Chương 20: Rogue

Zander navigated the dense, grey trunks of the Ironwood trees, guided by the magnetic pull of the Apex Predator quest in his gut. The forest here was still a cathedral of petrified pillars and hard-packed dirt, devoid of the vibrant, toxic undergrowth that had plagued him in the poison garden. The silence was usually absolute, save for the crunch of his boots on the grit. But that silence was suddenly shattered.

It started as a low, guttural snarl, followed instantly by the sharp, distinct ring of steel striking stone. Zander froze mid-step, his body instantly dropping into a low crouch behind the sprawling, gnarled roots of a massive Ironwood tree. His right hand instinctively dropped to his belt, his fingers wrapping around the leather-bound hilt of his Ironfang Dagger. He expected to find two predators tearing each other apart over territory.

Instead, as he peered around the grey bark, his red eyes widened in genuine surprise. It wasn't just beasts. There was a human. A woman was dancing backward through a narrow clearing, dual-wielding a pair of curved short swords. She was wearing dark, form-fitting leather armor that looked heavily worn, her dark hair tied back in a messy braid. Pressing her hard were two massive, wolf-like beasts with fur that looked like compressed volcanic ash. What the fuck? Zander was baffled.

He thought he wouldn't meet another human being before completing his quest, the forest being sealed and all. He pulled up his quest again: Congratulations! You meet all the requirements to unlock a new quest. Quest unlocked: Apex Predator You are in a forest where predators abound. At the top of the food chain sits a predator unique in its kind, just like you. Defeat it, and earn the title of Apex Predator.

Whenever you focus on this quest, you will get a general idea of the direction in which the apex predator is located. Rewards: Secret. PS: The forest is sealed until you complete this quest, or until you die. No human will be able to enter or leave until then. The PS said that no human would be able to enter or leave, not that he was the only human in the forest. He had drawn hasty conclusions when he first got the notification. Zander remained completely still in the shadows, his breathing controlled and silent.

He focused his gaze on the combatants, letting his System-assisted skill do the work. [Ash-Wolf - lvl 9] [Ash-Wolf - lvl 8] They were dangerous, certainly. A few days ago, a pair of level 9 beasts would have forced Zander into a desperate, bloody brawl. But it was the floating text above the woman's head that made his blood run cold. [Rogue - lvl 11] Zander stared at the translucent text, his mind racing.

Just that morning, the Planetary Integration Status Report had manifested in his vision, declaring that the average survivor on Earth-7 was only level 4. The fact that this woman was level 11 meant she wasn't just surviving; she was thriving. She was a highly lethal anomaly. Zander watched the fight, analyzing her movements. She was fast, her blades a blur as she deflected a snapping jaw here and redirected a lunging paw there. But then, she seemed to misstep.

Her heel caught on a protruding root, and she stumbled backward, her arms flailing slightly as she lost her center of gravity. The level 9 Ash-Wolf lunged, its jaws opening wide for a killing strike at her exposed throat. Zander didn't hesitate. He activated [Mind's Dominion], instantly pulling 10 points of Will and dumping them into Might. His base Might of 24 surged to 29. He scooped a jagged, heavy stone from the debris at his feet.

He let his body flow into the motion, snapping his hip forward and transferring the kinetic energy out through his arm. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The stone left his hand with a sharp thwip. It blurred across the clearing, intercepting the leaping level 9 Ash-Wolf perfectly. CRACK The sound was sickeningly loud, the noise of bone shattering against stone.

The rock obliterated the beast's skull, sending it spinning violently through the air before it crashed lifelessly into the dirt. Zander was already moving. He burst from the shadows, closing the distance to the second beast in a fraction of a second. The level 8 Ash-Wolf spun, confused by the sudden death of its packmate, but Zander was already inside its guard. He didn't bother with [Scarlet Gauntlet]; his dagger would do just fine. Fueled by his enhanced Might, Zander drove the Ironfang Dagger forward.

The bone blade parted the beast's thick hide without a hint of resistance. He twisted the hilt brutally and ripped the blade upward, a surgical strike that devastated the wolf's internal organs. The beast collapsed instantly, exhaling a final, rattling breath.

'ding' You have killed [Ash-Wolf - lvl 9].

'ding' You have killed [Ash-Wolf - lvl 8]. The clearing fell deathly silent, save for the heavy, ragged breathing of the woman. She had collapsed against the trunk of an Ironwood tree, her short swords sliding from her grip to clatter against the hard-packed earth.

"Oh, God," she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. She looked up at Zander, her eyes wide with what looked like pure, unadulterated relief.

"I… I thought I was dead. Thank you. Thank you so much." Zander stood over the bleeding corpses, his red eyes fixed on her. He slowly wiped his Ironfang Dagger on the nearest wolf's pelt before sliding it back into his belt.

"You're welcome," he said, his voice flat.

"I'm Mira," she breathed out, slowly pushing herself up to a sitting position. She winced, massaging her ankle.

"I was part of a larger group. We spawned a few miles east of here, near a river. But we got ambushed two nights ago by these massive, armored centipede things. We scattered. I've been running blind ever since." She looked around the gloomy, grey forest, an expression of vulnerability crossing her face.

"It's a nightmare out here. I haven't slept in what feels like days. Look… I know we don't know each other, but there's safety in numbers, right? Do you have a camp? Or maybe we could set one up? I just need a few hours of rest where I don't have to keep one eye open." She offered a weak, appreciative smile, appealing directly to their shared humanity. Zander looked down at her. Her story seemed convincing. She looked the part: battered armor, exhausted posture, the sheer relief of a rescued damsel in distress.

But Zander wasn't fooled. He analyzed her with the same cold detachment he used to dissect the beasts of the Green Maze. She claimed she hadn't slept in days, yet the whites of her eyes were clear. She was massaging a supposedly twisted ankle, but when she had been fighting just moments prior, her footwork had been very good and steady. Furthermore, a level 11 Rogue possessed stats far beyond the baseline. A pair of level 8 and 9 beasts shouldn't have pushed her to the brink of death.

They should have been a mild inconvenience. She hadn't tripped over that root. She had engineered the stumble. She is playing with her food, Zander realized, a cold chill settling in his chest. Or worse, she sensed me in the shadows and played bait to see what I would do. Despite the glaring red flags, Zander kept his expression neutral. Confronting her now would force a fight he didn't necessarily want. She was two levels higher than him.

If she was this manipulative, there was no telling what kind of nasty tricks she had up her sleeves. But letting her walk away was equally dangerous; he didn't want her tracking him from the shadows.

"I don't have a camp," Zander said, matching her conversational tone.

"I've been staying on the move. But it's getting late. We can set up here for the night."

"Thank you," Mira sighed, closing her eyes in mock relief.

"You're a lifesaver."

"Sure," Zander replied. He turned his back to her to begin butchering the wolves, though he kept his senses hyper-focused on the subtle rustle of her leather armor. He had agreed to the team-up for one simple reason: information. He needed to observe how other high-level classes operated in this integrated universe. Keep your friends close, and your heavily-armed, sociopathic anomalies closer. As the grey twilight of the Ironwood forest deepened into pitch black, they set up a wary camp.

There would be no real sleep tonight. Just a careful, quiet calculation of exactly how dangerous the woman sitting across the fire truly was.