-CHIIIII

A high-pitched sound kept ringing in my ears while I tried to push myself up.

My center of balance was off, which made standing even more difficult.

Finally, after 4th try, I succeeded.

Amid my attempts, the blood boar was going insane and smashing into every tree.

A wooden stick sticking out of its right eye was the reason for its frenzy.

GRAUUU-!

Finally, only a few trees behind me were left.

The blood boar glared hatefully at me and screamed again. This time, it didn"t rush at me hastily and kept glaring at me.

I couldn"t help but close my eyes.

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What did I do to deserve this?

Fighting a dangerous beast on the first day, escaping something that could kill me with a push, meeting backstabbing teammates, and now fighting a beast that was way above my level.

Every next thing that happened was worse than before.

Don"t those "Extras" always get their cheat easily and later become overpowered?

Should I blame my luck or should I blame myself for having hope?

"...Hehehe"

Do or die, is it?

But the bracelet will make sure I won"t die.

Then it"s fine, isn"t it?

"I need to be there when those guys receive my gift."

With a snap, I opened my eyes, and I bolted to the blood boars.

"It"s can"t see on its right side."

With its maw opened wide, it also charged toward me.

Only 50 feet were left in between us when I used my dimensional ring.

I threw the Greenhorn rabbit"s corpse towards the boar"s only functional eye.

Having lost one eye before, the fear of pain made it dodge the shaft.

At that moment, the gap between us finally closed.

I didn"t roll and directly slid underneath it!

As its forelegs pa.s.sed behind me, I clutched its thick hide.

I clung to it as it crashed into a tree.

It rolled its body to shake me off.

Timing my jump when its belly was facing toward the sky, I jumped towards its blind spot.

I now stood just out of the boar"s range.

Before the boar could completely stand, I started circulating my Aura.

I tensed my calves as I got ready to rush towards its head in one go.

I threw the rabbit"s corpse that appeared in my hand on the boar"s other side.

THUMP-! CRACK-!

The moment the corpse fell, I leaped from its blind spot.

The boar reacted to the sound and swing its tusk to the ....right side!

But it only hit empty air!

Jumping down the tree, I punched the shaft of the spear.

PUCHI-!

The spear moved furtherer and punctured its brain.

THUD-!

The boar fell before it could even stand.

"Cough..cough.."

I continued lying while something warm was covering my mouth.

"It"s dead, right?"

[Congratulations, you have killed a Lvl. 11...….]

[...….]

[...]

[…]

Several notifications popped in front of my eyes, signifying the end of the fight.

"I should rest a little before meeting them."

I closed my eyes to take a little nap.

***

[Time Remaining: 54:49:10]

"Where the h.e.l.l did these come from?" Ryan shouted as he fended against two beasts.

His pale figure was illuminated by the burning trees.

His clothes were tattered, and he was bleeding all over his body. Behind him, Lark was standing while raising his wand, creating a transparent barrier around them.

But the barrier kept flickering in and out of existence as Lark"s mana reserves kept dwindling.

They had taken a short rest after the horde dispersed before moving again. As they were walking towards the guardian cliff, they were suddenly ambushed by a group of beasts.

Lark was feeling miserable as he chanted a spell.

"Why did it have to be shadow foxes?"

Unlike Ryan, Lark knew about them.

He had ordered Ryan to not kill a single beast as they fled.

But no matter how far back they ran, shadow foxes continued chasing after them.

Unsurprisingly, Lark didn"t have Ryan"s level of stamina. So, they had no choice but to engage the shadow foxes.

CLANG-!

On their feet were 7 corpses of shadow foxes, leaving only two alive.

But Ryan and Lark were also on their last leg.

Lark was barely managing to stand by supporting himself with his wand. While Ryan was struggling to even lift his sword.

Dealing with almost 10 beasts at the same time was too much for them

"Lark do it. Prepare the spell...And you better not try to trick me." Ryan shouted towards Lark.

Lark didn"t say anything, but a grimoire appeared in his hands.

Immediately after, the barrier disappeared, and he started chanting a new spell.

"Haa!!"

Ryan shouted at the top of his lungs and dashed forward.

He had not even taken five steps when a shadow appeared behind him and almost bit his neck.

Still, he did not falter and swung his greatsword towards the back.

Before his attack had even connected, a tail appeared and slashed towards his legs!

SWISH-! SWISH-!

Two trails of blood spilled into the air.

THUD-!

A shadow fox corpse fell.

"Urghh…"

Ryan groaned as he grabbed the tail which had penetrated through his calves.

He had sacrificed his left leg to kill one shadow fox and capture another!

"Lark! Hurry!"

? The shadow fox tried to shake him off, but he persisted nonetheless.

"..come to me. Wind Slas-Arghh!!!"

