《Only My Weapons Level UP》


 Chapter 1: Weapon Leveling UP System

    <h4>Chapter 1: Weapon Leveling UP System</h4>


    "All right, everyone," A dark-haired man wearing a green uniform with dark stripes stepped forward and then said while looking at a small army of people armed with pistols and grenades. "The mission is rtively simple, and you all are only carrying those weapons to use in case of emergency. The front line has plenty of experience dealing with the monsters, and the death rate is extremely small. Just make sure to keep yourselves under control and only act when I give the order."


    Arge group of people was standing in front of one of the many spatial distortions that had appeared thirty years ago in that city. All of them had seen that many times, but only now they had gotten close like that, close enough to feel an ominous auraing from it. The distortion looked like a giant Mercury sphere that could reflect the surroundingspletely, and some people even called it a wormhole. It seemed insane, but they were going to cross that without wearing any special gear.


    Among the people there, there was a certain youth who had just recently turned eighteen and enlisted to participate in one of those pre-emptive missions. He enlisted in many expeditions, but only now was he called.


    While the people around him were sweating bullets, he was calm andposed. His eyes weren''t wavering due to the fear. He didn''t take the words of the leader of the operation at face value because he had lost his parents years ago in a situation like that. In fact, he was really looking forward to having the chance to fight in order to decrease the number of enemies. He was itching to kill as many of them as possible... even though his current goal was to use that mission to awaken his trait.


    That young man''s name was Terry, he had short dark hair brushed to the back of his head, and his eyes were deep green. It was abination that truly made him stand out with his fierce re. Aside from the weapons that everyone else also had, he was also wearing a bulletproof vest and some protectors on his limbs. He wanted to fight the enemies even without his awakened trait, but that didn''t mean that he wanted to die so soon.


    "Follow me," The leader of the operation said when ten other men and women approached him.


    The leader and his allies jumped into the distortion, and the others followed him despite their hesitation. Terry was on the second line, so soon his turn came, and then he felt his body being enveloped by a sensation hard to describe while he was crossing it. It felt like something was licking him... it was quite an unnerving feeling...


    Soon enough, Terry forgot about that when he reached the other side. He already knew that, but seeing with his eyes alone, Terry confirmed that the distortion truly was a door to another world. He saw alongside many others a small camp five hundred meters away. A camp of beasts that was preparing to invade Earth once they had enough numbers to create another base on Earth... regardless, they were in the middle of some massive innds that stretched toward the horizon in all directions. If it weren''t for the situation, most people would think that such a world would be pretty peaceful and rxing...


    "Don''t break the formation. They already know that we are here," The leader of the mission said. "Only attack if they split and try a pincer attack."


    The leader took two knives from his waist and then readied himself when some movements were seening from the enemy camp. Despite that, neither side made the first move... the enemies waited for their allies and leader to show up, and just as everyone had heard about it, arger monster showed up and took the lead of the monster''s army.


    Thergest monster started its charge, and the others quickly followed. Everyone knew what they were, and some of those had even been seen on Earth. Tall and bulky green creatures that were tremendously vicious and could even use weapons and fight like humans... They were goblins. They were at least two times stronger than ordinary humans and could even take bullets in their heads as long as they hit the skull. Such was their endurance. However, their most prominent feature was the fact that a single goblin could give birth to three others after three months, and they could be adults after a single year. While facing such creatures, the people couldn''t help but flinch.


    Most of the humans only rxed a little when they saw the leader of the operation and his allies charging as well. The leader of the operation aimed his knives at the head of the hobgoblin leading the others, but the creature made an ax appears and then blocked the attack. The other goblins tried to surround them, but they were attacked by the guards of the leader of the operation. Fireballs, magic arrows, extremely heavy punches... the small fries took those directly and had a hard time enduring them.


    "It seems that after doing this for years, they truly know what they are doing," Terry thought while he saw the goblins being killed one after the other.


    Unfortunately, instead of facing enemies that they could defeat, they decided to aim at the weaklings on the backline. The leader of the operation saw that when he jumped backward to escape one of the enemy''s horizontal swings.


    "First line! Grenades!"


    After hearing those orders, the first line split into two and then readied their grenades. As if they were mirroring each other, both groups took out the pins and threw the grenades at the same time.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The impacts stopped the charges of the monsters, but after the first line retreated, the second line saw the monsters still standing. They were heavily injured, but not a single one of them died.


    "Second line! Grenades!"


    Terry, alongside the others, readied themselves and then threw the grenades. This time, some of the goblins were killed, and others fell on the ground, heavily injured. Thanks to that, some of them felt a wave of power passing through them. The requirements to awaken their traits were simple. People had to either participate in a battle where the leader of a group of monsters was defeated or kill a lot of monsters. The first method was almost a sure way to make the awakening take ce, and the second was a bit more difficult. Maybe it was because of that, but Terry didn''t feel anything changing inside him.


    That was a bit disappointing, but that wasn''t the end of the world. In any case, the second line stepped down since the third line advanced. The goblins that weren''t wounded by those attacks began to pass by the others, so they had to keep at it as well, at least until the front lines dealt with their boss. However, Terry could see the leader of the operation struggling against the hobgoblin...


    "I knew that this was a small guild, but I didn''t think that even them would have a hard time dealing with a boss of that level..." Terry thought.


    The leader of the operation was ying by the ear and focusing on dodging instead of attacking. Thanks to that, the enemy was able to swing its ax wildly without a care. One of its attacks hit the ground and made some cracks appear on it, so perhaps its strength was above its usual level.


    No one knew how that was possible, but the strength of the boss of a monster camp varied more than a little bit. The factors involved in that were unknown. All that was known was the fact that a random hobgoblin would be chosen as the new leader, and its body would mutate until it became much stronger than the others...


    Terry had to forget about that when his line had to work again. They only had two grenades each and around fifty goblins that charged at them. Only twenty or so had fallen... bullets were less effective against those creatures. Still, soon they would have to use that against them... it looked like some people were going to die in that operation...


    The second and third line used their grenades, and then they proceeded to equip their pistols as well. In that short window of time, the goblins got ten meters away from his group, but soon they slowed down again when a barrage of bullets began to hit them.


    Despite the fact that their hands were trembling, the group shots hit all of the enemies. The goblins grunted in annoyance when they were hit, but they only showed that much pain... and they kept charging.


    On the first barrage of bullets, only two goblins were killed, and one of them was killed by Terry. He fired two precise shots in the eye of his target, and the beast died... he had trained hard to improve all of the aspects of his body in order to maximize the power of his trait since it was impossible to tell what kind of trait one would awaken and that training paid off.


    In a matter of five seconds, he unloaded his gun and killed five goblins by himself. He quickly tried to reload it, but then the beasts got too close. While protecting their faces, the enemies avoided most of the damage and then suddenly charged and swung their weapons. Instantly, the formation of the group was broken when they saw two of their allies being hit in their necks and falling on the ground while massive amounts of blood were gushing out from the wound.


    "Arrrrgghhhhh!"


    "Get away from me!"


    Panic quickly spread, but Terry ignored that and just took a few steps backward to reload his weapon without being bothered. Thanks to that, he soon fired another round of bullets at the enemies that were hacking and shing the bodies of his allies. The beasts fell dead even though Terry didn''t hit them in the eyes... it seemed that the range helped him. Unfortunately, that made him the focus of several goblins.


    Before the creatures could reach him, Terry took the pistol of one of the fallen humans and then aimed both of them at the enemies and proceeded to unload them. The goblins used their arms and weapons to protect their heads again, but Terry aimed at their hearts this time and soon obtained the same result... five more goblins added to his count.


    Around the same time, the others recovered their will to fight upon realizing that the enemies could be dealt with like that and used their guns to kill the remaining goblins. Also, around the same time, the Frontline dealt with the hobgoblin and his guards. As if something had recognized their victory, a lot of the humans felt a wave of power passing through their bodies... but Terry felt nothing.


    "Are you serious..." Terry thought while biting his lips.


    "We are retreating now!" The leader of the operation dered.


    That was bad news... Terry didn''t feel his trait awakening, so his only hope was to keep killing as many enemies as possible. However, he didn''t have time for that... the Frontline quickly approached, and the whole group began to retreat. In the end, Terry didn''t achieve his goal.


    "Good work, everyone," The leader of the operation said. "Someone will check your traits and tell you what it can do. Wait here for a bit longer."


    As expected of soldiers who have been fighting for years, they sure knew how to change their mood after seeing people die. Out of the thirty recruits, five of them died, but from the survivors, 23 out of 25 awakened to their traits. Terry and a girl were the only ones that didn''t obtain a trait. That wasn''t the end of the world. Everyone could obtain the traits by fighting and defeating more camps like that. Still, the traits would be severely weaker ifpared to the others, and it would turn them into slightly stronger human beings. It was for the same reason that his parents died... they kept fighting without being nearly as strong as the others.


    "You two did a good job out there, and you didn''t even suffer any scratches. Unfortunately, we can''t afford to take you on our group," the leader of the operation said. "We are a small guild with limited resources."


    Just like that, Terry and the girl were dismissed. They couldn''t me the man for choosing that if it was only logical to do it, they were warriors, and they couldn''t take those that couldn''t keep up with them or offer a real boost in strength to their guild. In the end, Terry left the area while hiding his frustration...


    "It is fine... I can still fight, I won''t be able to kill as many of them as I originally nned, but I can make it work using my head," Terry thought. "It will be harder, but it isn''t like I was expecting that my life would be easier after awakening to my trait..."


    Terry lived in one of the parts of his hometown that had been most devastated when the first monsters arrived. All of the city had been freed from their clutches, but only the area around the bases of the guilds had been recovered. As such, his home was surrounded by piles of burned-down buildings and craters. Few people lived there, so the road to his home had been a silent one...


    Most of his home had been destroyed during the attack thirty years ago, and repairs couldn''t have been made that much over those years. So, Terry basically lived inside a single room that had only been half destroyed. It only had enough room for his bed, the kitchen, and the bathroom... Terry let out a long sigh and bit his lips again. Getting angry andshing out wouldn''t help him in any way, but Terry really felt like punching something...


    "That would be a waste of time... I should just eat something, rest, and then train until the next time," Terry thought after he closed his eyes.


    Terry didn''t have much, to begin with, but he decided to cook some smander meat. He would need energy and protein in order to be stronger, if even a little.


    After opening his fridge, Terry only saw a small piece of meat and some veggies. That kind of wasn''t that rare to find, but people like him couldn''t afford it since all the jobs that he could do were basically non-essential. Anyone could do it, and since anyone could do it, the demand for it wasn''t high.


    Regardless, Terry decided to forget such a problem for the time being and cut the meat. Making some soup was probably the most efficient way of cooking that much meat. In any case, Terry looked for his kitchen knife to cut it into small pieces, but then he dropped it when he saw something weird on it.


    Kitchen Knife - Lv 0 (0/10 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 01


    Durability: 02/02


    "What the hell..."

 Chapter 2: New Effects!

    <h4>Chapter 2: New Effects!</h4>


    Terry immediately picked the weapon since that window screen disappeared, and then it appeared again... he immediately understood what was happening. His trait could only be activated when he was holding something that was considered a weapon since that power worked to make other things stronger.


    "I never heard of a trait like this... but this will definitely work," Terry said while checking the kitchen knife. "The only question is, how can I make this level up?"


    After doing some tests, Terry confirmed that just using the weapon would get experience. By swinging in the air like he was cutting something or even using it like it was supposed to be used as a kitchen knife. After ten minutes of doing that, he noticed it.


    Kitchen Knife - Lv 0 (2/10 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 01


    Durability: 02/02


    "One point of experience after ten minutes by practicing shes and thrusts and one more by cutting veggies and meat into small parts until they became kind like powder... I went too far with my food. Perhaps I have been too harsh with you, food." Terry said while frowning. "In any case, I just need to train with it and make it level up."


    Terry didn''t feel that hungry anymore. He was excited by his trait, and it looked awesome and cool as well! He couldn''t have asked for a better trait!


    Still, he filled his belly since he would need a lot of energy to make the weapon level up. In the end, Terry used the weapon for the rest of the day and even lost the notion of time and trained overnight as well. The result was awesome... a bit in, though, since it was only a kitchen knife.


    Kitchen Knife - Lv 3 (03/40 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 04


    Durability: 08/08


    "I see... I guess the basic stats of a weapon determines its potential. With each level up, the weapon gains the same initial parameters as a bonus," Terry thought while he was catching his breath. "I don''t know how I canpare this to a real weapon forged by monsters, or even one obtained during a mission, but I need to keep using this until it lets me fight some monsters."


    The excitement got the better of Terry. Only once he cooled down his head, he realized that he could use more knives. One in his other hand and the other in his mouth. The three knives'' style seemed a bit silly, and it didn''t make him feel stronger than just having a single weapon, so it didn''t seem that their parameters actually made his body stronger...


    "Some people say that they feel power passing through their bodies when they get a new magic weapon, so things might be different once I get one of those... I will definitely get one of those," Terry smirked. "And then make those guild guys regret not epting me."


    For the next few days, Terry focused on training and making weapons with whatever trash he could find around the city. It was better than nothing, and he would need different weapons for different situations, after all. Besides, when one of the knives reached level five, Terry saw something new.


    Kitchen Knife - Lv 5 (00/60 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 06


    Durability: 12/12


    (Double sh: a technique that grants you the chance tounch two attacks in quick session.)


    Terry immediately decided to test Double sh, and he failed a few times since he thought that it was automatic. It only worked when he thought of the skill while he swung his weapon. When he shed in a diagonal attack, his arm followed a simr strike upward and to the other side. When he used it on a horizontal attack, the reverse movement was done. The same thing happened with a vertical attack.


    "It doesn''t have limitations, so this will be useful..." Terry nodded to himself. "Making a staff and a spear with crap will be easy, but everything else will need some materials... anything that can be transformed into weapons is valuable, so I will have to obtain some money before anything."


    Terry''s food stock was quickly running out, so he didn''t have much time. He wanted to make the staff and Spear reach level five as well, but maybe it won''t happen...


    On the day of his stock of Smander''s meat ended, it was the day that Terry''s Spear reached level five. In the end, he did the right thing in focusing on only one of the two weapons.


    Long Spear - Lv 5 (00/60 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 12


    Defense: 06


    Durability: 12/12


    (Critical: increases the chances of causing critical damage when hitting the enemy.)


    "This will do. Now I have to choose the right dungeon to go to..." Terry said and then began to rub his chin thoughtfully. "There is the goblins'' dungeon, but I don''t want to work for them after they refused that girl and me. While it is natural for them to refuse us, it is also natural for me to hold a grudge. Aside from that dungeon, there are the Sahuagin dungeon and the smanders'' dungeon... both of them are way too hard for newbies. Still, I don''t have any other choice."


    Smanders'' main method of attack was their fire breath, and Terry didn''t have an excellent way to deal with that yet. However, the Sahuagin were hybrid creatures, they could use magic and fight with spears made of water, but they weren''t that amazing at either. That is the price one has to pay for trying to master several things...

 Chapter 3: Awesome progress!

    <h4>Chapter 3: Awesome progress!</h4>


    Call it a coincidence, but the portal that was the entrance of the sahuagin dungeon was in front of the river that crossed the city. It was also in the central part and the part that didn''t get that much damage thirty years ago, so a lot of people came and went.


    When Terry approached the ce, he saw many groups selling weapons and equipment. Most of them were trash that the guild that had control over the portal obtained on the other side, but even trash was too expensive for Terry.


    The guild was called Dynamic Team, and while it seemed a silly name, they were the strongest group in the city. They possessed over five thousand members. Usually, with those numbers, one wouldn''t have to let others use the portal. Still, since the portal could take people to several different parts of a region of the enemy world, they didn''t have to worry about losing enemies. There was always a massive amount on the other side, and they obtained half of the materials obtained by the solo hunters and one-third of those that had guilds.


    Since Terry had never shown up there, some eyes were on him, but not even the guards around the portal stopped him. They only stop strangers from leaving without selling the materials... only those connected to the guild that owns a portal have the right to buy and sell things rted to the materials found there.


    Terry frowned again when he began to cross that portal and when the weird feeling of being licked all over his body began to annoy him. After not so long, hended on the other side and on a beach...


    "What the hell..." Terry frowned.


    Unlike the previous one, that world didn''t look like a world of monsters. Terry never went to one, but he could recognize a tropical beach if he ever saw one. He quickly looked around since he didn''t know when monsters would show up, and a few hundred meters behind, he found a hill made of sand where he could see the portal.


    "Good, it is close..." Terry thought, and then he heard the sound of water being sshed.


    When he turned around, Terry saw two sahuagins that had left the oceannding on the beach. He was expecting to fight one at a time, but it seemed that things wouldn''t be that convenient. His spear was already in his hands, while the sahuagin summoned theirs after creating and making some water transform into it. They could have attacked him from a distance, but they charged instead of that...


    Terry waited until they got within his range, then he lowered his stance and jumped to the side. The monsters'' thrusts only hit the air, but they quickly followed Terry with their eyes. However, not for long. Terry thrust his spear at the head of one of them, and he couldn''t help but open his eyes widely when the weapon easily pierced the creature''s eyes. A blue liquid gushed from the wound when Terry pulled his spear and assumed his guard. That had been way too easy...


    The other monster grunted in annoyance and then attacked, but Terry blocked the spear with his own... he didn''t even feel the weight behind the attack.


    "How curious..." Terry said.


    The monster tried to push Terry away, but it failed. It summoned a water arrow and fired at Terry''s head without any other choice. While Terry didn''t expect that the creature could use magic in such a situation, and it didn''t get him. Terry jumped to the side, making the projectile miss and the enemy trip. When the beast turned to the side, Terry''s spear finished off the creature.


    "I knew that this trait was awesome, but... but it looks like I underestimated it," Terry said. "Or perhaps all that grinding paid off."


    Long Spear - Lv 5 (04/60 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 12


    Defense: 06


    Durability: 12/12


    "Hehehe, this is good... very good," Terry smirked. "In a few seconds of fighting, I obtained forty minutes worthy of experience that I would receive by doing normal training... this trait is awesome."


    That wasn''t time to be grinning like a fool, so Terry began to work. Using his knives, he opened a hole in the monsters'' chests, and from there, he got a small blue stone. It was a magic stone. An item that was the core of all the monsters, they can be used for many things like recharging magic items in order to save the energy of the users. Some of them grant special effects to weapons, andtely, the technology of Earth has been using them as a form of energy for many objects.


    Things were simple for the time being, but in the future, people assumed that even airnes would be powered by them since it was a form of clean energy.


    Once Terry got the magic stones, he considered getting the scales and the ws of the monsters, but the other two jumped from the ocean to attack him.


    "As expected, I won''t have time to take all of their parts... Well, the magic stones are the most valuable ones, so it is fine," Terry thought when he assumed his fighting stance.


    While his goal was to make money, Terry didn''t have to do that only by getting materials. He didn''t want to do that and reveal what his trait could do, but he could sell the weapons that he leveled up. It was clear that they were good enough even for a beginner like him to fight the sahuagin. With his power, even a human without a trait could be a force to be reckoned with...


    In any case, Terry kept fighting the enemies nonstop for several hours. He only stopped to get the magic stones. Despite that, he didn''t get tired. The excitement got the better of him since each of those magical stones cost one hundred dors... he finally could buy something aside from Smander''s meat!

 Chapter 4: Magic weapons

    <h4>Chapter 4: Magic weapons</h4>


    When Terry left the portal, the sun was already setting, and the guards stopped him since he didn''t seem to be a regr. He also didn''t look particrly strong, so they wondered why he only returned now. All the people that entered the portal had done that in the morning.


    "I would like to sell these magic stones," Terry said while pointing to his backpack.


    The guard nodded while frowning. He was a man who had shaved his head and was wearing a full te of silver armor, and he truly looked like someone who could be called Guard A.


    In any case, Terry said that he wanted to sell his magic stones, but it was clear that his backpack was filled with some other monsters'' parts. The guard guided him to a stand nearby that was selling soup made using the Sahuagins meat, and only at that moment he noticed that he didn''t lie...


    "... Which guild are you affiliated with?" The guard asked.


    "None," Terry replied.


    "What is your name?" The guard asked.


    Terry considered what he should do... he would rather keep his name hidden for a while, but if he hid it, he might not buy the items that he wanted for a decent price.


    "Terry," Terry replied.


    While few people knew him, it wouldn''t be hard to investigate his origin. When one tried to register for a mission to awaken their traits, they had to show an id and a copy of it to the guild, so Terry decided to answer.


    "... You can receive 22.200 dors for the magic stones," the guy who checked the magic stones said while looking at the guard.


    "If you don''t belong to a guild, you can join ours. Our members only have to pay twenty percent of the price of the things they get," the guard said after understanding the look of the shopkeeper.


    "It is cool, I already applied to this guild, and I never received an answer," Terry said. "Anyway, can I get the money now? Please transfer to this number."


    Those two wanted to insist, but they decided to back down for now. Although Terry used hisst reserves to buy the cell phone just to check his bank ount, it was worth it. His eyes turned into dor signs when he saw the moneying in, so he went to check the stands around selling things.


    Aside from the usual items that were weapons and armor, essories, skill books, and food were also being sold. Food using monsters'' meat usually boosts the parameters of the people. The soup of the sahuagin makes people recover mana faster, and the smanders do the same thing with stamina.


    While their potential was weak, Terry would be fine with the knives and spear for the time being, so he looked for other things. He had never made that much money before, so he felt like splurging a bit.


    Terry found swords, magic wands, crossbows, axes, and whips... the variety wasn''t half bad, but the quality was. The sellers let him check the weapons and confirm their parameters, but they were barely one or two levels above the spear in terms of quality.


    "While it seems like a good idea to buy ranged weapons like a crossbow or a magic wand, I am still a newbie when ites to fighting monsters... I need to get more experience at close range," Terry thought. "Not like I will get much here..."


    Wind Wand Lv 0 (0/00 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 02


    Durability: 05/05


    (Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)


    Fire Crossbow Lv 0 (0/00 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 02


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 10/10


    In the end, Terry bought those two, each for two thousand dors. He wanted to buy even the most useless skill book, but the cheapest cost 25k... not even in years of living alone, Terry spent that much buying meat. In any case, there were a few things he wanted to test with thoseter.


    "Skill books and magic weapons are only a small extension of the traits that people have, but maybe they can be a bit different for me considering my trait..." Terry thought while he was heading home while carrying a massive bottle filled with the Sahuagin soup.


    While Terry enjoyed a good life, his grinding mindset got the better of him, and thanks to it, he was already thinking of his next training session. That was why he bought so much soup.


    When Terry arrived at home, the area was already pretty dark. It was easy to trip by stepping on all kinds of things around, but he avoided them all since he knew that part so well. Moreover, Terry was going to use the fact that such a part of the city was left behind in his favor.


    After turning somemps inside, Terry headed outside, and then he used the crossbow. He made it fly into the distance, but it only crossed twenty meters before disappearing...


    Fire Crossbow Lv 0 (01/00 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 02


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 03/03


    "I guess it is working," Terry nodded to himself.


    He used the weapon again, but after five times, Terry felt lightheaded, and when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He was out of mana... he truly didn''t have a talent for magic. Regardless, he began to drink the soup and felt his mind getting clear again. He began to use the crossbow until he ran out of mana... the rate was a bit on the low side, but a single bow was enough for Terry to recover his mana.


    "Time to fill my belly until I can''t endure anymore," Terry said.


    That was a weird way of grinding, but Terry didn''t care. Results are everything, that was why he trained so hard for thest ten years, and he wasn''t going to stop now. He will keep going until he gets all the results.

 Chapter 5: Next steps

    <h4>Chapter 5: Next steps</h4>


    When morning came, Terry clicked his tongue... he overslept. It was close to noon already. He didn''t realize that he was tired while he practiced with the crossbow. He went to sleep at four in the morning, thinking that he would get up four hourster. His guess was as bad as it could have been...


    Fire Crossbow Lv 03 (01/40 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 08


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 12/12


    Although the level of the weapon didn''t decrease the cost of usage, Terry got other rewards. The range increased ording to the magic power of the weapon, so he was satisfied with that. Tonight, he will make it reach level five and see what will happen.


    In any case, Terry headed to the sahuagin dungeon again while hoping that he wouldn''t be bothered. When he arrived, he saw a group returning, it was quite arge group, and it was too early for them to return...


    Terry saw a blonde girl with short curly hair among those who returned. She had blue eyes, and she was really pretty with a curvy body. For a moment, Terry didn''t recognize her, but then he recalled that she was the other who failed at awakening her trait. Considering how tired and sad she looked, it seemed that she had failed again.


    "You are..." the blond girl said.


    "My name is Terry. It seems that you tried to join this guild as well," Terry said.


    Terry thought of pretending that he didn''t see her, but she also recognized him. There was no need to ignore someone in that kind of situation and create some misunderstandings, so he decided to greet her.


    "I am Reba... it looks like you came as well, and this time was recruited," Reba said after a long sigh.


    "No, I am solo now," Terry exined. "This guild never called me for a test, so I am fighting solo."


    "You are either brave, or the others didn''t notice your trait... anyway, I am not going to take more of your time," Reba forced a smile and then began to walk away.


    Terry looked at her walking away feeling totally dejected. He didn''t have an obligation to help anyone. Still, after seeing her clothes made of monsters'' leather that looked so old and beaten down, Terry felt like sighing. He didn''t have an obligation to help anyone, but seeing someone so hard-working not be rewarded for her efforts made him a bit angry. A week ago, he probably looked exactly like her, at least in the expression. His clothes still were pretty haggard since he didn''t have time to spend his money.


    "I guess I should create my own guild... and I will need the help of some people for that," Terry thought.


    In that society, people without powers were almostpletely ignored. The current goal of the human race was to stop the invasions of monsters, and those that couldn''t fight were useless for that, treated like dead weight. It wouldn''t be so bad if he created a guild of people who were ignored for many years like him.


    "Reba, do you want to help me?" Terry asked. "Until you awaken your trait, you can get ten percent of my earnings. After that, if you decide to keep working with me, then we can discuss a better cut."


    "... I don''t know how well you can fight, but I can''t do much against sahuagins," Reba exined after a short while.


    "It is fine. You won''t be fighting," Terry said.


    While Terry might do that, he will have to watch people for a while and see if they could be trustworthy. They would have to work for him for a while before that trust can be truly built.


    In the end, Reba decided to ept the offer, she was dead broke, and she had two siblings to look after, so all money was wee as long as she could keep her dignity.


    They headed to the portal, and then Terry saw Guard B nodding at him, and he did the same. It looked like he was only going to bother Terryter... that was a problem for the future.


    Once they crossed the portal, Reba raised her guard since she was only armed with some simple knives. Meanwhile, Terry looked around and saw the portal further away ind. Around six hundred meters away.


    "These things appear in random ces, but it is really suspicious," Terry said and then passed his knives to Reba. "Anyway, you should use these, they cut better."


    After not so long, three sahuagins jumped out from the ocean... on the previous day. They only appeared in groups of two, but it seemed that they felt Reba''s smell and came in arger group.


    Before they could evennd, Terry charged at them and then swung his spear when theynded. The target tried to block the attack, but it was knocked down before rolling on the sand several times.


