"It's Miss Tifa," The big man said respectfully. It was obvious that he knew her.
Tifa slapped a piece of paper on the table and said calmly, "Read out the content."
"Yes."
The big man took the paper and coughed lightly. Then, he read out loud, "Miss Tifa has issued a new mission."
"SSS Rank Mission. The reward is 1,000,000 gold coins!"
"The mission is to enter the dark forest together with Miss Tifa."
"The mode of this mission is Employment. During the adventure, you must unconditionally obey Miss Tifa's orders. If you go against her orders, a certain amount of reward will be deducted."
"The requirement of the mission is you must be able to protect yourself. Your strength doesn't have to be outstanding, but you must have unique skills. It's best if you have a few genetic abilities and master elemental power."
...
Emerson's face turned black.
With that requirement, it was obvious that Tifa wanted to employ Emerson as her partner.
"How about it, Emerson Cold? Do you dare to accept the mission?" Tifa looked at him with a provocative gaze.
She was indeed targeting Emerson.
However, it was also a good thing. At the very least, he did not have to worry about what she would do to Lucy while he was away.
"Okay."
Emerson agreed immediately.
A smile appeared on Tifa's face. "You said so. If you go back on your word, I won't give you any gold coins."
Emerson looked at the big man silently. "Bring me a small bottle."
"Ah? Oh..." The big man was stunned for a moment. He quickly reacted and took out a test tube from the cabinet.
Then, Emerson filled the test tube with a drop of his blood.
"50,000 gold coins."
He extended his hand toward Tifa.
Tifa was a little surprised. "How did you know that this mission was issued by me?"
However, Emerson was too lazy to answer her.
Tifa glared at him. "Why? You just accepted my mission. Are you trying to go against the mode of the mission?"
The corner of Emerson's mouth twitched slightly. After a long silence, he said, "Lame."
Tifa smiled and handed a crystal card to Emerson.
"Here! 100,000 gold coins. The extra 50,000 will be the deposit!"
Emerson Cole took the money and walked out without looking back.
"Hey, where are you going?" Tifa chased after Emerson.
"The dark forest."
...
After entering this dangerous place full of mutated creatures for the second time, Emerson, who already had become more powerful, found that he was no longer nervous.
Tifa looked excited. She walked around and looked around, as if she was not seriously at all.
It seemed a bit inaccurate to say that she came to the dark forest to have an adventure.
Perhaps, sightseeing was more appropriate to describe Tifa's behavior.
Emerson did not bother about her. He walked to the place where he had buried the Red-scaled Fire Python's meat and dug them out before putting them into his bag.
His bag enchanted by spatial power. It was an official product of the Indigo Empire. There was nearly 10 cubic meters of space in it, and there was still a lot of spaces after storing his things.
"What's that?" Tifa asked curiously.
"Something that I buried here last time."
Emerson stomped a Ghost-faced Spider that had almost merged with the rotten ground beside her to death with 1 foot as he answered calmly.
Tifa frowned slightly. It was obvious that she was disgusted with such ugly mutated creatures.
"Are all the mutated creatures in the dark forest so disgusting?"
"I don't know."
His answer was so half-hearted that Tifa could not help but hold her breath.
However, they still had a long journey to go. There was plenty of time for Tifa to teach him a lesson.
Tifa made up her mind and led the way. In less than half a day, he brought Emerson to the outer region.
The mutated creatures there basically had a certain sense of territory.
They would occupy a piece of land as their territory.
Compared to most of the mutated creatures in the outermost region, which only had the strength of a tier 9, there were fewer problems to deal with when they were in the outer region. However, it was also more dangerous to wander around the outer region.
The mutated creatures that could occupy a territory in the outer region were all at least tier 8. If they were unlucky, they might even encounter a tier 6 mutated creature.
Not long after, Emerson suddenly took a few steps forward and pulled Tifa, who was still walking, into a hole in a tree nearby.
"What are you doing!"
In the dark, Tifa could feel Emerson's smell and aura. Her face could not help but turn red.
"Shh!"
Emerson placed a finger on her lips to stop her from making any more sounds. He was looking at something carefully.
Thud...
Thud...
Thud...
They heard sounds from afar. It carried an indescribable sense of oppression.
It was death approaching them. Once death found them, there would be only 1 outcome.
Tifa was also stunned. Even with her strength, she could feel her heart pounding. This meant that the mutated creatures approaching them were not something she could deal with.
Fortunately, the voice did not stop. It also meant that the mutated creatures did not notice them and walked into the distance.
After the creatures left, Emerson finally put down his finger.
"What is that?" Tifa stood a little further away and maintained a certain distance from Emerson.
"I don't know."
It was still the same answer. Tifa was so angry that she raised her leg and kicked Emerson. In the end, Emerson was quicker to use his spatial ability to dodge her attack.
Bang!
Tifa kicked the tree, causing her to grimace in pain.
She employed Emerson so that she could bully him, right? Why was she the one who was getting hurt!
"Emerson Cole!"
She yelled, "I'll deduct your reward!"
Emerson observed the surrounding environment and said without turning his head, "My duty is to accompany you, not to be beaten up by you. Even if you are my superior, you don't have the right to change the request at the last minute."
"Alright! Then I'll deduct your money from the content of the request! Just you wait!"
She randomly chose a direction. "Let's go this way!"
"That's the place where the monsters went."
"..."
She pointed in another direction. "Then here!"
"That's the direction where the monsters came from."
"What about here!"
"That's the direction to the central region."
"I don't care! It's an adventure. We can't stay in a safe place forever!"
Tifa glared at Emerson Cole. "We can't go back now!"
However, Emerson Cole did not say anything.
He would be delighted if she could end the mission quicker. With that, he could easily get his hands on the 1,000,000 gold coins.
Unfortunately, Tifa would not let him off so easily.
The 2 of them, one in front of the other, headed to the central region.