บท 9: Mutual Destruction

The next day.

When Irving woke up from bed, Alice was nowhere to be found.

After the intense battle last night, she lay on the floor for a full hour before she recovered, supporting herself against the wall as she left.

"She ran away pretty quickly..." Irving shook his head.

After the passionate encounter last night, he felt much more invigorated, but he had no intentions of forgiving Alice.

He was brutally cast aside by her in his previous life... the pain of being slowly, mercilessly stabbed would never be forgotten.

He was determined to get revenge on Alice and her entire family!

"She can't really think I'm that easily fooled, can she?" Irving recalled his previous life with a sneer. He had long seen through Alice's purpose - trying to make him a scapegoat?

No way!

In Irving's eyes, Alice was nothing more than an object for venting his desires.

Not because he was cold and heartless, but because his reincarnation made him realize many truths.

In this world, the law of "survival of the fittest" can never be escaped!

There's a saying, " One man's trash is another man's treasure"!"

Especially in the apocalypse, morality collapses, order crumbles, human nature is ugly... as long as you have absolute power, women will naturally throw themselves at you.

"The most important thing now is to quickly increase my power, having a strong fist is the way to go!" Thinking this, Irving took a shower, then checked the time.

The official offline meeting was scheduled for three o'clock in the afternoon. It was still early, so he logged directly into the Otherworld Game.

...

After leaving the shelter, Irving looked towards the altar deep in the forest.

"There must be some secret hidden inside that altar." Irving mused. He had unexpectedly obtained two treasures just inside the altar hall yesterday, but he eventually shook his head.

With his current power, even if he summoned three monsters to follow him, it would be very difficult to reach the core of the altar.

In the end, he chose to explore in the opposite direction. With the addition of the Speed Boots, his speed was much faster than before.

Ten minutes later.

When Irving reached a hill, just as he was about to sit down and rest, a roar that made the earth tremble was suddenly heard.

His expression immediately tightened, and he quickly hid behind a large rock. When he peeked out, looking in the direction where the roar came from, his face changed.

Not far away, two beasts were confronting each other.

Their cold eyes were fixed on each other, and their throats were emitting heart-shaking growls.

One of the beasts was a leopard covered in patterns. Its huge body was over three meters long, double the size of a real-life leopard. On the other side was a hunting dog!

The hunting dog was not very big, only a bit over one meter long, somewhat similar to a Tibetan Mastiff. Compared to the leopard, the hunting dog was at a physical disadvantage, but its ferocious momentum was not inferior to the leopard's.

What Irving found most incredible was that the hunting dog was surrounded by a layer of purple flames.

Irving recalled the content in the bestiary that Anna had given him...

Given the awakening level of the talent of that player in Angel's Team, his talent [Eagle Eye] could only probe the information of otherworldly beasts that had appeared within a three-kilometer radius.

Among them, there was an introduction to this very Ghost Hunting Dog.

[Ghost Hunting Dog]

[Introduction: Said to have once been the pet of a hell's messenger, its body is enveloped in purple flames. Once anything gets touched by its flame, it is extremely hard to extinguish. Its nature is extremely ferocious, but if tamed during its infancy, it will be highly loyal to its master. Having it by your side can increase the luck factor!]

Before Irving could think further, the mutated leopard got into a fierce fight with the Ghost Hunting Dog.

Irving, who was hiding behind a boulder, felt a bitter taste in his mouth. With his current strength, there was no way he could contend with these two behemoths.

"Leaving now... If they notice me, it would be troublesome." Irving dismissed the idea and chose to stay put and observe the situation.

Although the Ghost Hunting Dog was much smaller in size than the leopard, for some reason, it was displaying an unusual fierceness. Especially its purple flames, whenever they came into contact with the leopard during the fight, they immediately burned a large wound.

Roar!

Irving waited for more than half an hour behind the boulder, and the noise of the two beasts tearing each other apart gradually died down.

