If it weren’t for his rather unique talents, Isaac wouldn’t have made it this far.
But ultimately, his strength was still far too weak.
The stench of rotten breath hit his face.
Isaac, in despair, closed his eyes, bracing for the imminent death.
But then, something unexpected happened.
After a long wait, Isaac felt no pain whatsoever.
Instead, it felt like something was smeared on his face, sticky and warm.
He instinctively licked it off, froze for a moment, and then suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“What’s going on?” Isaac looked around, and the scene before him left him utterly speechless.
The terrifying monsters that had closed in on him were now all impaled through their heads by iron spears, standing straight up on the ground. Black blood gushed out from their bodies.
He wiped his face and was hit with the overpowering stench.
Isaac’s face turned green, especially when he remembered that he had just licked it…
He collapsed to the ground and began to vomit.
At that moment, Isaac genuinely felt that he would have been better off being eaten by those monsters.
“Hey, are you okay?” a voice reached his ears. The nearly exhausted Isaac looked up.
He saw a boy, armed with a black spear, staring at him with a strange expression.
Even Luca had never seen someone brave enough to take on a Deep Crawler like this boy…
“Did you save me?” Isaac looked at the spear in the boy’s hand, still dripping with blood, and suddenly understood.
Luca didn’t reply; he flicked the blood off the spear and started walking toward the meat factory. He casually warned, “The Outer District has already fallen. Head to the Inner District; the instructors from Red Maple Academy and the city lord’s office are organizing people to evacuate.
“If you’re lucky, you might catch a shuttle.”
Isaac stared blankly at Luca’s retreating figure, and after a long pause, he managed to say.
“Thank you!”
Luca didn’t pay much attention, simply waving his hand dismissively.
He had saved quite a few people along the way, so it didn’t really mean much to him.
However, what Luca didn’t know was that Isaac remembered him deeply.
Luca weaved through the monsters effortlessly. Those creatures, which were virtually unbeatable for ordinary people, fell like paper under his strikes.
[Ding! You have slain a lv53 Devourer (Normal) and earned 114,000 experience!]
[Ding! You have slain a lv55 Abyss Centipede (Rare) and earned 563,000 experience!]
[Ding! You have slain a lv57 Six-Armed Spider (Rare) and earned 629,000 experience!]
…
As Luca got closer to the meat factory, the monsters around him grew stronger, and so did the experience he gained.
When he finally reached the vicinity of the meat factory, he leveled up twice, reaching level 37!
[Your level has increased to 37. You have gained 30 free attribute points!]
Luca allocated all his free attribute points to Spirit and glanced at his status panel, noticing that his Spirit had reached 3,500 points, allowing his damage to easily exceed 40,000. As long as he didn’t encounter a Diamond-level monster, ordinary creatures posed little threat to him.
As he was thinking this, Luca suddenly sensed that something was off.
“Could I be this unlucky?” he muttered, furrowing his brow and scanning the area.
This was a typical residential district, seemingly unremarkable.
Yet, to his surprise, the number of monsters around him was actually decreasing.
That was quite peculiar.
The residential area was one of the most densely populated places; logically, there should be a horde of monsters here, but despite his wait, he hadn’t encountered a single one. This indicated that there was likely a big creature nearby!
With that thought in mind, Luca considered his options and decided to stick around to investigate.
The experience from a high-level monster was worth several times that of an ordinary one. If he could take one down, it would significantly shorten his leveling time. Even if he faced a monster he couldn’t handle, with his current strength, making a calm retreat shouldn’t be a problem.
With these thoughts swirling in his head, Luca observed his surroundings and headed toward the building where the aura of dark energy and the smell of blood were strongest.
From a distance, he could see the bright red blood seeping out from the crack in the door.
There was no doubt that the people inside were in grave danger.
He waited quietly for a moment, ensuring there were no immediate threats.
With a flicker of thought, greenish-blue magic runes appeared on his spear. A gentle breeze began to swirl around him.
“Daylight Wind Shadows!”
He masked his presence, lightly stepping onto the ground, and leaped onto the second-floor balcony of the residential building.
Carefully, he pushed the door open and entered the room.
The house was tidy, seemingly normal.
But Luca came to a halt.
He listened intently, faint sounds of something slithering reached his ears, coming from the living room below.
If he had just pushed the door open moments ago, he would have been face-to-face with that creature.
Luca narrowed his eyes but didn’t go downstairs; instead, he stayed on the upper floor to pinpoint the creature’s exact location.
The spear in his hand began to glow with dark patterns, and the surrounding darkness seemed to coalesce, rapidly gathering in the air.
Finally, it condensed into a massive black sword, its tip aimed directly at the spot where the monster was lurking below.