    Long Spear - Lv 08 (22/90 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 18


    Defense: 09


    Durability: 18/18


    With each level up, the power of the cheap spear was bing more and more evident. When the second enemy tried to stab him, Terry just blocked the strike without even flinching. The other used water arrows, but Terry just pushed the enemy away and blocked three projectiles with a single swing. Before the monsters could try again, he impaled them in the chest in a quick session.


    Thest one tried to use magic, but Terry smashed its head with the spear. Terry came without thinking, but it was clear that hunting those things was no longer efficient. ying safe was fine and all, but Terry was in a hurry. He needed to get stronger before people could get in his way... he knew that a lot of people would try to crush him in order to keep the bnce of power in the city since he was going to create a new guild...

 Chapter 6: Getting rich

    <h4>Chapter 6: Getting rich</h4>


    "... Is your trait something like super strength?" Reba asked when she saw Terry pulling the bodies to where she was.


    "Something like that," Terry replied, wondering why he had an easy time pushing the bodies.


    In theory, having more attack power would be the same as having the strength to carry or pull heavy things. There were a lot of things that Terry had to learn about his trait. Regardless, Reba began to work since it seemed that she was going to earn quite a bit of money that day.


    Soon enough, a new group of three sahuagins showed up. Terry had already learned that they would once every five minutes, but instead of that, he was more worried because he could see some people in the distance. He knew that they came from the East, but they stopped moving once they saw Terry and Reba.


    "I don''t think that the hunting spots change that much... so Guard B or his superiors made them look for me," Terry thought.


    Terry hurried up and killed the monsters and then kept his eyes on that group. They weren''t getting close, but it was hard to see them in detail... they had three members, and one of them certainly had a vision-enhanced trait.


    "It is normal for people to find each other in other worlds, right?" Reba asked when she noticed what was bothering Terry. "We all arrive in random ces most of the time, but..."


    "I guess so," Terry said and then looked at the magic stones, the ws, and the meat of the monsters that they would have to carry. "I will focus on fighting as much as possible, so you shouldn''t get too much meat."


    "Eh? But it would be such a waste to let it behind," Reba protested.


    As expected, Terry and Reba were kindred spirits raised in poverty. Terry would have said the same two days ago, and while the food was important, getting stronger and faster was even more important.


    "Well, you can keep getting the meat, but I doubt that we will be able to transport it," Terry said.


    Terry hunted for five hours, and when it was time to leave, Reba much hesitantly was forced to leave a pile of sahuagins'' meat behind.


    "What a waste..." Reba said.


    Once again, Guard B guided Terry to the soup seller, and then he got around 18k... a lot more than he had expected since he had overslept. Terry wanted to leave as soon as possible after giving Reba''s share, but then someone troublesome appeared. It was a guy who had a long bow on his back while he was wearing a light green armor and some other magic essories. He also had a ck mustache, so he really looked out of ce. That was Rey, the guild master of the Dynamic Team.


    "You must be Terry. It is surprising that such talent managed to escape our eyes," Rey said.


    "Sorry, but I am in a hurry. I amte for my piano lessons," Terry said. "Reba,.give me your bank ount."


    Terry hated that kind of behavior, being ignored for years, and then the guild master showed up like nothing had happened and tried to caress his ego. That was so fucking annoying that he felt itchy...


    "You can send meter if you have other business," Reba said while looking nervously at the guild master.


    "No, I am justte for my piano lessons," Terry said. "Anyway, meet me tomorrow in the central za."


    "It seems that you have a grudge against us, but I think it would benefit you if we could talk," Rey said.


    "Not much of a grudge. It is more like acting the same way others acted toward me," Terry said. "Have a good night."


    Terry left the area, and Reba followed him since a lot of people were looking at the guild master, who had been thoroughly ignored. The smart thing to do was to stay on the good side of all guild masters, but Terry didn''t care about that. There are countless dungeons out of the city, after all.


    "Are you sure that was a good idea? It was clear that they wanted to offer you a high position in their guild," Reba said, worried.


    "They wanted to tame and fool me after acting like I had no value for them," Terry said. "Would you work for them after being dispensed by them today?"


    "Well... I have things more important to consider than my pride," Reba looked away, looking ufortable.


    "Family, huh..." Terry said. "Imend you for that, but I am in a different position. Anyway, meet me tomorrow in front of the smanders'' dungeon. That is if you want to keep working together."


    Reba nodded. It was a pity that Terry was unable to buy more of the soup, but it couldn''t be helped... he will solve the problem to level up the crossbowter. If the worstes to the worst, he can use the magic stones for that, but he wasn''t that rich to be spending money in such a way.


    "Come to think of it. I forgot to check the spear..." Terry thought.


    Long Spear - Lv 10 (45/110 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 22


    Defense: 11


    Durability: 20/22


    (Critical: increases the chances of causing critical damage when hitting the enemy.)


    (Spear Mastery: increases your attack power by ten percent.)


    "This will definitely help... the more the weapon level up, the higher the attack will be," Terry nodded to himself in satisfaction. "However, it is losing durability... I blocked too many attacks today."


    Terry had more than 30k in his bank ount now, which is pretty good progress considering that he was dead broke two days ago. He could buy a skill book, but maybe he should buy a decent home... it should be easy since some people can repair and build those with magic... for a price.

 Chapter 7: You heard it right

    <h4>Chapter 7: You heard it right</h4>


    The following day, Terry woke up in the time since he had gone to bed earlier. One hourter, he found Reba waiting for him in front of the portal. While she hadn''t awakened her trait, she was quite the looker, so a lot of people were looking at her with eyes filled with curiosity.


    That portal was located near the central za. Thanks to that, all that part of the city had been repaired by the strongest guild of the city: the dawn knights. Terry wondered why the guilds always had names that looked like video game guilds...


    The quality of the items around was a bit better than the other stands, and the sellers didn''t pay much mind to Terry. Maybe he should hunt for a few days inside in order to be bothered only once by the guild...


    "It seems that you have been waiting for a while..." Terry said while frowning. "I didn''t think that you would be that eager toe."


    "Well... I heard stories about the dungeon, so I had a hard time sleeping," Reba forced a smile.


    It was the most dangerous dungeon, so it was no surprise. Reba considered the possibility that she might die, so she must be in a really dire need of money.


    "Didn''t you awaken your trait yesterday?" Terry asked.


    "No, I didn''t cause any damage, after all," Reba replied.


    Maybe Terry should help her and see what happens. Even if it was a useless trait, anything was better than nothing when it came to survival.


    In any case, they entered the dungeon, and the temperature Increased. On the previous day, they were on a beach, and despite the tropical weather, the wind helped a lot. Still, now they appeared in the middle of a scorching desert, and Kai could see a volcano in the distance...


    "Phew... today will be a difficult day," Terry said. "Finding the monsters here will be a bit different, right? Or maybe not..."


    They appeared at the top of a dune, so they had an easy time looking around and seeing three Smanders approaching. Terry was a bit surprised at their size since he only saw them in their processed form... they were one and a half meters tall creatures that were also three meters long. They could run on the desertic sand quite fast, and considering that their best attack was a middle-range fire breath, they were a problem.


    Still, Terry dashed toward them without a care. When he was ten meters away, they opened their mouths and used Fire Breath, but then Terry hit the sand with his spear, making a lot of sand fly to their faces. He frowned when a wave of sand was stopped the mes and forced the beasts to close their mouths, he acted without thinking, but that was probably the best way to deal with them.


    While the monsters were busy dealing with the sand, Terry beheaded two of them with his spear, and with a single sh... the weapon got fearsomely powerful in a matter of days...


    Thest creature tried to open its mouth, but then Terry threw his spear and made it pierce the interior with pinpoint precision...


    "All my training paid off..." Terry said after he pulled off the spear and began to pull bodies toward Reba.


    "Was this really your first time fighting them?" Reba asked.


    "You must have heard plenty of things about the monsters. Even without facing them, you can imagine them fighting and think of countermeasures against them," Terry said. "Anyway, we need to look for the portal and stay close to it, and it will be bad if we only start to look for it when we get tired."


    Terry looked around, but he didn''t see anything in the dunes... since he could only see the top, he assumed that the portal was in some valley between two of those. Finding it will be a pain...


    "Just get the magic stones. We will have to check all the valleys in the area first," Terry dered.


    Reba nodded and began to work. The magic stones were a bit bigger than the others, so they probably could get an extra amount out of them. After getting the magic stones, they began to move between dunes since it was better to check them from the peak than go all the way downward.


    First, they walked around a small area and slowly increased it. Fortunately, they found the portal after one hour... even so, they were already feeling pretty tired.


    "Now I can understand why they had so many anti-heat cloaks being sold..." Reba said while moving her arms to create some wind to her face.


    "Moving that much will only make things worse," Terry said and then checked his Wind Wand.


    Wind Wand Lv 0 (0/00 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 02


    Durability: 05/05


    (Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)


    Terry fought some monsters while holding the wand secretly with one of his hands, but the item didn''t get any experience... as expected, he had to cause damage or swing it with intention. On the other hand, the smanders were giving three points of experience to the spear, so that was good...


    "Are you good at throwing weapons?" Terry asked.


    "What?" Reba frowned. "I think the heat is frying my brain."


    "No, you heard it right," Terry said. "Now that we found the portal, we have some leeway. I can''t exin how my trait works, but you should have no problems fighting if you use this spear."


    Reba hesitated in taking the Weapon. She was fully aware that I didn''t have any reason to help her. No one has, and no one tried to help her. Still, she grabbed it since she also hated the feeling of being hopeless... She wanted to fight to get what she wanted.


    When the next group of smanders showed up, Terry grabbed the knives and then decided to attack the monsters with the wand as well without being noticed... Reba followed him.

 Chapter 8: Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 8: Invitation</h4>


    When the monsters opened their mouths and used Fire Breath, Terry moved to one side and Reba to the other in order to split their attention. Call it luck or misfortune, but two of the monsters looked at Terry... and their mes followed him.


    When the mes of one began to hit the other, both creatures stopped their attacks, and Terry used that chance to attack. He dashed with all his might and then hit the head of one with a wand and the two knives in his hands. The wand did nothing, but the knives increased the size of the monster''s smile.


    While the creature grunted in pain, Terry approached even more and then cut the monster''s throat deeply. While blood was gushing from the wound, the wounded beast opened its mouth, but Terry threw one of his knives at it. The weapon didn''t pierce the enemy''s mouth enough to kill it, but it caused some damage and made the beast flinch. Terry approached and then hit the top of the monster''s head...


    Terry looked at Reba, and then he saw her pulling the spear from the monster''s throat. It seemed that she did fairly well as well...


    "I did it..." Reba said.


    "Congrats?" Terry frowned.


    "I didn''t mean like that... I awakened my trait," Reba said, looking a bit confused.


    That was a bit surprising... it was a bit too soon considering that she had participated in two missions, but she failed at getting the trait.


    "Can you tell me what you can do?" Terry asked. "I mean, you don''t have to tell me, and I am asking if you understand what you can do."


    "I am not sure... it took me a while to awaken, so it must not be something that useful," Reba said. "Let''s get the magic stones."


    Reba looked away suspiciously. It seemed that she was feeling pretty conflicted with her awakening or maybe embarrassed. In any case, it wasn''t a good idea to spread information about one''s trait. Hence, Terry decided not to pry any further on the matter.


    Wind Wand Lv 0 (06/10 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 02


    Durability: 05/05


    (Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)


    In any case, Terry achieved his goal and confirmed that the smanders could grant his weapons more experience. The chances of him making the wand reach level five were quite high, and he just had to kill fifty or so smanders.


    Reaching that goal had been easy since Terry had been using the knives as throwing weapons to stop the fire breath. They suffered a bit of damage, but not that much. Sometimes he missed the enemy''s mouth, but he still hit their heads and stopped them, so it was fine.


    In the end, Terry''s trait was too powerful. Not even the smanders that could kill people in a few seconds were much of a problem to him. The real problem was the heat of the desert, and that was what tired Terry out. He forgot that for a while once he reached his first goal...


    Wind Wand Lv 05 (0/60 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 12


    Durability: 10/10


    (Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)


    (Wind Arrow: it grants the user the ability to fire a magic projectile in the shape of an arrow.


    Charge: 0/20)


    Terry was happy, and he was worried. He could use magic now, but apparently, it had some limitations... every five minutes, the wand gained one charge. It wasn''t so bad, but it wasn''t that amazing, either.


    "It must be a limitation due to the quality of the item... it doesn''t seem like it is something that can be improved just by making it level up," Terry thought.


    Putting that aside and his desire to test the wand, Terry just stored it away and kept hunting until five. He endured too much of the heat, and he didn''t want to endure the cold of the desert at night.


    "Terry... my power is useless," Reba said while showing a dejected expression. "It seems that I can recover mana faster, but it is useless since I can''t use magic."


    "... Can''t you control your mana in any way?" Terry asked. "Even if you can''t, you can buy skill books..."


    "It will take forever before I can even buy the most basic spells... until I am able to pull that off, I will only be a liability," Reba exined. "I said before that my pride is worthless, but I don''t want to look after my siblings out of someone else''s charity."


    "I don''t think that is charity. I am paying you to make things more convenient for me," Terry said. "Well, I guess I will have to look for someone else. I was nning to leave the town anyway since the monsters here are so weak."


    Reba began to grit her teeth out of exasperation. While she wanted to look after her siblings, she still wanted to aplish things by herself. Staying under someone else''s shadow wasn''t something that she wanted for the rest of her life, and Terry respected that.


    "Are you in a hurry? Isn''t it fine to take your time to achieve what you want?" Terry asked. "You wait for a while to awaken to your trait, so why not wait a while longer?"


    "Easy for you to say when you have such amazing power," Reba furrowed her eyebrows.


    "I have been trying to join an expedition for five years... can you say that I haven''t been patient?" Terry asked. "I understand where youe from, though, and that is why I can help you if you prove your worth. Having power isn''t everything. We are people who have been ignored since we were powerless, so you should understand that."


    "I guess so..." Reba said while looking away.


    "I don''t have many acquaintances, but I can trust someone who has been looking over her family, at least a bit," Terry said and then offered a handshake. "Let''s work together to prove this shit that this world has turned into."


    "... Okay, then," Reba epted the handshake.

 Chapter 9: Destroyed city

    <h4>Chapter 9: Destroyed city</h4>


    When they left the dungeon, they left with some bags filled with magic stones and the scales of the smanders. The guard guided them to the nearby warehouse, where someone appraised everything.


    "... Everything will be 36.740 dors,"


    It was a new record... the scales were more valuable than Terry had predicted. After giving Reba her part, Terry would still have over 60k, so he could do a lot with it. He didn''t know where he was going, but maybe he would need a vehicle...


    "So... where are we going?" Reba asked.


    "I guess the nearest dungeon where the monsters are just a bit stronger than the smanders would be nice," Terry replied. "I don''t know a single thing about how things are outside. What about you?"


    "I heard that the guild masters keep contact with people outside somehow... I also heard some rumors about the Dynamic Team sending some of his members to Chicago a month ago since a new portal appeared there."


    "So, they needed reinforcements. How many guilds are there?" Terry asked.


    "No idea. We have too many problems here, and we don''t have room to worry about anything else," Reba shrugged.


    Chicago was thirty miles north of their current location. So, it wasn''t a bad idea to head there. The top brass of the guild of the smanders will be waiting for Terry tomorrow, but he will never show up... still, crossing thirty miles on foot would take two days, perhaps more. So, Terry seriously considered buying a car.


    Terry didn''t have many things to pack, so when he got home, everything was pretty much ready to be packed. Life sure was funny... ten days ago, the idea of leaving the city had never crossed Terry''s mind. Still, now he was going to leave while targeting a portal to be his even before he created his own guild.


    "That will certainly be one hell of an advertisement... but this is only the first step," Terry thought. "Once I get the dungeon and make the guild, I will work hard to discover why all those things have appeared, and I will extinguish them from the face of the Earth."


    The next morning, Terry was looking for a vehicle in the only shop that still sells vehicles in the city when Reba showed up with two kids. One was a light brown-haired boy who was ring at him even though he was no older than five years old, and a girl a couple of years older who was looking at him with great interest.


    "These are Ruth and Chris," Reba said. "My younger siblings."


    Ruth looked a bit like Reba, but Chris, not that much. Moreover, Terry got a bit annoyed since the boy was looking at him like he had stolen something from him.


    "What is it, brat?" Terry asked. "I don''t do well with those that look at me disrespectfully like you. It seems that your big sister didn''t pull your ear enough times to deal with your attitude."


    "I won''t give big sis to you," Chris said.


    "You surely value her when you talk as if she is a bag filled with candy," Terry frowned. "In any case, I wasn''t expecting permission. If anything, it is easier for her to fall for me."


    "Keep dreaming," Reba said. "Don''t mind Chris too much, and he is at the age where he thinks too much about being the man of the house."


    "I am the one who is going to marry big sis," Chris dered.


    "Woah..." Terry said while he looked at Reba facepalming. "I won''t visit you in jail, Reba. I don''t think that we are that close of friends."


    "Don''t... please, just don''t," Reba said. "He must have watched too much anime."


    "I wonder what kind of show you let him watch..." Terry said.


    "Mister, are you going to take Reba away?" Ruth asked.


    "No, I don''t think I will," Terry replied. "You must be the one who looks after this brat while Reba works, and you didn''t do a good job spoiling him... anyway, time is of the essence. I suppose I will need a vehicle to transport things once the guild is ready, so I can''t go cheap right now."


    In the end, Terry bought a new small-sized truck for the job. While new cars weren''t produced that fast anymore, new ones were barely being sold, so their prices didn''t increase much.


    Unfortunately, it was a model that still consumed gasoline, and the price of that skyrocketed... Terry didn''t know how to drive, but it wasn''t like one needed the permission of the government anymore. However, Reba had experience, so he gave her the keys.


    "The guilds im that they hunted down most of the monsters that crossed the portals, most aren''t all of them, so I will stay in the back to fight in case some of them appear," Terry said.


    Reba and her siblings entered the vehicle while Terry jumped on the back. It would be an excellent chance to test the magic wand, but it would be even better if they could arrive in Chicago as soon as possible. Fortunately, the northern exit of the town was connected in a straight line to their destination.


    "A lot of work is ahead... aside from fighting, I will have to start looking for personnel to do all sorts of things for the guild that I am going to create..." Terry thought when Reba began to drive.


    While Terry was thinking about that, he noticed that the road was in a pretty precarious condition, even though it wasn''t used that often. Most of the cities had only been taken from the monsters after ten or fifteen years, so it wasn''t surprising that they left a lot of damage behind...


    Despite that, it didn''t take long for the group to see that massive city in the distance, some buildings that had been damaged were still standing, but a couple of new ones had emerged thanks to magic. It seemed that some powerful guilds were there, so the task of clearing the dungeon was harder than expected...

 Chapter 10: Welcome to the jungle

    <h4>Chapter 10: Wee to the jungle</h4>


    It didn''t take even one hour for them to reach Chicago. The ce truly looked different than their hometown. Only the tall buildings that had been damaged but were still standing despite showing the signs of the monsters'' actions. All the rest of the city was brand new.


    Some armed guards were guarding the entrance of the ce, but they didn''t try to stop Terry and the others. For a while, they moved in a straight line, but soon they had to ask for directions.


    ording to the people that they talked to, there were two guilds in the city and three portals. The guilds were Void and the Fire Troupe, and they were fighting to clear the new dungeon that appeared. It didn''t look like they got along either, and that has been happening for many years.


    "What are we going to do?" Reba asked.


    "We can do whatever we want with the materials of the not conquered dungeon, so I am heading there to get a feel of the situation inside," Terry replied. "You should look for some buildings for rent for us, I will send the money to your ount, and you cane to pick me up at sunset."


    "Are you sure?" Reba asked while frowning. "It seems that the enemies are hard to deal with because they are giants... endurance and strength are their forte. It might be dangerous if you get surrounded."


    "I will make sure not to let that happen," Terry said.


    One of the dungeons was in the Southwestern part of the city, and the other was in the opposite direction. The final one was in the Northwestern part of the city, and Terry wanted to check the ce as soon as possible.


    Reba was worried, but Terry didn''t seem like a hot-blooded fool. While he quickly assumed that the dungeons in his hometown were too easy for him, he did so after not getting hurt a single time. His confidence was well-founded.


    When they reached their destination, they began to attract the attention of a lot of people. Hundreds of people were around the area since they were offering support to their guilds, after all, and the atmosphere was tense since they werepeting against each other.


    "Yikes, the atmosphere here is quite unnerving," Reba said while showing a nervous smile.


    "Letting them intimidate you won''t help you in any way," Terry said. "Regardless, I am jumping out here, and you can go look for the building."


    "Understood," Reba said.


    Reba turned around, and Terry approached the portal. The ce couldn''t be guarded since no one had imed ownership over it yet. Still, Terry felt some intense stares... he bought some new clothes that were appropriate for fighting, but he didn''t look that strong, so most people couldn''t help but frown.


    Terry ignored them all and just crossed the portal. Before long, he found himself in a dense jungle. The vegetation was quite high, and so were the trees around. The first goal was to look for the portal to the exit, but before that could happen, Terry could feel the ground slightly trembling.


    "They are nearby already..." Terry thought while increasing the grip on his spear.


    After waiting for a short while, Terry saw two giants approaching. They were five meters tall and quite muscr creatures... they didn''t have hair on their heads, but that only made them look more fearsome. The weird thing about that was the fact that they looked a lot like humans, but they had only a single piece of animal leather covering their parts. Terry felt that it would be better if those didn''t fall off. Otherwise, he would probably be scarred for life...


    The two beasts began to charge at Terry while avoiding the trees. They weren''t that fast, but they didn''t have to be. Adding momentum, even a bit of it, with a body of that size, would be enough to crush most humans.


    In any case, Terry equipped his wind Wand and then fired a breeze arrow at the enemy''s face. The creature tried to protect itself, but its arm didn''t move fast enough to pull that off. The arrow hit the middle point between the eyebrows, and some blood began to fall from the wound as the beast slowed down.


    The other creature approached, already protecting its head against the spell, and then tried to kick Terry, but he jumped to the side and dodged the attack. He could have counterattacked, but he decided to have a good feel of the enemy''s power and speed.


    When the beast turned around to see him, Terry already had his crossbow in hand and then fired one bolt that exploded in the creature''s face. The creature began to grunt in pain, and then the other approached and tried to kick Terry.


    He jumped to the side again, but then his back hit a tree... Terry confirmed that fighting when some many obstacles were around was way more difficult. The beast turned around, already swinging its left leg to kick Terry, but he just jumped and avoided the hit. Theynded on the knee of the creature and then approached to stab the head of the giant. The beast moved its arms to protect its face, but then Terry stabbed its throat with all his might.


    A lot of blood began to gush from the wound since the spear pierced deeply. However, the monster wasn''t going to die instantly... Before Terry could finish the job, the other enemy approached while swinging its giant arm to p him away.


    Terry jumped backward to avoid the hit, and while he did it, the pressure of the attack created a wave of wind that pushed him away and made him roll on the ground...

 Chapter 11: Shall we dance?

    <h4>Chapter 11: Shall we dance?</h4>


    Terry got up while clenching his teeth, which hurt like hell. Still, at least the enemies didn''t have time to follow with another attack, so he had plenty of time to get up.


    The monster that almost hit him had lost one eye thanks to the fire bolt while the other was trying to stop the bleeding with one of its hands. Both of them had injuries that slowed them down.. Still, Terry couldn''t drop his guard. The tree that got kicked in was way thicker than him, and now it was inclined to the side.


    "Finally, some fun..." Terry said while smirking.


    In order not to let the enemies dictate the flow of the battle, Terry advanced. The giant that was bleeding tried to kick him since it was too dangerous to use his free arm and expose his head. Terry stopped his advance and then swung his spear. The tip hit and cut the sole of the enemy''s feet, making a lot of blood gush out from the wound.


    The other enemy approached, but Terry just equipped his crossbow, and when the beast tried to protect its face again, Terry just waited. Until the monster tried to look at him using the holes between his fingers, and Terry aimed right at it... they weren''t that bright. Another explosion on the creature''s face made it grunt in pain.


    "This took long enough... can''t let others approach this before I finish them," Terry thought.


    The other giant stepped forward, and the wound in his feet made even more blood ssh around when the creature tried to stop using it. The pain also made the beast flinch... Terry used that chance and threw his spear right into the right eye of the creature... The spear pierced deeply, and the beast stopped moving before falling backward.


    Terry equipped his dagger and looked at the giant that had lost both eyes and now was tripping around... Terry sighed and then equipped his crossbow again. It was time to check how long he needed to recover his own mana... after he hit the neck of the monster with three fire bolts, the creature fell.


    "I need a better strategy. This took far too long..." Terry thought and then went to grab his spear.


    Fire Crossbow Lv 03 (09/40 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 08


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 12/12


    Terry checked the crossbow and confirmed that he got eight experience points for each enemy. That would make him progress a lot faster... the real problem was the two vs. one fights and the fact that the heads of the monsters were out of the reach of his normal attacks...


    While Terry was trying to get the magic stones, he thought of his option. If he surprises the enemies, he probably can kill a giant using the wind Wand and three charges... he just had to hit their necks. Then we will have the chance to fight one on one and gain battle experience for himself. Just having powerful weapons was far from being enough...


    "I can''t recover enough charges of the wind Wand between battles, so I guess I will use the magic stones..." Terry said when he got the first one.


    It was only a countermeasure until Terry got used to fighting them with his spear. He could see now why the dungeon hadn''t been conquered. The necessary requirements were to defeat one of the bosses of the tribes and show the bodies to the others beyond the portal. Considering that the minions were annoying, the boss should be an even more pain in the ass.


    In any case, as soon as he got the second magic stone, Terry began to feel the ground trembling. He quickly hid behind a bush and waited for the enemies. He assumed that the others woulde from the same direction as the first two, and he confirmed that...


    The monsters found the bodies of their friends and then looked around for Terry. They were a bit far away, so Terry didn''t have the chance to aim properly... he couldn''t hide so close, but now that he was thirty meters away, there was a tree between him and the targets...


    It didn''t take long for one of them to start looking for him around as if they could tell that Terry was nearby... in fact, one of them began to move straight at him while looking at the ground... Terry noticed that he must have left footsteps in the grass...


    Before the enemy could see those disappearing in the bush, Terry attacked. He aimed well enough to fire three wind arrows straight into the monster''s throat. The creature began to agonize for a short while before it fell. The other monster approached and saw Terry leaving the bush.


    "Shall we dance?" Terry asked.


    The beast charged at him and then tried to kick Terry. However, he just stood his ground and then thrust his spear toward the feet of the monster.


    Terry felt his entire arm trembling due to the impact... he didn''t flinch, so he had to endure the resistance of the enemy''s flesh while his spear pierced the creature''s foot.


    After pulling the spear, Terry moved his arm a little to fight the pain. Meanwhile, the monster was grunting, even more annoyed than before. Terry recovered first and then dashed to attack. Meanwhile, the beast lowered its posture and then readied both arms. When Terry got close enough, the giant closed its arms to smash him. Still, Terry jumped and avoided the giant p... nowpletely defenseless, Terry made his spear pierce the giant''s forehead.

