"Let's get started, Rose, Claire!" Raven called.
"Okay!" they replied in unison.
Claire closed her eyes, raised her staff, and softly chanted, "Fireballs."
Buzz!
Ten fireballs instantly appeared near the ceiling.
Their sudden appearance startled the sleeping monsters. They snapped their eyes open and turned their attention to Raven, Claire, and Rose.
Kroaak!
Their terrifying cries echoed throughout the room.
Raven tightened his grip on his sword and warned, "Rose, don't let your guard down."
Rose pointed her sword forward.
"I know."
The two of them held their ground, waiting for the bat monsters to make the first move.
The next second, the swarm of monsters flapped their wings and rushed toward the three of them like bloodthirsty mosquitoes.
Claire immediately stepped back. She planted the tip of her staff into the floor and shouted, "Protective Spell!"
A three-meter-tall barrier appeared around her, shielding her from all sides.
Meanwhile, Raven and Rose ran headlong into the swarm. They swung their weapons and faced the bats directly.
Slash!
Raven cut one of the bat monsters right in half with a swing.
His sword was engulfed in bright red flames, so the other bats kept their distance.
Five fireballs floated around him, their glow so bright that it was hard for the monsters to see.
"Hehehe... You never expected this, did you?" he teased.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, only to reappear behind two bats. They didn't even have time to react.
He swung his sword downward, effortlessly slicing their bodies in half as if they were made of tofu.
"F-rank skill, Shadow Movement... It really comes in handy," he muttered with a wide grin.
He glanced at the two monster corpses and had no intention of destroying them. Reina could use them later to create experience stones.
His gaze shifted to the dozens of bats hovering about two meters away. None of them dared to approach because of the fireballs surrounding him.
"Let's finish this!"
He raised his sword, then vanished from his spot and began the slaughter.
Half an hour later...
"Hah... Hah..."
Rose panted, her face covered in sweat. Yet instead of looking exhausted, she looked delighted.
"I made it to level 10!" she shouted.
"Oh? You reached level 10? Congratulations!"
Raven walked over with a small chuckle.
Rose looked up at him and nodded enthusiastically.
"Mhmm! I'm sure Claire did too."
"Great. Let's take a break first."
The two of them walked over to Claire, who was already waiting by the entrance.
"Did you reach level 10?" Raven asked.
Claire checked her status panel and nodded.
"I did. The experience points I got from killing those bat monsters were incredible."
A sigh escaped her lips. She had thought it would take another two days to reach level 10.
Unexpectedly, after just one hunt, both she and Rose had already achieved it.
That was truly remarkable.
"Glad to hear it," Raven said with a faint smile. "Now the two of you can awaken your classes. But before that..."
His gaze shifted to the five hundred bat monster carcasses scattered across the ground.
"I want to collect them first."
"Collect them?"
Rose and Claire exchanged puzzled looks.
"What for? And how are you going to store them?" Claire asked skeptically.
Raven simply smiled without answering.
He walked toward the pile of monster carcasses and called out, "System, store them all in storage."
Ding!
A notification popped up in front of him.
Raven tapped it, and a blue panel appeared.
"[Your storage doesn't have enough capacity. It costs 400 Love Points to upgrade your storage space. Would you like to upgrade it?]"
Raven rolled his eyes. It felt like the system was deliberately trying to steal his Love Points.
Still, he had no choice but to agree.
"Use them," he said indifferently.
"[Ding! 400 Love Points have been deducted! Current Love Points: 9,000!]"
A moment later, the monsters' corpses turned into particles of light and vanished into thin air.
Raven nodded in satisfaction before walking back to Claire and Rose.
"Those monster corpses... they just vanished?" Rose swallowed hard. "H-How did you do that, Raven?"
Raven simply smiled.
"It's a secret."
He walked past them and said casually, "Let's go."
Rose and Claire exchanged glances, but neither of them asked any more questions. They quickly followed him out of the area.
...
"Hah... Hah... Hah..."
Reina ran as fast as she could. Every now and then, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure her pursuers were no longer chasing her.
After confirming no one was behind her, she let out a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.
Her beautiful face was pale, and her black hair was a mess.
She clenched her fists tightly and grumbled, "Damn you, Leo... If I ever see you again, I'll kill you!"
Half an hour earlier, she and Leo had gone hunting together. Since she had already reached level 6, she had been reluctant to go.
Leo always took the larger share of the experience points, leaving her with only the leftovers. Even so, she had no choice but to follow him.
Before they even had a chance to leave, several burly men approached them and asked Leo and Reina to team up.
However, Leo flatly refused, and the situation quickly escalated into a confrontation.
Unfortunately, they were badly outnumbered, and that damn bastard ran off, leaving her behind.
Reina became their target. One of the men even wanted to rape her and turn her into his sex doll.
Luckily, she managed to escape. Otherwise, she didn't want to imagine what would have happened to her.
Reina clenched her fists tightly.
"I have to find Raven as soon as possible. Only he... only he can help me!"
Without hesitation, she jumped to her feet and was about to run when playful voices echoed from both sides.
"Hahaha! Where are you going, beautiful lady?"
Reina froze in her tracks. She turned toward the voices and saw two burly men to her right and another two to her left.
They were tall, and their faces were covered with terrifying scars.
"You guys..."
Her heart pounded as she hurriedly backed away.
"How did you find me!?"
"We've explored this cave more than once. Did you really think you could hide from us? How naive."
A calm voice came from behind her.
Reina turned and saw a tall, handsome man walking toward her with a calm, composed demeanor.
He had short hair and a muscular build, but his face was unmarked—a stark contrast to the other four men, whose faces were covered in scars.
"Dariel..."
Reina clenched her teeth. He was the leader of the group that had defeated Leo and tried to rape her.
"What? Are you scared?" Dariel asked with a faint smile as he stopped in front of her.
He reached out and lifted her chin with his index finger.
"In the end, you're nothing more than trash abandoned by that fool. What a pity..."
His words pierced Reina's heart like a dagger.
"All right, I won't keep you waiting."
Dariel withdrew his hand, the smile on his face growing even wider.
"Today, you'll be our plaything... hehehe..."
Reina instinctively took a step back, but the four men had already surrounded her. An overwhelming sense of fear consumed her.
She knew... she knew her fate had been sealed.
But then...
[Announcement! The third mission is about to begin!]