Rise from Zero

14

Gatot still stood frozen beside the monster's carcass, busy processing the new current of energy rushing warmly beneath his skin. Instead of feeling broken and exhausted after gambling his life against the Spotted Cave Behemoth, his body felt remarkably lighter and more powerful. It was as if every cell within him had just been renewed.

​Beside him, Gery still stared at him, the remnants of terror not yet fully vanished from his face.

​Crash!

​The sound of collapsing stone echoed from the direction of the barrier wall. The stone wall that had tightly sealed the cavern hall suddenly shifted upward. From behind the billowing dust, the five senior hunters who had betrayed them stepped back inside. Upon each of their backs sat a large, bulging backpack, emitting the clink of precious metals from within, the spoils of looting the cave's side route.

​"Hohoho! Just as I thought, this gate boss turned out to be weak," the group leader laughed freely, his eyes instantly sweeping the hall before locking onto Gatot and Gery.

​"So, which one of you managed to survive swimming among these pathetic monsters?" the dual-axe wielder chimed in as he approached, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the Behemoth's corpse. "Wow, the meat and bones of this monster will definitely fetch a high price on the black market."

​The leader stepped forward, then reached into his bag pocket. Without warning, he tossed a rusty ancient cup toward Gatot and a small, dull golden spoon toward Gery.

​Clink!

​Gatot caught the ancient cup with one hand, while Gery caught the golden spoon with a somewhat awkward reflex.

​"That's the pay for the two of you," the leader said in a sickeningly casual tone. "Now, hurry up and drag this Behemoth carcass out of the cave for us."

​Gery widened his eyes in disbelief. He stared at the small spoon in his hand, then turned to look at the rusted cup Gatot held. His fear suddenly dissolved into an uncontrollable wave of rage. "Hey! Why is this all we get? This is incredibly unfair!"

​"Hey, brat, the two of you are only here to make up the numbers!" the axe-wielder barked harshly.

​Whoosh! Thrust!

​The archer suddenly drew his bowstring and unleashed an arrow, pinning it into the ground precisely between Gery's feet. Gery jolted backward, his face turning pale once more.

​"Shut up!" the archer snapped, aiming his bow at Gery's face again. "Do you want this arrow to pierce your heart right now, huh?"

​Gatot took a single step forward, positioning himself in front of Gery. His voice sounded utterly flat yet freezing cold as he spoke. "We killed the gate boss. Our payment should be far greater than whatever you are carrying inside those bags."

​Gery immediately looked up at Gatot, startled by the sheer courage shown by the man known as an E-rank.

​"Wo-wo-wowo! What did the E-rank just say?" The leader feigned surprise, and then roaring laughter erupted among the five seniors once again.

​"That's because this Behemoth was actually already dead or dying long before we left you! You didn't kill it, we know that much!" the longsword-wielder scoffed with absolute certainty.

​"Yeah, exactly! No way it was you, newbie," he pointed at Gery with a filthy fingernail. "And definitely not this Total Failure!" They all laughed even louder, treating Gatot's words as the most ridiculous joke of the century.

​The leader stepped forward until he was close to Gatot, his large face mere centimeters from Gatot's own. "You two better know your place and"

​Boom!

​The leader's words were brutally cut short. Without any warning, without any visible buildup, Gatot's right hand shot forward like lightning. A raw punch packed with fifteen points of strength slammed squarely into the leader's lower jaw.

​The sound of a shifting, snapping jaw was horrifying. The large man's armored frame lifted a few centimeters off the ground before crashing backward, striking the earth with a heavy thud. His eyes immediately rolled back into his head. He fell unconscious, knocked out instantly.

​The atmosphere inside the cavern room fell into a total, sudden silence. The other four senior hunters froze in place, unable to comprehend how someone they labeled as humanity's weakest weapon could bring down their main tanker with just one blow.

​Gatot himself fell silent. He slowly lowered his right hand, staring at his own palm with a bewildered expression. The strength... it is this powerful? he thought in surprise. He had not expected that the attribute increase from the system would grant such a destructive impact on an ordinary human physique.

​However, Gatot immersed himself too long in his own confusion and shock. He forgot one crucial rule of combat: his enemy was not just one person.

​While Gatot's focus was fractured as he stared at his hand, one of the seniors wielding a massive iron mace had already moved from his blind spot. The rage of seeing their leader taken down made the man move without mercy.

​"You little bastard!" the man roared.

​Gatot was too late to react. The danger signal from the Snake Scent ability had only just begun to ring in his head, but the iron mace was already too close to his temple.

​Slam!

​The violent impact of the heavy weapon struck the side of Gatot's head. The collision of metal against his temple produced a solid, echoing thud. Gatot's vision immediately spun one hundred and eighty degrees. The world around him turned abruptly dark and swayed violently.

​Gatot's body collapsed, falling unconscious onto the cold earth, with the remnants of his awareness tearing away rapidly.

​"Ah... dammit..." Gatot managed to mutter, the words breaking in his throat as his eyes slowly shut completely, plunging him into a dense, heavy darkness.