Volume 2 Chapter 6: Part 2: Refusal

"Hya!" Onyx roars as he slices down at another thunder bear. That's the sixth one. He sighs in relief as he wipes the sweat off his forehead.

He was killing off every monster that came his way. And half a day of being here, Onyx had killed multiple goblins and collected tons of wild herbs. And now he faced off with a group of thunder bears.

Not enough. I still need to go deeper. Onyx frowns. The coins he had from all these monsters weren't enough to save Rena. The total amount he would get from the demon crystal is at least 3 gold coins.

He knows he needs to venture deeper into the Forest Of Death and kill stronger monsters. But first,

Onyx looks back at the thunder bears' corpses. He points his magical bag at it,

Swooosh! All of them are absorbed into the bag! Even after using it many times now, Onyx can't help but grin. He didn't need to carry any corpses any longer.

All of it will be in his bag.

What's more,

No monsters will not come and attack me. Onyx got mounds of corpses inside his bag.

If those corpses are out as he travels deeper in, the monsters will rush at him in droves. They would smell the blood of weak monsters and think Onyx is easy prey.

Things will get tedious and dangerous. Onyx takes out his map,

Hmm, I will need to venture a bit more in. The map's helpful as it tells Onyx what kind of monsters he'll be dealing with as he goes in.

Onyx takes a deep breath as he charges deeper into the forest, ready to fight again.

...

A week passed after Onyx ventured deeper into the Forest Of Death.

"Come at me!" Onyx shouts as he waves his sword toward a giant mantis. Its blades are razor-sharp as they lock onto Onyx.

"GEEE!" The mantis becomes even angrier. It takes offense to Onyx's provocation as it swings its blade sideways.

Onyx quickly ducks down.

Thud, Thud, Thud.

Behind Onyx, trees drop to the ground. It's a clean cut.

"Wow. Those are razor sharp." Despite his words, his tone sounds more condescending. Onyx continues to provoke the monster as he waves his sword again,

"Come at me again. And this time, put some more weight into it." The mantis grew angrier and angrier. It doesn't comprehend what Onyx is saying. But his expression is more than enough to make it understand.

It charges toward Onyx and slams down its two blades. Onyx jumps backward, and then,

"Gotcha!" He slices off the mantis's blades! This is Onyx's plan! With its blades stuck into the ground like that, it was the perfect way to take out the monster's main weapons.

"Geee!" The mantis screams out in agony! But that's the only thing it can do as Onyx shoves his sword right into the mantis's chest, killing it.

"Crap!" As Onyx was about to move away from it, the monster's body fell on top of him!

"Aww, come on!" Onyx quickly pushes the monster off of him. But it's too late. The blood has stained his clothes red. What's more,

"Arghh." The smell is killing his nose. The worst thing about monster blood is the horrible smell it has. Onyx wipes off most of the blood possible.

The smell is repulsive. But it's bearable....kinda.

The number of times blood splattered on his body for a week made him used to it.

"That makes 20!" Onyx smiles. But a large grin forms afterward. What he has is 20 middle-class demon crystals and mantis claws too. With how sharp those claws are, they can be made into strong weapons.

Onyx places the grasshoppers into his bag. Those aren't the only things he has in the bag. For the past week, Onyx didn't stop fighting with monsters.

It became a rinse and repeat cycle for him.

And it bore fruit. The number of monsters Onyx killed was too many for him to remember.

"Don't even think about it." Onyx doesn't even turn around as he says this.

Because he doesn't have to.

"Grrr?" Behind Onyx, there are a bunch of wolves eyeing him down. They watched him from afar, waiting for a chance to take Onyx out. But they make a confused growl, wondering why they couldn't move.

That's because Onyx locked them down.

Onyx heard the monster's footsteps a mile away. On one side of his mind was to keep tabs on them. No way was he going to let them get close to him.

And now, what comes next is obvious.

A gleam glitters in Onyx's eyes as he stares the wolves down. The wolves flinch.

That look says it all. The wolves are messing with a dangerous person.

But it's too late.

Onyx won't let them escape as he fires his dark spear. It flew razor quick, piercing the heads of the beasts one by one. The last looks the wolves have are disbelief and shock.

"I should set up base camp for now." Realizing the sun is setting down now, Onyx knows he needs to rest. He takes the blood from the mantis and creates an outside perimeter.

This should be good enough. Onyx wipes his sweat again, all proud of what he did.

Now then, let's check out the spoils of war. Onyx opens the bag, and then the demon crystals come out of the bag. There are a lot of different types of demon crystals.

Hmm, this should be twice as much as before.

Compared to what Onyx brought the time at the guildhall, the number of demon crystals he had on him now is twice as much.

I'm nowhere near there. Onyx knows this is not enough to help him buy Rena. He has the quantity. But the quality of the crystals cannot be compared to that time.

All of them are either low-class crystals or mid-class.

