20 Who Are You?

*Vroom!* 

The roaring sound of the engine echoed as two Jeeps came out of the base. 

The front jeep had five people. One of them couldn't help but ask, "So, what is our task this time?"

"Rescue the VIPs," said the driver. 

"Oh, this annoying mission. But why would they even send the other group? No, they should be the only ones going."

"It can't be helped. We don't have much information about these VIPs other than their pictures and their names."

"But isn't there one person who doesn't have a name?"

"It means that this person is more special than the others." 

"Oh, I have seen these two. They have an extremely high evolution rate."

"So, what kind of person is this last one?"

"Don't ask. We only need to bail them out. Considering their strength, they shouldn't have gone too far, but the problem is that they are in the path of those beasts.

"They are still Tier 0, right? Maybe they have died." 

"Hush, don't say it. We have to find them alive."

"But look!" One of them pointed to the front. Beasts started coming out of the woods.

"We will break through them and continue on the main road before searching for them."

"Alright. It's my turn then." A girl stood up and moved to the top of the engine's cap while pulling the big axe on her back. "Do the usual."

"Got it." The driver nodded. The others were also preparing their weapons.

…

Meanwhile, Clovis was currently engaging the Tier 1 short-faced bear. 

"What's wrong? You can't entertain me anymore?" Clovis grinned, taunting the bear. The bear's mobility was drastically reduced due to its injury. On the other hand, Clovis was unable to kill the bear due to its size and his injury. If he could still use both of his hands, he could climb the bear with his short sword.

Unfortunately, he still couldn't get a feel for his right hand. 

The bear tried to crush him with its size, but Clovis simply ran outside the bear's attack range.

There were only two ways to kill this bear. First, he regained his right hand and climbed the bear to kill it with either a pistol or a blade. The second way was to buy enough time to get help from Kanaria and Jay.

Still, it seemed that they required a lot more time to kill the megistotherium.

'What should I do now?' Clovis looked around, wondering if he could use anything to gain an advantage over the bear.

Clovis also had another thought about these beasts. Since they came from Tier 1 territory, why would only three Tier 1 beasts appear? When he thought about it, he thought about the possibility of this place not being the center of the attack.

He could only think of one place that might be related to this monster wave. It was the base.

'That's right. If the base is the center of this base wave, it means that going to the base would be a foolish move. At the same time, returning to the city would mean encountering those beasts. The city wouldn't open its gates during the siege, so the best option would actually be to move in the opposite direction and wait for a while.

Now that everything was clear, Clovis had thought of another solution. Since he might not need to fight another Tier 1 beast anymore, he could be a bit reckless in spending his resources.

Without hesitation, Clovis dropped his sword while looking at the incoming bear paw. 

*Bam!*

The bear's paw slammed the ground, almost crushing Clovis. Fortunately, he managed to run away at the last second.

Instead of attacking the bear with the sword, Clovis actually used one of the two remaining bullets from his special pistol to shoot the bear's hand.

*Bang!*

This gunshot startled the bear. Normally, the bullet wouldn't penetrate its paw, but surprisingly, the bullet entered its body. 

The bear even lost the sensation of its palm. It continued to spread toward the arm. 

*Roar!*

The bear didn't know what happened, but it couldn't move its arm anymore. Clovis took advantage of the bear's confusion to aim for the other foot.

This gunshot was the mark of the end of the battle. 

The bear suddenly fell to the ground as the numbness spread to its lower body. 

With both legs decapacitated, the bear couldn't support its massive body anymore.

Clovis moved from the left side. Since he had stopped this arm without being able to turn its body anymore, there was no way the bear was able to stop him.

With a smile on his face, Clovis stabbed the bear's head multiple times until the bear didn't move anymore.

"Just die." Clovis let out a long sigh. "Still, I have used up all the black bullets. The only ones I have left are the twelve purple bullets. After these twelve bullets, I wouldn't have any other trump card to use."

There was a reason why Clovis wanted to conserve at least one type of bullet. After hearing that his house had been surrounded, he needed to preserve this trump card for the worst-case scenario. 

It was really hard to grow under these circumstances. People wanted him to die, he didn't have much resource to deal with them, and there was no other connection he could take advantage of. 

