Once upon a time, the eastern region of the Rosso Corsa used to be a place where monsters hunted each other and still lived in harmony. The bloodthirst was there, but not to the extent that they would go on a rampage and exterminate the other party; it was all for the sake of survival.
The forest was red and smelled like blood, but that was how it was in Rosso Corsa, and all the monsters here were familiar with that.
However, for the last 4 days, the monsters of the eastern region of the forest have been on edge; for the last 4 days, every day felt like hell for them. The eastern region was not only reeking more of blood, but that blood scent had death's scent as well.
All the intelligent monsters of the eastern region heard of the duo that was killing monsters while having a fit of lunatic laughter. Some of them had even seen those laughing devils, and after that, they were history. Some who were lucky and escaped spread the tale in horror.
They didn't dare come out of their hiding place after escaping; they would rather die of starvation than face those laughing devils.
The laughing devils were becoming an existence that no monster should encounter in the forest.
And, seeing this type of behaviour from their fellow monsters as well as the decreasing population of their fellow monsters, the monsters of the eastern region were on high alert.
How the fuck did this situation come to this? This was the major question that all the monsters were thinking about. They were hunted in their own territory; this was even more so for the Misavu hyena clan.
The laughing devils who have done all this were currently sitting on a large branch and eating the barbecued meat, laughing, chatting, and checking their gear.
And those laughing devils who were the nightmare of the eastern region right now were none other than Ethyn and Ignis.
Ethyn looked a bit mature from the prior days; she had her natural charming and informative geek energy around her, but she also had an aura around her that told that she was a hunter and not a prey in this bloodthirsty forest.
She had completed her first breakthrough's three phases, which were very painful, but she made it through and then reaped the rewards.
For the last four days, she had killed many monsters. It was so many that she couldn't even keep count and had to check the system points to get some idea. She improved her archery, and now she didn't look like someone who picked this profession four days ago.
The more she shot the arrow from her bow, the more comfortable she became with it. She gained a newfound sense of confidence from this, and her behaviour showed that. And the gear that she wore also told the story of her and Ignis' last four days.
She wore a ring that increased her intellect which increased her mana, and it also had the [Infusion] applied, which gave it the enhanced attribute.
She had a chestplate and boots too, which also had the [Infusion] applied on them and had a much better effect than earlier, but all of these were ordinary-ranked; only the ring was bronze-ranked.
Then also, this was not the greatest gain of their hunt. The greatest gain was in system points and her level.
As she thought about her gains, she glanced at her interface, which became one of her habits.
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Name: Ethyn Rivera
Level 7 (2,300/6,400)
Talent: The Inquisitor
Class: none
HP: 2,300
Mana: 1,475
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Stamina: 31 (+15)
Intellect: 39 (+20)
Strength: 36 (+15)
Defense: 28 (+20)
Vitality: 31 (+15)
Agility: 36 (+20)
Unassigned attribute points: 0
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Skills:
Precision Scream(D+)
Unassigned skill points: 6
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Equipment:
Bow (Ordinary)
Ring (Bronze)
Chestplate (Ordianry)
Boot (Ordinary)
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[System Points: 824]
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Ignis, who sat across from Ethyn, was also very happy about their hunt.
For the last four days, he saw his friend's improvement, from only dealing small damage to one-shotting level 5 monsters and even fighting large packs on her own.
He too gained so much from these battles—level, system points, and an appraisal skill.
They also obtained a large number of weapons that they were unable to use, so they placed them in the trading area for sale. That also provided them with some system points.
The tower ranking system would also open on the seventh day of the forest's survival, which also meant that when they would be going to the second floor of the forest, the ranking system would open, but of course, only Ignis knew this information and all the rest of the players were waiting for it to open.
One thing Ignis continued to do was check to see when he could apply [Infusion] to his title [The Syndicate Liquidator] but till now it had not been successful and as they rested this time he hadn't tried it.
Soon after some rest, he opened his interface and used his talent [Infusion], and this time he was not disappointed.