 Chapter 12: Cooperation

    <h4>Chapter 12: Cooperation</h4>


    Somehow, Terry managed to fight the whole day. However, when he left the portal, he looked really beaten, and his backpack didn''t have that many Magic stones. For that reason, he didn''t get the attention of anyone. People thought that he spent the entire day running from the giants.


    "It seems that you had a hard time... I am a bit relieved," Reba said. "If you had an easier time here, I would have been scared."


    "Wait here a minute. I am going to ask who is paying more for the magic stones," Terry said.


    Terry checked both groups, and both wanted more magic stones. It was only natural. While magic stones were being used to develop new technology, most guilds used them to empower their members. The bioproducts of the monsters are what usually where their moneyes from, even more so when the magic stones don''tst that long while being used.


    Regardless, the Fire Troupe decided to pay Terry 220 dors per magic stone. He only had fifty of them. So he got 11K. He was fine with it since each one of those only granted two charges for his wind wand. After that, he returned to the truck and asked Reba to move.


    "Is the ce that you found safe?" Terry asked.


    "It seems that it hasn''t been attacked in ten years, and the two guilds don''t do anything to endanger the people of the city," Reba replied. "So, I would say yes."


    "Your siblings will stay there alone most of the time, so you should feelfortable about such a ce," Terry added.


    Since Terry had to consider things like reputation now, he will have to be more careful since his actions might endanger the members of his guild, and only guilds with good reputation could grow fast. He didn''t want to attract scum either, so he needed that in spades.


    "By the way, I only found a single apartment with two rooms avable," Reba said. "The cost is 2k per month."


    "I see... so you are already after my body," Terry said.


    "Keep dre-a-ming," Reba said. "Also, don''t say that kind of thing in front of Chris. You know who he is."


    "Putting that aside, I learned a few things in the dungeon," Terry said. "You cane tomorrow, but you will need to ready yourself to fight as well. You won''t have to do much, though."


    "I suspect that there isn''t much to use from the giants'' bodies aside from the magic stones, so I guess that won''t be too difficult to pull it off," Reba frowned, already imagining herself facing the giants and having one hell of a hard time."


    "You are right. We can''t use them like other monsters, so that makes me wonder why the guilds want that dungeon so much," Terry said. "Maybe there is something else in that world that they want... it will be a pain to find in that annoying jungle."


    The other thing that Terry learned was that he could recover all his mana after three hours... it was quite a long time considering how little he had. It wouldn''t be anywhere useful to him in battle... he already could tell that he had to prepare a lot before he started to hunt in that world for real to obtain the dungeon.


    The apartmentplex that had been built after Chicago was recovered. The ce was quite neat, and the apartment that they rented looked personality. Since it had only a fewmon pieces of furniture, it was prettyfortable. It even had electricity and water... which was a luxury that Terry never had ess to.


    Terry ignored the look in Chris'' angry eyes and then took a shower before heading to one of the rooms. Once hended on the bed, he quickly fell asleep and only woke up the next morning.


    The next morning, they headed toward the dungeon. Terry wondered if he should return earlier and check the bases of the guilds since things weren''t being sold around the third one. For the time being, he didn''t need anything, but he will have enough money to buy a skill book. Anything that would enhance his strength would be wee, even if limited.


    Once they crossed the portal, Terry passed Reba his wind wand. It was fully charged, so she could use it for a while. However, she didn''t show much interest in it and just looked to the side.


    "What is wrong?" Terry asked while frowning. "Do you want the spear?"


    "No... I feel like there is something in that direction," Reba exined.


    "I don''t feel vibrations on the ground... so it must not be the giants..." Terry said while frowning. "Let''s check it out."


    Reba didn''t feel so sure if she was actually feeling anything, so she couldn''t help but wonder why Terry decided to check something there. However, much to their surprise, they found the portal that would take them back to Earth after five minutes.


    "It seems that your awakening improved your magic senses as well... this thing must be a sphere of mana in the shape of a wormhole, after all," Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you feel anything else around?"


    "Hmm... I am not sure, and the portal is making me have a hard time focusing," Reba replied.


    "Well, whatever. I can already feel the vibrations on the ground," Terry said. "Stay hidden and then aim at the head of one of the targets,"


    Reba nodded and then hid behind a tree while Terry waited for the enemies to show up. There was no need for both of them to hide, after all. After a couple of seconds, three giants appeared in front of Terry... no wonder they took a while to appear; it was because of their numbers.


    Before anything, Terry used his crossbow to hit those three with bolts. Due to the distance, they had enough time to block the attacks with their arms, but Terry was fine with that; he only wanted the experience of the crossbow...

 Chapter 13: Long story

    <h4>Chapter 13: Long story</h4>


    In the next moment, after noticing that their left side was exposed, Reba fired wind arrows at the ears of those three. Her aim was superb... even though she took a short while to fire the second due to the surprise and excitement of finally using magic.


    "I told her to kill one, but... this might do," Terry thought.


    The enemies were surprised by the wind arrows, so they didn''t know how to react. They couldn''t see another enemy, after all. That raised some questions... howe monsters appear inrger groups without knowing that they are heading torger groups?


    Terry forgot about that and then jumped to attack one of the giants. The creature reacted and moved both arms to stop the attack, but Terry''s spear pierced through one of them and the skull of the beast before reaching the brain.


    Long Spear - Lv 14 (13/150 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 30


    Defense: 15


    Durability: 26/30


    (Critical: increases the chances of causing critical damage when hitting the enemy.)


    (Spear Mastery: increases your attack power by ten percent.)


    It was no surprise that the monster was unable to repel the attack... nevertheless, as soon as hended, Terry saw arge leg moving toward him. He moved the spear to the side and blocked the attack... despite therge mass of the creature and the power of that kick, Terry had only pushed away for a meter.


    While the enemy showed some surprise, Terry pushed away the enemy''s leg, and when the beast lost its bnce, Terry jumped to attack again. This time, the creature tried to protect its head by putting one arm in front of the other, but Terry just thrust his spear at the enemy''s heart. While he felt some resistance due to the muscles, fat, and bones, the weapon reached the enemy''s heart.


    Before the second giant could even fall, the third kicked its back and tried to crush Terry with the falling body. Terry blocked the body with his spear and pushed it away, only to see the final enemy almostnding on him... he had jumped and tried to smash him.


    Terry jumped backward and shed the enemy''s stomach with his spear. Terry avoided the bit, but the impact still made him lose his bnce. Fortunately, the wound inflicted on the enemy prevented the beast from following the attack... the creature just saw blood leaving the wound while the pain annoyed the beast...


    When Terry got up, he saw the beast charging at him, but he just threw the spear at its face... before the monster could move its arms, the weapon pierced its skull deeply...


    Fire Crossbow Lv 04 (33/50 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 10


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 14/14


    "Not yet, huh," Terry said when he checked his crossbow. "It is a pain to have so little mana."


    "Sorry, I acted without thinking and assumed that it would be better to wound all of them," Reba replied. "So, these are the giants, huh... the magic types would have a hard dealing with them directly. Even people like you who have high physical capabilities must find them annoying since you have to jump high to reach them."


    "You know it," Terry said. "Well, let''s get the magic stones... keep wounding them the way you see fit, but you should understand that one magic stone only charges the wind wand for two spells."


    "Woah... wasting money to gain less money..." Reba facepalmed.


    They wouldn''t be able to move the bodies in order to surprise the next few enemies, so Terry decided to advance a little after getting the magic stones. Once they began to wait for the enemies, Terry thought that it would be a wise idea to make Reba learn Mana Maniption. While it was a useful Skill book since it would let her charge magic items with her mana, it wasn''t that much popr since the really good mages didn''t have to rely on magical items.


    While Terry was thinking about that, Reba pointed her hand in a slightly different direction than they were expecting the other monsters toe from. They were around two hundred meters away from the portal, so it seemed that her senses were working now...


    Eventually, the creatures showed up, and they assumed their positions. It seemed that they were being drawn by the smell of blood, so they passed by Terry and Reba without noticing their presence... that raised even more questions since it seemed that some monsters could feel their smell. Regardless, they used that golden chance to wipe them out quickly with a surprise attack on their back.


    Reba sniped and killed one of them with two wind Arrows on their back while Terry threw his spear at the nape of one of them. The third one didn''t even pose a challenge to Terry at close range...


    "I thought that basic spells like these are a lot weaker... where did you find this magic wand?" Reba asked.


    "It is a long and boring story," Terry said and began to work on taking the magic stones. "And we should focus on the task ahead of us."


    In the end, Terry could already fight on par with the giants on his second day. Two vs. one battle were still a bit difficult. Still, he decided to get experience for thatter... it was better to focus on getting the money to buy some other magic items or find them near one of the enemy camps. During that day, Terry leveled up the crossbow and had a pleasant surprise.


    Fire Crossbow Lv 05 (05/60 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 12


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 16/16


    (Spiritual Essence: when this weapon causes the damage that killed the target, the mana used will be restored to the user.)

 Chapter 14: Confidence

    <h4>Chapter 14: Confidence</h4>


    Terry was very satisfied with the effect that the weapon got. Instead of skills, long-ranged weapons would benefit a lot more with effects like that. Regardless, he still will have a hard time measuring the right time to use it. Unless he finds some small fries.


    "It is a bit early, but we should return. We moved quite a bit from the portal in order to surprise the enemies..." Terry said after several hours had passed.


    "Yes... we walked so much, and in the direction, the monsters came from, but we didn''t find any of their bases," Reba said after she nodded. "I can understand how the other guilds didn''t clear a single camp yet."


    The problem with those portals was that the requirements to use them were a bit loose. Thirty years ago, they appeared out of nowhere, and people began to investigate them, but since humans didn''t head to the other side to hunt the monsters, they had the chance to use the door as well.


    No one knew why things worked that way, and that was the only thing that most people knew. Still, things would be fine as long as people kept hunting the giants. Speaking of hunting, the crossbow wasn''t the only weapon that improved quite a bit.


    Long Spear - Lv 18 (100/190 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 38


    Defense: 19


    Durability: 32/38


    (Critical: increases the chances of causing critical damage when hitting the enemy.)


    (Spear Mastery: increases your attack power by ten percent.)


    (Throw: it grants you the ability to throw the spear with great precision and power. Hitting any target within twenty meters and causing damage equal to the usual physical damage plus fifty percent.)


    "I already can throw the spear, but I guess I won''t have to aim for long," Terry nodded to himself.


    Once they left the portal, they got some more attention than before. First of all, they stayed there for a while, but they were unscathed. Aside from that, their backpacks filled with magic stones were prettyrge.


    "We can offer 28.750 dors for the magic stones. If you are interested, you can also join our guild," The merchant who bought the magic stones said.


    "... No, we are already part of the... of the..." Terry said and then looked at Reba. "What is a good name for a guild?"


    "Why are you asking me?" Reba frowned.


    "... Our guild name is Stormscallers," Terry said. "That is a good name, I guess."


    "Sure, if you are thirteen," Reba smirked.


    "How about I love my older sister, or will I marry my older sister?" Terry asked.


    "I see that you are taking this personally..." Reba said and then sighed.


    The merchant didn''t know how to react to the jokes. First of all, he thought that they were siblings. Thanks to that, a strange rumor began to cross the city that night.


    "Anyway, it seems that you did at least one-third of the work, so you will get one-third of the money. Are you fine with that?" Terry asked.


    "One... one... one third of...28k!" Reba almost lost control of the truck due to the surprise... It was tough to be raised in poverty.


    Terry thought that he could Reba buy some skill books for her, but it didn''t seem like that would be necessary. While she was able to fight that well because of the wind Wand and some of the magic stones, Terry was fine with it. Reba was reliable and had good magic senses, so she could be trusted.


    The next day, Terry and Reba went to check the territory of the other guilds for skill books and magic items. Even the low-level ones could be useful once Terry makes them reach level five. Not to mention, Terry will be able to save future magic stones.


    "Hey, did you know that those are siblings and..."


    "For real... how shameless..."


    "They must have watched too much anime and Game of Thrones...."


    "... I feel like people are whispering about us in a weird way," Reba said while frowning.


    "Just use that as an advertisement for the guild," Terry said while he was checking a fire wand.


    "Are you fine with letting someone as weak as me to be the second member of the guild?" Reba asked.


    "I don''t need strong people, only people that can be trusted," Terry replied.


    "If you say so..." Reba said.


    Terry could make people stronger or at least able to fight with his weapons, so that wasn''t a necessary requirement. The real problem would be to find the people that truly would never betray the guild.


    In any case, Terry bought an ice and fire wand. Both of them were simr to the Wind Wand when they were at level zero, so he was confident that they would improve in the same way.


    Those two cost 5k, and aside from that, Terry also bought some gloves. They had the earth attribute, so they were pretty hard.


    Hard Gloves - Lv 0 (0/10 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 03


    Defense: 04


    Durability: 10/10


    They also had better potential than the spear, and considering that the giants could be troublesome at close range, Terry thought that it would be fun to give them a taste of their own medicine.


    "I can''t find anything that has other parameters... as expected, the guilds only sell trash," Terry thought.


    "I couldn''t imagine anyone using that kind of weapon against giants..." Reba said.


    "Imagination youck, fix that should you," Terry said.

 Chapter 15: Society

    <h4>Chapter 15: Society</h4>


    Once they entered the dungeon, Terry had a hard time fighting using the gloves alone, so he was forced to count on Reba''s support. Fortunately, the monsters granted a lot of experience, so the gloves quickly got stronger. As if it wasn''t enough, when Terry tried to stop the kick of one of the enemies with his punch, he didn''t feel that much pain.


    Once the gloves reached level five, Terry didn''t have to change to his spear now and then, and he was able topletely stop the enemies'' attacks by punching them. Terry felt like grinning when their bones began to break during the impact.


    Hard Gloves - Lv 05 (0/60 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 18


    Defense: 24


    Durability: 58/60


    (Triple Attack: a quick sequence of punches that causes a devastating amount of damage. If the three hitsnd on the head of the target, it will be stunned for a second.


    Cool down: 05)


    "A skill that can only be used every five seconds, and the effect is pretty good. This, I like," Terry thought.


    Things only got easier from that moment onward. With Triple Attack, Terry could even stop the Giants'' attacks and make them fall as well.


    While looking at that, Reba couldn''t help but be astonished... It felt like Terry was getting even stronger. It was only natural that it would take time for someone to Master their trait, so there was a clear line of growth, but Terry far surpassed that idea with a very vertical growth line...


    Although they still kept ambushing the monsters, Terry and Reba didn''t face many difficulties dealing with the monsters. Their hunting speed that day increased by around twenty percent as well... in the end, Terry forgot to level up the wands since things got easier.


    "We didn''t find a single camp again today..." Reba said when they saw the portal. "Do you think there is something wrong with this dungeon?"


    "We didn''t find other people either, so maybe things won''t be that simple," Terry said once they began to cross the portal.


    "Yeah... I am going to check the items again," Reba said. "Please, wait for me at the truck."


    In the end, Terry and Rebbeca made 34k that day. Still, even with that much progress, they couldn''t see how they could get the dungeon... they couldn''t fall on that either; a guild without a dungeon couldn''t be taken seriously.


    "Terry... what are you going to do about this?" Reba asked, visibly angry after letting me wait for twenty minutes.


    "Wakanda nonsense is this?" Terry frowned. "You let me wait for this long, and youe pissed?"


    "Because of what you said yesterday, weird rumors had spread!" Reba raised her voice.


    Reba exined what had happened... not only people thought that Terry was her little brother, but people were also saying that they were in a rtionship. That was reallyplicated on many levels... but Terry had better things to worry about.


    "Who cares about that?" Terry asked. "That might hurt the reputation of the guild, but that rumor will disappear over time. Unless you are after my body."


    "How many times are you going to say that..." Reba asked and then sighed. "My head hurts; I want to sleep."


    Speaking of sleep, Terry wasn''t that tired, so he decided to gain some experience with the wands by training... just swinging them around seemed like a waste of time. Still, it was better to use his time wisely. Thanks to that, by midnight, Terry made both wands and was finally tired enough to sleep.


    Terry went to bed feeling pretty good, but he woke up with someone knocking on his door, and it seemed that Reba was still pissed.


    "What is wrong?" Terry asked when he opened the door and saw Reba.


    "There are... some people from the government outside," Reba said, looking a bit worried.


    "I didn''t even create the guild officially... what do they want with me?" Terry asked.


    Reba shrugged, and then Terry went out to see some guys in suits in front of the apartment. A man with grey hair and a very forced smile greeted Terry.


    "You must be Terry, the guild master of the Stormscallers," the grey-haired man said. "I am Louis, a representative of the government, and I came just to introduce myself."


    "Couldn''t you have done it during working hours?" Terry asked without hiding his displeasure.


    "It is hard to know when hunters are working and when they aren''t, so I came up earlier when I suspected that you would have been here," Louis said. "I am sorry for having bothered you, but I hope that we can get along in the future."


    "Sure," Terry said while rolling his eyes.


    "Have a nice day," Louis said and then left with his guards.


    Terry snorted and then closed the door... he had a lot of things to say, but he couldn''t since some people say that walls have ears.


    "Terry... I am grateful for the chance to work with you, and I intend to be loyal," Reba said. "Still, you must understand if the timees and I have to choose between you and my family. I won''t think twice about choosing them."


    "I wouldn''t have trusted you otherwise..." Terry said. "Don''t worry; I will y my card well before I do anything too drastic."


    "I am thankful for your understanding," Reba said.


    Reba was worried that Terry might create a situation where her family would be in trouble. He was a person hard to read, but it was clear that he had a problem with the current society.


    She was correct, a society developed around hunters was created, and it couldn''t have been helped since survival was the main goal of everyone. However, things could have been handled a lot better if some people hadn''t tried to make themselves look more important than others...


    Because of that society, Terry was considered someone without value, and his parents didn''t even receive a proper burial, and now those that ignored him were making their move... which truly annoyed him. Still, he had a clear n of how to change things, and he didn''t have to rush...

 Chapter 16: Weirdness

    <h4>Chapter 16: Weirdness</h4>


    "Today, we should focus on finding traces of the enemy''s camps instead of just hunting them like usual," Terry dered once they left the apartment. "It doesn''t seem like the other guilds found any clues, but we still need to hurry up. There are many things to do, and getting to the dungeon is just the first step."


    "Fine by me," Reba said. "You are doing most of the work, so our progress will rely solely on you."


    Terry also wanted to make the wands reach level five, but that was just a secondary target... still, making them reach as soon as possible might give them more hunting speed.


    To help with that, Terry decided to use the spear more often since he also wanted to check the next skill it would obtain. By using Throw, that shouldn''t be a problem.


    Terry''s guess was right. That helped. Around noon, they had walked for around ten kilometers, which was more than seventy percent of the distance they had covered in the previous day. The wands also reached level five, and now they could grant the user 20 charges of Fire Arrow and Ice arrows. However, something else also happened.


    Long Spear - Lv Max (00/00 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 42


    Defense: 21


    Durability: 32/42


    (Critical: increases the chances of causing critical damage when hitting the enemy.)


    (Spear Mastery: increases your attack power by ten percent.)


    (Throw: it grants you the ability to throw the spear with great precision and power. Hitting any target within twenty meters and causing damage equal to the usual physical damage plus fifty percent.)


    (Final Skill: Deadly Jump.


    Deadly Jump: A skill that lets the user jump in the air and approach the enemy, and hit with a powerful strike that will cause 300% more damage than an ordinary strike.


    Cool down: 05 seconds.)


    "Level max? So my trait has a level limit for weapons?" Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Now that Terry thought about it, his trait would be stupid if the weapons could level up endlessly. In just a few days, he made one reach level twenty and be more than twenty times stronger, after all.


    "It must be the rarity level... since it ismon, the weapon can''t be enhanced further," Terry assumed. "I need more rare weapons to reach higher heights."


    "What is wrong?" Reba asked.


    "Nothing... you should use these two now," Terry said, passing the magic wands. "They have the same effects as the other and the same number of charges, and this should save us from using magic stones for a while."


    "You bought these for a cheap price... did they have that kind of ability before?" Reba asked and then noticed that learning too much could be a problem. "No... forget about it."


    One didn''t have to be a genius after watching Terry for so long to understand that he could enhance weapons. How and for long, those were the real questions. Once people understand that they stay like that forever and gain skills and effects, then a shit ton of people will want him in their guild or to buy his weapons.


    "I suppose I should make a stock of low-level weapons..." Terry thought. "Just them reaching level five should be enough."


    While Terry was thinking about that, he and Reba worked and hunted through the whole day and walked for around twenty kilometers, and they didn''t find any camp once again. No signs of the end of the forest either.


    "Yep, this dungeon is way different than the others," Terry said. "We will have to run toward the portal in order to leave before sunset."


    "I am fine; I feel strangely powerful with those knives. Running for one or two won''t be a problem," Reba said. "Putting that aside, maybe we should investigate things as well at night."


    "I suppose... but would the giants or their territory change in any way?" Terry asked. "I am sure that the others have thought of this as well."


    "I doubt that we can confirm or not this by asking the other guilds, so we can only rely on each other," Reba said.


    When they left the dungeon, they obtained 40k, and Terry could already tell that some people nearby were paying attention to them. It was no surprise, they made a lot of money, and they were unscathed despite their numbers. The attention wasn''t bad since it would be used to spread the name of the guild....but he needed to get some results to really attract possible members.


    While he was resting in his room, he had an idea, and he put it into practice the next day when they entered the dungeon. Before anything, he climbed the highest tree that he could find and then looked around. However, he only saw an immense jungle around... no signs of mountains or anything that the giants could use as a hideout.


    "Since there is nothing above..." Terry thought. "It is time to look below."


    "Do you think those big creatures would live underground?" Reba asked.


    "Did you notice anything weird with their skin?" Terry asked.


    "... They don''t have much of a tan considering the weather in this forest; I assumed that it was because of the trees protecting them from the sunlight," Reba replied after thinking for a short while.


    "We focused on letting them find us. Now let''s focus on finding them," Terry dered. "Keep your eyes open and follow any trail that we find... it should be faster if we follow the first group."

 Chapter 17: Hesitation

    <h4>Chapter 17: Hesitation</h4>


    Terry and Reba looked around and found some traces that ended in somerge bushes. It seemed that Terry''s guess was right, but when he confirmed that, he couldn''t help but wonder... How exactly could the giants leave the underground without leaving any traces behind?


    "They don''t look smart or skilled enough to build things like secret doors or entrances..." Terry said.


    "Now that you mentioned it..." Reba said while frowning. "Maybe among them, they have mages that can open and seal the entrances."


    That was a possibility, but Terry was already thinking about why they would live underground... did they have some sort of predator hunting them? Terry and Reba have only found some big insects so far.


    "They definitely came from here, but there are no signs of doors or anything the like," Reba said. "I also have been thinking, we killed a bunch of them in thest week, but never mind corpses, I didn''t even see traces of blood."


    "It is impossible to be sure since everything looks the same, but maybe we have been teleported to different areas of the same world," Terry said. "In any case, I guess I will buy a hammer... and smash the entrances of those ces with all my might."


    That was what Terry thought, but then he recalled something. He looked around for a moment and then checked the nearest trees. All of them seemed normal at first nce, but then his hand passed through a tree, and then he felt something on the other side draining his mana.


    When Terry approached his face, he saw that the tree was basically hollow, and it had a magic stone that made some chains move once it absorbed his energy. The bush began to move, and then a staircase was revealed.


    "... I still can''t believe that the giants made this," Reba said. "How did you guess that?"


    "I didn''t imagine this exactly. I just recalled that humans are also trained to create things using magic stones as a resource," Terry exined. "They seem all big and stupid, but we are only facing the warrior types, so maybe things underground are different."


    Reba nodded. Even goblins were split into many groups, after all. It wouldn''t have been weird if, over the years, one or other of them had mutated or changed to a different type of creature.


    Terry and Reba went down the stairs and then noticed that the interior was quite dark. Still, they found another magic stone on the side of the wall to close the entrance from inside. Reba returned to look for a stick and then grabbed some old pieces of rag that she had and created a torch.


    "I hope that this won''t reveal our approach," Reba said.


    "It is better than falling for a trap," Terry shrugged.


    Fortunately, the group didn''t have to walk for long in the tunnel. There weren''t any signs of traps either, so they didn''t have to stop. After five minutes, they found the end of the tunnel, and Terry realized that it was pretty small considering their size...


    Terry asked Reba to stay away from the entrance with the torch, and he approached the end of the tunnel, only to see many of those in the distance. There was arge area ahead with several giants living in a vige. It seemed like a natural cave, but the size was just too big... the ceiling was fifty meters above, and the area of the vige was located in an underground dome that was five hundred meters long and wide.


    "This isn''t what I was expecting..." Terry thought.


    The vige had some small houses, but only a few of them, and Terry was pretty sure they were only being used to store food and other things. He saw several beds made of straw and other nts around... the giants were either resting or mumbling something to each other. It was weird since Terry finally could see some giant women, but not kids. He didn''t find anyone that looked different from the usual giants either...


    Terry returned and exined to Reba what he saw. He could count around one hundred giants... it was a small number. They definitely hunted a lot more than those every day... but since they appeared all over the world, it made sense that they wouldn''t decrease the numbers of all camps.


    "One hundred of them?" Reba asked. "I don''t think that a direct confrontation is a wise idea here."


    "We can''t face them in the tunnels, and luring all of them to outside won''t work since they live underground already to stay hidden, and this will be their best ce to fight us," Terry exined. "We don''t have much of a choice, and we have to fight them there until we find the leader of the vige... it is annoying since we will have to bring their head to outside."


    "That is true, but you didn''t find the leader?" Reba asked. "Maybe they stand out in other ways..."


    The idea of bringing the head of the monster back to Earth didn''t bother Terry since those fuckers would invade if they had the chance. They had to get rid of them before they tried to destroy the world again. Still, fighting without thinking was Terry''s style...


    "Extinguish the torch. We will observe them for a while," Terry said. "Once we find their leader, we will wait for the right moment to attack."


    "Okay, I wasn''t expecting that the conquest of a dungeon would be like this, but I guess it is fine," Reba said. "It only means that we don''t have to be stupid murder hobos to survive in these chaotic times."


    "Agreed," Terry nodded.


    While Terry said that, he still thought that if he had the chance, he would decimate all the monsters. There was no need to be sorry for them. They were a part of a muchrger problem, and when the problem was too big, the smaller ones had to be dealt with as swiftly as possible...

 Chapter 18: Quick work

    <h4>Chapter 18: Quick work</h4>


    After watching the enemies through the darkness for two hours, Terry realized that they wouldn''t achieve anything just by watching. The monsters didn''t even try to leave the cave either...


    "There is something weird about this ce... those guys have other tricks aside from just hiding underground," Terry said. "We will need to attack them to make their leader show up."


    "Something simr happened when we attacked the goblins and the sahuagin," Reba nodded. "Their leader only showed up when we invaded their territory."


    Terry nodded... it would be easier just to assassinate their leader. Some people have the traits for that... maybe they don''t show up until a battle is imminent. Still, that means that a fight was unavoidable.


