He crawled out of their hideout and tossed his old, worn shirt into storage. Then at the riverbank, he washed up, catching his reflection in the water. His body looked pristine, stronger than ever. Even the scars, the cruel reminders of the hell he’d endured, were long gone, erased by the system. Only the dark, painful memories remained.
Pulling on a fresh, recently bought shirt, he strapped on his new cuirass, shrugged into his coat, and tied a red bandana around his neck. He smiled, satisfied.
“Look at me. I look like one of those famous adventurers who clear a dungeon a week. They’ve got all the coin they could want… even women throw themselves at them.”
The smile faltered. A surge of envy burned in his chest. He was at an age where he dreamed of finding a wife, someone kind and brave, like his mother. But as a slave, that dream had never been possible. The only woman he’d ever come close to was Isolde… and he hated that psychotic bitch.
Before he could sink deeper into his thoughts, Nera slithered back at full speed, her movements sharp and agitated.
“What is it, girl? What happened?” Corvin asked, his heart pounding as she led him toward the lizardman tribe, his gut telling him that it probably wasn't anything good.
***
As the two crawled to the top of the hill, an unsettling sight greeted them: an empty camp.
“Oh, fuck! What happened?” Corvin muttered, heartbeat rising.
He quickly checked his Quest status. Still active. So, he’s alive… probably just moved the tribe after losing so many men. Damn it.
“Nera, we need to find him. I can’t lose this quest. It’s the only thread we’ve got. If we lose it, who knows when another will come.” Pressure gnawed at his mind, the weight of the quest digging deep.
“Echolocation!”
Ripples of sonic waves pulsed outward, sweeping a twenty-meter radius. The feedback returned only small critters and a lone doe. No threats. No tribe. His skill had grown sharper with every level, letting him see farther and clearer than ever. He never moved without scanning first, a habit he had developed since acquiring the skill.
“Okay… we’re clear. Let’s head down. Maybe we’ll find tracks or clues about where they went.
***
The duo descended the hill and entered what had been the lizardmen’s camp only a day ago. Now, it was eerily empty. The tents were gone, along with anything that hinted at life. If not for the wooden fence, no one would have guessed a tribe had ever been here.
“They took everything. Nothing’s left.” Corvin scanned the clearing, frustration gnawing at him. There was not a single clue.
Hmm, there needs to be traces of carts or mounts or at least footprints somewhere. He narrowed his eyes, focusing hard, zooming in with his enhanced vision.
His pace slowed to a crawl as he examined each path leading out of the camp. All three looked clean. Too clean. After an hour of painstaking searching, he finally spotted signs of a cover-up.
*** Skill Unlocked: Tracking Lv. 1 ***
The moment the notification appeared, his mind sharpened. Details leapt out, broken grass blades, sawdust, uneven dirt masking tracks.
“Score! We’ve got them, Nera!” he called. The serpent slithered down from her lookout on the hill, having kept watch for trouble.
Together, they followed the concealed trail, moving swiftly through dense woodland. Two hours later, the tracks led them to a mountain chain that had seemed much farther away at first.
There, the trail split. One group had gone into the mountains, their deep footprints betraying heavy loads. The other, a smaller party, veered left toward a ravine where a river carved the land like a blade.
“Scouts or guards,” Corvin guessed. “The rest are setting up camp at the mountain’s base. Smart move. That blue bastard knows what he’s doing.” A flicker of respect stirred in him, but the quest demanded a fight. There was no avoiding it.
“Nera, we go left. Take out the guards first, then strike the leader.” His voice hardened as they sped toward the ravine, shadows stretching long over the tall forest.
***
Next to the river, on the flat stretch of the ravine, a temporary camp sprawled, five yellow-scaled lizardmen, all in the level seventy to eighty range. They were finishing their hunt, butchering a freshly caught red deer, its blood staining the earth.
Corvin and Nera crouched in the shadows, watching.
“Looks like that’s all of them,” Corvin whispered. “I’d love to try Miasma Breath, but if I use it, it’ll be locked for a day. It’s too risky. We’ll do this the old-fashioned way.”
Nera hissed softly in agreement as Corvin’s tone hardened. “I’ll attack first with spears. When they’re all wounded, you join me. Got it?” He couldn’t risk her safety again.
The serpent flicked her tongue in approval. Corvin laid out five tribal spears in a neat row, inhaled deeply, and gripped the first.
“Spear Throw!”
The weapon whistled through the air, striking an unsuspecting lizardman square in the back. He collapsed with a scream.
One after another every five seconds, four more spears flew, each hitting its mark as a chime echoed in Corvin’s mind.
*** Skill Leveled Up: Spear Throw Lv. 3 ***
The sound triggered his next move. He summoned his scimitar and burst forward with Dash, Nera slithering behind with her boosted agility.
They descended on the wounded lizardmen like predators. Corvin drove his blade into one’s chest, slashing wildly as poison seeped into the wounds. Beside him, Nera coiled around another, crushing its ribs before impaling a third with her holy horn, white holy fire searing scales and flesh.
