The ground 150 meters from Jody started to rumble. The members of the Frozen Night cohort all sensed something amiss and distanced themselves instinctively. In the next instant, the ground ruptured and cracked, white flame jetting out in every direction.
[Loot Captured!]
[Imp: You have slain the third-level Vicious Cryptkeeper.]
[Imp: Loot - 3,500 death crystals, 2,500 slaughter crystals, 6,000 earth crystals, 5000 life crystals.]
[Imp: Esoteric knowledge of decay breath flows into your mind...]
Jody's smug face turned to surprise. Decay breath? Was this a breathing technique? A technique that helped the cryptkeeper breathe under the earth? That was intriguing.
There was a sudden noise behind him. Jody turned to see the entire group had finished off their assigned beasts and were moving to help him. A massive earthquake erupted beneath their feet when they stepped onto the ground. It was so powerful it caused a crack to form beneath their feet. They had enough time to react and avoid the crack. They were all stunned by Jody's strength. Jody laughed at the shock on their faces before he turned to make his escape.
But the moment he turned around, he was greeted with a horrifying sight. The ground had opened up, and a giant six-armed beast the size of a hill monster emerged from the ground.
[Imp: You have met the powerful, menacing, fourth-level vicious Monstrous Earth Wyrm. You have been assigned the task of hunting it and completing the two-star hunting task.]
'Hunting Task - Hunt the Monstrous Earth Wyrm.
Difficulty level: 2-star.'
Jody felt like cursing. What was this? A new function? Did he receive a task? What would the rewards be?
The earth trembled with every step of the earthwyrm. The ground split with the slightest touch of the earth wyrm's massive feet. While Jody was still recovering from the shock of the gigantic earthwyrm, Jody's comrades were already moving.
"Young master, fall back now!" commanded Hughes as he rushed over.
The earthwyrm let out a loud roar, and the entire ground shook with fervor.
"Fuck, this is the force of a minor concept!" cursed Rondo as he sensed the vibrations in the ground.
"Josiah..." Sophie screamed.
"Run!!" finished Levi with more passion than her sister for once.
The tremors were fiercer, but would Jody escape and fail his first hunting task?
"Sek!" Jody shouted while squatting in preparation. He burned two more twilight stars without hesitation, summoning his serene lightning bow and corrupted lightning arrow arcana once more.
Two palms burst out from his shadow under his feet, and he used the force to launch himself into the sky. The massive wyrm saw the little roach trying to fly away and bit towards the little snack without mercy. Jody flipped twice in the air while aiming carefully at the fourth-level vicious creature's throat. His companions below had finally caught up, only to be dumbstruck at the turn of events.
Was their young master really some kind of daredevil in a past life?
Jody didn't concern himself with the thoughts of others, as one mistake would turn him into wyrm chow. He focused on his target and fired his arrow.
The earthwyrm had already missed Jody a few times, but it didn't seem to care. The earth wyrm was confident in its might and thought that the little meat before it would never dare shoot at it. It only noticed the tiny human that thought it was so smart when the human was already upon it, aiming for its throat with fiery eyes. That was when the wyrm realized the audacity of the tiny human. The fight for survival was so fierce that the wyrm couldn't even feel fear.
The tiny human thought that it could kill the wyrm?
The wyrm sneered, thinking the tiny human was a fool. The wyrm opened its mouth wide to bite down on the puny human.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out as the corrupted arrow hit the wyrm's throat. The explosion had been so powerful the wyrm's throat had caved in, and it immediately started to bleed and convulse.
[Imp: You have killed the 4th-level Vicious Monstrous Earth Wyrm and completed the two-star hunting task.]
[Imp: Loot captured - 15,000 death crystals, 20,000 life crystals, 10,000 slaughter crystals.]
[Imp: You have obtained a new beast heart template - Earth Wyrm heart.
[Imp: You have unlocked a new feature!]
[Imp: You can now upgrade the wyrm's heart and cultivate the heart of a new beast.]
[New feature unlocked - Twilight Beast Cultivation]
The reward was stunning, but another part of the message captured his attention. Jody was staring at the wyrm's heart prompt.
