"Did you hear that sound?"
"What sound?" I asked, glancing at him.
"Monster roaring sound"
Closing my eyes, I focused on hearing any sounds.
Clank! Clank!
Goar!
"It's coming from there." I pointed in the direction of the noise.
"Should we go and check it?" He asked, uncertain about his choice.
I nodded. "It's dangerous, but if they are tired from the fight, we can rack up some points."
Up until now, we had earned some points by hunting monsters at the same level as us, but with the accumulated points, we can never get into the top 10 rankings. So we need to hunt the students as well to increase points.
"Let's go." We ran towards the sound at a moderate pace, conserving our stamina to face our opponents.
"Hide quickly," I hurriedly said to him, pulling him to the bushes.
"Let's run fast; they must be tired from the fight." Two figures of boys ran in the direction we were planning to go.
"As I thought, there were participants who heard the sound too... Let's follow them."
We tailed them silently and soon found Aaron and Asher engaged in battle. The sight of Asher made my blood boil, a primal urge to kill him rising within me.
Seeing I'm giving a death stare to Asher, and that may alert him, Taren covered my eyes and spoke in a low voice.
"Calm down, Jadel; you're going to alert him."
I took a couple of breaths to calm down, but I still couldn't calm myself, as if someone were urging me to kill him. Suppressing the inner desire, I reassured him.
"Let's watch now; we may get a chance to attack them." He nodded in agreement.
….
"The fuck are they doing? Can't they just ambush them?" I mumbled in frustration as they foolishly revealed themselves. "The fuckers think they can take them down in a head-on confrontation."
Suddenly, one of the boys from the group attacked Asher. "Why didn't he slit his throat? Throwing a knife is so stupid." I shook my head, annoyed.
….
"Mmm… looks like one's story is over," I muttered while watching the fight.
KABOOM!
"W-what's the—the attack is incredibly powerful... and beautiful too." Taren said, mesmerized by the aftermath of the attack.
'I remember reading about this attack in the novel, but seeing it in real life makes it feel unreal.'
"What are you looking at? End your fight, idiot."
I watched Asher's stance, instantly recognizing his next move. Quickly, I took Agathir poison. an odorless and slow poison that weakens the body and makes them incapable of using mana.
"Quickly cover yourself," I ordered Taren as I coated myself with mana. Opening the lid, I manipulated the poison to take the form of a ball and waited for his attack.
BOOM!
I hope it works.' I sent a ball of poison into the wind, making it spread everywhere. Seeing some of them splatter in Aaron and Asher bodies, a small smile appeared on my lips.
"Heuheuheuheuheu" I smiled.
"Don't laugh like that, Jadel; it's disgusting." Taren said, but I didn't pay attention to his comment.
"Now let's wait for that to take effect." I said
"With this, we might stand a chance…probably" Taren said, looking at the departing figures of Aaron and Asher.
"Well, they're one hell of lucky basterds, showering with plot armor."
"Hmm, plot armor?" Taren asked, confused.
"Nothing, let's go. When they die, we will get some points; that's how it works."
"You mean?"
"Contribution points," I said.
"How do you know that?"
"I'm a genius."
"Really?"
"Really." I nodded, keeping my face expressionless. "Let's earn some points."
I took the lead, running towards the destination in my mind. After running for some minutes, we came across a towering blue barrier that stretched into the sky.
"What is that?" Taren asked, staring at the barrier-like wall.
"It's a zone."
"Zone?"
"Yes, a zone; we are inside the zone; as time passes, it will shrink in size. Those who stay outside of the zone will die. Do you get it now why we came?"
He nodded slowly. "You're saying when the zone shrinks, the monster will flee from the barrier-like thing, so as the monster rushes to us, we could attack and kill it. Isn't that dangerous?" he asked in a worried voice.
"Who said we're going to kill every monster?"
"Huh"
"Yes, we will kill the monsters, but we will not tank them. Listen carefully. When the zone starts shrinking, all the monsters will be running away from it, and some of them will even be injured by the zone. So what we need to do is make a single fatal strike that may ensure the monster's death. While they run away from the zone, we will be giving fatal strikes to monsters. Even if they die or don't die, don't think about anything like that. We will keep ourselves safe and deliver fatal strikes to the monster." I explained.
"So you're thinking of killing them with the zone and fleeing monsters? That's a crazy idea." I smiled at him. "But how do you know about this?" My smile stiffened.
"I'm a genius."
"Really?"