    "They don''t have long-range attacks, and this is the only way out. We can pull this off," Terry said. "We will attack them... this should work well as training."


    "I don''t like this idea... shouldn''t I need to retreat?" Reba asked. "I should be able to help more if I learn Mana Maniption."


    Things would get easier if Terry just used the magic wands. Their magic power would increase, helping Reba snipe them with a single shot and also gain other effects and skills. However, that would be too easy. So far, Terry had been training a lot, but he barely got hit... there mighte a time when that coulde and bite him in the back...


    "Just focus on covering for me," Terry said. "If something goes wrong, you run away. That is why you shouldn''t leave the tunnel."


    Reba sighed... she could understand where Terry wasing from. He also didn''t seem overconfident, and he always considered many things while making his choices. In the end, she could only nod.


    While Terry was focusing his senses on the battle, Reba thought of what she could do to help. Using the three wands wasn''t enough. Even if she hits all the enemies in the head, she will need to clear hits to kill them. At best, she will be able to kill one-third of them... leaving Terry to deal with the other seventy didn''t seem like a good idea.


    "Do you think we can attack them after checking those houses?" Reba asked.


    "... Do you think that they have weapons or other things that we can use?" Terry asked. "Even if that is the case, that will put you into a difficult spot... you won''t be able to retreat if things go South."


    "I just want to make sure that we will use everything possible on our side in order to win," Reba said.


    Approaching would be too dangerous... the monsters could notice them... at that point, Terry wondered why the monsters didn''t notice them yet? They always found them by walking in a straight line like they could sense their smell from hundreds of meters away, but now... was it because there was no wind? There were a lot of things that Terry needed to learn...


    "All right... let''s move toward those houses," Terry said. "We will try to infiltrate without being found, but if they find us, I will stop them for a while, and you will check the houses."


    Reba nodded. She knew that she had to move fast, but Terry had a card that he hadn''t shown yet, so he wouldn''t be much in a bind. They slowly began to circle around the camp using the darkness in the corner of the ce.


    While they moved very slowly, they reached their first target after five minutes, but they didn''t notice any of the giants moving. They began to walk toward the house and quickly noticed that it didn''t have windows... only the front door. In the end, they will have to expose themselves.


    Terry looked at Reba, and while holding back a sigh, she nodded. That was her idea, but she didn''t like the fact that she would have to let Terry fight without being exposed.


    Since he was going to expose himself, Terry could make sure that Reba wouldn''t be noticed for a while. With that in mind, he shed his spear three times on the back of the house and easily created an entrance. When the giants turned around after hearing the noise, they saw Terry jumping andnding at the top of the house.


    "Surprise, motherfuckers," Terry said.


    When the first enemies got up to fight him, Terry jumped with all his might and approached an enemy that was ten meters away before thrusting his spear at its head. The creature died instantly.


    The other giants tried to surround him, but Terry was the one running around and attacking the second target. The creature tried to kick him, but Terry just moved to the side and shed the middle of the enemy''s leg above the knee. The cut had been deep and hit the artery, and the monster was a goner.


    "Come to think of it, I can also hit that artery to deal with them," Terry thought when he saw three giants approaching.


    When the creatures tried to kick him at the same time, Terry used Deadly Jump. He reached the height just enough to attack the enemy''s head, but he felt that he could have reached a higher point if he had wished for it... nevertheless, he swung his spear and cut half of the enemy''s skull with a single strike.


    The monsters looked at Terry,pletely astonished. They didn''t think that someone so small would have that much power. All of a sudden, several of them jumped to smash him with their bodies. Terry didn''t have any ce to run, so he just braced himself for the impact after aiming his spear at the heart of one of the giants.


    The creature thatnded on top of Terry got killed instantly, but Terry had a hard time moving the body. Even without blocking, the defense of the spear protected him. In any case, he made quick work of those that had fallen nearby...

 Chapter 19: Under normal circumstances

    <h4>Chapter 19: Under normal circumstances</h4>


    After disposing of the enemies around, others approached, but they had a hard time due to the corpse. Terry used his crossbow to bother several of them while he dashed toward the next target. The enemy raised its guard with both arms, but Terry only smiled and then used Deadly Jump.


    The de of the spear wasn''t that long, and yet, it cut off the creature''s arms and its face a bit. When the creature grunt began to grunt on its feet, Terry saw another approaching from behind and swinging itsrge fist. However, a fireball flew and hit the enemy''s face on the side.


    "Sorry for my tardiness," Reba said. "There are too many things here, and most of them are trash."


    Terry sighed... she had to expose herself... his whole n was for her to snipe the enemies from a safe distance since Terry didn''t want to stop fighting and protect her if something happened...


    Reba quickly fired several fireballs that hit the enemies that were approaching. The explosions damaged their faces quite a bit, to the point that Terry could see their muscles, but then several of them began to run toward Reba.


    Terry jumped around using the corpses as tforms, but then he frowned when some of the giants approaching Reba began to fall... she had more firepower than expected... She didn''t hesitate in using the charges of the wands either.


    "Hahahaha! Don''t treat me like I am some weakling!" Rebaughed. "I will be the goddess of the new world... Just kidding. Don''t retreat too much, Terry. We can''t let them surround us. I will cover you."


    There were a lot of things that Terry wanted to say, but he turned around and looked at the enemies approaching. The best defense was a roundhouse kick on the enemy''s throat, and he was going to test that theory.


    Reba quickly disposed of the enemies that tried to surround her, and then she slowed down the ones around Terry with Ice Arrows. Terry used that chance to approach and destroy their brains... in a matter of minutes, half of the giants had been wiped out. It was a pity that Terry didn''t get experience with his weapons during that battle, but that was just a minor problem.


    All of a sudden, one of the giants began to tremble, and their skin began to turn head. The other giants looked at the creature and stopped moving, so Terry had an easy time finding it.


    "Is it turning into the leader of the tribe?" Terry thought while frowning. "The process with the goblins is a lot slower..."


    The list of things that Terry had to research was quickly increasing... In any case, Terry charged at the beast, but the other giants formed a wall around that one. They sure were being annoyed.


    "Terry!" Reba shouted.


    "Focus on decreasing their numbers, and we will make them regret ying defense," Terry said and then charged.


    As if the condition of victory were the arrival of the leader of the tribe, the remaining giants focused on defense. They didn''t move a single arm to attack. That annoyed Terry so much... that he began to bite his lips in annoyance.


    Terry used Deadly Jump left and right, which couldn''t kill them instantly like that, but Terry was fine, knowing that they would suffer a lot. The atmosphere began to change for some reason as the giants fell one by one... At first, Terry didn''t mind that, but then he noticed that the leader was yet to make its move, and they only began to transform when half of their allies had been killed... Terry didn''t have a good feeling about that, but he kept fighting.


    Eventually, there was a sea of corpses around, and only a red giant was left. The creature finally stopped trembling as soon as thest of its ally had fallen. Terry was one hundred percent sure that their leader could only appear when a certain number of them fell...


    The creature had gotten three meters taller, and a lot of steam was leaving its red flesh. The muscles looked like they were going to explode, and the eyes of the creature had turned white. It sure looked ominous...


    "This is..." Reba approached and then said it.


    "Keep a few meters of distance. I am pretty sure that I can''t stop the attacks of this thing under normal circumstances..." Terry said.


    Even if he used his spear, Terry felt that he wouldn''t win easily. It was finally his first real battle against an opponent that was much, much stronger than him.


    As soon as Reba moved away, the beast charged, and it was faster than a high-speed vehicle with all that mass. Terry used his spear to block the kick of the beast, only to be sent flying twenty meters away after spinning several times in the air. His arms began to hurt like hell... blocking truly wasn''t a good idea, but he wasn''t fast enough to run away... Terry realized all that before hended on the ground.

 Chapter 20: Punching and more punches

    <h4>Chapter 20: Punching and more punches</h4>


    When the monster charged again, Reba slowed down the beast with Ice Arrow, thest few that she could fire. Terry used that chance to attack and used Deadly Jump. Just as he had expected, he reached the height of the enemy''s head and swung his weapon, but the creature blocked the attack with its left arm...


    The de of the spear cut the flesh of the beast, but only a couple of centimeters, and that was nothing for a beast of that size... The monster hissed and then tried to smash Terry with its other arm, but Reba made a fireball explode in the enemy''s face. That bought Terry a single second, which he used to kick the enemy''s arm and move away while spinning in the air.


    Terry clicked his tongue when hended... even with Reba''s support, who apparently could recover a lot of mana during a battle, that will be difficult. Still, he dashed again toward the enemy. When he got within range, the beast tried to kick him, but Terry moved away and stabbed the heel of the creature; it only pierced a few centimeters, and the sudden st pushed him away two meters, but Terry didn''t give up.


    Terry recovered faster than the beast since its kick had been too long and powerful. So, he dashed again. The creature suddenly lowered its stance and tried to smash him with two arms, but a fireball exploded in its face. The monster lost sight of Terry for a moment and ended up missing. Terry used that chance to stab the right heel of the beast again... he did it with all his might, so a lot of blood gushed from the wound.


    The beast turned around to hit Terry, but he had already moved away and avoided the hit. He didn''t overstay his wee...


    When the beast turned around and took a step, more blood left the wound. Just another hit and Terry would damage the muscle and slow down the creature considerably. That was just a single step toward victory, but he was fine with taking things slowly...


    The beast, on the other hand, wanted to end that fight as soon as possible... so it is charged with protecting its head with both arms, the back, and the front. Reba hit the beast with fireballs, but the damage on the back was limited...


    Terry used Deadly Jump with all his might, and the beast ended up passing below him. At the same time, he swung his spear and opened a small wound on the top of the monster''s skull... that bone sure was tough...


    "I acted without thinking, but I guess it makes sense that even this skill can be used for mobility..." Terry thought.


    When the monster turned around and saw him, it got pissed since Terry lookedpletely calm... the monster was enraged, so that wasn''t surprising. More blood began to gush from the wounds as if that was showing Terry that the beast was red exactly because of that... and then lowered its stance even more and charged like a bull.


    Terry thought of dodging to the side, but then his body stopped... Reba was right behind him... he couldn''t run away. In the blink of an eye, Terry assumed his stance and readied himself. Several Fireballs were fired toward the enemy''s head, but he blocked them all with his arms that were protecting its face. Still, Terry was thankful for that... after clenching his teeth with all his might, he thrust his spear forward and toward the enemy''s head.


    The spear pierced the enemy''s arms and even reached the creature''s forehead since Reba had damaged them. However, it hadn''t been enough for Terry to kill it. The charge of the monster pushed him away and sent him flying even beyond Reba, that was fifty meters behind. She looked behind and saw Terrynding on the ground and then rolling on the floor.


    Reba wondered why she was so surprised... it was only natural that a boss battle would be that hard. Usually, more than twenty-five people would challenge a boss in order to get the dungeon. There was no shame in using such tactics against those massive beasts...


    Reba thought that Terry was invincible since he always fought with plenty of room to change his fighting style... but even that had a limit. When Reba turned around to attack the monster, she saw the beast trembling in pain while blood was falling from its forehead. Terry''s spear cracked the monster''s skull, and now the creature was paying the price for it... while grunting in pain.


    "That hurt..." Terry said while passing near Reba.


    "What... are you alright?" Reba asked.


    "The spear got stuck on the enemy''s arm. That was why I didn''t receive the full power of the attack," Terry exined. "I would have hit the walls if that were the case... I still feel like crap, though. Anyway, keep attacking. I am going to finish off the monster now."


    Reba thought that Terry was daydreaming. He also looked like crap since his nose and ears were bleeding. Another attack of that level surely would turn him into a pancake. Still, she decided to follow what he said and bombarded the enemy with her remaining mana.


    The arms of the beast got even more damage, and the grunts of the creature spread across the area. Meanwhile, Terry moved to the side while ring at the beast. When their eyes met, Terry fixed his broken nose and then increased the grip on the weapon.


    All of a sudden, Terry charged at the monster, and the creature got up while ignoring the pain. The beast began to run while ignoring Reba as well and tried to kick Terry, but then he used Deadly Jump...


    The red giant protected its face with both arms since it didn''t have any other choice, and the burn marks were shed by the spear... still, things didn''t end there... Terry threw the spear into the hole in the right arm of the monster, and the weapon pierced through it again before hitting the enemy''s skull.


    Terry didn''t get lucky enough to make his weapon also reach the wound in the forearm, but that didn''t matter. He punched the butt of the spear with all his might and made the weapon pierce the enemy''s skull...

 Chapter 21: Guild Master

    <h4>Chapter 21: Guild Master</h4>


    The pain paralyzed the creature for a moment and gave Terry a chance tond. Still, he quickly jumped again and punched with all his might the forehead of the enemy that was cracked.


    The red giant stopped moving altogether and then fell backward. Terry checked his gauntlets and confirmed that the beast had died. He wished that he could have thought of that strategy before he got hit like a bitch.


    Hard Gloves - Lv 09 (0/100 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 30


    Defense: 40


    Durability: 105/108


    (Triple Attack: a quick sequence of punches that causes a devastating amount of damage. If the three hitsnd on the head of the target, it will be stunned for a second.


    Cool down: 05)


    "It gave me a lot of experience... I am d that I changed weapons at thest minute," Terry thought, and then he felt his body screaming like a bit when he rxed. He even fell on his butt.


    "It seems that you pulled it off this time... but you should avoid this kind of fight in the future," Reba said while looking around.


    "Only for a short while..." Terry said and then got up. "Let''s check the warehouses of this ce."


    Magic items were hard to find, but monsters tended to store the items that they got from their targets that they defeated. Still, Terry was surprised that Reba found a skill book.


    "They probably didn''t have enough mana to use the spell, so they couldn''t learn the skill book," Reba exined.


    "Speaking of which, you sure used a lot of mana," Terry said.


    "It looks like I have a decent mana pool, but I also recover a decent amount over time and when killing enemies," Reba exined.


    People say that those that don''t awaken soon don''t have much potential, but if that wasn''t a sign of someone who had potential, Terry didn''t know what was.


    In any case, they found many types of weapons, but most of them were broken. The giants smashed them alongside their users... that being said, Terry found another skill book. When he touched it, he saw the image of an earth spear... it seemed that he could learn it, but he didn''t have much mana to use it more than two times.


    "You can keep this. It should give you some extra power," Terry said.


    "Thank you, I will make good use of it," Reba said.


    Aside from that, Terry found a blue longbow, another magic wand, and a shield. Come to think of it. Terry never tried to level up other items aside from weapons... However, he couldn''t even see the parameters of the shield, so it looked like his trait didn''t work on it.


    Icicle Longbow - Lv 0 (0/10) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 05


    Movement Speed Debuff: 1%


    Charges: 0/40


    Durability: 05/05


    Restoration Wand - Lv 0 (0/10) (Umon)


    Magic Power: 05


    Charges: 0/40


    Durability: 03/03


    Terry nodded to himself in satisfaction. Those two items sure woulde in handy. In any case, nothing else was worth bringing with them, so it was time to return, but there was onest bloody job that they had to do. Actually, two...


    Three hourster, they crossed the portal, and the people around opened their eyes widely when they saw the red giant''s head on Terry''s hands. One couldn''t deny that such a thing truly belonged to a boss.


    It was time to look for the government and make things official, but before that, some members of Void Guild and the Fire Troupe approached.


    "We congratte you two for your conquest. Our guild masters will like to talk with you about how things will work considering the usage of the dungeon. Can we borrow some of your time for that?"


    "Tomorrow at noon, we will talk with them," Terry dered.


    "Understood, they will be here,"


    After that, those random members nodded and then left. Some of the hunters began to pack their things, but others still stayed behind to offer support to their friends that were still inside.


    "We aren''t going to ask the people who already entered the dungeon today to pay the fee, so we don''t need to watch the portal," Terry said. "You should go home and rest for today. We will have many things to do tomorrow. I am going to the government building to make things official."


    "All right, see youter," Reba said and then left on the truck.


    The government building was in the central part of the City, so Terry had to walk for a while with the head in his hand. That was bothersome, but it also worked to promote his name and guild. Everyone knew how the giants were a pain in the ass, and his small guild found and defeated a boss when all the other guilds failed in doing so for a month.


    There were some hunters guarding the building, so they told Terry to identify himself. After not so long, one of the guards guided Terry to the reception after he asked to leave the head behind. Some blood was still falling from it, after all.


    In the end, the creation of a guild was a simple matter. Terry just had to talk with the receptionist on the first floor and then show his documents and the names of the members, and then everything was registered on aputer. However, it seemed that the receptionist did something else while he was registering the guild. That guy from the other day left the elevator and then approached Terry.


    "Ah, wee, Terry," Louis said. "You came here a lot sooner than I expected, and it seems that you have control over the dungeon as well now. We just need to agree on a few terms before you can exercise your function as a guild master."

 Chapter 22: Combination

    <h4>Chapter 22: Combination</h4>


    Terry checked in his memory if he had ever met someone who looked so annoying just by being nearby... he couldn''t recall any. That aura of a self-important businessman was truly annoying beyond reason.


    In any case, Terry didn''t say much after he went to a meeting room with Louis. He just paid attention to things... first of all, guilds could sell or not all the materials and magic stones that they could get inside a dungeon. However, they were asked to sell at least twenty-five percent of everything to help with the research of new technologies.


    The rate was higher than Terry obtained by dealing with the other guilds, so he couldn''t ask for more, and he would need to make a good amount of money since the guild was like a middleman between the hunters and the government.


    Aside from that, the guilds had to work with each other to protect the country if necessary, so they couldn''t fight in any situation. If a fight breaks out and people die, both sides will be punished. The government must have some powerful guys on their side if they think that they can stop superhuman fights.


    Another thing that they had to be mindful of was that they needed to share information with the government that was rted to the safety of the country. If something happens inside their dungeons, then they need to report things like monsters'' armies and whatnot.


    "Those are the most important points," Louis said.


    "I see. Then I will be waiting for someone to take the magic stones every day near the dungeon," Terry said and then got up.


    "Have you thought about what you are going to do regarding the security around the dungeon?" Louis asked.


    "I wille up with something," Terry said and then left the room.


    Terry didn''t even have enough members to make a full party, so there weren''t many options for that kind of thing. Reba could be trusted, so she could check things with the magic stones, but she also wanted to get stronger... they will have to look for someone trustworthy in a city that they just arrived in...


    When Terry arrived at home, he saw Reba and her siblings happily eating a cake. Her way of celebrating things was on the level of an elementary school kid.


    "Cake?" Reba asked.


    "I am fine," Terry said. "We will have to split some jobs until we have some more members, but are you seriously thinking of keeping fighting monsters?"


    "... I think that it would be more convenient for me if I were to do a job where I am close to them, but I can''t just hide forever," Reba replied. "While I am not at your level, I also want to do my part and make sure that the world is safe."


    "You can earn more by doing office work," Terry said.


    "Yeah, but... I want to, but... you see..." Reba hesitated since she also was a bit of a greedy person.


    Since Terry used the Restoration Wand to heal himself, he was feeling a lot better. However, the mental and physical exhaustion was bothering him more than a little. Once he rxed and dropped onto the bed, he slept until the next day. That was the result of achieving his first big goal.


    When morning came, and they were having breakfast, Terry told Reba about his next ns. First of all, they were going to need new members. Their target would be the people without traits and those with the weaker ones that had been ignored by the guilds.


    "Your goal this morning should be to keep an eye on the portal and spread the news about that," Terry said. "You can tell them that we will let their powerful weapons for their hunt and that we will only get forty percent of the cut."


    "Are you sure of that? I am certain that people are going to join even if you demand more of them," Reba asked. "Remember, our goal is to get loyal and trustworthy members. Being nice to them will do half of the job. Also, use your powers to tell if someone strong is trying to enter the guild. You can tell that, right?"


    "Yes, I can... somewhat," Reba said. "I am not certain since your strength is always changing. I am not sure if others can do that."


    "Well, just warn me if you find someone suspicious. That will be enough," Terry said. "I will meet with youter on the portal... no, I guess it won''t work if I do that..."


    Reba had no idea what was troubling Terry. He wanted to level up the weapons for the new members, so he couldn''t show up buying them across the city. He will have to make them the hard way like before, and people will frown when they see ordinary wooden spears...


    After thinking for a while, he thought that it would be fine once he did some demonstrations. First of all, he got most of the knives that he and Reba bought to make them level up. He wanted to test something with them...


    One hourter, he showed up in the area of the portal and confirmed that only a few people were around. That will help himter...


    Once he crossed the portal, Terry looked for the exit, but he found nothing after a while, only other giants... he didn''t have good senses like Reba. In any case, while wearing his hard gloves, Terry threw the knives at the enemies, and he confirmed that they flew like the wind and pierced the flesh of the giants... he couldbine the power of two weapons like that.

 Chapter 23: Requirements to join

    <h4>Chapter 23: Requirements to join</h4>


    Thanks to his aim and the gloves'' power, Terry managed to level up ten knives to level five in just one hour. His hard gloves also improved a fair bit, enough to gain a new effect.


    Hard Gloves - Lv 10(50/110 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 33


    Defense: 44


    Durability: 114/120


    (Triple Attack: a quick sequence of punches that causes a devastating amount of damage. If the three hitsnd on the head of the target, it will be stunned for a second.


    Cool down: 05)


    (Iron Defense: passively increases the user''s defense by ten percent.)


    "I guess this is enough for the new weapons that I need to make... now I want to put the bow into practice," Terry thought.


    Terry had practiced with all sorts of weapons while he waited to be called for a guild. Bows weren''t an exception. However, he had to make him, and getting used to them took a bit of time. Still, since the weapon was of pretty good quality, Terry more or less had an easy time handling the weapon, and he actually could hit things ten meters away from him.


    While he was practicing, the weapon leveled up once, and his excellent range improved as well... just like the other weapons, it would improve his ability, but it didn''t seem like a good idea to keep it equipped since it didn''t provide him any defensive power.


    "Well, I should be fine here since we have been here for many days without finding anyone," Terry thought. "Leveling up the bow a few times will definitelye in handy."


    It didn''t take for Terry to find some giants, and as expected, he didn''t kill them on the first strike. In fact, it took him a while since he had to focus on using the trees to block their attacks. However, four or five attacks on their bodies were enough to kill them... the headshots should be an instant kill.


    In any case, Terry hunted for three hours, and then he worked on getting the magic stones. It was time to meet the other guild masters... Although he had left twenty minutes before noon, he found two people waiting for him, and behind them, there were some hunters. One didn''t have to be a genius to understand who they were.


    The guild master of the void guild was a woman armed with daggers that had really short hair. Usually, someone like her would stand out enough, but the fact that she used some really revealing clothes made her stand out even more. To increase her mobility, she was basically only covering her hips and chest.


    The other guild master was a tall and quite muscr man. He had an extensive Warhammer on his back. Muscr men who use big weapons tend to pass more confidence to their soldiers. Still, Terry could only imagine that being that big would slow him down. Regardless, he had spiky ck hair and was wearing a light set of dark armor.


    "I am Mary," the redhead said. "The guild master of the void guild."


    "My name is Oliver," The big guy said. "Guild master of the Fire Troupe."


    Terry almost asked if his name would be John, but those two didn''t seem the type who would take jokes well. Being a hunter for too long makes people lose their sense of humor.


    "I would offer some chairs for you to sit down on, but things are still starting here," Terry said. "You two must be busy individuals, so you can cut to the chase. Anyway, I don''t n on doing things differently than the other guilds, so I will keep the usual rates for members of other guilds."


    "Good. What about finding the camps of the enemies?" Oliver asked.


    "That is up to everyone, right?" Terry asked. "That information is too valuable to give it for free, but I assure you all that not knowing won''t put any of you at risk."


    "There are rumors spreading that you have weapons that can make even weak people face the giants. Did you obtain them after defeating one boss?" Mary asked after she crossed her arms.


    "How much are you willing to pay for that information?" Terry asked.


    The air got a bit tense. They knew that Terry didn''t have any reason to reveal things for free, but since he was a neer, they expected that he would try to get on their good side. Unless they did something for him, Terry had no reason to help them. In the end, they left as soon as they realized that. Their visit there was only for the sake of appearances to have a verbal agreement regarding taxes on the use of the dungeon.


    "I guess their members will starting tomorrow... I need to get more money since I have a bad feeling about their attitude," Terry thought.


    "I am starting to think that you have the talent to annoy others..." Reba said while she saw those two leaving. "Anyway, a lot of kids who want to awaken their traits told me that they want to join the guild... what are you going to do about that?"


    Terry didn''t consider that... enlisting those below fifteen was a bit too much, even if they were to awaken to powerful traits. After hearing about their numbers, Terry realized that ten knives wouldn''t help. His fame was quickly spreading, and the potential of the Stormcallers was increasing as well... maybe Terry should be a bit bold now.


    "I am sending you some money. Use it to buy metal bars that can be used as quarterstaffs," Terry dered. "They will be better than knives against the giants."


    "I guess so... in any case, I should look for some people to offer support outside fighting as well," Reba said. "Do you mind if I hire them?"


    "You can, but remember only loyal and trustworthy people," Terry replied.

 Chapter 24: Spartan

    <h4>Chapter 24: Spartan</h4>


    Reba found a lot of metal bars that once were used in gyms, they were a bit heavy, but they also would grant a shit ton of durability and defense once they level up.


    They were good enough to offer three points of attack and defense each, and since Terry used two of them while his hard gloves were equipped, he didn''t have a hard time leveling them up. When night came, Terry had made thirty of them reach level five, but he had to stop and get the magic stones.


    When Terry left, he found Reba giving some orders for a man and a woman. She was ready to leave since the sun had set, and she couldn''t leave her siblings alone. If the job was just to keep watching the entrance of the dungeon, anyone could do it, as long as they didn''t belong to other guilds.


    "Perfect timing," Reba said. "I am returning. What about you?"


    "I will stay here. Did you buy more metal poles?" Terry asked.


    Reba pointed to a box nearby. In the end, she took those Terry had already leveled up back home, and Terry took the others back to the dungeon. It was a bit dangerous to fight at night in the middle of a dense forest, but Terry could easily repel the giants'' attacks now and then smash their heads with a single strike.


    In any case, Terry waited for a while until some officers of the government showed up to buy the magic stones he got in thest few days. They just counted them, and Terry earned more than 105k... he was already thinking about what he wanted to buy. Still, he had to keep some to buy the magic stones of the other hunters... he just had to be patient because more money would roll in now...


    When morning came, Terry took a quick nap outside the dungeon, and when he woke up, he found Reba and twenty people ready to follow them. This time, Reba was going as well, and the guards of the night had been changed by the guards of the day, and they were going to ept the enlistment of people over fifteen as well. Terry also saw arge group of hunters from the other guilds ready to enter the dungeon...


    "With those numbers, I should be fine, money-wise..." Terry nodded to himself.


    "Everyone is ready to go," Reba dered. "Also, I heard that against bigger groups, the giants can appear up to ten members per party. It should be fine, right?"


    "Yeah, it should," Terry replied. "Still, we will split them into groups of ten just in case. We will offer our support, but the goal here is also to check those who have the guts to fight."


    Terry didn''t tell them that the metal poles had been Enhanced. He was nning to exin thatter to those who end up joining, at least a bit of his power. Telling something like Terry''s mana enhances the weapons for a while should be enough...


