“Wait…”

Kaizen heard the woman’s soft voice, stopped, looked around, and after seeing no one else around, asked her:

“Did you talk with me?”

His eyes immediately fixed on her swollen and badly injured ankle. Clearly, she had been stung by a Moss Scorpion.

Despite this, Kaizen felt this woman was stronger than he was and didn’t even need to use the <Analyzer Eye> to know that. He saw how she fought against the gray wolves.

Possibly, she just couldn’t dodge the dozens of quick attacks from the little scorpions, which was understandable because if Kaizen couldn’t hold them in the air or on the ground, he couldn’t dodge them all at first, either.

At this point, she had a wound that looked very serious. She was clearly a high-level player, so the scorpion poison couldn’t kill her quickly, but her fighting ability certainly suffered, or, since Kaizen didn’t see her move her legs even when the wolves jumped at her, she couldn’t move her wounded leg.

When Kaizen realized this, an idea popped into his mind.

‘That sword of hers is nice… should I…? Nah! I’d be risking my mutant dagger if I got into an unnecessary fight with her.’

Although he was someone greedy, he was not someone unreasonable most of the time.

As if she could see right through him, she summoned the red katana again and pointed it at him.

“Do you know the name of this sword?” Xisrith asked with a smile.

Kaizen could clearly see the sword’s name with the <Analyzing Eye> skill, but he chose to lie.

“No.”

“This sword is the Blood Twilight, and its blade has a poison that erodes skin just by touching it. It’s about you to decide if your armor can block my sword.” Xisrith was still smiling.

“Nah! Don’t worry that much. We have just met and there are no hard feelings between us. Why would I try to hurt you while I am just passing through?”

Xisrith smiled as if Kaizen were an obedient dog and returned his sword. “At the moment, I can’t move too much. If you get me out of here safely, I’ll give you a really great reward.”

“How did you come here alone?” Kaizen asked but did not immediately agree. He was curious as to why Xisrith was so far out alone while most Rise Online players used to venture out in groups.

“Originally, I wanted to kill a Moss Scorpion King, an Epic Rank monster, but he was smarter than I thought. Even when my incense ran out and the mutated scorpions no longer feared me, I was able to fight them off and kill them all, but I was stung by their King. So now I can hardly walk and monsters keep coming my way.”

,m Kaizen now knew there was one incense to stop the scorpions from approaching. Perhaps, Xisrith thought he used the same method to get there.

Kaizen looked her in the eye, then at her bruise, and casually asked:

“Where is the nearest safe zone?”

“Between the Silver Mountains and the cursed Howling Cliff, there is a forest that hides an underground labyrinth. The first hall of the labyrinth is considered a safe zone, so when I get there I can use a teleportation crystal to the Royal Capital.”

Usually, this useful information could be as payment for Kaizen. However, he held a grudge against her threatening him with the sword. Therefore, it would not be so easy to convince him to help.

“I will take you, but not for money, but for a Mutant Rank weapon at least.”

“You are very greedy.” Xisrith glanced at him.

“Miss, I judge that for you a Mutant weapon is nothing, after all, you were hunting an Epic Rank monster. Isn’t your life worth more than that?” Kaizen said.

“All right then.” Xisrith looked seriously at Kaizen.

“Nice. It’s a deal.” Kaizen walked over and crouched beside Xisrith, wanting to carry her on his back. “Let’s go.”

“Wait. You won’t be able to fight the monsters if you carry me like that.”

“You promised me a mutant weapon, and it will be dark soon, so I don’t want to have to leave you behind when that happens. That way it will be faster. Why don’t you enjoy my service with your injured leg?” Kaizen moved his hands, indicating for her to climb up.

Xisrith bit her lower lip, stood up, and carefully climbed on Kaizen’s back. “Never tell anyone about this, do you hear me?”

“I don’t even know who you are…”

She only weighed about 45 kilograms, which was nothing to Kaizen, who was already over 30 attribute points in Attack. The rookie only regretted that he really couldn’t enjoy the feeling of her body touching his body, as he was wearing armor.

On the way to the end of the ravine, only three or four Moss Scorpions appeared, which were easily killed by Kaizen with his spear. Xisrith found it strange that all the Moss Scorpions seemed to be slower fighting Kaizen than when she fought them, but she said nothing. When a wolf appeared, Kaizen spent most of his MP twisting the monster with <Telekinesis> to avoid a messy fight, which left Xisrith stunned. She had never seen one magic that could be capable of doing that.

Carrying Xisrith, Kaizen was out of the ravine in half an hour, without facing any other monster after the wolf.

“Which way is the labyrinth?” Kaizen asked when he arrived in the oak forest.

Xisrith didn’t need to check on her map. The labyrinth was a famous place in the area.

“To the left.”

As directed by Xisrith, Kaizen immediately went straight to the left of the ravine.𝒪𝔳𝑙xt.𝑐𝑂𝔪

“So, stranger, you still haven’t told me your name…” Xisrith said, close to his ear.

“Is that necessary?”

“It’s just your nickname, come on… no need to be so cautious.”

“Kaizen.”

“Oh~ I think I’ve heard that word in my business classes. By the way, my name is Xisrith.”

The novice remained silent as he paid more attention to the new region than the woman’s words. He had never been in this forest full of green oak trees with thick trunks, so he needed to be extremely careful.

“After all, Kaizen, what is your Class? Mage or spear fighter?”

“Mage. However, I don’t limit myself to not using a real weapon. I don’t like staff or wands… Anyway, that’s none of your business.’

‘Humph! How can a guy be so rude to someone like me?’ Xisrith thought.

“What now? Where I go?” Kaizen asked after walking through the forest for a while and found nothing relevant.

“We are close by. Head to the right now. Soon, we’ll reach the waterfall.”