Before Ryan could finish his preparations for his next job, Alissa and her followers suddenly appeared. It wasn't like Ryan thought they would never meet by accident in that giant base. Still, it looked like she came to talk with him.

"It looks like you finally met one of them," Alissa crossed her arms and then said. "What did happen?"

"You already know," Ryan replied.

"They invited you to join their side while offering items and power, but you still refused?" Alissa said, visibly impressed. "You are obstinate. I will give you that."

"I guess you didn't learn much about me, huh." Ryan Shrugged. "I want power, but I won't sell my soul to the enemy to obtain that. Those bastards killed every single person who survived the dragons' attack and then claimed Nashville for themselves. There was no way in hell I would join them after that."

"I guess that sounds like you," Alissa said and then sighed. "Anyway, if you want to fight those kinds of enemies alone, be my guest, but don't get in the way if we bump into each other on the battlefield. We aren't working together anymore, so I don't want to share even a single piece of the loot, much less the dragon hearts."

"That will depend if you and your lackeys will do a decent job," Ryan said and then turned around and left.

Ryan's words enraged her followers, but they weren't stupid enough to do anything or even complain while Alissa is nearby. Although they don't work together anymore, Ryan was probably the only human Alissa respects.

"I guess she is planning to head to that area eventually… as soon as her soldiers are strong enough to deal with the Dire Wolves."

Alissa changed for the good since she was considering things like that. Although that was none of his business, Ryan felt a little bothered by it. Everyone seemed to be changing. Meanwhile… he still was doing the same things. Always trying to be alone and do things by himself.

"Damn that fucking demon… next time I see her, I won't rest until I explode her body thousands of times."

Ryan blamed the demon for the doubts on his head. Still, deep down, he knew that things weren't that simple. Several weeks ago, he realized something like that when he saw Zoe and her father. Avoiding Mia and Daniel was one thing, but why run away from all human contact? Certainly, he could survive and start a new life with someone… The problem was that after Mia, will never be able to trust someone completely.

"Forget about it and focus on the mission…"

After Ryan memorized the routes, he will have to follow and the dungeons' positions, he left the base. It took a while, but eventually, Ryan got rid of those useless thoughts and then began to think of the enemies he was going to face. Salamanders probably won't cause many problems to Ryan; the problem was the earthworms and skeletons.

Bleed was one of the best skills Ryan had, but that one wouldn't be useful against skeletons. As for the earthworms, the fact that they always had the chance to deal with the first strike was troublesome.

"My strength isn't that high, but against the skeletons, I should focus on using my hammer. Considering that leveling up Flash is one of my main goals right now, using only that skills while fighting those creatures and salamanders seems like the best option."

Skeletons can't feel pain, so unless Ryan smashes them to pieces and kill them, they might become a pain in the ass in a prolonged fight. Now that Ryan thought about it, using Flash against the earthworms to prevent their surprise attack also seems like a good option. The problem was that Ryan probably wouldn't have enough power to finish them off before they escape.

In the end, Ryan hurried to find the first salamanders after heading East at his top speed before sunset. He had grown quite fond of fighting at night and surprising his foes, so Ryan decided to use that again for a while, at least.

Salamander Lv 40

Health: 600/600

Mana: 1.200/1.200

Stamina: 700/700

Strength: 250

Dexterity: 300

Speed: 250

Intelligence: 350

Endurance: 150

Control: 300

Mentality: 300

Luck: 40

Recovery: 400

Willpower: 150

Coins: --

Status:

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: Roar Lv 20

Passive Physical Skills: Iron Skin Lv1 25

Spells: Flamethrower Lv 35

Support Skills: Fire Resistance Lv 40

"Level forty… as expected, no one cleared the dungeon of this area, and thanks to this, those creatures reached this level. Well, the Paralyzing Spear still should be enough to deal with them."

Ryan grabbed his spear and casually walked toward the first group of monsters. Although surprised attacks were one of the things he liked to do, he couldn't do that while preserving his mana or without throwing his weapons. When the first creature opened its mouth to use Flamethrower, Ryan used Flash and appeared on the monster's back. With a single swing of his weapon on the monster's neck, Ryan beheaded it.

You obtained 36 coins.

"Come to think of it… I can use Backstab since it only consumes stamina."

It was the perfect moment also to use that skill. Also, as expected, when the next salamander tried to bite him, Ryan reappeared behind the monster's and pierced the creature's neck quite easily until his weapon reached the other side. It wasn't like Ryan hadn't used melee weapons to kill his enemies before, but only this time, he felt a disturbing feeling inside his heart.

"I don't have time to worry about this kind of thing… this is war."

After steeling his resolve, Ryan repeated the same actions over and over again and, in the end, the monsters didn't even have the chance to scratch him. Maybe Ryan couldn't stop having doubts outside the fights, but when he was fighting, he could make those thoughts go away, at least for a while.