novelraw Chapter 54: A Kill Steal
Chapter 54: A Kill Steal
A massive shape burst from the thicket—scales shimmering with a greenish sheen, fangs bared, eyes gleaming with primal malice. A giant serpent, nearly five meters long, uncoiled from the underbrush with a chilling hiss.
[Venomfang Serpent – Lv.50]
A swift and deadly predator that strikes from ambush. Its venom can paralyze and corrode flesh. Highly sensitive to heat and vibration.
Instinctively, I drew my blade and met the serpent’s snapping fangs head-on. Sparks flew as steel clashed against enamel, the venom coating its fangs disturbingly and uncomfortably close to my skin.
But the serpent didn’t stop—its thick tail whipped through the brush, crashing toward me from the side. Damn it!
I raised my buckler just in time to catch the blow, but the sheer force staggered me for a moment. Fortunately, while this was happening, Michelle had leapt to the side, rolling behind a tree as she grabbed an arrow from her quiver. Meanwhile, Boris, always quick to respond, was already charging forward.
“Adamant Flesh: Iron Body!”
With a metallic glint overtaking his skin, Boris took the brunt of the serpent’s next lunge, catching its fangs with his forearm. A sharp screech rang out as the creature's fangs splintered against his hardened skin. Without hesitation, Boris gripped the beast by the neck and slammed it into a tree with a bone-rattling crack.
I dashed in and stabbed my sword into its side. The serpent thrashed wildly, nearly throwing me off balance. Unfortunately, the noise of our battle was enough to alert the monsters in the clearing.
“Maxim! The others!” Michelle shouted, already turning to fire at the corrupted stag and its escorts.
The stag let out a haunting cry, its antlers pulsing with an ominous glow as black projectiles began to coalesce and launch toward us. Around it, the corrupted woodland spirits snarled as they moved toward the source of the commotion.
“Tch… They’re incoming,” I muttered, tightening my grip on my sword.
“Forget stealth!” Boris grinned while still wrestling the serpent. “We kill them all!”
As he said that, he crushed the serpent’s skull in his grasp. A sickening crunch echoed as the massive beast fell limp at his feet, tongue lolling from its shattered jaws. Boris’s strength was impressive as always.
The surrounding trees withered as the black projectiles launched by the stag exploded on impact, their corrupted mana seeping into bark and leaf alike. From the shadows, the corrupted woodland creatures rushed at us. One among them, a shaman, was wielding a crooked wooden staff and began to chant a spell.
I didn’t hesitate and shouted, “Michelle! Focus on the shaman!”
Without me needing to tell her, she was already doing that. With practiced grace, she loosed a frost-tipped arrow that shot across the clearing and struck the shaman in the chest. The creature shrieked in garbled tongues as frost spread rapidly across its robes, limbs, and face—encasing it completely in a shell of ice.
Wow, just how many types of special arrows does Michelle even carry? I found myself wondering. Each one had to cost at least fifty soul coins, which was no small sum. I wouldn’t be surprised if Boris had lent her some funds. He never seemed to spend much on anything as far as I knew.
Suddenly, Boris roared and charged, intercepting a brute. His shoulder struck the monster in the gut like a battering ram, lifting it clean off the ground and slamming it into a tree with such force that the trunk split in two, collapsing with a groan of shattering bark.
Not wanting to be left behind, I dashed ahead, activating Wind Rush to blur across the clearing. Moving like a shadow, I closed the distance and struck before I was even noticed—my blade flashing in a clean arc that severed the enemy’s head in a single swing.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.30].
You have gained 400 EXP.
Another one turned just in time to see me, its eyes widening as it raised a crude stone axe and brought it down in a clumsy arc. But I ducked low and swept its legs with a precise slash. It tumbled, and I followed through with Heavy Stab, skewering it through the throat.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.31].
You have gained 410 EXP.
These monsters were higher-leveled and noticeably smarter than the ones from the previous scenario… Some of them were even wielding weapons, now that I thought about it.
Behind me, Michelle had switched to using her axe to deal with the encroaching enemies. Her movements were fluid and fierce. As her axe glowed blue, she unleashed a skill, likely Timber Draw, and cleaved through the multiple enemies before her in one sweeping hack, splitting them cleanly in two.
“That’s insane…!” I muttered, stunned by the sheer power. Her skill with an axe was in no way inferior to her marksmanship.
At this point, the corrupted stag seemed to realize it was in trouble. Its antlers pulsed again as it began preparing another volley, warping the air with condensed corrupted mana while backing away in an attempt to escape.
“Cover me!” I shouted.
“On it!” Boris responded, grabbing a brute by the wrist mid-swing and hurling it at the stag. The resulting impact disrupted its casting and sent the stag stumbling backward from the brute’s weight, making it unable to escape.
