Bob walked slowly to the entrance of the tunnel, making sure no one escaped.
People kept looking at him because he walked strangely, driven by a terrible rush of energy and adrenaline. They continued staring because Bob was the man who had killed the solo Boss. He carried a long, heavy-looking two-handed sword in his hand, and they were scared of him. They couldn't explain it—he looked frightening, but not terrifying enough to paralyze them completely (likely due to the aura emitted by the crown).
When Bob reached the entrance, he took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and flexed his muscles.
Then Bob saw an old man sitting against the wall. That was his first target.
Bob ran toward the old man. The man didn't even have time to react before the sword struck his head. Bob didn't hesitate for a moment.
When the old man was dead, with a hole in his head, a swirl of blood began spinning and heading toward the red gem embedded in the crown.
In about one second, the old man was reduced to just bones and gray skin.
When the people saw this, they panicked and began pushing themselves as far away from Bob as possible.
Bob didn't hesitate for a moment longer. A bloody massacre began, one that would have horrified any normal person.
There was blood and human organs everywhere.
In the middle of it stood a young man, covered in blood, with a ghastly smile.
[+9,050 XP]
[9,500 XP]
[+34,400 coins]
[39,480 coins]
[20 watchers donated coins]
[+2,000 coins]
When Bob saw these notifications, he was in complete ecstasy. He felt like he had just won the jackpot at a casino. And it hadn't even cost him much effort—dealing with the Boss had been harder.
Bob had no mercy for anyone; he even killed children. The only exception was Nina, whom he decided not to kill because she wouldn't yield much XP or coins. Besides, even if they didn't talk much, it wasn't bad to have someone to talk to occasionally.
"Bob, you're the trash of humanity," Bob suddenly heard a voice.
Bob looked around sharply but didn't see anyone else except himself and Nina, who was sitting in the corner.
"Bob, how could you kill so many beings of your own kind?"
Bob heard the voice again and now even felt someone grab his shoulder.
Bob focused hard on the voice and finally recognized it.
"How come I didn't kill you? And why can't I see you?" Bob squeaked.
"Haha, but now you're going to pay for it!" the voice of the skinny dude echoed again.
Bob saw a big black hand start to emerge from the ground, followed by a body and, finally, a head.
The monster had two big black arms that dragged on the ground, two small black legs, and a body that was also black with green liquid-filled craters on it. Its head was shaped like a triangle, with two glowing red eyes as its only features. It was about four meters tall.
What was strange was that it made no sound at all, as though it didn't exist. Even weirder, it looked like a cartoon character brought to life.
"Didn't that fucking Addak say monsters can't come in here?!" Bob cursed in his mind.
Bob took a fighting stance and ran at the monster.
When he was close, he slashed at it with all his strength—but nothing happened. The sword passed through it as if it didn't exist.
Suddenly, Bob heard something behind him and felt a searing pain in his back.
[-50 HP]
[120 HP]
[You got the effect [bleeding]—every second, you lose 1 HP]
Someone had stabbed him in the back, but when he turned, no one was there.
"Head of the family, may I speak?" Remo spoke up.
Bob heard Remo's voice, which surprised him, as he had forgotten Remo existed.
"Yes."
"Hahaha, I finally feel a little freer. Anyway, that guy is using illusions on you."
Bob was taken aback.
"Now that I think about it, it all makes sense."
"But I also have disagreements: creating illusions must be a powerful skill, at least rare-tier."
"The problem is that it must cost a lot of mana, and I don't understand how he could have that much mana. At most, he should be level 3. Or I'm wrong, and the skill consumes very little or no mana, but that would be overpowered."
"Anyway, since I'm just a freshly revealed ghost, my knowledge is limited. I can't tell what's going on with your planet or why, but hey, you've acquired me, so be happy! Hahaha."
Bob closed his eyes because, at this point, he didn't trust them much.
Bob felt something rushing toward him from behind.
Bumm.
There was a loud, forceful impact against the wall. Bob sensed the attack coming, waited for the right moment, and retaliated.
Bob opened his eyes and saw the now-familiar swirl of blood.
[+140 XP]
[9,640 XP]
[+440 coins]
[39,920 coins]
Bob had killed the attacker in one strike, though he found it insulting that the bounty for this guy was the same as for a rabbit, considering how much harder this fight had been.
"Did I gain enough blood to form a core?" Bob asked.
'You only have 34% of the blood needed to form a core,' replied Remo.
"Only?! After all, I've killed so many people!" Bob was both shocked and angry.
'It's true you killed a lot of people, but their blood was trash. You need to kill stronger ones. Haha.'
Bob snorted, pulled himself up, and sat down next to Nina.
He took a moment to think about what he had done in the last 30 minutes.
Then came his favorite part—he opened his stats.