Brimming with confidence, Zalanir continued his hunt after a long session of meditation. Even though he had driven off a mighty monster, he himself wasn’t yet at max level in this grade. He was still two levels off before having the first taste of what evolution was going to look like. For that, he would need to find other peak D-grades to kill.

  Near a big pile of snow lay two big snails with spiral shells. With a similar approach, Zalanir opened the battle with Sonic Lance, weaved in some bolts and shields while the big skill was on cooldown, and cast it again when available. These snails completely relied on their light beam skills, which Zalanir could just ward it off with Energy Barrier or dodge. Their attacks were just too predictable. How they even got to level 42 and 44, he had no idea. Perhaps monsters leveled differently compared to a human. He did gain one or two levels from just practicing anyway, so it wasn’t like killing was the only option.

  You have slain [Shaftpun Dawdler — Level 42]

  You have slain [Shaftpun Dawdler — Level 44]

  After delivering two Sonic Lance and several Adaptability Bolts to each of them, Zalanir came over to their corpses and picked up another bead. Maybe he could find out what they were for later in Yebin.

  He spent the next two days exploring every nook and corner of this valley, killing two snails, three sunflower monsters and one garrle in the process. All of them were under level 45, so the level he was waiting for didn’t come. At the end of the valley was a path leading to a mountain, but he chose to go back to the entrance.

  He had spent about eight days in total here. Perhaps this was a time for him to go check on the camp. There might’ve been some progression regarding the cultist hunt already. He would hate to miss that.

  Also, wandering aimlessly hoping to stumble upon a random peak D-grade wasn’t ideal. He would prefer to trace back down and go to the second spot that the captain had suggested: the badger cave. They might’ve been the same breed of badgers that had attacked him and directly trapped him inside the bat cave. If so, then he had a grudge to settle with them.

  Though he threw his plan out the window when he encountered a group of people at the valley entrance. He tried to hide right after spotting their silhouettes, as he had no business with them, but their fixed gaze in his direction told him that they were here for him. Did his actions back at the bat cave get to them? Unless Hiina or other enforcers were caught, there should be no other person who knew what happened. And as far as he was aware, these cultists were running away from the enforcers, so the chance of that happening was pretty low. But other than that, he had no idea what these four cultists were here for.

  Well, sometimes, the answer could be direct and straightforward. One of them just pulled out and shot him an arrow, which he dodged without much trouble, but at the same time, the other three had also started to advance toward his spot.

  “What is this? I don’t think we know each other. Did I somehow cause you any trouble? If so, I’m sorry. I will get out of the way right away.” Zalanir attempted a diplomatic approach while retreating to maintain distance.

  “Yes, you hunted the monsters here. That was your misstep.” One of the men who was closing on him laughed. His curved lip was clearly a taunting sign.

  “Are they yours? Sorry, I thought that this was a wild area. This is just a misunderstanding. What can I do to make this right?” Zalanir knew that this was just bullshit, as this was clearly just a random valley. One versus fours. The odds weren’t in his favor.

  “Stop running and surrender. That’s all you need to do,” a masked man shouted while misfiring a purple bolt attack. That man’s aim was terrible.

  Zalanir turned and ran with full throttle. Any words now would be meaningless, as they were clearly looking to mess with him. If the diplomatic path didn’t work, then let it be a fight.

  The archer was the most annoying guy out of the bunch with his long range bombardments. Zalanir could only dodge all the arrows coming his way for the time being, but even that was difficult when it wasn’t a 1-on-1 fight. There was no way he could ignore the three melee fighters to go straight for that troublesome class.

  Seriously, that had to be one of the most powerful and sought-after masteries in a party. The three other cultists basically eliminated the only weakness of the class in being vulnerable in close combat, so the archer could just let loose all the attacks without any care for defense. Ridiculous range, high accuracy, huge offensive power, safety at a distance. Just so fucking overpowered.

  His hatred of the class only intensified as two arrows found purchase on his back. He had dodged twenty or so of them already, but between splitting his attention on running, dodging, and fighting off the three melee fighters, a moment of carelessness was all it took to snap his chance of escaping. At this rate, his intention of seeking out the herb bush — more accurately, the leftovers of the herb bush — was out of the question. He would never reach that place.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Going all out was his only choice. Maintaining the current course of action would only mean prolonging the inevitable. If he could take out one of them, then maybe the fear factor would force the rest to back off.

  The target was none other than the man who had taunted him earlier. Zalanir activated Wind Rush after blocking the man’s sword slash, turned around and hit the man’s flank with a point-blank Adaptability Bolt. However, in that same moment, Zalanir also registered three wounds: one in the higher back from a buffed man’s staff thrust, and two to his thighs from the familiar arrows.

