Chapter 73: Day 29 in Evon

Eren’s hand found his scimitar before his brain finished processing the sound.

Through the gap in the ruined wall he saw it. A Rotwood Troll standing upright among the collapsed buildings, pushing at a stone pillar like it was looking for something underneath. Three meters tall with bark-skin and green-black veins pulsing across its chest. The poison aura was already making his eyes watery from this distance.

Even if poison didn’t work, something was harrassing long distant creatures with that messy aura.

Behind that big troll, maybe forty meters further into the ruins near the riverbank, four smaller trolls lay in the dirt.

Are they sleeping?

This was the first time he saw a creature other than him and Elves sleep in this world. Even wolves didn’t let him see them asleep. Every beast was over defensive with their sleep habits. They were very afraid of dangers and slept in the living room but always when Emily or Eren didn’t look.

Four of them were sleeping now and they were away from the posioness big one.

The two groups didn’t seem to be together, at least not right now. The Rotwood acted like some kind of local leader, but there was zero interaction between them while they were resting. It looked more like they had just ended up in the same area.

“I’ll take the four. You handle the Rotwood?” Eren looked at Emily.

“Okay. Rury, Fury, go with him.” Emily was already circling wide through the trees to come at the poison troll from the blind side. Even pregnant she moved through the forest like she’d been born running between these trees, which she basically had.

She looks incredible doing that. The katana on her back and the way her hips move when she’s in hunting mode… focus Eren. Trolls first.

He sprinted toward the sleeping group with both wolves flanking him. The first troll didn’t even open its eyes. His scimitar came down on its wrist and the wooden arm CRACKED but didn’t break clean. He had to twist the blade and pull it through.

A month ago I ran from slimes. Now I’m cutting trolls.

The second troll lurched up with a confused grunt and caught Rury’s jaws around its throat before it stood. The third and fourth scrambled to their feet and Eren was already between them. One swung at his head with a thick branch-arm and he ducked under it so fast his own feet dug into the dirt from the sudden stop.

That was the control problem. His stats were pushing almost fifty and every movement carried so much force that sometimes he had to catch himself, like driving a race car through a dirt forest road.

Fury hit the fourth troll from downside while Eren finished the third with a clean strike through the center of its chest. Green sap sprayed across his bare torso but it was more effective to destroy their hearts this way for clean kills.

I’m so used to fighting shirtless now that wearing clothes in combat would probably feel weird. Finding cloths on Earth is going to be a problem.

[You gained 70% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 19]

[You gained 50% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 22]

From the other side of the ruins he heard Emily’s evolved Wind Slash tear through the air. The poison variant’s exp notification never appeared for him so Emily had taken the whole thing solo.

She walked back through the ruined buildings wiping green-black blood off her katana. There wasn’t even a scratch on her. Her Level 51 strength and Evolution Level 3 Wind Slash put her in a completely different league.

“You got stuff on your chest mister.” She pointed at the blood dripping down his stomach with her sword tip and smiled.

“I know. I will buy extra large cloths when I go to Earth.”

“I like the look actually.” She held the smile a beat too long and then turned toward the inscription wall from earlier. “We should check this one more time before we leave.”

They looked at the carvings again but Emily couldn’t pull anything else from the ancient text. “It’s too old, probably even older generation from my grandmother’s.” She shook her head.

Whatever message was carved into that stone, it belonged to a generation of elves that nobody alive could remember- which was a lot. They could remember amazingly three hundred years of everything.

[Dungeon Heart Fragment: 704 / 1000]

..

They spent the rest of the day clearing the forest in a wide arc around the village.

Emily took the north and west with the wolves. Eren went south and east alone. He killed fifteen slimes in the first hour without slowing down, most of them with his fists because pulling a weapon felt like overkill.

Slime hunting isn’t even exercise anymore. It’s like popping bubble wrap but so much fun!

He tested his body between kills the way he’d been doing all week.

Jump height: five to six meters easy.

Sprint speed: trees blurs if he didn’t focus his Wolf Eyes to compensate.

