Chapter 13: Fools

In the portal, Theo's figure appeared out of thin air, proving that he just got teleported to the other side.

Unlike the white and clean city, he ended up seeing the dark but futuristic city. And he had no specific location to choose as his destination.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a satellite too, so they couldn't really make a complete map for this place, only the places they had discovered before. They had tried it a few times, but all of them got brutally destroyed by the monsters in this world, not letting the satellite even pass the stratosphere.

Still, there were some airplanes and drones to scout around, but there were only a few places that they could go with those since they would soon be swarmed by flying monsters. The cost was also a lot, so there was no way Theo could take advantage of it with his current pocket even if they were available.

'I don't have any specific place I want to go, so that I will go south this time. The monsters around here are low leveled. I can use them to get used to my weapon and see how strong I've become. After that, I will go a bit deeper.' Theo formulated his today's plan in his mind.

Tightening his backpack, he walked down the platform and headed straight to the south gate.

Eric and Shella had been waiting for him. As soon as they saw Theo coming out of the portal, they exchanged looks, nodded at each other, and followed Theo from behind.

Although Theo might have sensed them yesterday, he seemed to not know that they were the ones tailing him after Shella checked him in the class.

They could just tell him that it was all misunderstanding, and they were worried about him before catching him off guard.

It was supposed to be a perfect plan…Assuming Theo didn't know anything.

Sensing their presence, Theo kept looking forward, acting as if he never felt them. Probably due to the increase of his level, his senses became sharper despite him not getting any relevant training. Many people thought it was related to Agility, but there was no concrete proof as of now.

He took a few minutes to reach the South Gate and looked at many people planning to go out.

Just like last time, he needed to pass the gate first and registered his name there, so the government knew that he passed this gate. If he didn't return in thirty days without prior notice, they usually changed his status to dead.

He found a young man with military clothes standing by the gate and showed him his ID Card.

Since he was busy from the morning, the military guy didn't chat with him or anything and simply finished his job.

After registering his name, Theo took back his ID Card from his hand and walked outside.

He couldn't go too far or the couple would lose his track, so he decided to wait for them a bit farther away from the gate.

Meanwhile, the registration process made him realize another thing.

'They can actually see my real identity even if I go with my mask. I should get a fake ID sooner or later, but I don't really have a connection with someone like that. For now, it wouldn't be a problem and the military would remain neutral as long as the current president was still in power.'

Theo scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do with this problem. 'For now, my identity is safe since no one is using this yet. Besides, I can simply use my real face when I pass the gate while using the mask when hunting. That's the solution for now.'

After two minutes, the couple would soon get their turns. Theo needed to get going soon, but it would make them suspicious if he weren't that far.

He had prepared for this and opened his bag. Grabbing an empty water bottle, he threw it to the ground.

'With this, they should believe that I drank it and wasn't that far away,' Theo thought and began his journey.

It took him another few minutes to encounter the first monster of the day. It was a lion. The lion had a tawny coat with a long tufted tail. Its large mane was darker than the usual lion surrounding its head and neck.

He quickly picked up his device and pointed it at the lion.

Name: Reum Lion

Level: 8-20

The database had the personal information of the lion, but before he could read them, the lion had noticed his presence and roared.

"!!!" Theo quickly put back his device in his pants and raised his spear. This spear was Elite Rank Spear, Altrix Spear, so its sharpness should be enough to handle the lion.

Roar.

With another roar, the lion leaped, pouncing him from above.

Theo's agility was not like how it used to be, he avoided the lion by shifting his body to the left. He spun his body once to get his balance back and thrust his spear toward the lion's exposed butt.

"Pierce!" He used all his strength, intending to end the fight in one blow, but the lion managed to sense his killing intent and took another leap forward.

He somehow stabbed the lion's butt, albeit it was too shallow to be considered a wound. It was close to a graze instead.

Therefore, Theo readied his stance again for another charge.