The last two fought back, ripping spears from their bodies and summoning an earthen wall, and sending a barrage of stone bullets raining down.
Corvin reacted instantly with Aqua Barrier! A shimmering shell of water enveloped him and Nera, deflecting the deadly hail.
As soon as the rain stopped, he vaulted over the wall, summoning Coilbreaker. Spinning midair as he unleashed one of his father’s techniques, a brutal downward slash that drove the blade deep into a lizardman’s ribs. Using the corpse as a springboard, he launched at the final foe, scimitar flashing in a poison-laced flurry of attacks.
[Experience gain reduced due to the user’s Constitution]
[Experience gained: 3000]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Experience toward next level: 0%]
*** Skill Unlocked: Flurry Lv. 1 (Active) ***
Use any sword-type weapon to launch a flurry of slashes toward your enemy.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Number of Slashes: 5
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Mana Cost: 40 Mana
Requirement: 25 Agility
Corvin exhaled, retrieving his weapons and storing everything of value. Nera finished off the last lizardman and waited patiently.
He collected three more spears, two simple swords, and rummaged through the tents, twelve Lesser Healing Potions, five Poison Bombs, and a bag of dried meat.
“Not bad! This will help in the next fight,” he said, selling five corpses for 5,000 points.
“Good work, Nera! Here, a pie for you, and a drink for me.” He grinned, spending 700 points.
Nera devoured the pie, its effects refreshing her body, while Corvin sat by the river, savoring a mug of cold milk. So good… He thought as he drank up and stored one of the tents in his storage. “Now we’ve got a real place to sleep. No more holes in the dirt, mole man is evolving!” He chuckled and took a look at his status, deciding to save for now the three points he had received on level up and led Nera towards the mountains.
It was time to finish the quest.
***
Deep within the mountain region, a smaller tribe had taken root at the mountain’s foot. The towering peak shielded the western side, while a tall wooden fence enclosed the other three.
Inside, fifteen or so women and children rested under makeshift shelters as the blue-scaled lizardman chief stood watch. Seven green-scaled warriors worked tirelessly to raise tents, their movements sharp and tense.
The chief’s claws tightened around his blade as anger simmered. Something had forced him to uproot his people. Most of his warriors were gone, dead or scattered, and whispers of dissent had split the tribe. His authority was crumbling.
As he brooded, a shout tore through the silence from beyond the fence. Harsh, alien words he couldn’t understand, but the meaning was clear. The enemy had come.
With a guttural roar, he seized his massive blade and dashed toward the gate, barking orders for the others to stay behind. The air thickened with anticipation.
***
From the edge of the woods, Corvin shouted, voice echoing through the empty land under the mountain. He had decided to only kill the leader and spare the weak. They would give him barely any experience as is, but he also felt that he was growing more cold-blooded as he slaughtered more. He wanted to spare whoever he could, even though he wasn’t sure if it would bite him back as it did back then when he tried to speak with the first lizardman he met back at the riverbank.
As doubts churned, the blue-scaled chief burst through the gate with a roar that shook the nearby trees. Nera, perched high on a branch further away, watched silently. Corvin had ordered her to stay back, to guard the perimeter. This fight was his alone.
[Lizardman Chief Warrior (Combat Veteran) Lv. 187] [HP: 35,044 / 35,044] [MP: 1,300 / 1,300]
Three meters of muscle and rage charged forward, blue scales gleaming like polished steel. Crimson runes crawled across his body, pulsing as a bloodthirsty crimson aura ignited around him.
Strength boost skill… great, Corvin thought grimly, snatching his spears.
He hurled them in rapid succession, death raining from above. The chief roared, spinning his greatsword in a brutal arc, shattering most of the spears mid-flight.
“Nooo! My precious spears! Damn you!” Corvin cursed, flinging his last one as the spin ended. The chief dodged left, but the spear clipped his tail, venom seeping into the wound.
The blue warrior snarled, his body flaring green as the poison burned away. “Oh, shit…” Corvin hissed. Poisons useless.
He drew his scimitar and sprinted wide, searching for an opening, but the chief exploded forward, closing the gap in a heartbeat. Too fast! Corvin Dashed back, teeth clenched.
“Miasma Breath!” he roared. For the first time, the skill he had dreamed of using surged forth, dark fumes spilling from his body like liquid shadow as a massive black boa spirit manifested behind him, its maw yawning wide as it unleashed a torrent of condensed miasma, black, abyssal liquid that hissed as it struck the chief.
The lizardman reacted instantly, bracing with his blade, but the damage was catastrophic. The impact of the attack pushed him backward, his feet digging ditches in the ground as the darkness burned his whole body. While the attack faded, the black smoke coiled around him, seeping into his lungs, corroding his insides with every breath.
As the chief roared in agony, Corvin sprinted back, gulping mana potions one after another. The attack drained his mana storage, and the longer he kept the miasma active, the faster his mana bled away.
