Alvin breathed rapidly as he looked at the massive number of monsters before him. Blowing up the tunnel had been a good idea—it had already gotten rid of hundreds of them. But there were still so many left.
At the moment, he held seven small bombs in his hand—enough to turn this place into ruins. The corners of his lips curled into a wicked smile. He pulled his arm back and hurled one of the orange spheres toward one of the creatures.
The monster caught it, its black eyes closely watching Alvin's body. Over the past few hours, Alvin had believed the monsters stared at hunters for a long time as a form of psychological pressure. But he had been wrong.
Vantor creatures stared at their victims for extended periods to make sure they would be good hosts for their eggs. That's why they ignored the younger hunters and focused more on the experienced ones.
The monster squeezed the orange sphere in its hand, thinking it was just a stone. Within seconds, the entire place began to collapse. Alvin used his speed to flee before he, too, ended up as nothing more than a shredded corpse.
On his way, he stepped over many young monsters, hunters' corpses, and beasts. From a distance, he saw Milena unconscious, and several meters away, Meryl as well.
Alvin stopped for a moment to toss another bomb before running back toward the two girls. And even though the tunnel was collapsing, the ceiling giving way, and the supporting pillars crumbling, he didn't stop throwing bomb after bomb, determined to bury these creatures beneath the soil of this land.
He glanced at the metal chain around Meryl for a moment while carrying Elena on his shoulder, immediately recognizing it. He had seen it in the shop before. Fortunately for Meryl, the chain had stopped emitting the barrier; otherwise, he would have had to leave her there and move on.
He grabbed Meryl by the waist, letting her body dangle from either side, and with his other hand, he took hold of the metal chain. Then, he ran toward the nearest stairs leading upward. Once he reached the top, he paused to catch his breath after running for so long.
He laid the two girls on the ground before turning to look down the tunnel. There were a number of monsters standing there, ready to attack him immediately.
Alvin smiled at them again, a wicked smile that reflected the evil in his heart. In his hand were two bombs, and Alvin didn't hesitate to throw them toward the monsters.
"Go to hell!" Alvin shouted, laughing loudly. He was happy… the feeling of bloodshed, of killing others… Alvin had been intensely experiencing these emotions in the past few days due to these events.
However, he couldn't fully enjoy these feelings because of his fear that Elena might get hurt. He was scared of focusing too much on the killing, only for Elena to die because of his neglect.
Now, with Elena beside him, and safe… Alvin couldn't help but enjoy the memory of every monster he had killed, the heads he had severed, or the monsters whose limbs he had deliberately cut off just to watch them try to flee from him.
[You deserve for me to donate my money to you!]
A message from 'The Romantic Pirate' in the public chat.
{"The Romantic Pirate" donated 500 coins.}
[It's not the best scene I've seen, but it's okay!]
Message from 'The Chatty Ant' in the public chat.
{"Salmon Fish" donated 10 coins.}
{"Salty Marshmallow" donated 1000 coins.}
{"Ant Leader" donated 270 coins.}
And dozens of other donations, yet Alvin's eyes didn't glance at any of them. He was still kneeling in place, laughing loudly at every monster he had killed.
There were so many hunters, hundreds, or perhaps thousands. Anyone who happened to see Alvin in this scene felt a little fear toward him. From their perspective, he appeared to be a young man who had lost his mind.
__________
There were still many days left before the announcement of the first Crystal Site. Alvin left Meryl and Elena on the couch in Elena's house and walked toward the bedroom.
The last time he saw this house was before he traveled to the city of Sirinthia to become one of its residents. It had been 27 years, yet the house, the furniture, and everything else were exactly as Alvin had left it before he departed.
Even after 27 years of his absence, Elena hadn't changed a thing in this house. A small room with a bed and a wardrobe, and other pieces of furniture that Alvin didn't bother to look at.
He opened the wardrobe and looked at the clothes hanging one by one. Alvin smiled sarcastically when he saw that she still maintained her taste—pants and shirts, all black.
