide had hit, their rank might have changed. The young boy also talked about how he was under the tutge of his grandfather. And he was training under him to be a Potion Master. He, who had never heard about Potion Master was very interested in talking about this profession. So, he asked several questions regarding it to the boy. Which the young man was more than happy to answer. As the name suggests, The Potion Master is a profession in which a Mage brew magical potions which have extraordinary properties. Like the Health Replenishing Potion that Grump gave him. It was made by a Potion Master as well. And the only prerequisite for bing a Potion Master was that a person must be a Mage. After further talking about potion brewing, the young boy started talking about the profession that the Mages could take on. There were Runic Engineers, who were essentially Mages that could use the power of Runes. They could make various Magical Artifacts by inscribing special Runic Circuits on items. The Runic Circuit gives special abilities to the material it had been inscribed to. Like the Boom Cracker that they use way back. The old man inscribed a special Runic Circuit on the ball which in turn exploded that thing after a particr amount of time. He got really interested in Runes and other Mage stuff that the boy talked about. He asked several questions regarding the matter and the boy was very happy to answer most of them. And when he asked him where did he learn about all of this stuff, he bragged that their Ancestral Home had a lot of books. ording to him, his ancestors gathered those books by diving into the dungeon and then buying them from Dungeon Shop. Hearing that one could buy these types of books from Dungeon, made him more adamant about returning to try out Dungeons one day. It was only for reference, he asked the young boy whether he could see some of his books, he wanted to see what these books are like. And most probably the boy would have agreed to show him his books, but it was then the old man walking in front of them yelled¡­ "RICARDO! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!" he yelled. And then without giving him any answer the boy then went back to Grandfather with his head low. Sensing that the boy have been scolded because of him, he felt a little bit guilty. But what he didn''t understand was what the hell did he do that the old man got so angry. It then did he realize, while talking to the young man, time passed by very quickly. By the time the young man was being scolded by his grandfather, the sun had started peaking from the East. They had been walking all night and the sun was up now. And by the time sun had fully out they have reached their destination. They have reached the River¡­ The River was huge. The flow of the river was so intense that even proficient swimmers could face some problems while swimming in the river. The great thing about the river was that the water of the river was very clean. And he could see big fishes hopping in and out of the stream, making this scene very serene and beautiful. Grump started walking alongside the flow of the river. While the rest of them followed him behind, he on the other hand got confused¡­ ording to what he told him, they were supposed to follow the Midgard Bridge, it is a road that starts from Ravenshade and then goes to Infragilis while going from Clouldhold, Vecrus, and Barcelma. The only domain that the road does not cover is the domain of Roghort. And he remembers seeing the road clearly when he saw the map of Midgard at Carlin''s home. They were supposed to go to the corner of the Ravenshade''s domain, and from there they were supposed to take a secret passage and cross-domain¡­ The river originates from Death Valley. And they are going with the flow of the river. That means that Death Valley should be somewhere behind them. Based on the direction they were originally headed, and where they are going, he realized that they were currently moving toward Roghort''s Domain. And he didn''t like it. He didn''t like it at all. *** In a brightly illuminated room sat a man. He had a big bushy beard and brown skin with curly hair. The man was sitting at a desk and was looking at a bunch of documents. The man seemed to be lost in his work, but it was then he heard¡­ KNOCK KNOCK "Come in," the bearded man said. And then the door of the room was swung open and a woman walked in. The woman looked like she was in her thirties. She had short ck hair and pale white skin. "Everything is in order." The woman said after standing in front of the man''s desk. Hearing the woman''s statement, the man put aside the papers that he was previously reading and looked at the woman. "Is it confirmed?" "Yes. The old man and his grandson areing to the city." The woman said. "Well, then you know what to do. We cannot afford that old man''s return to the city. Take a few good men with you and eliminate him before the old man sets foot in Barclema''s territory." The man said. "Done. But Sebastian, is it wise to take such a step? If City Lord Damien found out about this, then he would kill us all." The woman said with concern. "Katrina. Do you know why other Earthians choose me to be the leader of the Hope Party?" "No." "Well, the answer is simple. Because I know when to step forward and when to step back. When all of you were looking for a leader, I came forward. And now here I am, leader of one of the most sessful parties of Infragilis." Then he removed his sses and then continued. "God has given us another chance to elevate our status further. And we shouldn''t let this chance go¡­ Go and kill that old man for me. And thene back and witness how I make the Hope Party rise and put us on the Top. We will rise so high that even Damien wouldn''t be able to do anything to us." Sebastian said with a smile. Chapter 35 The Red Island ?There had been very few moments in Dave''s life where he was so terrified that he damn near pissed his pants. One such incident happened recently when he came face to face with the Big ck Dragon in its nest. He remembers the moment when he thought that the Dragon had spotted him and was looking straight at him. It was at that moment he really started seeing a bright light calling him. And now all he had to do was leave this body and go to the light. But then somehow he made it out of the nest of Roghorth. He made it out alive. He then promised himself that he would never go near that ck Monstrosity again. And he wants to honor that promise as well. But from the way things are going on, it doesn''t seem like he would be able to honor his promise. Beforeing to the Escort mission, Grump had a little talk with him about the mission. And he had made some things pretty clear to him¡­ "You want me to follow everything that you say?" Dave repeated what Grump said. "Yes. Every singlemand that I give you should be followed." The old man nodded. "Is there any particr reason for such a request?" "Woah Woah¡­. This isn''t a request. It is an order." "An order? Who the hell do you think you are?" "I am your superior. You are alive because of me. And you will stay that way if you listen to me¡­" then the old man sighed and said "Listen very carefully kiddo, in missions like these a party cannot afford to be disobedient to the party leader. Or otherwise, theck of discipline could cause the whole party''s death." "That is bullshit. What if you gave me an order that could potentially throw me into the hands of death? Then there is no way I am following your orders." "Throw you in the hands of death? Are you an idiot? You are a preciousmodity to me right now. The only way I would ever let you go is when I gain the same talent as you. Or there is no choice. It is highly unlikely that these two scenarios could happen." "If you say so," But Grump didn''t stop right there. He then started to instruct him about how he should behave amongst the clients and all. He instructed him that he should follow his everymand, and was never to question his judgment in front of the client. This doesn''t give off the right message to the clients and shows them that they are not united as a team. And this could never work out in their favor. So he insisted that he never argue with his judgment in front of the clients. Also, the old man Grump discreetly pointed out the priorities of the mission. The first priority was his own life. He cared for his life. And it holds the highest value to him. The second on the list would be him, as he was currently very valuable and indispensable right now. And thenes the client. That means that if a time reallyes when he had to make a choice between who to choose, he would choose him above the clients. Hearing the old man''s reasoning did give him a sense of assurance that the old man would protect him if the timees. But this also made him understand that if the situation worsen then the old man wouldn''t think twice before abandoning him. He didn''t me him or hated him for this fact. Because it was in human nature to think about their and their loved one life first. This served as a reminder to him that he should not be dependent on anyone. *** As Dave walked behind the group, he was thinking about whether he should ask Grump about his n. He knew that the old man wouldn''t take any dangerous steps just to make money. If the old man had decided that they would go from Roghorth''s domain, then he would have a n. Their second destination was the shore of a very bigke. The river that they were following mixed with theke here at this point. There was little big fog around theke which was making it hard to see what was beyond it. But even through the fog, he noticed that there seem to be a very big ind towards the center of theke. And that Ind was made from red color mountains which were permeating a red color gas from it. Looking at the red fog surrounding the Ind, he realized that the ind must be Death Valley that he had seen on the map. And Carlin also mentioned that the ind in the middle of theke is always covered in poisonous red gas which is very harmful to anyone. That is why no one goes there. But the strangest part about the whole situation was the River itself¡­ After seeing the map of the world, he made a lot of assumptions about the world. And one of them was about the Rivers around the Midgard, he thought that they originated from the Valley. No one specifically mentioned river originated from Death Valley. He just assumed that they did because it was fairly logical. But now as he stood on the shore of the Lake and was looking at the scene in front of him, he started to think that maybe logic could not always be applied to this world. When he realized that rivers were flowing from the opposite direction, he understood that he had it wrong. Grump was sticking to his original n, they would be moving from Cloudhold, not the Roghorth''s domain¡­ Their true motive foring here was a tree that stood tall by the bank of the river. There was a simr one on the other side of the river. Both the trees were connected with a set of two ropes tied parallel to each other. And it is only after looking at the ropes, he understood what they were doing here. Getting to the other side of the river was pretty simple. A person wouldtch himself up with a hook and a rope from the big rope on the top. And then simply all they need to do is slide their way to another side by maintaining their bnce on the rope on the bottom. As there was a safety hook attached to the top rope, it was a pretty easy task to get from one side to another. At least what he thought¡­ He was the first one to go to the other side. Getting to the other side was a terrifying thing ordeal as the ropes wobbled because of the wind and his weight. A time came when he thought that he would fall down as he lost his footing on the rope below. But the hook saved his life. He then regained his footing and finally made it to the other side. Behind him came the old man. He did have some difficulty whileing there, but he was able to make it in the end. Then came the young man and finally came Grump. After everyone was on the same side of the bank of the river, they set off once again. As they moved further, he started noticing the difference between the domains of Ravenshade and Clouldhold. From the shore, he saw that there were tons of mountains and mountain ranges in the distance. And from the looks of it, the mountains were surrounded by dense forest. Seeing the dense forest made him remember the bbering of Grump when they were surveying the Ravenshade city¡­ "Cloudhold is a shithole. It is surrounded by dense forest and mountains which bes like a breeding ground for monsters. Most of the monsters that spawn there are not killed right away due to ack of personnel there. That is why it is a very hard ce to live in." Those were Grump''s exact words when he asked about Cloudhold. Then Grump started to mention that Cloudhold is the ce where the most dangerous monsters of Midgard are found. As monsters are not killed there as soon as they spawn, the monsters start evolving. And they be more dangerous as time passes. To stop a monster from evolving further, all the great cities have a policy that they care about monsters soon after they are spawned. This keeps the monsters from evolving. But as the personnel in Cloudhold are little as it is, monsters are not killed soon after they are spawned. That is why Cloudhold has a very high number of evolved monsters. Which makes it very dangerous to roam around freely¡­ After they had made some distance between them and the river, Grump stopped everyone. He then dered that they will be making a camp around here. After that, he instructed him to cook something to eat for them. While he went off to scout the area. Young Ricardo was very happy that now they could throw away their hoods and be free once again. And his happiness increased when he invited him to light a bonfire with him. He wanted to try it as well, as he had never done it before and had only seen servants do it for him. Dave didn''t like the young spoiled rich brat. But he had to give it to the boy as he was very knowledgeable. As he wanted to get close to the boy to get more information out of him, he asked him to help him out. He instructed the boy to go around the camp and gather as much dried wood as he can. As soon as the young boy got out of earshot, the old man got into action. He walked up to him, as he was taking out pot and cutlery from his inventory. The old man went to his back and without hesitation kicked him on his back. The kick wasn''t really powerful so in a sense, it wasn''t able to faze him. But he did fall down face first as soon as the old man kicked him. "What the hell is your problem?" Dave asked the old man while getting up. "You listen to me maggot. I don''t want you toe near my grandson again. Or otherwise, you will be in for a lot of pain. Trust me, I know some people that could hurt you. They could hurt you very badly." Dave just stood there boiling with anger. But he didn''t retaliate. He knew that after this job he would never meet the old man. Plus he was a client, if he retaliates now, he doesn''t know how would Grump react. "I understand," he apologized with his head down. "You better understand it. Low Borns like you have no business mingling with people like us. You will make us tarnished, just like you." The old man said and then he turned around and left. He just stood there and took it from the old man. He was enraged. Especially after he heard the Low Born sentence. He had heard a simr sentence like this before, because of his parents. When he was in high school, many parents would urge their children to stay away from him, he was a low-born ording to them. Once he had a crush on this girl. He befriended her and wanted to ask her out. But her big brother found and beat him up. ''Some people are born in the upper curve of society. And some are born at lower. Know your ce and stay away from my daughter.'' her brother said. To this, he remembers the exact words that the man told him. And he still thinks about it to this day. People have been judging him based on his father and mother all of his life. And in a world where no one knows about his history, he still considered a lowly existence. He didn''t like that. He didn''t like it a little bit. *** Therees a time in every powerful person''s life when they have a chance to gamble and win big. These gambles are usually very risky deals that could lead to the downfall of the said, powerful person. But if the gamble pays off then the person who gambled, bes a legend. Grego, the nutcracker, an underground boss of the secret dealing of Ravenshade yed such a gamble after the beast tide hit¡­ Helian Rtoss, the city lord of Barcelma contacted him. After the beast tide hit, the city of Infragilis and Barcelma was in bad condition. They have lost good people to the tide. And he wanted him to smuggle the infamous Potion Master and Alchemist, Hamel Gomez out of the Ravenshead. And deliver him safely to Infragilis. And in return, he promised to pay with enough money and resources that he could officially dethrone Carlin. With her gone, it would be easier to make someone else sit in the City Lord position. And maybe the new City Lord would turn out to be one of the men who are on his payroll. He couldn''t deny the fact that the offer itself was very tempting. Controlling Ravenshade city means a lot of power and money in his hands. The city''s domain is in a bad situation currently, but there was nothing that enough resources and strong men couldn''t fix. Thus he made a gamble. He made his trusted friend take Hamel and his grandson Ricardo out of the Ravenshade. He trusted his friend and he knew about his skills. Thus he was sure that he would be able toplete the job¡­ Like always, Grego was sitting in his booth alone. He had expensive wine in his hand and was enjoying a quiet time. It was then one of his men came running towards him with a slip of paper in his hands¡­ "This better be important," Grego mumbled as the man came to him. "Sir, I was in contact with one of our friends in Cloudhold. And we have just received this report." The man said while handing over the report to Grego. The old man took the report and started going through it. As the old man went through the report, his face started changing expression. And by the end of the report, the old man''s face had bepletely pale. The old man then instantly got up and started running towards his office¡­ Chapter 36 Danger Ahead ?The old man was an obnoxious man, which Dave didn''t like much. While on the other hand, the old man''s blood, his grandson had a totally opposite personality. After getting the responsibility to gather firewood, the young man started running here and there, working hard, gathering wood. Eventually, he gathered enough that wouldst them a couple of hours, so he made him stop. The boy felt sad that he stop. It seems as though he loved doing manualbor. He then started asking for more such jobs where he could help him out. The young man''s enthusiasm wasmendable, but if he would have asked him to do some more things, he would surely hear more snarlingments from the old man, so he declined. The young man kept insisting, but he kept declining, eventually, the old man came and took him to the corner and gave him an earful. He couldn''t hear what the old man was saying to the boy. But by the bodynguage of the old man and the boy, it was pretty clear that the old man was not showing him any mercy. As it was not his ce to interfere, he went back to cooking a fish stew¡­ After getting an earful from the old man the young boy was sad for a few minutes. But then he regained his formal energy. He then started roaming around the campsite, acting like a child of his age. He tried to hug a fat tree but his hands weren''t able to go all the way around the tree. Then he picked up some rocks and started throwing them at trees. He tried climbing a tree as well but soon fell down. From the corner of his eye, he looked at the actions of the young boy and smiled, underneath his mask. He felt a little bad as he knew that the innocent boy that he was seeing in front of him would transform into aplete douchebag if he stays in thepany of the old man. But s he could not do anything about it. Thus he went back to cooking. He brought the packet of salt from his inventory which Grump gave him before leaving for the journey. As he was about to add a pinch of salt to his stew, he was startled¡­ AAAAHHHH! The sound belonged to none other than Ricardo. Hearing the sound, the old man which was resting by a nearby tree immediately got up as well. They started looking around for the boy as they knew that he was ying around the campsite. It was then the little boy came running back to his grandfather and hugged him tightly. The boy was sobbing uncontrobly. He didn''t ask the boy what happened. He had noticed the direction, from where the boy came, so he went to investigate. As he was feeling a bit nervous he took out his sword. He didn''t have to go far, he saw a cloth lying underneath a tree, he figured that this must have been the reason the boy got spooked. So he walked towards the cloth cautiously. He then used his sword to pick it up. And as he picked the cloth, he was greeted by the corpse of a woman. She looked like she was in her 30s. Her skin was pale and flies had been buzzing all around her. It was evident that the woman was dead. It was then he heard footsteps from behind him. He nced back and saw the old man standing a little away from him. While the young boy was still hugging his grandfather. "What is it?" the old man asked. "Corpse of a woman," Dave replied. "Why is the corpse here? Is this ce safe?" the old man asked. "I don''t know¡­" But it was then he heard another sound of footsteps nearby. He then looked behind the old man and saw was Grump was making his way toward them. In his hands a was bloodied ax. Seeing the ax, Dave understood that monsters could be nearby. "What happened?" Grump asked as he came to them. "There is a corpse of a woman here," Dave said. Hearing him, Grump started making his way toward the corpse. He then removed the cloth from the corpse and started inspecting the body of the woman. While the old man turned around and took his grandson with him back to the camp. After they were gone, he also kneeled down in front of the corpse and started inspecting it with Grump. He could see there was a huge bloody hole in the stomach of the woman. He figured that this must have been the reason for her death. Grump took out his Kukuri knife and started ripping off the clothes of the woman. It took him about 10 seconds or so for ripping apart every piece of clothing of the woman¡­ "From the paleness of the corpse and the blood, I would say that this is not older than 24 hours." Grump said. "How can you tell?" "Experience. This is not my first encounter with a corpse." "What more can you tell?" "Well looking at the body of the woman, she belonged to a well-off family." "How can you tell that?" "The cloth that she was had. As well as look at her figure and skin. I could tell this her hands have never lifted anything heavy than a book." "You know some weird things, old man." "That I do¡­" Grump took it as apliment. "And this woman was killed by a Kobold." he said while pointing at the wound in her stomach. Dave looked at the wound closely. The wound seems as if someone had forcefully taken a big chunk of her stomach. Also, there were minute teeth marks around the wound which showed the meat from her stomach was bitten off. "If this is not older than 24 hours, then could it be that Kobolds are nearby?" Dave asked. "Didn''t find any signs of Kobolds while scouting. So my working theory is that there is a chance that this woman ran here after being bitten off somewhere else." "What should we do now?" "Kobolds are mostly inactive during the day time. So you don''t have to worry about them for now¡­ Let''s go back then." Grump said while getting up. "What about her then?" Dave asked. "What about her? She would be swallowed by the world in a few hours. So let''s go." Grump said and then he started heading back to the camp. He wanted to bury the girl''s body. But he was tired and didn''t have time to spare for her. So he also got up and started moving back to the camp¡­ While walking back he started thinking that it had been more than a week since he hade to this world. Since then he had seen so many bodies that now he was not even fazed as he saw the woman''s body. Thinking about all this he started to think that maybe he had changed. He had changed a lot. The fish stew got a little burned, due to his absence. It was still edible but tasted a little bit funky. Despite that Grump ate the fish stew, but the old man straight away refused to eat it, because of which Ricardo also didn''t eat it. Both of them ate some jerky that they had brought for the journey. While he, on the other hand, took his portion away from the camp and then ate it. He didn''t want the old man to see his face thus he went away¡­ As Grump had been awake all night and he didn''t even take a break, he dered that they would be staying here for 3 hours or so. And then they will start to move again. He instructed him to be on the lookout as he didn''t trust the old man enough to give him the job. Then he went for a quick nap near the campfire. As he had some time to kill, he brought out the broken spear that he had used to kill the wolf the other night. He hadn''t cleaned it, he went to a corner and started rubbing blood out of its tip His shield had some scratches on it and it was slightly bent from one side. He then started cleaning the shield, and then he tried to fix the bent with a stone. After a few bangs on the bent portion, he stopped. He didn''t know anything about metal work and he didn''t want to damage the shield further so he stopped. It was then he heard footsteps approaching him. He looked back and saw young Ricardo standing beside him¡­ "What were doing before?" he asked. "I was trying to fix my shield," Dave replied. "You should visit a cksmith if you want to repair it. I have heard our guards say that these types of things should be better left for professionals." "Is that so? Then I understand." Then the boy came and sat by him. "By the way, why are you wearing a mask?" "This thing¡­ Well when I was a child, I had an ident. Which burnt the lower half of my face. And my brunt face is very unpleasant to look at. That is why I wear this mask." Dave lied through his teeth. "Why didn''t you take the Scar Removing Potion? I have heard that the potion could take care of injuries like this." "Is that so? Then that potion will be the first thing that I will buy when I get my first paycheck." He could feel hesitation in the boy''s voice, he knew that he wanted to ask him something, or wanted to talk to him. "Is there something wrong Ricardo?" The boy looked, trying not to face him. "Davy, what would happen to that woman?" he asked in a slow and sad voice. "She would be swallowed by the world in a few hours." "Did you guys find out how she died?" "Well, she had an encounter with a Kobold." "Is that so," Ricardo said in a sad voice. Hearing the sad voice of the boy in front of him, he thought about consoling him. But he didn''t know how to do so. What would he even say to him? Torn between what to do and what not to do, he thought that the best thing for him would be to just distract the boy. So he did just that¡­ "Ricardo, I was wondering about something," "What is it?" "How do Midgardians level up? Do they have a system like Earthians do? And if they don''t posses a system like us then how do they increase their stats?" He then told him that Midgardians increase their stats with a little machine at the Adventurer''s Guild. That machine has a little small orb fixed in it. And when a Midgardian touches it, it disys their status on a ck color panel beside the orb. And if they wanted to increase their stats they could do it by the ck panel itself. Originally he asked him the first thing that popped up in his head. But he was still surprised by the answer from the young boy. Then he continued to ask him about magic and how he could learn it in the future, which in turn started making the boy feel better and better¡­ "For learning magic you need a certain Intellect and some Arcane. If you have these stats then the first step would be to feel mana inside your body. After you start to feel the mana then you need to tap into it and start controlling it." "How do you control it?" "With your brain. When you start feeling mana, you start gaining control over it like it is long forgotten muscle. My Grand Father taught me that in that stage, mana is like solid y. If you want to control it and mend it ording to your will you need to pound it over and over again until it bes fluid enough to flow ording to your requirements." "Hm¡­ Interesting." "You think that is interesting? Let me tell you a really interesting fact. You know how some Earthians choose Magician ss whileing here, right?." "Yeah." "Well, I asked my friend about them. And she told me that those Earthian which choose Magician ss have an unusual ability to control mana. For most people, controlling mana is a very tedious and hard process. But those Earthians were able to control their mana only after two days of practice. And this was a very phenomenal thing in the history of Mages." "Hm¡­ And what about the Earthian who didn''t choose Magician ss?" "I don''t know about them. But based on what I have heard about the potential of all the Earthians, I would say that even Earthian which didn''t choose Magician ss could learn mana maniption pretty easily." "That is good to hear." "Why? Do you want to change your ss? Do you want to be a Mage?" "No, I was thinking about bing a Warlock." "That is an awful choice. Warlocks are a useless bunch. They are not good at magic nor they are good Weapon users. I tell you now, you should really think about your decision." "Why Warlocks are bad? They are the Jack of all Trades." "Yeah, but they are the king of none." "But sometimes it is better to be Jack of all Trades rather than being king of just one." "You are insane." "No, think about it. If you were to fight a Weapon user, then you could predict the tricks that your opponent could use to a certain extent. That goes with the Mage as well. But in the case of a Warlock, you will need to be prepared for anything." "It is true, but bing a strong Warlock is a very difficult task. You have to allocate your stat points evenly to all your attributes. And getting stat points is difficult as it is. You know Yureka, the city lord of Vecrus?" "Yeah, I might have heard about her." "Well, she is the strongest Warlock of Midgard. And did you know how she reached such heights?" "How?" "Well for starters she was a Solo Adventurer. And then she was a killing machine. She was trained from childhood and it is said that she was so skilled since childhood that she can easily subdue any monster on Midgard, no matter the numbers. She is also very intelligent and is a schr of war tactics. Do you understand what I am trying to say? She is a monster. And you have to be a monster too if you want to reach her heights. "I understand, but I have one question." "What?" "How being a Solo Adventurer is beneficial for a Warlock?" he asked. Hearing the question Ricardo pped his forehead as if he had asked him a very foolish question. Chapter 37 Tribal Chief ?"You are kidding me right?" Ricardo asked in a surprised tone. "What? Did I ask you something silly?" Dave asked, scratching his head. "Yeah¡­ I mean this ismon knowledge. How the hell did you not know about this?" "Well for starters I was not born in this world like someone else I know," "Fair enough¡­ You see the main advantage that the Solo Adventurer has is that all the Exp goes straight to them. Usually, Exp gained is equally divided between your party members." "I see." "Yeah, and a Solo Adventurer gains more stats points than you do in a party. That is why most powerful Warlocks in history have always been Solo Adventurers." "Is that so? Wait, so if I work in a party then how would the Exp will be divided? Like if there is a guy that didn''t do anything much and just stood at the corner while everyone fought. Then will he get Exp too?" The question about Exp division had been guing his mind since the day he set foot in this world. Now he could finally get the answer that he really wanted. "Yeah, in a way." "That is not fair." "That is why people are very picky when letting someone enter their party. No one likes a mooch." ? "Hmm¡­ That seems fair¡­ By the way, can you give me some advice on how should I train my magical abilities? Like how do I start? And what should I do when I started controlling my mana? What should I do next?" "You start by trying to control your mana, by simply meditating. And then while you kneading your mana, you start learning Runes. They are thenguage of mana. With the help of Runes you could cast spell build¡­" but it was then his sentence was cut in half¡­ BBBOOOOMMM!! Both of them immediately stood up. When they returned back to the camp where he saw that the old man and Grump were already on their feet and were looking towards their south where the explosion took ce. And they could see dark fumes of fire in the direction. "What the hell was that?" he asked as soon as he returned to the camp. "Sounded like an explosion. Was it Magic Hamel?" Grump asked while looking at the old man. "Yeah, it was. If I am correct that then it was a magic called Great Fireball that exploded." Hamel said. "Monsters?" He asked Grump. "Don''t know about that. But we should leave this ce. That explosion took ce near our campsite. And we cannot afford to seen. Let''s go" Grump ordered. He immediately started putting the pots and pans back in his inventory, then they started moving again¡­ They moved along the border of Cloudhold, which was a very good thing. The dense forest to their right was although very beautiful and calm, but he knew better. Underneath that calmness are monsters, lurking at every corner, waiting patiently to pounce at the living creature thates their way. As they walked along the borders of the domain, they were not far from the shore of the greatke. And now that the sun was up, the fog around theke has diminished. Now he could see Death Valley clearly. The red fog had surrounded the ind as well as the water around it, which made him wonder whether the poisonous fog affects the water of theke. As all the rivers of this world getbined in theke, their streams intertwine, forming whirlpools. From here, he spotted whirlpools all around theke. This made him realize that the Death Valley was like a very strong fortress, which is very hard to get ess to. This made him wonder, what could that Ind be hiding? As he was thinking about all the stuff of the world, his train of thought was broken when he heard a screaming sound of a Hawk¡­ KEEEAAAARRR He looked up and saw that there was this hawk that was flying over them. And the interesting part was that it was flying in circles around them. Hearing the hawk, Grump also stopped and looked up. He then took out a small whistle from around his neck and blew it¡­ PHHEWW Hearing the whistle the Hawk dove down towards them andnded on Grump''s hand. It had a small letter tied up to its leg. Grump untied the letter from its leg and took it. After delivering the letter the hawk flew away once again. Grump opened the letter and started reading it at once. Everyone stood there quietly, patiently waiting to know the contents of the letter. After Grump was done, he made a ball of the letter with his hands and started groaning with frustration¡­ "What happened?" The old man Hamel asked. "A lot of things¡­ And none of them is good for us." Grump answered. "What now?" Hamel asked in an annoyed voice. "Well for starters some adventurers blew up the Midgard Bridge''s Bridge connecting Vecrus and Cloudhold," Grump answered. "Bridge''s Bridge? What is that supposed to mean?" Dave asked. "You know how the Midgard Bridge is the road that connects Ravenshade and Infragilis¡­ There are these 3 bridges in between thatplete the road. And the bridge connecting Vecrus and Cloudhold blew up." Grump said. ''That is so confusing. Bridge''s Bridge¡­ People of this world should really work on their naming skills.'' Dave thought. "What about the other bridge? The back Bridge?" Hamel asked. "Yeah, that is where the second bad newses in. We could take the back bridge. But here is the deal, we have a schedule to keep up with. That is why we have to reach the Back Bridge as soon as possible. So, we cannot stay at the border anymore. We need to go through the middle of Cloudhold to reach the back bridge on time. It is only then we can expect to keep up with the schedule." "But wouldn''t that be dangerous?" Hamel asked. "It is. But you know how it is." Grump replied. "FUCK!" The old man Hamel yelled with frustration. While Dave on the other hand could understand, what was the hurry? They were escorting the old man to Infragilis, so why does it matter how much time they took? Why was the schedule important anyway. He wanted to ask Grump about it, but he realized that this wasn''t a good time. He would ask him when they stop for a break again. "Alright. Is that all?" the old man asked. "There are few more things. It seems after the beast tide, the condition of Cloudhold has worsened. Grego has sent me a warning that there could tribe of Kongs on the way. As well Mountain Bears just came out of extinction." Grump said. "Oh Fuck¡­" "Good news is, there has been no sign of Tribal Cheif, yet," Grump said. "That is just great. GREAT!" The old man then started rubbing his head in frustration. "Anyway, we should keep moving," Dave on the other hand started remembering what he had heard about Kongs. From the Grump had told him, Kongs are monkey-like creatures. They are mostly found in caves around Barcelma and the forests of Cloudhold. The interesting part about these monkeys is that they have some level of intelligence. In the word of Grump, ''Those mother fuckers are halfway between Kobolds and Goblins.'' Kongs also travel in groups like Goblins. But they are tougher than them. And they are also stronger and faster. But their strength does note near the strength that is possessed by Kobolds. When they were surveying the area around Ravenshade, Grump also exined to him that there is sort of like rivalry between the Kongs and Kobolds. Both of them are each other favorite snacks. And they get wild if they saw one another. That is why he advised him to run away from the area where Kobolds and Kongs are fighting. Because while fighting, both the creatures tends go berserk sometimes¡­ They changed their course and started moving deeper into the domain of Cloudhold. As they were walking, Dave started getting nervous, as they were going deeper into the domain, the vegetation around them was getting denser and denser. Which was making him very nervous. Grump was also having a hard time navigating through the dense vegetation. So he gave his great battle ax to him to put in his inventory. Then he took his Kurkuri knife and started using them to cut down the vegetation in their path. Dave who was still nervous was clutching his bow tightly. Seeing this Ricardo said¡­ "You know that your pocket space has a equip function right? So why are you still holding your bow like that?" he asked. Hearing this Hamel, looked around at his grandson. He had ordered him not to talk to Low Born Earthian with them. And yet he disobeyed him. But at that time he didn''t say anything because he knew that if he say something, it might anger Grump¡­ Hearing Ricardo''s query, he looked at him with a curious gaze. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Haven''t you noticed it yet? When you take out your weapons or your equipment from your inventory, they automatically get equipped in your hands. It doesn''t matter in which position you have stored it. When you will take it out, it wille out in your hands in a battle-ready position" Hearing his exnation, he realized that the boy was right. Whenever he takes out his shield from his inventory, it alwayses out automatically equipped in his hands. So he started experimenting with this feature. He touched the belt of his quiver around his back and ordered his system to put the thing in his inventory. And when hemanded to bring back his bow and quiver, it came back already equipped in his hands, in a battle-ready position. So he put his bow and quiver back in his inventory and started walking empty-handed. But it was then, their party came to an abrupt stop when Grump stopped. Then Grump suddenly turned around and put his finger on his lips. Seeing him shushing them, everyone got tensed. Grump then gripped his Kukuri knife tightly and moved forward slowly. As he went forward the three of them stood there like statues not knowing what to do. It was then a breeze blew their way. And with the breeze a distinct disturbing smell of blood. Smelling blood, he immediately took his bow and arrow. He didn''t know what was up ahead, but from the smell of it, he could tell that it was not something that he want to encounter. But it was then Hamel started moving and went ahead behind Grump. Seeing his grandfather move, Ricardo also wanted to go behind him. But he stopped him. He knew that the old man was strong. After all, he couldn''t forget that he performed magic while fighting with a Goblin rider. But Ricardo over here was still a young boy and it would be not safe for him to go on ahead. As both of them stood there for some time in silence, he started getting anxious. And as time passed and none of the old men returned back because of which his anxiety started reaching new heights. He started getting startled by even the rustling of leaves from the wind. But before he could get more anxious, Grump returned back. After returning the old man gestured with his head to follow him. And it was then, he started breathing with relief. As they walked in further, the smell of blood started getting denser and denser. And finally, they came across a small clearing which presented them with a very gory scene¡­ The clearing was filled with dismembered bodies of monsters. There were Kobolds and Goblins in the mix. Also, he saw a body of a green color chimpanzee in the mix. He assumed that things must be Kongs that he had heard so much about. The trees around the clearing were broken, scratched, and bloodied. Most of the clearing was filled with the blood and organs of most of the monsters. And all the bodies were either chopped or torn apart. It was truly a very gory scene. Ricardo who was just a boy, puked immediately as he saw the scene. He went to one of the trees and started hurling his guts out. But no one went to help the poor boy as everyone was busy inspecting the scene. "What happened here?" he asked. "A war. Probably a territorial war." Grump answered. "It must have been brutal," Hamel said while seeing the scene. "Yeah¡­ But I am more worried about that." Grump said while pointing at the nearest tree. He followed his finger to a big cut, carved on the bark of a tree. It was a single sh. But the sh itself was very big and fat. "Tribal Chief?" Hamel asked with a quivering voice. Till the time Ricardo also came back and tightly gripped his grandfather''s hands. "Yup." Grump said. Hearing his answer, Hamel started cursing under his breath. It was then every one of them was startled when they heard a movement near them. The movement came from a nearby bush. Dave who was startled pulled the string of the bow and was about to fire an arrow at the bush out of panic. But before he could do anything, Hamel conjured a blue color ball and set it free on the bush. BOOM The mana ball caused a small explosion. And when the dust from the explosion cleared up, they saw that there was a small green color chimpanzee corpse lying in the explosion zone. Seeing that it was a small baby, he sighed with relief. But Grump and Hamel had another reaction altogether¡­ Chapter 38 Arena ?Dave felt sad for the infant Kong. It was very unfortunate that it had to die in such a way¡­ ? "What the fuck is the matter with you," Grump asked angrily while pushing Hamel. "I didn''t know that there was a baby there." Hamel protested. "You old geezer have your lost your mind? You used explosive magic like this when we were in Cloudhold, are you fucking insane? The explosion could attract monsters and humans alike. And not to forget you killed a baby Kong. Didn''t you see that sh? There is a Tribal Chief around here for fucks sake. How the fuck would you imagine that we would take care of it if it shows up?" Hamel had it enough, his scrunched in anger and he started berating Grump. "You listen to me you dirty son of a whore. You don''t talk to me like that. Do not forget that I am a Gomez. I belong to a noble house and you will treat me like such. Or otherwise, I will have you fuck you up and then dump you in the same sewer where your dirty mother used to sleep in." Hearing Hamel''s words, Grump became angry. He tightly gripped his Kukuri knife and slowly walked to him. Seeing Grump''s face, Hamel started backing up a little bit. He didn''t show it on his face but it was clear from his bodynguage that he was afraid of Grump. Dave who saw the situation escting went between them to stop. Dave held back Grump and stopped him from advancing any further. As the three of them were busy, little Ricardo who was standing by the side heard a small noise. He looked in the direction from where he heard the noise, and it was then he saw it¡­ Another small Kong had appeared beside the corpse of the one his Grandfather killed. This second Kong pushed the other Kong''s body with his front limbs trying to wake him up. Seeing the actions of the small Kong, made Ricardo feel sad. He wanted to console the new Kong but he didn''t know how. Seeing its action he started thinking about what the dead Kong meant to the other one. Were they family? Or were they friends? As the other Kong realized that no matter what it does, its friend won''t wake up, it started getting angry. It was then turned around and started ring at Ricardo with hateful eyes. It started showing his teeth to him. Seeing this, the young man started calling his grandfather because he was a little scared of little Kong. "Grandpa¡­" he said in a low voice as he was scared. But because of bickering, his grandfatherpletely ignored his call. And just when Ricardo thought the little Kong would jump at him, the little thing took a deep breath. And then he started screaming¡­ OOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!! Hearing the little Kong''s scream, everyone stopped and started looking in the direction of the little thing. As the little guy saw that all the humans were now looking at him, he made a run for it. It started climbing the nearest tree, but even while climbing it didn''t stop screaming. The little thing climbed all the way up the tree. And as soon as it reached the topmost branch of the tree. As soon as it peeked from up there, Grump made it move. He knocked an arrow in his bow and fired as soon as he saw its little head. The shot was fired and pierced its head, killing the little thing. With little Kong dead, the forest was once again shrouded in silence. And when everyone thought that it was over, the silence of the forest started breaking when they heard a Kong from their south screaming¡­ OOO OOAKK OOOAAAK OOOAAAAK Then another Kong from the same direction started screaming. Then sounds started reverberating from the East. And within seconds sounds of apes chattering and screaming very started reverberating from all directions. Hearing all the chattering everyone started bing tense. And it was then they all heard¡­ RRROOOOOAAARR!!!! The roar that sounded in the forest suppressed all the chattering of Kongs. "Everyone RUN!" Grump was the one to yell and then he started running. And then everyone started following his suit¡­ Running through the forest was a very difficult thing. The ground was very moist and covered with dposing leaves, which made it very slippery. And then there were all the big roots of trees in the way which could make anyone trip if they are not careful. Still, everyone was motivated to run as fast as they can. The chattering of the apes has not stopped for a second since they started running. And from the sound of it, he could tell that the chattering was getting louder and louder as time passed. Kongs were catching up to them. And after some time he noticed that he has started hearing the crackling noise of branches of, as he passed by them. And from the way that the leaves were falling down the trees, he figured that all the apes that he could hear were on the trees above them. As soon as he figured out that the apes were on the trees and had already caught up to him, he immediately thought about increasing his speed. But then out of nowhere he was tackled from his side and flung over to his left. While the rest of the group went on ahead, unaware that he had fallen. The tackle had immense force behind it, but it was not strong enough to make him lose his shit. As soon as he hit the ground, he immediately got up to face his opponent who turned out to be a small 4 feet tall green color chimpanzee, who had blood lust in its eyes. Before he could make another move, the chimp jumped high in the air, trying to smash him with its hand. He easily sidestepped the chimp''s trajectory and brought out his broken spear. And immediately pierced the chimp as soon as itnded beside. Even after making seekh Kabab out of the chimp, it didn''t go down. It started ying his hand around trying to grab and bite him. But he simply let go of the spear and started running away leaving behind the injured and probably dead Kong. While running, he started hearing noises from above. He knew that he had been surrounded and he would eventually have to fight these apes. So he instantly brought out his sword. He then unsheathed it and threw away the scabbard. And then he put his sword back in his inventory, he figured that this way he would be able to fend off his enemies in unseen situations. It was then an ape that has dived down from the tree in front of him that was blocking his way. This ape was bigger than thest one. It was approximately about 5 feet tall and was holding a very fat club in his hands. The ape with the club also started running toward him. As it got in range, it jumped on him while swinging his club. But he on the other hand anticipated the attack. That is why he immediately changed directions thus making the ape attack futile. Now running in the other direction, he started wrecking his brain, thinking about how can he out of this situation. But before he could think of anything else, an ape jumped on his back. This ape was very smaller than the previous ones. That is why he didn''t trip as he jumped on his back. The ape on his back then quickly took a bite of his shoulder. He yelled in pain as he felt the pointy teeth of the ape prating his shoulder''s muscle. He then immediately brought his hand back and grabbed the pelt of the ape and threw him away¡­ He ran for a while but then he came to an abrupt stop when he saw 5 big chimps with clubs in their hands, blocking his way. Before he tries to run back in the direction he came from, that route is also blocked by a bunch of more chimps. While standing in the middle of a trap made by apes, he knew that he had nowhere else to go. He will have to make his stand here and now. So he immediately took his sword from his inventory and got ready. It was then of the ape jumped on him from above. But unlucky for it, he had already seen the apes on the top and had expected an attack such as this. As soon as the ape came within his range, he immediately swung his sword toward the ape. His sword was able to cut half of the creature''s face and some fingers. And then the ape fell on the ground with blood pouring out of it. It was then two apes from his back that jumped into action. But thanks to some training from Grump, he had been vignt of every moment around him. As soon as those apes took action, he immediately turned around and swung his sword making a wide horizontal arc. The apes, on the other hand, got scared by his move and immediately jumped back. He then quickly took a very big step forward, toward the retreating apes, and then he swung his sword making a vertical arc. This time, one of the apes got caught in the range of the sword and got a big sh on his torso and his face. Seeing this the other ape got scared and retreated. It was then one of the big apes of the group took action. With its club in his hands, it ran towards and jumped. The ape was about to bring the heavy club down his ass. But from the corner of their eyes, he had already seen him move. So he immediately brought his shield out. He had already taken into ount the sheer size of the club and its weight. He was sure that it would be difficult for him to block the attack in such a way from his arm doesn''t be numb or worse break. So instead of blocking the attack, he figured that he would parry it, just like Grump had taught him. As soon as the ape was onto him, he swung his arms, using the ape''s momentum against it. And with enough force, he was sessfully able to parry the club sideway. And before the ape could move his club once again, he trusted his sword towards its torso and thus impaling it. Seeing the three of theirrades injured angered all the rest of the monsters standing there. And then they all started moving in towards him with all the force that they could¡­ After he took out his sword from the ape''s torso, another one jumped on his back and tried to bite him. He then quickly grabbed the ape with his left hand and flung him forward. Till then one of the bigger apes came running toward him and kicked from his sides. The kick flung him sideways. He flew in the air for a moment or two and then fell on his face. But then he soon got up and tried to collect himself. An ape that was nearby, flung a long wooden stick to the side of his face. The stick broke as it made contact with his face. But it acted as a wake-up call to collect himself. After he was struck by a stick, he immediately put his sword and shield back in his inventory. Then he did a reverse barrel roll and got away from the apes. Then he quickly got up and started running¡­ As Dave ran he started feeling liquiding down his cheeks. He understood that the side of his head was bleeding. Also from the sound of it, there was an ape chasing after him. He then quicklymanded and then reequipped his bow and arrow. By the time his quiver was equipped, his hands had already reached an arrow. He then quickly knocked an arrow and abruptly stopped. Then he turned around while knocking an arrow. He could hear and sensed, that one of therger apes was almost onto him, as soon as he turned around he let the arrow loose. The arrow whistled through the air and struck the ape straight in his head and killing him immediately. With one of the bigger apes down, he then started running again. While running he knocked another arrow into his bow and waited for an opportune moment. It was then he saw that one of the apes was running by his side a little bit towards his right. He then aimed his arrow while running toward the ape and let it loose. But the arrow struck one of the trees, missing its mark. But he didn''t lose confidence with such an attempt. He then immediately knocked another arrow from his quiver and took a shot once again. But this time too, the arrow missed its target. It was then he realized that there was something wrong with the left side of his face. He is not able to see clearly with his left eye. It was then he realized that maybe the left side of his face had started swelling up. That is why his aim was a mess. As he couldn''t aim, he then focused on running instead. The apes that were chasing him were pretty smart. They tried to devise the same tactic as they did before to corner him. Some apes tried to block his way. But as he didn''t want to be cornered like before he took out his shield and rammed into them and then started running again. The more he ran, the more he started to feel the fatigue catching up to him. He could feel that he was slowing down and he couldn''t keep up anymore¡­ After avoiding a lot of apes that blocked his way, he started to wonder whether he would be able to outrun these apes. He started losing hope. But it was then he came to an abrupt stop when he found himself in the middle of the clearing. Apes had surrounded the area from all sides. And he was now cornered. He mumbled some curses in a low voice and prepared for the battle that was about toe. But it was then he noticed something peculiar about this clearing. The trees around the clearing had big shes like that Grump showed them before. ording to the old man, that sh was made by something called the Tribal Chief. He didn''t know what that meant but he understood that it couldn''t be a good thing. It was then he noticed another peculiar thing. The apes were not attacking him. They all had him surrounded and were screaming like crazy. But they were not attacking him. ''Is it me or does this ce look a lot like an arena?'' he thought. It was a stupid thought. But then he started loud rumbling noises as if something heavy of making its way towards the clearing¡­. Chapter 39 Another Quest ?The apes that had surrounded the clearing were screaming loudly, their lively behavior reminded him of the wrestling matches, one of the yers had arrived, and now the other yer has to make an entrance. The apes were getting pretty rowdy, they were screaming, jumping around here and there, and excited about what was about happen. And when the two-ton monstrositynded in the middle of the clearing, every one of the apes became deadly quiet. Every single one of them stayed glued to their ces with their mouth shut. The big monsternded in the clearing, it created a big dust screen that covered the whole arena. Because of this, it would have been hard to see what was happening there for most of them. But to Dave, everything was as clear as it could be. Even from the dust screen, he could see a shadow of the hulking figure that hadnded in front of him. The figure was very taller than him and seemed to be standing on his hind legs and appears to be holding a club in its hand. As the dust screen got cleared up, he was finally able to see what was in front of him. The figure in front of him belonged to a humanoid giant. This thing was covered in green color fur, it had a face human-like face, while the only bizarre thing about the creature was that it had no nose. Instead, it had two slits between his mouth and eyes which acted like his nose. While there were two small tusks-like intrusionsing out of the creature''s human-like mouth, making him look like a warthog. In front of the hulking figure of the creature, he looks like a small teenage boy who had just hit puberty. And one would think that the stature of the creature was the intimidating factor about it. But they would be wrong. The most terrifying thing about the creature was its weapon. This creature was holding what looked like a 5-foot-long cleaver. And the cleaver itself was so big and heavy that the creature was supporting the weight of the thing on its back. The creature red at him with his ck beady eyes. And it was then the creature opened its mouth and roared¡­. RRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!! The roar of the creature was so loud that he had to cover his ears to protect them. But for the apes, the roar was like a cheering drug because as soon as they heard the roar they all started shouting, jumping, and started creating a ruckus again¡­ He could see that there was a thickyer of solidified blood on it. Seeing the huge thing he understood what caused the shes that he had seen so far. And he also understood that this creature must be the so-called Tribal Chief that he had been listening about. He knew that the creature was dangerous, thus he started formting a n to get the hell out of here. It was then messages started flooding in front of his eyes¡­ ................ You have been challenged to fight to the Death by the Tribal chief''s escort. ................ The only way to escape is to kill the Tribal Chief''s escort. ................ You have only gathered the attention of many gods interested in your fight. ................ The Muscr Monkey has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Chaos Creator has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Hot Head has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Tinkerer has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Pacifist Warrior has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Electric Pervert has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Lord of Shadows and Death has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Enchantress of Death has joined in to witness your fight. ................ The Earth Shaker has joined in to witness your fight. ................ And like that he received several names of gods who came to watch his fight. But seeing those messages only made him angrier. It was bad enough that he was stuck here in this ce, now he had to fight for the entertainment of the Gods. This was his worst nightmare. But he knew that this was not the time to get angry. He had carefully read all the messages, and ording to them, he could not run away from here before he kills that monster. But it was better said than done. If he is right then it would only take one hit from the Cleaver to chop him up in half, and then he would be done for¡­ The Tribal Chief or the overgrown ape then raised his cleaver up in the air. And all the apes around the arena started to cheer for him. It then started leisurely walking around the arena,pletely ignoring his existence. From what it looked like the creature wanted to hype up the apes before he would kill him. Seeing this as a good opportunity, he then summoned his stat screen and looked at the 15 unused stats points that he had. He had previously thought that he would only use them in an emergency and now the time hase. He immediately started pouring stats points into his Strength, Agility, and Dexterity. He thought as he would not need Arcane and Intellect right now, he let them be¡­ ................ Stats Exp-35/100 Strength- 16 [+] Dexterity- 11 [+] Agility- 10 [+] Arcane- 2 [+] Intellect- 6 [+] Stats point avable- 0 ................ After he was done, he immediately started formting a n in his mind. He had no intention of dying today. He was a little bit irritated and angry that all the gods thate to see him were watching him like he was some sort of entertainer. But that didn''t stop him from clutching his sword tightly in his hands. As the creature walked around the area hyping the crowd up, he started maintaining some distance between himself and the creature. While clutching his sword tightly in his hands he nervously looked at the giant who could attack him at any moment in time. And he was right, the creature did attack him all of a sudden¡­ The creature was on the other side of the arena. But then suddenly it turned around and jumped towards him mming his cleaver down, trying to cut him in half. While on the other hand, he was anticipating the attack. That is why he was quickly able to move out of the way of the attack because of his increased agility. CLING The cleaver made a loud sound as it got mmed on the ground. But the creature didn''t stop at that. It instantly rotated the cleaver on its axis and made a horizontal arcing toward him. He didn''t anticipate the attack, there was only one thing he could do in that situation, he let himself fall down on his back, so he did just that. He was able to avoid the cleaver this way, but the creature was not happy about this. So in the middle of its horizontal sh, it stopped. Then he raised the cleaver in the air and then mmed it on the ground where he had fell. All of this happened so suddenly that he could not react on time. So the only thing he could do was predict the trajectory of cleaver and get the hell away from it. So he predicted it to the best of his abilities and then simply rolled away from it¡­ CLING He was able to get away from the cleaver in the nick of time or his hand would have been cut off. He also understood that it would be dangerous to stay on the ground for a long time. That is why as soon as he saw that he was out of the way of the cleaver, he instantly jumped up and got on his feet, and made some distance between him and it¡­ The creature was stuck in its ce. It was not moving at all. But the head of the creature was still looking in his direction. Seeing this, he started having a bad feeling. He clutched the sword in his hands, sweating profusely. He then started thinking about Grump, more specifically he started thinking about how he have been handled this situation. It is then he remembered the old man''s fight with the centaur, which gave him an idea¡­ The creature when saw that Dave was on the other corner, showed his teeth to him, which kind of looked like an evil and scary smirk. It then started twisting its neck, arms, its spine, and other body parts, essentially, cracking them. Seeing this he realized that this creature would now take fighting seriously. And the shit is going to take an ugly turn from here. But he had also formted a n in his mind. He put the sword in his hands back in his inventory and waited for an opportune moment. While on the other hand, after the creature had cracked all of its body parts, it started roaring again, trying to rile up the crowd¡­. RRRROOOOAAAARRR!!! But to the creature''s surprise, he also started screaming AAAAHHHHHH!!! His cries were dampened by the roar of the creature, but when it realized that a human was screaming, the creature shut his mouth, and then the whole arena was able to hear his cry. After hearing his battle cry, the apes around the arena started going wild. And then abruptly both the fighters then started running toward each other. The creature wanted to cleave him in half. That is why as soon as it reached him, it made a long and strong horizontal intending to tear him apart. But he did something unexpected at thest moment. He dove down on the ground and started sliding down on the arena. And as soon as he reached the legs of the creature he instantly brought out its sword and swung it on the foot of the creature with all the strength that he could muster. He tried to copy the exact move that Grump did with the Centaurs. But he failed to consider the fact that the legs of the centaurs were thinner at the bottom. That is why the sharp knife like the Kukuri knife that the old man had was able to cut off the hoves like it was made of butter. But this creature on the other hand big muscles and thick bones. Because of this as soon as he swung his sword on its legs, the sword got stuck in the creature''s leg bone. But the sword was able to do enough damage that made the creature fall on the ground head first¡­ After lodging the sword in the leg of the creature, he made some distance between himself and the creature again. While on the other hand, the creature started wailing in pain. It then pulled the sword out and then threw it out of the arena. He was unhappy that he lost his sword, that sword and he had seen some tough times together. But he didn''t have the time to sulk because now the creature looked like he was angry as ever. And the blood lust in its eyes was enough to send chills running down his spine. He had initially nned to attack in such a way that the creature would not be able to jump around the arena like it was before. He wanted to cut off something that would dampen its agility. Although he was not able to aplish what he wanted, he did get pretty close. So he then took out his bow and arrow and knocked an arrow. His aim was trash before as one of his eyes was still swelled. And he is unable to see anything from his left eye. But with such a big opponent, using a bow and arrow would be a cakewalk¡­ RRRROOOOAAAARRR!!! The creature then roared loudly once more and then started limping towards him. He on the other hand started shooting arrows toward the creature as fast as he could while maintaining some distance between them. Some of the arrows got lodged in the torso of the creature. But the arrows didn''t seem to have any effect on him. As he constantly ran around and shot arrows at the creature, it started getting angrier and angrier. Because of its reduced speed, the creature was not able to catch up to him no matter what he did. The creature finally lost control after getting frustrated after dealing with all of this. It then threw its cleaver toward him, which he was barely able to avoid. As he jumped back to avoid the flying cleaver, he fell down on his bottom. Seeing this the creature growled and started making its way toward him with good speed. And by the time he got here, he was already up on his feet. He then tried to run in the opposite direction, away from the cleaver. But the creature had already made its way to him. And then it tried to grab him in its hands. But at that exact moment, he had an idea. He easily avoided the grabbing attempt by doing a barrel roll toward its left. And after doing the barrel roll, he quickly got up and whipped out a spear from his inventory¡­ He had practiced all three of the weapons that he possessed. But still, he was confident in only two of those weapons, which were sword and bow. His spear-throwing was very questionable and he was pretty bad at it. But he figured that if he were to throw the spear from this distance he might be able to make a clear shot. So he did that. After he took his spear, he stretched his hand and threw the spear toward the creature with all the strength that he could muster. The spear gotunched into the air and went straight toward the face of the creature¡­ Chapter 40 Fight To Death ?Throwing a spear at the creature would have been a bad idea if there was a considerable distance between him and the creature. But as the creature was so close by, he thought that throwing a spear was worth a shot. When he threw the spear, the creature was easily able to catch it. But he didn''t stop there. He started running towards the creature with his n in his mind. He instantly whipped out another spear from his inventory and threw this one as well at it as well. The creature was able to catch it as well. He then quickly took out another one and threw straight it at the ape¡­ He figured that if that dumb creature was holding two spears in its hands, then it would not be able to catch thest spear. And he was indeed right. His spear went straight toward the head of the creature and got lodged in the eyes of the creature. BAAAM The creature fell down on his back and started wailing in pain. But he didn''t stop there. He instantly started running towards the head of the creature and jumped on it. While in the air, he took the battle ax that Grump gave him to keep safe in his inventory. He then let the weight of the ax, as well as his momentum, do the rest of the job¡­ The battle ax went inside the skull of the creature and opened it up as if it was a cantaloupe. After the head of the monster was opened, the whole area became silent. The monkeys that were cheering their champion before now were standing there in silence. He on the other hand was happy. He remembers the message from the system saying that he would be free to go after he had killed this monster. But now as he stood there in the middle of the clearing, he started wondering how he was supposed to get out there. He then grabbed the battle ax and started looking around for an opening. And soon spotted an opening, that area in particr didn''t have a lot of monkeys in it. ''If I use my shield then he could ram his way out of there, then I could make it out of here. Even if it backfires, then this is a better alternative than staying here, surrounded by Kongs.'' he thought. With a n in his mind, he started moving towards the opening slowly as possible, not trying to spook any Kongs. The monkeys surrounding the area were still silent and were all ring at him. It was then he suddenly made his move. He started running towards the opening. He took his shield and put the ax back in his inventory. While running he put his shield up in front and was ready to ram the first thing that he will see in his path. But it came as a surprise that, none of the monsters followed him or tried to even stop him. Even the monkeys that were standing near the opening didn''t move a muscle when he ran away. Seeing this he was happy that he was able to get out of there without getting into a fight. But he was also confused as to why didn''t the monkeys do anything. Was he missing something? After he had made some distance between himself and the clearing, he doubled check to see whether any monsters were following him. It is only after he was sure that no one was around him, did he sat down, to rest and catch his breath. He was exhausted. The fight didn''t cause him a lot of damage which was surprising to him. All his previous encounters with monsters have ended up in him being heavily injured in some way or another. So he was happy that he was able to deal with a monster that big and strong without being critically injured¡­. After he had rested enough he got up again and started wondering what he should do now. After thinking for a while, he figured that he should start moving toward the mountain ranges. As his group was moving there before he was separated from them. So he figured that he should go up mountain ranges as well. And who knows, maybe from there, he would be able to spot the back bridge. With a n in his mind, he started moving. But it is only after covering a 100 m distance or so, he started feeling that something was off. Maybe he was being paranoid, but his senses were telling him that something was wrong. So he stopped for a moment and turned around. The forest around him felt strangely silent and there was no one in sight. He then started looking up at the canopy of trees for any sign of Kongs. The green canopy of the trees could camouge those monsters very easily, so he started looking carefully. He couldn''t spot anything out of the ordinary. And he was about to rx, but it was then he spotted something that made a chill run down his spine. He saw a Kong. It was sitting on one of the branches of the trees and was looking straight at him. The monster was not moving at all,bined with his camouge made it very hard for him to spot him. It was staring at him like it was only there to keep an eye on him. And with one Kong found, he then started spotting more and more Kongs in his vicinity. All of them were glued to their spots and all were looking intently at him. Seeing this he started to get a bad feeling¡­ He then turned around and started walking again. As he saw that the monsters were not attacking him, he figured that they would not follow him as well. After covering some distance, he looked back. And sure enough, they were following him, and it seemed to him that their number had increased. This was a very terrifying situation for him. He didn''t know what was happening and how can he get out of this ce. The only good thing about the situation was the Kongs were only observing him and not attacking him. As he started thinking about escaping, his train of thought broke when he heard something in a distance. "DAVVY!" So he instantly started running towards the sound. And with him, Kongs also moved. And as he got closer to the sound, a smile bloomed on his face as he recognized the voice of the human shouting his name. It belonged to Grump. Hearing the voice of the old man, he felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. But it was then he heard something from his back. Something was moving towards him and that thing was very fast¡­ CREEE!!! It was then he heard a very weird screech from his back. And before he know it, something jumped from the canopy of the trees andnded in front of him. The thing thatnded was a Kong. This one was not as big as the one that he killed. This one was about 6 feet tall. This one didn''t have bulging muscles but had a lean body. But just like the previous one this creature also had a weapon. It had a very long curved great sword that was resting on its shoulder. Unlike the big cleaver, this sword was very clean and the edge of the sword looked like it could cut through steel if it had to. "Now what the fuck are you?" he said out loud. CREEE!!! The creature screeched again and then started making its move. It was very fast and soon came to him and swung its sword in the form of an upwards sh. The speed of the creature shocked him and he was barely able to move out of the trajectory of the sword. Dave avoided the sword strike by jumping sideways. And by the time he started to get up, he noticed one green color leg making its way toward his stomach. BAAAM The creature kicked him in the stomach and made him fly away a foot or two away. And as soon as he hadnded on the ground with an aching stomach, the creature was already in the air with its sword in its arms. And it was going to m its sword on him, trying chopping in half. The worst part was that he knew that he couldn''t move in time¡­ **** As the city lord of the Great City of Ravenshade, Carlin had a lot on her te. After the worst beast tide that had hit them in several centuries, the situation of Ravenshade was deteriorating day by day. And there was nothing that she could do about it. The city was almost destroyed. Food supplies are scarce. Most of the crop fields were destroyed. Most of the town was destroyed. And people have been piging and destroying everything thates their way just to get something to drink or eat. It was really a worst-case scenario for her and the people of Ravenshade. But this fine morning a piece of news came to her ears which spoiled her whole morning. After getting the news, she immediately went to her office, where Brock, the leader of the armed forces of Ravenshade was already waiting for her¡­ "How bad is it?" Carlin asked as soon as she entered the office. "Very bad. That mother fucker not only ran away but also took most of our supplies to make potions. And he also stole some of the books from the collection that previous Lords Left behind." She then hurriedly sat down on her desk and started looking at the list of things that Hamel Gomez had stolen from her. "This doesn''t make sense. Half the ingredients that he stole must be stored in a cool ce or they will go bad. Even if he is able to procure a spatial trunk with cooling Runic Circuits, then also the ingredients will only stay fresh for about 7-8 hours. All the ingredients would rot before he could hit another town. So why would he steal them in the first ce?" Carlin said while looking at the list. "My guess would be that he wanted to weaken us. That is why he stole those ingredients." "But why?" "From what I was told those ingredients are used to make Health, Stamina, and Mana Regeneration potions. If he stole those means that either he was nning to sell them to someone. Or he took it because someone ordered him to do so. Maybe it could be the same person who snuck him out of the city." Brock said while shifting on his chair "Selling those items cannot be the root cause. Hamel Gomez is the top Alchemist of Midgard. He doesn''t ask for money. Moneyes running toward him. And I promised him a hefty amount of money after everything was under control. So it cannot be money." "Could it be that he did all of this out of spite?" "No that cannot be the case. I have known him and worked with him for many years. I know him pretty well. And he is not the kind of person who would do such a thing for the sake of spite. I think someone had forced him or offered him a better deal." "Who?" Brock asked. "If he doesn''t need money, then the only thing that I know that could sway him away would be protection. Because hecks that now. The current Ravenshade cannot guarantee his safety because of things that had been happening here. So someone must have offered him safety." "Protection, huh? I would have guessed that someone from Vecrus offered him something, but that cannot be the case. The while-haired bitch is barely alive. Clouldhold and Barcelma are a mess right now, so they are out of the picture. So then that only leaves one ce that would have something to offer to Hamel¡­ Someone from Infragiis talked him into doing all of this?" "That could be the case. After all, from what news I have got, Infragilis is still pretty safe because only the big wooden gates of the city were destroyed during the beast tide. That would mean the great wall is still standing atrge." "And that could provide him with protection that he and his grandson needs," "As for the ingredients, I think Damien would be behind it. He likes messing with other city lords more than anything else." Carlin said with an angered look. "Hm¡­ that is possible. By the way, we both know who helped him get away. So what should we do about him?" Brock asked. "Grego? I don''t know frankly. I would like to make a move on him. But the thing is, he has a lot of adventurers in his pocket right now. With the city''s current situation, I don''t want to make him my enemy. " Carlin said. "I can understand your concern. But I think that this is the perfect time to make him your enemy and show him who is the boss." "Why?" "Think about it, Carlin¡­ Most of the adventurers are on his payroll. And they would also fight for him. And in uncertain times like this, if a coupe happens then the person with strong warriors woulde out triumphant." "Do you think there is a chance of coupe?" "I don''t know about that. But I know something about Grego, that man is obsessed with power. He would not let an opportunity like this slide away. So you must prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario." Brock said in a grim voice Chapter 41 Tag Team-1 ?The creature that he had encountered was extremely fast, and strong as well. That monster only took a few seconds, now he was on the ground, witnessing his death, the creature was descending from the sky, in slow motion, about to kill him. It was game over, he thought that he would be able to survive the world, but he was wrong, now his body will be chopped off into equal parts. This was the end. At the time he was not sure whether it was a hallucination or not, but he could swear that he saw the lighting from clouds, calling him, his time hase. He closed his eyes, ready to give a warm hug to death, but it is then he heard a noise, something flew from above him taking away the beast with it. BANG! He opened his eyes, to the sound, something has crashed into the trees. Curious about what had transpired, he looked around and saw a hulking figure of a man, standing beside his body. He could see the face of his savior, the sun was obstructing his view, but the ck armor and long beard gave him a clue about the person''s identity "Grump?" he asked in disbelief. "Do you know that you look like shit?" Hearing the familiar voice of the old, he couldn''t help but bloom a smile on his face. "I know." he groaned. "Then what the hell are you waiting for? Get up." the old man gave him a hand, and he dly grabbed it and pulled himself up. Now standing on his feet, he could a stinging sensationing from his rib cage, and it was getting worse by every minute. It was pretty easy to figure out that the beast must be cracked on his ribs. From the pain, he could tell that he was in no condition to fight, or run. He clenched his chest tightly and turned towards the old man¡­ "Grump, I think my ribcage is broken." As if stating the obvious, the old man shook his head with annoyance. "Well, that is what you get when you try to fight the Tribal Chief," He knew something wasn''t right here. He fought the Tribal Chief and won. What he couldn''t understand was what the thing that attacked him was, if Grump says that this thing is Tribal Chief, then what was that 8-foot-long monstrosity? He wanted to say something to the old man, but he intently looking in a particr direction. Following his gaze, he saw the creature that had attacked him earlier was getting up from the debris of a broken tree. CREEEEE!! The creature screeched, sending a signal to all the Kongs, that were hiding in the canopy of the trees, they all started jumping down and circling both of them. He started gritting his teeth, this was basically bullying, they were two, while they were at least 12-13 fully grown monsters. He didn''t like these odds. "You still got my ax, Davy? You better not have lost it, I would kill you right here" The old man lightened the mood. "No I have it, but I lost my sword. And my rib cage is broken. I am in no condition to fight." "FUCK!" The old man clenched his fingers, after looking around their enemy''s strength, he handed him over a red color potion. "The cost of the potion will be taken from your paycheck," It was pretty evident the old man didn''t want to hand over the potion to him, but currently he didnt have a choice. The potion was very potent. As soon as he drank it, not only the left side of his face but also his ribcage started healing. The warmth of the potion decreased his pain, and also give him a burst of energy as if he had drank a red bull. It took him a few seconds to get into his topmost condition once again. The peculiar part was the Kongs, after circling them, they all just stood glued to their ce, waiting for him to finish the potion, even the big monster didn''t make a move. It was like the big monster wanted to fight them in their peak condition¡­ "Take care of the rest, I will take care of that one." The old man said while gesturing towards the Tribal Chief. He took out the old man''s ax while turning towards the small Kongs, they all also started moving, trying to get close to him. He was fed up with these fuckers, he had been beaten silly by these bunch of stupid apes, but now he had it with them, it was time to show them he was not a pushover. AAAHHHH With a war cry, he lunged toward the group of apes, they did the same. One of them rushed towards him from the side, trying to tackle him to the ground, but he saw its approach, he dodged its tackle with ease by stepping back, and then mmed the ax while the Kong was still in the air. The ax got stuck on Kong''s head, killing it immediately. It is then another Kong came rushing towards him, and it managed to tackle him sessfully. He fell on the ground, with a kong on him, it on top of its screamed while sitting on him, trying to intimidate him, but he was not having it, he immediately took a small knife from the inventory and shoved it in the ear of that ape, killing it in mere seconds. After shoving the carcass of the ape aside, he got up, he was surrounded by a bunch of more apes, they all ring at him, screaming and making noises, trying to frighten him. But he had it enough, before they could make any move, he acted, brought his shield out, and lunged towards the kong on his right. He mmed the shield in the ape''s face, making it stagger back, as he had nned. The ax was towards his right, still stuck to the ape that he killed first. He had to get his hands on a weapon, or he will be sitting ducks when they would start getting more aggressive. Thus he formted a strategy. All the kongs came running after him as he went for the ax. He didn''t look back, his eyes were towards his front, on his price, the ax, he had to acquire it no matter the cost. As he came close to it, he slid down and went past it while grabbing it from the corpse. Now with an ax in his hand, he didn''t stop to confront them, instead, he got up and started running away. He knew that he would not be able to take them on if theye on him together, so he made a strategy in his mind. He ran towards a tree, full speed ahead, as he came close to it, he immediately jumped on its bark, using his trunk to propel himself back, in the air he swung his ax, lodging it into the kong which was right behind him. The ax got stuck in the skull of that Kong, again, irritated by it, he left it there and brought out his spear. As soon as another Kong came to his vicinity, he lodged the spear into its torso. It is then another Kong jumped on his back and kicked him, making him fly away a few feet. Although the blow hurt, his adrenaline and anger suppressed the pain. He immediately got up and lunged towards another Kong beside him, piercing it with another spear that he took out¡­ *** ''This fucker is very fast!'' Grump thought as he narrowly avoided the de of the Tribal Chief. The beast before him was as strong as him, and they were evenly matched. When they traded the first blow, he understood that there was no way that this would be an easy fight, the winner or the loser of the fight will be determined by the first person to lose their focus. And based on how tired he was, he had started to wonder whether he would die that day. He had been a single moment of rest since yesterday, he was hungry and he came here after fighting hordes of Goblins and Kobolds. He was not in his peak condition. He couldnt tell how much time had passed since they had started fighting, but he could feel fatigued catching up to him, his breath was bing heavy with every moment, and he could feel his muscles aching, while the beast on the other hand was looked like it could still run a Marathon¡­ SCREEEE!!! The monster screeched and attacked once again, it lunged towards him, mming its greatsword on him, he avoided the attack by jumping sideways, but at thest moment, that fucker changed the trajectory of its sword, and swung it in his direction. With no other option, he had to use his kukuri knife to block the iing attack¡­ SUUNNNGGG When the des connected, making a very high pitch noise. The force of the de sent him flying away. He crashed into a tree nearby but soon got up, dusted himself up, and was ready to fight again. But it is then he saw, his Kukuri knife was done for, he saw spider web-like cracks on his knives, seeing them he understood that they were done for, one more sh like that and they would be destroyed. He threw them away, only to see the smug face of the monster, he hated that face. He immediately reached out for his bow, only to find that his bow and quiver were crushed when he hit the tree before, now he didn''t have anything to defend himself. And from the looks of it, the monster knew this as well. He decided that he would crush the smugness of that monster, even if that is thest thing that he would do. He reached into his pouch and brought a bunch of knuckle buster. He put them on his knuckle and lunged at the monster once again. The monster also ran at him. As they came close, the monster immediately swung its swords upward, the old man avoided the strike, then punched the sword which went up, increasing its momentum. He knew as this was a great sword, it must be very heavy, he just needs to shake off the bnce of the de to make the wielder stagger back. His n worked, the monster wasn''t able to handle the increase in momentum, using this opportunity, the old man stepped inside the monster attacking range, and then threw the meanest left hook on the monster''s chin. The attack connected, thus making the monster fly back. Chapter 42 Tag Team-2 ?The monster flew back, crashing into the ground. But Grump knew, his left hook wouldn''t have done a lot of damage, and sure enough, the monster soon stood up. With the help of its great sword, it pushed itself up, wiped the blood on the corner of its lips, and spit the shards of its broken teeth and a glob of blood. While he on the other hand couldn''t help but smile, he had managed to wipe the smug look off its face. SCREEEEEE!!! The monster screeched, its roar had a lot of anger in it, swiftly it raised his great sword in the air, up to his shoulder, it started gritting its teeth, it was very angry. It lunged forward at full speed, he did the same, they were about to sh with each other once again. The monster jumped on the old man, swinging its sword diagonally, slicing the air like butter, he avoided the attack by stepping backward. It is then the monster who still airborne started using magic, it started spinning midair, and with twice the momentum, it brought its sword on the old man. In a hurry, the old man did avoid the attack, but while stepping back, he stumbled, tripped, and then he fell. BAAAANG The swordnded just a few inches from his crotch, and he started sweating profusely, if the hit would havended, then he couldn''t have lived with himself, it was a very close call. He didn''t have the time to thank his luck, the monster became more aggressive than before, and it didn''t want to give time to recuperate. The monster picked up its sword once again, with all the power that it could muster, it swung its sword diagonally once again, Grump narrowly avoided the attack by doing a reverse barrell roll, and standing up as quickly as he could. SLING SLING SLING SLING The monster kept swinging its sword, diagonally, horizontally, vertically, trying to cut the old man just once. But even after the fatigue, the old man was a veteran adventurer and warrior, he kept dodging here and there, avoiding every strike send his way. Moving with a such a high speed, started making him more tired, he started slowing down, hs moves started became sloopy, he was afraid that he would not be able to y this game any more. While the monster on the hand was not slowing down at all, even skillfully swinging its great sword with such incredible speed, there was no sloppiness in its moves, that thing was not getting tired any time soon. The old man knew he wouldn''t be able to keep up with the monster''s aggression after some time, if he wants to do something, then now it is time, other wise he may wound up cut in half. He then started concentrating on the swinging patterns of the sword, trying to look for any opening. After observing for a few seconds, he understood the pattern to his best abilities, so he moved in. As quickly as he could, he stepped into its attack range, narrowly avoiding the sword as he got in, he threw a mean right liver punch, which was enough to make the monster squirm in pain. The monster staggered back, giving him more opportunity. He didn''t stopped there, his left jab targetted the monster''s head, mming into its jaw once again. The punch was so impactful that it made the monster let go of its sword, which made a smile bloom on his face. Before he could go for a right liver punch, the monster got its bearing back. SCREEEE The monster mmed its head onto his head, making him stagger back, monster jumped on its ce, then mmed both of his legs on its torso, ultimately making him fly back. SCREEEE As soon the monsternded back on its feet, it started screaming, like an ape it started beating his chest, then it lunged towards the old man, who struggled to get up, it jumped on him, and started mming its hand on his chest. The old man covered his face with its hands, he struggled to shake off the beast from his chest, and with the constant beating, he couldnt do anything.¡­ His chest started aching with pain, the monster would break his ribs if it continues like this. He was pinned down with no help or idea of what to do, the old man started thinking that maybe this was the end of the line for him. It is then, the monster stopped beating him and screamed¡­ SCREEE!! BAAAAAAM He felt something m into the monster, making it move from his stomach, getting this chance, he immediately got up. He saw that the face of was monster was covered with what looked like dirt, and Dave was standing beside him, with a broken club of a Kong. A smile bloomed on his face, and he couldn''t help but ask. "What took you so long?" the Earthian shrugged his shoulders. "I hadpany as well old man" With bloodshot eyes, the monster looked very angry now, it turned its head, ncing at the great sword lying not too far away from it. Then abruptly it around and started sprinting towards its a sword, but none of them ran after him. Both of them were tired and needed to second, before they could continue. "What is the n?" Dave asked. The old man looked cracked his shoulders. "I am going to try to hold him. You do the rest. Can you do that?" the earthian nodded, getting into a running stance. The old man was the first to start running, while Dave followed closely behind him with a bloodied spear in his hands, by the time they reached it, the monster was also ready with its sword in its hands. The monster swung its sword diagonally, trying to slice Grump, the old man dodged the attack very easily, while Dave on the hand sprinted to the monster''s right, circling around the beast. Just he reached beyond the monster''s supposedly blind spot, he threw the spear at him. Whether the monster had a sixth sense or what, they didn''t know, but it saw the spearing, and it dodged it too easily, while the old man utilized this time frame to get into his guard and deliver a solid right lever punch to the monster. The monster winched at the pain, it screeched, and hurriedly tried to jump back, trying to make distance between it and the old man. But before it could move, it got impaled, by another spear, thrown by Dave, who was now running towards it. SCREEEEEE The monster tried to screeched again, but its yells were blocked when Grump connected another one of its right hooks to its jaw. The monster staggered backward, it is then Grump steeled his resolve and started raining on it a fury of punches. Dave, came running towards the monsters and jumped in high air. Now airborne, he raised his hand, only to take out the old man''s ax, and with all of its power that he could muster, he mmed the damn thing on the monster''s head. The Ax pierced the monster''s skull, prating its brain. If it were some other monster, it would have died straight away, but this was a tough mother fucker. Even after thest blow, it yed around its hands, trying to punch Grump who had safely made some distance between him and it. After a few seconds of struggle, the monster''s dead body fell on the ground lifeless. With heavy breaths, the old man started mumbling. "This.. Is.. What you get¡­ when you mess¡­ with me." Dave who was tired as well, couldn''t help but shake his head. As far as he could remember, without him the old man would have died by now. "Yeah, yeah. Let''s get out of here first, if I see another of these things here, then Imit suicide right here, right now." he said. Grump nodded. "Sure. But first take this one''s body, as well as its weapon. We would be able to sell it afterward." With a heavy sigh, Dave nodded. "Sure." *** He and Grump met up with the grandson and grandfather duo after a rather peaceful and slow 30 min walk, they were exactly where the old man had left them, and were unscathed as well. As soon as they got to them, both them slopped down the ground, they were very tired, it is only after a peaceful 2 hour did they started their journey once again. Although he was feeling very tired and wanted to rest for a bit longer, he didn''t said it out loud. It was solely because one more the stupid dumb rules of the old man, ording to the old man he had to follow some pretty simple rules, when they move, he would move. He would not any special treatment there. As climbed further onto the mountain, the trekking started bing rather difficult, there was not solid path up the mountain, so they have to climb up on steep slopes. Ricardo was having trouble climbing, he saw that the young man''s body was stumbling from time to time, and his wobbly steps make him fall down. Also he was climbing very slowly, pissing off Grump He decided to help him out, he got the young man to on his back, giving him a piggy back ride to the top, Hamel was pissed seeing this, but he didn''t say anything, because Grump was getting pissed at their climbing rate. When the terrain started bing a lit bit simpler, they starteding fallen trees, the bark of those tress were pretty scratched up, he could tell that it was done by an animal, but he didn''t know any beast that could have talons that big.. Grump took a look at those marks and started gritting his teeth. "Mountain Bear, we must be careful on our way. We are in no condition of fighting bears." Everyone unconsciously nodded to his suggestion Seeing those marks, he started wondering whether this bear was anything like the ones found on Earth. He hade across this version of apes, they carry around clubs and giant swords with them. Thinking about Kongs, he couldn''t help but wonder, if a being who has the body of a bear, but stands on his hind limbs and carries a giant ax with it. His imagination started giving him chills, so he stopped thinking and followed quietly followed behind. After, they reached the summit of the mountain, Grump ordered him to start preparing food for them, which he was very happy to cook. The old man then went ahead to scout the area. Seeing this he became happy, the old man''s scouting meant that this is going to be a ratherrge break, and he needed one desperately. Ricardo went to the side and started sleeping. While heid it pots and whatnot, started preparing food, Grump didn''t take long to return, and when he did, it was evident from his face that something was not right. "What happened?" The old alchemist asked, as he saw Grumps face. Grump sat down by the fire and shooked its head. "You know Cloudhold?" Grump said. "Yeah." "Well it is not there anymore. I think Cloudhold had fallen." Chapter 43 Sickness ?Silence. Absolute silence Dave didn''t know much about this world, but he did know what a Great City means in this world, it is like a nation that rules and governs a particr domain. These cities have big poptions that could inhabit an entire mid-size city back in America. He could only imagine the number of deaths, that would have taken ce when a city would have fallen. It came as a shock to everyone when they heard Grump''sment. As he thought about it, the fall of Cloudhold made sense to him, from what he had heard, Cloudhold is a giant city located on one of the mountains in the area, and this ce is a fuck fest for all the monsters. There are mountains, unexplored forests, caves system,kes, rivers and an ecosystem in which any animal could flourish, it makes sense to him this city fell to the beast tide. Grump told him that even before the beast tide hit, this city was always attacked by one monster or another, making it a very dangerous ce. Also, whenpared to Ravenshade, this city was like nothing. That city almost got onto its knees on the night of the beast tide, even after all those security measures. Compared to that, this city was nothing. Hamel, couldn''t help himself and asked. " What happened, why are you saying things like this?" Grump shifted in his ce. "Well from what I saw, most of the city was in ruins. The guards that were supposed to be stationed on the walls of the city are there anymore. Also, the g of the city is not waving in the air." "That is indeed a very grim sign. What should we do?" Hearing Hamel''s question, Grump raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean, what should we do? We are not going near Cloudhold, so we don''t need to worry about what is happening there. All we need to worry about is the path that we will take to the back bridge." The old man sighed "I understand." Both the old men then started discussing Mountain Bears. Grump wanted to know whether the Hamel could make some repellent, their journey would be a lot easier if they do not have to worry about their scent attracting those big ugly monsters. When they were in Ravenshade, Grump told him about those monsters. They are big, strong, and about half the size of an adult Earth Porcupine. They are omnivore creatures who are extremely territorial. If some creature does invade their territory then see to it, that the invaders don''t leave alive¡­ The fish stew was finally ready. He took out some tes and started serving each one of them. Grump and Hamel took their tes and went away from the bonfire, out of his earshot. He was interested in their topic of discussion, but for now, he was too hungry and tired to care about them. So, he went to wake up Ricardo, he figured that the little twerp could give him somepany. The kid was lying not too far away from the camp, from what it seemed, he was asleep. He shook him, but he didn''t move. He tried shaking him more vigorously next time, but the kid refused to open his eyes. Now rmed, he looked at its face, he was clearly unconscious, as he touched the kid''s cheek, he found it scolding hot. His body was covered in sweat and no matter how much he shook, refused to open his eyes or make any sign that he was even alive. He turned around. "GRUMP!! SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE KID!" Both the old men got rmed by his call and soon came running towards him. Hamel was the first one to reach him, he immediately pushed him aside, and started checking on his grandson. "He has a terrible fever." The old man mumbled. He then started undressing the kid, checking every inch and part of his body. When Hamel removed the kid''s shirt, it is then they all saw. Blue color veins like spider webs have appeared on the boy''s skin. And they seemed to be spreading rapidly from his hand to his torso. Dave didn''t know what it was, but he figured that this was the reason for the boy''s fever. "FUCK! That is Lily''s bite, isn''t it?" Grump eximed. Hamel was too shocked to answer. It was then Hamel abruptly got up and pounced at him. "YOU! YOU did this to him didn''t you? YOU LOW-BORN INGRIT! I WILL KILL YOU!" the man started yelling while pushing him. He knew that the man was suffering. He was in pain, but still, he couldn''t just attack him like that. So he did what a sane person would do. He punched the old man in the face. BBBAAAAMMMM!! "Back off mother fucker, before I break your face for good." He said. But this was not the end of the line for Hamel, the old man instantly got up and started conjuring a fireball in his hand. Before he could cast it, Grump barged in. He pushed Hamel to the ground, breaking his concentration, thus dissolving the fireball once and for all. "What the fuck are you doing Hamel! Get hold of yourself" Grump yelled. "Get hold of myself? HE TRIED TO KILL MY GRANDSON!" Hamel yelled back from the ground. "Why fuck would he do that?" Grump asked. "He was the one that touched him. He took him on his back, he is the one that poisoned him!" "The fuck¡­" he was too speechless to say anything. Before it goes further, Grump pointed his ax toward him. "Are you trying to say that, my party member over here is trying to kill your grandson? That is a very heavy usation. Speak your words carefully you noble scum." His threatening voice was enough to make Hamel shut his mouth. While these guys were bickering, he couldn''t help but look at the boy''s condition, he was suffering. "Grump, how can we cure the boy?" he asked. He was pissed at the boy''s grandfather, but he still could not let him just die. He had to save him. He and the boy had formed a bond in this journey, and he could not just sever it. "We will need to make a potion. But I am afraid, ingredients would be hard toe by." Hearing Grump''s remark, Hamel''s eyes bulged as he realized something. "NO! We have everything we need. Give me my trunks sewer rat!" The tone and thenguage of the old man, although pissed him off, he reluctantly gave them to Hamel. The old man instantly grabbed two of the trunks and opened them up. Both these trunks were filled with small cup-size wooden barrels, stacked neatly, covered with blue colored weird symbols that he understood. All these barrels were properlybeled as well, the old man fished a few barrels out, but it is then he realized something crucial "FUCK! I don''t have one crucial ingredient with me." "Damn!" he cursed. "What can we do now?" Grump asked. "CLOUDHOLD! We can get Lily''s bite antidote from there." Hamel mentioned. Hearing him, Grump looked as if he was seeing an idiot. "We cannot go to Cloudhold! Even if that city is fine, we cannot go there. If we go then the mission would go to waste, and then we all be dead." "Maybe I cannot, but you can. You are an adventurer." Hamel mentioned. "No, I cannot. My face is recognizable. If I appear in Cloudhold, especially after your disappearance, Carlin would hunt me like a dog. Also, there is Ang Stross in that city. I would never be able toe out of there alive." It was then, Hamel turned towards him. "You! You can go. I have never seen your face, nor would the people of Cloudhold would have. You can easily blend in, get the potion and get out of there." Hamel said. He had no words to refute. Although he wanted to save the young boy, going alone in a big city, with a secret like his, didn''t seem like a good idea to him. He wanted to back out, but it was then Grump chimed in. "Okay, he could go. But we will need extrapensation." Grump haggled. "EXTRA COMPENSATION! My Grandson is dying there!" "So? We would need some extra money, or you could go there yourself." "FINE! I WILL GIVE YOU GUYS ANYTHING YOU WANT. I just want that potion. Or i need that one ingredient." "Then we have a deal. I will stay here, protect you guys. While my party member over here would go to Cloudhold to get the potion." "DEAL!" *** It was decided that he had to go Cloudhold, without even asking for his opinion. They could not stay there, so they decided to split up. Hamel gave him a stone, it had a magic needle on top of it. The needle would always point towards its other pair, which was in possession of Ricardo. Originally, the old man made the pair for himself and his grandson, in case they ever get separated from each other. But now, he had to make use of it. As Grump cannot leave a sick child and the old man, for their own protection, he decided to stay behind with them¡­ Grump sat him down, and started telling him their n. "We will not be staying here. We would keep moving and cross the domain of Cloudhold. You need to run as fast as possible, buy the antidote, and travel through the road to the back bridge and meet us there. " Grump said. "Can''t you make camp here? It would be easier for me to find you guys." "We cannot. This forest had be very dangerous, Staying out here would be suicidal. So we need you to go and pick up the antidote or the get yellow tail flower." "But¡­ I don''t know anything about Cloudhold. How the hell am I supposed to find the antidote there or that flower? And what if I get cheated? How the hell am I supposed to do then?" "Don''t worry about it. The man I am sending you to would give you the right thing. Just tell him that Grump says ''hello'' and he would understand that you are my man." "Alright¡­ what was the name of the man again?" "His name is Kuku. He is a potion dealer, he is a good friend of mine and he is alive. So would not face any problem while dealing with him." "Alright. Can you tell me something about that man''s appearance? How would I find him?" "Don''t worry. Just ask around. He is a quite famous potion master of Cloudhold." "Alright." Chapter 44 Stat Distribution ?Walking in the strangely quiet forest, chills ran down Dave''s spine, the eerie environmentbined with the horrors he had seen, was making him jump with the slightest stimuli. Even the cracking of dry wood with his step was making him jump with horror. As he made his way toward the Cloudhold, he warily looked around, trying to spot any monsters. It was good as well terrifying that he could not see any monsters. And with sunlight getting bleaker by the minute, he understood that night would soon fall on him, and the chance of him getting jumped by a monster would be increased significantly in the night. So he put haste in his steps and moved as fast as he could. Climbing up and down the slopes of the mountain was not an easy task. He could not afford to get injured in any way, after all, he was all alone out here, so he every step very carefully. From the information that Grump had told him, he would be able to reach the Cloudhold by midnight. But the old man was wrong, he had never been trekking his whole life, and getting down on the mountain itself consumed a lot of his time. And as the night fell, he couldn''t even follow the smoke of Cloudhold. No matter what that old said, he would not travel in the dark, especially in this forest. He decided that he should probably find a cave or something, to spend the night. Although he first thought that it would be a good idea to sleep on a tree, he realized soon enough how dumb that idea was. He had fought with monsters, which could climb up the tree as easily as they could walk, so he dropped the idea hard. So instead he started looking for a cave. But his destiny had something else nned for him¡­. The night was about to fall, there was no cave or any sort of sanctuary in his sight, he had already made peace with the fact that he had to spend his night out in the open. Still, he was wrecking his brain, trying for a safe ce to sleep, but it was then he heard it AHH! It was very faint, but he heard someone''s scream, the scream didn''t sound rming, it sounded more like the person was enjoying yelling out there. He started walking in the direction from where he heard the noise, he even took out his mask and put it in his inventory. He figured that walking to a group with a mask and bloodied clothes was probably not a good idea. Soon he started hearing noises, people talking loudly, the sounds ofughter, from the sounds of it, this group was huge. While following the noises, he started formting a story to hide his identity. He figured that he would tell these guys that he was lost and had recently been in a fight. He had lost his weapon and everything and now he was wandering around aimlessly. With a solid n in his mind, he got confidence in his step, he started moving toward them. It was then he spotted a bird, hovering over him, the peculiar thing was the bird was glowing like a firefly. He was curious about what that bird was, after hovering over him for a few seconds, the bird left, and with it, the chattering of people also stopped. He stopped as well and started wondering why that camp had be silent. Still, he kept walking, he hade too close, and now he could not return. After a small walk, he found himself in a clearing, where stood a bunch of people with their weapons drawn was looking in his direction. He didn''t what to do. He wanted to show them that he was harmless, just another survivor wandering around, he raised his hands and put a bright smile on his face. "Ah¡­ Hello." He tried greeting them, but none of them even acknowledged his greeting, they just kept staring at him. It was then a woman with red hair and bright red eyes came forward. "Who are you?" She asked. "I¡­ I am Davy¡­" he didn''t know why he introduced himself as Davy, probably because Grump always messes up his name. So he still rolled with it. " I am kind of¡­ in a pickle. I lost my weapon and my stuff when I got attacked by Kongs. I was wondering if you guys can help me out." "Do you have any weapon with you? Davy?" the woman asked. "No¡­ You guys can pat me down if you want. I am not armed, just a fellow adventurer in a pickle." The woman then gestured to one of the men, to go check him. The man went and patted down every inch of his body and found nothing on him. He then gestured back to the woman, it is only then the people lowered their weapons and sighed with relief. "Can I join you guys?" he asked. The woman put on a bright smile and gestured to join them. "Come on. Anything for a fellow adventurer." The camp although weed him, but he felt that they are still very suspicious of him. Some people were keeping an eye on him, he could feel their gaze on his back, but he dared not to look his stalkers in the eye. So he just went to a corner and just sat down. He didn''t try to mingle with anyone or talk, he just sat down and looked around the camp. Eventually, he started getting bored, so he opened his status menu. He knew that no one would be able to see him use his status menu, so it would be safe for him to check it out. As soon as hemanded the system to show him his status, he started getting a lot of messages. ....................... All the notifications were halted because yers had been in onebat situation after another. ¡úSelect this option to keep this setting enabled. ¡úSelect this option if yer wants to revert back to old setting .........¡­ You and your party member have killed the Tribal Chief. .................. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have leveled up ..................¡­. You have been awarded 43 stat points. ..................¡­. You have received 5 more invitations Do you want to see them? Y/N .................... As he got all these messages at once, he was overwhelmed. It is then he realized that even after he had killed all those Kongs and Tribal Chiefs, he didn''t get these messages. He loved this function and enabled it forever. As he dismissed the invitations and removed the messages, a status window appeared before him¡­ ..................¡­ Status Name- Dave Gonsalves ss- Newbie Warrior Level- 16 Stats- Inventory- Quest- Skills- .....................¡­. Instantly he noticed that his ss has changed, it is no longer the Newbie Swordsman, but instead, it had be Newbie Warrior. He didn''t know the reason behind the ss change, but he figured that it must have changed as he started practicing every kind of weapon, rather than sticking to just the sword. I wonder when this ss change happened anyway? Was it around the time when I was in Ravenshade or was it after that when he fought the tribal Chief, he thought So pushed his thoughts behind his head and started looking at his stats, which were actually very important right now. He had leveled up a lot, and now he could finally start distributing his points¡­ ............... Stats Exp-3/100 Strength- 16 [+] Dexterity- 11 [+] Agility- 10 [+] Arcane- 2 [+] Intellect- 6 [+] Stats point avable- 43 .................. He took a lot of time to decide where he should put his stat, but after thinking about it for a long time, he finally make a decision. This time he decided to level up his Arcane as well, he may not have any use of mana skills right now, but in the future, he would have so. After a long thought, he finally distributed his stats¡­. ...............¡­.. Stats Exp-3/100 Strength- 21 [+] Dexterity- 21 [+] Agility- 21 [+] Arcane- 12 [+] Intellect- 11 [+] Stats point avable- 0 ..................