When his MP dipped below 450, he canceled the fog and braced for the aftermath.
As the haze lifted, the chief knelt clutching his blade, his body blackened and corroded.
[Lizardman Chief Warrior (Combat Veteran) Lv. 187] [HP: 12,044 / 35,044] [MP: 0/ 1,300]
Twenty thousand damage… worth every point in Magicka. Corvin grinned, then froze. Why is his mana gone?
Before he could process it, the chief’s health dipped below 11k. His scales molted off in sheets, revealing a new hide, deep blue, like the heart of a river, and littered with dark veins slithering under his scales like serpents.
Then, with a smirk, he vanished.
The greatsword came down like a thunderbolt, cleaving Corvin’s scimitar in half and slamming into his cuirass. The armor held, but the shockwave ripped through his body, forcing blood from his lips and cracking his ribs.
Another strike descended. Corvin dashed backward, summoning his hobgoblin spear, health ticking upward from its passive. But the chief gave him no room to breathe. He exploded instantly and rained slashes down, relentlessly.
Each attack of the massive blade brought down the fury and rage of the Chief. Each attack precise and destructive.
“Aqua Barrier!” Corvin muttered, the watery shell shimmered, deflecting the first few blows before shattering under the onslaught.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Corvin spat, summoning Coilbreaker and glancing at his mana.
[MP: 408 / 540]
He tried to use Coilbreaker as a shield but failed miserably. The chief spun, blade carving into Corvin’s back, hurling him forward. Another slash followed, then another, each strike stronger than the last. The armor held, but scratches and small dents littered Corvin’s back. Multiple of his ribs now fully broken and one of his kneecaps shattered from the constant battering, but blood didn’t spill, his armor’s passive held, while his body and mind screamed in agony.
[HP: 545 / 2,766]
Corvin coughed blood, rage igniting in his chest. “Abyssal Dominion!” he roared, unleashing his last trump card.
Mist erupted, thick and suffocating, fear clawing at the chief’s heart. Corvin’s eyes burned with rage as he counterattacked, gritting through the pain. There was no time for that; his mana was rapidly being drained.
He slashed across the lizard's chest the jagged blade of the Coilbreaker, activating Flurry, tearing flesh and scales with each forceful slash.
[Weapon Effect: Brittle Armor Activated]
[Status: Bleeding]
[Weapon Effect: Hemorrhage – Bleeding Intensified]
Blood gushed like a fountain, siphoned by the fog into Corvin’s wounds, slowly repairing his broken body as his health crawled upward.
Then the fear effect faded. The chief rose, barely clinging to life, and swung towards Corvin only to strike illusions. Shadows danced, mimicking Corvin’s form as if mocking him.
The real Corvin gulped a potion to stabilize himself, snuck through the fog, and drove his blade deep into the chief’s back, piercing through his chest with all the power he could muster.
With a final, blood-curdling scream, the lizardman collapsed face-first into the grass. The fog thinned as Corvin’s mana drained to zero, and level-up notifications flooded Corvin’s vision, restoring him to full health.
I’m sorry, but I needed to kill you to grow stronger… We were not enemies; if you want to blame anyone, blame the system. Corvin sighed exhausted
[Experience gain reduced due to the user’s Constitution]
[Experience gained: 28,250]
[Level Up! x5]
[Your Beast Leveled Up! x5]
[Experience toward next level: 90%]
[The First User Title Bonus Effect Activated!]
[Item Received: Chief’s Gloves (Rare)]
Gloves made of the once proud warrior of the lizardmen tribe.
Effects:
- Attack speed +20%
- Attacks have a chance to cause internal bleeding + 25%
*** Quest Updated: Demise of the Three Generals ***
Find the last fragment of the Map of the Forbidden Lair.
*** Item Received: Map of the Forbidden Lair x1 (Unique) ***
*** Side Quest Completed: Hunting Time! ***
Hunt the Lizardman Warrior before you and defeat it in close combat to receive its title.
Outside help is forbidden.
*** Title Unlocked: Combat Veteran ***
When equipped, it grants a 10% chance to predict opponents' attacks and raises damage dealt by 26%.
Agility +15, Attack Speed + 15%
Beyond the half-closed gate, small faces peered from the shadows. Wide eyes, trembling bodies. Corvin’s stomach knotted. What would happen to them now?
*** Emergency Quest Created: Help the Lizardmen Tribe ***
Due to your reckless actions, the weak of the lizardmen tribe will be left defenseless. Help the Lizardmen tribe survive for a month or until someone rises to succeed the late Chief.
Reward: Depends on the mission's level of success.
Failure: Loss of the title Combat Veteran and 15 levels
Open the Spoiler for stats!
Skills Unlocked: Tracking Lv. 1, Flurry Lv. 1,
Titles Unlocked: Combat Veteran
Skills Leveled Up: Echolocation Lv. 3 > Lv. 4, Dash Lv. 2 > Lv. 3, Spear Throw Lv. 2 > Lv. 3
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