35 "Help..."

"Human?" Even if the black duck had said, Aiden couldn't believe it. Helpless, Aiden could only turn to the ESS.

[The host is requested to assign names for the beast.]

'Even the ESS calls them 'beast'?' Aiden took another look at them," Duckman, Pig-head, and Antlerman."

Hearing the crude names, the so-called Duckman looked at Aiden with furious eyes.

[Name: Duckman

Grade: D

Element: None.

Feature: Human body with the characteristics of duck. Black feather. Uses weapons. Talk in human language.

Weakness: Unknown.

Comment: They just look different.]

[Name: Pig-head

Grade: D

Element: None.

Feature: Human body with the head of a pig. Extra fat. Uses weapons. Talk in human language.

Weakness: Unknown.

Comment: They just look different.]

[Name: Antlerman

Grade: D

Element: None.

Feature: Human being with antler. Uses weapons. Talk in human language.

Weakness: Unknown.

Comment: They just look different.]

Looking at the list, Aiden couldn't help but frown. It just wrote down what Aiden already knew. He couldn't help but ask, "Are they human?"

[Unable to make a distinction. Mana circulation is similar to humans, but it also resembles a mana beast. Although they didn't have the mana-core, they're similar to the host.]

'It's similar to me? How?' The last sentence of the ESS surprised Aiden, 'were they also contracted Acute Mana poisoning? But that doesn't explain why they were looking like that.'

"How many times... khuk." The Duckman's face twitched in pain, "We're human, and stop giving us those strange names."

Unable to find a valid explanation, Aiden turned to the beast. Even if the blood didn't stop flowing from the wound, the Duckman stared at Aiden. Looking at him, Aiden couldn't help but smile. "You're going to die, and you're worried about a strange name?"

Looking at Aiden, the Duckman shuddered a bit. "You..." It was like he couldn't find the right words to say, "Do not kill me. If you kill me, you're not going to leave the forest alive. All of your friends will die too."

'You know my friends, huh?' Aiden frowned, "You know where my 'friends' are?"

Believing that he had baited Aiden perfectly, a smile appeared on his face, "What do you think? When you fought with us, our boss took care of the caravan. After he took care of it, you'll die next."

"Caravan?" Aiden took another look at the thing in front of him, 'Could they be bandits of something? Caravans attacking and their boss...'

"If you don't kill me, I can help you get out of the skeleton forest." Seeing Aiden confused, he became more persuasive, "Have you already killed the two Honu brothers?"

"Honu-brothers?" Aiden was getting the gist of it, 'he must be talking about the archer monkeys.'

"Those yellow-tailed woolly monkeys." The smile on his face grew bigger, "you couldn't, right? They're too agile, so the boss will know about you soon."

'So they're a bandit group. They were securing the perimeter or something while the boss was attacking the caravan. They mistook me as a...'

As he found that the man in front of him was in deep thought, the Duckman put his hand inside the robe. Yet he did not dare to stop his voice, "Everything inside the skeleton forest is under our control. If you let me go, I might be able to pursue the boss..."

'The Skeleton Forest? The Bandit Chief?' Aiden thought, 'even if he doesn't look like one, his character is very much like a human being. Looks like I was in between their operation. It's better to avoid this...' When Aiden was deep in his thought, he was attacked by the Duckman.

Aiden jumped back quickly, but it was too late. To begin with, he was standing too close to the Duckman, by the time he noticed the metallic glint he couldn't dodge.

Even if Aiden avoided one of the blades, the other throwing knives gave a wound on his arm. But rather than running away, the Duckman pounced at Aiden.

Aiden was trying to activate [Light Foot], but he didn't have the time. He ducked to avoid the dagger, which was aimed at his throat, and ended up with a deep cut on his forehead.

'I didn't remember him being so quick.' He didn't have time to think as a kick to his chin diluted his mind more. He rolled across the ground to avoid the next set of attacks.

'What was it? Wasn't there a wound in his stomach? Yet he is so ferocious...' Aiden's view was not clear, but he could still see a black thing running toward him.