The pain in the butt angered the lion as it turned around. This time the lion made a zig-zag movement while getting closer to Theo. In addition to the fact that they were surrounded by trees, it limited Theo's movement while the lion was as if he was playing in the house…Slippery.

Although the movement was fast, it didn't cover the distance with the previous speed, giving him a precious chance to prepare for an attack.

Theo's eyes moved left and right while waiting for the lion to reach his attack range.

As soon as the lion closed its distance to three feet away from him, Theo quickly thrust his spear.

The lion stopped on his right and should move to the left again. So, Theo's thrust that came from the left should be in perfect sync, but the lion surprised him by taking one more step in the opposite direction, completely avoiding his spear.

After that, the lion leaped forward to close the remaining distance in one go.

"!!!" Theo clenched his teeth. His thrust made him unable to move his upper body immediately, so he might need to take this hit, but he then realized that his lower body could still move.

The movement was unstable, but he managed to deliver the kick from below, striking the lion's jaw from its blindspot.

The lion stopped its movement and retreated a few steps back while glaring at Theo.

"I might have powered up and tied with Laust, but I shouldn't overestimate myself. To think that a Lion managed to trick me…" Theo realized that he became overconfident recently and tried to calm himself down.

He might also have put too much faith in his plan against the couple. However, he had no time to reflect on his change.

Taking one deep breath, he focused back on the fight and saw the lion doing the same zig-zag movement.

The lion did the same technique, and Theo thrust his spear from the left, intending to kill it with this one trust.

As he expected, the lion moved exactly the same and tried to attack Theo from the right.

"I have been waiting for this." Theo smiled and rotated the spear to reset his thrust.

The lion already closed their gap.

Right before its fang reached Theo, the spear's handle already came in its way.

It ended up biting the spear instead.

After that, Theo kicked the lion with his knee, forcing the lion to open its mouth with pain.

With his spear gaining its freedom, he thrust the lion.

The latter instinctively dodged to the right, but Theo managed to pierce the area next to its neck.

Roar.

"Shut up!" Theo pulled out his spear and kicked the lion on the head, blowing it several feet away.

He then ran toward the lion and stabbed its head, killing the lion before it could recover.

It still glared at Theo in its dying breath, but there was no resistance until it dropped to the ground.

[Killed a Reum Lion (Normal)]

[EXP+50]

Status: Normal

Level: 20

EXP: 160/246

Blessing: God of Mischief

Skill: Pierce (F), Clone (F), 8 Slots Remaining

Attributes: Strength 35, Endurance 15, Agility 24, Vitality 15, Magic Power 25

Free Attribute Points: 0

"It's finally over. I should reflect on myself aft—"

Suddenly, Theo noticed the presence coming from behind. The two seemed to have caught up with him. He thought, 'I should get going.'

He touched the lion's head to check whether it would give him anything, but unfortunately, he found nothing after the lion disappeared.

"Sigh. Not my luck…" He panted to give the illusion that he was a bit tired from that fight.

The couple became even more confident in defeating Theo. As long as they let him exhaust himself for a bit longer, it would be a perfect time to ambush him.

After waiting for thirty seconds, Theo ran again to search for the next target.

He purposely lowered his speed, so they could keep up until he found a giant tree.

"…" Theo smiled when he found a wide trunk that he could use.

As soon as the trunk covered Theo's body, Eric remembered the incident two days ago. "We can't lose him again."

Shella nodded and picked up the pace. "He might have noti—"

Before finishing her words, she saw Theo already come out of the trunk, returning to their vision again.

The two realized that they were worried for nothing.

Both had let out their own sigh of relief. Their eyes intertwined and said something with just a blink of an eye. It wasn't something complicated. They just came to a conclusion to continue following him.

Little did they know, there was someone who was watching them from the top of the tree. Yes, it was Theo.

He used the trunk to summon his clone and handed his weapon to his clone before climbing the tree. It took him two seconds to do that, but he managed to complete the task without them noticing.

"As expected…You two are fools." He narrowed his eyes while smiling.