After that, I continued venturing deeper into the forest, hoping to find a lone monster.
That way, I could grant it salvation...
And let it experience the peaceful embrace of death.
After traveling for quite a while, I only encountered powerful monsters or massive groups.
There was no way I was fighting those.
So I avoided them while taking out some dried meat from my space ring, eating it as I walked to keep my hunger at bay.
Eventually, I came across a pack of wolves fighting a Corrupted Beast.
I wasn’t about to let such a wonderful opportunity go to waste.
Without hesitation, I rushed forward and cut down one of the wolves with my sword.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 11 Corrupted Beast.]
[You have gained 200 EXP.]
The remaining wolves immediately noticed me.
However, they were still occupied fighting the Corrupted Beast.
Since they couldn’t focus on both enemies at once, I took advantage of the chaos.
I attacked another injured wolf and killed it before retreating.
The remaining wolves abandoned their fight with the monster and charged straight at me.
As a kind and considerate person...
I turned around and ran.
That way, the Corrupted Beast could surprise them from behind.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 8 Corrupted Beast.]
[You have gained 100 EXP.]
The monster didn’t disappoint me.
That ugly thing managed to kill the leader of the wolf pack.
The remaining wolves immediately scattered in every direction.
Without their leader, they knew they stood no chance.
Unfortunately for the Corrupted Beast...
It was heavily injured as well.
So I mercifully ended its suffering.
Before delivering the final blow, I even offered a sincere prayer.
"Please... in your next life, at least be born looking normal."
"It hurts my eyes just looking at you."
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 13 Corrupted Beast.]
[You have gained 240 EXP.]
After the battle, I activated Devour on the corpses before taking out my dagger and carving out their monster cores.
[Absorbed 0.5 Agility.]
I repeated the process on the remaining corpses.
[Absorbed 1 Vitality.]
[Absorbed 1 Strength.]
[Absorbed 1 Mana.]
After collecting all the monster cores, I suddenly heard footsteps.
I immediately looked toward the sound.
A party of four was approaching.
A swordsman.
A spell caster.
A tank.
And a healer.
A well-balanced team.
The moment they saw the corpses surrounding me, a wide grin spread across the swordsman’s face.
My instincts immediately warned me.
Something wasn’t right.
I tightened my grip around my sword and slowly stepped back.
The swordsman moved in front of me, blocking my path.
"What do you want?" I asked.
He smiled.
"Why are you so nervous?"
"We’re only here to rob you."
"Don’t be afraid."
Yeah, sure.
Go tell that to a donkey dumb enough to believe it.
The swordsman’s grin widened.
"What?"
"You think you can fight all four of us?"
"Don’t be stupid."
His expression suddenly turned cold.
"Hand over everything."
"Your sword."
"Your monster cores."
"Your space ring."
"Hurry up."
"I don’t have all day."
The others laughed behind him.
"Come on, boss."
"Go easy on the kid."
I looked at all four of them.
There was no way I could defeat them head-on.
I desperately searched for a solution.
Nothing came to mind.
Damn it.
Next time I’m putting all my free points into Intelligence.
Maybe then my brain will actually work.
The swordsman noticed my hesitation.
"Don’t even think about trying anything funny."
"Hand everything over and get lost."
"Otherwise..."
"I’ll have no choice but to kill you."
I looked at him hopefully.
"Really?"
"If I give you everything..."
"You’ll let me live?"
He smirked.
"Of course."
"Now be a good kid and hand it over."
I nodded.
I stored my sword inside my space ring before removing the ring from my finger.
Then I slowly walked toward him.
The swordsman smiled even wider.
"See?"
"That wasn’t so hard."
"Now hand me the ring."
I nodded again.
As I reached out with the ring...
My other hand slipped into my pocket.
Before he could react...
I pulled out my dagger and drove it straight into his heart.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
Then...
He collapsed.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 10 Awakened Human.]
[You have gained 180 EXP.]
[Congratulations!]
[Level Up!]
[Level: 6 → 7]
[Reward: 2 Free Attribute Points.]
Without wasting a second, I grabbed the fallen swordsman’s weapon and rushed toward the spell caster.
Before she could cast another spell...
My blade flashed.
Her hand fell to the ground.
I immediately retreated to create some distance.
What a fool.
He actually believed I’d trust someone who wanted to rob me.
The first lesson I learned in the slums...
Never trust anyone.
Not even yourself.
So why would I trust him?
Even someone as magnificent as me doesn’t trust himself.
The healer hurried over to stop the spell caster’s bleeding.
Meanwhile, the tank stepped forward, raising his shield and hammer.
I smiled.
Now...
The battlefield belonged to me.
I charged.
My sword slammed against his shield.
At the same time, I pulled out my second sword from my space ring and blocked the hammer swinging toward me.
So this was the answer.
One sword wasn’t enough.
I needed two.
We exchanged several blows.
They kept shouting insults at me.
I ignored every single one.
At the perfect moment, I crossed both swords, forcing his shield and hammer apart.
Then I condensed a Dark Bullet.
And fired.
The bullet pierced straight through his head.
The tank collapsed.
At almost the same moment, the injured spell caster launched a fireball toward me.
I couldn’t dodge it completely.
The flames burned my shoulder.
But before she could celebrate...
I cut her down.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 9 Awakened Human.]
[You have gained 160 EXP.]
I turned toward the remaining two women.
They were beautiful.
Yeah.
But I didn’t care.
I gripped both swords and rushed forward.
The tank was dead.
They had already lost.
The spell caster had hurt me earlier.
So I made sure she died first.
My blade cut through her without the slightest hesitation.
The healer froze in horror as she watched her companion collapse.
Then she turned and ran.
I calmly raised my hand.
A Dark Bullet condensed at my fingertips.
I fired.
The black projectile pierced the back of her head.
She collapsed without another sound.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 10 Awakened Human.]
[You have gained 180 EXP.]
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 8 Awakened Human.]
[You have gained 140 EXP.]