Arthur’s instincts screamed at him, alarming him of the figure’s intent. He pulled on Yuran’s arm and a strike missed his body. Before Arthur could react, Yuran has also pulled a gun and fired it, the bullet trailing past Arthur’s cheek. With a loud thud, a man fell from behind Arthur’s back.

Catching a better view of their assailant, it was a man with a suit that has missed Yuran’s body by a hair’s breadth. Arthur saw the man’s face turn serious his arms started crystalizing, making spears instead of arms.

Arthur used his protection rune out of habit, but it was destroyed by a slash from the man in the suit. Luckily, it bought them enough time to pull some distance from the two.

“Who are you?” Warmth was the furthest from Yuran’s voice, leaking cold killing intent. “Or rather, who sent you?” His mana was surging to his gun.

The man who fell by Yuran’s bullet stood up from the ground, chest wounded by condensed mana. However, it soon began to regenerate visibly, clearly a sign of an ability.

The two men looked at each other when they heard Yuran’s words, nodding to each other before launching themselves at Arthur and Yuran. Seeing words were not working, Arthur took out his dagger. It was then that the two men changed their direction toward Arthur, not regarding Yuran who was retreating.

Yuran has already retreated because he was a gunman, and was also taken by surprise. It seemed their aim wasn’t him, but Arthur himself. He fired several bullets but the crystalized arms blocked them. The other man already closed in on Arthur and sent a punch at his right hand.

Before his fist connected, Arthur dived into the shadows and disappeared, reappearing several meters in the air. He dived down at the two and sent a kick from above, using gravity. His foot connected and the man’s head was struck downward, making him smash to the ground.

It took but a moment for Arthur to use his runes, raising his three of his stats by 5. With his over 70 points of strength and the momentum he gained; the man was struck like that. However, he was a tenacious one as he tried to lift himself right afterward.

‘It’s self-defense, the Temple can’t hold me accountable,’ Arthur raised his dagger after he landed on the ground, readying himself for another round of attacks. The darkness of the night contrasted with his glowing dagger, flickering with a dangerous light.

Bullets flew all over the battlefield, silently tearing the night’s darkness. Arthur felt at ease having such a reliable sharpshooter on his side that he danced around the battlefield with ease, trading several strikes with the man.

Now using his dagger, he was at a clear advantage. Deciding to end it, Arthur prepared himself from the last stretch as he started moving his mana.

“Be careful!” Yuran’s voice came like a thunderclap, startling Arthur to retreat instinctively. He stumbled several steps backward as crystals shot past him, penetrating the wall. Before he could reposition himself, the man with regenerative ability came forward and stretched his hand.

Arthur slashed with his dagger in an attempt to have the man retreat, but his expectations failed him as the man clutched on his dagger even though it penetrated his flesh and struck his bones. The man then tried to take the dagger from Arthur’s hand by force, even at the expense of his mangled hand.

This was the first time Arthur met such an extreme method of fighting, and he realized they were after his dagger. However, he was not about to let it go just because these people wanted it. For the fraction of a second, Arthur used his legacy rune and burned half of his mana. His body became a blur as he punched the man in the stomach, leaving a fist mark on his body.

The man vomited blood and Arthur took the dagger from his hand by force, cutting several of his fingers in the process. He stopped using his legacy rune and his body returned to normal, only fatigued as if he has just run a mile in a second. This was the backlash of him using a fraction of a second from his legacy rune, it was a miracle that he survived last time.

“Shit!” The crystals’ ability user smacked the ground with his hands as a crystal wall appeared between the two parties. Yuran was about to give chase but Arthur felt to the ground exhausted.

“Are you okay?” Yuran asked, concern evident in his voice. Arthur simply nodded and picked himself up with difficulty.

“Sorry for getting you involved,”

“No, it’s okay. Why were they after you though? They even disregarded me to attack you.” Yuran placed Arthur’s arm around his neck as he lifted him. He started walking away from the alley, not worried about the fleeing assailants since one of them was badly injured.

“I think I have some idea, but I don’t know who sent them.” Arthur breathed heavily as he tried to trace back his enemies. However, none of them explained why they were after his dagger.

“Let me try something.” Yuran stopped and closed his eyes. With bright blue color glowing, mana spread from his body around the two. The mana kept changing in thickness until a resonance occurred from Arthur’s pocket. The two looked at it and Arthur took what was inside. It was the card Tyrin has given him earlier, it was glowing brightly.

“It seemed they tracked you through this.”

***

The next day, Arthur woke up feeling better than yesterday. Yuran gave him a potion and he also used his Heal rune to heal his body, so he was a lot better. He picked his backpack, preparing for a journey to the mountain range. He would spend several days there exploring and hunting to get stronger.

After last night’s incident, Arthur realized how two-faced people were. Tyrin tracked him down and sent people to steal his dagger, clearly being able to recognize its worth. Arthur has been too careless in showing it off, and he was caught by an expert. It seems he wanted to steal it for himself after witnessing Arthur using it to kill middle-mid-tier monsters with ease.

“Payback is a must, but for now I need to get stronger.” Arthur fastened his backpack with some items and supplies before leaving home. He boarded the train and arrived at the familiar mountain range shortly after, smelling the fresh scent of the wilderness.

Sprinting directly toward the pub, Arthur enjoyed the familiar but a lot less dangerous scenery that he lived through in the trial. After a few short moments, he took Kira from the pub and headed deeper into the mountain range, passing the spot Erin’s camp was located in the trial.

Primitive creatures were of no use to him, so Arthur mainly fed them to Kira after killing them. The young wolf started getting stronger and eating more as he did. Arthur smiled with satisfaction as he saw it grow a bit by bit, and he vowed to take care of it.

Following him like a duckling following its mother, Kira was growing attached to him because he protected it and helped it evolve. Arthur was amused by how their roles reversed, chuckling slightly as he enjoyed the companionship of the young wolf.

Going deeper into the mountain range, the scenery began to change. Instead of a tower in the middle, there was a giant valley between the mountain that hosted a forest and a stream coming from the lake.

The monsters started getting stronger and stronger until Arthur found a group of low-mid-tiered monsters. They were goblins patrolling the area, and this signified a major clue for Arthur.

A goblin village was nearby.

Goblins weren’t intelligent, as they weren’t capable of speech or difficult tasks. However, they were blessed by the fine ability to make and use simple weapons along with their numbers, allowing them to thrive.

Arthur decided his next target for the next couple of days, as he prepared himself to attack the group of goblins. It was then that a giant snake darted from the tree toward one of the goblins, breaking its leg as it twisted around it.