As he's thinking about the next step,

"Rawr!" Hearing the scream so close, Onyx quickly ducks down and rolls away from his spot! And the tree behind him was blown to smithereens.

And what caused it to explode was a monster's step.

"So it's you guys again." Onyx looks up and grins at the monster.

Blood kongs.

Compared to the number he fought before, there were twice as many here. With the one showing itself, the others reveal themselves, circling him.

There's no escape path for him.

It's good that these guys- Woah! Before Onyx can finish his thought process, the blood kong charges him! Onyx quickly dodges away from the beast.

But that's not the end of his assault. The rest of the blood kongs came charging toward Onyx without any thought! They circle him in droves! Onyx dodges all of the attacks.

But by the skin of his teeth!

Why are they being so ferocious? He can't understand why the blood kongs are acting like this. They should be wary. Not going crazy and trying to turn him into mincemeat!

Wait a minute! It clicked for Onyx.

The mantis blood. That's the reason why the blood kongs are going crazy on Onyx. Blood kongs would destroy a horde of mantis in a matter of minutes.

And that's only from one.

Onyx got his body covered with the mantis blood when it dropped on his body. So now the blood kongs thought of him as a weakling.

"Tch! I guess I have to go all out then." Onyx frowns as he jumps toward one of the blood kong. He slams his sword right down the middle of the blood kong's head. In an instant, the beast's body split in half!

"Heh. Since you guys want to be rough. Then I can do the same." Onyx smirks as he glares at the blood kongs. The monsters flinch. The beasts thought they could eat him up like a snack.

But they just walk into a bloody trap!

...

"How do you like that?" Onyx huffs at the corpses of blood kongs. Well, what's left of them. He took them down in a quick and rough fashion.

Dammit. I messed up. Onyx did take them down. But some of the blood kong's body got messed up beyond repair because of how rough he had to fight.

The skin could have given me a lot of coins. Onyx's expression turns regretful.

Blood kong’s fur is high-class material.

Even before, he had only taken the demon crystals. The fur was left behind because it was too heavy for him to carry. Only when Madelyn told him about it was when he realized it's worth.

Nothing I can do about it. I'll ask Oliver if I can get something out of it. Onyx piles the body and then uses his bag. With the blood kongs down, he lies on a tree.

He needed to take his rest now. Onyx takes a bite out of his dried meat.

And he frowns.

Dammit. Onyx will never get used to it. The food is just that bad. He forces it down his throat, trying to get something in his stomach. He takes out a potion as well. He needed his body well healed and rested. Drinking the potion, he felt most of his fatigue disappear.

As he was eating,

"KWAAAAKKK!" The sounds of apes screaming and thumping from their chest came toward him. Onyx turns around to see it is another horde of blood kongs!

"I see. Those guys were the grunts." Comparing them to the ones he defeated, there's a difference. These guys are larger, and the muscles are more prominent.

"I guess I'm not getting any sleep today." That's the only thing Onyx can say as he chuckles wryly at the apes. He looks up at the sky,

What a beautiful moon tonight.

...

"Michelle, don't you think the moon looks beautiful tonight?" Somewhere else, a person said the same thing as Onyx.

Michelle nods, "Indeed, it looks beautiful today." This causes the woman sitting across from her to grin lightly,

"I wish I was like the moon. Burning so brightly and free. Nobody can do anything to it."

"Rena." Michelle gives a wry expression as she looks at the child. Rena wasn't put up like merchandise like before. She's in Michelle's office, watching the sky together with her. She understands why the child would say something like that.

"You will be free. I can guarantee you this."

"Don't lie to me, Michelle. Just look at the predicament I'm in? Why do I even have right now?" Rena laughs. More so, she was laughing at herself.

Just look at Rena's situation right now; she's at rock bottom. What's more, she will be auctioned off like an item. There's nothing she can do but accept the fate coming to her.

She has already given up on her life.

Michelle quickly hugs the child, "Please don't say anything like this. You have me. And I can promise you this; you'll be free."

How can the gods forsake an innocent child?

"How can you have the confidence to say something like that?" Rena doesn't believe her at all. She can't shed any tears. Not now. Just acceptance of what's going to happen.

"Come on now. Don't you remember all those stories your mother read to you?" Realizing the dark aura coming off her, Michelle tries to cheer her up.

"Of course. I remember all of the stories." Rena smiles. How can she forget all about those stories? Rena's mother would always read her stories when she went to sleep.

"And those prince stories are your favorite." Michelle smiles.

"Mmhmm." Rena nods. The prince goes through trials to save the princess from danger. That was her favorite. But this is reality, and that was just a fantasy.

There is no way anybody can save Rena from her predicament. Seeing the doubt on her face, Michelle can only give her a wry smile as she strokes her head,

Your hero will come. And he will save you from your trouble.

She remembers what Onyx said. The determination in Onyx's eyes showed how serious he was about it. Michelle knows the only person who can do something about Rena is him.