  This was no good. Zalanir managed to stamp his right leg against the ground to prevent a fall, but now he was pincered between the masked man and the staff guy. Not to mention the archer who stayed far in the back. How did they react so quickly to his sudden turn?

  Whatever. He needed to stick to his original plan of eliminating one of them. The guy he had hit earlier was still moaning on the ground. Getting hit by a full-powered salvo had to hurt, so at least he had temporarily achieved his goal. Now the job was to finish him off for good.

  Zalanir cast Hurukele Whirlwind and ran back to the valley entrance. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so he chose to risk it all on the pesky archer. If he succeeded, then the escape route would be open. The whirlwind would take care of the moaning man and at least buy him some time to—

  Nothing worked as he had intended. Through the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a purple field of energy protecting both the masked man and the guy on the ground. It looked sturdy and likely held itself inside the destructive power of the raging vortex.

  As for the man with the long staff, he just jumped out of the affected area of the vortex, literally. It had to be a skill, because the ground where he landed was shattered into three huge blocks separated by arm-length rifts.

  With that jump, he soft of formed an equilateral triangle with the archer and Zalanir, which was an exasperating circumstance, because now if Zalanir wanted to go for the archer, he risked getting flanked on his right. That was with him not even confident enough to reach the archer’s spot without catching several arrows as well.

  But time was limited. If he waited until the other two broke out of the whirlwind, then he would be really done for, so he rushed ahead. Sometimes, choosing the best option among all the worst ones was still the right decision. Better got something rather than nothing.

  He sprang to the side, dodging an arrow headed to his right leg, while at the same time releasing a salvo of earth bolts toward the staff man who was about twenty steps away from his spot. The sound bolts better be saved until the man was super close to his spot. If he could get away from that contact, then he would be free to reach the archer.

  Or so he thought, because while he paid attention to the man on his right, the archer ahead just simply … retreated off toward the entrance of the valley. What the hell was this cautious level? It was a 4-on-1, for fuck’s sake.

  A thought passed through Zalanir’s mind. This wasn’t what he knew about the cultists. Back at that cave, they just jumped on him to attack at every chance. And that wasn’t counting the fact that there were enforcers the likes of Hiina or the Gymer with him as well. So why did they carry out their action with diligence and caution against him alone? Coupled with the fact that they seemed to have a counter for everything he had, Zalanir couldn’t help but think of this as a purposeful action rather than a random encounter. But if that was the case, then why? This remained his biggest question about the current situation he found himself in.

  As expected, the staff man lunged at him in the last distance. Three meters. Two meters. Go! Zalanir unleashed a barrage of sound bolts, four of which hit the man just as he had expected. His opponent then stood there for a short moment, allowing him to rush ahead and thus avoiding the flank.

  The situation now became a chase, in which the archer had already crossed the entrance; Zalanir trailed behind by about forty steps with the staff man right on his feet; while the other two had also started to go after them after escaping from the whirlwind.

  The riverbank was the same as to when he had traversed here, still brimming with ice formations and fluffy snow. Though in contrast with the calm, serene of walking through this path the first time, now Zalanir was running for his life. Right after getting out of the valley, a notion occurred to him that he immediately followed: he didn’t need to chase after the archer, did he?

  This was a three-way intersection. The archer had made a big blunder by not stopping to wait for the others to surround him. Couldn’t he just turn to the left and race in the opposite direction to the pursuers? He didn’t really need to get into a life or death situation with these cultists. Why didn’t he just run away?

  Though his wishful thinking only lasted as long as five minutes, because in front of him was a dead end. The other side of the huge cliff stood sternly in the way, with a small half-frozen lake signaling the end of the river. If only he possessed the skill to climb this massive cliff face, or if he could fly in the same way as Verizss’ia did in that dream, then perhaps this wouldn’t be the end.

  He swung around and let out a big smile after hearing the approaching footsteps.

  “Well, it was fun, wasn’t it? We had a nice bout, and I have to admit that you guys are really good. So how about we—”

  Zalanir squatted to avoid an arrow flying straight at him from the archer’s bow. There went his attempt to talk his way out of this situation. Why did the enemy want to kill him this badly? All of his skills were ready now, but even that didn’t ensure him one bit that he could escape from this encirclement. Readying himself, Zalanir aimed for the man who had taunted him again, as this was the guy with the slowest reaction speed.

  Thanks to Wind Rush and sound bolts, Zalanir managed to get past the man for the second time, but a purple bolt struck him right on the chest. A couple of seconds later, an arrow pierced his right thigh. Then came the killing blow. Zalanir cast Hurukele Whirlwind right at the end when a staff hammered down on his head. He had heard of people saying that in the last moment before death, time would slow down, and the mind would be filled with memories and regrets. However, the staff smacked his head right away. Death to him was just darkness and pain. Lots of pain.