The moment he saw his talent taking effect and his title shining, he jumped and shouted happily.
The moment Ethyn saw him this happy, she understood that his talent worked for the title that he was working so hard for. She was happy for him and somewhat sad that they hadn't used her talent even once.
Ignis, who had jumped and then stabilised, looked at his interface only to discover that 20,000 experience points had vanished.
'hah! With that many experience points, it is understandable why it did not occur earlier.'
The brightly shining title quickly returned to its original colour.
And when Ignis saw the effect, he was flabbergasted.
Godsmacked!
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Title: The Syndicate Liquidator
Level: 1-30
Effects:
1) Increases all attributes by ten points.
2) Multi-kill grants you and your allies 60% extra experience points.
3)[Dominance] allows you and your two allies to completely negate 50% of your opponent's aura and convert it into your own dominance aura. Your attacks will have this aura in them and cause twice the damage for the next two attacks.
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The word aura itself was a huge shock for him because this is the term usually seen when you have completed your second breakthrough, and monsters who could release auras are all gold ranked and above.
Not only did this give him and these allies the ability to negate the enemy's aura, but they could also use it to cause twice as much damage, which meant all his allies and him could do this, which would be a killer ability.
He told Ethyn the effects of the title and she felt enthusiastic about the effect. Though she didn't know what an aura was, she was happy that multi-kill would give them 60% more experience points.
They soon decided that they would keep moving east, which was the direction they had chosen. It appeared that Ignis was the one to suggest moving east, and as they would keep moving in that direction, they would eventually meet that monster and Leon.
Before going on the hunt again, Ignis checked his interface.
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Name: Ignis
Level: 9 (2,300/25,600)
Talent: Divinity Mark
Class: none
Title: The Syndicate Liquidator
HP: 3,100
Mana: 1,525
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Stamina: 39 (+25)
Intellect: 31 (+30)
Strength: 45 (+10)
Defense: 36 (+40)
Vitality: 37 (+25)
Agility: 42 (+30)
Unassigned attribute points: 0
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Skills:
Stinger (F+)
Appraisal (F+)
Unassigned skill points: 9
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Equipment:
Kusarigama (Ordinary)
Ring (Bronze)
Chestplate (Ordinary)
Boots (Ordinary)
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[System Points: 2305]
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As he completed his check, he said to Ethyn in an excited tone, "Let's go!"
They again kept hunting till sundown and then rested.
On the fifth day, they were close to the area where they would meet the monster and Leon.
'I think they'll reach here tomorrow, so we have plenty of time.' As Ignis thought of this regarding his meeting with his 'saviour', he heard a loud explosion go off in the direction they were headed.
The moment he heard the loud explosion, Ignis' mind first went blank, and he then stared at the direction where the sound came from, and soon a realisation dawned on him: 'Isn't it from the direction of that monster's place? Did Leon and his group arrive this early, or is someone else fighting it? '
As he thought of all this, he had a slight frown on his face.
Ethyn, whose attention was on the explosion's direction, didn't notice this and continued to speak in a monotone, "Isn't that the direction that we were headed to?"
"From the sound of the explosion, it's definitely that someone is fighting."
She then looked towards Ignis, who was also staring in the same direction, and continued to speak, "Should we really continue to move forward ?"
Ignis, who was looking in the explosion's direction, simply nodded and replied, "Let's proceed; if there is any danger, we will turn around right away." As he said the last part, he looked towards Ethyn and again repeated, in a more serious tone, "Any danger, we retreat. okay!"
The one thing current Ignis was not ready to do was put his friend's life in danger.
He didn't want to repeat his past mistakes.
As he again looked in the direction of the explosion, he had a gut feeling that the monster he wanted to defeat alone was somehow different this time, or it was entirely something else.
And soon they reached a close enough distance to observe the situation. They saw a group of players fighting a 5-metre creature, and Ignis used his appraisal skill on the monster from there, and the moment he saw it, he felt a chill run down his spine along with peaches.