The Hero System - Chapter 34

“What’s wrong?” Sira sensed something was amiss. After all, this was the only time she saw Jonah lose his composure.

“My friend is in trouble. I need to help him, bye.” Jonah said quickly and bolted out of the cave.

Sira stood there dumbfounded. She then went silent before bolting behind Jonah. Even though she wasn’t obliged to help ‘his friend’, she still wanted to repay him. After all, he was the one for her points soaring.

Following behind Jonah, she realized that he has been decreasing his speed all along! If not, she’d have been left behind long ago! Even though she didn’t cultivate an agility enhancing technique, she was still above a level above him!

Jonah didn’t even glance back as his mind was racing with anxious thought.

‘First of all, how did this happen? It can’t be a natural occurring. If this forest had such a horde, the assessment would be for people of a higher rank! Not Spirit Trainees!’

Jonah couldn’t understand how this came to be. After all, it didn’t make sense. Regardless, he still used every bit of strength and agility he had to rush over.

Pang! Pang!

Two more monsters were shot down by Leo. However, they were only at the first level. After he bought this gun, he realized why it was different from the usual guns on earth. Instead of powder, it utilized spiritual energy.

Luckily, the consumption was quite average. Thus, he was able to last this long. However, he was already tired.

Ben, on the side, killed another Third Level monster and flung it toward the rest. Using this as a distraction, the two bolted again.

They have already sent a rescue message to TSO, but they have yet to arrive. The two were at a loss of what to do. They ran deep into the forest but halted their steps shortly after in a grassy field surrounded by the forest.

They have been circled. Even though they kept running, this was only a matter of time. After all, the green fluid seemed to attract more beast as time went on.

“Fight.” Ben only gritted his teeth and said with battle intent flowing out.

“Let’s do it.” Leo nodded and refilled his ammo.

This was their only chance for survival. They either need to break free from this encirclement, fight to the death, or stall until help arrives.

Pang! Pang!

Leo and Ben had each other backs as they started killing their way through. Ben, using his mastery of the spear, would kill a monster every time he attacked. However, because he had only one spear, his killing rate was less than Leo, who had two guns.

Leo, on the other hand, only killed First Level monsters. However, that gave Ben a briefer, as he would only focus on stronger opponents.

After another three minutes, the two began to feel fatigue. They were already exhausted, to begin with, and now they were only walking by their wills to survive.

“Ah! Dammit Die!”

Pang! Pang!

A Shadow Fox broke through Leo’s defense by hiding behind another monster that Leo shot down. It bit into Leo’s arms and almost snapped it into two. Leo screamed with pain and shot it down with his other pistol twice.

As blood oozed through the wound, Leo’s arm went limp. He gritted his teeth as sweat beads appeared on his forehead. However, his other hand still held into the gun and fired repeatedly! If he was going to go down, he’d take as many as he can with him!

“You alright?” Ben asked with concern as he sent another monster flying. Even though he only knew Leo for only a short while, that was enough to tell him that he was a good guy.

“Haha, does it make a difference?” Leo laughed as he shot down another monster down.

“Haha, it doesn’t! Don’t worry, if I make it out of here alive, I’ll kill that bastard!” When Ben saw Leo’s response, his battle intent soared. The lifeless eyes were now glimmering with vigor as they thirsted for battle. With his bloody face and tall stature, Ben looked like a crazed war god in the middle of battle.

Cling! Slash!

Pang! Pang!

The two went on a frenzied killing spree as they fought to the last of their strength. However, all things come to an end. After all, they were just two First Level cultivators.

Leo’s hand dropped as he can no longer move a muscle. All of his body ached like it was screaming for help. He looked at the several monsters coming his way with a helpless smile.

‘It seems this is as far as I can go? No I still can last longer!’

Leo refused to give in. He bit his sleeve with his jaw and raised his lifeless arm. Even though the pain was killing him, he still refused to give in! He still had his father, his friend, and his revenge to live for!

With his arm raised by his jaw, Leo started shooting again. However, these shots were the last bits of spiritual energy he had in his body. After five shots, the pistol no longer had sufficient energy to fire.

