The incline of Mount Apo grew steeper, the air turning thin and biting as the two figures picked their way through the dense, sprawling foliage of the northwest slope.
Deicya kept his steps measured and silent, his obsidian cloak absorbing the ambient shadows. Beside him, Blopp tried to match his pace, keeping his mouth shut for once as they navigated the rugged terrain. But the forest floor was treacherous—a hidden layer of dry, brittle twigs and loose volcanic shale.
Snap.
The innocent crunch of a twig echoed sharp and clear against the quiet canyon walls.
In the absolute stillness of the shadows ahead, long, pointed ears twitched violently. One by one, the hounds' ears swiveled backward with a sharp, mechanical precision, locking onto the exact vector of the sound like radar dishes.
Deicya stopped instantly, his dark eyes narrowing.
Before he could even breathe, a chilling response flickered to life in the darkness. Pairs of fierce, blood-red lights ignited all around them, and a low, vibrating growl hummed through the dirt, rattling straight up through the soles of their boots.
Deicya's gaze swept the perimeter. His Dreadnauth Vision automatically cataloged the terrifying sea of crimson threats materializing in the shadows.
[Target Appraised]
Species: Mutated Mountain Hounds (Alpha / Pack)
Rank: D-Rank
Skill Absorb Available: E-Rank [Enhanced Agility]
Before Deicya could signal a tactical move, Blopp cracked under the sheer pressure. The terrifying wave of glowing red eyes staring them down from every direction broke the younger boy's nerve.
"Screw this!" Blopp shrieked, his voice cracking with panic.
Without warning, Blopp slammed his fists together. Crackling, high-voltage electricity surged over his massive iron gauntlets, illuminating the dark forest in a blinding flash of blue light. With a wild, desperate roar, he leaped into the air and brought his fists crashing down onto the earth to shake the ground and carve an escape path.
BOOM!
A violent shockwave of compressed kinetic energy and electricity ruptured the ground. But instead of clearing a path, the sound triggered the swarm.
Five of the hounds leaped toward Blopp, using their explosive agility to close the distance, attempting to strike him with heavy, multi-directional bites.
Deicya's eyes widened at the sheer speed of the hounds and what Blopp had just done to the ground. But there was no time to dwell on it. Eight hounds swarmed toward Deicya, aiming to shred him in a single second.
Auto-Trigger: Moving Wind (Passive Skill Activated).
For three breathless seconds, the air around Deicya bent and warped. The incoming physical attacks phased harmlessly through a residual afterimage as Deicya glided effortlessly past the snapping jaws.
Glancing sideways, Deicya saw Blopp holding his own against five hounds at once, executing fast kicks and punches from a distance. With a glowing thunderstrike from his gauntlets, Blopp sent two hounds flying backward.
Meanwhile, six more hounds converged on Deicya. He dashed toward the side, vaulted off a tree in an aerial jump, and executed a counter-attack.
Multi-Fatal!
A rapid succession of silver arcs ripped through the air, landing precise strikes on four hounds mid-air. As he landed, his basic punches shattered the jaws of another hound trying to bite his ankles while launching Multi-Fatal.
One massive hound, still standing despite the carnage, threw its head back and let out a bone-rattling howl before charging straight at Deicya's feet.
High above the clearing, a red-eyed Mutated Alpha Hound watched them fight from the high ground.
With a deafening crash, the Alpha leaped into the air and slammed into the ground so heavily it created a mini-crater and shook the earth. Three mutated hounds were left still growling.
Before Deicya could react, the Alpha Mutated beast launched a fast blink, completely unnoticeable. It bypassed everything and clamped its massive jaws deep into Blopp's shoulder. With a violent swing of its neck, the Alpha tossed Blopp hard into a solid rock wall.
Blopp slumped against the stone, blood spilling from his mouth. The electric gauntlets on his arms began to smoke, running completely out of electric power as he hovered on the verge of collapse.
Deicya saw it all. He couldn't move freely, knowing Blopp could be finished off at any second.
The Alpha hound began walking in a slow circle around Deicya. Deicya's Dreadnauth Vision flared, revealing the truth.
[Target Analysis] Rank: D-Rank Hound.
In a fraction of a second, the Alpha vanished into thin air. Deicya could barely keep up with its speed, knowing the beast would strike from behind. Predicting the trajectory, Deicya used Multi-Fatal directly behind him, then dashed toward the tallest tree. From there, he propelled himself forward toward the remaining mutant hounds, executing a Crater Impact. Right before the impact, he activated Multi-Fatal once more mid-air. The remaining pack hounds' blood scattered across the forest floor.
