Groan

Novus struggled to open his eyes. When he finally did and saw daylight, he squirmed like a vampire.

Who turned on the suns?

Novus relied on his sense of touch to resume inching his way out of the tunnel. Finally, after a few dirty scrapes and some light cursing, Novus was outside, laying against the grassy den exterior. For a moment, he had a chance to breathe.

Then, with squinting eyes, Novus made out the word boxes that didn’t hesitate to disturb him.

You have defeated Lesser Kitsune, Favur in battle by yourself and earned the title Named Monster Slayer. Would you like to register your name in the achievement announcement?

Huh?

Novus went to swipe away the message but accidentally pressed it. Instead of the word box vanishing, a short description appeared.

Named Monster Slayer

You’ve braved fighting against a monster that was powerful enough to overwhelm you and defeated it alone.

Rank: Black Iron (Growth, High Tier)

Effect: When fighting against a higher-rank monster, base attributes increase slightly.

The title was the lowest rank but seemed practical compared to no boost. Plus, it looked like Novus could upgrade the title.

Before Novus could think about it, more word boxes covered the previous ones.

The body of Lesser Kitsune, Favur, cannot be retrieved. Reward items will be automatically sent to your inventory. Items obtained: Lesser Kitsune Hide x1, Lesser Kitsune Fang x4, Lesser Kitsune Tail x2.

Hesitantly, Novus pressed on the last word box.

Lesser Kitsune Tail

The magically imbued fox tail of a lesser kitsune. It is a suitable material for many black iron novices wishing to train their skills to the next rank.

Rank: Iron (Low Tier) – Pristine Quality

The other lesser kitsune parts were of similar rank, quality and, quite frankly, description. Befitting a named monster, the reward material for defeating Favur was ranked above the black iron rank junk that most players had encountered.

Novus quickly dumped all the reward contents into his inventory and viewed the last few word boxes.

Congratulations! You have levelled up! Health and Mana have been fully restored. Congratulations! The ability Player’s Body has levelled up. ??? hums in delight.

What is going on? Where did the kitsune go? Did I fight them in my sleep?

Novus’ unanswerable confusion only grew with each passing moment. So, he tried to think chronologically.

Favur, which was the strange kitsune, had put him to sleep with a venom laced on her teeth. When he woke up, most of the drowsiness had faded immediately—likely from the level up—and now he was suddenly gaining experience and items.

Novus’ brows creased at the lack of answers. But then, his confusion turned into frustration.

Would you like to announce—

“NO! I’ll remain anonymous!”

Novus’ breath released as he thought of the crazy players. Based on Percival alone, they all seemed a screw loose and a couple of bolts short.

“The least amount of contact with them, the better.”

Suddenly, a shadow blotted out the sun. Novus closed his eyes and held them closed for a few seconds. Then, sure enough, a voice entered Novus’ ears.

“What are you doing around here? Where’s the kitsune?”

Sigh. What are the odds?

Novus’ eyes burned as he looked up. Mostly in anger. Then, the familiar outline of Novus’ Crimson Aura formed around him.

Pointed at his forehead was a bony spear tip, held by a man who Novus had never met.

“Really? A spear?”

Wait, didn’t Percival say something about losing a horned spear?

Novus looked closer at the man, which prompted the skill Identify to activate. But apparently, Novus hadn’t levelled it up enough as the scared look on the man’s hooded face turned into disgust at the skill pulling information from all over him.

The man backed up with a quick slicing motion and nearly took off Novus’ head. Novus ducked before the man had started the movement but barely managed to get out of the way.

What’s he doing waving around a spear like that?

Novus sprung to his feet mid-dodge and pulled up the results of his Identify skill.

Cain

Level: 6 (34%)

Active Title: Bloodthirst

Race: Human

Class: Beginner Adventurer

Alignment: Neutral

Body Aspect: Black Iron 35

Mind Aspect: Black Iron 46

Soul Aspect: Black Iron 29

Skills: N/A

Abilities:

Identify Lv.???, Weapon Mastery Lv.???, Spear Mastery Lv.???, Dashing Step Lv.???

Shit.

Novus ducked as the spear tip came close to hitting his nose. Then, with a light kick, one of the hands holding the spear was knocked loose, allowing Novus to unsheathe his rusty sword and slash.

Tang!

Despite losing half a grip on the spear, the black-haired man, Cain, still managed to raise shin guards that looked particularly metallic. And, based on the feedback from the rusty sword, it wasn’t cheap metal either.

He’s adapting rather well—kind of. Oh dear, I take it back. Why would you charge with a spear that long?

