27 Criminal Scum

"You're a creep."

Annera said coldly. She pulled her hand off from Bob's grasps and backed off. After that reaction, Bob realized what he just did, and pressed on. He leaned towards Annera and said.

"I'm sorry. But what did you just do?" Bob inquired. He wanted to know what made him feel bliss.

"I just healed you. Nothing much else." Annera replied. She was somewhat repulsed at Bob's actions but seeing his eyes shining with innocence, she couldn't help but be lenient.

'Heh. Puppy eyes worked.'

Hearing her reply, Bob bowed his head in admiration. He was thankful for the fact that someone could make him feel that way.

Flap~

"Cluck!" Lavanuk clucked as she flapped her wings to get on Bob's tilted shoulder. She lowered her head and bowed.

"A chicken." Annera blankly said.

It was bizarre enough that the player before her was wearing beginner clothing yet fought against a nearly level 20 werewolf. Although he barely had any health left, he still won and now a chicken even perched on him and bowed as well.

"This is Lavanuk. Lavanuk, this is Annera." Bob introduced them to each other.

There was no need to do the introduction since Lavanuk was not a person but Bob held Lavanuk in high regard so it was only natural for him to do that.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Bob continued.

He held his head up and reached out his hand. This time, he didn't tactlessly grab her hand but instead offered his hand to shake. Annera had to reassess whether to accept Bob's hand.

"My pleasure. But don't do that again. Mkay?" Annera said as she shook Bob's hand.

"Yes. We just got off the wrong foot. Still, I'm thankful for what you did."

"It's nothing much. I am the party healer after all."

"Okay! Break it up, you guys." E interjected. He grabbed both of their shoulders and pushed them from each other.

"Die normies!" Minion cursed.

"There are still enough werewolves to play with. Annera wasn't able to get anything from the first few ones, but we can kill more!" E encouraged everyone to fight.

"Let's head towards an unpopulated place. I'm sure there are werewolves there." E continued.

E made the right call. Should they waste any more time, they would lose more werewolves to the Gourmet's Order of Knights. Although the Church of Gourmet does not want material gain, they still have necessities to satisfy.

They moved as a party towards an unpopulated alley within the city. Led by E, the party safely made it to their designation.

"Woi. Why did we come here?" Minion complained.

"Obviously because we don't want any competition." E replied.

"Something is missing."

Minion's voice resounded within the place. It was deathly silent.

"You think so?" E asked.

"Yea. Don't you think this place has no players because there are no monsters here?"

"Point being?"

"There's nothing here."

"Hmmm. Fair point. Let's leave."

E turned around and began his march back to the crowded areas. But before he could get out of the alley, a man wearing school clothing suddenly blocked his way.

"Hmm?" E made a sound. He could imply what the man was blocking their way for.

"Hey. There's a toll fee for using this alley. Pay up or suffer the ravages of time." The man threatened everyone.

"Shit. It's a noob hunter. Minion exclaimed.

The man's words confirmed E's suspicions. This was a player that would give you a 24-hour resting period. It was a questionable action since these players couldn't gain anything more than scraps from newbs.

"Run!"

E turned his back towards the school uniform wearing man and ran.

Everyone else within the party followed suit after E. The man was left behind but he didn't stop smiling.

"That's right. The hunt wouldn't be entertaining if you guys gave up."

The man then flexed his muscles. Something bizarre happened right after, his skin became dark and his body hair grew rapidly. The man's snout warped and became pointy and his nails became claws.

"Oh shit! It's a big fucking werewolf!" Minion exclaimed.

"We know, captain obvious! Stop looking back and run!" Enma retorted to Minion's statement.

"Oh? So it wasn't a noob hunter after all? That's a relief." E commented.

"Yea. It's not a noob hunter." Annera replied. "But don't you think this one is worse than a noob hunter?"

Werewolves were known to be fast on their feet, so the party that was running away from the werewolf that was 3 meters tall was surely going to get caught.

"Kulkulkul." The big werewolf laughed. It was having fun with its prey.