    The group crossed the portal, and Terry watched them. They were tense but not afraid. That was a good sign. After splitting the groups, Terry made the first group step forward. It didn''t take long for them to hear the sound of giants approaching.


    "No one is going to die here, but we need to see you guys in action," Terry said. "Reba... only attack the enemies that are almost there from hitting them."


    "That is... quite Spartan," Reba frowned. "At least give them a demonstration."


    Terry didn''t want that since it would be too easy for the others to feel confident after seeing the weapons in action. In the end, Terry grabbed one and then prepared to fight the enemies... when the first approached and tried to kick him, Terry blocked the attack. The attack pushed him a few centimeters away, but only that. After that, Terry swung the weapon at the knee of one of the giants and made the creature grunt in pain.


    The wound of the knee quickly turned blue and then purple, making everyone understand that a single hit had been enough to break the bones. After that, Terry picked his bow, and then the others charged at the giants. Some of them focused on blocking, and some on dodging. The results varied quite a bit, but at least they stopped the enemies'' advance.


    Since some of them didn''t have experience fighting in a jungle, they tripped after stepping back. At that moment, Terry and Reba put some ice arrows on the target''s skull that approached them. The same thing happened a few times until the new group realized that Terry and Reba truly were watching their back.


    After that, the group disyed more courage to fight the enemies. No one wanted to look pathetic while missing a good opportunity in life after all.


    Eventually, they began to fight better, they also began to defend against the attacks instead of just running away, and that gave more chances for the others to attack the enemies. Things were progressing really well...


    Soon, the battle was over, and Terry gave the knives to the recruits to take the magic stones. That job was bloody, but they had to get used to it. The second group did a bit l better when it came to fighting since they knew how strong the metal poles were...


    "It seems that things are going well," Reba approached Terry and said.


    "This is just the start, so don''t get toofortable with the current situation," Terry said.


    Terry was nning to do some hunting by himself and destroy a lot of the enemy''s camps in the afternoon. After all, the red giants granted him a shit ton of experience. Still, he worked diligently helping the recruits, and from that group, no one looked suspicious, so they entered the guild.

 Chapter 25: Astonishment

    <h4>Chapter 25: Astonishment</h4>


    From that point on, one week passed. Every day, Terry and Reba would help twenty recruits in the morning to make them get some battle experience and confidence. In the afternoon, he would hunt by himself.


    Although he had nned to destroy more camps once the bow reached level ten, he had a lot of things to take care of, so he dyed that. Still, in those seven days, the money that he got every day practically doubled, so he eventually bought a nearby building to work as the headquarters of the ce, and he also gave the new members the task of managing things inside now and then. That was easy to do since he had 150 of them now, and everyone wanted to be on his good side.


    "Nothing major to report today?" Terry asked.


    "No, more members from the other guilds are checking the dungeon, though," Reba exined. "They believe that you got a magic item that enhances other weapons, and that is why everyone can fight here. They don''t think there is a trait like that, so they are in search of the enemy''s camps more than ever in search of the magic items."


    "I see... by the way, have you guys moved already?" Terry asked.


    "Yes... those two feel a bit restless living in such arge ce, though," Reba replied.


    Their headquarters was a building that had been finished recently to be the headquarters of the guild that was going to take the dungeon. Since it had been a cooperative task between the Void Guild and the Fire Troupe, no one expected that a third party would get that.


    In any case, the building had everything. Bedrooms, showers, arge refectory, warehouse. Everything for a guild of five hundred or so people. Chris and Ruth and living in such a ce for security reasons, so it was hard to call it home.


    "Choose some people from the recruits to be guards, only those who have no history with other guilds, and we can trust as usual," Terry said.


    "Roger that," Reba said. "Anyway, it is weird, isn''t it? A few weeks ago, we werepletely broke, and now..."


    "That''s the disparity of those who live in the dungeon society and those who don''t," Terry said. "The government was quick to make its basic functions keep going to keep people under their watch. Thanks to that, money didn''t lose its value, and we can do a lot and obtain with it."


    "That makes sense..." Reba said and then sighed.


    "Anyway, I will leave the recruits in your hands from now on," Terry said. "I am going to look for the camps until the next step."


    "And that would be..." Reba asked.


    "That needs to be a surprise," Terry smirked.


    "That only makes me worry..." Reba said.


    Icicle Longbow - Lv 11 (0/120) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 70


    Movement Speed Debuff: 12%


    Charges: 40/40


    Durability: 17/17


    (Critical Charge: when dealing critical damage on the target, you recover one charge automatically.)


    (Cold of War: When hitting the same opponent three times with the arrows of this bow, you put them under the ''frostbite'' status effect and make them lose five points of health per second for five seconds.)


    While Terry was heading to the dungeon, he checked his longbow. The weapon improved quite a lot, and its attack power made it the most powerful weapon that he had. However, even with that, Terry still had the endurance of a normal human being. It was really surprising how strong and weak he could be at the same time.


    "Anyway, it is time to see this bad boy in real action," Terry thought.


    Once Terry crossed the portal, he walked around in circles while marking the trees in order not to get lost. He marked them with arrow marks pointing to the directions he went, and since the circle increased, he eventually found the portal to leave. Still, he just moved in the direction the enemies came from after that.


    Although Terry could easily snipe them now when they were thirty meters away, he decided to fight them with his gloves. Only when he found their nearest hideout, he equipped the longbow.


    "I wonder when I will find any clues about why they live underground..." Terry thought while he was looking at the entrance. "My current guess is that they are running away by living underground, and they onlye out when there is food... still, that would mean that they didn''t build these shelters..."


    Those thoughts left Terry''s mind after he entered the tunnel with a torch in hand... he didn''t have the leisure to lose his focus in enemy territory.


    In the end, Terry felt that the tunnel was as long as the other one, and he also found a simr camp at the end of it. All that repetition was also starting to bother him... it felt unnatural.


    Regardless, what Terry had to do didn''t change a thing. Kill the fuckers before theye to Earth... the number of the giants was a bit higher than before; they had around 130 on their side. It didn''t look like Terry could keep hitting them with critical hits, but he certainly wanted to try.


    Terry approached the enemy''s camp until they finally began to get up upon noticing him... then he began to fire his arrows. The first target didn''t move, so Terry had an easy time pulling an arrow on the back of its head.


    The next two got close to him, but Terry let them do that to put arrows in their eye sockets. That was dangerous, but at least they didn''t have time to dodge them, and Terry recovered the charges. Several others approached him, but Terry killed twenty of them one after the other without moving from his spot.


    At that point in time, the enemies couldn''t help but be astonished...

 Chapter 26: Enraged beast

    <h4>Chapter 26: Enraged beast</h4>


    While the enemies were shocked, Terry took his time to aim at one giant that was sixty meters away. The creature raised its arms to block the attack, but the arrow flew in a straight line, piercing through the arm and hitting the eye. Another critical hit...


    "If you aren''ting, I am fine with this as well," Terry said, making another arrow appear on his hands.


    Several giants dashed at him as if they had understood his words. That didn''t matter, though... Terry kept firing and firing, but they could and managed to approach him with those numbers. When the first enemy tried to kick him, Terry jumped to the side with all his might while aiming another arrow at the enemy''s head. Before he couldnd, he killed two other giants.


    While it wasn''t on the same level as Melee weapons, Terry learned that his physical Strength was still boosted ording to the weapon that he was holding. For melee weapons, for every five points in attack power, he obtained power that increased his physical fitness by one hundred percent. The same thing could be applied to his defense.


    However, the rate was a lot lower for ranged weapons. It was three times weaker... still, he could do a lot, considering the high attack power of the bow.


    "Doing those experiments over the week paid off," Terry thought while looking at the shocking monsters.


    Terry kept attacking until the giants did something unexpected... they began to raise the bodies of their allies and use them as shields while they approached him. Now it was his time to be surprised...


    In the end, Terry just got rid of that and then kept attacking like usual. His arrows couldn''t pierce the bodies of the giants that easily, but he still aimed at their necks, and two hits had been enough to pierce through the necks of the corpses and then hit those behind them.


    Their n didn''t work so well, so the giants changed their strategy again... they began to throw the corpses at Terry... he had a hard time dodging up to five bodies being thrown at him, but eventually, he ran out of charges and then equipped his hard gloves.


    Hard Gloves - Lv 18(50/110 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 54


    Defense: 76


    Durability: 199/206


    (Triple Attack: a quick sequence of punches that causes a devastating amount of damage. If the three hitsnd on the head of the target, it will be stunned for a second.


    Cool down: 05 Cool down.)


    (Iron Defense: passively increases the user''s defense by ten percent.)


    (Sonic Punch: A technique that grants the user the power to charge at the enemy at super speeds and punch them, causing damage equal to two hundred percent of its attack power.


    Distance: 10 meters. Cool down: 05 seconds.)


    Terry ran toward the enemies, and once he got close enough, he used Sonic Punch on the first. He hit the target''s left leg, and then the bone brokepletely, making the lower part of the leg bent to a weird position. The beast grunted in pain while it was falling, but Terry ignored it when a massive leg approached him.


    Instead of running away, Terry just lowered his posture and then hit the enemy''s leg with a right straight. Both of them trembled a little... It was a bit too soon for Terry to overpower such creatures with a single punch, but at least his punch broke the bones that he hit. The reason for that was the fact that he hit a small area... his attack power was more concentrated.


    Three other giants approached and swung down their fists to smash Terry at the same time, but he jumped to the side and dodged them. In the next moment, a dust curtain emerged from the ground, and then the sound of something cracking echoed around... soon after, one of the Giants fell on the ground with his forehead cracked and purple. When the other two tried to move away, Terry used Sonic Punch in one of them and then smashed its face.


    That battle looked like it would take a while, but after five minutes, the hard gloves reached level twenty, and they couldn''t level up further. However... They obtained an interesting effect.


    (Final Effect: Power Boost.


    Power Boost: temporarily increases your attack power by two points after defeating an enemy without suffering damage.)


    Terry smiled... that will be useful. He got even more mindful of the enemies'' attacks and focused on dodging. When one enemy showed an opening, he attacked them with Sonic Punch or Triple Attack. It didn''t take long for Terry to obtain the strength to repel their attacks with his fists alone and even without skills...


    Thanks to that, after ten minutes, almost all of the enemies had been defeated. Only the red giant was still alive. However, the creature was a bit bigger than the previous one... around two meters.


    "What the heck..." Terry thought. "The more they see their allies dying, the stronger they get?"


    Terry wondered if that was the trait of their tribe or if only those who had that trait could be the boss of their camps. It was a powerful trait and quite broken, so it made sense. It also made sense that they could only appear after a while.


    The creature charged at him like a mad bull, but Terry already knew what it could do and had considered how much stronger it waspared to the previous red giant. So, he dodged the first attack quite easily after jumping...


    After the monster hit nothing, it slowed down and turned around. Only to see Terry approaching and then suddenly punching the creature''s face with Sonic Punch, followed by Triple Attack. The monster''s face was thrown from one side to the other until the stun effect ended, and Terry jumped backward.


    Although most of the face of the creature was red, there was a blue wound getting bigger there as well. The throbbing pain enraged the beast...

 Chapter 27: Ranking system

    <h4>Chapter 27: Ranking system</h4>


    Kicks, punches, body ms... the red giant used all that to get Terry, but it failed every single time. Terry was slower. That was why he kept a distance to react to the enemy''s attacks. The beast was faster, but it wasn''t skilled inparison to Terry, so it couldn''t stop him in the middle of the attack.


    Every time the beast missed an attack, Terry would approach and then hit the same spot on the face with Sonic Punch and Triple Attack. Eventually, the creature tried to protect the wound with its hands, but Terry''s punches still passed through their defense and cracked the skull of the creature until it sustained enough brain damage to make it impossible to move. After that, Terry finished the creature with some arrows in the head.


    Truth be told, Terry could have finished things earlier if he had attacked the back of the enemy''s head instead of the face. However, he wanted more battle experience.


    Icicle Longbow - Lv 15 (55/160) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 95


    Movement Speed Debuff: 15%


    Charges: 40/40


    Durability: 22/22


    (Critical Charge: when dealing critical damage on the target, you recover one charge automatically.)


    (Cold of War: When hitting the same opponent twice with the arrows of this bow, you put them under the ''frostbite'' status effect and make them lose five points of health per second for ten seconds.)


    (Sniper: doubles the range of the arrows fired by this bow.)


    "Hmm... this effect isn''t so bad, but I was waiting for a skill," Terry frowned. "Oh, well... Time to check their warehouses."


    Speaking of warehouses, it was about time for Terry to open the shop of his guild as well. Since the giants couldn''t be used in any way, then, he would have to sell the loot after making them level up a bit. Selling the weapons that his members were using was too dangerous. Terry still wanted to keep his trait hidden for a while longer...


    In any case, Terry found some more low-level skill books and a lot of trash. About things that he could actually sell were some low-level weapons and wands that he would have to level up first... Still, considering that even at level five, the items were better than his bow when it was a level one, he should make at least 10k from each.


    Terry worked on that for the rest of the day instead of looking for more camps of giants. It would be weird if he suddenly appeared with a lot of loot. He had to build his stock slowly...


    When Terry left the dungeon, it was mid-afternoon, and he found Reba organizing some papers with the people she had hired. She was trying to do her best while she was also being pestered by her siblings.


    "Ah! It is the old man with the angry face!" Chris said.


    "Whatchu say?" Terry asked. "It is time for you to be punished, you snotty little brat."


    Terry grabbed the kid by his arms and threw him upward. Chris flew for over ten meters before he began to fall. Terry held back quite a bit, so he was surprised when he got that high... in any case, Terry easily grabbed him and adjusted his arm movements so as not to hurt him.


    "This should teach you. I am just 18," Terry said.


    "Do it again!" Chris said.


    "No way. Are you a maso, kid?" Terry asked. "This was punishment."


    "... Me too," Ruth asked while pulling Terry''s shirt.


    "What the... how did you raise those kids?" Terry asked while frowning. "Are you raising kids of fearsome warriors?"


    "You are unbelievable..." Reba said and then sighed. "To be honest, you look ten years older when you are deep in thought, and you are like that most of the time."


    It was Terry''s turn to sigh... he couldn''t understand people anymore. Isn''t everyone fearful of heights until they get superpowers? He sure was like that... in any case, he threw Ruth upward as well and called it a day. Chris bothered him for a while, and Terry eventually gave up.


    "It was a good time for you to start selling some items. It seems that some people are nning to change guilds to have ess to the weapons that you make," Reba said while Terry was throwing the kids to the sky.


    "I suspected that something like that would happen if they aren''t hiding that they belonged to other guilds, then it will be hard to tell if they are nning to cause trouble," Terry said. "Do they know that all the items must return to the weaponry after being used?"


    "I informed them of that, but a lot of people are still registering. The test for the recruits ispletely full for three weeks," Reba replied.


    Twenty people were being tested every day, so that means that at least 420 more people wanted to join the guild. That would increase the ie a lot more, but Terry still couldn''t help but worry... a problem was bound to happen.


    "Can''t we just lend the weapons to those who have weak traits and are inexperienced?" Reba asked.


    "That might also cause problems... it isn''t good to give special treatment to some and leave others behind," Terry replied. "Although I said that, I suppose I will have to create a ranking system in the guild. The older members and those that contribute the most to the guild will increase in rank and then will be able to use better weapons."


    "I don''t think that we need better weapons to deal with the giants. Everyone barely returns wounded from the hunts," Reba said.


    "For now, yes, but soon we will have the need for better weapons," Terry exined. "Also, only those with high rank wille with me to other dungeons."


    "I see what you are thinking..." Reba nodded.

 Chapter 28: Magitech

    <h4>Chapter 28: Magitech</h4>


    While Terry was working to build the shop of the guild with merchandise, he also hunted some camps in order to build the weapons that his guild members would use after a while. During that time, he confirmed that the bow could surpass level twenty and he also was lucky enough to get a skill, but it wasn''t an ultimate one like the hard gloves and the spear had.


    (Triple Shot: consumes three charges to fire three arrows at the same time at the target, causing the usual damage plus twenty percent per arrow.)


    "It is a pretty good skill... it would have been even better if the number of charges increased," Terry thought.


    Around the same time, Terry decided to pass his spear to Reba, he barely used it, and since she goes hunting with the others often, it would work well on her hands. It would advertise to everyone that the most loyal members of the Stormscallers also could get those items to use.


    "Are you sure?" Reba asked.


    "Yeah, even if you have a lot of mana, your defensive skills, and your physical attacks are low. They should cover those problems," Terry exined. "Rather than that, have you heard anything recently?"


    "I heard some rumors that a new dungeon appeared in New York as well, but when I asked the people in the government office, no one confirmed or denied it," Reba replied.


    "Keep an eye on rumors about people leaving the city inrge groups, even at night. That should create some rumors," Terry said. "If we hear about them, then we can confirm that Louis and his pals are ying favorites with the other guilds."


    "What if we don''t hear anything?" Reba asked.


    "Then it will mean that either the hunters from there managed to clear the dungeon or the officers are asking people from other areas to help," Terry replied. "I should be able to buy a military aircraft soon, and that will grant us some extra mobility. Speaking of, are you keeping an eye on the best Hunters of the guild?"


    "Yes, some of those that awakened after joining the guild has some useful traits, and those made them stand out," Reba nodded. "Things are starting to stabilize, and I think we won''t find many problems since most of our members really are afraid of you."


    "I don''t remember doing much aside from walking with the head to scare them," Terry said.


    "That was plenty," Reba said.


    Terry confirmed after a few days that his guild members truly were fearful of him. They avoided eye contact, and when he looked at them for too long, they would begin to sweat coldly.


    That was useful to impose respect, but it was a bit troublesome since Terry needed to be somewhat close to the strongest guys... Regardless, around the time Terry was thinking about that, someone troublesome showed up at his guild. It was Louis.


    "Well, things certainly improved faster here," Louis said while looking around and smiling. "It had been a while, Terry. How have you been?"


    "What is it?" Terry asked.


    "Always straight to the point like an arrow," Louis shrugged, unfazed by Terry''s attitude. "Today, I havee with an invitation for you. You must have heard that a new dungeon showed up in New York, and it is quite troublesome. Unlike the others that took some time for monsters toe, that one began to pour out creatures of the dungeon on the very same day. So, the government decided to deal with the matter as soon as possible to avoid future problems. To be able to do that, we invited several guild masters that are nearby to join the expedition."


    Reba, who was nearby, nodded after hearing that. It was the next step that Terry had mentioned. It was their chance to expand their influence and power even more. Still, it seemed that Terry wouldn''t be able to use his guild members. So, aside from a mission to protect New York, it will also be apetition between guild masters.


    "What else do you know?" Terry asked.


    "We can''t spread panic, and we can''t spread ssified information, so we can only tell what we know to those that agree to join," Louis said. "An aircraft will leave for New York in two days, and there you can be informed about the situation if you decide to join, that is all."


    Louis left after saying that. While Terry was thankful for it, his dramatic exit had only the goal of luring him for the mission. Terry was going to ept it anyway, but he truly hated Louis'' games, he operated like he was some sort of genius, but he was just annoying as a kick in the balls.


    "It seems things are going ording to your n," Reba said.


    "Not exactly, I didn''t imagine that they would call only guild masters for this," Terry exined. "They either want to measure our powers in action, or they want to make us cooperate more often in order if something happens in the future."


    "Well, things will be fine here if you stay away for a few weeks, everyone can borrow enough weapons daily," Reba said. "I highly doubt that the other guild masters will let go of this opportunity to obtain a new dungeon. That also would damage their reputation if you leave for the mission. So, I also doubt that problems between the guilds will happen."


    "... I will buy the newest cellphones that work with magic stones, that way, you can inform me if something happens," Terry said.


    "Ah, those models... are a bit weird," Reba frowned.


    The government managed to develop some cell phones recently that used magic stones, and they worked while reading the spare around them and emitting to the other side. It was basically a method ofmunication that used holograms... Terry wondered how they could develop something like that so soon... but the real problem was the cost. Half a million each... but they could be used whenever, and each magic stone made them work for five minutes... Terry had to pay the price.

 Chapter 29: Adrenaline junkie

    <h4>Chapter 29: Adrenaline junkie</h4>


    "I guess everything has been taken care of," Terry said on the night before the trip. "While I will count on you to manage the guild while I am away, don''t hesitate to call me if something happens."


    "All right," Reba said. "I won''t take any chances and make mistakes, so you can rx."


    "That puts me at ease. Wait for good news about our next branch," Terry said.


    Terry couldn''t let anyone notice that he was going to leave for a while, so he was going to leave his room in the darkness of the night. In any case, his confidence was quite refreshing, so Reba didn''t feel nervous about managing a guild that had hundreds of members in his ce.


    Although he had nned to sleep for a while, in the end, even Terry wasn''t someonepletely free of worries and tension, so he stayed awake until three in the morning, and then he left for the airport.


    Only those working for the government knew about that, and the soldiers also had been informed about Terry''s arrival, so they opened the gate without a fuss when he showed up.


    In the distance, Terry saw a single military aircraft ready to depart, so he walked toward it. Terry also found a group of people prepared to enter the vehicle. They were Mary, Oliver, and Louis.


    "It seems everyone epted the offer. I am d," Louis said. "Aside from a few others who are going to travel with us to transport resources, we are the main team of Chicago. Don''t hope too much for me, though. I am a weakling."


    Louis waited for someughter, but after a while, he sighed. No one was there to waste time, and his attitude only worsened the mood.


    They entered the vehicle and then sat down and waited for the departure. This time, Terry took a quick nap but soon woke up once the engines began to work. It didn''t seem like that aircraft used magic stones as fuel, so it was no surprise that it was so noisy.


    Once the trembling stopped, Terry thought of taking another nap. Still, the eyes of the others that were looking at his weapons didn''t let him... Greed people sure were troublesome.


    "Do you guys want to buy the bow?" Terry asked.


    "... Don''t joke around," Mary asked.


    "Fifty million. I will give you guys a discount right now," Terry said. "This will be myst offer, and it will end in five minutes."


    "You must be insane..." Oliver said while frowning.


    Terry shrugged. They will change their minds once they see the bow in action... in any case, the area got weirdly quiet since the noise Louis was talking with the pilots. It was about time for the briefing, but he was taking his sweet time... after half an hour, he showed up.


    "About the mission... it seems that the opponents this time belong to a pretty smart species," Louis said. "When a link between two worlds appears, we are usually the first ones to move since, most of the time, the enemies on the other side are monsters that can''t even speak, but things are different this time. We are focused on defending, and your arrival is supposed to change that."


    "What are the enemies, and what can they do?" Mary asked.


    "We decided to call them mechanical warriors since they have weapons made of metal that can cover their skin and offer some extra protection," Louise said with a serious expression on his face. "Defeating them usually would mean that we would be able to use their weapons and armor, but those get a lot smaller. We assumed that this metal fed on their mana to grow the way they needed."


    That was a weird type of metal if Terry had even heard about one. Still, if they could be a weapon, then his trait could work on them, and then perhaps he will be able to use their full power. A weapon that could be armor as well. That was what Terry truly needed.


    "As for their appearance, they are humanoids, but they are a lot tougher than humans. A party of six medium-ranked hunters is the minimum necessary to face one of them, and most of the time, one of them still dies," Louis said. "Aside from their weapons that can be anything they need from several types of weapon to armor, they have a rough gray skin that offers them a lot of resistance as well. They were all muscr and around two and a half meters tall. To the very core, they are a species way more suited tobat than humans."


    That sure made things more interesting. Lately, Terry felt bored even while hunting the camps of the enemies by himself. He didn''t know if he was getting reckless or if he was just an adrenaline junkie.


    Although he wanted to hear more, Terry frowned when Louis ended his exnation there. It looked like seeing them by themselves would be better than any exnation.


    After a couple of hours, the aircraftnded at New York airport, and Terry saw some airnes around. They had beennded a bit earlier, bringing the guild masters from other states as well.


    "Should we go to the hotel or the dungeon first?" Louis asked.


    "Dungeon," Terry, Mary, and Oliver said in unison.


    "I guess it is too early to rest, and you guys have superhuman stamina," Louis shrugged.


    Terry wanted to see those creatures as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the other two wanted to use as many chances as possible to get the dungeon under their control.


    In any case, Louis asked someone to borrow one of the many jeeps of the army parked there, and then they headed toward the dungeon.

 Chapter 30: Leader

    <h4>Chapter 30: Leader</h4>


    The city of New York had been mostly restored since a lot of dungeons appeared there. So, there were a lot of guilds around. Since it would be more convenient for them, they restored the city.


    Still, the dungeon that they were heading to was located in the middle of Long Ind. So, it was a critical spot... since the number of exits in case of evacuation was limited.


    Unlike his hometown, Terry didn''t see many parts of the city that had people wearing rags and looking as thin as fuck. The situation there was a lot better... to the point that Terry even saw some kids ying around while armed hunters were heading to the dungeon. The closer to a guild or dungeon, the more repaired a ce can be, but it was also dangerous now that monsters were crossing the portal.


    Eventually, they reached the dungeon zone of the area. Which was two kilometers radius around the portal. Only hunters could cross it... it didn''t take long for them to hear the sound of the fighting in the distance and some smoke rising to the sky as well...


    When they found the final blockade of soldiers, the group was forced to leave the jeep and proceed on foot.


    "Although this might be dangerous for me, I will apany you to introduce you to the others," Louis said. "I will be counting on you to protect me. We are a team, after all, right?"


    No one said yes, as expected. Terry wasn''t the only one that was annoyed by Louis'' behavior and words. It didn''t take long for them to find some tents around in the area around the portal. Alongside Terry, Mary and Oliver frowned when they saw the extrarge portal. It was ten meters tall, two times bigger than the others.


    "This is supposed to be confidential as well, but the portals can grow; once they be twenty meters long and tall, they explode, destroying everything in the area and bringing a massive army of monsters to this side," Louis exined. "Few people survived those events, and those that did it had to run for their lives."


    "Where did that happen already?" Oliver asked.


    "Not in our country, so you can rest easy," Louis said.


    "If an army of monsters came to this side, then they must have created their own base here," Terry said. "How can someone rest easy knowing that?"


    "Because it isn''t our problem, we only have to worry about defending our territory; we don''t have resources and personnel to help people all over the world," Louis exined.


    That made sense, but that kind of mentality was still dangerous. Letting the monsters create a foothold on the was beyond stupid. It was insane. Terry thought that they should have formed an elite team to destroy those ces as well... what would be the point of knowing that dangerous creatures were growing on the and doing nothing?


    That was why Terry hated the society that worked around hunters, they lived in peace after fifteen years of endless war, but it seemed that they forgot that and now wanted to protect their fake peace.


    When the group approached the sphere, they saw a weird creature jump on from it... a single one. While it was humanoid, it had a grotesque appearance. If Terry had topare, he imagined that humans would evolve their flesh like that after being punched and having their flesh cut all over again before the wounds could properly heal. It was that rough, and that was just the beginning. The creature had a tail that was thick and rough because of scales, and on the head, it had some horn-like things in the shape of small pirs...