Hence, he only had one choice left. He had to become a Tier 1 Explorer within a month. Yes, he wanted to stay in the Subterranean World for a month, but he wondered if this was actually possible with this kind of injury. 

"Still, where are they? Why are they so slow at killing just one Tier 1 beast?" Clovis was curious, so he had to go to them, confirming their condition. 

The beast was already at its death door with all the wounds covering its body. However, Jay didn't seem to be in good condition either. He had lost a lot of vitality after using his beast soul multiple times.

Kanaria wanted to help him, but Clovis lent her a pistol. So, it seemed that Clovis had a part in their fight.

"Kanaria!" Clovis tossed the pistol while calling her name.

"Huh?! Oh!" Kanaria was startled and caught the gun out of reflex. At the same time, a ridiculous thought appeared in her mind. 'Did he kill two Tier 1 beasts faster than us dealing with this one? Even though Jay was exhausted because of the Entelodon, Clovis had also fought a lot of short-faced bears.

Her shock was cut short as she had to kill this megistotherium. Now that she had her special pistol, she came closer to the beast and shot its body. 

The megistotherium, who thought that Kanaria's bullet couldn't penetrate its skin, dropped its guard, only to regret it right after. 

*Roar!* The beast was jolted by the excruciating pain on its body, causing it to tilt its body to the side. Jay took this one chance to utilize his beast soul one more time to behead the megistotherium. 

"Haa… ha…!" Jay panted. His face was pale and his legs went limp, causing him to drop his knees and use his saber to support his body. "We're finally done." 

"Good work." Clovis came to him with a smile. 

"What good work?" Jay clicked his tongue while looking at Clovis's deed. He killed so many Tier 0 bears and even killed two Tier 1 beasts faster than them by himself. "If you used that pistol, you would have won easily in our competition." 

"Do you think I can convince you that way? It's not fair." Clovis shook his head helplessly. 

"Fair enough." Jay sighed. "So, what are we going to do next? Go to the base?" 

"No. We have a change in our plans. For now, we should gather the essence of these beasts and head to the opposite directions."

"Huh?" Jay looked confused. They were in great danger, so they didn't have time to get their essence. 

However, Clovis carefully explained, "Listen to me first. If you look at these beasts, you should notice something is off."

Kanaria nodded. "That's true. These megistotheriums shouldn't have appeared here."

"Exactly. If we look at their number, shouldn't you be able to know what is currently happening?" Clovis asked. 

"Beast wave?" Kanaria widened her eyes in shock.

"Yeah. We happen to be on the beast wave's way, but since there are no other beasts coming here, it's clear that the beast wave has passed. So, where do you think the center of this beast wave is?" 

"The base, huh?" Jay finally understood why he wanted to go in the opposite direction.

"Yeah. Since we won't encounter any other enemies, we should gather the essence and head east. We have to camp there until the siege is over before returning to the base. Although I have to admit it, I don't think I can use my shoulder anymore."

"Got it, but let me catch my breath for a few minutes. It's hard to use the beast soul multiple times." Jay waved his hand, signaling to them that they could gather the essence first. 

"Alright." Clovis nodded and headed to his bag to grab the syringe. They got four Tier 1 essences this time. More importantly, the bear would definitely have a lot of essence considering its size. 

Meanwhile, Kanaria picked up a few things from her bag before walking to Clovis. "How is your injury? Let me check." 

"You know about this?"

"Not much, but I should be more knowledgeable than you." Kanaria shrugged.

"Okay." Clovis pointed at his right shoulder.

Kanaria tried moving the right arm while asking, "How is it? Do you feel any pain?" 

"Ugh." Clovis's reaction alone was enough for an answer. After a minute, Kanaria gave him a white pill. "It doesn't look bad. Here's the aspirin. It should relieve your pain."

"You even brought this?" Clovis didn't expect that Kanaria really brought everything with her. She was like someone with a magic bag that had all kinds of items the group needed.

It seemed that he underestimated the importance of logistics.

Instead of smiling, Kanaria actually became serious as she couldn't help but ask, "Clovis. Seriously, who are you? Are you a Tier 1 Explorer? Even if you are not, you are pretty close to it, right? Your resources, your strength… don't really make sense. I can't even think of any names related to you. So, who exactly are you?"