The party ran for their lives, the werewolf was also running for their lives but for a different reason. Soon enough, the werewolf caught up to the party and executed a running strike.

"Ugh, shit!"

Minion got caught. He was smacked to the side with one arm swipe of the big werewolf. His HP was brought down to less than half in one hit which caused him to panic. Everyone stopped to assess the damage Minion just took.

"Fly, you fools!"

With tattered robes and limping legs, Minion barely said. He could no longer run, not in the state he was in, but his party was foolish enough to stop running.

But before the party could react and turn away, the big werewolf struck one again.

Slice~

Since they weren't in motion this time, the werewolf could properly hit with its claws. Bob was struck with a downward strike. From his head all the way to his nether regions.

"What?"

"Cluck!"

Bob looked at his body. Wounds suddenly opened before he could react and his blood gushing out.

*The wound inflicted on you has given you the 'Maimed' status effect.

*Your body will now continuously drain your health until you die or get healed with a spell.

*Natural HP recovery will be disabled.

Bob could feel his energy slowly draining from his body. He felt a pain that could last several lifetimes in one strike.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

He could only scream. Now that he was more aware of his situation, he now knew pain. And the pain was he felt was not so pleasant.

"Holy shit. Bob's gone nuts!"

The usually silent Blight just cussed. Bob's scream was not something that you could produce from feeling pain from the game. Blight felt something sinister from that scream.

"Good thing he didn't die. Annera! Use your heal on him!" E was alarmed at the damage the werewolf could dish in one hit.

From what E saw, Bob had full HP because of Annera's focused healing spell from earlier. And the werewolf brought Bob to his last bit of health instantly.

"Hah? Oh! Rejuvenation!"

Annera used her instant area healing spell. Had she aimed a focused healing spell on Bob, she would have been targeted by the werewolf due to game mechanics.

'He's still going to die. 'Rejuvenation' could only heal a small amount.'

But she was wrong.

'What?!?'

She felt that something was wrong as she observed Bob's HP bar. Annera saw Bob's health bar instantly fill itself to full. It was a baffling experience since she did not expect that to happen with the spell she casted.

"Oh shiet! Annera! Run!" Enma cried out.

Due to Annera healing Bob in an instant, the werewolf has found her to be more of an obstacle. It ran straight for her and there was nothing she could do about it. The lunging claws quickly made its way to her menacingly.

Clang~

Enma used his sword to block the attack. But the strike was done with both arms, he could only block one arm with his sword. The other arm went forward and hit him on his right shoulder.

"Ugh."

*You have suffered 400 damage.

*Your HP is now under 60%. Your class passive 'Berserker' activates.

*Current bonus: 15% increase in physical damage. No change in attack speed.

His health drained but Enma was not in critical condition. His arms were numb from blocking such a strong attack. Despite being able to block half of the attack, he still suffered damage that could end him in 3 strikes.

'Danger poodle!!'

"Kul kul kul."

With Enma within the werewolf's claws, he was free real estate.

Chomp~

"Uwaaaa!"

*You have suffered 200 damage.

*Your HP is now under 40%. Your class passive 'Berserker' activates.

*Current bonus: 40% increase in physical damage. 15% increase in attack speed.

Riiiiiiiip~

The werewolf moved its massive head while still munching on Enma's right shoulder. And as expected, his arm fell off and he could no longer hold a sword with it.

"Blinding Light!"

Minion once again used the crowd control skill from earlier. The werewolf was blinded for a while and Enma did not pass up the opportunity to escape.

However, the spell's effect did not last for long. The enemy was far ahead of Minion in levels so it was able to shake it off.

"Grrrrr!"

The werewolf chased after Enma with a lunging attack.

"Block it!" E commanded.

"I can't! I'm disarmed!" Enma replied.

Enma could only wait for his demise. But it did not come.

"STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!"

A lovely voice resounded.

There she was, standing right before the werewolf and blocked its attack with an aegis as if she was always there. Her gracious armor and blonde hair were only characteristics of her beauty.