Novus silently evaluated the black-haired man, who rapidly stepped closer to him.

Well, if he’s going to make it easy for me.

Novus’ wrist curved along the spear’s length and deflected it. Then, with a violent thump of the flat blade of his sword, Novus nearly took out Cain’s other hand.

Oh, it’s a feint.

Novus scanned his vicinity with Divine Sense and felt a sword sail towards his back. Thankfully, Novus had diligently used his Divine Sense once he recognized a potential enemy. With a light backflip, the swordsman hit nothing but the ground and nearly tumbled into Cain like an idiot.

Next was an arrow that Novus didn’t manage to dodge. That one hurt and got lodged partway through his arm.

Thankfully, there was a squishy swordsman user not too far behind that Novus was able to vent on. Novus broke off the arrow tip with a grunt. Then, with a slash at the ankle, the swordsman, who Novus now realized had a shield, was brought to one knee and close to having their throat slashed open.

“Stop!”

Cain hollered.

Novus smiled.

Slice.

Novus’ rusty sword sleeked across the swordsman’s throat, and a garbling thud let everyone in the area know they were dead.

The arrows stopped, likely from the shock of their companion having their throat sliced open and Novus’ face slowly shrunk to neutral as he thought of his options. Meanwhile, Cain’s face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning. Such burning fervor in his eyes offput Novus.

Why does this kid seem happy his companion just died?

As another arrow launched toward him from behind, Novus didn’t have much time to think. This time, the arrow didn’t find any flesh to dig into as Novus parried it with his sword.

“That’s not possible!”

A feminine voice rang out that Novus figured was the archer.

“Oh, but it is!”

With a gleeful shout, Cain charged toward Novus. At first, the charge seemed normal. But then, an abrupt shift in speed tore a hole in Novus’ clothing and side.

Tch.

Must be the Dashing Step skill.

Novus attempted to close the distance. After all, his sword only reached so long compared to Cain’s spear. However, Cain seemed to figure out Novus’ range and swept the spear low before stabbing out as Novus dodged.

Novus stepped back from both attacks, then promptly parried one of the arrows aimed at his back.

“Just die already!”

As Cain’s spear tried to target his head, Novus’ head bobbed left and right. Then, the target suddenly switched to his legs with a downwards slash.

His movements are getting more confident… I think he’s using me as a sharpening stone. No wonder he’s got that god-awful smile plastered on his face.

Novus hated the genius types. They always came out with some power at the last moment to try and beat you. Either that or they learn something new on the fly that ultimately triumphs all your efforts.

That’s enough then—no need to drag this on any longer.

Right at that moment, the light twang of a bowstring sounded out. Novus’ Divine Sense shot out and traced the arc of the arrow.

Perfect.

In unison, the spear tip stabbed out towards Novus as the arrow flew towards his upper back. If Novus stood still, he’d be pierced from both sides. So, Novus moved.

Novus’ free hand snaked out, wrapped around Cain’s extended spear pole, and pulled just enough to make Cain step forward. At the same time, Novus stepped and ducked in a direction that turned the arrow headed for his heart into an arrow directed for Cain’s foot.

The arrow lodged itself into Cain’s leather boot, making him cry out in pain. He had never felt anything painful like this, not even when the vampire raccoon had scratched him up so bad. How did Novus inflict so much pain? It felt like an actual arrow had pierced his foot. But, weren’t the game’s pain sensitivity functions supposed to dull that down to nearly nothing?

Unfortunately, Cain had met the glitch named Novus.

Whatever it was about Novus made the system ineffective, which proved all too real to Cain as Novus stabbed a carving knife into his other foot.

Another arrow quickly launched towards Novus’ arm but missed entirely as the archer had done what no beginner archer should do: get in closer.

“Cain!”

Novus recognized the woman as the one that had left the fox dens earlier in the night. Her dark lime-green hair was hard to miss.

Novus slashed his sword down into Cain’s neck, ending the battle with most of the melee users.

Thud.

Novus pulled out his rusty sword.

Tink!

Novus momentarily looked at the snapped blade but didn’t stop to gawk while a panicking archer was nearby.

“Stop! No!”

Novus internally scoffed. Would someone really stop attacking at a moment like this?

With a few swings of his broken sword, Novus succeeded in snapping the archer’s bowstring. From there, the battle was as easy as slash, stab, kill. Even with a broken sword.

Ack!

The archer’s glittering corpse disappeared alongside the others as Novus plopped back down on the ground.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

Novus sent out another Divine Sense scan, finally letting his anxious mind and body relax at the lack of any hostiles.

Whew.

Chuckle.

“Cocky kids.”