The day was sunny and hot, the skies were blue without a single cloud present. Dread Forest looked peaceful if anyone looked at it from above, but don't be fooled, peace was a lie here! Vitiate was already on the move towards the location he heard the commotion.
After some time, he arrived at a dirt road. This road was used often for travel, most used them for carriages. Nothing visibly could be seen on the road, but once he looked on the other side of the road, he could see three men confronting a large beast.
Vitiate knew what the beast was right away, he didn't even have to appraise it to figure that out. The Beast was a Bull, it had Black Hair with long and sharp protruding horns. The Bull huffed and puffed as hot steamy air would appear out of its nose.
After observing the monster, Vitiate looked towards the humans it was confronting. One of the men wore regular warrior clothing with little bits of armor on his chest and legs. His weapon of choice was a Rapier. The man wore mostly grey, from what Vitiate could understand, this man might be a fencer.
The other man was tall, he wore a Black Trenchcoat that covered his whole body to his neck. The only thing visible was his legs and his shoes. Vitiate wondered why he would be wearing something like that in this hot weather.
The last man was fat, he sat in the back most of the time. He wore a simple burgundy robe, he even had burgundy hair to match his clothing. Vitiate had already reviewed this man status, so he knew exactly what he was from one of his titles.
"Zelman and Rigor, keep it busy, I'll hit it with my Super-Duper Fireball skill." The Fatman commanded one of the men as he pointed towards the bull beast.
"SuperDuper Fireball? You can barely start a fire and you think your weak fireballs can hurt it?" Zelman looked at the Fatman with disdain, it was clear that he had complete doubt in his abilities.
Indeed, the Fatman was an enhancer, but he was a complete noob with little training, it was no wonder he had so much doubt.
"Zelman, don't hate and hold it at bay as you watch my true skills at work!" They couldn't argue for much longer before the bull grew more irritant and charged at them.
Rigor didn't say anything about the arguing pair, as he rushed to quickly intercept the bull's deadly charge. The Bull was grasped by the horns and stopped in place by Rigor. He was a tall man who wore black gauntlets over his hands for more force.
"URRRM!!" The Bull howled in anger but it still couldn't get out of the powerful grasp of Rigor. Suddenly, the bull's head was removed from its body, leaving Rigor holding nothing but a severed head in his hands.
"W-what the....!" Rigor quickly backed away, he thought it was Zelman at first since he used a rapier, but he didn't have the strength to rip through the thick neck of the bull beast like this. Rigor looked over at the man that delivered a single death blow to the bull with a surprise.
The man had an exposed forehead with long bangs coming down from each side of his forehead. There was a long thick braided ponytail in the back of his head that went down to his waist. What was most notable to him was his jet black hair and eyes, it was extremely rare for anyone to have these colored features.
"A-ah, thanks!" Rigor thanked the man who was around at least 6'1, while he himself stood tall, being 7'2 in height!
"You looked like you were having trouble, so I came over to help you out." Yes, it was Vitiate, he had decided to help this group.
"What? The bull is dead already? I didn't get to use my powerful fireball skill!" The Fatman, who was initially arguing with Zelman notice the silence where the bull once was. He didn't see how the bull was killed since he was arguing with his partner.
Zelman looked at the dead bull and then Vitiate, who was holding a scythe in his hand. "Goodness, did you kill it in one strike with that scythe?"
"I mean, it's just a bull, it shouldn't be that hard, right?" Vitiate didn't see anything out of the ordinary being able to kill a bull with a single chop to the neck.
"Bro! That bull's neck is hard and as thick as enforced rock, how can you just cut through it?" The Fatman who didn't know what was going on at first, finally understood.
"........" Vitiate didn't know what to say.
"Ah, forget it, you're not going to steal our prey, are you?" The fatman suddenly didn't care anymore and was more concerned about their game being stolen from them.
"No, I don't need it and I'm no thief unless I have to be." Vitiate shook his head, he had no use for the bull.
The fatman sighed in relief.
"Lucas, not everyone is a thief, so stop complaining every time you see someone! The last time you ask that question, the group from before wanted to attack and kill us, people are edgy as hell these days!"
Zelman was about to slap the back of Lucas's head, but Lucas quickly rolled forward on the ground towards the bull in a strange and weird manner. "Haha, once we turn this bad boy in, we'll be promoted to F++ Ranked Adventurers!"