It seems Elena is still in mourning over that person's death…
He sighed in annoyance at her behavior, which he considered foolish and stupid. He tossed the shirt from his hand onto the bed and left the room, heading toward the living room.
He sat on the single sofa, bored. He wasn't used to sitting and doing nothing. In the city of Sirinthia, he had been constantly busy, to the point where he only slept four or five hours a day.
He worked and studied all the time, not for the praise and admiration of the scholars and thinkers there, no. Alvin never cared about them or their opinions. He only wanted to graduate from the city with an honors degree in technology and return here, to spend the rest of his life with Elena.
And kill a few people here and there, as a form of entertainment and amusement.
He sighed as he opened the 'Main Abilities' tab, revealing another tab that displayed the number of experience points he had. They were in the thousands!
This time, he wasn't confused. He maxed out the ability points to the highest allowed. They became as follows:
Strength: 8
Speed: 8
Intelligence: 8
Endurance: 8
Senses: 8
Healing Ability: 8
- [You seem happy.]
"I have thousands of experience points. Once the next levels open up, I'll raise my ability points," Alvin replied with a small, happy smile.
- [You can't. When the next stage begins, your experience points will reset to zero.]
"This…" Alvin yelled in anger, but quickly caught himself and fell silent to avoid waking Elena. He continued in a whisper, "This isn't fair! I've worked so hard to earn all these points!"
- [What hard work are you talking about? You bought bombs with my money and threw them at the monsters.]
- [In my long life, I've seen many rude people. But none of them reach your level of rudeness.]
- "Even if we say what you're saying is true. Buying the bombs was exhausting."
- [Are you mocking yourself or me?]
- [I'm the one who told you about the bombs and which section of the store they're in. I also paid you the money. You just pressed some buttons!]
Alvin sighed in annoyance before saying, "Well, my fingers are tired from pressing the buttons!"
- [You can talk for a whole year, as long as you don't admit you're wrong!]
- [Just drop your ridiculous pride and say I'm right.]
Writing in progress...
{The conversation has been closed.}
Alvin breathed a sigh of relief after closing the conversation in Mr. Pie's face.
Admitting he was wrong? Alvin didn't see himself as being wrong, and all his actions and words were honest—from his perspective.
He sat near the sleeping Elena and moved some strands of hair that were covering her face. He studied her tired features, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.
He smiled sarcastically upon noticing that the dark circles were barely visible because of Elena's dark skin. He leaned his head closer to inhale her hair, but immediately pulled back with a grimace due to the foul smell.
Well, this shouldn't be strange for a hunter who fought monsters and was covered in blood. But, for some reason—even Alvin himself didn't know why—he had expected a better scent.
Elena suddenly opened her eyes in panic, quickly getting up to find Alvin close to her, staring at her with calm eyes. She broke their eye contact to assess their current location... She was in her house!
As she looked around, her eyes landed on Mireille, who was lying on the floor in an uncomfortable position.
She lifted her head to glare at Alvin with annoyance for a moment before pulling her leg and kicking him away from the couch, her angry expression clearly telling him that she could kill him at any moment.
"Mireille?" Elena called out in fear, gently shaking Mireille to wake her. Alvin, who wasn't happy with the rough treatment, sat back down on the couch in silence while feeling the spot where he was kicked on his backside, trying to ease the pain a little.
Mireille slowly opened her eyes, a heavy sense of fatigue and exhaustion weighing down on her body. "Elena?" she whispered in a barely audible voice. Elena pulled her into a hug, saying worriedly, "Oh my God, I thought you weren't going to wake up again!"
"I'm fine," Mireille whispered weakly. There was unbearable pain in her head, and her body felt so heavy! She went back to lying down as Elena placed a pillow under her head.
With difficulty, Mireille moved her fingers to type a message to Mr. Elior, writing: "Sir, I feel like my soul is trying to leave my body! What is happening to me?"