Chapter 67 | The Prodigies’ Display of Strength

An awakener could only equip one storage ring at a time, meaning that Alicar had to let go of his [Small Storage Ring] to equip the new one.

He decided to sell it back for $20,000 which was a loss of $10,000 but to be honest he didn’t really care about the minor loss.

"I’ll be going out, finding some equipment and then returning," Leon spoke with a wide grin, already turning to leave. "See you, Alicar."

"Don’t be late for tomorrow," Alicar said simply with a faint nod, his voice carrying a note of warning. "No matter what, we need to overcome them."

For some reason, Leon felt like that Alicar wanted to defeat the Wendigo before the prodigies for other reasons beside the "money" but he didn’t say anything, trusting his companion’s judgment.

Just like that, they said goodbye to each other, and Alicar returned to the gate after eating a well-deserved meal at a nearby restaurant.

Ding!

[You have entered the First Layer.]

He appeared in the Ironhold Base once more, the familiar sights and sounds greeting him, but Alicar knew he couldn’t sit around, he needed to grow much stronger before tomorrow.

It had only been an hour since Alicar left the First Layer, meaning that once he returned, the Ironhold Base was still just as full as he left it, the crowd buzzing with excitement and anticipation over the arrival of the prodigies.

Many awakeners still surrounded Alex, Levi, Daan and Mia, each of them eager to discuss the upcoming hunt with the so-called prodigies, their voices overlapping with questions and admiration.

"What do you plan to do to kill the Wendigo?" one of the nearby awakeners asked with an excited smile, his eyes wide with curiosity and hope. "No one that tried before succeeded, and even some Level 25 awakeners can’t seem to get an edge on it!"

"As we said before," Alex replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, his voice dripping with confidence. "I’ll just trap it in a cage of bones while Levi shoots it through the head with an arrow, or Daan cuts off its head using his weapon. Simple and effective."

’Yeah, so basically they have no real plan,’ Alicar thought with a small chuckle, shaking his head internally. ’How funny.’

If someone like Edwin who was a veteran around these parts and had spent weeks studying the Wendigo’s patterns and behavior couldn’t defeat it, then what were their actual odds of success?

To be honest, Alicar knew they would be still be much better than Edwin and his team simply because of their powerful classes, which gave them an edge in combat that experience alone couldn’t match.

Each of them had an extremely powerful class that allowed them to defeat opponents a few levels or ranks higher than their own, a significant advantage that made them formidable.

But unlike every other monster they had faced, the Wendigo actually seemed to possess genuine intelligence, and it used it whenever it could, making it far more dangerous than its rank suggested.

"If you want, we can show you," Alex grinned widely, enjoying the attention he was getting, basking in the admiration of the crowd like a performer on stage. "One attack is all it takes, follow us!"

Alex, Daan and Levi marched toward the exit of the Ironhold Base with confident strides, followed by dozens of other awakeners who wanted to see them in action against the forest monsters.

As for Mia, she simply sighed, a look of mild annoyance crossing her face. ’How the hell did I end up stuck with these guys,’ she thought to herself, her arms crossed.

She was incredibly strong, but she usually preferred to remain alone, and yet the Awakener Association had tasked her with defeating the Wendigo with these three as part of a team, much to her displeasure.

She couldn’t deny they were strong, but their personalities were rotten, at least from the few hours she had spent with them, their arrogance grating on her nerves and making her regret the assignment.

Alicar needed to leave the Ironhold Base to get stronger as well, so he followed the others as well, eager to see what they could do after a month of growth and training in the First Layer.

After a few minutes of walking through the dense forest, they encountered a group of three Brambleheart, monsters who took the appearance of trees to ambush unsuspecting awakeners who wandered too close.

[Brambleheart Lv.23]

[Rank: Rare]

Daan sensed their presences rather quickly even though most awakeners could simply go past them and get caught completely off guard by their ambush tactics.

Each of the Brambleheart was a level above them, and even rare-rank, yet they didn’t seem to care as several awakeners backed away to give them space and avoid being caught in the crossfire.

"Watch this," Alex said with a confident grin as he pointed forward and activated his skill without hesitation, his hands glowing with dark energy.

Fwoosh!

From the ground under a Brambleheart, a massive amount of bone spikes erupted with violent force, impaling it from all sides in a gruesome display of power.

Then while it was injured and thrashing, Alex summoned a Bone Spear in his hand and impaled the Brambleheart directly in its eye, which had opened once it was discovered and exposed.

Several people gasped at the efficiency by which Alex managed to take down this thing, their jaws dropping in amazement at his brutal precision.

Right after it was Daan’s turn, his two-handed sword swinging with such force it sent gust of wind through the air as he cut down the monster in one devastating attack, cleaving it cleanly in two.

And finally, Levi took a simple shot with his bow, shooting an arrow that hit the Brambleheart’s weak point, injuring it, then sending a few more to finish the job with surgical precision.

A thunderous amount of applause followed as the trio killed these monsters so easily, their confidence growing with each kill and each round of praise.

"Don’t flatter us, it’s just the minimum," Daan smiled, waving off the praise with practiced humility. "These things were the same level as the Wendigo, just one rank below, meaning that it’ll be a piece of cake when we face the real thing."

Upon hearing that, Alicar’s smile grew even wider, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes at their overconfidence.