Lucas ignored Zelman and celebrated his future promotion.
"Ah, yes! I never got your name, is it alright if we know your name?" Zelman sighed looking at Lucas and asked Vitiate for his name.
"Hmm, you can call me Monster Hunter, for now!" Vitiate smiled and said.
"Monster Hunter? Okay, Monster Hunter, are you an adventurer and if you are, what rank are you?" Zelman was sure that Vitiate was at least a C ranked Adventurer or slightly higher.
"Nope! I'm not an adventurer, but I'm heading to Goa Village to become one." This was Vitiate's initial plan, he saw that these guys were Adventurers and wanted to use them to make it a bit easier on himself.
This was by getting into the village and signing up. Of course, he could sneak in, but they would sooner or later find out about him, so this wasn't the wises choice.
"What?" Rigor, who was silent was stunned, he thought someone of Vitiate strength would have been an adventurer by now.
"Wow, what a plot twist!" Lucas stored the bull into his space bag before walking over.
"Well, it's whatever, let's head back to the village so you can sign up. Wait, where are you from anyway, and how did you end up here?" Zelman finally came to a realization, where did this guy come from all of a sudden?
"I'm from Tarnish desert, I arrived here by boat on another part of the island. This place is huge, so it's pretty easy to get lost here, it's a good thing I heard the fighting from you guys." Vitiate lied with a straight face.
[Ding! Your Acting skill has risen to Level 4!]
"Wow, that makes sense, this place is big and dangerous, but with your skills, it shouldn't be too hard to survive. We just need to stay away from powerful Monsters like the notorious Manticore roaming this forest!"
News had already spread throughout the village about this Monster, so it was no secret to anyone. Everyone was at risk going into the forest, but that was the job of an adventure and why it paid so much.
It was about risk and gains, almost like gambling!
"Okay, let's head back, we can just follow the road back to the village." Lucas stretched and pulled out some meat from his storage bag.
"See, this is why you'll never lose weight you fatty!" Zelman scorned Lucas.
"This isn't fat, this is all muscle, even the sexy desk attendant at the guild notices my sexiness!" Lucas held his head up high and smiled, for some reason, sparkles could be seen around his face when he smiled!
"You don't understand the gaze of feeling grossed out and love-struck!" The two continued to go at one another while Rigor spoke to Vitiate.
"Monster Hunter, was it? Just to give you a heads up, the village has been seeing a lot of problems, and I mean attacks." The Group continued to walk on the road as they talked, but Rigor felt it was best to warn Vitiate of possible future trouble.
"Really? What kind of attacks?" Vitiate didn't want anything to interfere with his gathering of information and his other plans he set in place.
"Monster attacks, like Vampires attacking people at night. Everyone knows its a Vampire because the victims are sucked dry with teeth marks left on their necks. The city is under martial law until this problem is solved, as only adventures can enter and go out at night."
Vitiate knew what Rigor was hinting at, it was best to quickly sign up before they laid down some more rules. "They may also get really strict with you at the gate when they inspect you, so be ready and don't freak out." The Guards at the Village gate were extremely cautious these days, so they watched everyone who came out and entered the village closely.
After 30 minutes of walking, they came to a huge lake near the road. They went around this lake and didn't bother to get near it or within a certain range of it. This place had danger signs all around it, there were a lot of signs nailed to trees that served as warnings before reaching this place.
This was the territory of the shark men! Once anyone got too close, they would be sensed by the Sharkmen, which wouldn't be good! This was the place Vitiate had planned to attack next, but he held out for now.
Lucas and Zelman quickly got away from the lake, they didn't even want to look at the water. They were easily able to avoid setting off any red flags from the Sharkmen and kept walking. After fifteen minutes of more walking, a huge gated town came into view.
The gate was about 30 feet! Around the gate were walls that were even taller, there were men stationed on and in front of the gate as well. They were suited in blue armor, some were on horses, but there was one man suited in red armor. He held his head high with arrogance, looking over at the forest, he noticed Vitiate and the others with ease.
"Damn, this asshole!" Zelman said with some hate.
"Stay cool or this guy will try to make things difficult for you!" Lucas frowned, he seemed to hate this guy as well.
"...." Rigor didn't say anything.