Looking in that direction again, he saw that the leopard's flesh was burnt black by the purple flames, and it was lying on the ground, on its last breath. On the other side, the throat of the Hunting Dog was pierced, and it was crying out in pain, struggling to walk in a certain direction. But it couldn't manage more than a few steps before it collapsed in a pool of blood...

It was a mutual destruction!

"Opportunity!" Seeing this, Irving's heart leaped, and he stepped out from behind the boulder.

When two dogs fight for a bone, a third runs away with it.

At this moment, Irving was the fisherman!

He first walked over to the leopard.

The leopard, severely injured by the purple flames, instinctively bared its fangs and growled at the approaching stranger.

"Trying to scare who?" Irving chuckled, a cold glint in his eyes. He would not miss this excellent chance to finish it off. He directly took out his iron sword and thrust it into its heart.

Blood instantly gushed out.

[You have successfully killed the Forest Leopard!]

[Dropped items: Sharp Fangs*10, Damaged Night Blade*1, Emeralds*3]

[Do you wish to pick them up?]

"Yes."

Irving didn't expect to encounter such good fortune on his exploration to expand the map. He didn't do much, just finishing off the ferocious Forest Leopard.

Next, a row of information appeared before his eyes.

[Item Information: Damaged Night Blade]

[Tier: Ordinary ★★★★★]

[Introduction: This is a dagger, incredibly sharp, compact and capable of being hidden on the body, to take the enemy's life unexpectedly. However, it is somewhat damaged...]

"Actually a five-star equipment!"

Immediately, Irving could not contain his excitement. This was the highest-ranked equipment he had obtained since entering the game. Although it was still in a damaged state.

He murmured, "If I could repair it, perhaps it would become a high-level piece of equipment!"

It would be a sensation if a player managed to acquire high-level equipment this early in the game, only three days into the internal testing phase.

"It's not the time to consider this." Irving suppressed his inner excitement, turning his gaze back, and his expression changed instantly.

In the brief moment when he was lost in thought, the Hell Hunting Dog that had previously been lying in a pool of blood had vanished.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Irving's heart.

He had just witnessed the horrors of the Hell Hunting Dog, particularly its purple flames, which were difficult to extinguish once ignited.

"It couldn't be. Its throat was pierced. How could it disappear..." Irving became tense, gripping his iron sword tightly, and cautiously following the blood trail.

Soon.

Irving found the body of the Hell Hunting Dog outside a cave, his hanging heart finally let go. Besides, there was equipment scattered on the ground.

[Dropped items: Purple Flame Armor*1]

[Do you wish to pick it up?]

"Yes." Irving's equipment column once again appeared before his eyes.

[Item Information: Purple Flame Armor]

[Tier: High-Level ★★★]

[Introduction: Equipment left by the Hell Hunting Dog, the armor is soft and light, possessing a strong defense, especially against fire attacks. It also causes fire backlash to the enemy in battle!]

"I've hit the jackpot!" Irving's face was filled with an irrepressible excitement when he saw the high-level tier in the property. He even felt a bit dizzy.

Fortunately, he didn't choose to go to the altar again at the beginning, otherwise this incredible good luck wouldn't have happened to him. Of course, his talent [Tenfold Drop Rate] played a significant role in the continuous equipment drops.

Not everyone can get equipment when killing these beasts.

"It's strange. Why did the Ghost Hunting Dog come here before it died?" Irving looked at the cave in front of him, puzzled.

The entrance of the cave was small, less than half a meter wide.

Just as he was puzzled, a juvenile howling sound suddenly came from the cave.

"This sound... it can't be!"

Irving's heart jolted, seeming to understand something. He hurriedly walked towards the cave, looked inside, and the next moment his body was trembling with excitement.

The juvenile howling sound came again!

A juvenile Hell Hunting Dog was seen waiting to be fed inside the cave. Its body was covered with a layer of purple fur, fluffy and adorable.