"Really"
1000 meters away from the zone, we waited for almost 40 minutes and haven't spotted a single movement in the zone. I saw frustration swelling on Taren's face.
"Are you sure it will start moving?"
"damn sure"
"… Sigh"
After ten more minutes, Taren stood up, clearly fed up.
"It's not m–"
"It's started moving," I said, interrupting as soon as I noticed the zone's movement.
After five more minutes, we saw a monster horde frantically running away from the zone.
"Man, if we fall in that, we will be crushed to death."
"What are you mumbling about? Let's quickly attack them," I urged him.
We ran to the fleeing monster horde. Firmly gripping my dagger, I condensed mana around it.
「Dagger art: Dark Slash」
Slash!
Spinning I slashed another monster behind me.
'I should have bought a sword with me for better reach'
「Dagger art: Dark Slash」
Kcha!
'And I need a proper martial art technique'
"Watch out, Jadel."
"Wh–"
Bam!
I was sent flying by a powerful blow, nearly avoiding being stomped to death. "Cough, cough," coughing blood, I stood up and avoided another blow from a monster.
"Are you okay?" Taren rushed to my side, worry etched in his face. "Should we stop this?"
"No, I was just distracted by my thoughts. Let's continue" Activating the gravity field skill, I rushed toward another monster.
I slashed its neck and immediately targeted another monster.
SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH
'I always trained with a massive horde of training dummies. So I'm confident in my experience.'
With a back flip, I jumped to a monster's back and drove my dagger into his skull. Blood spattered everywhere, and a metallic smell filled the air. Feeling that I got the urge to see more.
Another monster leaped at me.
'Hehe, come at me' catching its paw, I spun around and smashed the monster to the ground. Stabbing its neck, I sliced downward, splitting its body open. Blood spattered, its intestine fell from its body, and I could clearly see a slowly thumping heart. Seeing that, seeing that... seeing that.
'Beautiful... It's so beautiful' I was mesmerized by it. Seeing blood spattering around, I was mesmerized by the beauty. Feeling warm blood on my skin and smelling its aroma, it was so intoxicating that I felt pleasure from it.
Bloodlust oozed out of my body, causing the monsters to paralyze. The weak-willed monsters instantly halted their steps, only to die by the stompings of fleeing monsters.
Feeling strength coursing through my body, I rushed to the center of the monster horde.
"No, Jadel, that's dangerous."
"Heheheh, go to hell, fucker."
"Wha the— How did he became a crazy psychopath suddenly?" Taren muttered in disbelief.
Ignoring his comments, I enjoyed myself in the blood bath. My body slowly accumulated injuries, but I didn't care. Focusing on the incoming monster in front of me, I gripped my dagger. My heart thumped from the excitement as the monster approached me, jaw wide open to bite me.
"Trying to bite me, huh, then pay for the price," as his maw came to my face, I stabbed under it's jaw. Touching the ground with my hand, I kicked its jaw.
Bam! Splatter!
The dagger pierced through its brain, causing the skull to explode. Seeing its brain come out of its head, I felt satisfied.
"behind you"
"I know that idiot." Turning around, I saw my head almost inside the monster's mouth.
CLATTER.
"Woaa, scarryy. You almost ate my head fucker, now pay the price!" grabbing it's neck tightly, I spun around, breaking the bone.
Crack!
"Mmm, Ahh, what a pleasant sound."
"Seriously, that guy is moaning whily killing a monster?" Taren asked himself in disbelief.
"How can you not feel pleasure from killing a monster?" Hearing his words, I asked him.
"Sigh—we have to get moving forward. The zone is shrinking rapidly."
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
"We'll move as the zone approaches us." I said
"No, we can't catch up with the speed we have to move now."
Slash?
"Is that so, then we'll get moving. Bye cu–
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
–ties, Daddy will hunt you next time."
***
***
***
Ding!
[QUEST 1]
'Huh, a quest inside the VR world?' I opened the quest window.
__________________________________
NAME: Sweet revenge (4)
INFORMATION: Take out your hatred by killing Jadel.
REWARDS: +2 Strength
+2 Agility
+3 speed
PENALTY: -4 Strength
-4 agility
-5 Speed
TIME LIMIT: Before the VR battle ends.
__________________________________
"That's good rewards."
"What rewards?" A melodious voice was heard from behind.
"Ahh. It's nothing, something that I will get after killing an annoying fly."
"Annoying fly?" Seeing her innocent eyes, a smile bloomed on my face.
"It's nothing to worry about. We should focus on accumulating points."
"But are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," I said with a smile.
'When did I get poisoned?'