Chapter 182: Werewolf Issue, Solved!

Pedro gestured to Neerak and the three village soldiers to halt, before placing his right hand on top of the Katana that was sheathed on the left side of his waist. His left hand held the scabbard as he slowly walked forward—deeper into the forest.

'There are only two possible explanations for missing monsters, especially for a forest! One… there's a lack of food for the monsters in this area. Second… There are adventurers who are killing the monsters, while at the same time, they were storing the corpse in their inventory bags.' Pedro thought as he glanced to the ground while taking a deep breath.

'The smell of blood is strong, and the land is moist… almost muddy, probably because of the monster's blood.' He thought. At this moment, Pedro's pen-knife arrived beside them and rotated around his group—creating a ring that is similar to Saturn. Then, a reddish gas rose from the ground to the pen-knife as if red steam was evaporating from the ground.

"Its blood!" Pedro accidentally voiced his thought because he was astonished after one of his assumptions was proven correct.

"W-What do you mean, sir Aron?" Neerak said while trembling in fear. His face was pale due to exhaustion while his feet were already numb. If they were to encounter monsters or other enemies, it would be difficult for him to run, or even just walk. Thus, his mind gets clouded by negative thoughts such as the appearance of a strong monster who stays in Baliu Forest and feeds on weaker monsters or humans.

However, Pedro knew from his past life that such cases—strong monsters that are almost in the category of open-world bosses, would not occur or appear until the fourth or fifth year of Bearth Online. In fact, he knew that the open-world bosses that would appear later in the game came from the weak monsters scattered everywhere in the continent and were able to level up along with the players. Thus, their appearance at this point of the game was a hundred percent impossible.

Even if Pedro learned from this life that there were strong monsters in the seas and the other continents, he knew that the possibility of them migrating to the human habited continents were very low.

First of all, transportation was an issue. There was no natural way for the monsters to travel through the seas and escape through the continent that they inhabited. Unless such overpowered creatures were brought by an external force—like the Treants, the monsters can't travel on their own from one content to another.

Secondly, Pedro had a hunch that the humans were being protected by the gods and goddesses.

Why?

Because monsters were like the pawns of the demons. The monsters build most of the demon's army.

Since the monsters feed in living beings like humans, monsters became the common enemy of humans and deities—consequently, making humans the pawns of gods and goddesses that were destined to fight the monsters.

So… gods and goddesses would definitely intervene if the existence of humans would be placed in jeopardy—including the presence of a strong monster that no human could defeat.

As for the 'weak' monsters, the gods and goddesses left it to the hands of humans to take care of. The monsters could become the source of their food, and at the same time provide a way to increase their strength. After all, the humans need to defeat weak monsters and level up first before they could face a stronger monster.

Well… either way, Pedro is strong enough to handle any situations except with the presence of beings in the deity level—beings above level 100. Thus, Pedro was a hundred percent sure that it was the works of other adventurers.

"Those red vapors are the blood of monsters." Pedro explained, "We can't spot any corpse of monster, despite their blood being spilled all over the place."

"B-But, why adventurers?" Neerak asked, remembering what Pedro said earlier. "Shouldn't it be the work of the monster we are chasing?"

Pedro glanced towards Neerak Axutar in response. He retained his cold expression, but deep inside, he forced out a smile thinking, 'This kid is too smart! He's starting to become a nuisance rather than an asset. If he keeps this up… I might accidentally slice his head off! Anyway… It's my fault after all. My bluffs are starting to bite me back. My guilt is eating my conscience and I won't be able to this much. I am a VR Game Player not a Poker Player after all.'

"The werewolf was injured by me and my comrades earlier," Pedro said as he averted his gaze to his front. "He's probably using adventurers to kill monsters… or even humans, as his food to regain his strength. On top of that, the absence of the presence of corpse despite blood being spilled everywhere, I am sure that this is the work of adventurers."

"I-I see…" Neerak Axutar said with a frown on his face. "Does it have something to do with the bag?"

