2026-05-29 21:01:26Alex still stood frozen inside the cave. Wild growl after wild growl echoed from outside, drawing closer, growing more thunderous. His heart beat rapidly, as though it were about to leap out of his chest.
"Just a few minutes ago I managed to survive, obtained Nero, and bound my first contract. Now, it is as if the entire Forbidden Forest is moving to tear everything away from me."
Ding!
[Primary scent source detected.]
[Shadow Dragon Blood.]
[Warning. Surrounding monsters are approaching.]
Alex turned to the adult dragon's body lying still, grand and terrifying all at once.
"System," he called out, his voice tense. "Can this dragon's corpse be hidden?"
Ding!
[Confirmation.]
[Target can be stored inside the Inventory.]
Alex's eyes widened. "Even something that big?"
[Confirmation.]
Without wasting time, he extended his hand. Instantly, the giant dragon's body vanished into thin air.
Ding!
[High-Value Asset Successfully Secured.]
[Egoist Action Detected.]
[EXP +20]
Alex frowned. "Why does storing a dragon's corpse actually give me EXP?"
There was no answer. The monsters' growls now sounded much closer.
Grrrr... Grrrr...
He turned to Nero. The small dragon hatchling stood trembling in its place, its tiny body appearing extremely fragile.
"System. Use Shadow Nest."
Ding!
[Shadow Nest Lv.1 Activated.]
Alex crouched down. "Nero."
The dragon hatchling stared at him.
"Get in."
Nero's small body slowly turned into a pitch-black shadow, then sank into Alex's own shadow.
Ding!
[Contract Beast Hidden.]
[Dragon Blood Traces Reduced by 93%.]
Alex exhaled a sigh of relief—only for a moment.
[Too late.]
[Monsters have entered the area.]
"Damn it."
He immediately took cover behind a large boulder in the inner section of the cave, then peeked out. His face instantly turned pale.
Dozens of monsters crowded the area in front of the cave. Bone Wolves, Forest Goblins, Rock Scorpions, even several large Iron Rats. They were all searching for something that was no longer there.
The dragon's corpse.
Alex narrowed his eyes. An idea sparked in his mind. He saw the puddle of dragon blood still remaining on the cave floor, then without hesitation took a portion of it and dragged it further into the cave. After that, he hid himself once more.
Not long after, the monsters caught the scent.
AWWRRR!
A Bone Wolf leaped first, followed by roaring goblins, and then stinging scorpions. They immediately fought over it savagely. Scratching one another, biting one another, killing one another without mercy.
Alex only observed from behind the darkness. "Kill each other," he murmured softly.
Ding!
[EXP +1]
Ding!
[EXP +2]
Ding!
[EXP +1]
Alex's eyes widened. The EXP kept increasing. The narrow cave left the monsters trapped together. A goblin stabbed a Bone Wolf. A scorpion stung a goblin. An Iron Rat gnawed on a carcass that had already fallen. Screams and growls filled the cramped space.
Alex waited patiently, letting them reduce their own numbers.
Until finally—
Ding!
[Level Up.]
[Level 2.]
A wave of warmth spread throughout his body. Alex felt the change—not dramatic, but real. His body felt slightly stronger, slightly lighter.
"So this is what it feels like to level up..."
The remaining monsters were now severely injured. Some had lost legs, some had lost eyes, and others were nearly dead.
Alex smiled thinly. "Time to hunt."
He stepped out from hiding. His sword moved rapidly.
Slash!
The neck of a goblin that had lost an arm was slashed. The monster immediately collapsed.
Ding!
[EXP +4]
Slash!
A severely injured Bone Wolf followed in death.
Ding!
[EXP +3]
However, not everything went smoothly. A Rock Scorpion that appeared to be dying suddenly attacked.
Slash!
"UGH!"
Alex retreated a few steps. The monster's stinger gouged deep into his shoulder. Blood flowed heavily. An intense pain radiated through him.
"Damn it..."
