CHAPTER 36: WILD BEAST HUNT.

"This is so annoying. Gah, if I get back, I am so going to kill that girl."

Shifting his purple hair to the side, Kelvin knelt on the rock, the bow and arrow in his hands aimed solely at the group of wild beasts below.

Although his target was a single beast they could take for breakfast, as a sword master, arrows had never been his choice of weapon.

"Gotcha!"

Ohewww!

He released the string, sending the arrow speeding towards the wild beasts.

However, just when it seemed as though it was going to hit one of them, it pierced the rock wall, landing far away from where the beasts were.

"I missed again?"

On that very wall, there were a few more arrows he had fired earlier, all finding their mark on the unforgiving wall.

Kelvin’s frustration burst out all at once as he slammed the bow to the ground.

"Fuck this! And fuck Echidna too! I wouldn’t have to do any of this if she hadn’t thrown our supplies away. Dammit!!!"

He suddenly sensed someone behind him.

Looking to the side, Kelvin was surprised to see that it was Ash. He had his hands in his pockets, and his gaze was focused on the wild beasts feeding on the little grass they could find.

"Huh? What the hell are you doing here? Did you come here to spy on me or something?" Kelvin barked, fully facing Ash.

Ash looked at him, uttering not even a single word before looking back at the wild beasts.

"Oi! Don’t go ignoring me—"

"How many did they ask for?" interrupted Ash.

"What?" Kelvin raised a brow.

"Food. How many did your girlfriend ask for?" Ash glanced at him with the side of his eye.

"Girlfriend!" Kelvin wore a look of disgust. "Don’t make me laugh, she is just my friend! And what the hell do you mean, ’how many’? Catching one is hard enough, just how many do you think she would ask for?!" he yelled, still pointing.

Ash sighed.

"You really like shouting, don’t you?"

Kelvin’s face turned red as he got hit with the verbal abuse, causing him to stagger backward a bit.

"Why you—"

"If a single one is alright for you all, then so be it."

Following that, Ash aimed his hand at a single beast, closing one eye to improve his aim. His hand was gestured in the shape of a handgun, and then—

[The skill Demonic Aura is now active.]

"Bang!"

It happened so fast that Kelvin was left speechless.

A dark, small, bullet-sized energy shot out of his hand and right at a wild beast’s chest, bringing it to the ground after its heart exploded.

"Eh?"

Kelvin turned his gaze to the dead wild beast, watching as the rest began to run around the entire place, panicking.

However, Ash did not stop there.

"Bang. Bang. Bang!"

He kept shooting his shots, not stopping until all ten of the wild beasts were dead on the ground, blood leaking from all their chests.

[You have killed ten wild beasts.]

[3000 epoints has been allocated.]

Seeing the notification, Ash lowered his hand, his dark veins slowly fading away.

Turning to look at Kelvin, he noticed the shocked look on the poor boy’s face. It was quite obvious.

"I know I have asked this question before, and the last time you ignored me, but what class are you? What is your rank?" He paused. "At first, I assumed you to be a warrior or something, but right now, I can’t help but think I might be wrong."

"And I ignored you the last time. What makes you think now would be any different?" Ash leaped down the rock, landing on his two feet.

"Because!!!"

Kelvin followed, landing right behind him and then striding forward to catch up.

"Following the rules as an adventurer, it is your duty to answer these questions! I could have you locked up, you know this, right?"

"Are you threatening me?" Ash suddenly stopped, glaring at Kelvin without having to turn around.

Caught unawares by the action, Kelvin flinched a bit and went silent, finding it hard to figure out the next thing he was supposed to say.

"..."

"If that is your only concern, then you can quit disturbing me, because I am not an adventurer."

"What? But, you said—"

"Aisha is the one with the job. I am just accompanying her."

"No way! You are strong! What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you choose to not be an adventurer? Think about the money you could be making from this!"

Kelvin kept ranting behind Ash, trying his very hardest to make sure Ash listened to his advice.

Ash, on the other hand, was now bent in front of a wild beast, his hand stretched forward as Kelvin’s voice echoed in the background.

[The skill Dark Absorption has been activated.]

A dark mist rushed from his hand, completely devouring the wild beast in a single sweep before disappearing back into his open palm.

Almost instantly, Kelvin’s muttering fell silent.

[You have absorbed a wild beast.]

[A new talent skill has been obtained.]

[Boar Charge: When moving in a straight line, your acceleration burst is increased per distance gained.]

’An acceleration burst? What does it mean by that?’

He never hoped to get a good skill from such a weak monster anyway; all he wanted to do was test his theory on a certain thing.

’As I thought. Every new skill I gain now no longer has a leveling system. It seems they always come in maxed to the fullest. Is this because my bond has grown, or is it because I have grown stronger myself?’

Seeing there was no way to get answers and that, instead, he would have to go with his theory, Ash stood upright, his eyes soon meeting Kelvin’s.

"Let’s take two back. We can leave the rest here for the wild animals."

Kelvin was too shocked to refuse or even talk.

So instead, he nodded his head and then moved toward the dead beasts, getting ready to carry one back to the camp.