A squelching sound echoed out in the background, followed by an agonizing squeal and then silence. Jack turned around, witnessing the twilight boar charge into Sarah’s Qi empowered spear- tearing through its innards without any difficulty, using the boar’s momentum against itself.

Jack’s attention immediately shifted to James, who let loose another Qi Empowered arrow.

“Dive, James!” Jack called out, noticing how the boar was only separated by a few meters at this point. The arrow tore into the boar’s right forelimb, causing it to squeal loudly in pain. But as Jack had suspected, these aggressive animals were quite suicidal in their charges, almost as if they had something to gain by killing humans.

Wait… did they? If the leveling system offered humans a chance to evolve by killing animals, would the reverse hold true as well? Seemed unlikely, but Jack would not rule it out.

James’ eyes widened in shock as he realized that the boar continued onward, despite the intensive damage he had inflicted upon it. He had done enough damage to kill it, but not instantly- trying to hit the vitals under pressure was a risk that he did not have enough courage to take.

So he dived to the right, abandoning his bow without second thought. A streak of blood flew across the air as he roughly landed on the ground, the boar skidding against the grass in its attempt to half its momentum. Jack didn’t believe the boar to be a level three creature, so it was unlikely that it would be able to stay on its legs for much longer.

James was still conscious, and seemed to require no urgent care. But then, something outside his expectations happened. Andrew, who had been positioned behind Sarah the entire time, moved. No perhaps, charged would be the more accurate word- barrelling forward with a dangerous glint in his eyes, covering the distance between the boar and himself in a few seconds and then punching out with his metal reinforced gauntlets, smashing the boar directly across its temple in a brutal, devastating blow that caused it to tumble on the other side, eyes still open but eerily still. A golden light enveloped hm the next second, bathing him in the characteristic glow of a level up.

“What the fuck, man!” James screamed angrily, having gotten back onto his feet, right hand pressed over the small puncture wound while the left held a small, red pill that Jack was barely able to make out from the distance.

“What? I saved your life,” Andrew shrugged nonchalantly, acting as if he had done no wrong.

“Saved my life? Saved my life!?” James muttered in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe that nonsense he was hearing. “That thing was on its last breath, asshole!” James screamed, venting his emotions at firstly being forced into this death game and then having the fruits of his efforts stolen.

“What are you going to do about it?” Andrew dropped the pretense, slowly approaching an unarmed, wounded James while standing tall, his impressive height and muscular physique highlighting the difference between the two.

Seeing the situation head into dangerous territory, Jack rushed forward- standing in between an intimidated James and an aggressive Andrew, facing the latter.

Andrew continued his advance after seeing Jack stand up for James, until there was a distance of only three meters between them. Both men who were roughly of similar height locked eyes, glaring at each other with scouring intensity- as if scouring for even the slightest signs of weakness.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with you, city boy,” Andrew refused to be the first one to break eye contact, continuing to glare aggressively at Jack in an attempt to make him cede.

Jack understood what was going on, Andrew wishing to assert dominance over the group in an attempt to rule with fear, rather than acknowledgement.

Jack continued to stare coolly back at him, not displaying any overt aggressiveness but prepared nonetheless.

“Do that again,” Jack slowly stated, his voice devoid of any strong emotion, “and there will be consequences.”

Andrew’s expression flinched slightly, but he refused to back down.

“Consequences? Who gave you the right to pass judgment on me, prick?” Andrew angrily shot back, spittle flying out of his mouth and some of it, landing on Jack’s face. “Why stand up for that guy, anyway. He’s a terrible shot and he’s going to get one of us killed because of his shitty aim.”

“Do you see anyone else with long-range capabilities in our group? Do you see anyone else who can pick out targets from more than five meters? What are you going to do, throw your gauntlets at them?” Jack calmly refuted each of his ridiculous propositions, while a nervous Sarah watched them from behind.

“I-,” Andrew seemed even more agitated, but Jack had heard enough. James and Andrew’s yelling contest had likely attracted the attention of anything lurking nearby, and their location was definitely compromised. They had to get out of here as soon as possible.

His [Qi Blade] flared in the next second, and before Andrew could continue, a blue, pulsating energy coated sword held two inches away from his throat.

“My sword… gives me the right to pass judgment on you,” Jack stated, his voice calm and collected. Andrew blinked, and then incredulously stared at Jack if he couldn’t believe what was happening. His expression was initially mocking, refusing to believe that Jack, a normal civilian, would just murder him in cold blood.

But as he gazed into his eyes and saw nothing but composure within, a seed of doubt was planted in him. Would an untrained civilian really move with such grace when everyone else fled. Was ‘gun-salesman’ not the perfect cover for a trained soldier, even if his physique didn’t seem qualified for the army.

Sweat rolled down his forehead, as he regretted his rash actions.

“Follow my instructions, or leave. But don’t waste my time, your screaming contest probably alerted half the forest,” Jack stated, as the Qi coating his sword disappeared- only having used it for barely a second to speed up his swing. Not like Andrew was powerful enough to resist a metal blade, anyway.

“I’ll follow,” Andrew croaked out, his anger and aggressiveness disappearing against the tip of a blade.

“Good. I’m prepared for your betrayal, come at me anytime,” Jack replied with a friendly smile, sheathing his sword in one fluent motion. Andrew’s expression cracked- a flicker of fear reflecting in his eyes. What truly got to bullies like Andrew was not reciprocal threats of violence or physical intimidation so much so as cold, calm, indifference. It was hard for them to confront those unmoved by their threats and intimidation, not even displaying the slightest flicker of anger at their jibes and jeers.

Jack walked towards James and offered him a hand, who accepted it with a flicker of gratefulness in his eyes. Jack observed that the wound he had suffered was already showing signs of clotting, the blood flow long having stopped. The healing pill was truly impressive then, but not quite miraculous.

“Thanks,” James whispered under his breath, and Jack gave him a pat on the back in return as encouragement.

Sarah looked at Jack with surprise in her eyes, not sure how to react to the confrontation.

Jack was about to order everyone to leave, when he realized that two boar carcasses’- the one’s he’d killed, glowed in a white color.

He walked over to it gingerly, not knowing what to expect.

The corpse of a slain foe has been detected. Do you wish to loot [Twilight Boar Lv.2]

“Yes,” Jack muttered, focusing part of his attention on his surroundings- ready for Andrew, or in fact any of the trio in his group, to charge at him with murder in their eyes. The confrontation with Andrew wasn’t so much as about justice for James, but an opportunity to lay down the law. He would not be able to tolerate someone treacherously stealing a kill from him, and it would make cooperation ultimately impossible.