17 Chapter 17

The three kobolds ran madly toward Acht with their sharp claws ready to dice him up into pieces. Even though they were merely G-rank monsters, they could still kill normal humans fairly easily and even heavily injure rookie hunters. So, underestimating them is not an option if someone wants to keep their lives.

The first kobold reached Acht and smashed down with its hand on him. Its speed was slightly above what humans could do so it could appear blurry to many.

But, for Acht, it was merely a slow-motion attack from a weak enemy. He moved to the side swiftly and avoided the attack, then, he pulled his sword and slashed horizontally. His sword cut the left arm of the kobold as if it was a piece of butter and sent it flying.

"WRAAAAAA!!!!!" The kobold screamed in extreme pain as blood gushed out of its arm like a fountain. It tried to kick Acht in its stupor but Acht was already a step ahead of it and he stabbed with his sword toward its chest.

*Swish*

Before he could end its life, the other two kobolds reached him and jumped at him. Acht clicked his tongue and activated his gift. Instantly, the two creatures fell down like rag dolls and stuck to the ground like glue because of the increased gravity.

He didn't intend to kill them with only his gift, he only wanted to stop their dash and get some time to kill the first one.

While holding them off, Acht moved swiftly and stabbed the first kobold. He could've left it alone and it would've died from the huge loss of blood but he wanted to do the task perfectly and not create a bloody mess.

"WRAAAA!!!" The kobold was very tenacious; it wouldn't go down without a fight. It tried to grab Acht but he was faster.

With one swift move, the short sword stabbed its chest right through its heart. It tried to shake it away or resist but it soon lost strength and died on the spot.

Acht then shifted his concentration to the two left, they already nullified his powers and were standing still looking at him. They weren't smart or sane but their instincts alone told them that the human in front of them was very dangerous.

"If you won't come at me, then I will come to you." He said with a calm, emotionless tone.

He dashed toward them like a flash, then he used his momentum to jump and stab toward one of the monsters. While he was in the air, he activated his gift and added gravity to his body making his landing even faster and his speed even scarier.

The kobolds didn't expect this and found themselves unable to dodge.

*Swish*

The sword drove through the first one creating a big hole in its stomach. Acht then quickly pulled the sword and slashed horizontally to the side. The blade made a beautiful arc before slicing through the side of the kobold all the way to the center of its abdomen.

The two monsters screamed in extreme pain and fell down dead a few seconds after.

In just one minute, Acht killed the three monsters without getting a scratch. It was a one-sided massacre rather than a fight since the monsters couldn't do anything to him.

Acht then pulled his sword from the kobold and made a light swing to get rid of the blood on the blade before putting it again in the scabbard.

'That was easier than expected but still enjoyable.' he thought as he took a deep breath before looking at Scarlett.

She also looked at him, but with deep surprise in her pupils. She was not expecting anything from what happened.

'I knew he would be able to kill them…but this…this is scary.' She thought as she inspected the kid in front of her.

At first, she got interested in him because of his affinity with a lost element yet deep down in her heart she thought he would be an average person in all the other aspects. However, not even 2 days passed and she was already questioning whether he was really a child or not.

'He didn't even flinch when killing those monsters. Was this really his first time killing a living creature?'

"Miss Scarlett?" He spoke to her with a confused gaze.

'Did I overdo it?' He pondered worriedly. Looking back at himself, he did indeed show too much of his skills but he wasn't thinking about it since he was concentrated on killing the monsters.

"Ah…Ah! Yes, I was just thinking about something. You did…an amazing job over there." She shook her head and spoke with a small frown on her face.

"Good. Are these all the monsters?"

The captain of the guards was the one to answer.

"N-No…there are still a few of them near the southern forest."

He was also shocked beyond words at such a talent and cold-heartedness but he didn't want to offend Scarlett or the scary kid so he tried to calm down.

"Should I deal with them, Miss Scarlett?" He looked at the red-haired beauty waiting for her answer.

"I will let you kill them. But before that, I will show you how to collect the soul stones of the kobolds."

"Soul stones?"

"Yes, every living creature has a soul stone where their soul force is stored. They are also the only way for humans to absorb the soul force of other creatures and evolve."

She then approached the three dead monsters and pulled out a knife. Then, with swift and precise moves, she opened a hole around the solar plexus of the creature's body. The blood kept on gushing out non-stop but Scarlett didn't bother with it and put her hand inside the monster. Then, she pulled out a small object the size of a peanut from the monster.

The object was glowing faintly with a blue color. It was akin to a diamond that shines even with blood covering it.

"This is a soul stone. It's small in size because kobolds are weak G-rank monsters but with each rank, the soul stones get bigger and bigger." She tossed the object to Acht so he could take a look at it.

He grabbed it and pressed on it. It was quite sturdy in contrast to its fragile look.

"Ok, now. I want you to extract the soul stones out of the other two bodies. The soul stone is always situated in the middle of the abdomen no matter what creature we are talking about. Keep that in mind."

Achat nodded briefly before grabbing the knife and imitating Scarlett's moves. He took a little bit longer than her to get the soul stone out but he nevertheless was able to do it.

He then repeated the same process with the last monster. In total, he had three soul stones in his hand that looked identical but with small variations in size.

"Very good. I will show you later how to absorb them. We should continue now."

Scarlett and Acht continued walking and behind them was the captain who felt out of place with two geniuses walking in front of him. He was debating whether he should excuse himself and leave or not.

The southern forest was rather big in size, it was comparable to the size of bluerise city and it was rumored to be filled with all kinds of creatures. Fortunately or not, most of the monsters who lurk inside the forest never leave so the city was never threatened by a monster stampede or any sort of danger.

The three people reached the outskirts of the forest in a few minutes. They weren't intending to enter the forest since the kobolds were somewhere around the place they were standing at.

'I can't feel any presence around here. Are they really here?' thought Acht as he looked left and right with his hand on his short sword.

"You can't feel their presence. Kobolds are known for their decent hiding skills." Scarlett spoke with a low voice.

She then closed her eyes for a brief second and opened them again before continuing, "There is only one way to feel their presence. You should try and detect their soul forces."

"How do I do that?"

"Close your eyes and try to feel the soul energy around you." She instructed him.

"I want you to try and look for any weird fluctuations in the energy around us. That's probably where the kobolds are hiding."

Acht followed her words and concentrated on his surroundings. After some search, he was able to find what she told him. There were a few ripples a few tens of meters away from them behind a big tree.

"I saw it. They're behind that tree." Acht opened his eyes and pointed at the place.

"Good." Scarlett nodded her head with satisfaction.

She then left Acht to deal with them and spoke to the captain.

"Where is the dungeon that these monsters got out of?" She asked with a calm look.

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