LordHeaven

How is the story paced so far? I feel like I've been struggling to get into the right pace.

After stomping the low-level fools, Zephyr ran into his first challenge. A well-organized party of four fools—a burly man with a metallic shield, a nimble dagger wielder wearing a dark cloak, and two pesky archer women who seemed cute from first glance.

It was a full-fledged hunter’s party bristling with weapons from head to toe. A hunter party corrupted by the Prince of Sloth’s unique magic, Hivemind.

The fools above level 10 fought like experienced warriors, a complete replication of their prowess before their transformation. They couldn’t use magic as Hecate took back her blessing after Hivemind transformed them. Sherine found some precious knowledge in the ‘Archive of the Magic Beasts.’ Something they didn’t expect in a book about the magic beasts.

He was against a party of four fools above level 10 while he was level 9.

“Athena, I’ll leave the arrows to you.”

A confident chirp answered back.

The rogue dagger wielder’s purple eyes glowed as he made a run for Zephyr and vanished midway.

“A level 20,” Zephyr muttered in amazement. 

The fools of C-Rank and above could use skills that belonged to their bodies. What the assassin fool used was simply an active skill for concealment.

“You got a bad match up, fool.”

A grin crept on his lips. He wasn’t losing against a speed-type fighter.

Instead of hunting down the assassin hiding in the dark, he lunged at the tank and kicked the oversized shield. The tank dug his feet in the ground and tackled back.

At the same time, a barrage of arrows roared through the shielder’s flanks.

If he dodged the shield bash, he was screwed. If he doesn't dodge, the shield will smash his face. This impressive teamwork and chemistry could only be found in a party that worked together for some time.

Zephyr was trapped, or so it seemed from a glance. He took a confident step out of the shield’s range and walked into the hail of arrows.

‘Don’t let me down, bird.’

As though answering his expectations, a strong burst of wind whizzed past him and sucked the momentum out of the arrows. The tank was left vulnerable after trying a bold bash of his shield.

‘Opening.’

Zephyr instantly capitalized and slashed the back of shielder’s knee. The obsidian blade cut through the flesh and the kneecaps, splitting the leg in half. A complete dismemberment in one strike.

“Ha!”

He stepped back, drew back his scythe, and once again made a beautiful arc. A headless corpse fell down, blood gushing from its neck.

Athena shrieked triumphantly then retreated to Sherine’s side.

“Zephyr, get them!” Sherine cheered for him as she rubbed the hawk’s head. “Show them the power of a champion!”

Zephyr’s scalp tingled as an ominous feeling dawned on him. Danger! His senses warned him. Twisting his heel, he caught a glimpse of the assassin’s silver dagger at the corner of his eye. The dagger would undoubtedly rip his throat and the bleeding would end him.

‘As if!’

Zephyr swiftly lowered his base and shoved the scythe between the fool’s legs. Tightening his grip, he dragged the scythe with as much force as his hands could muster.

A pair of violet eyes widened. “How?”

It was all the assassin could utter before he fell apart in two equal pieces. The scythe cleanly bisected the thin assassin. Guts and blood spilled out onto the ground. The kind of death Zephyr only ever witnessed in games or movies.

The hawk shivered. Even Sherine couldn’t stay calm.

He hadn’t become absurdly strong in a physical sense. The heightened awareness stat, the intuition, and higher stats, all came together to improve his efficiency to an extreme degree. His calm and collected nature were a cherry on top, immensely boosting the effects of his intuition skill.

“Now your turn.”

The archers visibly shook by his grin. They were, after all, level 16—the stage when the Hivemind strengthened its grip on souls and they started to show hints of personality.

The archer girls began panic firing at the demon sprinting towards them. He dodged each arrow by precise movements and cornered them.

Two slashes ended the party of four.

“It’s looting time!”

Sherine ignored the weapon and dashed towards the base. She had picked up the hobby of scouring through the rooms which were located at the end of fools’ lairs.

At first, they thought the decently built rooms belonged to some adventurers. That was far from the truth. The fools made these hideouts to live in luxury. It was the reason for hard security checks at the town’s entrance.

‘Why this forest? What’s Prince of Sloth’s purpose?’

He couldn’t think of a reason these fools would be stationed here in a well-organized party. Frowning, he looked around the cave in search for any clue. Other than bones and flesh of animals, there wasn’t anything. All the lairs had this same sight.

‘Animal’s flesh…’

His eyes widened as he recalled a well-known trope in the stories.

‘They can level up through eating.’

‘Bingo!’

Surely Drake and his fellow soldiers knew about the Prince of Sloth’s plan of strengthening his army. After all, they cleared these lairs on a regular basis. His intuition prodded him in the negative direction. They were mostly clueless on the fools’ motives.

“What a mess. I’ll warn Drake before leaving for Altissia.”

The Blessing Towers intrigued him the most. He wouldn’t need to travel so far in search of monsters.

‘I can also sell all the junk there and buy some good armor.’

The Treasure Vault lacked armors. Sherine’s mother had more interest in weapons than armors. She preferred offense over defense.

‘It is no wonder she chose a trap as her husband.’

LordHeaven

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