Item: Twilight Heart Template - Earth Wyrm
Description: Template for producing an earth-dominant heart of twilight. Twilight beasts' eggs are formed from the heart of twilight. Creating new twilight beasts will receive major rewards.
Grade: Heaven
Jody reveled in the imp's prompts as the deceased vicious beast was blasted away from him. He fell slowly without a care.
"Young master, wake up!" cried Levi, not understanding why Lord Trill allowed himself to fall against a tree.
But when the latter disappeared inside a shadow on the surface of the tree, the twins were speechless. Wasn't this too similar to his father? Jody casually walked out from behind Hughes a moment later, startling Rondo, who almost attacked.
"Young master, I didn't expect you to be so powerful!" exclaimed Hughes.
"You are too strong, I was worried you were going to kill yourself!" Rondo exclaimed.
"Hahaha, I only killed a few imps. There is no need to make a big fuss about it. It's not like I'm the first to kill a fourth-level vicious beast!" Jody laughed.
"That's impossible. Only a few of the major powers in the mortal federation can kill a fourth-level vicious beast!" exclaimed Rondo. "You are already stronger than an entire army of mortals."
"Haha, you don't have to believe me, but I'm telling you, I have done it before." Jody laughed again.
The others still doubted his words, so Jody only laughed again. After his recent breakthrough, his mother had already taken him to challenge a fourth-level beast. And he had just had another breakthrough.
The team cleaned up the area and harvested some of the slain creatures before swiftly heading south. There were only two days left before the Young Wolf Celebration Dinner, and the team was about 300 meters away from the secret location of the Trillwolf Villa. As they walked down a hidden forest path, Hughes was in the middle of lecturing Jody about how he should stop provoking powerful beasts. The last beast tide couldn't be blamed on the boy, but his adventurous nature remained a constant threat.
"For instance, that third-level Death Hawk. You actually dared to jump on its back when it dived and missed its attack! This was truly foolish! What kind of idiot taught you that?" berated Hughes.
"Experience," Jody shrugged, as that wasn't his first time mounting an avian beast to kill it.
"Haha, but buddy, didn't he end the fight in a glorious manner? Stomping the Death Hawk flat into lunch meat," laughed Rondo as he patted Hughes' elbow. "A hawk sandwich."
"Keep your bad habits to yourself, Kold. The young master practices the same path as our Frozen Night mistress," replied Hughes. "He will one day shine resplendently."
Jody wasn't really listening to these two at this moment. He was anxiously focused on observing their surroundings. Earlier, while Jody was surveying the surroundings from the branch's vantage point, he noticed some slight movements right outside the range of his perception. It was as if several people were surrounding them under the cover of shadows. Not beasts, but people. This brought the question to his mind: What started the previous beast tide?
Was it as random as Hughes suggested?
After breaking through to the Sophomore rank, the range of Jody's spiritual sense increased to 75 meters when maxed out.
With the augmentation effect of [Pharaoh's Law], his spiritual force would temporarily reach the third level, increasing his perceptive range. This was a change in the quality and depth of perception. It was like going from three-dimensional to four-dimensional. However, Jody felt that one of the experts accompanying him should be able to notice if something was amiss. Perhaps he was being too paranoid…or so he was thinking until Sek Si suddenly appeared in front of him!
Her voiced was urgent and panicked, "Young master, we must hurry and escape!"
"Trippy!" With a thought Jody immediately activated his source artifact to check on his suspicions.
While Hughes and Rondo were quipping with each other, these events didn't go unnoticed by the twins Sophie and Levi. When Sophie saw someone dressed as an assassin appear in front of Jody, she was poised to attack before realizing it was that shadow child, and thus converging her aura that almost surged out. The Frozen Night Master had briefed them of the child shadow assassin that was contracted to the young master, and they had witnessed the teamwork of the youths several times.
Meanwhile, Levi felt the spiritual awareness fluctuations pass by her and was initially shocked, before she glanced at Jody and seemed to have a realization. She immediately sent out her own spiritual awareness.