When Ryan and Alissa left the dungeon, they were welcomed by some new visitors. Now that the skeletons were out of the picture, the dire wolves felt like they were the owners of the region. However, Ryan eliminated them with some Thunder Arrows on their heads. After that, he dragged their bodies to the dungeon.

"You can go ahead," Ryan said. "I will leave my salamander behind to guard this place, and he will need food to survive."

"He? Your salamander is a she," Alissa frowned.

"That is a small detail," Ryan said.

"Well, knowing you, I know that it will be a waste of time to convince you to go together," Alissa shrugged. "Don't take your time. Otherwise, all the dragon hearts will go for my soldiers."

After saying that, Alissa began to fly and headed North. While Ryan waited for more dire wolves to appear, he checked the free status points of his salamander. After doing some tests, Ryan realized that his pet could more or less fight against the archers and wizards, but the monster will have a hard time against the knights since they have high health and a shield.

"Let's see what I can do about this…" Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You can't use weapons or equipment… you can use potions, but that won't solve the problems in the long run... can you actually learn skills from tomes?"

Ryan couldn't think of anyone another way to suddenly strengthen a monster. Although most tomes disappear once he touches them, they won't disappear if he buys a tome of skill, he already has… probably. Regardless, it was worth a try. A skill lives Passive Recover seemed like the best option, but even now, Ryan never found the tome in the shop. The same could be said about the skills he obtained by obtaining the DNA of some monsters.

In terms of offensive abilities, Electric Bullet seemed like the best option since the Skeleton Knights had some pieces of armor, and even their swords were made of metal. So, if the salamander learns that, the creature was bound to cause some damage and even paralyze the monsters for a few moments. The problem was: the tome costs 50.000 coins.

"I suppose it can't be helped… it is an investment… an investment that will make me waste less time once I return to this dungeon to defeat the boss."

Ryan hesitated, but in the end, he bought the tome. However, instead of grabbing it, he let it fall on the ground and gave the order for the salamander to grab. When that happened, the tome disappeared… the experiment had been a success. Without wasting any more time, Ryan gave the order for the salamander to use Thunder Bullet when the skeletons appeared, only that spell. It took a while for the monster to win the battles thanks to that. Still, in the end, eventually, the spell reached a level in which it could paralyze even the skeletons mages for a full second, even though they had high mentality and willpower.

"Now, let's do some tests against the skeleton knights."

For some reason, the salamander could only fire three Electric Bullets per second, but a single one was enough to stun the skeleton knights for half a second, even when they used their shields to block the projectile. As expected, the salamander had to use a lot more mana against them, but Ryan confirmed that the salamander could fight all the skeletons with such a spell alone.

"Good job… now I just have to stock enough food for you for four weeks," Ryan sighed. "That will be a lot of work."

In the end, Ryan had to work until midnight for him to kill the wolves and make sure that Earth wouldn't absorb them. Regardless, it was finally time to head North, and without wasting time, Ryan left the skeletons' dungeon behind.

At first, Ryan didn't notice anything, but after running for half an hour, he began to feel weird… it was the same weird feeling he had before he found Zoe. This means… he was being watched.

"Crap… I tried to be careful, but as expected, some monsters can be really good at this. They aren't dragons since their stealth skills suck. So… what is following me? Why they didn't attack me while I was inside the dungeon?"

For obvious reasons, any not-brain-dead monster would have attacked Ryan in the dungeon since he wouldn't have any chance of running away. The best option would be to use the purple crystal, but instead of using that and facing an enemy that he couldn't imagine, Ryan would take his chances to face the enemy he could see.

"I can't find it… and in this situation, I can't cause as much as damage as possible on the first strike like usual. I will try to dash ahead and escape from its sight and then once I confirm that, I will prepare an ambush."

The plain was simple, but it was better than planning something complicated which had to hang in too many factors to succeed. Ryan equipped his Sprinters' Boots and then activated all his buffs that increase his speed and consumed only stamina. Ryan's speed increased, and he ran as fast as possible. Not even the thick snow managed to slow him down. However, that weird feeling never left him alone.

"Persistent bastard… I can't get angry. If this enemy can be this fast, I can't let the blood rush to my head…" Ryan muttered under his breath.

Ryan didn't want to run away from a fight against such an annoying enemy, but he wasn't stupid enough to let the enemy have the first strike. Fighting in such conditions wasn't good, so Ryan decided to run and reach his destination. If the thing that was pursuing him was that cowardly, then it wasn't worthy of his time. However, after a few hours, when all the tension and the ran began to wear down his mind a little bit, Ryan felt that the weird sensation was increasing. When he turned around, he saw a weird creature dashing toward him. Thanks to his Nocturnal Eyes, Ryan eventually saw what that thing was… it was a massive three-headed dog.

Class: Hunter Lv 46 (+ 02 UP / Elementalist Lv 46 (+ 02 UP)/ Monk Lv 16 (--)

Race: Night Demon /Reptilian/ Ice Fox (--)

Rank: 515th

Health: 501/501 (2. 47 /s)

Mana: 889/889 (2. 47 /s)

Stamina: 717/717(2.47 /s)

Strength: 30 (+123) (+60)

Dexterity: 860 (+672) (+27)

Speed: 70 (+281) (+28)

Intelligence: 80 (+309) (+3)

Endurance: 27 (+111) (+100)

Control: 06 (+302) (+10)

Mentality: 07 (+16) (+30)

Luck: 74 (+9)

Recovery: 560 (+702) (+220)

Willpower: 09 (+16)

Coins: 75.992

Status: 00

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: Power Shot Lv 46 (+ 04 UP), Arrow Shower Lv 39 (+ 04 UP), Hawkeye Lv 07 (+ 04 UP), Bash Lv 07 (+ 06 UP),

Passive Physical Skills: Eagle Eyes Lv 47 (+ 04 UP), Concentration Lv 47 (+ 04 UP), Archery Lv 47 (+ 04 UP), Accuracy Lv 47 (+ 04 UP), Stealth Lv 35 (+ 04 UP), Precision Lv 40 (+ 02 UP), Swordsmanship Lv 36 (+ 04 UP), Hammer Mastery Lv 12 (+ 03 UP), Lotus Blessing Lv 01,

Spells: Earth Bullet Lv 09 (+ 05 UP), Active Spiritual Recovery Lv 41 (+ 03 UP), Call Lv 50 (+ 02 UP), Earth Manipulation Lv 44 (+ 02 UP), Water Manipulation Lv 28 (+ 03 UP), Wind Manipulation Lv 37 (+ 04 UP), Flash Lv 26 (+ 06 UP), Force Lv 15 (+ 05 UP), Fire Shuriken Lv 01, Mirror Lv 01,

Support Skills: Sleep Resistance Lv 23 (+ 02 UP), Nocturnal Eyes Lv 22 (+ 04 UP), Master's Support Lv 22 (+ 02 UP), Ice Bound Lv 06 (+ 06 UP), Cold Resistance Lv 09 (+ 08 UP), Darkness Resistance Lv 01, Gravity Resistance Lv 01,

Classes:

Combat: Sage Lv 44 (+ 02 UP), Beastmaster Lv 25 (+ 02 UP), Archer Lv 35 (+ 02 UP), Corsair Lv 11 (+ 02 UP), Combat Archer Lv 14 (+ 02 UP), Rogue Lv 05 (+ 02 UP), Sorcerer Lv 12 (+ 03 UP), Sniper Lv 10 (+ 05 UP), Ninja Lv 01,

Non-Combatant: Trickster Lv 10 (+ 02 UP),