The Discarded Son's Skill Market

Feeling mocked, the gorilla roared with rage and pain. He spun violently toward him, sweeping trees and underbrush aside. His body was so large, heavy, and powerful that nothing could stand in his way.

However, he was still off-balance.

"He wants to follow me, but his head doesn’t seem to be working right." Zaid had to turn back and began to outmaneuver him. He used every tactic at his disposal to attack the gorilla from different angles at different times.

Joe watched him from behind, paralyzed by shock. Who was this masked man, and why was he helping him? Was he really just here to steal the monster, or was he here to kill it?

He suddenly remembered that Zaid’s first suspicion regarding the deaths of the previous group was precisely this: that someone had done it.

Was this the man he was talking about?

"He’s not that strong, I think. I don’t think he’s that far above my level, although that dagger work..." Maybe Joe had seen it before, or at least remembered a talent like that.

Who used daggers at the academy or in his immediate circle? He thought for a few seconds before shaking his head—he couldn’t remember...

The only thing he knew was that a dual-dagger user was saving him.

"Hey!" Gio suddenly shouted. "Back off a bit—let me do my job! This guy’s a pain and won’t stop following me!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he had to jump back twice and twist his body to dodge the gorilla’s ferocious attacks.

"Not this way, you bastard!" Zaid felt frustrated at being cornered toward the north when they were supposed to be heading south.

He began moving in tight circles around the gorilla. He delivered quick, painful strikes—very effective against this kind of beast.

After a series of attacks, he shouted again, "Come here, you stupid monkey!"

He immediately began running toward the southern part of the forest.

The gorilla, roaring with fury, once again began to follow him as if its life depended on it... and this time it didn’t make a mistake. It took the right path, despite its clouded mind. Its strength uprooted heavy trees or carved holes in them with its body.

Meanwhile, Gio guided him through, leaping from tree to tree...

Joe was left behind, completely paralyzed, the spear trembling in his hands. He didn’t understand what had just happened, but he thought he’d witnessed a miracle in the form of a mercenary. However, now that he’d calmed down, guilt washed over him...

The battle quickly moved away from the area, and the sounds of destruction faded into the distance, allowing Joe to think clearly. The place fell into complete, deathly silence, and the defeated bodies of his friends lay scattered about.

Fortunately, though, none of them were dead.

However... Zaid was to blame. Joe had survived thanks to a stranger who arrived just in time, but Zaid hadn’t been so lucky—he’d been sent flying and was surely dead.

Joe let out a helpless sigh. He looked at his wounded companions on the ground and sighed again.

This time, he crouched down in front of them to check if they were still alive...

However, he stopped short at that moment.

A group of people came running from a distance. They looked sweaty, which indicated they had just arrived. They were dressed in black and completely surrounded the group...

--

The wind whistling furiously in Zaid’s ears did not hinder his advance through the dense forest. He looked like a moving specter; though the berserker below was more like a cursed spirit.

His footsteps were heavy, and every tree in his path fell before his onslaught.

As he made his way south toward Alice, his mind was working.

The moment the gorilla appeared, Zaid executed a perfect defensive maneuver to get out of the gorilla’s line of sight with its first strike. He had sensed it from the start; he simply waited for the right moment because he knew that the gorilla would attack him, since he was the weakest.

So he seized the moment to revert to his form as Gio, allowing him to carry out his plan.

The beast now had about 10% health left, which was enough for the plan.

"M-Master, these guys have gone crazy!" Valia said, alarmed. "Jackson and another guy are trying to make contact with this woman, but not for any good reason! They just killed one of them!"

Immediately, Zaid’s heart sank, and he looked behind him.

The berserker was there. He just needed to hurry a little more... In his mind, he tried to calculate every second. If he couldn’t figure out what this possible ritual called "The Crucible" was, he would at least try to prevent Alice from being kidnapped.

As he moved forward, the dense foliage began to thin out slightly, giving way to an area of low cliffs and more open groves. The area near where Alice’s group was walking.