He punched a boulder with mostly rock surface and it cracked down the middle and evaporated.

“Over forty in all physical stats. Almost eight to nine times a normal person. And I’m only Level 35. God damn! What will happen at Level 50? Or Level 100?”

He stopped that thought because getting cocky in a forest that had giant ass dragons was a fast way to die, as Emily always reminded him.

One weird thing he noticed during the sweep or area was no wolf packs showed up anywhere. Rury and Fury mentioned it too.

The southern beast clans seemed to have pulled back entirely, like something had spooked them out of the area.

Is it Dragon fear or something else?

He found a little slime, a bit bigger than basic ones with an ability of creating explosive slimy arms. It was mostly cute when nothing it did worked on Eren.

Cute…

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 36]

[All stats are +1]

“Level up from a damn Level 7 slime after killing trolls all morning. Hahaha..”

After finishing the cleaning, he went back to the village with a ease of mind.

Selena’s restaurant was warm and loud that evening. Eren found Emily in the front of the place and they took their usual spot near the window.

Thadric dropped into the chair across from them without asking because that’s what Thadric did now. Mel and Nimbo squeezed in at the end of the table. Selena brought plates before anyone ordered.

Yaksha stew with thick bread and he also liked a new type of Elven soup. According to Selena, this was hard to make and took too long to prepare.

The Dungeon Heart fragment sat on Eren’s knee under the table while he was eating.

[Dungeon Heart Fragment: 923 / 1000]

Selena set down the plates and looked at Eren’s face. “You look different today.”

“I’m going somewhere tonight.” He said it to the whole table. Everyone stopped chewing.

“To Earth, right?” Thadric’s spoon froze halfway to his mouth.

“Yeah,. Finally I am ready.” He kept his voice casual because making it dramatic would’ve felt wrong. They all knew about his portal skill and this dungeon fragment.

Mel swallowed hard. “You’re coming back right?”

“Of course.”

Nimbo leaned forward. “Bring us something back! Weapons or food or whatever you have there!”

Mel elbowed him. “He isn’t going shopping Nimbo!”

“Actually that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Eren laughed and Emily smiled beside him without adding anything. She’d known all day, he was thinking about what he should bring from the other side.

Selena came over. “If there’s anything special of your hometown, bring me one.” She winked.

“SELENA.” Emily’s voice could’ve frozen the eastern swamps.

Selena laughed once more and smiled at Eren with the most flirty look she ever used in this month and disappeared into the kitchen before Emily could reach for anything sharp.

Even Eren understood she was just messing with Emily…probably.

They finished dinner slowly. Eren watched these people around the table, these elves he’d met around in a month, now argued about his shopping list like a family or friend group.

Outside the restaurant Thadric caught up to him. He put a hand on Eren’s shoulder, the first time the awkward rancher had ever touched him like that, and squeezed once.

“Be careful out there. We’ll hold until you get back.”

A month ago he didn’t know any of them. Now a guy who raises dinosaur-horse things was telling him he would guard his pregnant “elf” wife while he teleport to another dimension and it was so normal to him.

Mel and Nimbo waved from the road. “Bring weapons!” Mel shouted.

“Bring a shield!” Nimbo added.

“Finding a shield on Earth is about a thousand times harder than it is here. What do you mean, bring a shield? Go to Oldir and make him help you with your shield problem. You should be asking people here for what you need…” Boy was doing it already but just to close people to him. Shy kid wouldn’t go to only real wood cutters for something so easy.

He was weird just as much as his class.

Eren watched them disappear into the dark and felt something tighten in his chest.

“Okay I admit it. I like this place.”

He was still thinking about that when Emily slipped her hand into his and pulled him toward home. Her fingers were warm and she smelled like forest and steel and something sweet underneath.

“Dungeon fragment’s almost full right.” She said it quietly so only he could hear.

“Yeah.”

And somewhere to the north, past the mountains where firelight had been burning every evening for weeks, tonight there was only darkness.

Damn dragon was extra calm tonight for some reason.

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