Chapter 23: These D-Rank Monsters Are Too Weak (Part 2)
'What the hell happened?' Evan thought when he saw how easily he killed a D-rank monster.
"Is a D-rank monster supposed to be this weak?" Evan was shocked that he was able to sever the head of a D-rank beast with a normal sword.
He looked at the sword in his hand, which was still shining in blue light because of his mana, and noticed a very thin black layer mixed with the blue layer of mana.
The black layer was so thin that Evan was sure that if his eyesight hadn't improved after obtaining the monarch core, he wouldn't have noticed it.
'Is my attack this powerful because of this black energy mixed with my mana?' Evan thought as he observed the thin black layer.
Howl!
"Be careful!" Evan snapped out of his dazed state after hearing Dean's shout. When he looked at the other two wolves, he saw that one of them was already in front of him, slashing at his neck with its front claw.
Evan was still using the haste skill, so he saw everything in slow motion. He lifted his sword and parried the wolf's claw with his sword. As he parried the claw, he was pushed back a little due to the wolf's running momentum.
But because of his high agility he was able to react quickly, and before the wolf could regain its balance after the failed attack, Evan slashed his sword at the wolf's shoulder blade.
Howl!
The wolf howled in pain as its shoulder was almost severed from the rest of its body, and a fountain of blood erupted from the wounded shoulder.
"Watch out!" Evan was about to attack the wolf once again when he heard George shout again and without hesitation, he jumped sideways.
Just as he jumped sideways, a green blade passed by his previous location and hit a tree not far away from him.
The tree split in two when the blade struck it. Cold sweat appeared on Evan's back seeing the result of the wolf's attack.
'I should pay more attention to my surroundings while fighting.' He thought while thinking he need more fighting experience.
"What the hell is going on? From his aura, I can clearly feel that this guy is an E rank hunter, so how can he fight against these D rank monsters like this?" Dean said with a voice filled with shock.
"Hey, you guys are from the same academy. Do you know what's going on?" George asked James, who was looking at Evan with his mouth wide open.
George and Dean didn't know Evan, but James was well aware that Evan was the weakest student in the academy, and everyone called him trash.
"Just what happened to this guy?" James asked himself as he watched Evan take care of D rank monsters without any problem.
'Just a few days ago, I saw how Mike and some other students were bullying him. Was he pretending all this time?' James thought feeling his eyes were not working properly.
"Hey, are you listening?" James snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Dean's voice.
"I never talked to him in the academy, so I don't know about him," James replied, not revealing what he knew about Evan since he was also unsure of what was happening.
After evading the wind blade, Evan looked at the wolf that had attacked him and charged toward it with agility much faster than a D rank hunter.
The wind wolf was an agility-based monster, so somehow it was able to spot Evan when he appeared before it, the wolf used its front claw to strike at Evan like a hammer. However, instead of dodging the claw, Evan used his sword to clash with the wolf's claw.
Puchi!
When Evan's sword, covered in a blue layer of mana, clashed with the wolf's claw, it sliced through it like a hot knife through butter.
Howl!
The wolf howled in pain, and even before it could react, Evan once again slashed his sword at the wolf's neck. Although Evan wasn't able to sever the neck of the wolf with a single attack this time, he followed up with another slash, completely severing the head of the wolf.
After killing it, Evan turned his attention to the remaining wolf, which was trying to stand up but failing miserably due to its shoulder being almost severed from Evan's earlier attack.
Evan calmly walked toward the wolf and killed it with a single slash. James and the others looked at Evan as if they were looking at a monster.
Evan ignored them and began searching for cores. After looking at all the wolves he only obtained one core from the three wolves.
He dropped the core and his sword on the ground, and both items suddenly disappeared upon touching the ground.
Evan wasn't considering sharing his cores with anyone because the mission details stated that he could keep the cores of the monsters he hunted for himself.
After taking care of everything, Evan calmly walked toward George and the others.
"Who are you?" Dean asked Evan when he approached them.
"Didn't I already tell you? I'm Evan, an E-rank hunter," Evan replied.
"E-rank my ass! Even a D-rank hunter can't kill those monsters like this," George exclaimed, looking at Evan in disbelief.
"I just have some skills that improve my fighting power for a limited time," Evan explained without going into much detail.
"Oh, what kind of skill can improve your power by two ranks?" Dean asked sarcastically, thinking Evan is a high rank hunter who joined this low level mission to mess with them.
"I don't think I have any reason to tell you guys about my skills," Evan retorted, feeling irritated by their questions.
"Well, you don't have to tell us about your skills, but since we're going to work as a team, you should have at least inform us that you can easily handle D-rank monsters," Dean persisted.
"Oh, if an E-rank hunter came before you and said, 'Hey, I can kill D-rank monsters easily,' would you believe him?" Evan rolled his eyes in response.
Dean wanted to say something, but no words came out of his mouth because he knew he would never believe such a claim.
"Sigh, I'm sorry I overreacted," Dean apologized after realizing the futility of his argument.
"Don't worry, I understand what you thinking. But you don't have to worry about that since I have no intention of harming any of you," Evan said to them as he walked toward the barbecue table where he had been eating his lunch.
James watched Evan, lost in his own thoughts, while George and Dean pondered over something.
Evan paid no attention to them because he had never intended to hide his power from the beginning. His main purpose for joining this mission was to take a break after two years and collect some cores if possible.
If he conceal his power, how will he gather enough cores?
'Ihope I'll be able to obtain sufficient cores to advance my rank to E+,' Evan thought to himself as he enjoyed his steak.
