Chapter 34: Tailing

After the big announcement from the principal, the students began to embark to either their home or the Haven, preparing for the challenge in two days.

Even Theo had the same intention as them, planning to grab his equipment back home and returning to the Haven to increase his level. He hoped to reach Level 35 before the training started. The schedule was pretty tight, but it wasn't impossible.

Little did he know that someone was watching him from the school roof. She was the same old lady that followed the guys from the Lange Family.

After chasing them to the Temple, she returned with disappointment since she didn't find him there.

"Well, I have found him now, so no need to look at the past. I should fulfill my promise now."

Suddenly, her smile turned into a frown as she saw five people following Theo from the roof. They were also the same people from yesterday.

"Hmm…I think I have a better plan for this." Her killing intent leaked a bit but disappeared right after she leaped off the roof, following those guys.

It took him half an hour just to reach the Haven until he came out of the Art Beats Castle.

Since he reached level 28 yesterday, he planned to go to the forest beyond the one he visited yesterday. It should be filled with monsters above level 25, giving him pretty good EXP points.

Unaware of the fact he was being followed, Theo continued his journey like usual and put on his mask.

This created a reaction among those who followed him.

The group from the Lange Family frowned as one of them asked. "Why would he wear a mask? Is he aware that we are chasing him? Or he doesn't want to get exposed?"

"I think it's the latter." The captain narrowed his eyes. "The previous report that came before he defeated Young Master Laust was him being a Level 7. Yet, he managed to surpass that and planned to go this deep. I assume he is above Level 25, if not Level 30, since he is alone."

"Won't this be bad for us, Captain? We should report it to Master immediately."

The captain contemplated for a minute before shaking his head. "Let's follow him for today. We will confirm his fighting ability and level today before giving the full report to Master. Besides, Master has given an order for us to break a few bones if we deem him too dangerous. With that condition, he will suffer when Young Master Laust comes back to the academy."

"I understand." He acknowledged the decision while shrugging. "It's not like he is that good to notice our presence. Tailing for a whole day shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"You are too lax. You might almost reach Level 100, but we live in a world where we can't underestimate someone or we will end up dying. So, be serious about this." The captain shook his head helplessly.

As he said, they had enough strength to cover their presence in front of Theo. Yet, who was the woman following them that they couldn't even detect? The answer would remain unanswered for a long time.

…

Meanwhile, Theo kept going deeper and deeper while slipping past every single monster he found, not planning to waste his time against them since he thought it would be better for him to hunt in his destination instead of here.

The tree became denser and the thick smell of leaves began to fill his nose. This was the true appearance of the rainforest. The swamp was just a part of the outskirts and couldn't reflect what was inside.

Theo noticed the drastic change from the swamp to the rainforest. The foul smell was replaced by a cool breeze. Yet, it made him shiver for once as if his instinct warned him to stay focused.

"It seems this is not going to be an easy journey," muttered Theo while summoning his clone. At the very least, he wouldn't need to hand the weapon to his clone as they would walk together.

Of course, yesterday was a great lesson for him as he quickly put on the disguise for his clone while having him carrying his bag since the weight wouldn't affect his movement.

Theo held his spear while scanning left and right. His clone walked in front of him, so it could protect him.

Because the number of trees had significantly increased, Theo needed to focus on spotting any kind of monsters lingering in this forest. Luckily, if one would think what the best thing they would find in the Haven, it was the fact that most monsters had a quite big body. There was no monster with a small body like an ant, so they could focus on what they could see above the ground.

The hidden danger only came from bushes and trees because they could emerge from there at any moment. The same applied to those that could change their skin color.

Theo took a close look at every tree and bushes to make sure nothing was moving while walking forward.

Sak.

Sak.

A noise other than the cracking noises from the dried leaves he stepped on echoed in his ears. He instinctively turned his head to the right while raising his spear.

After turning in the mission yesterday, he already picked up another mission. It was to kill Leaf Rabbit and took their white fur. However, this one was a bit dangerous for people, considering the rabbit had a similar size to that on Earth. Coupled with their agility, this rabbit was hard to kill and might even bite him instead.

Clone Theo walked toward the bush on his right side. Due to the shorter reach of the sword, it should be perfect for stopping any attacks from the rabbit.

Meanwhile, the real him summoned his two Magic Bullets and held them for the moment the rabbit came out.

"Qiu!" A white rabbit suddenly leaped out of the bush and spun its body, trying to kick Clone Theo's face. Its fur was white and the eyes were black. If it were not for the green ears that looked like a tree leaf, he would mistake them for the one he found on Earth.

He had prepared for it and raised his sword to slash the Leaf Rabbit. Surprisingly, the rabbit changed its position mid-air and kicked Theo's sword instead, going in another direction.

The real Theo smiled and thrust his spear. The rabbit shouldn't be able to move during that time, so it should be perfect.

Yet, the rabbit surpassed his expectation and spun its body a bit, allowing it to barely put its feet on the spear and launched itself to the top of Theo's head. The moment it fell down, Theo would surely feel the kick on his skull.

Learning from his last mistake, he made another backup plan and released the Magic Bullets.

"I got you." He smiled.