For a moment, fear gripped him again. "I'm still weak. I can still die at any moment." But Alex gritted his teeth. He had died once. He did not want to die again.
Slash!
His sword pierced the Rock Scorpion's head. The monster slumped down.
Ding!
[EXP +5]
The fight continued. Monster after monster fell. Alex did not look for a fair fight. He only killed the easiest ones, the most injured ones, the most profitable ones.
Ding!
[Level Up.]
[Level 3.]
His body felt lighter once more. His muscles strengthened. However, the system chimed again.
[Current EXP: 74/200]
[The next level requires greater EXP.]
Alex nodded slowly.
"The higher the level, the harder it is to rise. It makes sense."
His thoughts then drifted to one figure—King Theron. The man who hunted Aldric. The man capable of sending troops to kill a dragon.
He stared at the monster blood clinging to his sword. "If low-level monsters like this almost killed me... then how strong is that King, exactly?"
His breath felt heavy. Level 3 meant nothing. He was still too weak. Still very far from revenge. But at least, now he had a path. A path to strength.
After ensuring no small monsters remained, Alex left the cave. The sky was turning dark. He found a large tree and sat beneath it. His body was covered in wounds, his shoulder ached, and his legs trembled from exhaustion.
"System. Bring out a potion."
Ding!
[Healing Potion Dispatched.]
Alex immediately drank it. A warmth spread through his entire body. The wounds began to close. His breathing gradually calmed.
"Hah..."
However, that peace did not last long.
Ding!
[Warning.]
Alex instantly opened his eyes.
[Warning.]
[Warning.]
His body tensed. The monsters around the forest suddenly ran in fear. Goblins, Bone Wolves, even Iron Rats—all of them fled as fast as possible.
The ground began to vibrate.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The trees in the distance collapsed one by one.
Alex's face turned pale. "What now...?"
Ding!
[High-Level Threat Detected.]
[Elite Rank Monster.]
[Second Elite Rank Monster Detected.]
[Third Elite Rank Monster Detected.]
Alex's body froze. "Three?"
Then the system provided the final piece of information.
[Targets entered the area because they detected the presence of the Dragon Core.]
Alex's hand reflexively touched his chest, the place where the dragon core now resided.
THUD!
A giant tree crashed down not far from there. From behind the darkness of the forest, six red eyes slowly opened, watching him hungrily.
At that moment, Alex understood.
"The monsters didn't come for the dragon's blood. They came for something far more valuable—the dragon core that is now mine."
And for the first time since arriving in the Forbidden Forest, Alex truly felt that he was nothing more than prey.
"Damn it, it turns out I was wrong, I am still the prey!"
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CHAPTER 87 — Neural Sensor Recording
His visual senses indeed did not possess a high enough capability just to capture the entire sequence of Aldric's movements. However, something strange within the deepest structure of his instincts seemed to force him to keep paying attention and analyzing in detail: The way Aldric shifted his center of gravity over the muddy ground, the tilt angle of his sword blade when colliding with bone spikes, the safe distance he left in every defensive movement, all the way to the momentum of inertia he utilized to save his physical stamina supply. Darius tried to record all those tactical visuals into the structure of his brain.Ding!Aldric, who was currently slicing clean through the neck of the seventeenth boar, suddenly found the transparent blue interface belonging to the system manifesting instantly in the corner of his field of vision.[Contract Growth Brand Active] [Contract Target is intensely observing the owner's combat patterns] [Target's Combat Experience Absorption Efficiency:
CHAPTER 86 — The Rhythm of Efficient Slaughter
A massive roar from the remnants of the spiked boar colony once again shook the interior of the crater, shattering the vortex of Darius's inner reverie. The instant death of six of their elite members surprisingly did not cause the spiked boars to pull back their tactical steps in the slightest. On the contrary, the scent of fresh blood drenching the ground instead triggered the wild neurotransmitters inside their brains to become even more aggressive, completely losing their sanity.Dozens of monsters moved forward simultaneously from various angles of coordinates. Nero immediately flapped his small wings, flying high into the air to take over the function of a tactical radar."Aldric! Your right sector! Major group of eight lunging together!" Nero screamed from the heights."I can see them," Aldric replied flatly, stepping forward a single centimeter."Behind your rear cloak!""I know.""Three are penetrating from beneath the ground where you stand!" Nero shrieked again with a tight