¡­.. He distributed his stat points in such a way that his Strength, Dex, and Agility are at the same level because he wanted to jack of all trades, just like he envisioned to be... When he was in Ravenshade, he talked to Grump about how he should distribute his stat points, and the old man has somepelling views on that matter¡­ "Well you have to decide it on your own, the stat distribution basically depends on your fighting style. If you talk about me, I like to use weapons, which require force, so most of my stats are focused on Strenght and Dex, but mostly on strength. While my agility, arcane, and Intellect are not that high." After talking to him, he started thinking about what kind of fighting style want to achieve. If he thinks about weapons, he couldn''t picture himself fighting with brute strength. Instead, he imagined himself fighting nimbly with sword and bow, with a little bit of spear and magic here and there. But here contradiction started appearing, bow didn''t need the strength that much. But sword and spear did. So after thinking about it a lot, he figured that he would keep his Strength, Dex, and Agility equals for now. After he had reached a certain level and had gathered more vision about his fighting style, then only he would start focusing on a few specific stats¡­ Chapter 45 Another Torture Session-1 ?Ang didn''t know what to think about the stranger, he came out of nowhere and requested to join their party. He was covered in blood and didn''t have any weapons or supplies, and yet he somehow was able to venture to the middle of Cloudhold, it sure did raise many red gs in her mind. She may have allowed him to stay there, but she had her guard up, this man was not what he say he is. There he was, in the corner of the camp, looking around the camp, maybe he was scoping them out, trying to find out more about her party members, or maybe she was wrong. She started getting anxious just thinking about it, maybe that man and his crew were sent here, to kill her or hunt her down, after all, she did just leave her post... She had been City Lord of Cloudhold for a very long time, she had worked very hard to make that ce liveable, she literally spend a lot of her sweat and blood to make that ce liveable. But all of that changed when beast tide hit. All of the small settlements around her domain were destroyed, her city itself got to its knees, and everything that she had worked for was destroyed in a single night. And then came the umtion, bringing with it hordes of monsters that regrly attacked the city, killing the residents or destroying their supplies. She was tired of all of that, she couldn''t take it anymore, her duty was to protect Cloudhold, but with all these attacks, anyone could see it, the city will be reduced to nothing in a few days, and she may be able to save some people, but what would that do? She won''t be City Lord anymore, as there will be no city to rule. So she made a decision, she would leave everything behind. She had already heard the Vecrus was supposed to be in shambles as well. And currently, that city is ruled by some level-50 Earthian, she could take over that city. It would a better alternative than to rule this dump. She had power and experience, and taking over Vecrus would be easy for her. But she would need help. It is then she turned towards Earthians under her, she hated all of them to their core, they have so much potential, but most of them are cowards, not trying to improve themselves, just trying to live quietly as possible. They may be useless, but they did have some worth. It is then she decided to take a step that would seal her faith forever. She used a veryplex and old runic circuit and casted it on all the Earthians under her. Now, they were bound to her, they would hear her everymand, otherwise, they will have to go through an excruciating amount, that could kill them. The only way to get rid of the circuit was to ascend to a level simr to or greater than the caster. But s they would never be able to use anyway to escape her. She formted a n, using Earthian she would grant ess to Vecrus, and ascend to city lord position after that. These Earthians would be her alibi as well as loyal dogs that she send to scout the enemy lines. As far as Cloudhold was concerned, she had already abandoned it. And with her gone, it will fall in a few days¡­ Ravenshade wouldn''t like that she left her post like that, especially because in absence of the domain of Cloudhold, they will be surrounded by umtingnds on all sides, making it a very dangerous ce to live. Her train of thought was broken when she heard a whisper from her right. "Do you think he is dangerous?" Gibbon, one of her, loyal retainers, the only Midgardian here beside her. "Don''t know." After taking a long breath she continued. "But we should be wary of his intentions. He may be a spy from Ravenshade." "Couldn''t agree more, mdy¡­ But I can see through his strength. He is not on a level that could harm us. Do you think it is a work of an artifact?" "Don''t know. But finding someone wandering in the forest, especially at this time does raise a lot of questions¡­ Maybe he is just a scout, send here to evaluate the strength of our party." "That is possible. I will ask Jurgen to keep an eye on him. And I was thinking, should we use Hiry''s skill to scout the surrounding area." "Do it. It might help." After gettingmands from her, Gibbon started working. He made Jurgen, an Earthian keep an eye on the stranger. Then he took discreetly took Hilliary to use her skill, Owl Familiar, to scout the area¡­ After an extensive search, Gibbon informed her that there was no one nearby. That man was telling the truth, he was alone. But still, for some reason, Ang could shake off the feeling that the stranger was hiding something, she didn''t know what, but she trusted her gut. The stranger hadn''t done anything for the past hour, he was just sitting by the corner, looking around, but she had started losing her patience, she wanted to extract all the information out of him, either by hook or by crook. The aspect of Carlin knowing what she had done was making her very uneasy. But it was then, something happened, as a high-ranking mage she was very sensitive to mana, and as she had been looking at the stranger for the past hour, she knew how much mana that man had. And it happened suddenly, but that man''s mana increased. It was still not on the level that she could even put a scratch on her. But the sudden increase made her realize, what that man was. The only people that could raise their mana level so suddenly are Earthian, no Midgardians have that kind of skill or power. Now she knew, what was that man''s secret, he was an Earthian, there was no denying the fact. Many questions started guing her mind, what was he doing here, where did hee from, is he a stray or a runaway? But that mattered only a little, her mind was at ease now, Carlin wouldn''t send Earthian after her, she despises all of them like her. For such an important, she would never send an Earthian. But still, the question remained, what that man was doing here? *** When a blond tall man, came and sat beside him, Dave had to minimize his status menu. The man was very intimidating, standing at a height of 6 and a half feet, he was very intimidating. His cruel expression made him look like he had never smiled before. "Hello, my name is Jurgen M¨¹ller" The man introduced himself. "Davy¡­" "Davy, nice to meet you. Would you like something to eat or drink?" He was still wary of these people so he decided to refuse anything they give him. "No thanks," he replied with the best of tone. Jurgen smiled, then he put his hand on his shoulder "So what are you doing here, in the middle of the jungle davy?" "Oh. I was on my way to Vecrus. As the bridge connecting Cloudhold and Vecrus is destroyed, I was going to use the back bridge." "Ah!!, Back bridge¡­ You are well informed." "Thank you¡­ so what are you guys doing here? Are you an adventurer party?" "Yeah, we have been hunting Mountain bears and Kongs in the area, while rescuing people all over the domain." "Oh good." "Yeah¡­ So were you born in Vecrus?" "Yeah, born and raised." "So what are you doing here?" Jurgen''s insistence on knowing why he was here was sounding some rms in his mind. Luckily he had been prepared for such a thing. "Well, I left the city after the beast tide. I didn''t want to stay under some Earthian you know, so I went to the only ce that could ept me. Ravenshade" He had nned his background for this particr reason. So that no one would be suspicious of him when he would tell someone about his backstory. "You have a problem with Earthians?" "They are people from only who knows where. How the hell am I able to trust them?" This was the thinking of most of the people of Midgard, ording to Grump, that is he replied like that. People of this world hold respect and are very loyal to their domain, so they don''t usually tolerate outsiders, that is why most Midgardian hates Earthians, people of foreign cities that they know nothing about. Jurgen didn''t take his words kindly, it was pretty evident in his tone changed after that. "Then why are you going back?" "Well, I don''t know if you have heard it or not, but Ravenshade is in deep shit right now. Centaurs havee back from extinction, there is no food or water there. The conditions of Vecrus are very better then than Ravenshade. So I decided to go back." "But aren''t you worried that Earthian rule?" "She couldn''t be as bad as Carlin.'' "That is true. She would be very good whenpared to Carlin, whom some peoplepare with Hitler." "I don''t know about that. She is not as bad as him but is she bad" "Like Hitler?" Jurgen said in a softened tone. "Yes, like Hitler." Without moving his head, Jurgen''s eyes moved towards the campfire. He followed his eyes and saw the woman with red hair, looking at them. "Boom pendant." Jurgen quickly said in English, then he suddenly got up, and as he did, all the camp fell silent at once. Everyone raised their weapons and pointed them at him¡­ For a second he couldn''t understand what was happening, it was then he realized, how he fucked up. When Jurgen mentioned Hitler casually in the conversation, he went along with it, which is why he fucked up. Earthians cannot tell anything about their world to anyone in Midgard, if they try to do so, then all the Midgardian could hear is random gibberish that does not make sense to them. But he not only heard correctly what Jurgen said but also repeated the word in the uing sentence. He truly fucked up. But still, he couldn''t make sense of what that man said in hisst sentence. *** Dave was on his knees, his face was badly bruised, some of his teeth were broken, he wasn''t sure, but his rib cage was broken as well. Everyone in the camp had surrounded him and was ring at him. In front of him were Jurgen and the red-haireddy that allowed him inside the camp. "So you are an Earthian." The red-haireddy asked. "Yes." He replied. "What is your real name?" "My real name is Davvy, I didn''t lie about that," he said. Then the woman turned towards a small scrawny man named Gibbon. "Truth." "Who do you work for?" "A smuggler. Carlin kidnapped me and gave me the choice to work for her. But I didn''t want to work for her. So I ran away when the beast tide hit." The woman turned around, Gibbon gave him his thumbs up, still telling the truth. "Is that so?" Before she could continue¡­ AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOWWWWWW Hearing the howling of a lone wolf, everyone got tense. All of them got up and took out their weapons. "Werewolf." One of the men proimed. "Everyone to their arms," Ang announced "What should we do with him?" Gibbon asked "Keep an eye on him. For now.". Chapter 46 Another Torture Session-2 ?When people of the camp stood up and pointed their weapons at him, Dave understood that this was going to be a long night. Soon he was dragged to the center of the camp, they tied his hands and legs and started beating him up, he did not understand what he did to deserve this, he tried reasoning with them, but it was a futile effort. With no one giving any crap about his protest, he understood that these guys wouldn''t stop at anything, he understood that this night would be pretty simr to the night Carlin''s soldiers tortured him, they didn''t interrogate him nor asked him anything, they just started torturing him. ''Why the fuck my luck is so shitty?'' he thought. His luck always betrayed him, he was born into that shitty family, he made the phone call to an unknown shadypany, now he has been stuck in this ce, he was tortured when he got this ce and now he was tortured once again. He started thinking maybedy luck doesn''t like him. As he could not do much for the moment, he just surrendered, he just tried to maintain his sanity, after all, what else he could have done¡­ After a few minutes of beating, the woman with red hair, Ang, grabbed his chin, raised it up, she smiled sensually at his bleeding face. "Now you will tell me everything that I want to know." Her subordinate, the scrawny little man named Gibbon came forward and casted some magic on him. He didn''t know what that magic did, as he couldn''t feel any difference in his body. But he soon realized what that man had done to him. When Ang started asking him a bunch of questions, if he lied, Gibbon would know, somehow, then he would receive a few more punches and kicks in return. That man had casted some sort of lie detector magic on him. As he was already tired of all the beating, he decided to tell the truth, the partial truth, and from what it seemed, Gibbon couldn''t tell the difference between the whole truth and the partial truth. His torture was well underway when they all heard¡­ AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO Hearing the howling of a lone wolf, everyone in the camp got tensed. All of them took out their weapons and started, getting ready for a battle. "Werewolf." One of the men proimed. "Everyone to their arms," Ang announced. As she was standing too close to him, he had a good look at her ample bosom, squished between her plumpy melons was a small green color crystal, which glowed as shemanded the camp. "What should we do with him?" Gibbon asked "Keep an eye on him. For now." She then turned around and started barking orders around the camp. His brain kept thinking about the glowing pendant. BOOM pendant, that is what Jurgen said to him, previously he couldn''t make sense of what that man was trying to say. But now, he got the gist of his message. His eyes started following Ang, whenever she would bark any order, the pendant would glow. That bitch is controlling everyone in the camp with that pendant. That is why Jurgen wanted me to destroy the pendant. If somehow, I am able to pull it off, would that stop the bitch? he thought. There were too many unanswered questions, but for now, there is not much he could do. From where he stood, he could see two scenarios in front of him, he was either going to be tortured ruthlessly and ultimately killed. Or Ang would make him a puppet like the people of the camp. In any scenario, there will be no happy ending for him, so he figured, why not take a chance? After all, it was not like, destroying the pendant would somehow worsen his situation¡­ In the middle of the camp was a big campfire, illuminating the surrounding, around the fire were 5 groups with three members in each group. With his hands and legs tied, he, Ang, and Gibbon were standing by the campfire. There was pin-drop silence all around the camp, because of which he could clearly hear, the growling, and it wasing from all around them. He recognized the growling straight away, he had heard simr noises when he was stuck in the patch of trees, with Kobolds. The campfire was only able to light a particr, beyond which he could see nothing, he couldn''t even tell how many of those vicious things had surrounded them. Based on the loud growling and the constant crackling of leaves and twigs, if he were to guess, he would say that at least 30 of those vicious things were waiting for them in the darkness. He didn''t know the individual strength of these people, so he couldn''t help but feel threatened. If those beasts came to him, then there was a very slim chance they would be able to defend him, let alone themselves. He turned towards Ang. "Get me out of these bounds, I can help you guys" SMACK Gibbon pped him. "Didn''t give you permission to talk fucker. And what will you do Mr. Warrior? Bravely fight a colony of Kobolds yourself?" "I can still help, right? You guys use some extra pair of hands." Hearing his words, Gibbon started chuckling. "You seem to be underestimating us boy." Before he could refute Gibbon''s words, Ang turned towards Gibbon. "Free him," Gibbon didn''t like the idea. "Mdy are you sure, we still dont skills that this man possesses. He could be a threat to us all." "Dont worry about it, I am strong. Whatever this man would throw at us, I can take care of it." The confidence in her voice, made Gibbon yield. Gibbon then obediently kneeled down and released him of his bounds. Now finally free, he stood up. His wounds have not healed up, he was in no condition to fight. Still, he took out a spear from his inventory and stood his ground, warily looking around the darkness surrounding the camp¡­ One of the Kobolds entered the camp, making its way to one of the groups. Before it could pounce at them, the roots of the surrounding trees became alive and grabbed the beast before it could take another step. It is then that the group moved forward and killed the captured beast. Just like that, whenever any Kobold would step into the clearing, they were captured, and the one the group would move forward and kill it. All those groups worked like a well-polished machine, from their coordination he felt like that they have done his multiple times. He was really impressed by the prowess that the camp showed him. He looked at Ang, who had her eyes closed, she had a staff in her hand, that was glowing brightly. He realized that she was the one controlling the roots of the trees. It is then something clicked in his mind, when Carlin kidnapped them, she also used a technique simr to this one. But how did Ang know that magic? Soon it was all over, their group killed around 50 kobolds in that half an hour time period, they had no casualties of any sort nor anyone injured, everyone was energetic and fine. Witnessing this, he didn''t know what to think anymore. In his previous fights, he was injured every single time whenever he came across any monster, but these guys hunted these beasts as if it was easy as a walk in the park. And from what he knew, even Grump was not that strong to pull something like this. Soon everything was over, it is then all the people gathered around Gibbon and started telling them how many times they have leveled up, and how many stat points they have earned. Seeing this he realized that everyone in the camp was an Earthian¡­ "Now what should we do with you?" Ang''s voice made hime out of his stupor. He turned towards her, she was sweating and looked tired. His eyes started staring at the pendant dangling from her neck, he had an idea, he didn''t know whether it would work or not, but he had to try. He put his spear back in his inventory and started limping towards her. As he came close, he acted as if he stumbled, then he fell on her. Hended his face on her ample bosom, he grabbed her body for support, to steady himself, making her stagger back. Her ears became red as she felt his face on her breast, she was enraged, and with a wisp of magic, she blew him away a few feet, where hended on the corpses of Kobolds. Her attack was noticed by the entire, everyone gathered around, excited to see a show. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCHED ME YOU MONGREL!" She yelled at him. While he struggled to get up again, from the corpses of the Kobolds. When he did get up, he brought out the curvy great sword of the tribal chief. Everyone thought that the man wanted to fight, while she on the other hand noticed the ck threadsing out of his mouth, they seemed familiar to her. Realization hit her, she looked down, her pendant was gone. He put on the pendant when he fell, and when she casted her magic, the force of the magic break the thread from which the pendant was dangling, hence he stole her pendant. Enraged, she started weaving a magic circle, wanting to kill him instantly, but she was toote. She looked up and her pendant on the ground, and the hilt of that great sword mmed onto it, breaking it forever. "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" she screamed. Weird symbols started appearing on her hands and neck, and she started convulsing like she was having a stroke, Gibbon rushed to check on her, but it is then Jurgen appeared beside that little man and mmed a hatchet on his head, killing him. While a woman came running towards him, picked him up on her shoulder, and started running, Jurgen also joined them soon¡­ Chapter 47 On A Run-1 ?It was a very terrible experience for Dave, being carried on the shoulders of that woman, as she ran, he started feeling bumps on his stomach, agitating his rib cage, which ultimately made him squirm in pain. Although it was too painful to remain in this state, he was still happy, these people were rescuing him from that crazy woman, even when he was a dead weight, after all, he was very badly injured. After running for a while, the woman stopped and put him down, under a tree. She started catching her breath, and soon Jurgen also joined them. While catching his breath, that man put his hand on his shoulder. "That was unbelievable, I didn''t think that you would be able to pull it off." He came and then sat beside him, then continued on. "But you did it, you crazy son of a bitch!." It was very hard for him to speak, still while groaning he replied. "No¡­ Problem". "What should we do now Jurgen, he is heavily injured," the woman asked. The blond man smiled at her concern, he then fished a normal ck color pouch from his pocket. "Dont worry, in the chaos, I grabbed Gibbon''s spatial pouch. We can heal him." Then he put his hand in the pouch and fished out a red vial full of Healing Potion. He gave it him, who was more than happy to drink it. The potion was very powerful and potent, it started taking effect as soon as he finished thest drop. In a minute or two, he got better. Till then both of them also had rested enough, and Jurgen got up. "We should keep moving. It is still very dangerous to stay here." Hearing his concern he got up, and with him, the woman as well got up. It is then he saw a very ring mistake in their n, he didn''t know whether these two could see in the dark or not, but he sure could not. Before he could voice out his thoughts, the woman tugged his shirt and showed him a fist-sizemp in her hands, which was attached to a chain. "Do you have one of these or do you want one?" she asked. "What is that?" Rather than replying to his query, she just shoved the thing toward him. "Here you could have this one¡­ Just tie it around your waist, it consumes some of your mana and acts like a torch." He copied the way that those guys wore that artifact, and sure enough after he wore it, he started feeling a connection with it. It was a weird experience for him, the connection felt as if thatmp had always been part of his body, but he had somehow lost connection to it a long time ago, but now the connection is back online. As he tapped into the connection, themp lit up, surprisingly, considering its short length, it did illuminate the surrounding around him as if he was carrying a real sizemp. And thus started their journey in the darkness of the forest¡­ After walking silently for a few minutes, the woman moved her hand toward him. "I never had the chance to introduce myself, I am Hiry." "Davy." "Thanks for saving us, Davy, if it weren''t for you, we would have been still puppets of that bitch." She said. "Yeah. Thanks a lot." Jurgen also chimed in. "It''s alright¡­ Also, I could use some context now. I still dont fully understand what happened back there. What happened back there?" Hiry sighed at her faith and started telling him about that camp. "Well, all the people in the camp were Earthians. Ang, that red-haired woman used her magic to make us her ves. We couldn''t disobey any of her orders and had to follow whatever she says. The crystal that you destroyed was the artifact controlling that spell. When you broke it, it dispelled the magic as well as giving her a big bacsh, which bought us some time to run away." He shuddered at the thought that these guys were ves at one point. "That''s fucked up." Jurgen spits a ball of saliva on his side. "Yeah, it was¡­ But that is still nothingpared to what that bitch did to Cloudhold." Hearing the name of a major city, got him interested in what that vicious woman did there. "Cloudhold? What did she do?" Hiry then turned towards him. "That red hair woman was Ang Stross. Do you know about her?" He was surprised to hear that name. "That was her?" Their reaction was enough to answer his question. "She is City Lord of Cloudhold right?" Jurgen then chimed in. "Correction. She was the City Lord of Cloudhold. For her own greed, she left her post as the City Lord and took us with her. As one of the strongest warriors of the city left its post, the whole city fell." "So all the people in Cloudhold are dead?" Now he was concerned about Ricardo, Grump only send him to the city as he thought that the city is not destroyed. If the city is destroyed, how would he get that potion? "It seems like it. We dont know for sure. But as Tier-2 monsters have started to appear, I guess the city would have fallen by now." Hiry said. "Tier-2?" "Ah, you dont know¡­ Monsters in this world are capable of going through an evolution, you know that right?" Hiry asked. "Yeah." "Well, most of the monsters could go through 3 levels of evolution. Higher the form of evolution, the more dangerous the monster bes." He nodded his head. "Oh, I get it now. I fought with a Tribal Chief not too long ago, but other than the name of the monster, it was quite identical to a normal Kong. Before that, I fought a very big fucking gori, with a cleaver. They were evolutionized Kongs right?" While Hiry nodded her head, Jurgen had a different reaction altogether. "Wait, you fought with the colony of Kongs and with a Tribal Chief? And you are still alive? That is very impressive. From what I have heard, Tribal Chief is a Tier-2 evolutionized monster. Not many people go fool that thing and get away. That is might impressive." Jurgen said. "Thanks¡­" he didn''t dare to say that he killed it. Still, he continued on. "By the way what about you guys, from what I understand you are the old generation of yers right? How has your life been till now?" "It was worse than hell," Hirymented. Jurgen also nodded at her remark. "Yeah, after we were caught some of us were brutally interrogated. When the people of Midgard realized that we were indeed from another world, they started capturing us, made us stand a stage and we were sold to the highest bidder like a ve." Jurgen said. "That must have been a terrible experience." "It was not as terrible as what was about toe. They wanted to breed us, trying to raise an army of people with simr potential as us. But they soon realize that it was not possible. As it turns out, we cannot impregnate or get impregnated by Midgardians. We are basically impotent for them..." What started as normal talk soon took a dark turn, making him ufortable. But he realized what kind of hell these guys must have been through, he wanted to sympathize with them, and show them empathy but didn''t know how, he didn''t know what to say when he heard about the tragedies that these guys have been through. They talked about little things, their experience in this new world. Eventually came a point when all three of them lost all topics of conversation, and they started walking quietly side by side with each other¡­ AAAAWWWWWOOOOO The sudden howl made all of them stop in their tracks. "Werewolf." Both Hiry and Jurgen said together. All of them then took their respective weapons and got into fighting stances, covering each other''s backs. As he heard that they will be fighting a ''Werewolf'', he couldn''t help but ask "Do we need silver to fight that monster?" Both of them gave him a look as if he was an idiot. It is then Hiry started telling him about the monster. "A werewolf is a tier-3 evolutionized kobold. It is a ferocious fucker, which is faster than the normal Kobold." "Alright." "Hiry, be a doll and use your skill. Dave, cover her." Jurgen said. It is then he saw Hiry get between them, she then sat down on the ground in a lotus position and closed her eyes. Before he could ask, what she was trying to do, a transparent figure of an owl flew out of her, into the sky The light blue shade of the owl was making it shine like a firefly in the night, it flew up and started circling them. "I see it. It is circling around us, current position, around 200m due north." Hiry proimed while sitting. "What the hell are you talking about?" he couldn''t help but ask. "She is telling us the location of Werewolf." Jurgen said and then he looked at her and continued. "And which north are you talking about? Mine or his?" "Yours! And never mind, that thing is closing in on us¡­ it is here!" she yelled. Soon a figurended before them, breaking branches in the process. It was like a typical werewolf from the movies, it shared the grey fur and all the other features of the kobolds, but its head actually looked like a wolf. GRRRRR It growled at them, it got on its four, ready to pounce at them. But before it could do so, Jurgen one of his hands in the air. "THUNDER STRIKE!" In a cloudless sky, out of nowhere, a thunderbolt manifested itself, striking down the Werewolf, and killing it instantly. While he, on the other hand, stood there, with his mouth and eyes wide open, in disbelief at what he had just witnessed. Chapter 48 On A Run-2 ?He couldn''t believe his eyes, the thing that he had just witnessed looked like a miracle to him, he had heard that the skills tend to give mysterious power to its wielders, and he had heard that some of them could even decimate and a baby Earth Porcupine with one hit, at least that was what Grump had told him. But witnessing the power of such a powerful skill is a spectacle on its own. He learned from Ricardo, acquiring skills is not an easy task, not only they are very rare but also are very sought after. But from what he had witnessed before his eyes, his eyes couldn''t stop twinkling, he needs to acquire some skills, and fast, he could just imagine if he had the ''thunder strike'' skill, then how easier it would have been to deal with that 8-foot long kong that he had to deal with. "Was that a skill?" he asked. Jurgen groaned with difort "Yeah", seeing him like this, he immediately came beside him. "Are you alright, what happened?" "It is the skill. It costs a lot of mana and I depleted all of mine" He said as he gently put him down on the ground. While the ghost-like owl of Hiry flew done and rbined with her body. She then opened his eyes and looked at Jurgen with concern. He then asked Jurgen about his condition. "Does mana depletion cause pain?" As he had never had such an experience, he didn''t know what to do next. "Mana depletion is very stressful for the body. When you deplete all of your mana, your body started to ache as well, your joints be heavy, and one cannot even stand straight after this." Hirymented. Then she continued. "Because of this every one of us is advised, not to deplete mana underbat, only do it to use a sure kill skill as he has." It is then he saw that her face also looks kind of pale, she was also in difort after using her skill. "Did you deplete your mana as well?" She shook her head and spoke with a tired voice. "No. But I am really close to depleting it." "Okay, so what does your skill do exactly? His I know, but I am curious about yours does." "My skill, helps me create that transparent owl that you saw, I can control it with my mind, with it I can scan and look at everything in the surrounding. The best part is that with its vision I can even look in the darkness." She said. "That is pretty cool." Just thinking about what kind of things he could do with a skill like that made him chuckle inwardly. He wanted that skill. "Where did you get your skills from?" He knew that only a dungeon in Vecrus or Ravenshade could give magical skill like this one, so he asked them about it. But he didn''t expect the replies that these two gave them. "I got mine by joining the familia of Fat Fighting King and she got her from Mistress of an Owl," Jurgen said. "You guys joined the familia of gods?" he asked in a in voice, he was in disbelief that someone in their right mind would even try to join familia, but still he had to confirm. "Wait are you not part of any familia?" Hiry asked with astonishment. "No. And I will never join one." Jurgen chuckled at his remark and then mumbled. "We will see about that." He raised his eyebrow when he heard his mumbling. "Was that sarcasm that I heard?" from his tone it was evident that he didn''t like his sarcasm. Jurgen then smiled, apologetically. "Yeah... Look, I get it, you dont want to do anything for the beings that brought us here. I respect that. Many Earthians thought that way as well. But circumstances have changed. You know about umtion right?" "Yeah." "Every major city on Midgard is in ruins. From what I have heard from Ang, the people who are still alive would be enough for the hordes of monsters that are spawning around this piece ofnd right now. Sooner orter every child or every elderly have to raise their weapon to protect themselves. When that timees, you will need all the help that you can. All of it. Otherwise, you won''t be able to survive for long." Jurgen''s words had some merit to them, he knew about all of this from Grump, and that old man said something simr as well. But still, he could not even imagine, bowing in front of gods for some power, he had too much pride¡­ After talking for a few minutes, they decided to call it a night and camp there. Jurgen brought three small poles from his inventory, these were magical poles used for camping. These poles make a barrier, that suppresses the smell and presence of whoever is in its radius. Using this they could camp anywhere, without worrying about monsters getting their scent. The only w it had, was that if any of the poles even moves a little bit, the barrier deployed by the poles would lose its power. So someone had to be on the lookout when using these, otherwise, even a strong wind could destroy their cover. He volunteered to be the first one to be on the lookout, and two of them agreed quickly as they were already tired from mana depletion. In the darkness of the forest, as he sat down underneath the dark canopy of trees, he started thinking about the powers he needed to survive the world. He could be a solo adventurer and gather enough stat points to be strong enough so that he dont need to join any familia. But the route that he was thinking of taking would be a very tedious one, as he would have no help whatsoever, hunting could take a toll on him, and it was also possible that he would die in a ditch somewhere without anyone knowing. At least if he joins a familia then he would have somerades that he could trust. WOAH! What are you thinking Dave? Joining familia is a no-go. How can I even think about something like this? Gods are evil, they killed all these people just for the sake of their entertainment. How can you even trust beings like these? He thought. As he thought more about Gods, he looked toward the people that he had supposedly saved. Can I trust them? He asked himself. Maybe he was being paranoid for no reason, but he couldn''t help but ask himself this question, how can he trust them? From what he had seen so far, these two were not free people, he may have rescued them from spending their life as a ve, but the truth is that they are still not free. They are still ves, to the gods. With those invitations, gods canmand them to do anything that their heart desire. So what''s the guarantee that these people won''t kill him if their godsmand them to do so¡­ He immediately,manded his system to show him all the invitations that he had. He had received 20 invitations till now, but he had not yet replied to any of them. He scrolled through every invitation, to look at what these gods were offering him. When he received his first invitations, no one offered to give him any skills, but now most of the invitations had a skill attached to them. Amongst all the skills that were being offered to him, Thunder Strike and Owl Familiar were also present. He had seen the power of these skills firsthand, and he was tempted to ept the invitations. NO! NO DAVE NO! You cannot do it. Get a hold of yourself, he scolded himself He cannot be a ve. He cannot. To make sure that he does not change his mindter on, he instantly started declining the invitations, previously he just minimized them. But now he declined all of them. After the option of epting any invitation was out of the window, he sighed with relief, now he would no longer have the temptation to ept those invitations. But he was then startled once again when he got a notification. ...¡­. INVITATION FROM- The God Hater DESCRIPTION- The one who hates all the gods and their existence wants to give you hand in your arduous journey. With his help you can get your revenge on gods REQUIREMENTS- If decided that the yer wants to join the Familia of God Hater then they should be willing to fulfill the following requirements¡­ ¡úThe first priority of the familia members should be winning the game. ¡úThey should be willing to kill whoeveres their way of winning. ¡úThe familia members can kill whomever they want. ¡úThe hierarchy of the yers would be decided on basis of the strength that an individual has. The rank of the Familia members would be¡­. Private "We will meet again, in the future," Jurgen said while shaking his hand. While Hiry came close to him and gave him a peck on the cheek, thanking him for what he had done for them. As they were about to head out, he suddenly remembered the ingredient that Hamel needed, it was the sole reason because of why the old man was not able to make an antidote for his grandson. It was called Yellow Tail Flower, he is not wrong. It was a long shot, but before bidding farewell, he asked both of them whether they had this ingredient. Surprisingly, they did have it¡­ Lily is amon flower around Cloudhold, and it is very different from its counterpart on Earth, this lily was poisonous, and every now and then travelers and adventurerse to contact with its pollen, and get poisoned. That is why most of the adventurers that operate in Cloudhold have spare ingredients to make the antidote to the poison. Both of them were very happy to share the juice of the Yellow Tail flower with him, which was essentially the main ingredient to make the antidote¡­ After bidding them farewell, as he walked under the dark and moist canopy of trees, alone, he couldn''t help but wonder if it was a good decision to split up with them. Now all alone in this vast forest, he was feeling a little scared. Thus, he increased his pace, he wanted to meet up with Grump as soon as he can. Luckily for him, during his journey, he didn''t encounter any monsters, so, he was able to cover a significant distance till evening. With his increased stats, his body underwent a tremendous change, because of which his traveling speed, as well as his stamina, had increased¡­ The sun was about to set in a few hours, he had been following the rock that Hamel gave him, and that rock had saved him a lot of time, checking his directions over and over again would have consumed a lot of his time, luckily, he had the rock. But the only bad thing about that this piece of rock was that it was not a GPS, back on Earth, GPS gave the person the precise distance between the user and their destination. But no such option is avable with this rock. Whether he was getting closer, or not, he couldn''t tell, which was getting on his nerves. BAAAAM Hearing the sound, he stopped. The sound came from south of his location and based on the sound, it originated from far away from him. Still, he got his guard up and brought out his sword and his shield. He turned around and started looking in that direction, but he could not see any movement of any kind, he even checked the canopy for Kongs, but they were not there. Everything seemed safe to him. BAAAM This time the sound came from the Southwest, he turned towards that direction, and it is then he saw a cloud of dirt in the direction. The cloud was far away from him, but he was concerned about what could cause that cloud to form. It is then he started hearing roars of some kind,ing from beyond the cloud. And from the noise he understood that some beasts were fighting with each other, causing that smoke cloud to form. He decided to make some distance between himself and those monsters and started falling. But it is then, two giant monsters ripped through the cloud with amazing speed and starteding towards him. ROOOAR The roar was the wake-up call he needed, he immediately started running in the opposite direction. He didn''t dare to look back, he recognized the silhouette of the monsters, Moutain Bears, he had already seen them this morning. Those monsters were faster than him, from the sounds of trees being uprooted and the loud shaking of the ground, he could tell that those monsters were closing on him, fast. Before he coulde up with a n, a very loud and powerful explosion took ce behind him. The shockwave from the explosion blew him away, from his trajectory, it was evident that he was going to hit a tree. Luckily he used his shield to soften the blow, which in turn broke his left hand. A nearby tree broke down and fell on him, once againdy luck shined her grace on him, and he was only caught under the branches of the broken tree. Trapped by the cover of branches, his whole body felt heavy, he head was disoriented. Still, with sheer willpower, he pushed away the branches that fell on him, and crawl his way out, only to witness an inferno of fire¡­ Chapter 50 Reunion-1 The area surrounding him had caught on fire, and it was spreading in every possible direction, fast, the site of the explosion had be this charcoal pit, it had created a crator as if a star had fallen there. The sheer amount of destruction looked like something straight out of movies. As he looked at the inferno around him, he wondered about what could have caused that explosion in the first ce. ''Those mountain bears that were chasing me¡­ Did they do this? Do those monsters pack this kind of firepower? As he stood there inhaling the smoke, he started cursing his luck. Everything was going smoothly he was making tremendous strides while traveling, then this happened. ROAAAR The roar was enough to get him out of his stupor, immediately he started pushing the branches away, trying to get out there. After a struggle to get his leg out, which was stuck between some branches, he eventually got out. Then straight away, he turned around and started making some distance between himself and this ce. After taking a few steps, he realized that the stone was not with him anymore, he came back, tried moving branches around to see whether that thing was stuck somewhere underneath, but he couldn''t find it, he thought leaving the stone behind. Even without it, he could travel to the back bridge, without any problem. He would have to struggle a lot to find their camp, near the bridge, but it was something that he could take care of. He was about to move, but it is then he spotted that little thing. Not too far away from where he was lying, he spotted the stone, the blue color needle on the stone made it easy for him to spot the thing. He immediately went to it and grabbed that little thing¡­ After picking it up, he almost dropped the thing, it was hot, so he then carefully use his sleeve to pick the thing up. He turned around and was about to go when he heard trembling of the ground, he immediately looked to his east, only to see a silhouette of a mountain bear, not too far away from him. The monster was facing the other way, he could slowly fall back and sneak past the bear, without causing any trouble. But before he could move¡­ SPLLIICH That monster''s body was prated by something sharp, he only saw the tip of a spikeing out of the monster''s body, someone or something had killed him, with only one attack. "GET OUT OF MY WAY TO MAGGOT!" came a voice of a woman, and he recognized the voice straight away. Instead of running away, he instantly jumped to the side and crawled his way under the branches of a broken tree. He tried to hide himself to best of his abilities, his opponent was someone he could run away from, he could only hide. Soon the sound of footsteps started resounding in the area, through the shrubbery of the branches, he peeked out and saw the silhouette of a woman, standing not too far away from him. He was right, that woman was Ang. The raging inferno around them acted like a spotlight, because of which he saw her face clearly, it was badly scarred. Half of her face was deformed, the skin in that area had be cherry red, while the area was also swollen like a ripe tomato. Long gone was her beautiful face, now the only thing left was her zombie-like