Chapter 41 : An Expert?

"Hmph, why do we have to secretly tail a shabby looking guy like that", a black-robed man with pointy nose muttered in a private conference chat.

"Be patient.. This is an order from Crane. He's a 'Nine', and his status in the guild is unimaginably higher than you. Once we make sure that this guy doesn't have any secret, we'll return to the base and continue our hunt", another black robed man replied.

"This is clearly wasting time! We are currently in a special event with extra experience reward! I bet that guy only has mouth without any strength. Raising 6 levels in one day? I'll call him ancestor if he can do that!", the pointy-nosed man grumbled.

"Yeah I agree with you, Drom. He's just a normal player. His level is below us and he doesn't have any good equipment on his body. Sending us three is just an overkill. Crane made a mistake this time", the last of the group, a pudgy looking black robed man agreed with Drom.

The group had their level higher than Ragna. Two was in level 19 while Drom himself had a level of 20. He already learned the skill set for level 20 rogue. Those included the ability to track and to do a surprise attack.

Even though they kept grumbling, they still quietly followed Ragna from a distance. One could see that they truly don't wish to offend the person named Crane.

"Wait.. he's leaving the level 16-20 area... Don't tell me he's going to hunt level 20+ monsters.. alone?", the pudgy man looked at Ragna with confusion.

"Tsk, he must be merely scouting. Does he think that by venturing deeper he can find something while still able to preserve his puny life?", Drom rebutted. He already developed some sort of hate toward Ragna.

"Let's continue to follow him. Maybe he's really hiding something"

The trio kept following him but then something strange happened. Ragna didn't even stop even when he reached the boundary of level 23s monster!

"This kid is crazy. Does he think this place is his own backyard? Careful! That's a black horned deer!"

A black horned deer was a level 24 Monster. It had fast movement speed and was quite nimble.Though, it was an easy prey for groups with a reliable tank.

Ragna swiftly moved past the deer. He used a tree as a cover while throwing a stone toward another side to distract the deer for a bit. His movement was precise and beautiful. The deer didn't even notice him in the slightest. In fact, he did the feat easily as though he had done it on a daily basis.

The trio was dumbfounded when they saw how easily Ragna avoid the Black Horned Deer. If it was them, they would choose to at least move around the deer to maintain a safe distance. It wouldn't be effective, but it saved them from the time spent being chased by a monster they couldn't fight.

Because of the rock, the deer became a bit cautious. It kept looking at its surrounding, making it more difficult to avoid it. The trio now understood why Ragna did that. It was in order to stop them from following him!

'That guy is an expert!', the trio exclaimed.

After gaining Blood Orbs, Ragna found another way to increase his skill in controlling them without using his soul. By doing a rock-throw practice, he could also slowly get used to the skill. In fact, he was already quite proficient. He used this strategy to avoid most of the Blood Wolf groups he faced yesterday. By dividing them this way, he could fight them one by one in a more relaxed manner.

After successfully avoiding the deer, Ragna increased his speed. He had enough agility to slowly outrun them, but he waited for this exact moment for the element of surprise, making advantage of the trio's dazed state.

"Damn! This kid is more cunning than I thought!", Drom cursed. He too was helpless about the current situation. There was no way they could avoid the deer in the same manner as Ragna did. That was just suicide.

"Yeah we got no choice, let's head back and report to Crane. This guy is an expert in scouting. Furthermore, he must have detected us since the beginning. That is the only possible explanation for his behavior"

"Let's head back, we should think twice if we want to offend him. In fact, maybe Crane or leader want to recruit him."

The trio headed back to the base. They too were somewhat grateful that they hadn't offended Ragna. It was OK to have one or two enemies, but to make an expert your enemy? It would bite you, sooner or later.

Ragna didn't even look back, he kept speeding toward the ruin he found yesterday. He wanted to hunt near the place so that he could make sure that he was the only one to know the ruin's existence. He knew that he would get an enormous amount of contribution points if he told the information to the army.

Despite that, he wanted to try and explore the ruin by himself. At the very least, he was going to find a bit good fortune first before reporting it.

After running for a while, he could see the strange ruin. There was a red lake not far from the ruin. The lake was brimming with blood colored liquid. It was the area for Black Lizardman, level 29 Monster.

Without slowing his speed, Ragna slightly altered his direction toward a Lizardman who strayed from its flock. His hand clenched into a fist which was emitting a blood-colored glow. The lizardman noticed him and quickly went into battle-state by raising its spear, but Ragna took the initiative and sent out his most favorite skill!

Soul Strike!

The attack went through the Lizardman's guard. Ragna was able to slightly change the angle of his punch, making the Lizardman unable to block his attack.

'Great!'

It was one of the results from his training. After doing hundreds of push ups at the Dojo, he was taught a technique on how to control his wrists. Of course, his hand had to be flexible and strong enough to handle the strain. In fact, his reaction rate had to be higher than normal people to be able to quickly find the best change in angle.

But who was Ragna? He already honed his reaction rate when he battled those Golems and the Sentinel at the Blood Master's Cave. This thing is far easier to do than to dodge an instakill punch from the Sentinel!

The commotion made other Lizardman become aware. It seemed like Ragna had wrongly calculated the distance. Two other Lizardman quickly charged toward him. Strangely, he didn't become panicked at all, his lips turned into a smile while steadily maintaining his battle stance.

It won't be fun if the fight is too easy! Come gang up on me!

Time to farm for some contribution points!

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Author Note : Hey people! Comments about the story or good-written rating will be very appreciated! In fact, those things are the ones that made me more motivated!