Leo didn’t dwell on it and let go of the pistol. Since things reached this state, he might as well bite his way through!

A Third Level Podu dashed toward Leo and opened its mouth, revealing its sharp teeth. Leo was about to duck and charge to it. However, out of nowhere

Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!

The Podu was sent flying as it grabbed its neck. However, not caring for his struggle, blood still floated out. Two seconds later, it was dead!

Leo had a dumbstruck expression as he turned his head. What greeted him was his friend’s apologetic expression.

“Leo I’m sorry I’m late.” Jonah’s voice was filled with sadness and guilt as he looked at his friend’s miserable state.

“You’re here now.” Leo smiled before fainting. Finally, he was able to rest. After all, his brother was here.

Jonah wanted to check on Leo but now was not the time. If he doesn’t clean up this mess, he won’t be able to help his friend.

“You can rest too,” Jonah told the other youth. He didn’t know who he was, but he was surely Leo’s teammate.

However, Ben didn’t respond. His eyes were fixed on the prey in front of him. He entered a state devoid of emotions with only the spear art in his mind. When Jonah saw how capable Ben was with the spear, he was ashamed to call himself a spear user.

Sira, who was following Jonah, finally arrived. When she saw the battlefield, she was dumbstruck. She hasn’t seen so many monster corpses before.

“Take care of Leo,” Jonah said as he darted to the monster. His needles were hovering around killing every monster who approached them earlier. Now, he decided to go on full power since he was in a rush.

With his Moonlight Butterfly in hand, Jonah darted toward the monster ripping through every one of them coming his way. His Spear Arts skill, that was level 5, finally showed its powers as it enhanced his strength by 15%.

The needles hovered around killing every monster who tried to sneak attack or attack from the side. If one looked from afar, they would think Jonah was a drill ripping through the bodies of the monsters.

When the monsters saw this, they knew they’d just die if they faced this human. Some of them fought, as they had their pride. And some of them ran for his life, as they had they cherished their lives. However, regardless of what they did, Jonah killed them!

After all, these monsters wounded his friend so badly! Even though Jonah looked calm, he was boiling with fury!

However, thanks to the first trial, his fury turned into calmness. But not the type of calmness that would extinguish his fury, but the one that would turn his heart into an ice pit. Jonah has already promised himself, that those who hurt his loved ones, would suffer!

He didn’t know if this was the mentality a hero must have. But regardless, he has still taken this path. If he can’t protect his loved ones or revenge them because he needs to be a saint, then he’d rather not become a hero.

Of course, he wanted to be a hero helping others. But at the same time, he wanted to be the one punishing those who crossed his bottom-line!

“Miss, we’ve arrived.” The Spirit Vehicle driver said as he pulled over near a forest.

“Let’s go!” The young woman said impatiently. The rest swiftly bolted out of the vehicle heading toward the emergency signal.

The young woman was feeling guilty. She couldn’t believe that she’d make such a misstep. For some reason, she only received the signal 10 minutes after it was sent!

There are many ways to affect the spiritual signal from being sent. However, the most common would be a specialized spiritual barrier. When she realized this, she knew something bad happened to one of the spirit trainees. After all, a spiritual barrier wasn’t something that a monster would be able to do. Not at the Energy Condensing Stage at least.

She decided that if the person who was behind this used a spirit skill to set the barrier, she’d hunt him down. However, if it was a talisman that would be difficult.

“Miss, the signal is coming from over there!” One of the TSO staff pointed toward a grassy field surrounded by the forest. The young woman increased her speed hoping to make it in time.

“Heavens”

The group halted their steps as they looked at the scene in front of them. Even though they have seen many things during their cultivation lives, they didn’t expect to see this in a Spirit Trainee assessment.

At least two hundred corpses filled the field. There was all kind of monsters lying around. Most of their bodies were unharmed with only a wound on their neck. In the center of the corpses stood one black-haired youth with green eyes. His bloody face had sweat beads rolling down as he breathed hurriedly. He held a silver spear in hand that bloodied from the head to the end of the shaft.

Chapter 7/15.

It seems our ranking has fallen… Hahaha! Well, no worries, pick up the pace! Throw those power stones!