face. As she stood there, the ground started rumbling, it is then a mountain Bear made its way into the inferno, when it spotted her, it charged towards her. Unbothered by the monster charging in her direction, she stood her ground. As the monster came close to her, she raised her hand, a big ball of fire formed in her hand, and without any warning, she shot that ball of fire, toward the monster. As soon as the ball made contact with the bear, it exploded. BOOOOM The sound of the explosion almost made him deaf, while the light almost made him blind. When he got rity back again, he saw that she was standing before what used to be a Mountain Bear, now only bits of its legs were left, while its torso was fully blown away. Seeing this gruesome scene, he got scared to his core. The firepower that she had shown him was unlike he had ever seen, she was literally a one-man army. Another thing that scared him was that she was probably looking for him, the guy responsible for deforming her face. It is then, the ground started rumbling, more mountain bears entered the inferno, and pounced at her. The number of bears that attacked her made him think that they might be able to overpower her, but he was not wrong. That woman knew how to handle trouble¡­ She flew in the air, like superman, and fired various spells at the bears attacking her. Most of the bears went down with those spells, one of them even tried to grab her in mid-air, by jumping over a fallen bear''s body, but she simply deflected the attack by conjuring what looked like a gold shield made of golden light and weird symbols. The carnage in front of him made him glued to his ce, while his eyes followed every spell fired by thedy. The agility and control over spells showed him how terrifying his opponent was. He was only brought back to his senses when he started feeling hot, it is then he realized the tree he was hiding under had caught on fire. He immediately got up and started running away from the fight. Ang was so busy fighting that she didn''t realize that someone ran away from under her nose¡­ *** Moon hade up in the sky, the forest was shrouded in darkness, noises of various beasts could be heard throughout the forest, yet Dave''s legs showed no sign of stopping. Since he had run away from Ang, he hadn''t stopped, the memory of her destroying a fleet of mountain bears was still fresh in his mind, making him extra motivated to find Grump and his group fast. Grump was the only one that could help him, or at least give him some advice on how to handle the situation, that is why he was showing haste. Luckily he had not encountered any monsters yet, so his journey had been very peaceful till now. His steps came to a near stop, the needle on the rock had started shining brightly. He didn''t know what that meant, still, he followed the direction the needle was pointing towards, and soon found out what it meant¡­ Before he could not see anything, but with a blink of an eye suddenly a camp manifested itself in front of him. The camp appeared so suddenly, which caught him off guard, it is then he saw Hamel sitting on a rock, by the ambers of fire, absent-mindedly staring at them. He instantly put on his mask and went up to him. Hearing someone walking up to him, the old man looked up. "YOU ARE BACK!" he yelled came, he ran towards him and then grabbed his shoulders. "Did you have the antidote?" "Couldn''t find it, but I got yellow tail instead." Hearing his words, a smile bloomed on the old man''s face. He instantly wrapped his hand around him and gave him a bear hug. "Come, we should not waste any more time." He then dragged him to the camp. There he saw old man Grump sleepingfortably, wrapped in a cozy nket. Hamel shook him, startling him in the process. "WHAT!" Grump shouted, but soon came to his senses when he saw him standing beside Hamel. "Davvy, you are back." He muttered. It is the Hamel chimed in. "Yeah, he is back. Now we dont have any time to waste, get up and watch the area." Grump''s face scrunched with anger, he muttered some profanities under his breath, but soon got up. "Quickly, take out the trunks from your inventory." Hamel thenmanded. He did as he said, the old man then fished out a few barrels from the trunks and started working. He had been walking for a long time, so he wanted to rest a little bit, but before he could do so, Grump dragged him with him to the corner, while Hamel was busy preparing the potion. As they got out of earshot of Hamel, Grump''s expression turned serious. "We are fucked, Davvy." He said in a low voice. His grim voice was enough to make him realize that something was up. He started wondering what the hell was this about. Did these guys hear about what happened with Ang Stross? He thought Chapter 51 Reunion-2 Dave didn''t know what had happened, but Grump grim voice made him understand that something major must have happened. "Well, what happned?" Instead of replying to him, Grump grabbed his chin and turned it towards the camp to show him what was up. "Look there," he said while pointing towards the camp. Hamel had started a fire, there was arge ck color cauldron levitating in the air above the fire, not only that, there were these big barrels lying not too far away from him, the barrels were very familiar, as they were therger version of the ones that he took out of the trunk. He didn''t understand what the old man was talking about, from what he could see, the only peculiar thing about all of this was the barrels and the flying cauldron. His confusion was evident from his facial expression. Seeing this Grump sighed and then continued. "Those barrels, they were the items that we were transporting. They were the reason that we were sticking on schedule." "So?" he couldn''t understand what the old man was talking about. But it was then he understood what the old man was implying "Wait were we not supposed to open them?" "No." Hearing this, he turned his head sideway, he was now more confused. The old man then continued. "These barrels, all of them are full of crafting ingredients for potion making. Hamel Gomez is rich, but he is not that rich to acquire all these ingredients, in such a high volume." "I dont understand what are you trying to say. Do you mean that he stole those materials from someone?" The old man snapped his fingers and yelled "Precisely!" It is then he understood what the old man was trying to say. "Whom did he steal it from? Are they dangerous?" "From what I could guess, he stole those things from Ravenshade City''s Stash." "Ravenshade City''s Stash? What is that?" The old man looked very annoyed, as he didn''t know the most basic things about this world, but still, he replied calmly. "The city saves up a considerable amount of potion material, in case of disaster strikes. The potion material helps them to make many emergency potions like antidotes, healing potions, bone regeneration, etc." After hearing his words, he started calcting the number of barrels that he had seen so far, and if they all could increase their size like those ones, then they are in deep shit. "So you are trying to say that Hamel not only stole from Ravenshade, but he also stole everything from that city''s stash, at a time like this?" The old man nodded. "Its looks like it. Those small barrels have a special magic performed on them, which shrinks them. But the mana circuit on those barrels is only viable for a few hours, that is why he needed you." "Me? Why?" "Your pocket space, time moves slowly in your Earthian''s pocket space. That is why needed you. That is why Grego wanted to follow the schedule so diligently, that fucker must have known about this¡­ Davvy we are fucked." "Walk me through what kind of consequence are we talking about here?" "Well, we just helped the best and only alchemist in Ravenshade to sneak out of there. Also, we stole the city''s supplies, which they desperately needed to function, right now. So we are fucked, Carlin would send her dogs to hunt us down, as soon as she could afford to." "What are the chances that she would know it was us?" "Well, I vanished from the city, the same day Hamel ran away. So it wouldn''t take a genius to put two and two together." He couldn''t help but smile. "Wait, then you are fucked. No one knows about me. I will be alright." "If I go down, I will take you down with me. We are partners after all." His reply makes his smile turn into a frown. "No, we are not. You said that I dont work with you, I work for you. There is a difference." Grump made a look like he wanted to kill him right there, and bury him 6 feet down. While he smiled looking at the annoyed face of the old man. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SMILING? I JUST TOLD YOU THAT OUR DEATH WARRANTS HAVE BEEN SIGNED OFF." Old man yelled. Hearing his words, he started to wonder why he was smiling, after all, Grump did give him a very grave news."I dont know why I am smiling. Maybe I am going insane or something¡­ Also for your information, I am more fucked than you." "How?" It is then he told him about the tale of his encounter with Ang and all the Earthians under her, he told him what he did to her, the magic that ruined her face, and she is looking for him to enact revenge on him. Hearing his story, Grump stood there, glued to the ce with an expressionless face, it made it hard for him to understand what the old man was thinking. Before he could ask him for advice, the old man put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head slowly. "It was nice knowing you Davvy. I will miss you." This did piss him off "I am not dead yet." It is then the old man put a finger on his lips. "You might not be ready to ept the truth. But you are indeed very much dead my friend. Just ept the truth and live the rest of your life in peace." "Grump, quit joking around. I really want to know what I can do to get out of this situation." Finally, his expressionless face changed. "I dont know! Well, even if you can escape Carlin''s henchmen, there is no way to deal with Ang. She had abandoned her post, so there is nothing bounding her, slowing her down. She will stop at nothing to get your hands on you. Unless¡­" A ray of hope got ignited in his heat, hearing ''unless'' from the old man''s mouth. "Unless what?" "No nothing." "What? Tell me." "No, it''s nothing." "Come on tell me." "It is a very absurd idea." "What? Just tell me." Grump sighed. "Fine¡­ You might not know, but there are 3 great cities in Midgard, they have that title because all three of them have their own private dungeons in them. These dungeons provide these cities with skills and materials that make them more powerful than the rest of the cities." "I know that, still, what is your point?" "The other three cities are called great cities in name. Butmon folk refer to these cities as Mistress cities." "Mistress Cities?" "Yeah. They have earned this title, because, like a mistress, these cities are like use and throw material for great cities. If their great cities wanted, they can make them prosper, by allowing them entry to their dungeon. Or they might barre their entry and drown them" "I get it, so in a way, they are at the mercy of great cities?" "Yes, because of this particr reason, many wars have been waged in the past between mistress cities and great cities. But for a hundred, two hundred years, no wars have taken ce. And the only reason behind this is that Great cities figure out a way to take control of mistress city without much effort. Can you guess how?" He thought for a moment, and soon the answer came to him. "They would make their own man or woman sit on the throne of mistress city." "DING DING¡­ You are correct. Ang is the puppet of Carlin. Most people suspect about their rtionship, but most of the high-ranking adventurers know about this." "So any of this would help me?" "Think about it, if Cloudhold falls, then which city would bepletely cut off from the rest of the world?" "Ravenshade." "Correct. If Carlin knows about the situation of Cloudhold, she would take action, and if she knows the reality of the situation, Carlin woulde after her," "So all I need is to find a way to make Carline after Ang." "That is correct." He couldn''t help but smile, he finally found a solution to one of the major problems in his life. It is then their attention was attracted by a big me of light. They turned towards camp and saw, Hamel, making a giant pir out of the fire of the bonfire, the pir was so high that it rose higher than even the trees around them. He couldn''t understand what he was trying to do, but it was then he realized that the monsters around them would be able to see that pir of light. Grump realized the same thing, and ran towards the foolish old man. "You stupid mother fucker, you would kill us all." Hamel didn''t listen to Grump''s ranting, instead, he just focused on controlling the pir of fire. If they weren''t stuck in the middle of Cloudhold, then seeing the old man would have been a very mesmerizing scene. By moving his hands he was able to control the flow and power of the pir, with a swish of his hand, he was able to lower the size of the pir, and with another swish, he made it rise up high in the air. The other most mesmerizing thing about the whole process was the whole me itself, as time passed by them, the me started changing its color, slowly it started turning purple and soon the whole pir had changed its color. As soon the mespletely changed their color, Hamel quickly dispersed the me, only to reveal a very hot red color ck cauldron that was floating in the air, it was the epicenter of the pir. With a swish of his hand, Hamel made the cauldronnd on the ground, with the help of heavy quality oven mitts, he opened the cauldron and scooped out some liquid that had filled the thing. After cooling the liquid down, he slowly made his grandson drink the whole bowl¡­ Chapter 52 The Talk-1 That night was very lucky for all of them, no monster spotted the big pir of fire, most likely monsters were too afraid to go near it. Dave, on the other hand, was very happy, not only monsters but Ang also didn''t spot the pir and didn''te for his head. Hamel was able to make the antidote safely. After pouring the antidote little by little into his mouth, Ricardo''splexion gained back its original color. Hamel was so happy to see that night that he volunteered to stay up first and be on lookout duty, because of which Grump and he was able to get some sleep. The next morning, he woke up to his stomach growling, he had not eaten anything from the past day, and it was time to eat now. He looked around, Grump and Ricardo didn''t show any sign of waking up, while Hamel was awake, sitting idly by a nearby tree. He didn''t pay attention to the old man and started a fire. His salted fish stew tasted great that morning, partially because he was hungry and was tired toin about it. The smell of food woke Grump up, and soon Ricardo, which made them both climb out of their bed. Ricardo looked pale, but he was happy to see him stand on his two feet. While cooking everyone breakfast, he came to him and thanked him for his service. He started chessy lines as he owned his life, which he dismissed it, he did this because he wanted to do this, not out of some superheroplex They ate breakfast in silence, after everyone had eaten their share, Grump called a group meeting. He wanted to talk to everyone about what their next step should be¡­ They all sat down in a circle, with Grump and Hamel facing each other, trying to intimidate each other. "First and foremost, Hamel, do you have something to say to us. Those barallels, are they what I think they are?" Hamel simply nodded his head. "What are they?" Ricardo asked. "Nothing that you need to concern yourself with." Hamel dered. But it is then, Dave chimed in. "No, he must know. Your actions have put not only our life at risk but also your grandson''s. At least he should know what you have done." A vein popped on Hamel''s head. "He is just a kid! He doesn''t need to know." Dave sighed with frustration. "Look Hamel, I dont want to give you a parenting lecture, but by not telling him, you are putting him in danger. If he knows the truth, it will only help in the future. Him not knowing the truth, will not help in any way. Grump nodded his head. "The kid is right. The boy must know." After some back-and-forth arguments. Hamel then caved in. "The additional two trunks, that I had when we left Ravenshade contained Ingredients stashed from the city. I have stolen all of it." Ricardo eyes widened with shock. "WHAT! But why? Why the hell would you do that?" he eximed. "We were going to Infragillis, we were supposed to settle in a foreign city. I thought we would need money. And when Grego told me that one Earthian would be joining us, I thought it would be a good idea to steal everything." With his mouth wide open, he didn''t know how to respond, but after taking a deep breath, he lit it rip. "Grandpa! Do you understand what you have done? You just have signed off our death warrants. Carlin would not stop at nothing to get our heads." Hamel showed some regret on his face. "It was a very impulsive and stupid decision¡­ I am sorry Ricardo." "Grandpa¡­" It is then Grump chimed in. "Anyway¡­ Now, everything out in the open, Hamel, the prize of our deal just went up a lot. Carlin will being after our head because of you. So either, youe up with a n that couldpensate us, or we are leaving you here to die." Grump said. This took Dave by surprise. "We are?" he questioned. "Yes, we will," Grump said while ring at him. He just broke a rule, never to question his decision, but he didn''t care. How could the old man think of leaving these two behind? They would definitely die for sure, if they were in their shoes, then¡­ then¡­'' His internal monologue gave him the answer. If they were in their shoes, would these guys do the same for them? Grump came back for him when he was fighting the tribal chief, which is why he is still alive today, but he couldn''t help but wonder whether Hamel would havee for him. He knew Ricardo had a soft heart and if he was in charge, then there was a possibility that they would havee for them, but with Hamel in charge, they would not havee to save him. Hamel looked at Grump, angry. "You are going to leave us here?" "Yes, we would." "We have a deal. You cannot just back away from the deal like this Gilbert." Hamel snarled. A vein popped on Grump''s head "It is Grump for you fucker. Only people that are close to me call me Gilbert." "We had a deal. You agreed on escorting us, even when you realized who I am. How is this any different?" "It is different IDIOT! You just robbed a great city of its most valuable resource at the moment¡­ If you can''t remember, then let me remind you, Ravenshade is in shambles, and now it can''t produce more potions, because you got greedy. AND if Carlin, somehow makes it through this weird shit storm, she woulde for all of us." "She would havee after us anyway, I dont see why this makes things any different." Everyone present at the bonfire, including Ricardo, stared at Hamel with contempt. "Grandpa, have you gone insane!" Ricardo suddenly eximed. Hearing his grandson raise his voice against him, Hamel red at him, but in return, his grandson stared at him back, he was not backing out of this one. "Stay away from this Ricardo." "NO! You listen to me now. These guys saved my life, and have saved our lives out there. And you are not even showing any sort of consideration of their efforts. This has gone to the next level now grandpa, and I dont want to be part of it." "Well, what do you want me to do? Give them more money? I dont have it. I dont what could I even do to pay them back. I am drowning in debt right now! I promised Helian Rtoss, that I would sell him all these materials, to him. But guess what, out of 60 ingredients, I have opened 11 of them. The barrels that I have opened, cannot be shrunk back, nor they could be stored again. So I am in deep shit as it is. So what would you have me do, Ricardo?" Ricardo was too stunned to know what to say, while Grump on the other hand his mouth wide open. "You made a deal with Helian Rtoss? Are you fucking insane?" Hamel turned towards him. "He offered me a lot of money to do this. So I epted his offer, it is as simple as that." Dave on the other hand was confused. "Who is Helian guy?" "He is the City Lord of Barcelma. He is one of the very strongest people of Midgard." Ricardo exined Hearing this he couldn''t help but exim "Great!" So I am being pursued by, Carlin, Ang, and the way things are going, I will be pursued by this Helian fellow as well. What kinds of bad things did I do, to deserve three city lordsing after my ass, he thought. "I am having the feeling to kill you here right now, and let this nightmare be over," Grump said. "You know what I am such feeling as well. Why dont you get up we will see what happens." Hamel yelled. "You know what, maybe I should." Grump pushed himself up. Ricardo got between them, while he, on the other hand, wanted to get in there as well, and beat the shit out of Hamel, that old man was the sole reason that he will have 3 city lordsing for his ass. But he knew, beating the old man would do him no good, for now, he needed toe up with a n, to save himself. It is then the wheels of mind rotated, and he came up with an idea¡­ "WAIT WAIT wait wait¡­ I have something to say!" He eximed. Three turned towards him. "What?" Grump asked. "First of all, killing Hamel, although makes sense and would probably satisfy you, but it won''t solve our problem, and may even make it worse." "Oh! I see." Grump said while pping his hand, showing sarcasm in his voice. "Can you exin it to me why Davvy?" "Think about it, if we kill him, not only our assignment would be iplete, but will also tarnish our reputation." "So?" Grump asked. "Well, if we do get him to his destination, we would get paid, and in the times like this, we could use some money." Grump was not convinced, not even a little bit. "Is there anything else?" "Also, if someone has to die, it should be me." Hearing his words, all three of them looked at him weirdly, they didn''t understand what he was talking about, but he had already made a decision, he had to die, to make this nightmare over¡­ Chapter 53 [Bonus ]The Talk-2 All three of them stared at Dave, they felt like they were witnessing a madman, saying absurd things like that out of sudden, which made them think that he had hit his head in the wrong ce. He was talking nonsense that they could not understand, but still, that man had a very big smile on his face. Dave continued "Grump, think about it. You said to me that these ingredients are very essential for Ravenshade because they are used to make all these, potions, important potions, right?" he said. "Yeah, so?" "Well, other than Ravenshade and Cloudhold, there are other cities that would love to buy these ingredients out of our hands. We can simply sell, and make a lot of profit. We would be rich." "So where does your deathes in all of this?" Grump asked. "Well, we can tell Helian that I died. And with my death, all the trunks of Hamel and his earthly possessions got lost. That way, we can all have a win." Hamel frowned "No! You cannot do that, I have made Helian a promise that I will hand over these ingredients to him." In reality, he didn''t want to hand over ingredients to them, they were too valuable. But he was not having his bullshit anymore. "And we made a promise, that we will escort you to Infragilis, but guess what, promises are meant to be broken when dealing with assholes like you." Grump liked this new Dave, and he smiled at him, understanding that his guy had a n "What is your n?" "We will deliver him and his grandson to Helium or whatever. We will make money from that. Then we would sell these ingredients, we will make money from that as well. And if my calctions are right,pared to the prizes of ingredients right now, I would say that we will make enough topensate for everything that this old man had done to us." The idea of making a lot of money did make Grump interested, but he was not stratified with this deal. "Counter offer¡­ We can simply kill him and then sell the ingredients. We would be able to make a little less money, but it would be satisfying to see him die." He shook his head, killing Hamel would be a bad idea. "It will be satisfying, but it will also affect our reputation." But Grump was not backing down. "FUCK REPUTATION! I want to see this man''s skull bashed open below my boot." By this time Hamel have gotten angry, Grump had been disrespecting him for a few minutes now, and he would not have it anymore. "You wanna die fucker?" Hamel said while getting ready to fight. Grump also did the same. But once again they were stopped by Ricardo¡­ In the end, he was finally able to convince Grump to stop, he exined to him in detail several times that killing him would only bring them loss in the long term while leaving him alive would be very profitable for them. After everything was sorted out, Grump eventually agreed and they started moving again¡­ By nightfall, they were able to cross Cloudhold and make it to the other side. But they didn''t cross the bridge that night, instead, they decided to camp by the side of Midgardke. As they will be selling ingredients in Vecrus, they dont need to hurry, they would be able to make it to the city in no time. So they decided to rx a little bit as the time restriction was not there anymore. That night, they had a good meal, Grump caught some fish from theke, he roasted them with a few spices and prepared a good meal for everyone. Although how that old man manage to catch the fish without the fishing rod was a mystery to him. But still, they had a to a good meal, and eventually went to bed. He on the other hand stayed up, he had volunteered to be on the lookout for the first shift¡­ As he sat on his rock, trying to absorb the heat from the ambers of the extinguished fire, he couldn''t help but wonder about Death Valley, and its secrets. He believes that the way to the second world would be through that ind. But he had no proof of his ims.It is then Ricardo, came along and sat down beside him. "Can''t sleep?" He asked "Yeah. Today was too much for me." Ricardo said. "You feeling fine?" "I am fine now. But the idea of a city lording after my only family and I is kind of terrifying." "Tell me about it." He wondered about Ricardo''s reaction if he were to tell him that, not only Carlin but also Ang would being after his head. Both of them then stayed quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the scene before them, but it was then Ricardo started speaking. "You know it''s the most mysterious ce on Midgard." "What?" "The Death Valley, of course. Many people have tried to peer into what that ind holds for them. But they never could. The mist that surrounds the ind is not only poisonous but is also very dense to see through." "So no one had seen what that ind holds?" "No. It is a very mysterious ce on Midgard." "You know¡­ I was nning to go there someday. I thought that the ind might contain a secret or doorway to the second world." "It is hard to tell. But if there is such a doorway, then it would be there. The rest of Midgard has been thoroughly explored in past centuries. There is nothing in the world that we dont know about.'' "Great." "By the way, can you guess the second most mysterious ce of Midgard?" "No. What is it?" "It is Roghorth''s nest. Only a few people who could be counted on your one hand have ever touched that thing''s nest. And they were all barely alive when they returned." "Really? Is it that mysterious? Hell I have been there, and let me tell you, it is not that mysterious at all, it is just spooky as fuck. It is just the way one would expect it to be, deserted and full of skeletons that the beast uses a pillow." He said everything casually, but Ricardo was blown away by this revtion. The inner nerd inside the young man got awakened, and he started asking all these questions about the terrain of the nest, what is it made of, and whether there were any poisonous fumes around the nest, which was very happy to answer¡­ "But it doesn''t make any sense to me," Ricardo eximed. "I am telling you,dy luck shined her grace on me back then. That is why that ugly fucker couldn''t smell me. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be sitting here with you." "But the records! I have read every record in existence about Roghorth. That lizard could smell its enemies from miles away. The only to avoid his smell is with high-level magic, but you didn''t have that ability. So how the hell did you get out there unscathed?" Ricardo said. "Frankly I dont know. Till now, I always thought that it was just a fluke" "Maybe, you did something different? Did you rub yourself with a nt or fell into something? I think that you may have identally gotten into contact with some unknown species of nt?" "I dont think so." "Maybe someone casted a spell on you. Weren''t you saying that another Earthian was there with you? Did you think that he casted a spell on you?" His words made him think of Sanjay, but he couldn''t have done anything, that man was a greenhorn just like him during that time, hell he was screaming like a girl while being attacked by Earth Porcupine. So he couldn''t have done anything. He couldn''t have¡­ After talking for Roghorth for a while, they started talking about Death Valley again. He wanted to know more about that ce, and Ricardo was happy to tell him about its legends. "It is said that, when umtion takes ce, all the bodies of deceased, monster and human alike, are transported there. That ce is inhabited by these insects that feed on those bodies and secrete that fog." Ricardo said. "Did someone find any proof of this theory?" "No. But it is the most oldest and recognized legend of that ind." "Oh¡­" he said while nodding his head. It is then he realizes that they had a fish for dinner, and that fish came from theke, as Death Valley is in the middle of theke, could it be that its poisonous fog gets mixed with water? He raised his concerns, but Ricardo dismissed them as silly thoughts. "Why would it get mixed? There is no sense in that happening. Also, people of Midgard have been fishing in theke for several centuries, if the water was indeed poisonous, then all the fishes and Midgardians would have died by then." That oddly made sense to him. After talking for a while, and handing over the lookout duty to Grump, they both retired to their beds. They have a long journey ahead of them. Chapter 54 Trolls-1 The next day, after having a roasted fish again for breakfast, Dave and his party moved on with their journey. The back bridge was not very far away from them, it would take only an half an hour, and they will reach their destination. Once they would cross it, they could enter Vecrus and carry on with their other ns. Grump had decided to leave him in Vecrus, where he was to stay low, till he returns back after safely escorting Hamel and his grandson to their destination. After that, they would try to sell all the ingredients. After they got to the back bridge, they faced the big hurdle which got everyone''s mood sore¡­ "Oh fuck!" grump cursed as he gazed at the herd of trolls. These gigantic humanoid monsters were upying the area on the other side of the bridge, making them stop at their tracks. They were in a pickle, if they try to cross the bridge, then the trolls would see them and try to attack them. But they didn''t want to fight those monsters, so Grump started wrecking his brain from which they could sneak past them, unnoticed. While Dave couldn''t help but look at those trolls with horror, they were these tall 8 feet tall monsters with grey skins, their feet were asrge as an elephant''s feet, their small red eyes were like a junkie''s eyes, their pregnant woman-like stomach jiggled as they move, essentially they looked like antisocial old men that live in the countryside. He could see that these monsters were very strong, which was evident from their physique, but seeing themzing around on the grass and their slow movement made him question whether these monsters are dangerous or not. He remembers seeing this creature from the night of Beast Tide, one such monster pulled out a tree from the ground and threw it at their carriage. That alone was enough to showcase what these monsters could do. But currently, they look nothing like the energetic big humanoid monsters that chased him that night, currently, they look likezy fat guys who had nothing better to do in their life than toze around. To get more information about them, he went to the only person that was knowledgeable in the context of monsters, Ricardo, to ask about his confusion. "So these monsters always thiszy?" he asked. Ricardo nodded his head. "Yeah, most of the time of their life cycles, trolls act like this. But once they smell blood, they suddenly get this energy out of nowhere and be this fiercest beast that is too hard for adventurers to handle alone." "So they get active with the smell of blood?" "Yeah." "That is interesting¡­ They are like sharks." Ricardo looked at him wondering what he said, after ''that is interesting'' he just heard -, he knew that this meant that Dave had mentioned something about the Earthian''s home world, and he couldn''t help but wonder whether there is a simr monster like trolls in his original world. "Do you have any idea, how we could sneak past them?" Dave asked him. "No. They have a very good sense of smell, they would easily whiff our smell. Although they do have pretty weak eyesight, but that won''t help us, there are at least 8-9 of them on the other side. We would not be able to sneak past them, without being spotted." Ricardo said. "Hey, what about their hearing ability? How is that?" "It is not bad, but not good as well. Why?" Ricardo said. "Well, I was thinking that we could use the same strategy, that we used with the herd of Earth Porcupines, back in Ravenshade." "Oh yeah¡­ that. We could use that¡­ But we could face some problems with this n¡­" but Dave didn''t listen to what Ricardo was saying and straight away went Grump to talk to him about the n that he hade up with. As they discussed the n, they realized that the first problem, their target was across the river, while they were there. So even if this n would work, they would need to cross the river to lure them away, otherwise, they had no way to send that Boom Cracker away from that herd of trolls. Also, ording to grump, he may be fast, but he could outrun a troll. Not only they are fast, but also good trackers because of their smelling ability. So if he somehow is able to lure that group away, then they would be able to catch up to them within a few minutes. The only way to avoid being smelled was to use a special alchemic powder, which theycked. Ricardo suggested that they could make some with the ingredients that they had, but Grump straight away refused that idea, he didn''t want to let his profit margin get anymore lower. As they bickered among themselves, about what to do and what not to do, Dave noticed something happening across the bridge, something was wrong there, the monsters have suddenly be active and looked around here and there franctically. *** Being a lover of the City Lord of Vecrus had its own perks, Igor was respected by the masses, everyone treated him like he was royalty, most women tries to coax him into sleeping with them, they would practically throw themselves at him, but s, he could not do anything to them. Because he was City Lord''s lover, more eyes were on him now; he couldn''t even pee without someone watching him. Because of this he had to take every step carefully, all his schemes and ploys needed to be thought about carefully before he could enact them, after all, he could let his dear moneymaker get the gist about what he was up to. As Sonia had be more powerful and influential, she had be more ruthless as well. When he beat the shit out of Yureka and sent her away to die, Sonia got the news pretty soon about her disappearance and got pissed. She wanted to know how a crippled woman like her could vanish like that, she herself investigated Yureka''s disappearance and beat the shit out of soldiers who were negligent about their duties. It was a good thing that he covered his tracks well, and no dots connected and pointed towards him and his men, but still, that whole shit storm was a good warning for him, now he had to be very careful with his ploys¡­ When he woke up that morning, he felt good, the city lord''s manor have some special magic circuit engraved on them, because of which these stones could make the air around the cooler, just like an air conditioner. Waking up every day in a slightly cold envoirment with silks wrapped around his body makes him feel bliss, he feels like royalty. He unwrapped himself and got up, after stretching his body and taking a long bath, he came down to the dining room. There Sonia was sitting on the table, eating butter and bread, while reading the documents beside her. As she heard him walk up to her, she smiled, he came to her and gave her a kiss on her lips. "Good Morning." He said as their lips parted way. A smile appeared on her face. "Someone is in good mood." "Why wouldn''t I be in good mood, I have the most beautiful girl as my lover, I am living in avish mansion, and I have a sugar mommy to take care of me." The smile on her face vanished "Really a sugar mommy." He smiled and came closer to her. "Why not?" He then grabbed her hand. "You coddle me." He kissed her hand. "You pay for my expenses." He then closer to her face. "And I am the only one that could make you moan so loudly¡­" SMACK A small flick on his balls was enough to make Igor stumble back. He looked like he was in pain, seeing this Sonia started smiling. "Now is not time for your antics Igor, I have some work for you." While rubbing his balls, he eventually sat down opposite her. As he started making himself breakfast. He took a bite of buttered bread and then she continued. "There is a herd of trolls at the back bridge, connecting us and Cloudhold. Go and exterminate them. Take your men, not anyone from the garrison." "Trolls huh?" he then made a disgusted face. "Why me? Did you really get offended by that sugar mommy thing? I was just joking you know." "I am not angry at you. You are a strong Mage, and with your skills, it will be too easy for you to subdue them. Just go and make this¡­" she then hesitated, but the said it. "And make this sugar mommy proud." Her ears became red, he just smiled at her blushing face. "And will I get a reward if I am able toplete the task, without any hitch?" "Reward huh¡­ I will do anything that you want, in our bedroom." He stuffed the bread in his mouth hurriedly and ran outside, not wanting to waste any time. Chapter 55 Trolls-2 With a group consisting of 6 people, including himself, Igor set off towards the back bridge, he and his men were riding horses, thus it took them around 2 hours to reach their destination. After reaching their destination, they tied the horses to nearby trees and then started getting to work. Igor then turned towards Alisha, a brown skin Indo-American woman in her 20s. "Alisha, you are up," Igormanded. She instantly sat down and used her skill Owl familiar to check the surrounding. While Brook, a white skin man in his 30s handed started handing everyone, ''smell me not powder'', a special alchemic powder that suppresses body odor, as the trolls have a very good sense of smell, they would be able to avoid being detected by this powder. Everyone started rubbing powder on them, Ali, a very young hulking man, turned towards Igor. "So how is the city lord manor treating you nowadays?" Igor shrugged. "It is fine. I mean it has its perks, but still, it is a drag. Always being careful is getting on my nerves these days." Brook, couldn''t help but make a face at his words, with his fake British ent, he snarled at Igor."Oh really? How frustrating is it, your majesty? Domington and tea doesn''t suit your sensitives taste buds?" Igor raised his eyebrow. "Lamingtons?." Dropping the ent Brook nodded his head, seeing the clueless face of Igor, he added "Yeah,mington¡­ Do you not know what they are? They are pretty famous back in the U.K" "I am not from the U.K," Igor said while patting his shoulders. Till then Alisha have scouted the perimeter, she stood up and everyone started eagerly waiting for her answer. "There are 8 trolls,zing around the back bridge. No other monster in the vicinity, and there is a massacre around 400 m due south from here, so the trolls are well fed." Igor nodded his head. "Good job, Alisha," he said, then put his hand on her bare shoulder and started rubbing while staring into her eyes. His hands lingered on her shoulders for some time, while she on the other hand smirked at his advances, everyone noticed it, but no one pointed it out. Igor was a man with a certain taste, they have all known his nature, but they didn''t obstruct him from doing anything, after all, he was their boss. "Let''s get going