The Discarded Son's Skill Market

The situation in the dark forest had become critical. The Forged Iron Mutant Gorilla, wounded by Joe’s relentless assault, seemed increasingly strange. Its eyes, once filled with silent ferocity, had turned an unnatural crimson, and Joe had noticed it.

"Is something about to change?" he wondered, swallowing hard.

He didn’t like it when situations like this arose. He didn’t have the knowledge to recognize every beast that existed, and this was one of those beasts he had never seen or researched before, so it was part of the long list of Rank D beasts whose final form he was completely unaware of.

Suddenly, a strange, dense, whitish vapor began to emanate from its back and arms.

Instinctively, Joe sensed the danger. His skin screamed at him to get away from that spot, and he made the quickest decision he could, lunging backward, propelled by the very force of the last impact.

He did it just in time. The gorilla’s right arm shot out, trying to grab his weapon to stop him from escaping; the speed was absurd. It was far superior to what it had been since the start of the fight. However, thanks to Joe’s quick reaction, it failed to grab him.

[The Forged Iron Mutant Gorilla’s health has reached 15%!]

[Berserker Giant’s Fury has been activated!]

The system roared with a red alert before several pairs of eyes, which were left completely stunned.

This ability sacrificed all the sanity the beast had left and all its defenses in exchange for an exponential increase in physical strength, speed, and pain tolerance. The gorilla suddenly ceased to be just any beast and became an unstoppable killing machine.

"Fall back! Now!" Joe shouted, his voice hoarse with desperation.

This battle had reached a new level... it was no longer about trying to kill a dangerous beast, but about survival.

Joe knew one thing: these kinds of abilities can’t be activated indefinitely. They appear only at crucial moments and last just a few minutes—ten minutes at most. If he could hold out until then...

Joe gripped his spear and glared at the gorilla, ignoring the Rank F hunters, who fled in terror in different directions. All his attention—amplified by the berserker’s rage—was focused on Joe, who had forced him into this state of madness by wounding his sacred iron skin...

In the distance, the Rank E tank had managed to survive. The moment he saw the berserker enter a state of madness, he didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his shield and charged forward, trying to step in between them to draw the berserker’s attention. If a Rank D and a Rank E fought together against this bastard, he was sure they would win.

The gorilla charged straight ahead. A mass of muscle and wrought iron moving at a speed that belied its size... there was no technique or block that could stop it.

The E-Rank raised its shield, but the impact was like being run over by a heavy-duty truck or a locomotive. The shield couldn’t take it anymore and buckled. The tank was hurled through the air and fell among the trees, snapping several branches before plummeting dozens of meters.

The Gorilla looked at Joe, who was completely alone, and—strange as it may seem—did he smile?

"He’s having fun, this damn guy..." Joe gripped his spear with all his might, but held back. He tried to back away because he knew it was for the best; however, the gorilla’s speed took him by surprise once again.

The gorilla immediately leaped right in front of him, forcing Joe to defend himself with his spear.

His body rolled backward, leaving gouges in the ground with his feet. Joe, who was an expert in agility and DPS, found himself overwhelmingly outmatched as the gorilla continued its attack. He could barely react to defend himself.

He blocked a swipe with the shaft of his spear, but the residual force sent him reeling back again. This time, however, his wrists cracked under the pressure. The veins in his arms bulged with the strain.

"Damn it," Joe spat, as his defenses crumbled. To begin with, he wasn’t a defensive hunter—how could he possibly play defensively?

He had to attack!

But he was completely outmatched...

He tried to flee, but was cut off again.

Everything he did hit a roadblock.

The gorilla roared and, after cornering him in a dead-end alley, raised both arms for a final blow. Joe couldn’t defend against that attack; it was coming straight down from above in a perfect vertical line. It was a blow that would, without a doubt, hit him in the head and surely send him to his death... perhaps even crush him.