Deicya glanced at Blopp.
You cannot die yet, Deicya thought fiercely. If you die, the 50% income of mine will die with you! I won't allow it!
Deicya's eyes flared into a brilliant blue glow.
The Alpha hound blinked sideways. Deicya could still track its speed, but suddenly, it vanished into thin air again—moving much faster than before.
Deicya lost its trace.
In a heartbeat, a pair of crushing claws appeared directly on top of his head, ready to crush his skull and sink fangs into his brain.
In that moment, Deicya knew it was his end.
Moving Wind: Cool-down Complete. Auto-Triggered.
Time compressed to a crawl as the passive skill auto-triggered. In that micro-second window, fueled by pure rage, Deicya performed his final Multi-Fatal strike with his dagger. Within milliseconds, he targeted the Alpha's eyes, joints, ribs, and heart twenty times over.
For one breathless second, the world froze. Blood began to scatter through the air as reality moved in agonizingly slow motion.
Then, the speed of the world snapped back to normal. A massive torrent of blood completely splattered across the clearing, and the colossal D-Rank Alpha Hound collapsed heavily into the dirt, its life extinguished in a single, flawless torrent of violence.
After a few tense moments, Deicya broke into a sprint across the blood-soaked clearing, his boots splashing through the crimson pools as he dropped to his knees beside the fractured rock wall.
"Are you still with me, Blopp?" Deicya called out, his voice sharp and urgent.
For a breathless second, there was no movement. Then, a single finger on Blopp's bloodied hand twitched.
Cough! Blopp convulsed, hacking up a thick amount of dark blood before forcing his eyes open. He stared up weakly, his lips stained crimson.
While checking on him, a series of glowing blue holographic notifications flashed rapidly across Deicya's field of vision, cataloging the harvest from the slaughtered pack.
[Combat Summary]
Crystal Essence Gained: 345 Units
System Rank Updated: C-Rank
Current Stats: 720 / 1500 (C-Rank Progress)
Deicya blinked. C-Rank already? The sheer volume of essence harvested from the eighteen hounds and the D-Rank Alpha had violently propelled his system tier forward.
Blopp let out a weak wheeze. "I… I'm fine…"
He was clearly not fine. His shoulder was mangled, his iron gauntlets were dead and smoking, and every breath looked like a struggle. Yet, seeing the stubborn, reckless fighting spirit burning in the kid's eyes despite his condition, a rare wave of respect washed over Deicya. Still, pragmatism won out—pushing deeper into the mountain like this was out of the question.
"We're heading back to the Davao safe zone," Deicya decided, making the call to abort the rest of the journey.
Before walking away, Deicya remembered one crucial detail. He still needed to absorb the skill of the hounds he had just conquered. He stepped over to the carcass of a regular D-Rank hound, and the skill prompt triggered, offering the standard Enhanced Agility.
However, because he had just absorbed a skill from that exact species, the system enforced a 1-hour cooldown before he could siphon another skill from the same type. Remembering this restriction, Deicya shifted his focus to the colossal D-Rank Alpha Hound instead.
Since he was now a C-Rank in the system, the restriction was completely bypassed for the higher-tier beast. The system triggered a brand-new prompt.
[System Alert]
Available Target Skill: [Blink] (D-Rank)
Condition Met: User System Rank is C-Rank. Species cooldown bypassed via Alpha status.
Absorb Skill? [Yes / No]
Deicya didn't hesitate. Yes.
A sudden surge of ethereal blue energy rushed from the Alpha's carcass and straight into Deicya's chest. His aura flickered violently for a moment as the system processed and rewrote the data.
[Skill Absorbed: Blink (D-Rank)]
System Evolution Triggered: Blink has been enhanced and rewritten by the system.
New Skill Upgraded: [Whiplash] > * Description: A devastating, instantaneous spatial teleportation that creates a localized shockwave/area-of-effect blast at both the departure and arrival points.
Deicya flexed his fingers, feeling the spatial distortion humming beneath his skin. Whiplash. A massive upgrade.
Remembering their original objective, Deicya turned back to Blopp. "Hand me the scanner. I need to scan every beast in this perimeter before we clear out."
Blopp grunted, weakly lifting his good arm and tossing the digital tracking device into the dust before letting his head drop back against the stone, completely spent.
Deicya picked up the scanner, moving swiftly through the ruined clearing to log the biological signatures of the dead alpha and the surrounding pack data. Once the device blinked green with a complete sweep, he pocketed it and walked back to the young brawler.
Without another word, Deicya knelt and hoisted Blopp over his shoulder, carrying him like dead weight.