then," Adaku, caramel color beauty in herte 20s, chimed in, and deliberately came between Alisha and Igor. As the only other female member of their group, she could not let Alisha steal her spotlight, so as she came to Igor, she grabbed his hand and squished it between her ample bosom, and dragged him away. Both Alisha and Adaku were pretty women, the men of the group were jealous of Igor who had tasted their bodies, but they didn''t dare to ogle, they Igor''s ythings, and he was very sensitive about his ythings¡­ After everyone was ready, they started moving in. Igor was the magician of the group, so he stayed way behind, while the rest of them started moving toward their first targets. Their n was simple, Igor would create an opportunity for them, and then they will finish the job. They started with the troll which was furthest away from the main herd, Igor had already a Silence spell on his teammates, because of which the troll never heard theming towards it. As everyone was in position he casted a ''trance spell'' on the monster. The spell worked its wonders, the troll got into a trance, and because of the spell, the eyes of the trolls were covered in darkness. Its body became numb with its senses. It is then the heavy hitter of their group, Ali, and his twin brother Jamal, threw spears at the troll, the poor thing fell on the floor, bellowing from pain, while Alisha and Brook maintained a barrier around the troll, which didn''t let his screams to be heard by the other members of its herd. Adaku, who was proficient with a bow and arrow shot a few arrows at the mouth of the troll, they exploded after being stuck there for a few moments. The head of the troll exploded and thus killed it permanently. After they were done, Alisha and Brook maintained their position, while others went to its corpse and started spraying some ''smell me not powder'' around, trying to suppress the smell of the blood of the dead troll. After they were done, they moved on to the next, killing it as well with the same proficiency as the first one. It is only after killing 3 of the trolls, they faced the first hurdle in their hunt. Five of the remaining trolls were hurdled around one another, with no intention of moving around. They cannot take on 5 trolls head-on, so they started devising a n to split them, but that would be particrly hard. Trolls are not that stupid creatures, they have some amount of intelligence, so it would not be easy to split them apart without getting other trolls to put their guard up¡­ "We can cause an explosion, far away from here, that would get the trolls going," Brook suggested. "If we do that, then who would go? Trolls are faster, we would need someone who could at least outrun them." Alisha added. "That means all the magicians of the group are out," Igor mumbled. He then started thinking about what to do, if they were to follow this n, then Alisha, Brook and he were out, they were the magicians of the group with no physical advantage. They cannot use Ali and Jamal, because they are the main physical damage dealer. That only leaves Adaku, she may be a good archer with good skills, but she was fast enough to outrun the trolls. Also, he had invested a lot of skills from the city lord''s manor treasury on her, so he could not send her at such a risky operation like that, at least not till he had yed enough with her. As he faced this dilemma, he didn''t know what else to do, while their group debated on what to do or what not to do, they noticed that one of the 5 trolls have wandered around the forest and hade across the dead carcass of its friends. Chapter 56 Trolls-3 As Igor and his group were discussing the next step that they should take, their attention was attracted by a loud cry¡­ HHHUUUUAAAAA It was a weird cry, but they all recognized it very well, it belonged to a troll, they immediately looked at the herd and found one of the remaining trolls was missing. Hearing that weird cry, all the other trolls got up. Every troll stoppedzing around frantically looking around in their envoirment, looking for their enemies. Seeing this everyone cursed inwardly. "Who the fuck was responsible for keeping an eye on the herd?" Jamal cursed. Adaku straight away pointed her finger toward Alisha. "You put your finger down you fucking bitch, or I will beat the crap out of you." "I will like to see you try" Adakumented. Before any of the girls could get into a brawl, Igor came between them. "It is not the time to point fingers, we have some work to do." "What''s the n boss?" Ali asked. "We would have to do a frontal attack, I will be at the back, casting confusion Spell. You and Jamal would immobilize them by slicing the joint between ankle and the leg, if they could get up, they will pose little problem. Alisha, Brook, and Adaku, you guys will give Ali and Jamal cover with spells and exploding arrows." Everyone nodded their head, then he continued. "Alright, we would start attacking at my signal, when three of the trolls are in trance. Got it?." Everyone nodded their head¡­ Igor stayed behind and started casting the Trance spell on the trolls one at a time. He needs about 5 seconds to cast the spell. While the spellsted around 1 min. So if his teammates are fast enough, then they would not face any problems¡­ After he had cast the trance spell on three trolls, his party members finally jumped into action. Ali and Jamal went for the trolls that were under the effect of the spell. Thier swords then cut off the small portion joining the ankle and femur bone, making those trolls immobilize. The trolls bellowed with pain, the two trolls who didn''t have any spell casted on them jumped into action, they started running towards Jamal and Ali, to intercept them. It is then Adaku, Alisha, and Brook started doing their part of the job. Adaku fired exploding arrows, while Alisha and Brook cast mana balls on the trolls, making them stumble back and injuring them. All of this gave enough time for Igor to recover and make one more troll fall under his spell. Ali and Jamal finished two of the trolls that were immobilized, and they moved the third one, but till then, thest troll which was not under any kind of spell got the gist of the situation, immediately it uprooted a medium-sized tree, and threw it at Ali and Jamal. While Ali was able to evade the tree, Jamal wasn''t so lucky, he got caught under it, immobilizing him. Till then Igor was sessful in casting thest spell, making thest one to stuck in trance. But by the time he was sessful in casting the spell, the troll had had went berserk, it started moving its arms and legs around trying to knock out anyone who tried to approach it. Even with Jamal down, Ali didn''t shy away from his duties. He finished off the third one, it took some time but he did it, but because of this, the fourth troll starteding out of its trance, but Ali didn''t know that he lost the track of time since the battle had started. He moved towards the fourth troll, expecting it to be down like the rest of them. But he was wrong. As he came to the troll, it instantly started eyeing him. It snarled at him and tried to crush him with its hands. But as it raised its hand to kill him, an arrow came and struck the monster in its eyes, buying enough time for Ali to make some distance between him and it. What confused him was the arrow itself, he knew it didn''t belong to Aduka, as she was busy with others dealing with thest troll. He looked back and it is then he saw a person running towards them with a bow and a quiver full of arrows¡­ That person''s barrage of arrows annoyed the troll, this gave Ali a decent opening from which he could immobilize the monster, he ran towards the monster''s foot and made a cut making it fall onto its one foot, it started snarking and moving its arms around trying to make Ali move away, not letting him approach. Till then the stranger came close enough and started firing arrow after arrow at the monster''s head, riddling it with holes. After a few seconds of trouble, the monster eventually fell down on the ground, it was still alive, but because of the blood loss, it fell down. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ali brought a great Ax from his inventory and mmed it onto the monster''s head finishing off the job, right there. Till then the rest of the group had also finished their job. Ali went straight toward Jamal, and with him rest of the group also went to check on him, while Igor, Adaku, and Brook went to the stranger, to talk to him. "Thanks for your help there dude," Brook said as they came towards the stranger. "Dood?" the stranger asked. "It''s a ng¡­ for a man, but wait¡­ Um. It could be used for a woman as well¡­ Not that I am saying you are a woman, but¡­" Hearing Brook mumbling, Igor put his hand on the man''s shoulder, making him shut up. "Thanks for your my friend. You an adventurer?" Igor asked. "My father was one, he taught me how to use a bow." The stranger said. "Well, your marksmanship is phenomenal." Igor then put his hand up. "I am Igor by the way." "I am Gilbert." The stranger while shaking his hand. Chapter 57 Vecrus-1 Dave looked at the disoriented trolls, he knew something was up with them. They were now very energetic and were looking here and there frantically as if they were searching for a missing ring or something. He called Grump. "Oye! Look at that." Everyone came to his side and looked at the trolls. After observing the trolls for a minute or two, they could not understand what was happening there, it is then they saw two humans making their way outside and towards the trolls. Those humans were fast, they instantly started cutting the ankles of the trolls, making them immobile. While some other humans started attacking the other trolls with magic and arrows, seeing this Grump smiled. "Adventurers! That is great. They would clear out the trolls for us, then all we need to wait for them to leave, and then we will be on our way." Hamel also nodded his head, and so did Ricardo. While he on the other hand was simply amazed by the skills that these humans were showing. They were so urate with their strikes and skills that it was making him as if they were very well trained. It is then, he had a weird idea. They have already nned that he needs to stay in the Vecrus until Grumpes back from the escort mission, so what if he joins such a team? He could train under them, they could teach him a trick or two, and maybe he could change his name as well. He turned towards Grump. "I want to join them." All three of them looked at him weirdly. "Why? They have everything under control, plus we cannot be seen, remember?" Grump added. "Do you trust me or not?" he asked straight away, he didn''t have time to exin to the old man all about his ns. Grump looked at him weirdly again. "Do you have a n in mind?" He nodded. "After I join these guys, I will lure them away. You can guys then carry on the mission. Also, find me when you return, I will most probably be somewhere around Vecrus''s dungeon, honing my skills." He thought that Grump would be against this, after all, he had not even discussed with him what he was going to say to these people, but instead, Grump nodded his head and gave him a go signal. While running towards the bridge, he wondered why the old man just let him go. He figured that he didn''t trust him enough, but it seems he was wrong, they have spent so much time together, maybe the old man had started to trust him. While running on the bridge, he took out a bow and quiver full of arrows, he figured that he would keep him being an Earthian a secret, it had never worked out for him whenever he had revealed this fact, so this time he would be extra careful when divulging about his identity. As he came to the other side, after crossing the stone bridge, he saw that one of the humans was in peril, instantly he took his bow and arrow and started shooting, he figured that this way he would be able to get on the good side of these people¡­ *** "My name is Gilbert." He cursed himself, he didn''t know why he used that old man''s name, it was the first thing that popped into his mind, so he introduced himself as such. "So wee to Vecrus, here for the dungeon are we?" the one name Brook asked. "Yeah." "So, what''s your back story, came here to earn some coin?" Adaku asked. "Not exactly¡­ You see, I lost my home to beast tide. And then the woman who was supposed to protect us, vanished one day, I saw my people being ughtered before my eyes... So yeah, I came here for the dungeon, but to get stronger." His words made the three people before him smirk, those three also realized that the person before them was a Midgardian¡­ After getting familiar with all of them, he helped them dissect the body of the trolls, he helped them take out their nails and eyeballs, which were essential for alchemy and potion-making. After they were done, they put everything in a big jute sack and handed it to them. "We are escorting you to Vecrus, at least you could carry our things." The one Igor said. He had no other option but to put a smile on his face and nod at their belittlement. He was further enraged when he found out that they had horses, but they were not willing to share a horse with him. ording to them, he must follow them to Vecrus on foot, while they would trot beside him. He could endure as he followed them behind while carrying their load, it was pretty hard to keep up with them, they were deliberately making their horses go faster, but still, he persisted. His increased stats helped him in his journey. And finally, after an arduous journey of 4 hours, they got back to the city¡­ Vecrus was not like any great city, even though it shared the title of the great city, it looked more like a big town from out there. Most of the people were living in tents, on the outskirts, most of the buildings were destroyed, in their ce, temporary wooden shacks were made, which were all upied. There were only a few buildings that were still intact, one of them was the city lord''s manor, which was the ce these guys heading towards, he didn''t want to meet another city lord and create problems for himself, luckily Igor, their leader, took the jute sack from his hands and then send him his own way. And he was very thankful for that¡­ After that he started roaming the city, trying to figure out a ce to stay and how he could get ess to the dungeon. As he asked around, people sent him straight towards the adventurers guild, which was located in a rundown building that didn''t look like much from the outside¡­ *** As Katrina scribbled the message to Sebastian, about no sighting of Hamel Gomez and his grandson, she couldn''t help but sigh from frustration. She should have never taken this assignment, if she had known, how long and boring this would be, she had been waiting in Vecurus for that grandfather and grandson duo for 3 days, and still, there was no sign of them. She was getting so frustrated that she promised herself, that whenever she wouldes across them, then she would kill most brutal way possible. Chapter 58 Vecrus-2 He didn''t have a lot of expectations from the run-down building, after all, it looked like if someone were to sneeze in it, it will fall. But from the inside it was in pretty good shape from inside, it was squirming with activity, people carrying various weapons were either drinking, looking at the boards around the building, or talking to the receptionist. It didn''t look like a workce, it looked like a bar sh cosy party. He went to the receptionist to get acquainted with the ce, there nice middle age man behind the receptionist, he was polite and helpful, that man first asked him whether he could read and write, then he gave him a piece of paper where he had to fill out all the details about him. He took the paper to the nearest writing desk, which had a quill and ink for public use. The form only asked him about the basic things like where he was born, whether he was a native of Vecrus, whether had he ever done some adventuring work and what kind of weapon does he use. He wrote his name as Gilbert, he figured as he had already introduced himself to those guys with this name, he might as well stick to it. As far as the ce of birth was concerned, he wrote Cloudhold. For weapons, he wrote down that he prefers bow and arrow. After filling out his form, the submitted the form back to the reception, within an hour of waiting he was given a small bronze card, which looked like a metal credit card. The receptionist also rified that the guild works on a rank-based system. The ranks of the guild start from F-rank, the weakest individual or newbie get this, and then it goes up to S-rank, the strongest individuals of the guild get that rank. He could take work from the guild based on his rank, the more job he does, the more the guild would be able to assess his strength, thus granting him a higher rank. While all the guild members are allowed to enter the dungeon any time they want, that man suggested he only go there after he had gotten some experience in the field. He then told him that he could dive into dungeons to earn some skills and increase his strength. After everything was done, he asked the receptionist where could he spend the night, but the answer that he got was not what he expected. "You could camp anywhere around the city, adventures and the soldiers are constantly making sure that they exterminate all monsters that spawn near the city, so it is very safe." The receptionist said. "What about inns?" he really wanted to sleep on a soft bed. With a demeaning look, the receptionist asked him. "There are 4 inns in the city that are in business, currently. One room in those inns cost 4 gold coins. Do you have that much money?" He wanted to say out loud that he had ingredients worth thousands of gold coins, just to rub the cocky look off the receptionist''s face, but he controlled himself. "No. Do you know where I can find a tent and other supplies?" That man smirked. "After you step out of the building, go to your left, take the 4th left, and go to the shop which is crowded the most, you will find everything you need there." He simply nodded his head and went his way¡­ After looking at the size, quality, and exorbitant price tag on tents, he ran away from the shop, he would rather sleep outside, rather than buy that trash. He wandered around the city for some time, looking around, getting himself familiar with the lifestyle of this ce. As the sun was still above his head and he had a lot of time to kill, he decided that he should go and visit the dungeon, he was interested in that ce for a long time, so why not visit it? After asking around, he soon found what he was looking for¡­ The dungeon was located on the outskirts of the city. It was around half an hour''s walk from the city, and when he got there, he couldn''t believe what he was looking at. When he heard the word ''dungeon'' he made a mental image in his mind of an underground ce, probably made of tunnels, which was full of monsters. But instead in front of him was this tower, it was tall as a 30-story building, decorated with intricate patterns, with embedded statues of various monsters around its circumference. He saw that there was a long line in front of the tower, people were literally waiting in line to enter the ce. He also got in the line, and quietly waited for his turn toe, it is while standing in the line he noticed that most of the people in the line havee here in groups. While he on the other hand was all alone. Most of the groups in the line were very intimidating, they all looked like veterans, they all had shiny armor, intricately decorated swords, and most of them have scars on their faces and bodies, making them look very badass, which made him realize that they were professionals, like Grump. As the line started moving, some people started giving him looks, after all, he was challenging the dungeon alone, but he didn''t mind those stares, they could not deter his resolve, so he just ignored them. As he got to the end of the line, the people at the entrance of the tower checked his card, after seeing that he was an F-rank tried to talk him out In their eyes, he was a rookie and didn''t have the strength to challenge the dungeon, at least not yet. After seeing that he was not backing out, they stepped away. Their duty was done after they have warned him, what happens to him after this was not their responsibility. Thus he stepped into the dungeon for the first time in his life. Chapter 59 Dungeon-1 The entrance of the dungeon was this arch door, he could see what was inside, but as all the people before him had stepped inside without making a fuss, he did that as well. Darkness covered his eyes, he could feel his body moving, air was ruffling his hair as he moved, but he could not see where he was going, suddenly his body came to an abrupt stop, it is then he could see again. He was in a well-illuminated cave, there were spikes hanging from the ceiling, there was a lot of moisture in the air making him sweat. There was a dark passageway before him, the only route avable to take. The most peculiar thing about the cave was a very small hole, just beside a dark passageway. There was a skeleton sitting in the hole, wearing a cap, saying ''how may I help you'' giving him creepy vibes. He remembered the female skeleton that he met whening here, thus he knew that this skeleton could move and talk. He approached the hole, and the skeleton became alive. "Hello, my name is Steve 1.0. How may I help you today?" hearing the robotic and inhumane voice of the skeleton made him realize that this one was not like the female that he encountered before. "Hi, what... What are you? What am I doing here?" The skeleton didn''t speak for a moment or two, it is then its mouth started moving again. "I am Steve 1.0. You are in the Vecrus''s dungeon of Midgard." "What is your purpose, Steve?" The skeleton took his sweet time, but it replied soon. "I am here to mend the shop of the dungeon. If you want to buy something from the dungeon, you canmand me." "Oh. So what you sell here?" "The items that I sell are divided in four categories. Number-1 Skills, Number-2 Weapons, Number-3 Items, andstly Number-4 Information." "How can I buy things from you, like what kind of currency do you ept?" "The souls of monsters that are killed inside a dungeon are the currency that I ept." "Oh yeah, now I remember. There is supposed to be an orb, right? It is a thing that collects the souls of the monsters that I kill" "That is correct. The Soul Orb is the item that you speak of." "I dont have a soul orb, do I need to go back ande back after buying it? "Not necessary. The Soul Orb is free for every Earthian thates into the dungeon. While the Midgardians have to pay with gold coins to buy them. "Give me my free soul orb then." He said. It is then several messages from his system appeared before his eyes. ...... You have acquired the Soul Orb. ......¡­ The Soul Orb is integrated into your system. ...... You will be given Soul points for every kill that you do in the Dungeon. ........ The soul Orb will directly suck in the souls of your victim. ..... You can see the Soul point or SP count in your status. ..... Happy Hunting. ... He opened his status menu, and sure enough, a new tab had appeared in the menu. .... Status Name- Dave Gonsalves ss- Newbie Warrior Level- 16 Soul Points- 0 Stats- Inventory- Quest- Skills- ......¡­ He then turned towards the skeleton again, now that he had the soul orb, he needs to figure out what he wants to buy first. "Show me all the skills that I can buy" Another window appeared before his eyes ......¡­ Skills 1>Exploding arrows-150 Sp 2>Piercing Arrows-200 SP 3>Fire Arrows-120 SP 4>Poison Arrows- 220 SP . . . 25>Trance Spell- 1000Sp 26>Silence Spell- 1300 SP 27>Elemental Buff- 900SP 28>Eagle Wave- 1800 SP . . . 50>Blood Resolve- 3000 SP .........¡­.. The skills in the list were very versatile, as he skimmed through them, he saw that this list has skills for swords to spears, and it also contained magical skills as well. And when he wanted to know what a skill really does, Steve would give him the exact description of the skill. Seeing the number of skills before him, he was really tempted to buy some of them, but s he didn''t have any SP currently. He then proceeded to check the items list, it was pretty much smaller than the skills list but it had a lot of amazing things. He saw thatntern given to him by Jurgen in that list, there was a quiver that could hold up to 100 arrows, there was a spatial pouch, then there was a stone in the list which could get him out of the dungeon if he faces a tough situation and is pinned down. The most interesting item that he saw was the thing called SP snatcher, as the name was very catchy, he asked the skeleton about it. It turns out that yers can exchange SP with one another, but if a yer kills another yer then this itemes into y, with it a yer could snatch all the SP of the yer that they killed. It was a very dangerous item, thus he decided that he would never disclose his SP to another yer or human, just to be safe. He then went to the weapons list, the shop have every weapon that one might think of, and they were pretty expensive as well, ording to Steve, the weapons inside the list were top-notch from the standards of this world. That is why they were so expensive. He asked Steve about what kind of information he could buy from here, it is then he was greeted with a list before his eyes¡­ ......¡­. 1>The Identity of the Deity of your choice- 3000 SP 2>The Identity of All Deities in the game- 10,000 SP 3>Clue to the Second World- 12,000 SP ....... His widened with shock as he read all the information that he could get from this one. ''Wait, what would we even do after knowing the identity of the Deity? Is that useful somehow?'' giving him something to think about. Chapter 60 Dungeon-2 After reading all about the items, weapons, and information that Steve offered, he was very intrigued. There were several items on those lists that caught his eye, but before buying them, he had to do thorough research and nning. He decided to be extra careful before buying anything because the way he saw it, having SP allows yers to be stronger and more versatile, so in a way, SP is the most important currency of this world, especially for yers. And it would be very foolish to buy the first thing that catches his eye. After he was done, he asked Steve, how he could start hunting, it is then the skeleton guided him towards the passageway just beside the shop. He thanked the skeleton and then started heading inside. The dark passageway was illuminated, as soon as he stepped foot in it. Before he could take another step, a message appeared before his eyes. He tried to move, but his body got stuck in its ce as if someone had paused his body like a video. .........¡­ Please select the difficulty of level-1 of this dungeon 1>Easy 2>Normal ? 3>Hard 4>Veteran .........¡­. After thinking about it, he chose the ''Easy'' option, he was not a hero and knew firsthand that any mistake in this world could cost him his life. So, the ''easy'' option seemed like the best alternative to him. As soon as he chose the option, his body became free. He looked around and found himself in a narrow passageway, it was dimly lit, it had a rustic smell to it as if it has not been used in a long time, the spider webs in the ceiling also told that same story. Instantly he brought hisntern out, the passageway was lit enough to make what was in front of him, but the way the torches were kept, there were some dark spots in his path. He didn''t want to take chances, and if he had something that he could use in the situation, why shouldn''t he use it? He took out a sword and his shield, and begin moving. His eyes were peeled, and while his heart was beating faster and faster, he didn''t know what to expect from this ce. At first, this ce looks like a normal abandoned passage, but he knew that just around the corner, monsters were lurking about¡­ He didn''t need to walk a lot, and he encountered his first monsters. There were goblins at the end passage, doing god knows what. As those creatures heard his footsteps and saw the light from hisntern, they came running towards him with their weapons drawn. Three goblins were very easy targets, he had confidence that he could take care of them with ease, as he had not warmed up yet, he started by stretching his sword-carrying hand, and he raised it high up in the air. CLUNK His sword touch the ceiling, stopping his movement, it is then he realized that this passageway was very narrow, he could not use the same moves with the long sword that he uses outside. But the realization came veryte to him, the goblins were then finally on to him, and one of them jumped on him, brandishing its knife at him. CLUNG He mmed his shield onto the goblin in the air, making it fly back. It is then he instantly put his sword back in his inventory and brought out a spear, shoving it toward the second goblin that came. The spear went through that little bastard with just a little bit of force and poking. By the time he took out the spear, thest goblin ran past his dead friend and was on to him, panicking that it would cut him, he called out his sword again, but while calling out he imagined a specific grip that he wanted to the sword toe out. Surprisingly, the system equipped his sword with the same grip that he wanted, now holding his long sword like a knife, he stabbed the sword iing goblin with his sword, killing it instantly. With two goblins dead, the third one stood at some distance, it didn''t look like that it wanted to fight, but he could not let this opportunity go, he put back his shield and sword, and brought his bow and arrow out. Seeing the bow, the goblin tried to run away, but with his proficiency with the bow, he was able to shoot it down with ease. With three goblins dead, he sighed with relief, but now he had to make a very important decision, do he move on, or go back? ''I came here today to get acquainted with the dungeon, and that I have done. I would need to do some nning before attempting the dungeon again, his narrow passageway is not ideal for my long sword, spears could work but were not ideal, bow and arrow, on the other hand, are ideal¡­'' he then turned around thinking about strategies that he could use in the future. He woulde back here with more nning and plotting¡­ On his journey back, he kept looking back, trying to see whether there was any monster following him, and when he made it back to Steve, he sighed with relief. He asked the skeleton how he could return, and the answer surprised him. "You just need to yell return, and you go back." He did just that, and he soon found himself on the other side of the tower. He looked around and saw that this side was filled with tents and injured adventurers, some of them have normal bruises, while some of them had missing limbs, it was a very brutal scene. All of this had nothing to do with, thus he started returning back to the city, the sun was about to set, and he could use some snack around this time. He also needs to find a spot where he could sleep, he had a lot of work to do. Chapter 61 First Job-1 The first night in Vecrus city was very tough for Dave, at first, he was very happy to sleep in the city, he thought it would be a nice thing to sleep in a secure ce rather than outside, but he had the worst experience there... He found a perfect spot for him to sleep, it was outside the city, not far away from city limits, and the best thing was, not far away from him was the homeless encampment, most of the people of the city were sleeping in tents in that area, so it was pretty safe. He first thought that not many people woulde here, but s, he was wrong. Slowly and steadily all the homeless bums, who didn''t have a penny to their name, started gathering around his sleeping ce, he didn''t know what these do during the day, but they were very energetic till the middle of the night, disturbing his sleep. They wereughing, making jokes, he even found a couple doing the deed, out in the open, with just a nket covering their shameless act. Many people saw them, but they ignored them as if this was the most normal thing to do in the world. The worst thing was that he could not take out his pillow and nket to sleep, they were of very good quality, and if someone were to get suspicious of where he got it from, he would be in trouble. That is why he slept with his bow and arrows by side so that no one would suspect that he had a pocket space. He wanted to scold these people, ''keep quiet!'' he wanted to scream, but these guys were in huge numbers, also he didn''t want to attract any attention to him. But it eventually became quiet again, it is only then he was able to sleep. The next day when he woke up, the sun was upon him, he looked around to see the whole ce was empty, those bums were nowhere to be found, which he found very surprising. He then got up and started walking to the city. He needed to put some food in his system, he was very hungry. He had some money of this world, courtesy of the watch tower that he looted, but if he were to remain here, he could not use the food in his inventory, so to fool everyone, he needed to buy food like everyone else. Thus he needs to earn some money. After getting a normal porridge for 8 bronze coins, which was not worth it at all, he decided to visit the Adventurer guild, he figured that if he joined them, he could at least get some job from them¡­ When he got to the Adventurer guild, he found it empty, there were hardly one or two Adventurers around while the staff of the guild was present. He went to the job board for F-Rank Adventurer, only to find itpletely empty. There were no jobs for his Rank, probably other F-Ranks would have taken them early in the morning. He then turned towards the E-Rank board, which only one job posting on it. He read the job description, ording to which the employer wanted the bodies of three goblins, as far as the reward was concerned, this job would give him around 70 bronze coins. The payment was not great, but beggars can''t be choosers, he took the job posting and went to the receptionist, behind which was a young man. "What can I do for you today, sir" he said with a smile on his face. "I want to take this job." Then he put the job poster in front of the man. "Sure, could you please give me your Adventurer''s ID card as well?" "Here." Seeing his ID, the young man cleared his throat. "Mr. Gilbert, do you understand that what you are undertaking, is an E-Rank job? This job is pretty dangerous." "I can read just fine man. I know what I am about to do." "But Mr. Gilbert, monsters are not things to be trifled with¡­" before he could say anything further, he cut him. "I know what I am doing. Now, can I take this job or not?" "Certainly you can." "Then why dont you get going, do your job?" The young man hesitated but then he smiled. "Yes sir." He then went inside to register the job under his ID. The young man processed the job under his name, he came back to tell him some ground rules. He had till sundown toplete the job, if he couldn''tplete it then he would have to pay a fine or some sort for wasting the guild''s time. He then asked the young man about where he could find goblins around the area, he knew that Adventurer guilds keep records of all the monsters that have either spawned or been spotted in the nearby area. The receptionist told him that some goblin tracks were spotted, south of the city. After getting the information he needed, he thanked the young man, and went his way¡­ While heading south, he faced the first hurdle, he didn''t know the first thing when ites to tracking. He knew how to find direction, courtesy of Sanjay, so he went south but soon got confused about where he should go or not go. Due to umtion, there were no physical markers around the area, so it made navigating a whole lot more difficult. He wandered in the southern forest, looking for tracks of goblins, trying to remember everything that Grump had taught him about tracking when they were in Ravenshade, but to no avail. It is only after wandering for about two hours or so that he got his first clue. He found small humanoid tracks, he instantly recognized them as he had seen them while sweeping the area around Ravenshade. He was ecstatic, he instantly put his guard up and started following the tracks. The tracks were not great, and the soil of the forest was a little bit dry, because of which tracks don''t form well in that area, still, after searching for some time, he did find what he was looking for, he found goblins¡­ There were 7 of them, they all had hunted a deer, and they were carrying its carcass and heading somewhere. Four of them were carrying the deer which was tied around a stick, while three of them were providing cover, looking around vigntly. He wanted to attack them, and acquire that fucking deer, he didn''t know that this world had normal animals like deer, and he could use the soft and squishy meat of that thing. Thus he instantly knocked an arrow in his bow and prepared to shoot¡­ Chapter 62 First Job-2 ''Wait what I am doing? If I were to shoot one of them down, still six would be left. Two of them even have a bow and arrow, they could beced with poison. I need to think this very carefully before acting.'' He thought. The two archers were his main concern, the rest of them would be easy targets, if their poison arrows touch his skin, he would die for sure. He started hesitating, about what to do and what not to do, while he was panicking goblins were getting away, he needed to make a decision now, but it is then suddenly he yelled inwardly yell ''fuck it!'' He would not get this opportunity again, he knocked an arrow and aimed it at one of the archers, he took a very deep breath, and let it go. The arrow swam through the air and struck that little guy at its back. That monster went down, seeing this all the goblins started panicking, the four goblins who were carrying carcasses, let it go. They instantly took out their weapons and started looking here and there, trying the spot the enemy. Seeing them disoriented, he figured that this was the perfect opportunity for him, he immediately knocked another arrow, and let it slip toward another goblin archer, the arrow struck that one straight in his eye, killing it, indefinitely. With hisst arrow, his position was revealed, the rest of the goblins rushed toward him, with knives, he send back his quiver and bow in inventory and brought out his sword, and rushed toward them. He was faster than before and had more resolve, thus with one swing of his sword, the freshly minted de, courtesy of Jurgen and Hiry, he was able to cut one of them in half. One of them tried to stab him, with only the weight of the sword in his hands, his body moved more freely and he avoided the stab by stepping sideways. Then quickly he swung his sword chopping off the head of the second goblin. The third one jumped on him, but from the corner of his eye, he saw iting towards him, he immediately brought out his shield and blocked the iing attack with ease. He parried the little guy''s body and threw him to the side. As the fourth one did jump on him, it was met with his sword in mid-air, which swiftly and effortlessly slice through its flesh, cutting him in half. After that, he put his sword and shield back, and took out his spear, aimed it at the third goblin, who had stood up by then and was running toward him. The poor little guy didn''t notice the spear until it was toote, it tried to stop and turn around, but his spear was faster. SPLICH The spear tore through its torso, impaling him. He sighed with relief, and couldn''t help but smile at his aplishment. He had grown stronger than before. SPLICH Something struck his back, he turned around his head to see a small arrow had pierced his back, the second archer was still alive, it was on his knees and had shot him. Immediately he took out the arrow and threw it away. Now enraged that he had let his guard down, he took out another spear and threw it at the goblin, killing it¡­ *** BADUMP BADUMP BADUMP His heartbeat was getting louder and louder, he didn''t know how much time he has. He remembers clearly what Grump told him about the goblins¡­ "They are very nasty fuckers. When they spawn, they dont show much intelligence but leave them be, and they get smart fast. Make all kinds of weapons like axes, swords, bows, and arrows, etc. Then they get smart enough that they start setting up traps, they get nasty very fast. And the worst thing is their archers, they dip their arrows in poison that could kill a person in the most brutal way possible within 15 mins or so." He didn''t know whether this arrow was covered in poison or not, but he couldn''t help but feel afraid, he constantly look at his body for signs that he had been poisoned, but found none. He sat down under a nearby tree, knowing that this was hisst movement, he could feel the poison working up, after all, he was hyperventting, and his heartbeat was getting faster and faster as