Chapter 113: Attacked

Zaid’s group rode fearlessly and at high speed along the long stone road. The horses were very well trained, so they didn’t have to stop much before nightfall, which allowed them to cover quite a distance.

As night fell, they had to stop at one of the wells along the way to water the horses and rest.

Zaid, Erick, and John dismounted and ran to the well to draw water.

However, they hadn’t quite reached the well when they heard a sharp sound accompanied by a strange growl.

All three immediately looked behind them.

"W-what?"

The three horses collapsed at the same time. Their pale tongues and open mouths, showing no signs of life, indicated that they were dead.

They ran over to the horses and examined them carefully...

"Don’t they have any blood? What the hell..." Zaid pulled his hand away as a chill ran down his spine. It was as if some vampire had sucked all the blood out of these horses.

They ran to the road to see if the horses had been injured and lost blood along the way, but there were no traces of blood.

"This..."

They looked at each other.

"What the hell happened?"

They took a moment to think it over.

It was John who spoke first.

"Although I haven’t worked specifically with horses, when they’re exposed to cursed energy for too long, they tend to fall ill with a strange curse that rapidly consumes their lives, draining them of blood—almost like an undead creature. The same thing happens to any wild beast. I think these three were exposed to too much cursed energy on one of their journeys."

"I understand," said Zaid, but he interjected. "But didn’t we ask for new horses to avoid something like that? Did they sell us old ones?"

John clenched his teeth. "Those damn bastards have become pretty predatory. I didn’t think they’d put the newcomers in danger just to avoid wasting animals."

Zaid nodded, though he had other thoughts on the matter.

’I don’t think a company that’s been working here for so many years would want to damage its reputation by doing that.’

He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

"Now we’re going to have trouble continuing on our way," Erick said with a certain heaviness.

Zaid nodded and gazed into the depths of the nearby forests. "Aren’t there any beasts around here? Anyway, we just came to try to level up."

"All of these are either wild beast zones or simply barren areas, which is why they have a low concentration of cursed energy. The city is built right at the final intersection between the barren and desolate areas and the beast zones," John said.

"So we have to go all the way." Zaid sighed. "Well, at least we’re inside a portal—time is on our side."

Although they felt discouraged by a setback like that, they didn’t dwell on it too much. They’d come to level up; they had plenty of time.

They lit a campfire and grilled some chicken. Zaid and John took charge of the cooking.

It came as a surprise to Zaid to learn that the little street thug who had bullied him in school was a good cook—better than he’d expected.

"Not bad, John. You really do cook well," Erick complimented him. "Why don’t the two of you go on a cooking show?"

They both chose to ignore Erick’s question.

"If you didn’t spend all day reading, you’d probably be a good cook too," Zaid scolded him.

Erick wrinkled his nose. "I’m not interested in being a good cook. That’s why I’m a hunter—and I’ve got some talent for it. I’ll hire a cook in the future."

Zaid scoffed. "You have a lot of faith in yourself."

"Of course I do!" Erick tossed the chicken bone aside and grabbed another thigh. "Everyone should have faith in themselves!"

"How do you expect us to have faith in ourselves when so many of us grew up on streets overrun with beasts?" exclaimed John, who hadn’t spoken since he’d finished cooking.

"You can have faith in yourself because you believe you can do better, but you don’t have faith in humanity—the very people who put you through those hardships. I didn’t go through exactly the same thing as you, but I didn’t have a good childhood either."

"You’re pretty optimistic," John admitted.

Erick burst out laughing; he couldn’t deny it. Sometimes he was an optimistic guy.

"What do you think, Zaid? I think I’m right," Erick turned his attention to Zaid, who had been silent for a while.

Zaid took a bite of his chicken and used a napkin to wipe off the excess grease. "I think we have company," he said.

Erick turned his head, confused.

John frowned.

Zaid stood up and looked toward the dense forest. He clenched the bone in his hand and threw it deep into the woods.

"Why don’t they show themselves, if they’re already here?"

The bone sliced through the air with a terrifying force that no one would expect from an F-Rank person. It pierced through the first few trees and then struck a man right between his eyebrows. The force was so great that it passed right through him like a bullet, and the man fell backward, dead.

Amid the silence of the system, his heart calmed down.

"It’s good to know it doesn’t work on humans," Zaid whispered.

Immediately, a crowd of people dressed in worn-out clothes or black hoods surrounded them. There were more than 50 of them, and they were accompanied by a few F-Rank beasts, totaling about 10.

Sixty in total.

"Quite a bit better than I was told," said one of them, who was carrying a spear and wearing an armband that marked him as the leader. He fixed his full attention on Zaid, surprised by his strength.

Zaid looked at it, too. ’High E-rank. There are three others that are E-rank, and the rest are F-rank.’

He looked at the beasts as well—all of them Rank F. Two of them were Level 9; the others were below Level 6.

He figured that only those two strongest ones would give him some experience if he killed them at the same time. Once he reached Rank E, almost all Rank F beasts wouldn’t give him a single PE.

So he drew his daggers and gripped them tightly. "I’d like to know who sent them, but I guess I don’t really need to ask, do I?" Zaid sneered.

The man shrugged. "You don’t need to. What does it matter anyway, if you’re going to die?"

"I like bold people, but not stupid ones," Zaid replied. "And you’re not really bold—you’re stupid."

Zaid raised his daggers and pointed them at him. "Bring those two beasts with you—let me see what they’re made of."

The man pressed his lips together. "We can settle this without a fight—if you give me 5 million. 1 million for the life of each of your friends and three for yours. How about it?"

Zaid scoffed. "One million for the life of each of you. I want it right now. Then I’ll let you go."

"Pfft!" The man burst out laughing. "I’ll say the same thing you did... I like bold people, but not stupid ones. You can’t negotiate with stupid people."

His expression suddenly turned cold. "Kill them and steal their rings and belongings. That guy over there is the son of the most powerful family in these lands. He’s got money!"