[Skill [Wind Skin] activated. Mana used:2/ 20 min. Remaining Mana: 1]

Even if he had used his mana from the last fight, some of it had already been recovered. But with his eyesight still hazy, he couldn't see it all.

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[5.4499]

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

[5.4312]

[The host has manually deactivated innate skill [Zone]]

In a moment, Aiden was rolling over the ground, about 20 meters away from the Duckman. Feeling that his dagger had hit nothing but air, the Duckman was surprised.

It took a couple of moments to find Aiden again, and that was enough for Aiden. Grabbing the blade tighter, he ran toward the Duckman, and the result was expected.

[The host has activated innate skill [Light Foot]]

Even before the Duckman could understand what had happened, his heart was punctured by a blade. Looking at Aiden, who stood behind him, there was nothing but fear in his eyes.

"What are you?" Even if he saw it twice, the Duckman couldn't believe that a human could be so quick.

"I am human." Although he said that, Aiden was not in a position to smile. He was quick to pick up a potion and pour it on his wound.

Gritting his teeth, he accepted the pain and slumped to the ground. It took a few moments to understand what had just happened.

'He wasn't the very first one. No, he was at the speed of a normal human being. Yet he was able to wound me.' Aiden could not believe that he had a hard time fighting a wounded human being.

'He retreated when I thought he was going to attack. The decisiveness, the ferocity... the struggle of a human being is different from the struggle of a beast.' Aiden sighed as he slowly rose again.

'They're coming this way,' Aiden moved out of the place as soon as more red outlines appeared in his vision.

A moment later, three people came to the place where Aiden was sitting. If Aiden had been here, Aiden would have recognized the overgrown monkey without a tail.

"What? Dappy is killed! Horn and fatty, too?" Unlike the fallen Duckman, this man was more like a human being. Although his hands were covered in scales, he looked like a human without any deformation whatsoever.

The man who had come with him sniffed the air with his snout-like nose. He said, "There's one more person who smells like a human being."

"That's what I'm talking about. It's a human being. It's a human being who did it to me. He's also knocked out my brother," cried the tailless monkey.

"So you say that a human without the beast essence did something like this?" Looking at the vertical pupil of the scaly-hand, the tall monkey shuddered a little.

"Believe me." The monkey voice shook a little, "He was very strong and fast."

"Stop it. He is not lying." The snout-nosed human said, "and taking care of Dappy's group isn't a joke."

"They were weak." The scale-hand frowned and was about to say something more, but he was stopped by a snout-nosed man.

"And he's not from a mountain city." His words attracted the attention of the other two. He just turned to the cliff from which Aiden had come, "He came from the dead forest."

"Are you kidding?" The scale hands frown grew deeper. "Like a human could live there?"

The snout-nose smiled, "Did I ever say that he was living there? He might be living in another place, but he came from that direction."

"Western mountains?"

"Totemic warrior?"

Both the tailless monkey and the scale-hand exclaimed at the same time.

"That might be the case." There's a light smile on his snout-nose face as he went on, "And if he's a totemic warrior from the western mountain, he'll explain how he could be so strong in human form."

"Wow! We're really lucky today," said the scaly-hand in excitement. "The Jewel Corporation caravan and the Totemic Warrior. If we can catch the Totemic Warrior, we can get more."

"Yes, the Arcid people have been looking for a strong slave for a long time. We can get more from them."

"Really? Why?"

"That bastard Kaiser had killed a few powerful slaves in the arena." The snout-nose shook his head, "Whatever the reason may be, it's good that we can earn more."

In agreement, the scaly hand nodded. He put his hand on the monkey 's shoulder, "even if you've lost your tail, you've done a good job. Expect a reward."

"Thank you, Captain." The monkey bowed repeatedly, but he was ignored by the so-called captain.

The scaly captain turned to the snout nose before he asked, "But where is he now? We've got to catch him now. I don't think he's going to have any more trouble catching him with both of us."

"Don't worry, he 's going nowhere." The smile on his snout-nosed face grew bigger. He pointed to the direction and said, "He went where the boss is."

Approximately 1.4 km away from them, Aiden ran while he was checking the city-light for direction. It was when he heard it.

"Help..."