Lark wailed as his thigh was suddenly pierced.

Ryan lost all hope when he thought of the possibility of another shadow fox. But something entirely unexpected happened.

"h.e.l.lo, Ryan."

Nathan was waving his hand while holding a spear with another hand.

"Did you guys miss me? Because I really missed you gu-"

"Arghhh, help me! Help me! HELP ME YOU b.a.s.t.a.r.d RY-ARGHH"

"You know, I hate that habit of yours. Do you have some kind of fetish to cut off others when they are speaking?"

Nathan didn"t stop twisting the spear as he spoke. Tears spilled from Lark"s eyes, but this time he kept his mouth shut.

"H-How?"

Ryan could barely voice out anything due to exhaustion. Yet he was still not letting the shadow fox go.

"Here"

Nathan didn"t answer him and threw a broken spear toward him.

Nathan then pulled the spear from Lark"s leg and placed it on his neck.

His meaning was clear. "Kill the shadow fox or he is eliminated."

Ryan gritted his teeth as he caught the spear.

From Lark"s earlier explanation, he knew that shadow foxes would chase anyone who kills their brethren.

Ryan didn"t know how Nathan was here, but he knew he couldn"t let Nathan control the flow.

"You will eliminate us either way. So, why don"t I let this shadow fox escape and it will eliminate both of us?"

Nathan ignored his unruly tone and spoke in a tone similar to Lark.

"You seem to be misunderstanding something. Why do you think the shadow foxes didn"t attack me and only you when you guys used "Flame Blaze"?"

Ryan"s eyes shook.

From his words Nathan really had been here since the beginning!

"This is why you shouldn"t accept anything from strangers."

Ryan couldn"t remember anything that Nathan gav- no, there was one. The cores!

"You gave us Shadow fox cores!"

Ryan had been acting like he wasn"t listening when, in fact, he was always paying attention to Lark and Nathan"s conversation.

This was why he quickly remembered that Nathan was injured while fleeing from guardian cliff.

But the only beast that roamed in this area at night were Shadow foxes!

"Gulp…"

Ryan realized that Nathan was the reason that the shadow foxes continued chasing them.

"We would have been safe if we had gone in any other direction…."

Ryan"s scalp went numb, and he felt gooseb.u.mps all over him.

The reason they came in this direction was that Nathan had said his friend was here.

Ryan couldn"t believe what he was thinking.

Nathan had told them about his friend on the same day they met.

"Since when we had been dancing on his palms?"

Ryan shuddered as he looked back at things.

His own thoughts felt far-fetched to him. But everything was too perfect to be a coincidence.

Nathan telling them he didn"t knew beast that attacked him. His friend being near the guardian cliff. Him giving them cores saying his acc.u.mulation rate was low.

The only thing that didn"t fit was how Nathan was planning to escape when the shadow foxes attacked them.

But the answer he thought of felt even more absurd.

They hadn"t used Nathan as the bait on the second day because they needed to gather information about the surrounding territories.

Then what about the third day?

For a stampede, they needed to kill boars in a very large area. So having as many members as possible was the best.

Whose idea was stampede?

It was Nathan"s.

"He found a way to delay getting backstabbed. While also getting exp, points, and a way to escape."

If Nathan had tried running during stampede could they have stopped him?

Ryan wasn"t sure. The only reason they were able to catch Nathan was because they had moved first. If Nathan had moved first he could have surely fled in the middle of that chaos.

Like puppets they had been moving as Nathan wanted them to.

The calm smile Nathan had since beginning started distorting in his mind. The smile didn"t feel friendly like before, but a devil wearing human skin.

Everything was so absurd that Ryan started laughing.

"Hey, will you answer my three questions? Don"t worry, I"ll kill the shadow fox, regardless."

Saying so, he killed the shadow fox.

"It will depend, but shoot."

"Why did you think-no, How did you know we would backstab you? Why didn"t you escape during the night shift? And….why did you save me?"

"As expected of him, he already figured out almost everything."

Ryan was the reason Nathan had to use such a roundabout way.

Nathan decided to answer Ryan. The answers weren"t complicated, anyway.

He raised his first finger.

"Your points and you knew about the bracelet"s safety function. You used someone as bait on the first day."

Their points were indeed too high for a single day.

Thinking about the bracelet, a wry smile appeared on Ryan"s face.

Nathan had talked about it when they were planning the stampede. The timing and the absurdity of the plan made them forget that this fact was never told, and they had agreed that the bracelet was their safety net.

Nathan then raised his second finger.

"Points and exp."

Ryan stupidly nod his head. He still couldn"t wrap his head around the fact that someone insane like Nathan could exist.

But the next thing Nathan said made him doubt his ears.

Nathan raised his middle finger and grinned.

"Give me your sword."

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