Joe didn’t close his eyes. He kept them open and tried to do something, but it was in vain. Somehow, his body seemed to accept his fate... he would die.

Perhaps that was why, even though he kept his eyes open, he didn’t look. It was right in front of him, but his mind wandered among memories of the past, people in the present, and dreams of the future... the moment of his death had arrived.

"And I never even got to find out who killed my other companions... this wasn’t the work of a beast." Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have that chance now. He closed his eyes tightly to stop thinking about such nonsense, as if he were simply accepting his fate.

A fate that never came to pass.

CLANK!

A sharp, resonant metallic sound—as if a giant bell had been struck with great force—echoed throughout the forest.

Joe, confused, slowly opened his eyes.

In front of him, with his back turned, stood a man. He was tall, but didn’t seem particularly burly. Yet somehow, his presence radiated a peculiar confidence.

The first thing that caught his attention was his clothing. In stark contrast to the dark green and brown of the forest, the newcomer wore a deep cobalt-blue tunic, adorned with golden embroidery that glimmered faintly, even in the dim light filtering through the trees. He wore a white mask over his face—smooth and expressionless—which completely concealed all his features.

In his hands, he held two curved daggers—thin as needles and sharp as razors—that emitted a subtle hum.

"Who the hell...?" Joe whispered, stunned.

The newcomer looked back and smiled beneath his mask.

"Hey, kid. My name’s Gio. I’m a mercenary for hire, and my client needs this beast... Can you give it to me? If you need it, I can pay you for it, but since you were about to die anyway, I figured you didn’t need it." He laughed.

Naturally, it was Zaid. Despite the urgency, he wasn’t going to reveal his true identity to them, so as soon as he recovered from the blow, he changed into the classic outfit Gio wore under the rags or black tunics he often wore.

He knew he couldn’t win this with his boxing skills, so he had to switch from that Talent to his Dagger Mastery. He no longer had absolute defense in his hands or impressive resilience in his wrists; now he possessed astonishing mastery of his weapons, which flowed through his arms all the way to his brain.

Now he was the real Gio.

Joe stared at Gio, paralyzed. "W-what?" he stammered, but fell backward in fear.

"Can you give her to me, or would you rather go all the way with her?" Gio asked again.

"S-she’s all yours!" Joe replied immediately.

Zaid smiled slightly and said, "Thanks, buddy. We’ll see each other again."

He focused his attention on the gorilla, which was trying to break free from his grip, and struck it a couple of times in its weak spots with a precision so terrifying that not even Joe possessed it. Even though his Talent Rank was only F, he was surely the best F-Rank talent, as it allowed him to fight head-to-head against this gorilla that had gone berserk.

The gorilla was furious at the interruption, but even more furious that some little scumbag had gotten in his way. He lashed out blindly with his paw, intending to sweep the man in front of him aside.

Gio didn’t back down. This gorilla must have known that... his opponent wasn’t just a well-dressed mercenary who was skilled with daggers. He was, perhaps, the man with the most powerful senses in the country.

Not even his father could have senses that sharp!

Thanks to this overwhelming advantage, Zaid only needed to twist his body at the very last millisecond. The swipe passed just centimeters from his nose... missing its mark.

Seeing this, the berserker simply reasoned: if one doesn’t kill him, another will!

So he attacked again...

But, with a fluidity that resembled a dance, Gio slipped beneath the beast’s outstretched arm and executed three precise slashes from that angle.

The daggers struck the gorilla’s weak spots—its armpits and neck. And thanks to the berserker’s fury, the beast had lost too much of its defense. In a single strike, and thanks to Gio’s precision, the gorilla’s body spurted streams of dark blood.

The gorilla howled in pain and rage and spun violently, trying to destroy his opponent wherever he might be... but none of his frenzied attacks hit him.

In fact, with astonishing speed—almost disproportionate to his level—he was already a few meters away from the gorilla, heading south.

"Why don’t you come play for a while, little one?" Zaid taunted...

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