    Six hunters stepped in to deal with the creature. Three of them attacked the beast with earthnces to slow down the creature. After that, the three others tried to stab the beast with spears. The creature grunted in annoyance and then made its sword expand like scales across its right arm and then the body. A metallic sound spread across the area when the spears hit the armor.


    The monster dashed toward the hunters and swung its sword in an arc. The hunters blocked the attack but were pushed back for several meters.


    The backline joined the fight again, but the earth spears barely caused any damage or slowed the beast down. Before the front line could recover, the monster charged to attack the backline, but then a lightning bolt fell from the sky and hit the creature.


    Terry looked around and saw a woman sitting on the edge of a nearby building and watching the battle. That had been one hell of a spell... a lot of steam left the monster''s body, and the creature stayed paralyzed for several seconds. The spearman used that chance to stab the beast in the face several times before it could kill it.


    "Those things should give me a lot of experience... but a direct fight right now would be..." Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If I can snipe it, I can probably kill it with a Triple Shot."


    The bow still could be at least two times stronger, so eventually, even ordinary hits would cause a lot of damage. However, Terry will need a better pair of Gloves... the question was how to get them without revealing much or raising questions regarding his trait.


    While Terry was thinking about that, the woman that was sitting on the edge of the buildingnded nearby after jumping and then approached the group. Not only did she have the aura of someone powerful, but she also was gorgeous as well... long red hair that was flying due to the wind, emerald green eyes that were as intense as her lightning bolt, and a curvy body that was entuated by her light armor. In any case, she walked in a straight line toward Terry.

 Chapter 31: Wasting time

    <h4>Chapter 31: Wasting time</h4>


    "You... you have a weird aura," The redhead said.


    "Come on,dy. I am sure you can choose a better pickup line," Terry said.


    "... My apologies, empress, this guildmaster is young, and he isn''t that familiar with how things work yet," Louis said while showing a nervous smile.


    "Empress?" Terry asked while chuckling. "Is that a hero nickname or something? Can I choose mine as well?"


    "You..." Louis red at Terry without hiding his anger, but that only made him feel refreshed.


    "I don''t mind. I didn''t choose anything. People just call me that way," the redhead said. "My name is Vanessa, guild master of the Chaotic Storm guild and representative of all hunters of the United States of America."


    "So, you are like the Hokage of the hunters?" Terry asked. "The hunter president or something?"


    A deafening silence echoed in the area. It looked like Terry was picking a fight with someone he had just met. He didn''t know her, but he could tell that she was someone important in the hunters''munity, and that was enough for him to pick a fight with her. That kind of self-important attitude was a joke to him.


    "... Follow me, please," Vanessa said.


    Terry couldn''t feel any angering from her words, and since she asked nicely, he decided to go along with her for a short while. At the very least, she didn''t look like someone who was too prideful and would attack someone just because of a few words. Eventually, they approached the portal, where another team was ready to fight.


    "I have heard a lot of things from you. You should know that people like Louis spread information about things that work in their respective areas," Vanessa said.


    "I have my moments," Terry shrugged.


    "What I heard was that you had a terrible attitude and, despite failing at awakening your trait, you still obtained some sort of power," Vanessa exined. "You disrespect those who have higher positions than you, but you don''t break thew per se. You don''t lift a finger to help other guilds, and yet, you ept those that don''t have or have weak traits in your guild."


    "Do you know what I had for breakfast yesterday?" Terry asked.


    "I can tell that you have something against the current hunter system. I agree that the current society values us too much. Still, you can imagine what a few of us can do if we decide to be criminals," Vanessa said. "The government, or whatever was left from it, was forced to make a move to preserve some semnce of order while using us."


    "At least you are aware of the problems," Terry said.


    "I am, and that is why this area is different from the others; even those without power can contribute and earn their ce in this society through their hard work," Vanessa said. "However, even I cannot influence the whole country."


    "I guess being the hunter president doesn''t make your opinion absolute," Terry said.


    "I am trying to have a serious conversation here. Can you help me out a bit?" Vanessa asked.


    "... You are here talking, and you still didn''t say what you want," Terry furrowed his eyebrows.


    "For now, I want your cooperation to make sure that New York won''t be destroyed," Vanessa said. "Some people call me the strongest hunter in our country, but that is debatable since I can''t even enter the dungeon without being forced to retreat after five seconds."


    "I am here to open another branch for my guild. Once I clear the dungeon, I take it that will help the city," Terry said.


    "That isn''t enough, I don''t know how your power works, but it seems to be a support trait that let you and others who are weak physically to fight even troublesome monsters," Vanessa said. "I never heard of a trait like that, but I am sure it can help thousands since finding magic relics is difficult. If we make an alliance, and you help everyone, then in no time, you will reach the heights to exercise the influence that you want."


    "Not happening," Terry said. "The fact that you became famous like this and you still were able to do only this much, it is enough for me to understand that an alliance would be a waste of time. I can tell that those around you don''t share your goal, so helping you and your allies would only worsen the current society."


    "I don''t want to put this weight on your shoulders, but more dungeons are appearing now, and the people aren''t ready for that," Vanessa said. "Your support ability that can help people even from a distance can turn the tides in our favor."


    "If people die for that reason, then it couldn''t have been helped. The hunters will go down first since they got satisfied with having what was given to them," Terry said. "The others who were ignored from the frontlines and lived in hunger and in the dirt will have to fight, and if they endure for long enough, then I will try to help them. Still, until then, I will do what I want or what I deem to be right."


    "... I will make you understand that your anger is misced, there are many things wrong with the current society, but that doesn''t mean that it has to be destroyed before being rebuilt," Vanessa said.


    "Some repairs won''t save a condemned building; you will be wasting your time," Terry said. "Once people begin to lose the few things that they obtained in thest thirty years, they will understand that as well."

 Chapter 32: Endless waves

    <h4>Chapter 32: Endless waves</h4>


    After hearing that, Vanessa left the area after a long sigh. It wasn''t like Terry couldn''t see where she wasing from, she had things to protect as well, but Terry also had his things. The things that he learned and experienced since his birth, the feelings that he had when he was ignored for just being powerless... he couldn''t betray those things while trying to keep the status quo.


    In any case, Terry returned to where he had left the others, and they looked like they were wondering why he hadn''t been hit by a lightning bolt yet.


    "After lunch, all the guild masters will have a meeting in that tent over there to decide how they will work once they cross the entrance of the dungeon," Louis said. "I believe they have some sort of n in mind, but you should voice your opinions in order to make better use of your own abilities. Until then, I would advise watching the creatures being defeated and using it as a reference."


    The group split up after that, and Terry just moved to the entrance of a nearby building that had been semi-destroyed when some of those things had attacked for the first time.


    It didn''t matter how many times he saw it, and Terry could only think that they were making light of humans bying alone. Also, while only the hunters in the area were fighting them, they were doing a terrible job pacing themselves.


    After another creature was killed, their weapon turned into a small block of metal. The leader of the party grabbed it while the other members pushed the body to somewhere else... it didn''t look like they had body parts that could be used. When Terry saw the magic stones being carved out, he realized that it was the size of half of his hand.


    "If they have that and they are an intelligent species... Does that mean that we have that as well?" Terry thought.


    It was a worrisome thought. If that were the case, one would ask when that magic stone appeared inside them and what would be the difference between monsters and humans. In any case, Terry couldn''t check such a thing that easily...


    Terry kept watching the fights for a while, but he didn''t learn much. If he uses the hard gloves, the beast''s strength, and his attacks wouldn''t be matched unless he uses his skills. Terry had to obtain new weapons, but he will have to make them level up, and seeing them in action and them seeing they''re getting more powerful also would look suspicious. In the end, Terry decided to focus on using the bow.


    After a couple of hours, Terry headed to the tent that Louis mentioned. Some people were already there waiting for the meeting. All of them had a certain aura, the aura of powerful people. Some looked calm. Others looked like the type who was itching to pick a fight.


    Mary and Oliver eventually showed, and then thest one to arrive had been Vanessa. That was odd. Terry could only see eighteen people there... he couldn''t believe that there were only eighteen worthy contacting guilds.


    "My name is Vanessa, guild master of the Chaotic Storm guild, and I thank you all foring to help," Vanessa dered. "I asked for the cooperation of several guilds that were located in the northeastern part of the country, and more than half of them answered the call. While our numbers are small, I believe that we have what it takes to pull this off."


    Now things made more sense. If around one-Fourth of the guilds answered the call, then Terry believed that the country had a good number of medium-sized dungeons.


    "As usual, our goal when conquering the dungeon is to defeat the nearby enemies and their boss. However, things will be a bit different this time," Vanessa added. "Usually, when one crosses the dungeon, they are teleported to a random ce where an exit can be found nearby. Meanwhile, the monsters always appear in the same spot. That being said, things are different here... probably because we aren''t the first ones to use the portal. In this dungeon, both sides appear on the same spot, and the portals don''t change from one ce to the other."


    More than one thing was wrong with that... if the roles had been reversed, the monsters should appear in random ces. There was more than one thing wrong with that situation.


    "As you saw already, all the enemies are pretty tough. Moreover, the portal will lead us to an open field where dozens of them will be waiting for us," Vanessa added. "Also, there is a nearby town where those things live. I assume that their boss is there. To kill it, we will have to kill hundreds if not thousands of them on their turf before they overwhelm us."


    The guild masters began to whisper to each other. That was no surprise... that was one hell of a task. Aside from obvious personal reasons, Terry could see why Vanessa asked for his help as soon as they met. Even if each guild master could solo one of those monsters, not all of them could take them down instantly, so it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded.


    "The numbers are against us, so we can''t use our usual methods of attack," Vanessa said. "My n is to break through their first line of defense with everything we have and then deal with all of them after destroying their formation in order to prevent them from alerting the others in the town. To increase our chances, we should attack at night."


    "Why don''t we wait for their numbers to decrease even further?" A ck-haired man wearing full-te blue armor asked.


    "We tried that, and because of that reason, the size of the portal increased this much," Vanessa replied. "We have killed around two thousand of them in thest two weeks, and yet, they never stoppeding."

 Chapter 33: The owner of the dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 33: The owner of the dungeon</h4>


    The monsters still were a mystery. Terry destroyed some camps of giants, but they never stoppeding and always showed up at regr intervals. The same thing could be said about the mechanical warriors.


    Thirty years had passed since they began to show up, and the human race still was taking baby steps to understand the situation. In fact, it seemed that they only wanted to make use of the situation to get materials in order to make things that they couldn''t before... Only a handful of people were actually trying to solve things.


    "At first, I thought that attacking them periodically would be the best option, but we can''t risk them moving their entire army," Vanessa said.


    "What about reinforcements once we create a foothold on the other side?" Mary asked.


    "Arge number of us will only alert the enemies. Our main goal is to kill the boss and then retreat while we decrease their numbers further," Vanessa said. "Since they are a sapient species, they will be like a mob without their leader. Defeating them like that should be easy."


    Vanessa had considered all scenarios and options, so there wasn''t anything that they could ask that she would be unable to respond to. She has been trying to clear the dungeon for two weeks, after all.


    "Since all of us want to have control over this dungeon, the one whonds thest hit on the boss will get it," Vanessa said. "Still, I would rmend saving some energy for the retreat. The town is ten kilometers away from the portal, after all. More details will be given tomorrow night before departure, which will be at midnight."


    Terry thought that it would be better to take it easy and slowly decrease the number of enemies would be the best option. However, Vanessa was considering the possible oues and for how long the guild masters could be away from his guild... probably no more than one week.


    "Well, at least I have plenty of time to buy weapons around the city," Terry thought. "I should check the other dungeons and see if I can get something nice for melee fighting."


    The guild masters began to spread, and Terry looked for a guard that had a map of the city with the location of the bases of the guilds. It didn''t take long for him to find one. Speaking of which, there was a base in the extreme southern part of Long Ind and another in the extreme Northern part.. it was going to take a while to reach both parts.


    It would have been easy to ask someone to take him there, but again, Terry didn''t want to let anyone know about his actions and activities.


    On the southern side, the guild was hunting in a world that had frozen slimes. They didn''t seem to be that tough, but the guild still managed to get some items. What caught Terry''s attention was a pair of crystal gloves.


    Crystal Gloves - Lv 0 (0/00 EXP) (Magic)


    Attack Power: 08


    Defense: 03


    Durability: 04/04


    (Frostbite: causes three points of ice damage and decreases the speed of the target for three seconds after hitting them.)


    It had a simr effect to the icicle Longbow, but Terry was more interested in the potential and rarity level. It seemed to be one level above umon, so perhaps it could reach even higher levels than the bow... abandoning the skills and effects of the other gloves was a waste. Still, it would be better to level up the new ones as much as possible.


    Terry checked the other base to see if there was something worth buying, even though the crystal gloves cost him 50k. In the other dungeon, people were facing Skeletons, ordinary ones. Hence, the quality of the items was low, and Terry didn''t find anything decent.


    "It doesn''t seem like I am going to find items in shops that increase speed or magic resistance, or health and mana," Terry thought. "Those are rare toe by, so it is better to use them instead of selling..."


    In any case, Terry decided to level the gloves in his room. He looked for Louis and then asked him to guide him to the hotel. It was only two hundred meters away since the whole area had been evacuated.


    In the end, while using all his free time, Terry only managed to make the crystal gloves reach level four. However, the attack power was almost on the same level as the hard gloves... unfortunately, the defense was six times lower.


    "I need to deal with the enemies as soon as possible... it might be dangerous if I get hit," Terry thought.


    The new gloves granted Terry more potential in attacking power. Still, the defense was really low... hopefully, the skills and effects of the crystal gloves will make up for that.


    Although Terry had nned to have dinner in his room again, Vanessa called everyone to have dinner together on the first floor. It seemed that she was going to give the final details there as well. They ate calmly, but then Vanessa stepped forward to reveal the final details.


    "Thest time I checked, around one hundred enemies were near the portal; we should expect at least that much," Vanessa said. "To make sure that we will stop them before they inform their allies about our arrival, we are going to split into groups. The Melee and the ranged hunters, the Ranged ones, will be the tip of the spear and focus on leaving the enemy perimeter while eliminating the obstacles. The others will focus on defense while drawing the aggro of the remaining enemies and keep at it until the ranged fighters have a clear view to offer support without being disrupted."


    Terry could be part of both groups, but since the ratio was one ranged for two melee warriors, he ended up joining the first group. As long as he hits the enemies'' heads, he won''t run out of arrows, but doing that at night will be difficult...

 Chapter 34: Positioning

    <h4>Chapter 34: Positioning</h4>


    When the time came, all the guild masters headed to the portal. Despite being in the middle of the night, some hunters were still around and ready to fight the mechanical warriors. They tend to show up once every five minutes during the day, but it is impossible to tell when they will show up at night...


    There was no room for mistakes, and saying anything else would only cause problems or make people think too much, so Vanessa just jumped in the portal, and everyone followed her.


    Terry already had the bow and an arrow nocked when he appeared on the other side. Much to everyone''s surprise, pretty much the enemies around were awake and in front of a campfire. Even before either side could react, Terry fired an arrow that flew in a straight line and pierced the head of an enemy.


    Icicle Longbow - Lv 21(16/220) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 110


    Movement Speed Debuff: 21%


    Charges: 40/40


    Durability: 32/32


    (Critical Charge: when dealing critical damage on the target, you recover one charge automatically.)


    (Cold of War: When hitting the same opponent twice with the arrows of this bow, you put them under the ''frostbite'' status effect and make them lose five points of health per second for ten seconds.)


    (Sniper: doubles the range of the arrows fired by this bow.)


    (Triple Shot: consumes three charges to fire three arrows at the same time at the target, causing the usual damage plus twenty percent per arrow.)


    "Sixteen points of experience... not bad!" Terry thought while he was already selecting the next target.


    The enemies were in an arc in front of the portal... they didn''t expect that Terry and the others would arrive in the middle of the night. Still, they quickly recovered and readied themselves to fight. However, a rain of electric arrows was fired toward them, and they were paralyzed for a couple of seconds.


    The strategy changed due to the position of the enemies. The ranged hunters already had a clear view of the enemies, so they just attacked. Arrows, earth spears, electric attacks, mes... they used everything in their arsenal.


    The first enemies that recovered made their weird weapons expand and cover their bodies before they charged toward the group. Terry fired one arrow toward the nearest enemy and then clicked his tongue when the creature blocked with its sword.


    "It was twenty meters away... the arrow crossed that distance 0,1 seconds... how did that thing block the arrow?" Terry wondered.


    Terry used Triple Shot. The first arrow pushed the weapon of the enemy to the side, the second hit its head, and the final one made it fly... it was quite a grotesque scene, and it was overkill. Instead of attacking like before, Terry focused his arrows on the enemies that were already attacking instead of approaching. Thanks to that, his next arrows killed the enemies after hitting their heads, and they didn''t even notice it...


    Vanessa fired another wave of electric arrows and stopped the nearby enemies. The frontlines used that chance to attack with all their might... the enemies began to fall one after the other after getting hit in the head...


    In the blink of an eye, half of the enemies were decimated. That was the power of the guild masters... Thanks to that, some of the monsters began to run away toward the opposite direction of the portal. It wasn''t possible to see due to the darkness of the night, but their base was probably in that direction.


    Terry aimed at them and then used Triple Shot. He didn''t have time to aim at their heads, but the arrows piercing their back did the job. Things could have been a lot easier if Vanessa could use all her power, but she couldn''t without making a scene, so the Ranged hunters had to chase a lot of the enemies. The Melee hunters were even faster with their traits, so that helped a lot.


    In the end, at the cost of half of his charges, Terry manages to kill ten of the enemies and approaches to check their bodies. They had to move on soon, but everyone could at least get the weird metal that their weapons became. Terry''s power didn''t react to it since it was only a square piece of weird metal the size of a finger.


    "We need to keep moving," Vanessa dered. "We need to infiltrate their base and kill their leader before sunrise."


    The group killed arge force of enemies without getting too injured, but Terry could feel the smell of blooding from some of the guild masters when they began to move. It was weak, but it was there...


    The pace of the group was quite fast since they had a time limit, and the enemy base was ten kilometers away. Still, since pretty much everyone there were super humans, just running was easy.


    Vanessa was nearby, and it looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn''t since that would make everyone''s focus change toward her. Terry just shrugged at that...


    Eventually, the group managed to see a town in the distance. They could even see some tall poles mimicking energy poles with Concentrated mes at the top of them. Not to mention, the town was walled... crossing the walls without being revealed by the mes will be difficult. They need to choose a stop to invade quickly and then kill everyone nearby without being noticed.


    "We will attack the left side. Terry will identify and attack the enemies on the left side, and Hugo will help him obtain the proper position for that. "Amelia and Sarah will do the same in the opposite direction."


    Terry wanted to hear more details, but they quickly arrived there, and then the blue armor guy jumped with all his might after putting Terry on his left shoulder.

 Chapter 35: Questionable business

    <h4>Chapter 35: Questionable business</h4>


    The guy easily jumped over fifty meters of height, and so Terry managed to find some guards in the walls. He aimed as quickly as he could, even before he could begin to fall. He shot the first arrow and then killed one of the guards. Before the body could even fall, he shot another. In the end, he managed to kill three guards beforending.


    The other duo managed to clear the path as well, so the guild masters began to climb the wall. Some of them preferred Jumping over it, but climbing was more silent. Terry got surprised when he saw that his grip strength was enough to give him a foothold even when he used the small marks and holes in the walls.


    "Putting that aside... stone walls?" Terry frowned. "They have that kind of weapon and yet use stone walls?"


    That was indeed weird. Everyone assumed that the enemies belonged to a sapient species, perhaps one of the smartest that humans had found until now with the technology of weapons they had, and yet...


    Terry shook those thoughts out of his head when he reached the other side. The houses in the town didn''t look particrly special either. They have the first floors made of brick and the top of wood...


    Those illumination poles still were around at some points, but some houses still had a light inside, and since they had windows that didn''t block the wind from outside, there was a chance that they would feel the smell of blood.


    "Follow me," Vanessa whispered.


    Vanessa chose a roundabout path using the dark parts of the down, where there was no lighting from the houses. Come to think of it, the number of houses was toorge when around one thousand enemies were there. Terry didn''t know if Vanessa had some skill when it came to feeling the enemy''s presence, but nothing happened along the way...


    After not so long, they found the town''srgest building. It resembled a bit of a pyramid since it had a long staircase in the front, and it had that kind of shape overall... the entrance was only through that path. The entire building was made out of earth blocks, and there were no openings from the sides. Moreover, the long staircase waspletely illuminated with the fire poles...


    "There isn''t anyone around... but the whole town will wake up once the fight starts," Vanessa dered. "Watch your backs."


    Vanessa began to lead the group again, and then they began to climb the one hundred meters tall staircase. For a town so small, they sure used their time building such a grandiose structure...


    Terry''s bow only had 19 charges, and he couldn''t imagine that being enough against the boss of those creatures. He had some magic stones with him, but even so... Terry imagined that the target''s weapon and armor would be a lot better than the others.


    It didn''t take long for the group to reach the top of the structure since they weren''t bothered. Still, they stopped for a short while once they saw the entrance and could feel a weird auraing from it. Vanessa looked at the blue armor guy and another warrior, and they moved to open the entrance door of the building, which was made of stones, and it was ten meters tall... those weight tons...


    When the door was opened, the whole group froze when they saw a room filled with cocoons... when they got close to it, they could feel something inside pulsating... something was already alive there... Terry ignored those even though he knew that the mechanical warriors were born from that. That exined their endless numbers... he ignored even that because he could see on the other side of the massive room a throne and something sitting on it.


    That was their target, but the creature should have noticed their arrival and didn''t move a single finger... it was hard to imagine that the thing was still sleeping...


    Terry could tell that Vanessa was itching to use her best magic to attack. Still, she slowly led the group toward the enemy. Her spells were fast, but just to be safe, she could hit the enemy with one hundred percent uracy if she got even closer. However, her cool disappeared when she saw some bodies behind the throne.


    Female goblins, female orcs, corpses of other creatures that were hard to identify, and they were female. They looked like broken puppets that had been thrown away once they lost their use. Considering the number of cocoons around, it was easy to imagine what the boss of the monsters used them for...


    "Come to think of it, I never saw those creatures that looked like females... they can only reproduce using other species, and they were sending the newborn warriors to cross the portal..." Terry thought.


    Terry stopped his analysis when he saw a huge concentration of lightning bolts on Vanessa''s hands. She was pissed, and so were the other women in the group. Being defeated in a war was one thing, but being used like that because of their reproductive functions... it was hard to imagine something even more humiliating...


    Vanessa pointed both arms at the creature and then fired a powerful beam of electric energy at it. The noise probably woke up the whole town, but that was just a minor convenience. The group realized that when they saw at thest minute, the boss was raising a Spear and blocking the attack.


    The attack was redirected to the side and then hit a pir before making it fall. At the same time, the boss got up from the throne...


    "It took you all long enough..." the boss said with a rough and crispy voice. "It is time to pay for the sin of dirtying my pce with your presence."

 Chapter 36: First contact

    <h4>Chapter 36: First contact</h4>


    The creature wasn''t bigger than the others, but it sure had some presence. Even Terry could see something like a blue aura emanating from its body. Physical prowess wasn''t the only thing that determined the leader of a group.


    Now that he could see it from up close, Terry confirmed that the enemy had blue eyes. Was that because the creature had more magic potential than the others? If they control that weird metal with their mana, then that would make sense.


    Several guild masters charged at the enemy and swung their weapons. Massive Warhammers, axes, and swords... they all tried to cut him down at the same time. Still, the enemy just swung his spear and repelled everyone''s attacks... that thing definitely had the highest physical strength in the camp...


    Vanessa used a lightning bolt, making it fall from above. Still, the enemy just jumped to the side and dodged the attack... that reaction speed was just insane... an earth spear was fired, but the enemy also repelled it to the side. In the next moment, Mary suddenly appeared behind the enemy and tried to stab his nape. The creature lowered his stance and then hit her legs with a sweep kick, and when she fell, the enemy grabbed her by the neck.


    "You will be a suitable tool to create my kin," The monster said.


    Although she wasn''t supposed to do that since she was a mage, she charged, and she wasn''t the only one. All the women of the group wanted to explode the enemy''s head from up close, but they stopped when the enemy dropped Mary and then swung his spear to the side. He blocked an arrow and then and then twitched his neck to the side to dodge another, but then three morended on his face.


    Some blood began to fall from the enemy''s cheek, and then he looked at Terry. Somehow, Terry predicted that his first attacks would be stopped or dodged, but the third worked. Still, all the power of the Triple Shot only opened a small wound on the creature''s face...


    That monster was a powerful and prideful moron. It looked like Terry, as if he hadmitted the crime of fighting and wounding him. Terry just looked back into the enemy''s eyes without showing much emotion...


    "You will pay for this," The monster said.


    "Sure, whatever you say," Terry shrugged.


    Mary used that chance to step away from the enemy while she was coughing. It didn''t seem like a good idea to taunt such a powerful enemy. That was why everyone looked at that thing without knowing what to do.


    The monster charged at Terry and then swung its spear, Terry only saw a shadow moving, but his bow still blocked the strike. The attack pushed him backward, and Terry eventually began to roll on the ground. He got up as quickly as possible and saw the creature in the air, ready to strike him, but five of the guild masters blocked the creature''s path.


    "That thing is too powerful... the difference, ifpared to the giants, is too big..." Terry thought while he was nocking an arrow. "He isn''t even using his armor..."


    The guild masters of the front line were doing their best to keep the enemy upied and give the chance to the back line attack as often as possible. It was quite surprising that Vanessa could still keep going after using so many attacks.


    Terry aimed his arrow, but then he noticed the eyes of the enemy... the creature wouldn''t let itself be hit again. Terry clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw the blue-armored guy being struck in the chest... his armor was split in two, and a lot of blood gushed from the wound when he fell with his back on the floor.


    Terry approached and then used his Restoration Wand to close the wound, he did that after three casts, but Hugo was no longer able to fight properly...


    Restoration Wand - Lv 5 (0/60) (Umon)


    Magic Power: 30


    Charges: 37/40


    Durability: 18/18


    (Heal: restores the health of the target, the value will be equal to the magic power of the item.)


    "Maybe I could do better with the wand... but I didn''t have many chances to level it up since I was increasing the arsenal of the guild...." Terry thought.


    The other guild masters were being thrown around while they even blocked the attacks perfectly. Their weapons were suffering too much damage... so Terry couldn''t just keep watching.


    When the enemy wasn''t looking at Terry, he used Triple Shot, but then he stopped the axe of another guild master with its hands and then swung the spear to block the arrows. The skill pushed the enemy away for a few meters, but that wasn''t nearly enough... it didn''t seem like Terry would be able to do much with the now, even with all that attack power.


    The guild master tried to pull away his ax, but the enemy didn''t let it. In the end, the enemy kicked him in the stomach and then threw the ax toward Terry. He dodged the weapon for a thin margin and felt his heart racing when he felt the wind sted away by the weapon...


    The weapon destroyed a pir and crushed several of the cocoons around when it fell... thanks to that, the enemy showed an annoyed expression. Terry wondered if his fatherly instincts were that strong or if he was just pissed that he missed Terry.


