Chapter 68 The Black Pool
After leaving the injured human and elves behind, Kyle started running again toward the biggest golden cross mark.
He would stop from time to time to kill some low-rank monsters but overall his journey was quite smooth sailing.
The first reason was the white earring artifact he acquired and the second reason was Bia who was patrolling around the sky.
While walking the day turned into night, and just like that one week passed.
In this week, Kyle killed a lot of low-rank monsters. He also faced two newly ranked (-D)-Rank monsters and with the help of Bia, he killed both of them. But even after killing so many monsters, he wasn't even near a breakthrough.
On the other hand, Bia finally broke to (+E)-Rank after eating tons of precious fruits.
Kyle was a little scared, seeing her consuming so many resources just to break through to (+E)-Rank. But he soon accepted the fact that to make Bia rank up in the future, he had to empty his tiny pocket.
While running he saw some more boss monsters but they were all (-C)-Rank or above, that's why Kyle didn't even dare to step around their territory.
And now after a week, Kyle was finally standing in front of a black 20-meter pool. There were huge trees around the pool, making it difficult for others to see the pool or locate its location.
This black pool was one of the golden cross marks that appeared on his way to the biggest golden mark but it seemed someone else had already swept this place clean, as there was nothing inside or outside the pool.
"Tsk, who stole my treasure? Don't you ever let me see you or else..."
With a grumpy face, Kyle left that place. It was the first time he wasn't able to get his hands on something and someone else took it.
After leaving the black pool, he started running toward the next stop.
This time Kyle didn't stop, he was afraid that someone else would take the treasures before him.
.....
On the other hand, after looking around for a while 'Squeak' finally came out from the same tunnel as Kyle.
It was so angry that it ate all the corpses of the monsters Kyle killed.
Also, right now Squeak looks different from before. It wasn't the same fist size small cute squirrel anymore.
With a 7-8 meter tall body, it looked around with angry eyes.
It was because it lost its prey two times!
The first one was Carcel who disappeared inside the tree hole and the second one was Kyle who disappeared when Squeak was busy eating.
How could Squeak accept this, for the sake of eating that small prey, it even left its companions.
Now what should it do, what face would it show to its companions?
With a resolute expression, Squeak decided to find those small-looking creatures. No matter what, it was definitely going to taste them.
Also, after eating all the corpses Squeak broke through to (D)-Rank. Now It was very confident in finding them, as one of its tracking skills has become powerful with the rank increased.
That's why Squeak was able to sense a faint smell belonging to one of its prey who ran away before it was able to eat it.
Sooner or later he will find both of them and eat them up.
When Squeak thought about eating Kyle and Carcel, it jumped with excitement. The ground beneath its feet caved in a whole meter.
If someone now looked at its eyes he would definitely faint from shock as its eyes were twinkling like a baby, not matching its huge scary appearance.
After jumping around for a while, Squeak looked in two different directions and hurriedly climbed up a nearby tree.
Squeak was going toward the person who was nearest to him.
.....
Meanwhile, Alec encountered a (-D)-Rank monster the moment he appeared on the second floor.
He was a little flustered, seeing a high-rank monster the moment he appeared on the second floor. Still, his rank was (+E)-Rank, and after some struggle he killed the monster.
After defeating the monster, he wanted to run away but unfortunately, the place he appeared was a plain with no trees or any hiding place. That's why, Alec was targeted by a lot of monsters.
In the end, it's become too difficult for him to hold on. Also, when Alec saw a huge 20-meter tall worm coming out from underground. He had no choice but to run toward the nearest forest he could see with his vision.
It was because the worm was (C)-Rank!
Alec was confident he could defeat a lot of low-rank monsters with his (+E)-Rank strength. He could even fight (-D)-Rank monsters but there was no way he would be able to fight a monster who was 2 whole ranks above him.
That's why without even waiting for a second he started running at full speed. Even after that he almost died under the worm's countless attacks many times.
Alec would have definitely perished if he hadn't used all the skills present in his arsenal.
After running for more than three hours with his life on the line, Alec was finally able to reach a forest nearby and get rid of the worm monster.
When he entered the forest, he first encountered two unfamiliar humans who were roaming around together but Alec didn't stop seeing them and directly left.
He needed to reach the middle of the second floor!
The system finally gave him the location of something precious when he appeared on the second floor. Alec was a little happy seeing the system notification.
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'Mission; xX'
Reach the center of the 'Tower of Opportunity' Second floor and find the 'Red fruit of the Ancient tree'.
Reward:
1× fruit of Ancient tree.
Penalty:
-None
No time limit.
_________________________
It wasn't exactly a mission but still, if the system had spoken, that meant the fruit wasn't something ordinary!
With an excited expression, Alec started running toward the black dot displayed inside the system window.
The black dot was the location of the Ancient tree.
Alec's last mission where he had to find a 'sword' was pending because according to the system hints, the sword was somewhere around the top floors.
That's why he wasn't worried about it yet.
While running around, Alec saw two more demi-humans and one elf fighting with some monsters.
It seemed the second floor of the tower was shorter than the first floor because he was able to see those people on his way.
But still, he didn't see anyone familiar.
Alec wondered how the others were doing. He knew everyone was strong on their own but the Tower was becoming too dangerous. He just hoped they stay safe and climb the Tower successfully.