time passes by. With hisst breath, he started thinking about all the regrets that he had, he wanted to find love, marry, build a house, and live a good life surrounded by loved ones. It was very wierd dream to have, but it was his. But it seems, all of his dreams were for nothing. Tears started falling down his eyes, he didn''t want to die, not yet at least, but there was no way out for him now. ''MOTHER FUCKER WHY DIDN''T YOU CHECK THE BODY OF THAT LITTLE TWERP! I should have never let my guard down. And now¡­'' he yelled at himself¡­ After 20 min of struggling, he started to realize that maybe he was fine, because now he had calm down, he felt fine¡­ He checked his body over and over again, and found no anomaly. ''Maybe the symptoms were because of my panicking, not the symptoms of poisoning.'' He pushed himself up, brought a nket from his inventory, tore it into strips of clothes, and wrapped his wound with one of those strips. He then stored the body of deer in his inventory, brought a nket out, chopped and wrapped the five bodies of the goblins, and started heading back¡­ By the time he got the Vecrus, he realized that he was panicking for no particr reason at all. He was fine. There was no venom in his bloodstream and he would probably turn out fine. With all the bodies, he first went to Adventurer Guild, where he submitted the bodies, earning himself 1 silver and 20 bronze coins. After that, he made his way toward a healer''s tent and got himself fixed up with some stitches. He could have used the healing potion, but he decided to save that for emergencies... Chapter 63 Need A Drink-1 That day Dave didn''t return to the dungeon, the arrow that struck him may have been a fluke, and he waspletely fine, but that day he just needed some time to himself, trying to process all the revtions that he got lying under that tree. He had a lot of dreams, that he may never be able to fulfill because he was stuck here, also, his life expectancy have taken a hard dive since he had put a foot in this world, he didn''t know whether he would see the rising son of tomorrow, considering how dangerous this world is. He needed to process his emotions, thus to process them, he turned towards the oldest invention of mankind, alcohol¡­ After he submitted the corpses of goblins, he made his way to a very popr watering hole of the city, that ce was not hygienic nor it was in a good state, but yesterday he saw a lot of crowds over there, he figured at least give this ce a try, after all, he didn''t have a lot of options. Although he was hesitant at first, after all, the sun was still up and shining in the sky, this was no time to consume alcohol, but he had it enough, so he made his way inside the bar¡­ That ce was the worst nightmare of a Food Safety inspector, that ce was dirty, smelly, and very moist for some reason. As he entered, he almost slipped from what looked like puke from the other night, still, he made his way inside, he was not leaving this ce without drinking something. The ce was empty at the moment, there were some old men in the back drinking and chatting, and other than them there was a barkeep in there, a middle-aged muscr man with a big mustache, which looked angry for some reason. He came to the bar and took a seat. "What can I bring you?" the barkeep asked. "What do you have?" "We have fish chips, kobold stew, goblin pie and if you want something fancy, I could also whip up some Kong ribs." He was still disgusted by the fact that people of this world could actually eat humanoid monsters, but he kept it to himself. " I will take some fish chips. Also, what do you have to drink?" "Water and mead." "Bring the best mead you have." The barkeep nodded and went inside. A few minutester he came back with a wooden cup full of green color liquid, which was supposed to be mead. While the fish chips were served on a very dirty-looking te but were actually very appetizing. The food was good, but the drink on the other was not, but still, he chugged down the ss with minimum effort, he really needed it¡­ The barkeep saw how he chugged down the cup, so he made his way toward him. "Hold your horses, young man. This thing is strong." The aftertaste of the drink was very bad, and the barkeep was right, that drink was very strong, his throat and mouth felt like they were on fire. Still, he kept on a brave facade that he was fine. "I am fine¡­ I just really needed this." "You seem like a man that has to story to offer." "My story? Nah, I couldn''t do that to you. It is very boring." "Come on young man, empty your burden. After all, it is not like I dont have much to do." "Well¡­ It is embarrassing." "Come on! Out with it." "I¡­ thought that I was going to die today. And at that moment, I realized that there are a lot of things in this life that I have never done. Maybe I will never be able to do any of them. I may die tomorrow, but there will be no one to shed a tear for me¡­ So to that, I am here to drink my heart out." The barkeep smiled. "You are a new adventurer?" "Yeah." "Wee to the club¡­" he then leaned forward. "A piece of advice from the person who supplies alcohol to every fucking adventurer in the city, this was not thest time that you felt that way. And this was not the worst one as well." "What do you mean?" "You are not the first adventurer who has experienced this kid. Like you there are many more. And from what I have seen so far, they all keep having this experience over and over again. Some experience worst than others. This is part of being an adventurer." "What should I do?" "Move on. You said that there are a lot of things that you want to do right? Then go do them. You won''t be able to cross everything off your bucket list, but you will be able to cross some of those things." "That is¡­ very wise advice." The barkeep shrugged "When you deal with broken people all the time, you pick up thing or two about life." It is then that man bent down and picked up a jug from under the bar and refilled his cup. "Take this, it''s on the house." "Thanks¡­" "Name is Gendry." "Thanks, Gendry." It is then the swinging door of the bar was opened, and a group of men walked in. "Gendry, 5 mead cups over here, hurry!" one of the men said with enthusiasm. Gendry started working, while he peeked behind him. All those men were hurdled together on a table, surrounding a bald man who was telling them a story.. "I tell you guy, me and my boys wereing back, it is then we saw it. It was as beautiful as the stories tell us, it had golden fur, have these small horns, and was so nimble that when it ran away from us, it looked like it was surfing the air itself." Hearing the man''s words, he couldn''t help but remember the deer that he found, it also had golden fur and small horns. He wondered whether this man was talking about his prey¡­ Chapter 64 Skistag-1 The conversation between the group of men which just entered Gendry''s bar caught Dave''s attention. Those guys were talking about a beast that they spotted in the forest, the more they described the monster that they saw, and supposably almost killed until it ran away, it sounded a lot like the deer that he snatched from those goblins. "I say he is bullshitting us!" one of the men yelled. Everyone nodded their head as well. "I am not!" the man telling the story yelled ring at everyone. "I saw that beast with my own eyes, it was golden, it had legs like a horse, but it was less fat, they were thin. I am telling you, that thing was the Skistag" Gendry then gave those men their mead and came back, giving those men a look of haughtiness. "Yeah of course a Skistag." He mumbled, but Dave heard him. "Hey, what is a Skistag?" he asked. Gendry who had started to wipe the bar looked up. "It is a legendary beast. Nothing you should be worried about." He then went back to rubbing the bar "Why it is called a legendary beast?" Gendry looked up, clearly annoyed with all these questions. "I could tell you that¡­ But you seem like a person who needs some friends. Turn around and talk to those fools." Getting no answer, he got up and walked up to the table of those men, where they were still discussing that monster. "Alright, how can we believe you? You are a famous liar here." "You are fucking liar here! I am telling you I saw a Skistag." Looking at these guys bickering amongst themselves, he was getting tempted to join in the conversation as well. From the clues that he had heard till now, he knew that these guys were talking about the deer he caught, so if he want he can join in. He wondered whether this would be a good idea, after all, he had a big secret in his life, if Grump was here then he would have suggested against making friends. But it is then he realized that he was never able to keep his identity a secret in the past. No matter how hard he tried, one way or another his secretes out in the open. ''FUCK IT! Let''s join in the conversation, I could use some friends. I am about to die one day or another, it would be good for me to die after making some friends.'' He thought. "I saw the beast that you guys are talking about." He said out loud, gathering the attention of all the people at the table. "You saw a Skistag?" one of them asked. "Yeah. When I went hunting goblins today, came across a small group of those midgets. They were carrying a beast just as you described." It is then a voice came from behind. "Describe the beast." He was startled and damn near spilled his drink. He turned around and a bearded man with white skin and a towering physique was standing behind him. The man was approximately six and a half feet tall and had a muscr physique that may put bodybuilders to shame. Dave looked around and saw that everyone was eagerly waiting for an answer, so he started describing it. "The beast was nothing as I have seen before. It was slightly bigger than a wolf, it was covered in golden fur which had small white spots all over it. It had hoves like a horse, but they were very smaller." He then put his hand on his mouth, showing that it had a long mouth like that of a wolf, but its teeth were not sharp as wolves. That man''s eyes widened with surprise. He then came forwards and grabbed his shoulders. "What happened to that beast''s carcass?" He fucked up, he haven''t really thought about what he was supposed to say in this scenario. "Well, I left it there. After all, goblins were way more valuable than it, right?" he said with a slightugh. "Where did you leave the carcass?" the man asked. Hearing this one of the men from the table got up. "Mr. Hasan, did this man really see a Skistag?" he asked the towering man. But that bodybuilder ignored that man. "Tell me exactly the location¡­ where did you leave the body. Dont worry I will reward you for that information." He didn''t know what to do anymore, he had fallen into a trapid by him. "South from the city, somewhere around the forest. You will find two goblin carcasses that I cannot carry with me, beside is the beast that I described." Hasan immediately turned around and ran outside the bar. The men at the table looked at each other, but then suddenly they all got up and ran behind Hasan, out of the bar. Gendry was in distraught, they didn''t pay for their drinks, so he also ran behind all of them. Now alone in the bar, he wondered what that was about. He knew that the meat of a deer is very tasty, but could it be considered worthy of the title ''legendary beast'', he didn''t know. But the naming sense of the people in this world sucked hard, so who was he to question it anyway. He came back to his seat and started drinking and eating in silence. It is then Gendry came back, mumbling profanities under his breath. And when he saw him sitting there, drinking beer and chips, he frowned. "You are still here?" He turned towards the man. "Yeah," "Why didn''t you go with them? You know the location of a Skistag, You should go with them and get its carcass back." "What is the fuss about this Skistag anyway? Is the meat of that thing that delicious that these guys so frantically ran after it?" As if seeing an idiot, Gendry widened his eyes with surprise. "You really dont know anything about Skistag, do you?" "No, that is why I asked you before, didn''t I?" Gendry chuckled at his ignorance. He then came back behind the bar. "Do you wanna know, why the Skistag are called legendary beasts?" "Why?" "Because they¡­" before he could answer, the muscr man from before came back again and came rushing towards him. "I will give you 5 gold coins if you could show me where you saw the Skistag." He looked at his cup, it was almost finished. And he could use some extra money, so he agreed and went with Hasan, but only after paying Gendry 20 bronze coins. Chapter 65 Skistag-2 He didn''t know who this Hasan guy was, but when then walked through the busy and chaotic streets of Vecrus, everyone parted ways to give them space, probably they saw Hasan walking in front, everyone showed them respect, and because of this they were able to get out of the city in no time. As they got out, he took the lead. He remembered the general direction from which he came, thus he started walking in the same direction, while Hasan followed him closely. As they were walking in silence, he thought that maybe they should make small talk while walking, so he turned his head. "I am Gilbert by the way. What is your name?" With an expressionless face, he answered. "I am Hasan Piker. I am an Earthian" "Oh, you are an Earthian. That is good to know" he had long suspected that the man was Earthian. But he wondered why he told him that he was one. Was this some sort of custom that he didn''t know about? While he thought about the motives Hasan behind revealing his origin, once more their walk was shrouded with silence. After a while he got off his stupor, and initiated a conversation once more, he turned around again. "So what is it like on Earth? Where did you live?" "There is some restriction on Earthian, that prevents us from divulging any information about our homnd to anyone Midgardian. Do you not know that?" his expressionless face now was bothering him, he felt like he was talking to a robot. "I came from Cloudhold the other day. My vige was so small that we didn''t hear about Earthians till it was toote. So my knowledge about you guys is a little bleak." "Is that so¡­" He didn''t know whether Hasan didn''t like to talk or didn''t want to talk, because once again silence shrouded their walk. This time, he didn''t initiate the conversation again, and just concentrated on finding the ce. It didn''t take him long and he soon found the ce where he fought the goblin, it was as he had left it, the bodies of the goblins that he left behind were still there, along with all the blood that was sprayed as he cut off the body parts of the other goblins. Seeing no sign of deer, Hasan turned towards him. "You left the body here?" "Yeah. I encountered 7 goblins here, I killed all of them. Submitted five bodies in the guild. The body of that... Skistag¡­ was here when I left." "It seems some other monster got its hands on the carcass." "Yeah, it seems like it." "Anyway, a deal is a deal. Here" Hasan then handed over the promised gold coins, which he quickly pocketed. "By the way, I have to ask, what is the deal with Skistag anyway? Why is everyone so obsessed with it?" Hasan then started inspecting the sight for clues, while simultaneously talking to him "Skistags are very special creatures. Their meat is not only very tasty but very nutritious as well. Also, the main thing that Skistag is famous for it skills. They produce this ball in the belly, which is essentially is a skill." "A ball is a skill?" "You have to eat that ball, and you will gain one random skill." "What kind of skill are we talking about here?" "Based on your stats, you would get a skill that best suits your style of fighting and your personality." It is then he suddenly turned towards the body of a goblin and started inspecting it. "Did you find anything?" he asked as he was intently looking at a goblin. "This goblin, it has a tattoo on its neck." Curious he walked up to the carcass, and sure enough, there was a weird symbol on its body, he didn''t know that this world also had a culture of making tattoos. "What does that mean?" "It is a tribe symbol if I am not wrong." The word tribe reminded him of the Tribal Chief that he encountered, sending a chill down his spine. "What does that mean?" But Hasan didn''t answer, instead, he touched the body, and it vanished. He then got up vigntly. "Come on, we need to first get out of here." Seeing him acting vignt, he also took out his bow, which was dangling from his side. Both of them then started returning back to the city, while going, Hasan would go from tree to tree and mark it with a cross mark, while vigntly looking around here and there. As they made some distance from that ce, Hasan dropped his guard and started walking normally. He didn''t understand, what was that all about "Can you tell me now, what was that all about?" "That tattoo symbolizes that this goblin was elite of its tribe." He then remembered that the tattoed goblin was the same one that shot him, maybe it truly was an elite. "So what does that mean?" "It means that somewhere around that area is a tribe of goblins. But Adventurer Guild has received no report of a goblin settlement nearby." Now he started to understand the gravity of the situation. "How big of a settlement are we talking about here?" "I dont know, anywhere between 40 to 100" "FUCK! You sure?" "I am sure. We will know more when we will return to the guild." He remembered the group of goblins that almost killed him, they were not thatrge in number. But this was a monstrous group that Hasan was talking about, they could cause a lot of damage if left unchecked. "Also that is not the worst part," Hasan said. Hearing him, he turned towards him. "About 100 goblins is not the worst part, then tell me what is it?" "The Skistag, it was missing remember? If either of the goblins got a hold of that orb, then we might be dealing with a revolutionized monster here"¡­ After Hasan and he returned to the city, they straight away went to Adventurer Guild, where he greeted him goodbye, or at least he tried. "Hasan, it was nice meeting you. But I will have to go now." "You cannot go" "Why? You need to meet Guild Master first, after he had taken your statement, only then leave." Hasan said. "Do I have to do it?" "Yeah, it is kind of important." He sighed with frustration, but he could not do anything at that moment. He then waited by the side, while Hasan went to the reception to talk to some people. He told the staff about his findings and his wanting to meet Guild Master. He then joined him at a table and waited for Guild Master toe around. He then tried to initiate a conversation, but Hasan didn''t seem too interested in talking, so he just stopped and sat there in silence. After a few minutes of waiting, a staff of the Guild came to their table. "Mr. Hasan, Guild Master Igor will see you now." Both of them got up and followed the staff member. While he on the other hand started wrecking his brain, as he knew he had heard that name before¡­ Chapter 66 Skistag-3 The office of the Guild Master was a piece of work, there was a big portrait of the guy himself, hung behind his desk, making him look like some kind of royalty. Seeing that portrait he remembered that this was the same self-centered prick, he encountered him at the back bridge. He didn''t like that guy then, he had a bad personality, and even worse than his personality was his decoration sense. There were several paintings of him doing heroic deeds, one of the posters even had a picture of him fighting Roghorth, which he felt was a fabricated lie. That man made both of them wait in his office for minutes before he even bothered to show up¡­ The door of his office fo flung open, and with brisk steps, he marched in and sat down on his chair. "I heard that my top Adventurer wanted to meet me, so I came running." That man said with a big smile on his face. He then turned towards Dave and was surprised to see him there. "And you are?" "I am Gilbert, sir. We met at the back bridge" "Oh now I remember, the young man that helped us bring back our loot." "Yes." "So how has your life been here, Gibby?" Dave was angered, didn''t he just introduce himself, and yet this prick called him Gibby, who the fuck does he think he was? "Sir, my name is¡­" before he could finish, Hasan chimed in. "We dont have time for this, Igor. I found an elite goblin, there might be a tribe nearby the city." "How did youe across goblins? Isn''t that beneath your rank?" Igor asked. Hasan then started narrating what had happened." You see what happened was that I heard that someone spotted a Skistag¡­" the giant also mentioned that there was a chance that one of those goblins possess a skill, making them more dangerous. But Igor was not too bothered by that information. "You saw the tattoo of the goblin, with your own eyes." Igor enquired "Yeah, I have the body of a goblin as well. You can see it for yourself if you want." It is then, Hasan moved his hand on Igor''s table, probably trying to put the body there, but before he could do so, Igor grabbed his hand. "NO NO NO! This is a pretty good table, I dont want blood stains all over. I believe you." "So what should we do?" "Well if we are really facing such a problem, then I will personally see that I.P is dispatched to take care of it." "IP?" Dave asked. "Independent Party, it is the strongest party of our guild. You should know, you have met all of them" Igor rified. "Oh." It is then the giant shifted in his seat. "Alright, then my job here is done." "Not so fast Hasan." "What now?" "We still dont have no proof that there is actually a tribe around. Nor do we have any idea about where this tribe is lurking." "You think I am lying?" "I know for a fact that you are not lying. But if I were to dispatch our strongest party, I need more information. So are you interested in going on a reconnaissance mission?" Hasan stayed silent, not showing any sort of emotion and then he spoke. "I am not fit for such a mission. I am a fighter, I cannot sneak around." "I believe in you gentle giant, you will be able to do great things. You can do this as well. And you know what, you will need some help. Take him as well." Igor said while gesturing towards him. "ME?" Shocked, Dave eximed Seeing his reaction, Igor mocked him. "Who else in the room beside us?" "But, I am also not capable enough to do a reconnaissance mission. I am barely able to walk silently. And I am a newbie." "Doesn''t matter. In this case, Guild has full authority to dispatch whomever they like. So you two are going. Pack all the things that you have, and buy the things that you would need. Get me a report on that goblin tribe by the day after tomorrow." While Hasan stayed silent, he tried telling Igor that he was not strong enough to do anything, but he didn''t listen. He just wanted results. After Igor dismissed them, they had no other option but to just go back and started nning. As they came out of that prick''s office, he started thinking about his luck, and how bad it is. He didn''t poke any ho nest, nor did he do anything wrong, and yet here he was embarking on one difficult mission after another. If his partner was Grump, he wouldn''t have minded going on this mission. After all, that old man was a monster, and well versed about the knowledge of the monsters found in his hunk of rock, but he stuck with Hasan, a giant who was a half robot in his opinion¡­ As they came out of the Guild, he turned towards the giant, trying to talk to him about what the n was, but the giant didn''t say anything. He just stared at the crowd of pedestrians, moving along the road. He tried asking him again but still got no answer. Now he started to get angry, he then clenched his fist and smacked the giant on his shoulder with all of his strength. KA-POW. The giant stumbled to the side and now was looking at him. "Now can you hear me fucker?" he spared all the manner that he was showing before. "What do you want?" the giant barked. "What do I want? I want to kill you! You got me stuck in this situation. I have to go on a dangerous mission because of you. You told me that I would be free to go after I have given my report, but instead what happened? I got sucked into a dangerous mission because of you and that pompous prick!" "What do you want me to do? We are fucked either way!" "At least start speaking mother fucker! Your silence is getting on my nerves, making me want to kill you cold-blooded." "You could try." "Oh, I will do more than just try. I will fuck real bad homeboy." "Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you think you are some sort of action hero from the 80s? Do you think that you are Rambo or some Bruce Lee, you are going to kill me with just one punch, and I will idly stand here." "Oh, I am better than both of them. I am more dangerous." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized that he fucked up. AGAIN. Chapter 67 Danger-1 Grump missed Davy, he didn''t want to admit it, but that was the truth. When he was with them, he used to take care of all the bothersome stuff, cooking, making fire, etc. But now he has to do all that stuff because the fuckers with him are as useless as theye. Hamel, who is known throughout thatnd for his alchemic skills, can''t even roast a fucking fish, while his grandson is only helpful in gathering firewood. He had to scout the area, defend them when any monstere by and he had to cook for them as well. He had basically their butler. And he didn''t like it, not even a little bit. He was also annoyed at himself, he let that boy go when he asked, he should have been more careful and thought it through. He knew that Davy had be stronger than before, and if he doesn''t cross paths with any higher-tier evolutionized monster, he would be handle himself. But from what he had heard, that boy had the tendency to attract a lot of trouble, without doing anything. It was like a curse. He was afraid that the boy would be killed in the dark alley somewhere in the Vecrus, and he wouldn''t be able to see a penny from those ingredients that he was hiding. He knew that he was being paranoid, and he should focus on the mission, he couldn''t help but be worried about that boy, he had grown fond of him in the past few days, and he didn''t want to see him die for nothing¡­ Grump looked at the moon shining in the sky, it was time that they start to move. It has been two days since they have entered Vecrus, and now they were exiting it through Midgard''s Bridge, thebination of roads and bridges connecting all the cities together. They had reached the bridge connecting Vecrus and Barcelma, that evening, but they waited till night to cross it, that way they would be able to avoid any eyes and be safe. As the night was upon them, he turned around and looked at the grandfather and grandson duo. "It is time" Both of them nodded and started moving, with Grump in the lead. They came out of the trees where they were hiding all this time and started heading towards the bridge. The area around them was awfully quiet, which Grump found rming. But he scouted the area before, and couldn''t find anything out of ce, nor did he find any monster tracks. He did find tracks of humans and horses, he figured that adventurers are killing any monster that spawn in the area as soon as possible. It made sense to him that time because many people from Barcelma wereing to Vecrus, the city had opened the doors of their dungeon to all, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Thus they were being extra careful to avoid any adventurers. They were moving in silence, with a good pace, but it is then he felt like something was wrong, he felt something was watching him. He was not paranoid, he had a skill called Danger Sense which tells him whether someone had ill intent against him in a 200m area. His skill acted like a dome that spreads to 200m in every possible direction, with him as a center. He looked around, and found nothing but trees in the area, hell he could even feel mana fluctuation anywhere, so his enemies were not hiding. He was able to tell that neither Hamel nor Ricardo had ill intent against him, so the question remained, who was having ill thoughts about him? As he found nothing while looking around, he started wondering what was all of this about, it is then he suddenly thought of something. He looked up. It is then he saw the weirdest thing that he had ever seen in his life, there was a bird in the air, and he could tell that thing has ill intent against him. The most peculiar thing was that it didn''t look like a bird, that thing looked as if it was transparent, and he could see through it. "What is that?" he mumbled, attracting the attention of Hamel and his grandson. "Some kind of bird¡­ But I dont recognize it." Ricardo said. Both of the adults were shocked, the boy was very knowledgeable about these kinds of things, if he didn''t know what that was, then who would? NEEEIGGHHH They heard the neighing of horses, someone wasing, immediately without a word they started running, as they were far away from the bridge, all they could do was run to the trees again and wait for these people to pass by¡­ They were able to hide quite easily, Grump looked out from the trees and saw a group of peopleing on the horses, standing just in the ce where they just were, it is then the group dismounted, and started walking towards their direction. He cursed, and so did Hamel who was also watching, it is then that they saw that birding down from the sky andnding on the ground, just in front of the trees where they were hiding. It is then Grump realizes that this bird was not normal, this was the product of a skill, he immediately took out a throwing knife and threw it toward the bird. The bird-dispersed into small mana particles, but it was toote by that time, the people tracking were on to them, and now the only thing left to see was whether they were friendly or enemies. For safety reasons he armed himself with his ax, and Hamel armed himself with his staff, and both of them got ready for a battle. As they were about toe out to confront the group, they saw that everyone in the group had taken a weapon in their hands, making it clear that these guys were not friendly, they were enemies. Chapter 68 Trouble Brewing Grump understood that they were in big trouble, that group drew their weapon as they came closer, if this were a group of normal adventurers then they wouldn''t have minded them, they would have left them alone. Adventurers dont attack people out of the blue, especially when they are not being paid for it, considering their situation, there was a possibility that Carlin could have hired them to kill them, and judging by the strength of the group, there was a strong chance that she was the one that sends them here¡­ Before he could make any n for action, one of the mages in the group conjured a big ball made of fire in its hands and threw it at him. The ballnded on the tree behind which he was hiding, the ball was able to instantly light the tree on fire. He then ducked down and rolled over to the side, taking cover behind another tree. "COME OUT NOW HAMEL! We know that you are here!" a woman from the group yelled. Hearing this Grump didn''t have any doubt in his mind that these guys were sent here by Carlin. "RUN!" Hamel yelled to his grandson who was petrified by his side. As he saw his grandson''s petrified face, he immediately casted a spell making a smoke screen around them, hiding all of them from the eyes of the group. As the smoke screen hid them, Grump immediately turned around and started running, Hamel and Ricardo did the same, but as they made some distance, an explosion took ce in the smoke, destroying everything in the 10 radii. The explosion was so strong that it shook the earth, blew away the smoke as well as sent a shockwave across that almost tripped them. Grump turned his head around, while running, the sheer destruction that the explosion made a chill run down his spine. While running he looked around and saw Hamel and Ricardo, running not too far away from him, but it is then Ricardo fell down. He saw it clearly, an arrow struck him in the back, making him trip. ''There was an archer amongst these people.'' He then immediately took cover behind a nearby tree, he peeked out and saw Hamel trying to drag Ricardo towards safety, while the group was approaching them slowly as if they were confident that they would not be able to run away. He found it very odd, this group clearly had an advantage, if their motive was to kill Hamel, then they could do that easily right now, that old man didn''t have his guard up and they could kill him easily, and it would only take an arrow to the head. But they were ying with them, were they really there to kill them, or they were just there to have fun beyond him, he could tell that these people are very dangerous. The group was moving towards the grandfather and son duo, seeing that he started contemting whether to stay or not. He may be of higher rank than all of them, but he was old and far weaker than his prime, even if he wanted he cannot take that group on. Now as he has a chance, it would be logical to make a run for it, abandoning the mission. It is then he saw one of the members of the group shoot a blue light in the air, the light transformed into a bird, simr to the one that he destroyed, that bird was bad news, it could spot him. He kept back his ax, and tried to take out his bow, it is then he remembered that it got destroyed during the fight with the tribal chief, he cannot shoot down that thing. Sure enough, soon the bird spotted him, and then three people from the group started walking toward him. He had no choice now, he had to fight, or otherwise, be killed. He immediately took his ax and started running the three people making them towards him. He deliberately tried running slower, trying to mask his actual speed and strength. The three people also started running towards him, brandishing swords and spears in the air, as they got close, he smiled, he would show his hand now, but it is then, a red lightning bolt fell from the cloudless sky, onto him. The shock from the bolt, made him stumble and fell on his face. The bolt fell on his ax, burning the hand that held it, as well as burning half of his chest as well. His vision started spinning, his senses started going haywire. Slowly darkness started taking over his vision, and eventually, he lost consciousness¡­ *** Ganesh had seen the view in front of him many times, but no matter how many times he had seen it, he couldn''t help but get fascinated by it. It looked majestic and beautiful, exactly like the day when he was born. It is one of the few things that have not changed since his father breathe life into him. His eyes then looked up, his head was covered in ice, and he was so lost in the view that he didn''t feel the snow covering his head. He then moved his long trunk and it took one strong blow from his nose and all the snow flew away. Now standing here again after a long time, he couldn''t help but be reminiscent of the past, he missed those days. It is then he heard footsteps approaching, he turned around and his two twin brothers climbing up the steep and narrow steps of his father''s snow mountain. His muscr and half-monkey brother, Hanuman, smiled seeing him. "Ganesh, I thought we would only see you above." His other brother, Son Wu Kong, who was also a half monkey but leaner than his twin, smiled when he saw him. "I was waiting for you guys." Wu Kong chuckled. "Were you waiting for us? Or were you lost in your thoughts again? Did the sunset make you cry again?" his teasing didn''t have any effect on him. "I missed this." With a small tear rolling down his eyes. Hanuman smiled. "We missed you too." Wu Kong on the other scrunched his face. "Ohe on, we are meeting after a century, not a millennium. Snap it out, you two cry babies." Hanuman and Ganesh didn''t mind his attitude, instead to tease they grabbed him and included him in a group hug, making him angry¡­ After their reunion was over, they started climbing the mountain again, their father had called for them, probably to strategize about the game, and they were excited about this one. This season of R3T was pretty difficult, but the makers have done a very splendid job. No one was at the top, nor no one particrly powerful at the moment, which meant this was an ideal time to strike and secure a leading position¡­ As they reached the mountain, one the coldest ces in the world, their father was already there, meditating in lotus position with his eyes closed, his trident by his side, Vasuki, his pet snake hanging from his neck, and his sword and his loyal confidant, the strongest minotaur of the world, Nandi, standing behind his back. His father was sitting on his throne, made of bones of many animals and beings alike, in front of him three chairs, for them. "You guys arete." Nandi barked. "Well these two, both of them got really emotional from their reunion." Wu Kong said. He then took one of the chairs and sat down. Hanuman and he also took one of the chairs and sat down. It is then Shiv, their father opened two of his eyes. "My sons, you are here," he said with his deep ancient voice. "We are here father." He said. "Good¡­" Shiv then shifted in his seat. "I have called you here, to discuss something. I am about to take a step, which would lead us to a very very dangerous path. And I wanted your help in this matter." "What do you have in mind father? Hanuman asked. "God-Hater contacted me, with a proposition." Everyone shifted in their seats. "Father, he cannot be trusted." Ganesh quickly added. "Yes, father, we cannot trust that man. He is far too cunning for all of us." Wu Kong also added. "That he is, but his proposition is very beneficial for us. And it could improve our standard of living." "But father, even if he puts the world in your feet, even then we cannot trust that guy. You do know that he hates all the gods, not only Aesir and Vanir." Wu Kong added. Both the brother nodded their head. "My children, I know that man better than anyone. But I am not calling you here for you to discuss whether or not we should consider his proposition. I called you here, because I already epted his end of the deal, and now I need your help to get everything out of that deal." All of them didn''t like that their father made a deal with Loki, but s they couldn''tin now, what was done was now done. Now they could only help their father to minimize the damage. Chapter 69 Conspiracy-1 Dave wanted to bang his head on a wall, he wanted to bang it till his head ispletely smashed open like a cantaloupe, and he could then take out his brains and feed them to birds. He did it again, he got lost in the flow, opened his mouth, and now Hasan knows that he is an Earthian, just like that. "You can say whatever you want, I know exactly who you are, you a little bitch." Hasan snarled at him, hearing this he couldn''t believe his ears, this guy didn''t register the fact that he was able to recognize Rambo and Bruce Lee. He had been saved by the grace ofdy luck, this guy was an idiot. "You know I am bitch. You are right. So why you dont you go and scout the area for the tribe of those fucking midgets, Mr. High-level Adventurer, while I will go back and have a drink." He wanted to get the hell out of there before this idiot realizes who he really was, so he then turned around and started moving. It is Hasan grabbed him by his hand and pulled him back. "You cannot go back. If Igor finds out that you didn''t follow his orders, then he will have your head." He shook his hand and freed himself from the grasp of that giant. "Igor can suck my dick if he wants, I don''t own that man nothing. And I am not going to endanger my life because some pompous prick ordered me to do so." Hasan shook his head, anger from his face vanished, and it was reced by genuine concern. He then toned down his voice and took a deep breath. "Listen Gilbert, I know that you are upset. But Igor is like an overlord of adventurers. If he finds out that you have disobeyed him, he would make things difficult for you." "I am not afraid of him." "Then you are a fool. You do realize that if he cklists you from the Guild, that means you will be jobless. And then you cant even dive into a fucking dungeon, to earn some wage. His wrath will make a schmuck, living in the streets of this ce." Dave cannot let that happen, the dungeon was important to him. That is the only ce that could make him strong enough to survive in this world. He needed to think everything through, before making a decision. "What do you want from me? I am a weak man, I can use a bow, but that won''t be enough. Hell, I dont even have a skill. What the hell could I even do to help in this quest?" "Help me find the hideout of the goblins, then I will take over. I will go in alone and find out what I what, while you can stay safely hidden somewhere.." "Then why do I have to go? I can stay in the