    Either way, Terry saw Vanessa charging another big attack, and then the enemy looked at her. In the next moment, Terry used Triple Shot to keep the enemy busy, and when he swung his weapon to block the arrows, Vanessa used her magic...


    The enemy still used its left arm to block the massive lightning bolt, and while he was pushed away for ten meters and his body was emitting some sparks... he still looked unhurt. To make things worse, everyone began to hear the sound of enemies climbing the stairs outside...

 Chapter 37: Team work

    <h4>Chapter 37: Team work</h4>


    "Hugo! Keep the door closed!" Vanessa shouted. "Amelia and Mary, help him out!"


    Those three reluctantly nodded. They wanted the enemy''s head as much as the other guy, but they couldn''t be surrounded by hundreds of enemies in a confined space.


    In any case, Terry spammed his arrows while the others began to prepare their big attacks. The enemy blocked all of the arrows, and when the othersunched their attacks, Terry dropped his now and then equipped his hard gloves... he will need that extra level of defense.


    The guild masters attacked with some crazy moves. Some swung their weapons like tornadoes and tried to hit the enemy several times; others made Earth spears rain down over the target. However, all of them were either dodged or blocked.


    "Concentrated strikes and single target ones are the best options..." Terry thought. "Mybo should be good enough for that."


    Hard Gloves - Lv Max(0/000 EXP) (Common)


    Attack Power: 64


    Defense: 84


    Durability: 220/240


    (Triple Attack: a quick sequence of punches that causes a devastating amount of damage. If the three hitsnd on the head of the target, it will be stunned for a second.


    Cool down: 05 Cool down.)


    (Iron Defense: passively increases the user''s defense by ten percent.)


    (Sonic Punch: A technique that grants the user the power to charge at the enemy at super speeds and punch them, causing damage equal to two hundred percent of its attack power.


    Distance: 10 meters. Cool down: 05 seconds.)


    (Final Effect: Power Boost.


    Power Boost: temporarily increases your attack power by two points after defeating an enemy without suffering damage.)


    Terry charged at the enemy, and the people around him frowned... he didn''t look particrly strong physically, and his gloves also looked like crap. Still, when he used Sonic Punch, the enemy had to block it with its spear before it was pushed for five meters.


    The monster looked annoyed at Terry; he certainly looked to have more offensive power than expected, after all. The boss dashed at Terry, and he could only raise his arms to block the thrust of the spear... the attack was blocked. Still, Terry has pushed away until the other guild masters bombarded the enemy with their long-ranged attacks.


    When the enemy moved away, and Terry saw himself free, he moved his arms to rx his muscles. They were hurting like hell, even though the gloves blocked thempletely.


    Terry looked behind and saw the stone door trembling, it was pretty sturdy, but it was only a matter of time before the enemies showed up... the chances of them escaping were already small, to begin with, and with the boss alive, it was practically nonexistent.


    Terry suddenly felt Vanessa''s eyes on him, and he confirmed after looking at her. She was still waiting for his cooperation, but he just shrugged.


    Another heavily armored guild master suddenly received a powerful thrust on his stomach and was blown away. Terry approached the guy and then saw the hole in his stomach... a lot of organs had been damaged... Terry equipped the restoration Wand and began to heal him. Somehow, the organs began to heal, but Terry had to use half of the charges of the wand.


    "I don''t want to cooperate with morons using my power to help them... but I need to think of something fast...." Terry thought.


    His only option was to understand the strength of the enemy, it was unnatural, and Terry had to find a counter. If the enemy were that stronger under normal circumstances, he should have invaded New York a long time ago.


    The next one that was almost killed was Oliver. When he blocked an attack, his weapon broke, so the enemy strike didn''t kill him instantly, but he was blown away, and after rolling on the ground, he didn''t get up. Terry used Heal on him a few times, and then he woke up... Terry''s only option was to kick the enemy''s ass himself.


    After charging at the enemy again, Terry used Sonic Punch, and the beast swung its spear. The weapons collided, and then countless sparks spread in the area. Terry used Triple Attack, but the enemy still blocked thebo by swinging his spear quickly.


    When the beast realized that Terry couldn''t attack, the beast charged and tried to stab him with a quick session of hits. Terry was barely able to see the spear moving. Still, he blocked them with his gloves until the enemy swung its spear upward and broke his guard; before Terry could fix it, the enemy kicked his stomach with all its might.


    Terry spun in the air several times before his back collided against one of the pirs. The impact almost knocked him out for good... but he wished that it had because he felt like just breathing was killing him.


    The Pir fell on his side and crushed several cocoons... while Terry was enduring the feeling of having almost half of his bones broken, he felt some power on his hands.


    "What the... hell..." Terry thought.


    Terry recognized that feeling... it was Power Boost in action... but he didn''t kill anything now... Terry thought that until he saw the smashed cocoons... those creatures were alive, and it seemed that having his body being smashed against the pir was what caused their deaths...


    After forcing himself to move his arms, Terry grabbed the Restoration Wand and began to heal himself. Although he used all of the charges, Terry didn''t feelpletely healed... still enough to get up.


    While the other guild masters were having their asses kicked, Terry looked around at the cocoons... that was going to taste bad in his mouth. Still, Terry had better things to do than let his conscience control him when his life was on the line.

 Chapter 38: Cocoons

    <h4>Chapter 38: Cocoons</h4>


    Since some of the guild masters had been knocked out. The ones still standing didn''t notice it... but they were holding their ground quite well.


    When Vanessa used her Thunder Beam again, the creature tried to repel the attack with a swing, but then the spear didn''t do its job, and the beast was pushed backward almost until it hit his throne. Everyone looked surprised... did the boss get weaker? Only Terry knew what was going on, and soon the boss did as well when he saw him crushing the cocoons...


    "Keep him busy!" Terry shouted. "His strength decreases or increases ording to the number of allies he has around!"


    Everyone thought that Terry had died since he just disappeared from the fights, but then they found him sneakily smashing the cocoons. The others also thought that the strength of the beast was surreal, considering that the monster didn''t look different from the others. Still, they couldn''t imagine howe was that possible... only Terry, that had fought the red giants could understand it.


    Vanessa focused on firing Thunder Arrows that were incredibly fast and forced the monster to block them since he was unable to dodge those. However, every time he did that, the electric current paralyzed him for a fraction of a second. Several of those stopped the monster for several seconds, and the beast was attacked by everyone.


    Unable to move and while seeing several weapons approaching his next, the boss used his spear and made the metal extend around its body to block the attacks. Terry clicked his tongue when that happened... the enemy got severe a bit too soon than he had expedited. As if that wasn''t annoying enough, the entrance door was filled with cracks.


    "Whatever, I will make it do..." Terry thought and then dashed toward the entrance of the room.


    A single moment before the doorpletely copsed, Terry looked at those three holding the door, and they jumped away. They had no idea what Terry was nning. Still, they decided to trust him... in the next moment, he used Sonic Punch, and the powerful punch hit the door and the enemies and even created a st that sent hundreds of them flying down the stairs while killing dozens of others instantly.


    The impact made the building tremble a little, and the battle behind Terry stopped... and everyone looked at him, even the boss. Meanwhile, the enemies in front of him were still going down the stairs. That should buy the group some time.


    "Well, it seems that I kept you waiting..." Terry said after he turned around.


    Terry could feel that his power had increased tremendously, and now that so many enemies were killed or were far away, the strength and endurance of the enemy decreased. Its armor was still on and probably could take some hits, but the enemy still took a single step back.


    "Oh? Are you stepping back?" Terry asked. "That isn''t good; I can''t beat the crap out of you without getting closer."


    The monster red at him while biting its lips in anger and exasperation. Still, the creature knew that the next punch would end its life. Terry didn''t have time to waste, so he charged at the creature, the boss tried to run away and open a hole in the hall if it had to, but Vanessa used her lightning bolt and paralyzed the beast. In the next moment, Terry got in range and used Sonic Punch.


    The monster turned around and tried to block the attack with the spear, but it was useless. The weapon broke, and when the punchnded on the chest of the creature, the armor broke into small pieces as well. The boss was sent flying toward the wall while spinning to the sides until half of its body was crushed on the walls of its own castle... in the next moment, Terry''s gloves broke as well.


    "Ah... I guess even those had some limitations," Terry thought. "I umted too much power thanks to Power Boost."


    The enemy was defeated, and the mission had beenpleted. However, there were plenty of enemies outside, and Terry couldn''t use the power of his hard gloves anymore... he would have to make do with the crystal ones.


    "What is the n now?" Terry asked when he grabbed the small metal te and the head-sized magic stone from the monster''s body. "How the heck could he live with something this big inside him?"


    "We are tired and wounded, but we only have one path toward the portal," Vanessa said. "We will be counting on you to open the path."


    "Impossibru," Terry said. "I can''t use that technique again. It consumed too much of my energy. The enemies outside should be plenty wounded as well. So, we can deal with them as long as we work together inside here."


    Vanessa didn''t want to hear that from Terry, of all people. Things could have been a lot easier if he decided to use his powers on the others. If he could be that strong, it would have been even more efficient to make everyone receive a small portion of that power...


    In any case, the group checked the outside and confirmed the situation. Meanwhile, Terry began to smash the cocoons... each one of them only granted him two experience points, but it was better than nothing.


    Crystal Gloves - Lv 05 (0/60 EXP) (Magic)


    Attack Power: 48


    Defense: 18


    Durability: 24/24


    (Frostbite: causes three points of damage per three seconds after hitting the target.)


    (Frost Punch: a long-ranged attack that causes physical and ice damage equal to half of the user''s attack power. Range: 20 meters. Cool down: 10 seconds.)


    "I guess this will do for now..." Terry said and then approached the others.


    Terry saw that his previous attack killed a lot more monsters than he had expected, and at least half of the enemies had got quite a bit hurt while falling down and stepping on each other... he lost a lot of experience...

 Chapter 39: New type of dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 39: New type of dungeon</h4>


    Instead of letting the enemies organize themselves, Vanessa decided to climb down and head to the portal. The enemies would have a hard time climbing the stairs with all the blood and corpses around, but no one knew if reinforcements were going toe. So, they had to make their moves.


    The ranged fighters focused on finishing off the enemies along the way to prevent them from surrounding the group. When they saw their allies being killed, the ones at the bottom of the stairs increased their speed, but then the Frontline attacked them with all their might and knocked several of them like bowling pins.


    "Increase your speed, don''t take too long to finish them off!" Vanessa shouted. "Don''t focus on attacking too much either!"


    Terry wanted to level up the crystal gloves as much as possible, but he would have time for that since the dungeon was now his. So, he just punched the enemies a few times before dashing forward.


    Despite the wounds that a few of them suffered, the morale of the group was sky-high, and since the enemies didn''t have a leader, their lines were cut like butter against a hot knife.


    Once they broke through their lines, Vanessa dropped a powerful lightning bolt on the group that tried to chase them, and that paralyzed dozens of them for several seconds... more than enough time for the group to reach and jump over the walls.


    "Don''t slow down, and don''t drop your guard!" Vanessa shouted again.


    Despite Vanessa''s worries, the group wasn''t pursued by the enemies. They reached the portal and crossed it just fine. Only to find Vanessa''s guild members pointing their weapons at them.


    "Rx, guys, it is just us," Vanessa said and then noticed that the portal had decreased in size. "Mission is over."


    The people of the city celebrated the news, but the guild masters only wanted to rest. They got some experience, but only one of them gained the dungeon.


    "What are you going to do with the dungeon?" Vanessa asked upon noticing the curiosity of the other guild masters.


    "Anyone who wants to use it can use it," Terry replied. "Naturally, I want half of the resources and magic stones."


    That was better than nothing for everyone. They could get some materials and magic stones. Speaking of materials, Terry checked the metal tes that he obtained, but they didn''t react in any way. Perhaps he should ask Vanessa how their research is going regarding those... still, before anything, Terry went to his room to sleep.


    In the end, Terry only woke up in the middle of the morning when his cell phone was ringing. When he opened it, Reba''s image showed up. The first thing she did was to raise her voice once she saw Terry''s bed hair.


    "Rise and shine, sunshine!" Reba said.


    "... What do you want?" Terry asked while showing the expression of someone who wanted to sleep for a day and only half an hour to take a nap.


    "Just wanted to check things on your end," Reba asked. "Nothing major happened here so far."


    "I managed to get the dungeon, so you should work on sending the guys that you have selected here," Terry said. "I am going to return once or twice to Chicago in order to make some adjustments, but there are a lot of things to investigate here."


    "Already... just how... I heard that Vanessa couldn''t obtain control of the dungeon, and yet..." Reba said while frowning. "You are truly unbelievable."


    "So, you have heard of her," Terry said. "Nevertheless, you should work on choosing if you want to work here or there. Giving your role to someone that we don''t know for long might cause problems, but I doubt that someone will try to steal from me, even more so after those two saw yesterday."


    "What did you show them?" Reba asked.


    "Nothing major," Terry said, and then he got up and turned around. "I will leave the decision in your hands."


    Terry ended the call, and Reba looked at the cell phone for a while.


    "That was some nice ass..." Reba muttered.


    On Terry''s end, he noticed that he was naked, and he worried if that was shown to the other side, but he soon shrugged. That wasn''t important... once he cleaned himself and put on some clothes, Terry went to check the dungeon and confirmed that the portal had returned to the normal size of five meters. He also saw some guild masters fighting the enemies that appeared now and then.


    "They are still doing that... why?" Terry frowned.


    Terry couldn''t help but be surprised... that seemed like a stupid way to decrease their numbers. Something was off, so he decided to check things with Vanessa and see if they knew something about that. She was talking with some guild masters in that big tent.


    "You showed up at a good time..." Vanessa said when Terry arrived. "We were thinking of checking the other side... we prepared to face a small-scale invasion of these things, but that didn''t happen, and they keep sending monsters now and then."


    "So, that never happened before?" Terry asked.


    "I can only speak of my experience, but I don''t think that in our country, a dungeon where monsters emerge as soon as a portal appears has ever existed," Vanessa said. "We might be dealing with a new type of dungeon."


    Terry nodded; it made sense. Still, he wondered if he was unlucky or unlucky for finding two dungeons in which the bosses had simr characteristics to get stronger. The other guild masters also were interested in the matter, so they decided to dy the departure a bit.

 Chapter 40: Prototypes

    <h4>Chapter 40: Prototypes</h4>


    After that, Terry asked about the research regarding the new metal. That was another thing that the guild masters were also interested in. However, Vanessa didn''t look like someone who had good news.


    "We are able to reforge the tes into weapons, but we didn''t manage to learn how the enemies used weapons and armor," Vanessa exined. "We are studying some of their bodies as well, but no result was obtained. We can only assume that it was some sort of racial trait of their species, and it will take years to understand how they do that while analyzing only corpses."


    That was indeed a pity, but if they were better than most metals, then they should work well for fighting purposes. Still, some strength will be required to use them since each te has one kilogram of weight, and several of them would be needed to make any weapon.


    "We have some prototypes that we can give you all," Vanessa said while looking at Terry.


    She was still pissed that Terry didn''t want to follow her n, and if that was her way of convincing Terry to work with her, it wasn''t working well.


    While Terry didn''t need new weapons, he wanted to check the metal in action. Hopefully, it will be better than steel. Speaking of which, Vanessa made several types be forged, and since Terry didn''t use a sword until now, he decided to get one.


    Longsword of Greysteel - Lv 0 (0/10 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 04


    Defense: 04


    Magic Defense: 04


    Mana: 0/10


    Durability: 05/05


    Terry frowned... it didn''t look special in any way. He didn''t know if humans could produce magic weapons without relying on materials that had those properties, but even that seemed too much.


    It was also weird that the weapon had some other parameters... even mana that was supposed to be charged. What could he do with that?


    "It seems like a normal weapon..." one guild master said.


    "It appears so... it is the first time that we have tried to forge something that has no magic properties at first nce," Vanessa said. "We might learn something after using them a few times."


    After that, the group had lunch and then decided to rest for a short while before heading to the dungeon again. Everyone wanted to check things, even those that got hurt. So, the whole group was back again.


    Vanessa nodded when she saw everyone with their weapons in their hands, and then they began to cross the portal. It didn''t take long for Terry to understand that something had changed... As soon as everyone stepped away from the portal, They saw themselves standing in the middle of a massive grasnd while a few dozen of those monsters were around.


    The previous scenario was of innds where they could see some groves in the distance, but they couldn''t see anything like that... the portal took them somewhere. Still, they had to think about thatter. The monsters began to charge toward them.


    "Use the same formation as before!" Vanessa shouted. "Their numbers aren''t the same as before. We can do this!"


    Everyone dashed toward the enemies, and things ended rather quickly since Vanessa didn''t hold back and shocked several of them with electric spears. No one held back either since the weapons didn''t give them any confidence. However, those who used Mana to enhance their bodies noticed something. When they killed some enemies, they felt their mana being restored.


    Longsword of Greysteel - Lv 0 (02/30 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 12


    Defense: 12


    Magic Defense: 12


    Mana: 10/30


    Durability: 15/15


    Terry only killed two of them since he didn''t have experience using swords, but the feeling wasn''t weird. It felt like he could do a lot of things, but not something amazing with swords.


    Regardless, Terry confirmed that each kill made the sword absorb the mana of the targets, and if he had used some, the de would restore his mana. It was like the effect of some weapons that he had that could save mana, but it was a lot less circumstantial.


    "We can talk about thister..." Vanessa said while looking around. "Let''s take the corpses back to Earth."


    The new type of dungeon was more and more bing a real thing. It was also quite worrisome since it looked like the monsters could attack as soon as they found the portal. One couldn''t say if they could control the arrival of the portals, but if they could, that would be catastrophic...


    The idea of monsters suddenly appearing in the middle of the bases made the guild masters break into a cold sweat. In any case, Terry got the dungeon for himself, but things weren''t all rainbows and rays of sunshine.


    "For the time being, I am going to report this to the government and ask if they know of simr cases in our country or in others," Vanessa said. "We obtain something out of this, apparently, but don''t drop your guard... a group might suddenly appear out of the portal."


    Terry didn''t miss Louis'' presence even a bit, but he wondered what the annoying guy was doing when he didn''t show up for several days.


    Terry wanted some talk to think, but the other guild masters approached to talk with him. Naturally, they want to negotiate about the metals. Their capacity to store mana and give it to the user wasn''t something that they had seen before, and it would be even more valuable for mages and Ranged fighters. That would increase their firepower tremendously...


    Defining the value of the metal so soon was impossible. Still, Terry confirmed that he would negotiate with them once things were ready to do so.


    After a while, Vanessa and some officers of the government arrived to talk with the groups that were responsible; Louis was one of them, so Terry couldn''t help but sigh.


    "How rude... I hope that you won''t ever be received with a sigh," Louis said.


    "Tell us what we need to know," Terry said.


    "... It isn''t the first time that we have heard about the new dungeons, and the portals led hunters to other locations," Louis said. "In fact, some portals on this side changed locations a few times."

 Chapter 41: Graysteel

    <h4>Chapter 41: Graysteel</h4>


    Terry furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that. Those were some terrifying news... the fear of a portal suddenly popping out in their backyard became even more possible now.


    "While this is the first portal that appeared in our country that could do that, we received some SOS from other countries," Louis said. "We received them from Mexico and Cuba."


    Terry let out a sigh... Some people are just too unnerving. He couldn''t say if they couldn''t help or if they chose not to help, but keeping that kind of information hidden when people were suffering and dying was enough to piss him off.


    While he didn''t want to go around pretending to be a hero, Terry didn''t mind giving them a hand. He didn''t have to be like the assholes that he hated. Opening branches of his guild in other countries would help him, after all... still, his guild had just started, so he couldn''t n on going abroad tomorrow to expand.


    "What about other locations?" Mary asked.


    "Communications worldwide are limited, and those that still have some semnce of government and order wouldn''t spread the news that would make them look weak, so it is hard to say if that happened in other continents," Louis replied.


    After hearing that, Terry decided to return to the portal and fight with the monsters now and then. Six guild masters were taking turns in doing that, so he joined them. It was a good chance for him to clear his mind.


    "After you heard all that, do you still n to do your own thing?" Vanessa asked after she approached.


    "Hell yeah," Terry replied.


    "... You are unbelievable," Vanessa said after a long sigh. "Still, I imagine that I will have plenty of chances to change your mind. If you open a branch here, then we will be able to work together a few times, and that will benefit the country."


    "I wouldn''t be so sure of that," Terry said. "Many years living at the margin of society made me self-centered. You will have plenty of chances to learn that."


    "I would rather believe that people can improve and better themselves," Vanessa said.


    "And I would rather believe that people can''t regress with their progress," Terry said and then shrugged.


    In the next few days, the guild masters began to leave one after the other. Terry told Reba that she didn''t have to worry too much about people causing trouble. The news about the new metal was spreading, and only idiots would try to get on his bad side by stealing from him.


    During that time, Vanessa and his guild helped Terry fight the monsters, and he also spread the news that his guild was recruiting. Still, things will only start once Rebaes to help with the selection. Unfortunately, Terry and Vanessa also noticed something... the sphere was getting bigger again.


    "This isn''t something that the government knows since they ignored the SOS," Vanessa furrowed her eyebrows. "It looks like we will have to fight and kill the boss of the nearest camp again."


    "This thing... Is definitely created by something that wants to make species from several words kill each other," Terry thought. "But why?"


    "It is impossible to say with the knowledge that we have... " Vanessa said. "In any case, just killing them on this site won''t change a thing. Once you decide to take the boss down, call me. Please don''t do something reckless and stupid like going alone."


    "Humph, don''t underestimate me; this will be a cinch eventually," Terry said, and then he saw some vehicles approaching. "It seems that my hunters have arrived. From tomorrow onwards, your guild will be able to operate as usual."


    "We wille as usual to keep an eye on things since you are like that," Vanessa said.


    "Hello... it has been a while," Reba said while showing a forced smile.


    "Hi, you must be Reba," Vanessa said while offering a handshake. "I hope that we can get along since your guild master is something else. I heard a lot of things about you."


    "... Really, what did he say?" Reba asked.


    "Rx, I didn''t say that you are after my body," Terry shrugged.


    "How many times do I have to say that... keep dreaming," Reba said after a long sigh. "And don''t joke around while your subordinates are nearby."


    "Hah, I am d," Vanessaughed. "I was worried that you didn''t have a single friend with your personality, but I was wrong. Well, I will take my leave here."


    "... You two looked pretty chummy," Reba said when Vanessa left.


    "Don''t need to be jealous just because I am popr," Terry said. "Anyway, you should introduce me to the guys that you brought."


    "Right..." Reba said.


    It was hard to say by just looking at them, but the group that had eight guys and four girls didn''t look particrly remarkable. They didn''t have much of a presence either, so they must be newbies that awakened to their traits after joining the guild.


    "For the time being, your guys'' job will be to split into groups of six and then watch the portal from four in the afternoon until midnight and then from midnight until eight in the morning. I will take care of the monsters during the other hours," Terry said. "As for how strong the enemies are, you need to see for yourself."


    Thest group of Vanessa''s guild was leaving now, so the timing was good. Terry equipped his sword and then approached the portal and waited for a short while.


    Longsword of Graysteel - Lv 09 (34/100 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 40


    Defense: 40


    Magic Defense: 40


    Mana: 100/100


    Durability: 50/50


    (Crescent sh: a full-swing attack that causes damage equal to the user''s attack power multiplied by three. It can be used only with upward attacks. Cool down: 05 seconds.)


    When the weird creature suddenly appeared. Everyone suddenly grabbed their weapons and prepared to fight. The beast swung its spear toward Terry, but his swordpletely blocked the attack, and he didn''t even move from the spot...

 Chapter 42: Followers

    <h4>Chapter 42: Followers</h4>


    Terry kicked the creature in the stomach and pushed it away, but the beast decreased some of the damage when the armor appeared. In the next moment, he approached, and even before he could get in range, and used Crescent sh. The tip of the sword eventually cut a bit of the enemy''s chest and its chin, making it grunt in pain.


    The monster swung its spear from the side, but Terry recovered his stance and blocked the attack with his sword. Once again, he kicked the creature before jumping and approaching while swinging down the sword. Anotherrge wound appeared on the chest, but then Terry used Crescent sh again and increased the size of the wound.


    While the beast was paralyzed due to the pain, Terry thrust his sword into that thing''s neck and killed it.


    "As you can see, they aren''t ordinary monsters. They are stronger, faster, and more suited forbat," Terry said while picking up the metal te and then got the magic stone as well. "Don''t try to hold back against them. They are smart enough to surprise you."


    Reba wanted to say that he made it look easy, but everyone could tell that the creature truly was what Terry told them it was. Although they had just arrived, Terry told them to fight a few times before going home. He has his Restoration Wand with him, so things will be fine.


    "You don''t look even a bit happy after getting a dungeon here," Reba said.


    "... The situation is getting worse, you can''t spread this, but new and more troublesome dungeons are appearing," Terry said. "I think that you should stay there with your siblings. From what I had learned, the new dungeons appear whererge concentrations of hunters can be found."


    "You should have told me that one week ago, everything in Chicago is ready to work without us," Reba shrugged. "I also brought those two with me. Returning now would be a massive pain in the ass... Besides, the Storm Empress is here, and you aren''t half bad if you managed to her and ended up with the dungeon."


    Terry sighed. Still, in the end, it would be better for people to be where the strongest hunters are. New York was one of those ces now.


    With the new material in their hands, the people of the guild will get even stronger, so the security of the ce will increase. As long as Terry doesn''t let the portal grow, things will be fine.


    "Anyway, I am going to help those guys as well. I didn''t do much exercisest week," Reba said and then approached the portal.


    Although she got her trait a few weeks ago, Reba''s spells were already strong enough to slow down and wound even the mechanical warriors.


    The other hunters weren''t half bad. They were inexperienced, so they got hurt several times, but they had guts. Moreover, their traits were pretty good. One of them would make the enemy get heavier the more attacked they were. Another one could make the wounds if the enemies bleed more than usual, and another one could even slow down the enemy with telekinesis.


    "What a bunch of cheaters... Well, who am I to say that?" Terry thought and then shrugged.


    During the next few days, when he wasn''t hunting, Terry helped Reba with the admission of new members. Speaking of which, Terry asked how that would work in Chicago, and Reba exined that she let the oldest members deal with that. She said that they would be rewarded if they kept increasing or at least kept obtaining the same amount of magic stones. She also said that Terry woulde now and then to check things and that they would deal with him in case something suspicious happened.


    Truth be told, the money from a single dungeon was enough for Terry, but he wanted some powerful subordinates. Some won''t back down even when they think that death is fast approaching.


    Still, Terry only helped her for three more days... When the sphere was almost ten meters tall, Terry decided that it was time to do some cleanup on the other side.


    "Are you sure that the new recruits can guard the portal while we are there?" Terry asked.


    "They have the magic weapons that you lent them, so they should be fine," Reba said. "Besides, no monster wille if we do our job properly."


    Terry didn''t have the connections to forge weapons with the new metal, so he gave some to Vanessa to forge them. The first batch will onlye in one week, so Terry leveled up some magic wands to help the newbies.


    In any case, Terry checked his weapons and then looked at the team that Reba had selected. Thest time, forty enemies were waiting for them, so a simr number should be waiting for them. Hopefully...