It didn’t take long for her senses to pick up tense voices, struggles, and cries of pain...

"Take that woman away, no matter what it takes!" A newcomer to the group, Luke Shawn, roared at his few allies.

"Can the rest of them die?"

"Everyone except that girl can die!" he roared.

Alice had been attacked several times; three of her companions had died, and only she, Jackson, and one of Jackson’s subordinates remained... But she had managed to enter her Beast Mode.

Because of that, Jackson and his subordinate couldn’t complete the mission, and Luke and others had to come to try.

"You guys are pretty stupid to choose to show yourselves when you’ve got a skeleton in your closet," mocked the eloquent Alice as she entered her Beast Mode.

Neither of them was used to seeing her like this. Was it really her?

She’d managed to defend herself effectively for a whole minute!

However...

"No, we’re not idiots. You’re the one who’s full of yourself." A man taunted her, appearing behind her without her noticing. She swung her scepter to strike him, but the man was faster and struck Alice’s upper back with his vibrating sword.

Immediately, the sword lit up with an intense current that left Alice’s enhanced body completely defenseless.

That electric shock was so strong that even her senses were disrupted...

"It’s only temporary—jump on her!" shouted the man who had successfully completed his mission...

However, no one moved.

"Why isn’t anyone listening to me?!"

Amid the confusion, he noticed something even stranger. The ground was shaking, and he saw that those in front of him were looking behind them. He had to turn his head to see... What the hell was happening to his teammates?

He didn’t have time to turn around. Suddenly, a powerful iron beast closed the distance between the dark forest and him... The force it carried blew one of the trees to pieces and slammed into the man, who was unable to defend himself.

"It’s a Rank D beast—kill it!" Luke roared immediately, not forgetting to leap backward. He was arrogant, but not stupid. He wasn’t strong enough to take on a Rank D beast, so he’d rather stay out of the way... besides, there were several Rank Ds in his group anyway.

However, the chaos it caused and the cloud of dust it kicked up threw them off... Suddenly, one of them shuddered. "Hey, where the hell is that woman?!"

Chaos broke out immediately. With the gorilla bearing down on them, Alice vanished in seconds, and now one of them was being crushed under the gorilla’s feet...

Someone had the brilliant idea to look toward where the beast was as well, since they couldn’t take their eyes off it or they’d be turned into mush. It wasn’t a weak beast, after all.

"H-hey, what about the beast?!" he asked, in complete shock.

Everyone turned toward where the beast had been, but even after spinning 360 degrees, they found nothing!

"What the hell?! Did it get away?!"

"Find Alice as fast as you can, you useless bastards!" Luke roared and was the first to start running toward what he saw as the only clue: the cloud of dust.

No one noticed that among them lay a broken glass jar.

-

Zaid watched from the other side of the forest and smiled at her reaction.

’I must say, Scarlett is very well prepared. So this is the potion of confusion.’

"Z-Zaid?" Alice asked, noticing that the cat on her shoulder had jumped onto his.

’Master, you got here fast.’ Valia greeted him.

Zaid nodded without removing his mask. "I came as soon as I found out."

"H-how did you find out?" she stammered, confused.

Zaid then frowned...

’Shit.’

He’d made a mistake.

He came up with a quick excuse and said, "We found some dead bodies, too... I figured you were in danger, so I rushed over."

Although Alice looked at him suspiciously, she still believed him.

"Are you okay?" Zaid asked, checking her over several times.

"I am." Alice nodded and drew her scepter. "I’m at full strength; I’ve never had a hard time against humans once I’m at full strength." She laughed confidently.

"Good. I like that confidence," said Zaid, glancing behind him. "Those guys won’t be coming back, but that gorilla bastard will hunt us down to the ends of the earth, so we’d better go finish him off," he said, getting up from the ground before offering her his hand.

"Do you want to go hunt a Rank D beast with the most skilled cargo man at the Academy of Awakened Ones?" he asked with a chuckle.

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