“Roar!!!” The creature downstairs sensed something was off and roared at Luca through the ceiling.
But before it could make any further moves, the ceiling suddenly cracked open, and the black sword came crashing down!
“Thud!” Black blood sprayed forth, mixed with the creature’s piercing wails. Red numbers popped up in the air.
-66,000!
As the ceiling collapsed, Luca landed on the ground, wielding his Wind and Thunder Spell Spear, and carved deep, bone-deep gashes into the unknown black creature.
When the creature was finally enraged and swiped at him with a claw, he had already quietly retreated, dodging its death throes.
Only at that moment did Luca clearly see what kind of monster he was dealing with.
It had the face of a woman, with bluish skin and exposed fangs. Its body was covered in long black hair, resembling a gorilla. Its arms were unusually long, with sharp white bone spikes protruding from them, the pointed ends glinting like steel spears.
At that moment, the monster looked quite disheveled. Its right side was nearly severed by Luca’s earlier Shadow Judgment strike, and its left chest was riddled with bleeding wounds, continuously oozing blood.
“Is this the Demon Ape Leader?” Luca licked his lips, pleased to have found a big target. Given its aura, it appeared to be at the peak of the purple-gold level; if he could take it down, the experience would be enough to level him up and then some.
“Roar!!!” The Demon Ape Leader let out an enraged howl, filled with intense hatred for the human who had ambushed it. Anyone would be furious if they were enjoying their meal and suddenly had something drop on their head.
Despite its serious injuries, the Demon Ape Leader remained agile.
It suddenly propelled itself forward, like a cannonball, its massive hands lunging at Luca, seemingly intent on crushing him.
Luca naturally wouldn’t give it that chance. Enhanced by Daylight Wind Shadows, his speed increased dramatically, allowing him to easily evade the Demon Ape Leader’s attack. Meanwhile, a blazing light ignited in his eyes, and the temperature around him surged.
“Meteoric Fire!”
Crimson fireballs rained down from above, crashing into the already precarious building like falling meteors.
With a deafening roar, the structure collapsed, flames engulfing the Demon Ape Leader.
-48,000!
The Demon Ape Leader let out a wail, rolling desperately on the ground. The acrid scent of burnt flesh filled the air, mingled with a noxious odor.
Luca didn’t give the Demon Ape Leader a chance to counterattack; he aimed his spear at the sky, lightning flickering in his eyes.
“Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire!”
With a thunderous roar, the night erupted in sound!
A massive bolt of lightning, as thick as a barrel, tore through the darkness and crashed down onto the Demon Ape Leader.
“Boom!” The violent force sent sand and debris flying everywhere, leaving the Demon Ape Leader battered and bleeding.
It was charred black, billowing thick smoke from its head. It opened its mouth once but then collapsed to the ground with a thud.
A rush of immense experience flooded into Luca’s body.
The kill notification and level-up glow appeared almost simultaneously.
[Ding! Congratulations! You have slain a lv58 Abyss Demon Ape (Leader) and earned 1,116,000 experience!]
[Your level has increased to 38. You have gained 30 free attribute points!]
Meanwhile, others in the Outer District also took notice of the earlier commotion.
The purple lightning was far too conspicuous, drawing curious glances from everyone around.
When they caught sight of Luca, many paused in surprise at the boy’s youth.
Those who recognized him were even more astonished.
“What the hell! Why is he here?!” Bronte couldn’t help but curse. Hadn’t they told Luca to leave? How had he sneaked back?
Orf’s face darkened. If he weren’t busy, he would definitely make sure Luca understood the consequences of defying his teacher.
Medel, though surprised, didn’t dwell on it too much. He reassured them, “Don’t worry too much; this kid is far stronger than other professionals at his level. The monsters here can’t threaten him.”
Upon hearing this, Orf’s expression finally improved a bit.
Bronte also let out a sigh of relief.
If something happened to Luca here, he couldn’t even imagine how Luna would react… but wait, why was this Luna’s concern?
Unbeknownst to them.
While they were looking at Luca, two other pairs of eyes were also fixed on him.
In the sky above, Pandora, holding a black box, narrowed her beautiful eyes.
She sensed a familiar aura from Luca, not just from the Undead Coffin, but…
“Jormungandr? You really are as foolish as ever.” A slight smile curled at the corners of her mouth beneath her veil, strikingly beautiful.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop, a Superclass powerhouse in a red robe, wearing a menacing ghost mask, stood watching, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to come right to me; this saves me a lot of trouble!” The murderous intent was evident in his gaze as his figure transformed into a streak of crimson light, rapidly approaching Luca’s location.