At first, Blopp groaned and tried to protest, but the overwhelming trauma of his injuries caught up to him. Within a couple of moments, the exhaustion took over, and Blopp completely passed out, his head lolling against Deicya's back as he fell fast asleep.
A faint, unexpected smile touched Deicya's lips at the kid's sheer resilience—and his stubbornness. Adjusting his grip on the unconscious brawler, Deicya began the long descent down the mountain trail.
The trekking took two grueling hours.
By the time the rugged tree line gave way to open concrete, the massive, fortified steel gates of Davao City loomed ahead. The guards stationed on the parapets caught sight of them emerging from the mist—both figures drenched and caked in a thick, horrifying layer of dark monster blood.
Recognizing the gravity of the situation instantly, the guards didn't hesitate. With a heavy, metallic groan, the massive portal gates of the safe zone swung wide open, welcoming them home.
Guards on the elevated parapets stiffened, their hands instantly dropping to the grips of their sidearms as two figures emerged from the gloom. Both figures were completely caked in a thick, horrifying crust of dark, coagulated monster blood.
Among the onlookers near the checkpoint, a C-Rank healer with a sharp wolf-cut hairstyle and a practical green-and-brown tunic narrowed her eyes. Recognizing the critical state of the arrivals, she stepped forward, her boots clicking against the concrete.
She walked right up to the towering, obsidian-cloaked figure carrying the bulk of the weight.
"Hi," she offered, raising a hand tentatively. "If you want, I can help you heal this kid—"
Deicya lowered his gaze to his direct eye level, expecting to look down at an adult hunter.
He saw empty space.
"Ehem."
Deicya blinked, slowly shifting his gaze downward. Standing right there was a barely five-foot-tall woman staring up at him with an expression that was intensely upset yet undeniably cute.
Without waiting for a formal response, Emilia raised her hands and closed her eyes.
Fwosh.
A soft, verdant green aura bloomed from her palms, washing over both Deicya and Blopp. The microscopic scratches and hidden fatigue weighing down Deicya's muscles instantly evaporated, leaving his body feeling light, pristine, and entirely revitalized. Just inches away, Blopp's mangled shoulder knitted back together with terrifying biological speed, the shattered bone and torn tissue sealing shut.
Deicya stared in quiet astonishment. Even his internal system felt refreshed, clearing away every trace of fatigue from the grueling Mount Apo skirmish.
Curiosity winning out over his usual cold caution, Deicya looked down at the diminutive healer. "What's your name?"
The petite woman puffed out her cheeks slightly, dropping her hands. "My name is Emilia Zapra."
A faint, uncharacteristic smile touched the edges of Deicya's lips. "Thanks, Emilia."
Emilia froze.
The words caught in her throat. Her eyes darted up, taking in the towering, heavily muscled frame of the man standing before her, clad in sharp black attire and an intimidating dash-cloak. A sudden flush of deep crimson rushed up her neck, painting her cheeks bright red.
She stammered, frantically waving her hands. "T-That's no problem! As soon as someone needs healing, I immediately lend a hand…"
Before she could finish stumbling over her words, a muffled groan broke the tense silence.
Blopp, still slumped fast asleep and dangling dead weight over Deicya's broad shoulders, shifted his head. His eyes remained shut, his lips parting in a drowsy, defenseless mumble.
"…Dad…"
Deicya offered a gentle, surprisingly tender adjustment to his grip, shifting the sleeping brawler higher onto his broad shoulder so the kid wouldn't strain his newly healed muscles. A faint, genuine smile broke across his face as that quiet, drowsy "Dad…" echoed against his back.
He turned his focus back down to the petite, green-tuned healer standing before him.
"Emilia," Deicya said, his deep voice carrying a softer edge than usual. "I just want to ask… is there a nearby hotel or place we can rent to rest?"
Emilia blinked, momentarily caught off guard by the abrupt shift in tone before her professional instincts kicked back in. "Y-Yes, there is! If you take the next street on the right, there's a decent hotel just a short walk down."
"Got it. Thanks again."
Without wasting another second, Deicya gave a brief nod of farewell and strode past her, his obsidian cloak billowing slightly as he carried the heavy-sleeping Blopp toward the residential district.
Standing frozen near the checkpoint gate, Emilia watched his towering, imposing silhouette fade down the avenue. A quiet, lingering sense of emptiness settled in her chest. She slowly raised both hands, pressing them flat against the center of her chest where her heart fluttered erratically.
Her lips parted in a soft, barely audible whisper as she stared into the empty street.
"Are we going to meet again…?"