Chương 25: I'll Exterminate Every Last One of You!

That night, I spent time gathering information.

Today was already January 3rd, meaning I spent the entire day yesterday in bed.

The military camp managed to solidify their defenses, and now taking out rogue monsters is as easy as snatching candy away from a child. Their main fighters, the ones who have elemental psychic abilities, have already passed level 10. Each of them was now so powerful that they could butcher the giant wolves from before easily.

By the way, the camp also began to classify monsters based on their strength. The labels were based on colors, and they go from green, blue, yellow, red, purple, and finally, black. A total of six ranks.

Green is the weakest. The dire wolves from the mall and the goblins, which I haven't seen yet, were in this category.

Blue is roughly five times more powerful than green. One example of this rank would be the chameleon man.

Yellow is three times more powerful than Blue, among which are the Giant Wolves that attacked the camp first.

Red is about 10 times more powerful than Yellow, and only one of them had been dispatched by the military within these three days. It was a giant mammoth-like beast that destroyed a quarter of the defenses before finally going down.

Purple was about six to seven times as powerful as red. Within this category, only excerpts from other camps could be the basis. Fortunately, none of that rank had visited this camp yet, or else we'd already be doomed.

And lastly, black...

The black ones are already familiar to most. Examples were the dragon that appeared during the broadcast of the New Year Countdown and the giant octopus outside my building.

For them, there's no proper way to gauge their power, but it was estimated to be a hundred times more powerful than the purple ones. Areas that were dominated by them were already deemed irrecoverable.

"This should do..."

It was already morning when I finally stood up, checking the new gear that Selen had made.

A new sword, sharper than the previous one, and a set of armor covering the vital parts of my body: head, chest, groin, and thigh. Although they were made of metal, they were thin, so it wasn't heavy or getting in the way of my movements.

With this, I shouldn't be in too much danger unless I get surrounded.

"You're going back there," Selen whispered, worry filling her expression as she adjusted the armor's clasp. "That place is teeming with wolves, right? Are you really sure?"

"I am," I answered without hesitation. "And I'll make sure to take revenge for Garuda. I don't plan on dying before then!"

"..."

Selen stayed quiet for a moment before finally moving. She placed a hand on my shoulder as she used her other hand to twist my head toward her. And then there was the soft sensation of her lips touching my cheeks.

"That's... a lucky charm. To make sure that you return safely," Selen muttered in a small voice before running away.

As I watched her figure vanish from view, I touched my cheek, still having the sensation of her lips, and smiled wryly. "If Garuda hadn't taken my heart, I might've fallen for her cute antics."

I shook my head, removing idle thoughts. Right. From here, I will be fighting to the death!

"Wait for me, you damned chameleon!"

I took a step forward, heading to the battlefield.

---

I rode my bike, going as fast as possible, roaming the streets while heading toward the Pine Mall. It was far from the camp, so there was a high chance of encountering random monsters along the way.

However, with the speed of my beloved Handa Waterblade, they weren't able to catch up. Right, there's no need to waste time on these suckers, as the mall was filled with them.

Soon, I reached the mall. It looked peaceful on the outside, but I could already feel gazes coming from all directions. Is it because I turned level 5 that I could detect their gazes?

Ah, I forgot to mention, but the guys at the camp also figured out how much the level-up strengthens someone. It increases not only the physical qualities of the body, like strength and agility, but even the mental capacities, like thought processing speed.

Every level gives a 20% increase in abilities, and it's compounded. For example, if you have a grip strength of 50 kg at level 1, it will reach 60 kg at level 2, 72kg at level 3, 86 kg at level 4, and so on.

Right now, as I'm at level 5, I have twice the strength I had compared to when I was at level 1. With this much strength...

"..."

As soon as I parked the bike right in the middle of the ramp leading to the underground floor, I drew my new sword. The previous sword was also with me on my back, as backup, in case I lost this one.

Then, without turning around, I waved the blade in a wide swing, sweeping toward my back.

*SPLASH!* *Whine!*

After hearing the sound of blood splashing to the ground, I turned my head to look at what I hit. There, a wolf, standing on its hind leg as if about to pounce, had the sword sinking halfway through its ches from the right. Blood was dripping down like a broken faucet as it struggled to break free.

"That's one..."

I followed through with the slash, cutting the wolf in half. With my current strength, it wasn't that hard. After waving the sword and clearing the blood stuck on it, I started to go down the ramp.

My senses quickly picked up on a few that were waiting for me right below. If I go down just like this, then they would gain a perfect surprise attack chance on me, probably. Well, that's if I go the normal way.

"Hup!"

I ran to the end of the ramp and jumped down from the rail just before the curve! Then, I pulled a small trinket from my chest pocket, pulled the pin, and threw it toward the enemy's location.

*BOOOM!*

After a short delay, a deafening sound echoed, followed by the sound of wolves roaring in pain. Right... Normal grenades wouldn't work against monsters. But who said it was normal? It's a frag grenade made by Selen's ability!

The blast itself might be ineffective for them, but the shrapnel that flew out of it was as deadly as my sword!

As soon as I landed, I quickly scanned my surroundings. Wolves to the left, wolves to the right, wolves everywhere. I'm stuck in the middle of a horde!

"But that's fine!"

I pulled two more grenades and chucked them to the densest location away from me. With another boom, a series of notifications, followed by a level-up notice, echoed!

More than half of the horde was cleaned up, but this leaves me with only two more grenades. I want to conserve it for emergency use.

I waved my blade forward and shouted.

"Come at me, you stupid mutts!"

My revenge was just starting!