I broke into a sprint as Predator’s Step activated, allowing me to weave past the remaining enemies with ghostlike agility. I closed the distance in seconds and swung my sword, my blade catching the stag’s flank in a clean, powerful slash that sliced deep into its hide. It screamed unnaturally, its screeching wail a far cry from the normal bays of its brethren. It staggered from the blow as blood spilled from the wound.
Just as I was about to finish the stag, Michelle’s arrow struck its heart, piercing clean through. The beast let out a final shriek before collapsing to the ground and dying.
“Hey, that’s a kill steal!” was what I was about to say, but I held my tongue. It didn’t seem intentional, and it wasn’t worth making a fuss over anyway.
Still, its death sent a ripple through the remaining monsters. Some faltered in place, while others shrieked wildly before charging at us in blind rage. Fortunately, we dealt with them quickly, cutting them down one by one until the clearing fell into complete silence.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Brute Lv.44].
You have gained 540 EXP.
You have leveled up.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.31].
You have gained 410 EXP.
Heavy Slash has leveled up.
Your Stamina has increased by 1.
It was definitely getting harder to raise my stats now through physical training and combat. Not only were my attributes higher across the board, but the enemies—while still dangerous—weren’t as tough as those in the fourth scenario, simply because we had grown stronger. More importantly, I was getting close to reaching level forty.
Maximillian Anderson Lv. 37/40 (EXP 726/1,100)
HP: 100%
MP: 42/42
Rank: Bet [2]
Patron God: Istellia (Goddess of Imagination)
Class: Paradox Incarnate
Title: Grovedweller Hunter (3)
Status: Normal
Strength: 104 + 13 | Dexterity: 105 + 5 | Stamina: 71 + 8
Mind: 57 + 5 | Magic Power: 56 + 5 | Luck: 104
Plausibility: 633
Free Attributes: 265
Signature Skill(s): [@!$# Creation], [Fabled Vessel], [Grant Plausibility], [Scenario Manipulation]
Skill(s): [Basic Alchemy Lv.5], [Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat Lv.5], [Basic Neutral Magic Lv.2], [Basic Shield Mastery Lv.4], [Basic Spearmanship Lv.10], [Basic Swordsmanship Lv.10], [Desperate Willpower Lv.5], [Heavy Slash Lv.4], [Heavy Stab Lv.3], [Inspect Eye Lv.2], [Inventory], [Mana Manipulation Lv.3], [Mana Sense Lv.4], [Mental Tolerance Lv.4], [Negotiation Lv.4], [Night Vision], [Pain Tolerance Lv.4], [Poison Resistance Lv.1], [Projectile Defense Lv.1], [Predator’s Step Lv.2], [Wind Rush Lv.3]
Spell(s): {Mana Bullet}
Three more levels, and I would hit the level cap for Bet-rank. Until then, I had no way of knowing the exact prerequisites for class advancement. However, I was pretty certain that the prerequisites for class advancement from Aleph to Bet rank were uniform across all combat classes regardless of rarity. But from Bet-rank to higher, it became progressively harder according to the class rarity.
Considering Paradox Incarnate was a legendary class, I doubted the process would be straightforward and would definitely be among the hardest. It wasn’t a class I had created in my past life, and with my memories still fragmented, I had little to rely on. Any clues about its evolutionary path remained shrouded in fog.
Still, one thing was clear: it wouldn’t be something I could unlock just by killing any higher-level monster, like other classes’ class advancement.
In any case, I didn’t waste any time and cleanly beheaded the fallen stag. No matter how many times I had done this—cutting through flesh, sinew, and bone—I still couldn’t get used to the sensation. The dull resistance, the crunch of vertebrae, the wetness of warm blood… It was disgusting.
I stored the head in my inventory. That made two now.
Michelle approached a second later, wiping blood from her axe with a rag. “Sorry about the kill,” she said. “I saw the opening and just took the shot.”
“It’s fine,” I replied, shrugging. “A clean kill is a clean kill.”
“Still, I’ll let you land the finishing blow on the next one.”
“No need.” I shook my head. “What matters is that we all hit level forty before facing the boss. Speaking of which, what level are you at now?”
“I’m level thirty-six,” she answered.
Thirty-six? Her level was catching up to mine. Then again, she had taken down the most treants during the previous ambush, so it made sense she’d gain experience faster.
As I mulled that over, Boris came striding toward us from the edge of the clearing, brushing off blood and gore from his bare chest. “That’s all of ’em?” he asked.
“Looks like it,” I said. “Let’s move before more show up. We still need to find an altar.”
Without another word, the three of us pressed deeper into the forest. The terrain grew more twisted by the minute—roots snaked across the ground like skeletal fingers, and thick vines hung from the trees, pulsing faintly as if they were alive. The deeper we ventured, the more I felt it: the watchful pressure of something ancient stirring beneath the canopy.
And we were getting closer to it. I could feel it in my bones…