Chapter 34: The price of arrogance.

The Troll stared down at Kai, a huge frown twisting its face after it realized it had just been threatened by a being it thought it had killed.

Being the Troll and the Boss of this open dungeon, he could not let such insolence slide so easily, especially since a lot of his subordinates were hiding in the bushes, watching to see how the battle would turn out.

His reputation was on the line.

“I’ll just kill you again!!!”

The Troll yelled before launching itself forward with incredible speed.

Upon getting close to Kai, the first thing it did was glide its feet against the ground for traction, then it clenched its fist to throw a powerful punch—a strike designed to pulverize bone and armor alike.

A punch that would soon be repelled upon impact.

Boom!

The beast was shocked as he noticed his fist had been blown off at the wrist. Blood leaked profusely from the opening as his shattered white bones were visible to see.

“Wnh—”

Words could barely form from his lips.

Upon taking a closer look, he soon realized that the moment he was close to landing a direct hit on Kai, a translucent barrier had appeared around the Shadow, slicing his fist off cleanly while also protecting his target.

This made the Troll step back a stumbling pace, wondering what had just happened despite it already playing out right in front of his face.

Kai merely looked down at him, shattering the barrier he had summoned to protect himself into motes of light.

Only to point his finger at the beast the following moment.

“On your knees.”

A fast-moving laser shot from his finger and shattered the left knee of the Troll.

Immediately, the monster dropped to the ground, the pain on his face evident as green blood now leaked from both his hand and leg.

Kai didn’t stop there.

He proceeded to fire yet another shot at the monster, this time taking off the second leg and also the remaining arm.

He did all this just from using his skills [Aim Bot] and [Laser Beam].

With the monster now flat on the ground, effectively a limbless torso, Kai looked down at it. He wore a disgusted, or rather, authoritative, look on his face.

Unlike Lyra, who was standing behind him, barely holding back her laughter.

She had wanted to be the one to kill the arrogant fool for attacking her Lord, but this… this display of dominance was also something she would pay money to see.

’That easily, huh? I expected its skin to be tougher than this. I guess I have grown stronger than I thought. My base stats really are unfair.’

The Troll was in so much pain that throughout the entire time, its face was buried in the dirt with only pathetic groans leaving its mouth rather than actual words.

“You fought well. But your first mistake was not killing me..”

[The Skill: Textra has been activated.]

A ball of raging, chaotic mana appeared right on top of the Troll’s massive body.

At first, its beauty held Lyra by surprise, so much so she was confused as to what her Lord wanted to do.

With magic that beautiful, he was probably going to heal her or purify the area.

She was wrong.

Before her very eyes, she watched as the mana sucked the Troll’s massive form into its vortex and slowly shredded it like the monster’s body was merely made out of paper.

The screams of the Troll echoed throughout the entire forest, a harrowing sound that caused every nearby monster to flee far away from the epicenter.

The very next second, silence returned.

[Congratulations on killing the Hunting Troll.]

Kai stared at the message.

’And that is done. I would have chosen to devour it like I did the players, but that would be greedy of me. After all, from this monster’s death, I’ll be getting sick loot instead.’

[Your reward has been allocated to you.]

[800,000 Cens.]

[The Hunting Troll Body Parts.]

[A Platinum Chest has been presented.]

[You have gained 1200 EXP.]

Right before Kai, all the items materialized from the digital void.

The heavy bag of money, the grotesque bag of rare crafting materials, and the ornate chest were all present there for him to see.

In addition to that, the system asked him something that he quickly ignored as Lyra’s voice echoed from the side.

“My Lord, are these the rewards you spoke about?” asked Lyra as she took a couple of steps forward, eyeing the loot.

“I am afraid so. We should leave, our job is done.”

Kai turned around, looking at her.

“You can take care of it.”

As for why he said that, amongst her many abilities, Lyra had a special artifact that allowed her to store things unlimitedly, regardless of mass or number, a walking inventory.

“As you wish, my Lord. I’ll take care of it.”

And she did.

Lyra walked forward, opened a swirling dark space in the air, and sucked the entire pile of rewards in, in just a matter of a few seconds.

But just as Kai was turning to walk away, he heard a loud scream coming not too far away from his current location.

“Ahhhh! Someone help me~!!!”

The voice, without a doubt, belonged to a woman.

Before Kai could fully register what was happening, he spotted a single girl running towards him. The fear that was etched on her face was something he could not so easily ignore.

She wore a brown skirt and a red shirt that barely covered her belly—standard rookie archer gear. Behind her back were a bow and quiver of arrows, and yet, she continued to trip, staring back in panic as she ran.

’A player?’

Kai figured it had to be one of the players he had sensed before entering the forest. Said player was probably being chased by a monster that spawned during the event.

However, what he sensed chasing her was not a monster.

Right there and then, he saw them, the other players who were chasing her.

They were four in number, and their faces were hidden behind red masks that perfectly highlighted the color of their moral alignment.

Red Players.

Just from seeing that, Kai quickly understood what was happening.

’I see. Now it makes sense why the quest count was 1/2.’

He looked at the running girl, watching as she tripped right in front of him, tears streaming down her face before she desperately grabbed him by the ankle.

“Please save me! Please! I don’t want to die!”

Lyra was visibly disgusted at the fact a lowly human was touching her Master’s leg, her hand already twitching towards her weapon. But her attention quickly shifted to the four men who had stopped not too far away from them, each of them holding a weapon of their own dripping with malice.

The lady, even more desperate now, grabbed Kai all the way up to his knee, clinging to him like a lifeline.

“Please, I beg of you! Don’t let them kill me! Please!”

Kai kept his gaze on her.

He understood what red players are, any gamer knew about them.

Players who had violated the game so much that they were forced to put a warning on their heads.

That said—

’Isn’t her reaction a bit too much here?’

…

[An]

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