Hiding in the shadow of a thick tree, Aren began to watch the scene. Opposite them was a massive Wild Boar the size of a pickup truck, its skin covered in pitch-black obsidian stones, spewing flames from its snout.
The boar was angrily pawing the ground, attacking the humans in front of it with its sharp tusks. The group was like a typical hunter party. In the front was a burly man holding a massive shield in his hand. He was taking the boar's blows. His shield cracked with every strike, and the man was dragged backward every time.
"Damn it! How much longer do you expect me to hold out?! Attack it!" shouted the man with the shield.
The two people in the back, one with a spear and the other with a sword, were attacking from the boar's sides, waiting for it to show an opening.
At the very back of the group stood a skinny, sly-looking man with a bow in his hand. It was obvious from his every demeanor that he was the leader of the group. He was barking orders from a safe distance, occasionally shooting arrows to try and distract the boar.
"Hold on, James! Just stall it a little longer! I'm about to find its weak point!" the leader shouted.
'Interesting. I haven't come across even a single person until now, yet they have already formed a group of four. Could they have been teleported to the same place?' Aren thought.
Aren narrowed his eyes and activated the 'Basic Vision' skill.
With his golden-colored eyes, he examined the group's auras. The boar's aura was a strong and wild flame. As for the humans' auras...
They were weak.
Pale gray, flickering lights. None of them had an elemental affinity.
'This creature is the same as the bear. It is definitely far above their level. However, they are numerous enough. If they act smartly, they can kill it.' Aren thought.
The boar tensed up to attack the man with the shield one last time.
Right at that moment, James channeled all the mana he could use into his shield and slammed it into the ground with all his might. The resulting force broke the boar's balance.
While the boar looked around in confusion, James suddenly shouted, "NOW!"
The spearman and the swordsman on the side attacked at the same time.
The spear pierced into the boar's soft underbelly, and the sword into the joint on its leg.
The boar bellowed in pain. Right then, the leader in the back drew his bow.
A green liquid was dripping from the tip of the arrow.
The arrow tore through the air and pierced right into the boar's eye.
The creature thrashed one last time, scattering blood and fire around, and then collapsed to the ground with a loud crash.
The battle was over.
The group was left panting.
Especially the man with the shield, James, had collapsed to the ground, holding his left arm. One of the boar's tusks must have pierced the shield and stabbed into his arm, as blood was flowing from it.
The others were also injured, but James was severely wounded. He had lost too much blood.
"We did it..." said the spearman, collapsing to the ground.
"We almost died." The leader slung his bow over his shoulder and approached the boar's corpse with an arrogant smile on his face. He was the only one in the group who wasn't injured.
"Great job, boys." James, writhing in pain on the ground, looked at his leader. His face had turned as white as chalk.
"Hey, Rick... My arm... It's in bad shape. Give me a healing potion. I know you have them in your bag."
The leader, Rick, slowly turned to James. The smile on his face hadn't faded, but the expression in his eyes had changed.
A cold, calculating look. "A healing potion?" Rick said, bringing his hand to his chin.
"You know, James, there are only two left."
James opened his eyes in shock. "What? What are you saying? I was the one who stopped that creature! If it weren't for me, you all would have died! I earned that potion!"
The other two group members, the one with the spear and the one with the sword, looked at each other uneasily but didn't make a sound.
They seemed to be afraid of Rick.
Rick slowly knelt down and brought his face close to the agonizing James. That sly smile on his face had been replaced entirely by an expressionless, ice-cold mask.
"I understand you, James. Truly." Rick said, his voice like a whisper. "We could never have defeated that boar without you."
He placed his hand on James's shoulder, squeezing it lightly as if consoling a friend. A glimmer of hope appeared in James's eyes for a moment.
"But the problem is..." Rick's voice hardened. "Your arm is in bad shape. Even if I gave you that potion, it would take days for you to fully heal. We can't carry a wounded man on our backs in this forest. You would slow us down."
James's eyes widened in terror. It didn't take long for him to realize what Rick was implying.
"Rick... Don't do it. We... We are a team! You can't leave me here!"
Rick shrugged. "I'm not going to leave you here, James. Don't worry."
With a sudden motion, Rick drew the dagger at his waist. The movement was so fast that James couldn't even react. The dagger plunged into James's throat.
"GAAHH!"
James's hands went to his throat; blood was gushing through his fingers. There was pure shock in his eyes, a muffled gurgle in his mouth. The coldness of betrayal felt sharper than the steel in his throat. After thrashing for a few seconds, his body went limp and remained motionless.
James was dead.
A deadly silence fell over the forest, broken only by the howling of the wind.
The spearman and swordsman had frozen where they stood. They were looking at their leader in terror.
"Rick... What did you do?" asked the one with the sword, his voice trembling.
Wiping his dagger on James's clothes, Rick stood up calmly. There wasn't the slightest sign of remorse on his face.
"I made a rational decision." he said, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
"He was a burden. And these potions..." He lightly jingled the bag at his waist. "Are for those who have a chance to survive, meaning us."
He fixed his cold gaze on the other two men. There was a menacing gleam in his eyes.
"Does anyone have an objection?"
The two men looked at each other. Fear had proven much more dominant than loyalty and morality. They quickly shook their heads.
"No... You're right, Rick."
"Good." Rick said, returning to a cheerful tone of voice.
"Now, take everything on James. His weapon, his armor... whatever is useful. Hurry up, let's go before the smell of blood attracts other things here."
Without hesitation, the spearman and the swordsman swarmed their old friend's corpse. Like a flock of vultures, they began to loot the equipment on James.
Hiding in the shadow of the tree, Aren had watched all of this with an expressionless face.
He wasn't surprised.
