In his short life of twenty years, Andel had seen many movies and novels. One of the most used plots was when someone uses chaos to do something, either to the protagonist or to the antagonist.

Paul’s appearance had some other motive to which he himself admitted.

Under Andel’s scrutinous gaze, Paul looked away and stared at the bunch of tuskers with a frown. He would make a face every once in a while as if he was struggling with something. In the end, just when Andel was about to lose his patience, he opened his mouth.

“That girl you saved,” Paul’s said in a mosquito-like voice, making it quite an effort for Andel to hear. “She is my friend’s elder sister. In a way, she is also my sister.” He said while rubbing the back of his head with one hand. The grip of his other hand tightened around the pole above his head.

“Tia?” Andel asked. He remembered her name. After all, she was the one who forced him to make this unreasonable decision against his ethics.

“Mhmm!” Paul nodded slowly. Dodging Andel’s eyes, he started explaining in a subdued tone, “back then, when that madman was about to humiliate her, you jumped out to her rescue without a second thought. Even I, who is somewhat close to her, didn’t dare to do so. And you are even younger than me.”

“So? What I want to know is, why are you following me?” Andel asked, his voice didn’t have a shred of emotion.

“I saw you getting chased by a group of tuskers. So, I came to help,” Paul said honestly while looking directly into Andel’s eyes.

“Why?” Andel was confused by his actions. He couldn’t understand how could someone who had been humiliated by him come to his rescue. It didn’t make sense to him, who had lived for at least thirty years mentally.

“It’s because you helped me by protecting my friend’s family,” Paul said, his mouth curving into a smile.

Snort!!

Boom!

Just then, their conversation was interrupted as the pole beneath them was destroyed from the middle. They both looked down to find one of the fatter tuskers flailing on the ground with a bleeding forehead. Its red horn was broken and shattered into pieces on the floor.

Although their joint effort destroyed one of the poles, it wasn’t enough to bring down the roof.

Both Andel and Paul’s heart shook in fright.

“You said you wanted to help me, right?” Andel asked while looking at the tusker laying in a pool of its own blood.

“Yes.” Paul nodded.

“Okay. I have a proposal.” Andel shifted his eyes towards Paul with seriousness and a hint of mischief in them.

“That is!?” Paul knitted his brows and enquired. He had a haunch that Andel’s so-called proposal would be something outrageous.

“Become a bait for me,” Andel said.

And facts proved that his instincts weren’t wrong.

…

“Here, you mofo!!” Paul shouted as he ran at full speeds all over the parking lot, filled with cars.

Snort!

No less than thirteen tuskers were on his ass, snorting as they chased their prey.

And to the extreme back, an almost unnoticeable small shadow tailed the monster pack. Suddenly, the shadow leaped forward and towards one of the tuskers that couldn’t keep up with others.

As a barely qualified demon beast, a tusker’s metabolism was just a bit higher than highland boars. They can use ki, but only limited to their red horn. After running for a while in circles and through difficult to maneuver narrow gaps between cars, they got tired.

Behind them, Andel followed like a reaper waiting for an opportunity.

Before the left behind tusker could snort, Andel jumped at it and stabbed with a broken red horn while aiming its head. It died within seconds after Andel’s attack. The horn’s ‘armor penetration’ was retained even after its owner’s death.

You have killed a tusker.

+150 EXP

You have enough points to exchange for IP and SP.

Andel dismissed the message and focused on his next target. Paul’s ki and stamina were limited. He had to make this quick before Paul tires himself out.

His eyes shined in the darkness as he clutched the almost crystal-like horn tighter. The hunt continued.

The horn, in its raw form, was as brittle as glass. After a few uses, it broke into several pieces moments after Andel took the seventh one’s life. However, to Andel, the trade-off was okay. Losing just one of those horns, he gained nine more as well as enough experience points to exchange for a few IPs.

Letting go of the remains in his hands, he stared at Paul in the distance who looked worse for wear. It was been only ten minutes, but he had already depleted his ki reserve and about to consume the last of his stamina.

He is about to kiss the floor! Good. Frenzy!

After seeing Paul’s condition and conforming to his physical status, Andel activated his ability, which he hadn’t since the start of their hunt. The world slowed down for him considerably as his reflex enhanced three times.

Andel, executing the footwork of judo and a few other martial arts he learned, he killed the remaining five tuskers who were also huffing and puffing.

Paul stopped and dropped to the floor face first after sensing the death of the last remaining tusker.

“Damn! That was tiring. I am not doing that again.” He complained while taking deep breaths to stabilize his wildly beating heart.

“It was only ten minutes. Your fitness is horrible.” Andel commented while going through the notifications that appeared before him.

You have killed a tusker.

+150 EXP

You have enough points to exchange for IP and SP.

Hmm! Adding the points from this one, now I have 1800 EXP. What should I do? Should I go with my initial plan of exchanging for IPs?

1800 EXP equates to 18 points in either SP or IP. Before he started the hunt, he decided to exchange all of them for IP. But, after experiencing the power of his special ability, he became indecisive. He couldn’t come into a conclusion on whether he should upgrade his Resistances or level up his ability.

However, suddenly another notification appeared at that time, which allowed him to make a decision swiftly.

You have awakened Penetration Resistance. Penetration Resistance Lv 1 At level 1, you will be 1% resistant to a physical object's penetration effect. Each subsequent level up will increase the percentage by 0.5. Needs 1 IP to level up.

NOTE: It doesn't work on ki/magic attacks. Can only work if a physical object is involved.

After Andel finished reading through the description, he couldn’t stop himself from widening his eyes.

Resistance to Penetration? Did something penetrate my skin?

In doubt when he looked at his palm, he found a shallow wound due to a fragment of the red horn entering his skin.

What? How come? Skin Damage Resistance should have blocked it... ah yes! the property of the horn! How did I forget that!?

Armor penetration, the ability to ignore the defense of the target, and directly deal damage. In games, it was one of the most important attributes to have as it determines whether you can defeat a tanky player or not. The red horn of tuskers directly ignores all kinds of armors and harms the user's main body.

Skin damage Resistance acts as an armor to his body. As an 'armor' the red horn ignored it and harmed his hand. Moreover, due to his Pain Resistance being at level 10, it went completely unnoticed.

Dangerous! Extremely dangerous!!

Andel's heart chilled upon thinking what could have happened if that horn had some poisoning effect.

Exchange all my EXP for IPs.

Affirmative!

He made his decision.