The mysterious woman's face moved closer to mine and an awkward feeling in the air was forming around us.
"Um... Could you please, not do that?"
"Forgive my actions if they have made you uncomfortable." She immediately retracts her head.
"Still, seeing you once again, feels like a dream, Cho Minhyuk."
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?"
"My identity and how I know you is unnecessary as of now. But there will be time that you will learn about me on your own."
"Please extend your arm towards me and open your palm."
I did as she said, I extended my arm towards her with my palm open. She puts her hand above my palm, and I knew she was going to transfer coins.
"Please spend the amount of coins I give you to make yourself stronger. Never forget that it's not just monsters and humans you'll be fighting. There's more than them."
I suddenly received 1,000 coins from this myserious woman I just met. But there was something suspicious to it, her name should appear when transferring coins, but it didn't.
"I'm grateful, but I think you'll need some as well—"
"Coins are futile to me at this point."
She speaks expressionlessly that I can't tell if she's telling the truth or just good at lying. Maybe I'm just a guy with trust issues.
"Don't die." She said before walking away from me.
I was about to ask her one more question, but once I had blinked my eye, she was gone in an instant.
"I can't believe... The last thing... I'm seeing... is a stupid human... talking with no one..."
Talking with no one? Who is she? Or rather, what was that if it was only me who could see it? If it was only me, surely I don't have any coins—
I checked my system and I had the same exact amount she transferred to me. I also looked at the wolf and the spear of ice was still stuck to his chest.
While the Alpha Wolf was taking his last few breaths while cursing humans, I ignored him as I stood there, completely dumbfounded of what just happened.
A woman, with hair as white as snow. She wasn't old, but about the same age as me disappeared as quick as she arrived.
Something odd about it, she gave off a familiar feeling and connection between us.
But, at the moment, that's the very least of all my worries.
First of all, I have to rejoin with Jiyoon-ssi, and I need to know what kind of monsters I have to face on my way to rejoin with JIyoon-ssi.
On my way, I spent half of the money that mysterious woman gave me. I upgraded my stats, unlocked a few talents, and bought a new sword that should at least pierce through mid-tier armor. I should be able to return with only a few scratches at the most.
Once I had reached the bridge where Jiyoon-ssi and I got separated, I saw a man being chased by a group of bug-like monsters that kind of reminds me of those nasty looking Head Crabs [1] from Half-Life [2], but bigger .
They didn't really scare me, rather, they look disgusting to me.
One of the monsters jumped towards the man and he just smacked it off with a polearm, but the monster uses it as a platform to get closer to the man. I suppose, polearms and bows are quite useless in this kind of situations.
"Hey! Could you help me here?" The man seemed to have noticed me.
He asked in a desperate way, but I didn't know whether I should trust this man or not. Even if I did trust this man, I have no idea how I'm going to fight these things.
"Ask for my help properly."
"Tsk! Help me out here, please?"
So, I pulled out my sword and charged at the monsters to help the man. Perhaps, he might be of any use for me. A bait at some point, at the very least.
The group of monsters also noticed me and their group divided into two groups, each intending to devour us which might be their sole purpose in life.
"Hey, get ready to cross the bridge!"
"What?"
I ran to his side as the group that was chasing me continued and rejoined with the other group.
"Run!!"
We both started running to the other side of the bridge and I activated [ Momentary Shield ] to delay the movement of these monsters while we ran away.
Not what I had expected, but even though I've expended the shield to it's maximum height of 3 meters, they still managed to pile up and pull each other up across the shield.
"Do we jump off the bridge?!" He asked, clearly panicked and couldn't think properly.
"Idiot, if we jump off, they'll catch up to us much faster!"
"Then what are we—"
"That's it!" I cut him off short with a grin on my face before I stopped running.
"Hey, why did you stop running?!"
I deactivated [ Momentary Shield ] and activated it once again between me and the monsters.
Once all of them started piling up again, I used [ Momentary Shield ] to move and push most of them them off the bridge if not all.
My plan actually worked and there were only few that remained that the two of us could finish off at this point.
"You, help me finish the remaining ones and we can rest easy."
"Okay!"
We pulled out our weapons and started fighting the remaining monsters with it.
After we had finished off the remaining ones, we sat down on the road surrounded by the bug-like monsters.
One was next to me and I was curious what I could do with it, so I stared at it for a while that something popped out of my system.
[ Archive unlocked: Juvenile Four-Legged, Headless Spider ]
Juvenile? If they're juvenile and this big already, surely the adult ones must be bigger.
"Hey, why'd you save me?" The man asked which caught my attention.
"Hm? You asked me to help you."
"No, there's a probably different reason why, but I won't pry any further since I owe you a lot. But, what confuses me is why you saved me in this world where everyone might betray you."
"Ah, that. Let's just say, I need companions. You know what I mean? If you have people with you, the survival rates are higher."
"Then, what are you going to do if time comes we have to kill each other?"
"I'm starting to think people are confused between a trial and competition..."
"That's impossible. The trials are just like a test for us. Only twelve are to be chosen in the higher seats, but everyone who survives until the end of all the trials are considered someone who passed, even if not at the higher seats."
"That makes sense."
"Say, what about join me and my other companion? I have another companion, but we're finding each other after being separated.'"
"If I can trust you and if you can trust me, why not? Let's just make sure we won't kill each other if a scenario same as the first would happen."
"Of course."
[1] Head Crabs - Head Crabs are small parasitic creatures about 61 cm (2 ft) tall from the game Half Life.
[2] Half Life - A first-person shooting game developed and published by Valve with challenging puzzles and a storyline.