Humans were more dangerous than even the wildest creature because they were the only beings capable of hiding their betrayal behind a justified smile.
Aren waited patiently amidst the shadows.
After Rick and the other two men completely stripped James's corpse, they left him there just like a pile of trash.
Rick looked at the massive Wild Boar with greedy eyes. "Damn it! We can't carry this thing." Rick said, angrily kicking the boar.
"It's too heavy. Just extract its tusks. We'll leave the rest to the scavengers. Hurry up!" The men quickly extracted the boar's sharp tusks. Then, fearing that the smell of blood would attract larger predators, they ran away, disappearing into the depths of the forest.
Aren brought his hand to the hilt of his black sword.
'Maybe I should go and kill them; there might be useful things in their belongings. Also, healing potions could be a life-saving trump card for me. They don't know I'm here, I could catch them off guard.'
Suddenly, the sounds of various creatures echoed nearby.
"Damn it! We're retreating, quickly!" Rick said, and they started to run away.
"Are you going to chase them?" asked Seraphina.
Aren, in a calm voice, said, "No. There is no point in taking unnecessary risks."
Seraphina's voice echoed in his mind. There was a slight tone of approval in her voice. "True."
Seconds after the group disappeared from sight, Aren stepped out from the shadow of the tree he was hiding in. With silent steps, he descended into the clearing. First, he looked at James's corpse. His eyes were open, a frozen expression of terror on his face.
Then he turned to his main target, the massive Wild Boar.
Rick and his group had left behind this treasure weighing tons because they couldn't carry it. Though, for them, the meat of this boar was just a nutritious meal, nothing more.
Aren placed his hand on the corpse. His storage ring glowed.
The pickup-truck-sized boar vanished instantly.
'When the bear meat runs out, I can continue with the boar.' he thought.
Without wasting any time, he blended into the shadows and moved away from there.
Aren quickly moved away from the spot where the Wild Boar's corpse had vanished.
Aren didn't stop. Half an hour later, he encountered his first prey.
A snake reaching three meters in length emerged from under a charred log. Its skin was covered in gray scales, blending perfectly with the environment. Its vertical irises glowed with a red gleam. The venom dripping from its mouth accompanied by a hiss was melting the dry earth like acid.
The moment the snake tasted the air with its forked tongue, it attacked.
It tensed like a bow and targeted its venomous fangs at Aren's neck. Its speed was so high that an ordinary human couldn't follow it.
But Aren wasn't ordinary.
'Fast.' Aren's mind was calm, while his body was like a storm.
Aren took a simple step to the side. The snake's attack hit empty air. The black sword drew a silvery arc in the air.
The snake's triangular head was severed from its body and fell to the ground. Its body writhed for a while longer; the acidic blood flowing from its severed neck melted the ground.
Experience gained.
2 hours later, Aren was covered in sweat.
Before him were the lizard-like creatures he had encountered before. But these were much larger, much stronger. Their skins leaned more towards crimson than black, and as they breathed, their ribcages glowed like a bellows.
And they were superior in number. About 10 of them had fixed their terrifying vertical irises on Aren.
Aren didn't hesitate.
Mana Reinforcement.
Golden veins appeared on the black sword.
"Come!" Aren dove into the middle of the lizard pack. They might have been superior in numbers, but when it came to speed and sharpness, they couldn't even come close to Aren.
When the first lizard swung its claw, Aren ducked and thrust his sword upwards. The sword entered through the creature's jaw and reached its brain.
The others attacked at the same time. Spitfires flew through the air. Using his high agility, Aren danced among them like a shadow.
Experience gained.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Level 14 > Level 15
Your stats have increased by 1 point.
Slash. Dodge. Stab.
The floor of the Crimson Forest was soaked with the blood of the creatures. When he sent the head of the last lizard flying, Aren let out a deep breath.
Experience gained.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Level 15 > Level 16
Your stats have increased by 1 point.
"Good." Aren said. "I leveled up twice at once."
He continued running without pausing.
Aren continued to advance into the depths of the Crimson Forest.
It had been half an hour since he left the remaining lizard corpses behind. During this time, he had only encountered a few small, insignificant creatures. And they had fled into their holes the moment they felt the dominant aura Aren emitted.
"Stop." Seraphina said suddenly.
Aren's steps ceased instantly. His muscles tensed, his hand went to the hilt of his sword.
"What happened?"
Seraphina's voice carried an excited tremor. "Turn to your right. About three hundred meters ahead. I sense a very dense, very pure fire energy."
"Is it very strong?" asked Aren.
Seraphina made a disdainful sound. "This is not a 'creature' that needs to be fought. If my senses don't deceive me, this is a 'Spiritual Plant'."
He didn't know what the concept of a 'Spiritual Plant' meant, but he turned his direction to the right and started advancing with silent steps.
The trees were getting sparser, and the ground was becoming hotter. It was so hot, in fact, that the volcanic soil had cracked in places, and crimson smoke was puffing out from between the cracks.
When Aren passed the final row of trees and came into a clearing, he held his breath at the sight he saw.
Right in the middle of the clearing, there was a boiling lava pond about twenty meters in diameter. The lava was bubbling and popping, scattering drops of deadly heat around.
And right in the middle of this hellish pit, floating above the lava, stood a single flower.
A crystallized lotus flower the size of a palm, its petals glowing like rubies.
"You are truly lucky..." whispered Seraphina. "If you consume that flower, your fire affinity will rise to the next level."
"It's right in the middle of the lava pond. How will I get it?" asked Aren.
Before he even had the chance to think, the lava pond suddenly swelled. It was as if a massive hand was forcing its way up from under the lava.
"Retreat!" shouted Seraphina.