    Fire Crossbow Lv 10 (25/110 EXP) (Common)


    Magic Power: 22


    Cost: 05 MP


    Durability: 28/28


    (Spiritual Essence: when this weapon causes the damage that killed the target, the mana used will be restored to the user.)


    (Continuous Shots: Increases the power of each bolt by five percent when firing them nonstop.)


    With the sword and the crossbow in his hand and thebined effects, Terry was confident that he could cause devastating damage. So, his guild could face the monsters without Vaness''s help. It would be dangerous, but it was something they had to pull off anyway. Terry''s guild aimed to make those who were weak to be able to fight... fight all possible enemies.


    So, with that in mind, they crossed the portal, and the others followed him.

 Chapter 43: Scouting ahead

    <h4>Chapter 43: Scouting ahead</h4>


    Terry had already pointed the crossbow to his front when he found the other side. As expected, he saw another group of forty or so enemies surrounding the portal. When they grabbed their weapons, Terry had already fired and hit five of them, and the power of the bolts was increasing. From the tenth shot and onward, the monsters fell and rolled on the ground during the impact.


    Eventually, Terry ran out of mana, but the others had already begun their attacks. Reba bombarded one of the mechanical warriors with her earth spears, and she crushed the head of her target in no time.


    The others worked in pairs and also killed six of the enemies in a matter of seconds. Things were going really well, just as nned, but then the enemies got up and charged to attack.


    Terry did the same and then used Crescent sh to break the guard of one enemy, and when the creature summoned the armor, instead of using the sword, Terry kicked the beast in the stomach. In the next moment, Terry stepped on the hand of the creature and then kicked its face several times. Eventually, the beast lost its grip on the weapon. The next moment, the enemy''s sword became a small metal te, and then Terry targeted the neck of the monster.


    Terry soon chose another target since he had already done something like that, so he wasn''t surprised. After finishing off his next target with a surprise attack on the ear, Terry looked around and confirmed that no one was in trouble. The parties had been divided in two, and they were working to watch each other''s backs so the enemies were unable to surround them.


    Things worked well until several enemies turned their weapons into hammers, and Terry clicked his tongue even before they were used since he knew what was going to happen.


    The monsters dashed at the parties and swung them with massive horizontal swings. The Frontline blocked them with the metal poles that Terry had enhanced. However, the impacts still pushed them away and made them flinch... giving the enemies another chance to attack...


    Terry dashed toward those monsters that were getting carried away and then attacked them with a quick sentence of stabs, and then he stepped back when the backline of both groups cast their spells. A heavy barrage of attacks knocked them down, and the front line approached to finish them off.


    Longsword of Greysteel - Lv 09 (70/100 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 40


    Defense: 40


    Magic Defense: 40


    Mana: 10/100


    Durability: 50/50


    "No mana this time... only those that have thest hit recover their energy," Terry thought.


    Terry looked around again, but he didn''t find anyone suffering. His first barrage of attacks wounded too many of them... on the next practice, they will have to make it without his help.


    Terry watched the rest of the fight while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The others were doing well despite the fact that the monsters were giving trouble solo, even to mid-ranked hunters. Reba was coordinating them, and they also had some powerful traits, but that shouldn''t be enough for them to do as well as the guild masters. The reason for that was the items that Terry leveled up...


    "I guess even with my help, no one can reach Vanessa''s power... perhaps Reba can if I level up a magic wand for her and she learns a powerful spell," Terry thought.


    In the end, the fight ended, and only three people broke their arms when they focused too much on defense... Terry healed them in no time, though. After finishing that, Terry decided to investigate the area ahead and find the next base of enemies;. At the same time, they had some time to do that. Terry wasn''t the type to dy the unavoidable.


    "I will scout ahead; you and the others should guard the portal," Terry dered. "If arge group approaches while I am away, you have the order to retreat and fight with the others in New York."


    "You are only going to scout ahead, right?" Reba asked. "Please don''t let us wait here for too long if you get entangled in a battle or something."


    "Trust your guild master now and then, okay?" Terry asked.


    After exining his n to the others, Terry forged ahead into the unknown. The inds stretched before him, vast and seemingly endless, swaying grasses whispering secrets carried on the wind. Thendscape was both beautiful and eerie, as if nature itself held its breath, sensing the imminent encounter between Terry and the monsters ahead.


    As Terry advanced, the surroundings gradually transformed. The flora grew more twisted and mutated while the atmosphere thickened with a nervous energy. Strange and otherworldly sounds permeated the air, heightening Terry''s anticipation and caution. Every step feltden with significance, for he knew the town he sought was no ordinary settlement.


    "It seems I am growing more sensitive to this kind of thing," Terry thought. "The battle experiences are pilling up."


    Finally, after hours of solitary trekking, Terry caught sight of the town in the distance. Its architecture, with jagged rooftops and macabre decorations, deviated from anything he had ever encountered. The eerie glow emanating from the buildings suggested an unnatural presence lurking within. It was very different from the other group.


    "I guess the guys here should be more violent than the others," Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I was nning to train the newbies in a battle like that, but it might not be a great idea," Terry thought.

 Chapter 44: Planning ahead

    <h4>Chapter 44: nning ahead</h4>


    Once he returned, Terry exined what he saw with Reba; he also talked with her about the first town of monsters since he wanted her opinion on the matter.


    "I agree with you; it makes sense that monsters living in different areas would act differently like this," Reba said after thinking for a short while. "Still, I suppose we can''t find arge group of them in other areas, one that wouldn''t be that dangerous."


    "Right, we still have some time before things reach a critical level, so we don''t have to hurry," Terry said while thinking about a few things that he could do to deal with that situation."


    After retreating, Terry gave the order for the newbies to keep watching the portal. At the same time, Reba offered them support as well. He was going to guard the ce at night, so he decided to use his time well before that.


    Terry went to talk with Vanessa about the ideas that he had. She was a bit busy dealing with the issues of her own guild and portal that she had to guard. At the same time, she also had to talk with the inhabitants of the city about the security of the ce and make them feel safe when someone unknown to them was guarding one of the dungeons. It was a lot of work.


    "Sorry for bothering you; I won''t try to take too much of your time," Terry said. "I was wondering if you know someone that is interested in joining my guild, and they are good at using those graysteel."


    "Those are skilled cksmiths and crafters that survived until now have already been recruited by the guilds, and I don''t think that they are unsatisfied with the things they receive in exchange for their services," Vanessa said. "We are always training new cksmiths and crafters, but that takes time. I suppose you didn''t look for cksmiths in your base and hometown."


    Terry could only nod; he never thought that he would need people like that since his trait was broken and could turn even kitchen knives into monster-ying relics. His reasoning stemmed from abination of past victories and a deep understanding of his own capabilities. Terry had faced countless adversaries throughout thest few weeks and had emerged triumphant using nothing more than his skills and standard weapons at his side.


    While the idea of seeking out cksmiths and crafters crossed Terry''s mind, he ultimately dismissed it. He felt that the time required to find skilled artisans, negotiate terms, and wait for the creation of specialized weapons would only dy his progress and potentially weaken his resolve. In his mind, the strength he possessed, coupled with his experience and knowledge of his opponents, would be more than sufficient to ovee the challenges thaty ahead.


    "If you have any idea in mind, I can ask my people to help you with that; they are getting better at using the greysteel after we learned in thest few days," Vanessa exined.


    A crucial decision weighed heavily on his mind. Terry contemted the advantages of seeking out cksmiths or crafters to enhance his arsenal of weapons and equipment, as well as the possibility of recruiting another guild to join his.


    Aware of the potential benefits of skilled craftsmen, Terry acknowledged that their expertise could provide him with specialized gear tailored to exploit the weaknesses. He envisioned weapons adorned with enchantments or armor crafted to withstand the peculiar abilities possessed by the creatures. The thought of equipping himself with such potent tools intrigued him... he also could make his subordinates a lot stronger.


    Unfortunately, that would make him go against his principles of not letting things continue with the status quo. The idea that he had would turn him into a much more fearsome opponent, but he couldn''t do it alone; he needed an expert cksmith. He would need several of them working for him...


    "It is fine; I will do something about this," Terry said, and then he left the room. "Sorry for bothering you."


    In the end, Terry headed to the branch of the guild that was almost finished, and he looked at the warehouse filled with the greysteel. After thinking for a while, Terry decided to throw away his pride for a bit and then went to talk with Louis. He did it using his cell phone in order to spare a bit of his ego.


    "Oh, that is surprising," Louis said while showing amusement in his face. "I gave you my number, but I didn''t think that you would actually call, even if the world starts to end again."


    "I hate doing this, even more than you can imagine," Terry said and then sighed. "Anyway, I want to hire some skilled cksmiths and crafters, ones that don''t have and never had affiliations with guilds. Can you spread that information on yourwork?"


    "That is possible, but it will be hard to find those people since they don''t need to be strong to be part of the guilds; they just need to be skilled in their craft," Louis said. "There are some people with that kind of trait, but they are quite rare."


    In a post-apocalyptic world, the task of finding skilled cksmiths bes arduous and challenging. The copse of society and the destruction wrought by cataclysmic events have disrupted the once-thriving infrastructure that supported specialized craftsmanship.


    In a post-apocalyptic world, essential resources such as iron, coal, and other raw materials required for cksmithing be scarce. The devastation caused by the apocalypse may have depleted natural reserves or made them inessible, making it difficult to procure the necessary materials for crafting high-quality weapons and equipment. So, most of those people would change careers to survive.


    The copse of transportation systems and the breakdown of societal structures disrupt supply chains that once facilitated the distribution of resources. This makes it challenging to source and transport materials required by cksmiths, impeding the creation of intricate and specialized weaponry.

 Chapter 45: Blacksmiths

    <h4>Chapter 45: cksmiths</h4>


    In the end, it seemed that Terry would have to focus on quantity over quality for now... he returned to the dungeon as soon as Reba''s turn finished, and then he asked her to focus on recruiting people that could be trained to do cksmithing.


    "I suppose we seriously need them, but you think that our weapons aren''t enough already?" Reba asked. "No one got hurt so far outside the portal."


    "I am thinking far ahead into the future; the preparations need to be started now," Terry exined. "Do a background check to find the right people for the job."


    Reba nodded and then left the area with the others. Terry noticed that some of his subordinates looked like they had something to say, but they didn''t say anything and just left. Terry wasn''t getting closer to any of them, and he was too busy for that; he might have to consider improving his interactions with them for the sake of the guild.


    In any case, even though he assumed his job when the sun was setting, Terry decided to deal with the monsters that would show up by using his Icicle Bow alone. He wanted to see at which level that weapon would stop growing, considering its rank, after all. If his guess was right, it would be at level forty.


    Icicle Longbow - Lv 24(188/250) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 125


    Movement Speed Debuff: 24%


    Charges: 40/40


    Durability: 48/48


    (Critical Charge: when dealing critical damage on the target, you recover one charge automatically.)


    (Cold of War: When hitting the same opponent twice with the arrows of this bow, you put them under the ''frostbite'' status effect and make them lose five points of health per second for ten seconds.)


    (Sniper: doubles the range of the arrows fired by this bow.)


    (Triple Shot: consumes three charges to fire three arrows at the same time at the target, causing the usual damage plus twenty percent per arrow.)


    Unfortunately for him, even after hunting throughout the night, Terry didn''t make the bow get another skill. The speed of the monstersing slowed down for some reason, and he could only assume that the monsters were up to no good. Just to be sure, he built a tent nearby the dungeon and went to sleep there when the next group came to take his post.


    When Terry woke up at noon, Reba informed him that she actually found ten people that could start working immediately. She also used the guild funds and a warehouse for them to start working already. She sure was quick on her uptake. She also brought all the things that they would need.


    "I am going to the portal now; the guys are already there waiting for your instructions," Reba exined. "I think I found the right people for the job, but you should see them in action, just in case."


    Terry nodded, and then he headed to the building in front of the branch, where he found the group. Their apprehensive yet determined expressions caught his attention, hinting at a mixture of anxiety and eagerness to prove themselves. It was evident that they yearned for an opportunity to contribute their craftsmanship to Terry''s guild.


    Though visibly nervous, their eyes sparkled with a glimmer of hope as they witnessed Terry''s approach. Each member of the group disyed a unique set of skills, evident from the scars and calloused hands that bore witness to their tireless efforts. It was clear that theirmitment to the art of cksmithing had persisted through the chaos and hardships of the post-apocalyptic era.


    "There is nothing to say; show me what you all can do by working together," Terry said. "Try to make some poles using the greysteel that we have here."


    As Terry revealed the rare metal he had acquired during his work, a sense of awe and trepidation washed over the group of cksmiths who had joined his cause. The metal gleamed with an otherworldly hue. It was a material unlike any they had encountered before, its properties shrouded in mystery and potential.


    The cksmiths'' hands trembled slightly as they reached out to touch the rare metal. They marveled at its weight, finding it both intimidating and thrilling. It was clear that they recognized the significance of this unique material and the immense responsibility that came with working with it.


    In any case, they soon began to work since they felt Terry''s gaze. United by amon purpose and driven by their shared determination, the group of cksmiths joined forces to harness the power of the rare metal in their possession. They embarked on the intricate task of creating the best prototype of a pole, knowing that its effectiveness could shape the oue of their new job.


    With focused minds and steady hands, the cksmiths gathered around the workbench, their eyes fixed on the rare metal. They meticulously nned each step, drawing upon their collective knowledge and experience to unlock the full potential of this extraordinary material.


    As the first sparks flew and the hammer struck against the anvil, a harmonious symphony of nging and pounding filled the workshop. Each cksmith expertly maneuvered their tools, employing age-old techniques infused with their own personal ir. They worked in perfect synchrony, a well-oiled machine fueled by a shared passion for their craft.


    Throughout the process, their nervousness gave way to a remarkable synergy that enveloped the workshop. Theymunicated with a silent understanding, effortlessly exchanging tools and seamlessly transitioning between tasks. Their movements became fluid and purposeful, guided by an unspoken unity that transcended words.


    The rare metal responded to their skilled touch, yielding and taking shape as their vision came to life. Its transformative nature astonished even the most experienced cksmiths in the group, revealing new dimensions and possibilities they had never encountered before.


    The cksmiths'' confidence grew with each passing moment, their initial nervousness reced by a deep-seated belief in their abilities. Their dedication to excellencepelled them to pour their hearts and souls into every strike of the hammer, every intricate detail they meticulously sculpted.

 Chapter 46: Troublesome dude

    <h4>Chapter 46: Troublesome dude</h4>


    In the end, Terry was surprised to see the final product after just a couple of hours... he saw that the material didn''t need much time to rest during the process of forging, but he still was surprised.


    Greysteel Pole - Lv 01 (00/20 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 05


    Defense: 05


    Magic Defense: 05


    Mana: 20/20


    Durability: 10/10


    "This was fast, and this isn''t half bad," Terry said while nodding in satisfaction. "Still, I can''t understand how the metal needed so little time to rest during the forging process."


    "I can exin it, sir," A semi-grayhaired man said after he stepped forward. "The rare material exhibited extraordinary malleability, meaning it could be shaped and molded with rtive ease. Its molecr structure allowed it to be manipted quickly, reducing the time required for forging and refining. We could swiftly shape the material into the desired form, expediting the weapon-making process. Also, the rare material boasted an unusually high melting point, allowing it to withstand intense heat without losing its integrity. This enabled the cksmiths to work at higher temperatures, elerating the forging process. The material could be rapidly heated and cooled withoutpromising its structural strength, expediting the cooling and tempering stages."


    "I see... what is your name?" Terry asked, visibly satisfied. "I guess Vanessa was being cautious with these materials since she didn''t know how many she could get."


    "My name is rk, sir," The gray-haired cksmith said.


    "rk, you are now appointed to be the leader of the cksmiths," Terry dered. "I will talk directly with you when asking for certain things and to receive the report of the progress of the same things. You can call me Guild Master or just Terry; I don''t mind."


    "Yes, guild master," rk said.


    "For now, I want you to develop something for me that eventually will be used by everyone in the guild," Terry exined. "I wanted to make you all start slowly, but we might not be able to take some cautious steps. After this pole, I would usually ask for a spear, but instead of that, I will ask you to make some forearm guards. Make five prototypes of them; you can diversify their shape and utilities; I will decideter what will be the best for our goals. How many days do you think you will need to make them? Considering that you will only have to work during the day."


    "We can work as much as needed, guild master," rk said. "We want to protect our city by doing whatever we can."


    That was nice and all, but Terry could tell that Reba hired them, promising to pay them for hours worked. He was fine with that, he didn''t want to turn anyone into ves, but if they wanted to work as much as they wanted and they were being paid enough for it, then it was fine.


    In the end, Terry left after he heard that the prototypes would be ready in two days. That was very good... he couldn''t have asked for more.


    The pole actually had more potential than the sword, probably because the cksmiths didn''t try to be cheap with the materials. In any case, Terry decided to level up that pole as soon as possible since the sun was setting already.


    "How are they?" Reba asked when Terry showed up.


    "They are good enough," Terry replied. "For now, they won''t make weapons for everyone, but soon things will be interesting. You guys can go and rest now."


    "Guild master, can I stay and work with you?" A guy that was a bit younger than Terry asked, and then Reba facepalmed.


    The kid stands at an average height, and he has a youthful frame exuding an energetic and lively aura. His face was characterized by soft features that held a touch of mischief. His hazel eyes, with their warm and expressive gaze, seem to sparkle with abination of curiosity and enthusiasm.


    Terry could tell that he wouldn''t get along with the kid... he seemed a bit too naive, and he didn''t look like he came from a simr background as Terry and Reba.


    "Sorry, Terry," Reba said after she sighed. "I told this moron not to bother you, but it seemed that he needs to be disciplined a bit more."


    "It is fine," Terry said once he recalled that he needed to interact more with his guild members. "I am not nning on doing anything special tonight; I will only kill the enemies from a distance. Thus, there won''t be any excitement waiting for you here."


    "It is fine, sir," The kid said. "I just want to see you fighting up close. My name is Juan, by the way."


    Terry could only think that there was something wrong with the kid, it seemed that Juan admired him a bit, and that definitely was bad since Terry didn''t even admire himself... he tends to focus on satisfying his goal and ego instead of helping others and cooperating with them, even though that was without a doubt, the best option.


    "Alright... you can stay here for a couple of hours," Terry said. "You will need to return to your usual working time tomorrow, and that isn''t negotiable."


    "Yes sir," Juan said and then saluted.


    Reba left while shrugging, already imagining that things would get noisy in the area. Still, in the end, Terry just made the kid stay in the front line while he used Icicle Bow to kill the enemies from a distance. It didn''t take long for him to see why Juan had that attitude. The kid had a very unusual trait that made even that troublesome type of monster have a hard time dealing with him...


    Terry recalled reading the documents that Reba had prepared about their elite group and was surprised to recall that the kid only awakened his trait after ten runs in the portal.

 Chapter 47: Bracers

    <h4>Chapter 47: Bracers</h4>


    With grace and precision that seemed almost otherworldly, Juan expertly avoided and parried the onught of attacks, their movements flowing seamlessly in a dance of survival.


    As the first monster lunged forward, its sword shing through the air, Juan reacted with lightning-fast reflexes. With a deft sidestep, he elegantly evaded the attack, his body twisting and contorting in perfect synchrony. The monster''s sword met nothing but empty air, its momentum carrying it past its intended target.


    In one fluid motion, Juan t countered, seamlessly transitioning from evasion to offense. With a well-timed swing of their weapon, he deflected a second monster''s oing strike, redirecting its momentum and destabilizing its bnce. The sh of metal against metal filled the air, a testament to his impable timing and precision.


    "He has good eyes... that must be his trait," Terry thought while Juan was smirking while fighting. "He enjoys fighting too much... or maybe he became like that after being unable to awaken his trait for a while."


    Terry wondered if such a thing wasmon... awakenedte traits be that useful. Reba was more or less like that. Still, the others that came weren''t like that at all. Terry read the other documents and confirmed that... it was just a coincidence.


    "Not all flowers bloom at the same time." This phrase emphasizes that everyone has their own unique journey and timeline for sess and achievement. It recognizes that some individuals may take longer to discover and develop their talents, skills, or passions. Still, when they do, they can flourish and achieve greatness. It serves as a reminder to have patience, embrace personal growth at your own pace, and notpare oneself to others who may have found sess earlier in their lives.


    In any case, Terry finished off the beast after he had watched enough. Juan didn''t seem like he liked that. Still, he didn''tin... he wanted to show that he could handle the monsters of his own, and that was something since even guild masters had to work together before.


    Before long, Juan got sick of seeing Terry getting thest hits and decided to leave. Terry shrugged when that happened... he probably won''t stay in the guild for long and will be swayed by the sweet talk of some other guild masters telling him that he could achieve more with them. Terry imagined that such a thing would happen sooner orter.


    In any case, two dayster, Terry went to check the prototypes of the forearm guards that the cksmiths had made. They all had different shapes and sizes, and they sure looked impressive.


    "This one... is the best," Terry dered.


    The Venomstrike Arm Bracer was a weaponized forearm guard designed for maximum offensive potential. Crafted from a blend of reinforced leather and rare metal, it featured an array of venomous barbs and serrated des. These deadly protrusions are strategically positioned to deliver devastating cuts and punctures to adversaries.


    The arm bracer was also equipped with hidden reservoirs, allowing potent toxins or debilitating substances to be injected. Wielded by a skilledbatant, the Venomstrike Arm Bracer bes a lethal weapon capable of inflicting both physical and chemical damage. Terry didn''t have poison, but some of his underlings could use it eventually if they wanted to.


    Venomstrike Arm Bracer - Lv 01 (00/10 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 06


    Defense: 06


    Magic Defense: 06


    Mana: 00/15


    Durability: 15/15


    Terry equipped it and confirmed that it was a bit heavy, but it would get better once it leveled up; he also could speed up that process by using other weapons alongside it. When using a single leveled-up knife, Terry felt ite a lot lighter than before.


    "Good work, this is a lot better than I had expected," Terry said. "You guys can rest for today; you should rest your minds properly before the next work. You guys can continue with this design, but now you will expand the whole structure to cover my arms. You should focus on using the same materials and the same proportions. Don''t worry if it bes a bit heavier than expected."


    "Yes, sir," rk said and then nodded.


    Terry told them to rest, but they left the workshop already talking about the next prototype. Terry could understand how a workaholic person works, so he didn''t mind that much. Without wasting time, he went to level up the bracers in the dungeon.


    "Wow, this looks nasty... I can understand now why Juan admires you so much," Reba said and thenughed a little. "You two have the same interests."


    "Mind your own business," Terry said. "Anyway, what is today''s report?"


    "Right... the monsters areing less and less than before," Reba said while showing a severe expression. "As you can see, the portal is growing fast... I don''t think that we have more than one week before the dungeon break."


    "Hmm, I suppose..." Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess that won''t be ready in time. Regardless, I will have some more weapons for everyone tomorrow. Alert them that we will enter the dungeon again in three days and let them rest ordingly."


    Reba nodded. The dungeons and portals were changing right when things were starting to look up to humans. Still, it couldn''t be helped... things rarely go the way they are supposed to, after all.

 Chapter 48 Complete ambush

    48 Complete ambush


    Terry gave everyone three days to prepare, but it wasn''t enough time for the cksmiths to finish their job. Still, Terry felt like his current bracers would do the job.


    Venomstrike Arm Bracer - Lv 12 (60/120 EXP) (Umon)


    Attack Power: 72


    Defense: 72


    Magic Defense: 72


    Mana: 00/180


    Durability: 180/180


    Attack Power Up increases attack Power by ten percent.


    Defense Power Up: increases defense Power by ten percent.


    "Active skills are pretty good, but this isn''t half bad," Terry said on the morning of the mission.


    After leaving the base, Terry found almost everyone on that branch of the guild ready for the mission. Vanessa was also nearby to offer support on this side in case something happened.


    "My guess is that the monsters are nning arge-scale invasion," Vanessa said, and then Terry nodded. "You probably had a lot of time to prepare, but the people in the city still feel a bit more safe knowing that I am here in case something goes wrong. Still, once you clear the dungeon again, they will know that your guild is at our level, if not higher."


    "Trust of strangers isn''t a currency that I usually find much value in, but I guess it is fine; I will just do my job and ept whatever happens," Terry dered.


    Vanessa modded, and then she stepped back. Reba approached and said that everyone was ready. Thirty or so soldiers were on their side; a few of them arrived in thest three days after they received the chance to graduate and be part of the second elite team.


    In Terry''s absence, the remaining guild members fought against a massive number of monsters in order to prove their worth. As they braved the dangers, a group of exceptional individuals emerged, standing out for their exceptional prowess and remarkable kill counts. Recognizing their extraordinary achievements, Terry decided to form a second elite teamposed of these distinguished members.


    This newly formed second elite team was a culmination of the guild''s finest warriors, brought together by their unmatchedbat skills and the sheer number of monsters they had dispatched. Each member had repeatedly proven themselves, demonstrating exceptional strength, strategy, and resilience in the face of danger.


    Although those guyscked the experience to deal with the mechanical warriors. They were used to fighting giants, so they knew how to take a punch and how to deal with monsters much stronger than them.


    "You should give a speech since this is our first attempt to clear the dungeon with a group of this size," Reba said, imagining that Terry was probably really bad at that and having a hard time hiding her smirk.


    Terry looked at her with eyes filled with suspicion, he lent her his bow since she was the best-ranged fighter, but perhaps he should take it back.


    "Alright, everyone, listen up," Terry muttered, his words devoid of any passion. "We''re about to cross through that portal and face the monsters once again. Look, I know we''ve been at this for a while now. It''s been a constant grind, battling these creatures day in and day out. But honestly, I''m not sure what more I can say to motivate you. If you guys feel like it, you can take a day off, these things aren''t that strong, and I am sure we can do something else to kill time."


    Most of them looked a bit nervous before. Still, now they rxed a bit since Terry didn''t seem that worried about the enemies. They had heard about the difficulty of the dungeons, but they could see that things around the ce had been peaceful thanks to him and the first elite team.


    Without wasting time, Terry leads the group toward the other side of the portal. Everyone was ready to fight and had their weapons in their hands once they reached the grasnds beyond it. Still, the ce seemed too peaceful for them¡­


    As Terry and his group crossed the portal, stepping into the unknown, their anticipation turned to shock as the portal abruptly vanished behind them. They stood frozen, gazing at the empty space where the gateway had been, now reced by nothing. Panic and uncertainty washed over them, realizing they were cut off from any possibility of retreat. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Before they could fullyprehend the situation, a distant rumble reached their ears. It grew louder and more ominous with each passing second. They turned their gaze toward the source of the sound, and their eyes widened in disbelief.


    A relentless army of armored warriors emerged from three different directions, their presence announced by the resounding sh of metal against metal. The ground shook beneath the weight of their synchronized steps, creating a cacophony that filled the air.


    The armored warriors were an intimidating sight to behold. Their polished armor gleamed under the sun, reflecting a cold and unyielding resolve. Each warrior bore the markings of a disciplined force, their helmets adorned with fierce visages that radiated authority. Their weapons gripped tightly in their hands, glinted with an air of deadly precision.


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