CHAPTER 85 — The Distance Between Two Existences
Darius reflexively held his breath upon seeing the encirclement from five directions. In the midst of that pouncing storm, Aldric did not shift his footing position even a fraction. Fifteen meters. Ten meters. Five meters."Master! Watch out!" Darius screamed in panic.Aldric raised his black Greatsword into the air with a single vertical motion that seemed far too slow. However, right when the snout of the first monster was a single span away from his cloak, Aldric unleashed a very clean, simple horizontal swing.Wummm!The air pressure inside the crater suddenly exploded violently, releasing a ripple of a vacuum shockwave that sliced through the mist distortion instantly. Darius widened his pair of eyes completely until the veins in his eyes stood out clearly.The surface of the earth in front of Aldric's standing position split deep, forming a single straight line spanning a dozen meters. The six Rank B monsters lunging from different coordinates suddenly halted simultaneously in m
CHAPTER 84 — The Real Law of the Battlefield
"Master... if you wouldn't mind providing a bit of physical assistance, I would be very grateful," Darius said finally, lowering his combat ego."From the very beginning, I never said I would help you out of every single one of your logistical problems," Aldric replied coldly without changing his standing position."..."Darius stared at his master's back with a blank expression laden with frustration. Nero almost burst into gleeful laughter, but the little dragon quickly suppressed his voice when dozens of low growling sounds began to echo back and forth from all corners of the mining crater.Grrrkkk...Greeek...One after another, the silhouettes of spiked boars began to step out from the darkness of the mining tunnels, crowding the floor area of the crater. Darius turned his head slowly. The thin smile that had briefly crossed his face earlier had now vanished completely without a trace. Dozens of spiked boars had now filled nearly half of the total functional area of the mining cr
CHAPTER 83 — The Silent Intervention Line
The result was zero; the monster's corpse only shifted a few centimeters, triggering an extraordinary throb of pain across his cracked ribs. On the other side, the spiked boar in front of him began to scratch the surface of the ground rhythmically using its sharp front hooves.Darius froze in place. 'This is bad, it has locked onto its path.'"Darius! Do something quickly!" Nero screamed from atop the boulder."I know, Nero!" Darius shot back across his mental frequency."It’s going to charge forward!""I can see its muscle movements too!" Darius shouted, the veins in his neck bulging.Darius pushed with all his might once more against the Rock Bear's corpse atop his legs. The muscles of both his arms trembled violently, flushing red under a weight pressure that was far too forced. However, his physical system had reached its absolute breaking point. There was no more stamina that could be squeezed out from within his human body.The spiked boar lowered its head position, aiming its p
CHAPTER 82 — Threat from the Ancient Tunnel
Greeek... Kraaak!The cracks on the ground’s surface spread further, weaving a labyrinth of destruction across the floor of the ancient mining crater. Darius, still pinned beneath a massive portion of the Rock Bear’s body, could only stare straight ahead with bated breath. From within the darkness of the collapsed mining tunnels surrounding the crater, pair after pair of glowing red eyes began to manifest continuously.One. Five. Ten. The numbers kept increasing, far exceeding the limits of his logical tolerance.Darius even stopped trying to count when the first figure finally stepped out completely, piercing the thin border mist. A giant boar, standing nearly two meters tall, stomped heavily beneath the dim light of dawn. Its body was wrapped in a thick, coarsely textured layer of black skin, while dozens of gray bone spikes grew protruding irregularly all along its spine down to the base of its tail. A pair of sharply curved tusks extended from its lower jaw, gleaming constantly wi
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