Under the moonlight, a faint shadow of a person could be seen hiding behind a tree.
Felix, who had been searching around the forest for any prey after running away from the gnoll's place, was now staring at a group of busy kobolds while hiding from them.
'Hmmm, to think they're eating my hunt.....'
He thought while peeking at the kobolds who were ravishing their mouths with the wolves' corpses that he had previously killed.
There were a total of 8 kobolds banded together under the shade of a tree who were bickering among themselves for the most meat.
'Well, the least I can do is give you a last meal I guess.'
Felix waited patiently for the kobolds to finish their meal, and a few minutes later when they were resting on the ground with their bloating bellies upwards, he revealed himself with a skill.
'Quicksand.'
The ground beneath the kobolds suddenly started softening into a sludge, which confused them as they tried to get up and check it, but they were a bit too late.
"Khiikh?"
The kobolds exclaimed in shock as they witnessed their bodies seamlessly sink into the earth.
At last, they tried to resist it by raising their feet, but their legs were already too deep into the ground. Their struggles turned into waste and even proved to be useless as it instead sunk them deeper into the quicksand.
Felix felt that it was enough so he walked over casually with his sword, but his presence terrified the kobolds as they finally realised their group was under attack.
"Khweak! Khiiwek!"
Their helpless screams echoed in the silent forest as a swift blade passed through their necks and beheaded them, while their lower bodies remained stuck into the ground.
[You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x8
[You have gained 10 skill points.]x8
Felix stood amidst the peculiarly arranged kobold corpses, their upper bodies reclined while their lower halves disappeared into the earth.
Turning around, he started walking away from the bloodied place to look for some other monsters to hunt.
He picked up his speed and dashed towards a direction, all the while glancing around for more monsters in sight.
The wind howled in the chilly night with the moonlight filtering through the branches of the tall trees as his steps remained unheard throughout the way.
Felix roamed the forest covertly using the darkness and searched around for more monsters he could kill to gain skill points.
Skill points were all he needed to get stronger unlike the general way the inhabitants of this world did, and collecting them felt like he was growing stronger as time went by.
But the only way he could gain skill points was by killing a being higher than his own rank, making him a killing machine whose first thoughts were 'How many skill points will I get by killing them?'.
Fortunately, he only got such feelings when he caught sight of monsters, and not of the many humans in the city, or else he wouldn't be sure what to think of himself.
After a few minutes, Felix stopped as he saw three dark wolves moving carefully.
One of the wolves looked injured as it was being helped by the other two wolves while they moved, possibly towards their den.
The man was slowly walking towards him, eyeing him up and down to find anything interesting, but his interest soon died down as the boy seemed nothing extraordinary except for his rare silver hair and red eyes.
Arriving before the pale boy, the man who towered over two meters tall raised his hand and grabbed the boy's head, before tightening his hold on the head.
"Ughh...-AAGHH!!"
Felix screamed in pain as his head felt like it was about to burst into pieces from the tight hold.
"AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!"
The silent and eery forest was disturbed by the boy's scream which echoed in the darkness.
Even the guards that were stationed within the tent came running out when they heard the painful shout, but they remained in their places when they saw the dark-robed person.
The man stopped squeezing Felix's head when his eyes started to roll back down and threw him rolling over to the guards without a care.
"Imprison him along with the other slaves. His face is not bad, he can be sold for a high price or something."
The guards looked at each other before nodding and picked up Felix from the ground as they went back inside the tent without any questions.
The man followed them inside too but he went in a different direction after entering the secret hole in the tent.
'I'm.....s-slave again?...'
Felix could barely think anything at this point as his head pained physically as well as mentally from the man's hold, but he could feel the disbelief in his heart as his body turned cold at the man's declaration.
'I...gotta....run...'
His eyelids faltered, failing to keep him conscious but he quickly bit his lips until it bled and remained awake.
Although he couldn't make out where the guards, who were of Rank 2, were taking him, he felt that they had gone very deep into whatever base they were in.
The guards didn't talk anything between themselves, almost as if they were some puppets that only knew how to follow the orders they were given and walked silently into a corner of their base.
Reaching a large bronze door, they opened it after unlocking it with several keys and entered inside along with their new slave.
There were several cells inside the room, all of which were locked with thick steel bars and large locks.
The guards moved deeper into the room and roughly threw Felix inside one of the empty cells and locked him from the outside.
Felix hit the floor as he grunted in pain and rolled around helplessly.
"Haa...haa...haaa."
Taking deep breaths, he relaxed his twisted face and massaged his still-paining head.
After some time, he felt the pain subsiding from his head and he narrowed his eyes on the ceiling while laying on the ground tiredly.
"Sigh....all my skills were reduced to nothing in front of that man....but to think my handsome face saved me this time."
He muttered unbelievably and touched his fair skin and silver hair softly.
"This is so fucked up..."