Chapter 24: Night Fight (Part 1)
"I never saw an E-rank hunter as powerful as you," Henry said to Evan. He had already come out from the van along with his driver after Evan took care of the monsters.
"Thanks," Evan replied to him without much interest. Only Henry was talking with Evan. Dean and George, who were previously chatting with hik casually were now looking at him warily.
Evan understood their situation. If he was in their place, he would also feel suspicious of someone who, as an E-rank, killed three D-rank monsters without breaking a sweat.
But currently, he could not care less about them because he was thinking about the thin black layer that appeared on his sword earlier.
'Just what was that black energy? The power of my attack increased too much because of it,' Evan thought to himself. He had already checked his status window, but there was no information about that black energy.
'Is this also related to my Monarch Core?' Evan thought and sighed because there were still many things that were unclear about his new physique.
'Forget it. There are too many things that I don't know about this Monarch Core. I will eventually figure out everything,' Evan thought and stopped dwelling on the black energy.
"When will we leave from here?" Evan asked Henry.
"Let's rest for one more hour before leaving."
"Alright," Evan nodded and continued to guard their surroundings. He felt quite awkward because, after witnessing his strength, other hunters were looking at him warily.
'I bet they must be thinking I was hiding my strength to backstab them later and rob their belongings,' Evan thought, rubbing his temples.
"Alright, let's go. We still have quite a distance to cover," Henry shouted as his driver packed up the barbecue and other equipment.
After five minutes, everyone sat down in the van, and it started moving toward Oklima City.
"I know why you guys are suspicious and looking at me like this, but I have no intentions of harming you. So stop treating me like your lifelong enemy," Evan said to the others after the van started moving again.
Dean and George hesitated for a bit upon hearing Evan's words. When Evan saw this, he sighed and did not say anything.
"Although I didn't talk to him much in the academy, I can say that he's a good person. So you should stop being suspicious of him, or we might be in danger while facing other monsters," James suddenly spoke up, his eyes still closed.
When George and Dean heard this, they looked at each other and nodded. "Alright, we will trust you, but I hope you won't do anything suspicious."
"Don't worry, I just wanted to take a break from the academy and collect some cores. I don't have any other motives for coming here," Evan assured them.
"Collect some cores? With your strength, you can easily collect cores from a D-rank dungeon," Dean commented upon hearing Evan's words.
"My situation is a bit complicated, so don't mind me," Evan replied without explaining further. After all, he couldn't reveal that just two days ago, he was an F-rank hunter who couldn't increase his power due to his physique.
James listened quietly but did not say anything.
"By the way, I saw you using two skills when you were fighting those monsters. Did you get a skill book in the past after clearing a dungeon, or did you awaken two skills at the same time?" George asked curiously, trying to change the atmosphere.
Dean and James also looked at Evan curiously because it was very rare for people to have more than one skill.
While it's possible to get a skill book as a reward after clearing a dungeon, it is extremely rare and can be sold for millions of credits, depending on the type of skill. Dean and George, as normal hunters can't even imagine buying a skill book.
"Yeah, I got lucky last time when I cleared a dungeon and received a skill book," Evan said with a slight smile. There was no way he was going to tell anyone that he could obtain skills just by absorbing the energy of the cores.
He knew his life would be in danger if other people knew about his physique, which could essentially turn the evolving system of Arora's world upside down. That's why Evan did not use his Shadow Bullet skill during the fight since it would be suspicious if he used too many skills.
"I also cleared some dungeons with my friends, but we never received a skill book," Dean said in an envious tone after hearing Evan's explanation.
Both Dean and George believed Evan's story that he obtained his skill from the dungeon. Only James looked at him suspiciously because, like everyone in the academy, he knew that Evan had never gone into a dungeon with anyone.
But even if he was suspicious, there was nothing he could do about it.
The rest of the day passed without any problems, and soon the sun was about to set.
"Let's make camp here since the sun is about to set," Henry announced, and no one objected since setting up camp in the dark would be challenging.
The van came to a stop, and everyone got out. "You two, guard here. Evan and I will check the surroundings," George said to Dean and James after stepping out of the van.
"Be careful; it will be dangerous since it's already getting dark," George warned Evan seriously.
Evan nodded in understanding. However, he wasn't concerned because even in the darkness, he can see clearly, thanks to his Monarch Core. In fact, he felt like his vision is even better during the nighttime.
'A true Monarch physique,' Evan thought when he realized he could see in low light without any problems.
Evan and George began scanning their surroundings. They positioned themselves about a hundred meters apart to cover more ground and provide mutual assistance if needed.
Evan gripped his sword tightly, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings. Despite his strength, he knew that arrogance and complacency can be his downfall if he don't remain vigilant.
Suddenly, Evan heard the sound of someone approaching from his right side. He quickly turned his gaze in that direction, and just as he did, a rabbit leaped out from the bushes.
The rabbit appeared normal in size, but what set it apart from regular rabbits was the horn protruding from its head.
"A horned rabbit," Evan exclaimed, surprised to see a horned rabbits since they are quite rare.
According to what Evan had read on the Internet, the meat of horned rabbits is very delicious, but they are notoriously difficult to catch due to their exceptional evasiveness.
Without wasting any time, Evan aimed his finger at the horned rabbit and unleashed a Shadow Bullet. Since the rabbit was merely an E-rank monster, it couldn't dodge the bullet and died instantly as the projectile pierced through its brain.
"Looks like I'll finally get to taste what horned rabbit meat is like," Evan said as he picked up the small body of the rabbit.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
14 Power
stone 
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