'Ho, Ho… This kid is really impressive! To be able to think about the inventory bag… Why can't I remember an astounding NPC from Axutar Village in my past life? All I know is that most Legendary NPCs came from the North of Aquari Continent, the South of Aquari Continent, and of course from BHO. In any case… This kid is more or less in my grasp, and… though I don't like it, I am quite good with bluffs.' Pedro thought as he smirked towards Neerak Axutar.

"You are smart, young man!" Pedro praised that made Neerak Axutar force out a smile. Then, Pedro continued, saying, "You are right! This is related to the magical bags. Did you know that you can store several things inside, regardless of the item's size?"

"What?! Really?!" Neerak Axutar shouted in astonishment.

Pedro simply nodded—not minding whether they would alert the other adventurers or not. Then, he asked, "You did not know? I mean… there's a lot of adventurers going in and out of your village. You should know these things from them now."

Neerak Axutar could only avert his gaze and force out a smile before saying, "We don't know. Hehe… Our village might seem well and organized but… We were just able to control and organize the adventurers these past few days. It was way more chaotic a few days back. Other than shelter… Food, water, and even equipment were a problem. It took us more than a week to be able to set things up. So, we are not yet able to take a closer look at such information."

"It is as expected." Pedro said, "It was also chaotic in other villages, as you said. Anyway… Let's continue our discussion after we are done with our task. The four of you stay here and rest. There are almost no monsters around, so, you'll be safe here. Also, I'll leave this ring active around you so that you would not think about anyone harming you."

"W-What about you?" Neerak Axutar asked with a frown on his face. He knows how terrifying the rotating pen-knife was, just from observing it kill monsters from earlier. That said, he knew that the pen-knife served as a cover for Pedro's back and blind spots. Thus, Neerak Axutar felt worried thinking that Pedro would lose one of his 'overpowered' weapons which could play a big role in crucial situations.

"There's the four of us! Why don't you bring your weapon with you, instead?" Neerak Axutar added.

Pedro burst into laughter in response. A few seconds later, he calmed down and said, "I am way stronger than you think!"

In a blink of an eye, Pedro's eyes turned all black—consequently putting Neerak Axutar and the three village soldiers into sleep. Even Sabrina, who was flying high in the sky, felt a tinge of pain on her head. That said, she was able to resist it and was able to maintain her altitude while watching closely the events in the ground—ready to assist Pedro with her pen-knives (missile) at any second.

At this moment, Pedro smirked as he took off his hands from the top of the handle of his Katana and relaxed. He scratched the back of his head and forced out a smile before saying, "It's really better when the surrounding is peaceful and quiet."

He glanced towards tens of meters away from him, where several figures of humans were also laying asleep in the ground. Then, he said, "Now… Let's finish this quickly... so that we could move to the next village before midnight!"

He took off his clothes and equipment and placed them all in his inventory bag. Soon, he arrived where the sleeping adventurers were located.

"These faces… Pro players from Japan, Huh?" Pedro chuckled. "I wonder how they were able to arrive in this place in just a matter of day? Don't tell me that they got their op skills this early in the game?"

Pedro started picking up their inventory bags while replacing them with inventory bags filled with dead bodies of humans and monsters—that Faunia collected when they first returned to the Aquari Continent to meet Sabrina and the rest.

He left one of the men with no inventory bag—framing that man up as the monster that they were chasing. Then, he used his Faithpursuer Katana to sever one of the man's arms and hide it in his inventory bag. With a couple of more cuts to the man, and wrapping the severed arm with an adventurer's shirt, the man really resembled someone who is severely injured and was escaping from someone.

"Sorry, 'Ice-Mage' Ryu… But Japan Player Force would need to exert more effort to become strong this time around!" Pedro smirked as he placed his Katana in his inventory bag before transforming into his dragon form. Then, he jumped up and down—turning all the adventurers into a paste that was mixed and buried with the ground.

"Thanks for offering your lives! Now… the werewolf issue is solved!"