city away from all the carnage." "No city is not safe. There are many spies of Igor roaming around this ce. If someone sees you, then you will be in trouble like me." He sighed with frustration, there was no way out for him, he had to go. "Alright then, let''s go." "No, not today. Sun will set in a few hours, and we will not be able to get back in time. I suggest that we should start our search tomorrow. That way we will have a lot of time to search for their damn tribe." "If you say so." Hasan then made a n to meet here at this exact spot tomorrow, at dawn. Then they will depart for their mission. He agreed to it. But as they turned around, and both started going their separate ways, Hasan stopped. He then turned around again and ran to Dave and grabbed his hand once again. "What the hell do you want now?" he asked, now clearly annoyed. "How did you understand my words when I mentioned Bruce Lee and Rambo, just now." Hearing this he could only shake his head and mumble. "Fuck." "Tell me how?" Hasan said. As there was no way out of it, he sighed. "Let''s have something to drink shall we, in some quiet ce?" Hasan just stared at him for a few seconds, and then nodded at his proposal, so they went back to Gendry''s¡­ Both of them upied thest table of the bar, away from all the chit-chatting adventurers returning from their respective mission. Dave introduced himself with his real name, told few things about himself while editing out a few of the important and delicate stuff, and told him about all the things that he had gone through. Hasan on the other hand kept quiet and listened to every word that came out of his mouth. "Man, you had been through a lot." "Yeah." He was surprised the robotic man seems to have some feelings after all. "Tell me about yourself, how has Midgard treated you so far?" "Not good. When people found out that I was an Earthian, they captured me. Made me their prisoner. Then I was sold to Barcelma from where I ran away." "You ran away from Barcelma?" "Yeah." "Yeah, on the night of beast tide, I got a chance to get away from the beast tide. I hid till the event was over. And now here I am." "Does anyone from that city knows that you are alive?" "I dont think so." "What happened to your friends? Other Earthians? I have heard that Infragillis and Barcelma had a significant amount of Earthians under them." "Dont be mistaken dude. The people with whom I have survive this far aren''t my friends." "Why?" "I dont what kind of Earthians you have met so far, but humans tend to show their true nature when pushed to their limit. I have seen friends turning on one another, just for a skill or get favor of some rich merchant. I myself was betrayed by a woman, whom I loved¡­ Earthians of those parts are not trustworthy." He wanted to know more about his past, but he didn''t, it was clear that Hasan didn''t want to talk about it. "If you say so." "Well, lets just forget our past. We have some work to do for Igor, we should start nning about that." "Sure." Chapter 70 Conspiracy-2 Hasan and he really connected with each other when they talked, as it turns out his robotic acting was because he didn''t want to garner any attention to him, like him, he was also on the run, which is why he wanted to stay low-key. But that didn''t turn out the way he had hoped. Igor and his men found out real soon that he was an Earthian, just like them. The fact that Igor was an Eacthinan, came as shock to Dave, that guy was in the same boat as them, yet still, that prick gave them this job, just to get back on Hasan. As it turns out, the city lord, Sonia, had met Hasan as he came to the city, she was the one that granted him a ce to stay, as her lover, Igor is sort of jealous of him, that is why he acts like this, hoping to kill him by sending him on dangerous missions. He was only caught in the crossfire of their fight¡­ "Is there any way that we can get out of this situation? Because as much I like to admit it, I would rather stay here and get drunk." Dave asked, but Hasan shook his head. "No, we cannot do that. Igor hates me, and he would make sure to use insubordination against us, making things difficult for us. If we want to live in Vecrus, we have to y by his rules." "I get it¡­ Wait, do you know some people who are willing to help us?" "No. I used to work in a party, but since I havee here, I have worked alone." He felt sorry for the man, the giant was just like him, alone with no one to rely on. "Is that so." "What should we do then?" "For now, let''s rest. I think I would like to buy some things from the dungeon before tomorrow''s expedition." "What should I do?" "Prepare yourself. There is a chance, that we will meet an evolutionized monster tomorrow. They are not easy to deal with, especially when you have no skills." "That is true¡­" It is then Hasan shifted in the chair. "Speaking of skills, you dont have the body of deer in your inventory now would you?" "No, I just left it there. I was a vegan when I came here, and I intend to be one even if I am stuck here." He lied, after all, what he has in his inventory is not that giant''s business. "That is good to know." Hasan then got up. Both of them then shook each other''s hands. "Alright then, we will meet here at dawn," then they parted ways¡­ He didn''t tell Hasan everything that had happened to him, the thing was that he didn''t know whether he could trust him or not, also, divulging too much information to a stranger didn''t make sense to him, and he felt like it was a wise decision. Now he faced a real problem, should he stay here, or leave Vecrus forever? It was not like he was attached to this ce, he wanted to leave because his secret hase out, and he didn''t know whether he should worry about it or not. The worst thing was that he did this to himself, he was the one responsible, for all of this, so he sat down at the table again, and started thinking about what he should do¡­ *** Hasan stood in the line of the dungeon, waiting for his turn toe if he were to fight an evolutionized monster tomorrow he needed some items, Dave gave off some powerful vibes, he was strong for who hadn''t spent a month in this ce, but he didn''t know whether he could be trusted or not. So instead he felt like he needs to prepare himself for the worst-case scenario. While waiting, a message appeared before his eyes¡­ The God Hater is willing to give you his helping hand. Will you take it? Y/N ''What¡­ Who is this God Hater fellow?'' he was confused as to what this message meant, he didn''t need any help right now, not currently. Also, who was this God Hater? And why was he giving him a helping hand? Hasan had joined the familia of Muscr Monkey, howe he didn''t give him a helping hand, and this fellow was giving him one? As there was no cost of taking this helping hand, he felt like he should press ''Y'', and after thinking for a while, he did. As he did, another message appeared before his eyes¡­ Dave Gonsalves, aka, Grim Ripper is sent to kill you by Katrina. It was one simple sentence, time slowed down around him. Reading that sentence, he realized what fool he had been, a Skistag being spotted near the forest, himing across an elite goblin, and that man who was conveniently saw it all. He was a fool as he could not see through his deception. His blood started boiling with anger, Katrina, that bitch from Hope Party, not only betrayed his trust, but also made a fool out of him, but that was not enough for her, now she wanted to kill him as well. He looked towards the dungeon, started thinking, about how he would kill Dave, he wanted his death to be so brutal, that it would make anyone''s skin crawl. Maybe he will send that man''s head as a trophy, to that bitch¡­ *** The God Hater is willing to give you his helping hand. Will you take it? Y/N Dave was silently eating his food when he suddenly received the message. Immediately he clicked ''N'', he didn''t need any assistance from the Gods. But as soon as he clicked ''N'', the same message appeared before him again. He realized that this was the same as an invitation from this fellow, no matter how much he says no, this guy would keep on bugging him. He tried tomand his system to make this message disappear, but that didn''t help. In the end, he had to click ''Y'', otherwise, this window was blocking his view. Soon another message appeared before him¡­ Hasan ising to kill you and acquire the Skistag. Prepare yourself. Chapter 71 A Gift-1 Dave couldn''t believe what he was reading, Hasan wasing to kill him, and that too for that deer, the way he acted while sitting with him, he would have never guessed in a million years what that giant was up to. He knew that the deer was valuable, but he figured he was sessful in selling his story, and the giant believed that he left the carcass behind. The message also made him realize that Hasan was a very good actor, at that time, he really thought that the giant believed him. If it weren''t for this message, Hasan would have been sessful in catching him off guard. But at the back of his mind, he also wondered whether this message was a trap. Maybe all of this was part of some grand scheme by this God-Hater fellow, and by believing in this message, he was walking right into it, but no matter what that god was nning. He couldn''t tell whether this message was legitimate or not, but he cannot take this message lightly either. He had to prepare himself for the worst-case scenario. Immediately he got up, and went to pay Gendry, he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but it is then he wondered whether Hasan was waiting for him outside. Should he go from the front door? Or should he look for another way out? Luckily for him, Gendry was a greedy man... "40 bronze coins and I will forget when you left. Also, I will provide you with a back exit, you can disappear from there without being seen by anyone" The toothy grin of that greedy barkeep infuriated him, this was in robbery, but he didn''t have any choice. He paid the man, and then Gendry let hime at the back, and let him use his back door. But it is then another thought came to him which made him stop. ''What if Hasan paid him to do something like this? What if by going from the back exit, I will fall right into his trap? What if I am just being paranoid? Wait, am I being paranoid?'' His overthinking took his ability to think clearly, random thoughts about Hasan made him rethink what he was nning, overwhelmed by his thought, he then raised his hand and pped himself, across his face. KA-POW He was being overly paranoid. The news about Hasan had hit hard, after all, he had started to consider that giant as a friend, but now he was overthinking everything, but p made him regain focus, if this was indeed his trap then he could do nothing, he just has to try his best and not to get killed. He had managed to survive this far, so he could do it again... The back door led him to secluded alleyways of the Vecrus, these alleys were covered in filth, were dirty, and most of all were smelling so awful that he literally felt his nose hair burning from their stench. Navigating through alleyways, he eventually made his out, he reached the encampment outside the city, where he cleaned his boots and pants, which were covered in filth. After that, he made his way to the secluded side of the city, where he could think about what he should do next... He was in a pickle, if he were to kill Hasan, even in self-defense, then he woulde on the radar of Igor, that prick could have his license revoked and could have him thrown out of the city. If he decides not to kill that giant, and that giant decides not to stop his pursuit, then he would die for sure. He could not determine that giant''s level, but from his grip strength and the fact that he had been in this world for a much longer time, it was safe to assume that the man was strong. Now, the question remained, how to stop him? While wrecking his brain, he had a thought that he should join hands with Igor, Hasan told him that the man was after his life, so if he were to kill that giant, then Igor can help him cover all of this up. But he dropped the idea pretty soon, from what he have seen so far, Igor is not a man that could be trusted. He also thought about just handing over the deer to Hasan, but he didn''t know whether he would let him live after that. ''Wait, a sec... Why fuck am I being such a coward? I have fought an army of Kongs, I have killed an 8-foot-long monstrosity of a Kong, and help deliver the final blow to the Tribal Chief. They were all very stronger than me, but I still persisted. I can handle that mother fucker, if he wants toe for me, then I will see to it that this would be hisst day on this hunk of rock'' Thinking about killing a fellow human was giving him chills, and making him nervous, but this was something that he had to do. He cannot be that soft-hearted cook from America anymore, he had to reinforce his resolve, otherwise, as Grump said, he would not be able to make it in thisnd. ''Hasan wanted that deer right? He wants the skill that the thing has stored in its stomach, then let''s see, what this Skistag had to offer that is making that giant Earthian cruel enough to kill him'' He made his way deeper into the forest. He took out his camping sticks and made a camp, then he took the Skistag, and started butchering that thing, he didn''t have any proper tools, so dissecting that thing was a tad bit difficult, but still, after making some incisions around its stomach, he found what he was looking. The orb in question was dark ck in color, when he fished it out, a message appeared before him... The yer has found a skill orb. ................ Would you like to absorb it? Y/N Before he could make click anything another message appeared from the God-Hater. God Hater is willing to give you his helping hand. Will you take it? Y/N By this time, he knew the drill, so immediately he clicked ''Y'' and then another message appeared before him, which made him confused... God Hater is willing to provide you with a cheat ability. Are you willing to take it? Y/N Chapter 72 A Gift-2 The prospect of having a cheat ability confused him, he had heard about cheats that kids used in video games and stuff, but this was not a video game, this was real life, all of this is not a video game where he just press some random keys, and then immediately he would have infinite lives. This was the real world. The other thing that confused him was the generosity of this God Hater, why was he being so generous to him? He declined his offer, yet he came to his rescue when Hasan is trying to kill him, and now he is willing to provide him with a cheat. But why? His paranoia started kicking in, and he started wondering whether this was all a trap, should he click ''Y'' or should he throw caution to the wind and press ''N'', this guy surely had a catch for being this generous, so what should he do? Torn between his paranoia and logical thinking, he sat there thinking about the message over and over again, he came to the conclusion that maybe all of this was just a ruse to get him to join his familia, what he could not understand was why God hater wanted him so desperately? After some time, he understood, over thinking about it won''t get him anywhere, and he had to make a decision. So after a lot of thinking, he decided to take the cheat, as long as his life was in his own hand, he didn''t care what kind of catch this God Hater had. He put down the orb and with reinforced resolve, he clicked ''Y''. Then a lot of messages started appearing before his eyes¡­ Administration Command received. .........¡­.. Connecting to the hub¡­. ........... Connection secured. .........¡­ Installing backport control to the user. ........... Downloading relevant files. .......... Changing the schematics of the system. .......... Changeplete. .........¡­ Back Port installed. It is then he felt intense pain in his head, he felt like some insect had made its way inside and was wreaking havoc in his skull, he clutched his head and waited for worse, but nothing happened, the pain went away after a few seconds and soon he started feeling normal again. He didn''t understand what happened, reading the messages he knew something changed in his system, so to inspect the changes he opened his status window, there were no changes there, but when he opened his skills menu, he found two new skills there¡­ Aside from Common Tongue, one of the new skills was called Akashic Records, and the other one was called Yggdrasil Map. Name- Akashic Records Rank- God Level Description- The bearer of this skill will be able to see through the fabric of Yggdrasil itself. They could decipher every living and non-living present on the Yggdrasil. Bearer could also absorb every knowledge present under the shade of the tree. .........¡­.. Name- Yggdrasil Map Rank- God Level Description- The bearer of this skill would be able to ess the maps of every world present on the Yggdrasil. The skill of Yggdrasil Map was easy to understand, as he thought about it, he now had the mental image of maps of every world of this game. It was like he had memorized those maps personally. But he only had the general structure of the map memorized, he did not know anything specific about the maps, like a number of cities, flora, and fauna. And based on the color of the maps, he could only imagine the weather of these worlds. But the Akashic Records went over his head, he didn''t know what it meant, and there was no new knowledge regarding anything in his mind. The description of that skill didn''t make it sound like it was abat skill, so the question still remained, what the hell does this skill do? Well, fuck it. I eventually find out what it does, for now, let''s focus on what is important.'' He then picked up the ck color orb, and with his touch of the orb, a message appeared before his eyes. Name- Shadow steps Rank- Rare Description- An rare skill that enables the user to teleport between shadows in a 20m radius around the user. The teleportation would cost some amount of mana and will cause fatigue to build up in the user''s body. Suitable for people that have Warlocks and Warriors. His eyes widened with surprise, the description of the skill, and his holding that ck color orb, after connecting these two it was evident that he was able to somehow read the description of the skill in the orb. But the question remained, how was he able to do so? He was sure that previously he didn''t have this ability, so howe he has this now? It is then he remembered his skill, Akashic Records, ording to its description he could see through the fabric of Yggdrasil itself¡­ Now he got the gist of the skill. He then touched the body of the Skistag and another window appeared before him Name-Skistag Rank-Rare Description- A beast that carries a skill orb in its stomach. The skills on the orb get generated at random by an algorithm, the skill generated is best suited for the first being that touches it. The flesh of the beast is one of the tastiest in the whole of Midgard. He smiled, on top of his head he could think of many applications of this power, he didnt want to say it out loud, but he was greatful for this wonderful skill. It is then he looked at the ck orb in his hand. He decided to assimte the orb, in a fight, this coulde in handy. If he were to fight at night time then with this skill he could have an unfair advantage, Hasan won''t even realize what hit him. He couldn''t help but chuckle like viin while thinking about Hasan''s reaction when he would see his power. With that, he bloomed a big smile on his face and gavemand to the system to absorb the skill orb. Chapter 73 Gift-3 As Davemanded his system to absorb the orb, he started feeling weird energy entering his body through the ball. He could feel that energy passing through his whole, providing him with power. After it was done, the ball turned into dust particles, and got blown away by the wind, he checked his system and sure enough, he had a new skill now. But it is then he realized that he didn''t know how to use that skill. What was he supposed to do, does he has tomand his system to travel between the shadows or was there another way to use this skill? Now confused, he opened his skills tab and checked the description of the skill again, a window appeared before, which gave him all the information that he needed¡­ Name- Shadow steps Rank- Rare Description- An skill that allows the user to travel between any shadows within 20m radii. The only prerequisite to use the skill is that the user should have sufficient mana, as well as the shadows being casted around the user, should be big enough for the user to travel through them. The information was different from what he got earlier, but still, it didn''t tell him how he could travel between the shadows, so he realized that he had to figure it out himself. So he put back the rest of the Skistag in his inventory and started looking for a good secluded ce with a lot of shadows. As the sun was about to set, the shadows that were being casted were very long and bulky, so he didn''t have to go very far to find a suitable ce for his experiment, and he was able to find a perfect spot just in a few minutes. He found two trees that were adjacent to each other, both of them were casting a big shadows on the ground, so he decided that he would use them. He came and sat down in the shadow of one of the trees. And nothing happened. He was expecting something some sort of window popping up out of nowhere, prompting him to travel between shadows, but nothing of that sort happened. He then remembered Ricardo, he remembered what that boy told him about mana and how mages use the mana in their body. Maybe I am supposed to use my mana to activate the skill. So he closed his eyes, and tried to feel mana in him, at first he felt like nothing was happening, but still, he persisted, and soon he got results., He started sensing a ball of energy, concentrated below his belly button. As Ricardo had told him, with mentalmands he started controlling that ball of energy, which was a very very difficult process. It was like as if he was told to handle a one-ton ball of steel with just his finger. He was able to wiggle around that ball but other than that, he could not do anything to that ball. Still, with lots of perseverance and hard work, the ball got loose, and the intensity of wiggling increased, but still was not enough to control his mana freely. He opened his eyes and realized that he won''t be able to use Shadow Step while fighting Hasan, that giant could attack him at any time now, and in this small period of time, he didn''t think that he would be able to gain control over his mana to such an extent that he enact that skill. As he started thinking about what more he could do at the moment, suddenly he had a thought, which made him change all of his ns¡­ ''I know that he wants to kill me¡­ He knows that I have Skistag, so he wants to kill me¡­ But he dont know that I know that he knows I have a Skistag¡­ I can take advantage of this. Yes, I can take advantage of this¡­'' His n was simple, although doing a preemptive attack would make sense, there was no way that it could benefit him. After all, if he were to attack him now, it could backfire, he doesn''t have proof that Hasan really was trying to kill him. If he were to sessfully kill him, and the word got out, then there could be repercussions because of which his license could be revoked, and worst of all, he could be thrown out or executed by thews of the city. So in the end he decided that he would y this game safely, and patiently. He would spend the night in the forest, then as they had agreed, he would meet Hasan tomorrow in front of the guild. And it is during the mission that he would kill him, it was a risky move, and there are several things that could go wrong with his n. But he has to take this risk, otherwise, he was just out of options¡­ After spending that night in the forest, he woke up early and went to the guild, to meet up with Hasan. When he got to the guild, he was surprised to see that there was a huge crowd of people swarming around the guild, it is then he realized that these people are the reason that job postings on the boards vanished when he came yesterday. He entered the guild only to see it jampacked with people, some were fighting to get hold of one particr job posting, some were discussing them while others were standing in front of the reception. Looking at the chaotic atmosphere around the guild, he felt out of ce. Everyone was doing something and was busy, yet here he was just standing there looking around. It is then he felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked around to see a very familiar face. "Davy¡­" the woman spoke with uncertainty. But he recognized her instantly. "Hiry." he said with a big smile on his face while looking at his benefactor from Cloudhold. Chapter 74 Small Reunion Meeting Hiry in the guild came as a very pleasant surprise to him, he had always wondered whether she and Jurgen were able to get out of Cloudhold in time, before this day he used to think that they were dead, after all, there was a psychopathic Mage running amok in Cloudhold. But he was wrong. There was an awkward silence between them, no one knew what to say to the other person. But then he initiated a conversation. "How have you been?" She smiled. "Fine. The pay of being an adventurer is very small here, but still, it is better than being a ve." He didn''t know much about pay of adventurers so he just nodded along. "That is true, and what about Jurgen? How is he?" She hesitated a little bit. But then she said. "I dont know. We got separated in Cloudhold. And since then I haven''t seen him." Sensing something was wrong, he asked "Do you know about¡­ Ang?" She meekly nodded her head. He then looked at her, the awkward silence before, coupled with her gloomy face, he realized something. "You dont think that he was killed by, her, right?" Her eyes became watery, but she kept smiling as she was standing in the middle of a Guild, even though she was holding back her tears. Looking at her pitiful condition, he instantly wrapped her hands around her. She also hugged him back, and both of them stayed like that, remembering a lostrade. After staying like that for a few minutes, they separated. She wiped some of the tears that made it outside, while he kept staring into the air before him. She thought that he was staring at her but only knew that he was staring at the message that he had received from the system. "I am really happy that you were able to make it out safely," she said. "I''m also happy that you are safe¡­" Both of them then stayed stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say next. It is then his eyes fell on the page that she was holding. "You are going on a quest?" he asked. "Yup, a C-Rank mission," she said while showing him the paper. A frown appeared on his face, she could take the C-Rank mission if she told the guild her identity, does that mean guild knew that she was an Earthian? "A C-Rank? But why? Are you not hiding what¡­ you are, your identity?" he asked. "No. I have the guild card from Cloudhold. So getting a C-Rank card made was pretty easy." "Oh, so what are you gonna do? Hunt some dangerous beasts?" "Nope, nothing like. This is a mission to investigate a battle site. Yesterday or the day before yesterday a battle took ce near the bridge connecting Vecrus and Barcelma. I have to investigate and see whether this was done by a monster or not." "Why?" "Well ording to the report, such destruction could only be caused by an evolutionized monster. And guild tries to keep an eye on such monsters." "Is that soo¡­ Anyway, we should catch up, after you are back." "Yeah, we should." After making more small talk, Hiry left him standing there¡­ He had thought that he should ask for help regarding Hasan, but after they hugged each other, he was busy reading the message that had appeared before his eyes¡­ Name- Hiry Cook [PLAYER] Level-42 ss- Mage''s Apprentice Familia- Mistress of an Owl. [ATHENA] Familia Rank- Soldier He had dismissed the message after reading its content, but after her departure, he couldn''t help but smile, this cheat ability was broken. Before he thought that this ability was only useful in identifying objects and such. But he was wrong. The other surprise that he got from this ability was that he was able to identify the real names of gods. Athena, the goddess from the greek pantheon whose familia Hiry had joined, he had heard about her. He didn''t know much about that goddess, but he had heard her name once or twice, other than that he was totally oblivious about her. Reading the name also made him wonder whether knowing the name of the goddess could help him in some way, but couldn''t think of anything¡­ As he stood in the middle of the guild, lost in his thought, a man came from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back to see Hasan standing behind him. "Shall we go," the giant asked? He nodded his head and then they started moving. *** Igor stood on the upper floor of the guild, looking down at Hasan and Gilbert''s interaction. As both of them started moving, he turned around and saw two of his man standing by, ready for hismand. He simply nodded at them, and the men nodded back and started moving, trying to catch up with them. Igor wanted this mission to be thest day for Hasan to walk on this hunk of rock, he tolerated him enough, and now it was time to get rid of him¡­ As he stepped into the office, he saw his secretary waiting for him there, she was sitting on his desk, long gone was her professional look, her hair was out of her bun''s bound, she had a few of her shirt''s buttons unhooked, giving Igor a clear and beautiful look at beautiful mounds. "What do we have here? A naughty cat?" he said with a smile. He locked the door behind him and came closer to his naughty cat. "This cat came bearing gifts." She said as she felt his hand roaming around her butt. "What might that be?" "Why dont you dive in and see for yourself," she said while gesturing towards her big mounds. He smiled and instantly dived in, like a mole digging his way through dirt, he shoveled her mounds gently here and there and soon found what he was looking for. It was a pendant, with a small red color orb at its end. He recognized it instantly, it was a soul orb. Chapter 75 Mission-1

Chapter 75 Mission-1

Igor''s eyes twinkled, as he looked at the pearl size soul orb in his hands, his eyes were filled with greed. In his hands was thest piece that he needed to solve the most difficult puzzle of this world¡­ It has been more than 6 months since he came to this shitty ce, and still, he couldn''t believe the basicws of this world, they were all absurd. Also in a sense, he felt that this world was made in such a way that yers would be superiors to all its natives. The soul orb, the artifact which absorbs the souls of monsters in a dungeon, is a very vital tool for dungeon divers. The soul orbs that Midgardians can use are like these small red pearls, exactly like the one that he is holding right now. The main problem with these things is that they are physical objects, every dungeon diver has to protect these at all costs, otherwise, the number of souls absorbed in this small piece of jewelry would be lost forever. Which meant that they would have dived into the dungeon for no apparent reason. Anyone could im and use these orbs, and as this is kind of like a wallet of the dungeon, these orbs cost a lot of money. But unlike the Midgardians, yers or Earthians can get their soul orb for free, also their soul is not physical which means they dont have to carry these things with them at all times. In this world, the disparity between powers and potential Earthians wield whenpared to Midgardina, is very huge. With some hard work, Midgardians could only suffer at the bottom of the barrel, while yers could be rulers of this world¡­ The orb in his hands was an orb containing 2000SP or 2000 Soul Points of taxes that they had collected recently. Every D-Rank adventurer has to pay a small tax when diving into the dungeon. Sonia and her beautiful brain came up with a lot of ideas to revamp Vecrus so that it could get back on its feet again. To get the economy going, she knew that she would need a lot of people toe to live in the city, that way the overall ie of her people could increase. She needed a way to attract hordes of the remaining poption of Midgard toe to live there, and that is when she decided to make the entry to the dungeon free to anyone who wants it. The previous lord used to charge a lot of money from adventurers for giving them ess to dungeons, but she took that tradition and threw it out of the window. She managed to convince the council of Vecurs that instead of taking money from poor folk, they should bring some changes to the structure of their economy to bring in more people. The city would make a loss in a small term, but if her n seeds and she could invite a lot of people to Vecurs, then that loss would soon be a source of profit. And that was happening. It was Igor''s idea to tax the high-ranking awakened ones'' with a small charge of 5 Sp to gain entry into the dungeon. For D-Rank or above, 5Sp is a chump change, they would be more than happy to pay the amount. And then he convinced her to make him in charge of taking care of that tax. He had to fudge some numbers, and eventually, he was able to gain ess to an amount of SP from which he could give his loyal dogs and him, enough skills that leveling be too easy for them. But he also managed to save some amount, as he had a goal in his mind¡­ With this 2000 SP and the rest of the amount that he had managed to save till now, he could finally buy a thing that he always wanted, the clue to the second world. *** There was an awkward silence between he and Hasan since they have gotten out of the guild, none of them had spoken a word, the giant was not so talkative fellow, to begin with, but he on the other hand was also silent. He knew that man beside him was trying to kill him, so he was trying to maintain a certain distance between them, as well as trying to stay vignt. ording to the giant, he was a loner, just like him, but now he was thinking about whether really he could trust any word that came out of the giant''s mouth. So he was also paying attention to his surroundings, trying to see whether the giant had any friends with him or not. And so far, he had found no one suspicious following them, which was a good sign. As both of them finally made out of the city, he turned towards the giant. "So what is the n?" he asked trying to act natural. "Well, we will first to the sight where you killed the goblins. And see to it whether we could find any marks or footprints there." "Cool Cool cool cool cool¡­ This would be the best way to track those small midgets." "Let''s go now, I will follow you." "Me why?" "What do you mean why? You are the guy who brought me there thest time, so you could bring me back again." "I can but, you are stronger than me. What if we encounter a monster, I could not fight it. So I dont feel safe leading our little team." But getting no reaction from Hasan, Dave realized that he would not be able to back out of this one. He started leading them deeper into the forest while moving, he couldn''t focus on the path, because he was more focused on the giant behind him, he knew that he would try to kill him without a moment''s notice, so he had keep his guard up. Chapter 76 Mission-2

Chapter 76 Mission-2

Dave felt very nervous while walking in front of Hasan, he felt that at any moment an arrow cane flying at his head, killing him. Because of his paranoia, it became too hard to concentrate on the path that they were going. And his negligence eventually got them both lost. But Hasan soon realized that they were off track, and soon pointed out his mistake, thus they change the direction they were going towards, and eventually made it towards the site where he had attacked the goblin¡­ "Can you tell me where in which direction they were heading and where were you when you attacked them?" Hasan asked. While maintaining a safe amount distance from Hasan, he told him everything that he had asked, and soon they realize that the goblins were heading east from their location when they got attacked by him. Thus they started walking in that direction. Hasan insisted they look for more goblin tracks if they could find some around this ce, it would give him a better idea about where these midgets were heading. So, both of them split up and started looking around. He made sure he didn''t lose sight of? Hasan, even for a second, he believed that the giant would sneak on him at any moment in time, and thus will kill him if he got caught off guard, so he was being extra careful with him. Little did he know that Hasan was doing the same thing with him as well¡­ While keeping a lookout for Hasan, Dave eventually came across something. He identally stepped on it, which made a cracking sound that gathered his attention. He kneeled down and found what looked like a small dart. He didn''t pick it up and immediately turned towards Hasan. "Oi! Come look at this." The giant came and when saw the dart on the ground, he was amazed, the giant also bent down to have a better look at what they were dealing with. "Looks like a dart used by goblin hunters" "Goblin hunters?" he asked. "Well goblins have some intelligence, and in bigger tribes, they follow social hierarchy like humans. Some goblins hunt for the tribe, some goblins are gatherers and gather fruits and herbs, and some of them are healers. I dont know much about them, but they all seem to follow a veryplex social structure" "Hmm¡­ So these goblin hunters, are they dangerous?" "I havee across some of them. They are pretty dangerous, they are good at stealth and bows. And they use a pipe and darts like this to hunt." "Do you think that the tribe is near this ce?" While looking around, Hasan nodded. "There is a strong possibility that the tribe is present around her somewhere. Hunters dont tend to go too far while hunting. So keep your eyes peeled, there could be a tribe nearby" Dave then started looking around wearily, he felt more nervous now, because now he had to juggle between keeping an eye on his potential murderer as well as on little midgets who would try to murder him, this whole situation had started turning into fuck fest that he wanted to get out of. They split up once again and started looking around, and in a few minutes, Hasan found some footprints of those green midgets, and then immediately called him to check them out¡­ The giant found a trail of prints, and they were too many, as they all were ovepping each other, which made it difficult for them to keep track, because of which they were not able to tell which print was going in which direction. But seeing the footprint, Hasan couldn''t help but smile. "This is a very good thing that we found this site. Now we know that multiple goblins pass through this particr site. So we just need to make a camp and wait it out. Eventually, they woulde out, then all we need to do is follow them" It was a solid n, thus they went to the side and started making a camp there, Hasan also possessed the three sticks from which they made a camp. These sticks would allow them to keep an eye on the route while being safely away at some distance. Thus after setting up the camp, they sat down under the dome made of sticks and passed the time. The closeness between them was making them nervous, they were on the edge, waiting for the other person to do something, but nothing happened. Soon their patience gave them some results, they started hearing high-pitch-chattering noises soon. They looked up and there they were a group of 7-8 goblins moving from along the trail that they found before. These goblins were all carrying a ton of small animals with them, from rabbits to small squirrels, from what looked like a bat to what looked like some sort of fox, they had a ton of good small animals. The group of goblins didn''t notice them and started heading north from their current position, as soon as the group was out of earshot, they got into action, Hasan took out the sticks from the ground and immediately they started running into the direction where the goblins left. They caught up to the group soon, but they had to maintain some distance from them, their mission was to scout the area and found out how many of these little buggers were hiding around here, not to engage with any of them, that is why they maintained a safe distance from them. While following the little midgets, they eventually came across a big chunk of rock in the middle of the forest, the rock was covered in moss and vines, it looked like it had been there for a very long time. That is why it came as a surprise to them when those midgets entered what looked like a hole in the rock,? hidden behind the vines. Seeing this Dave smiled, they just uncovered the hideout of the goblins. 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