9 Safe zone

Moments later, after the sudden attack of the monsters on the makeshift camp.

Alice finished the last monsters with a quick and precise cut with her two swords, and a long sigh left her lips.

"Whew... I didn't expect this to happen; something is changing..." She muttered to herself, shaking the monster blood from both of her blades with a sharp intake of breath; this made her frown in annoyance.

Letting out a sigh, she looked around the makeshift camp; well, what was left of the camp, the ground was strewn with bloody human thighs, calves, shoes, ribs, a heart, arms, eyeballs, and other human parts. The small puddles were mixed with pale red intestines, with some monster parts.

Seeing all this, Alice felt like she was in a slaughterhouse specially prepared for humans.

Alice let out a long sigh and watched the whole thing with a neutral and calm expression, but inwardly, she was slightly upset. It wasn't because of the horrible sight of the place but because she could have saved more people if she had been stronger.

"Sigh, no use lamenting now..." Alice shook her head slightly to push that thought aside and turned her attention to the people who survived.

Of the eighty people left after this attack, only twenty remained, meaning that 80% died in this attack, and only 20% survived the sudden attack of the monsters.

In front of the group of survivors, Alice inconveniently praised them, "You did quite well, surviving in the face of this unexpected situation."

Everyone stood before the unexpected words, and Alice, realizing what he said, wanted to smack her forehead, noting one more thing in her mind to be more careful in the future.

"Hehe, but we survived thanks to this person..."

"Yes, that's right; if it wasn't that person, we wouldn't have survived and would have ended up like them."

"Yes, as you can see. When everything was chaotic, this person told us to take it; thanks to that, we survived. If it weren't for him, we would have died. This person first smashed a monster's head with his sword. Thanks to him, I got courage, and we fought the monsters."

The survivors began to talk while pointing to Kleint, who, with a haggard expression due to fatigue, tried her best to stand up despite all the pain in her body.

Alice looked at Kleint with a slightly surprised raised eyebrow, not expecting this at all, and thought calmly: It seems I wasn't wrong to save him.

On the other hand, Kleint, noticing the change in Alice's expression and her slight interest in him, faintly pressed his fist, and a small smile appeared on his lips.

It looks like my plan to get her attention worked a little... Kleint thought, pleased to see that it had worked.

Initially, Kleint didn't intend to help everyone who survived; his goal was to get close to Lee Joon by looking at his stats and growth potential; he wouldn't let an unpolished gem die in this place. But as he looked at some of the people he was trying to survive, he made a quick plan.

Then he guided them using his knowledge of online games so that they would survive and that when they spoke, they would say that thanks to him, they survived. However, he did not have much hope in this as human nature is unpredictable, but seeing that it had worked, he could not be more grateful.

Because he managed to get Alice interested in him, although it is minor, for Kleint, it is an outstanding achievement since he is dealing with a regressor, and getting the attention of someone like that is not easy, so everything he does works.

I got a person with a lot of talent, in addition to slightly capturing Alice's interest... Sigh, in the future, I won't do this again unless the situation calls for it and I can benefit from them; I don't want to make the same mistake... Kleint said to himself seriously, while his expression wrinkled with pain.

Alice looked at Kleint and said in a neutral tone, "You seem to have a little... experience with this." 

"I was lucky. Besides, if it weren't for them, this wouldn't have been possible," Kleint said with a weak smile.

Alice didn't say anything; she stared at him momentarily before looking away. Seeing the destroyed camp full of corpses of monsters and people, she saw the twenty survivors. She sighed and, in a severe tone, said, "Everyone takes the weapons and supplies. We need to move before more monsters come."

Everyone, without objecting and with sober expressions, began to move quickly, taking their supplies. As there were people to spare, Kleint did not help at all due to the condition of his body that did not allow him to make much effort.

Seeing how everyone was more or less organized, Alice, leading the group, said, "Let's get out of this place."

They began to move forward, most of them primarily nervous, some taking one last look at the lifeless bodies hanging in the trees and on the ground as tears welled up in their eyes.

***

After a long stretch, they encountered different monsters, such as a man-eating monster, a Rabid Dog, and others.

When the group encountered the Rabid Dog and Chain Beast monsters, they were completely horrified by the appearance of these two monsters.

The appearance of the Rabid dog was like that of a Great Dane dog, with the difference that this one seemed to be dead; the fur was completely rotten, the pus was coming out of his mouth, and the strong, putrid odor coming from his body, his body was full of maggots.

This vision made many people vomit bile, leaving them unable to fight. But Alice easily defeated all these monsters, with impressive dexterity and in an exquisite way, leaving everyone perplexed.

After a long time, Alice wiped out almost all the monsters and deliberately left some for the people who had arms to deal with, and they finally reached the safe zone.

"Wow, there was a place like this; now we don't have to worry about monsters."

"This place is a thousand times better than the one we were in before, and it seems much safer."

"Awesome, now I can rest easy without worrying about being attacked by monsters."

People began to talk enthusiastically while looking at the safe area, much better than where they were before. Seeing that this place had a small crystal clear river, the ground was not swampy but looked like artificial turf; some large trees gave good shade.

It was as if they were entering a kind of paradise and that nothing bad could happen to them in this place, or so they thought.

They entered the safe zone, feeling how the soft breeze gently hit their faces, and the sound of the small river reached their ears, giving them a feeling of tranquility and relaxation, something they had not felt since they were summoned to this strange world.

Kleint, with a tired sigh, leaned against a tree, watching as everyone was looking around.

Alice said earlier that this is not a safe area, but it is a safer place so that monsters can attack it. Also, if they make too much noise, the same thing can happen as what happened at the starting point... Kleint believed that the monsters crowded at the starting point because when they were summoned, the noise they made called the monsters' attention, and they had much more developed senses.

Leaving his thoughts aside, he looked over at Lee Joon, who had sat next to him and decided to look at his status window again, as he had only looked at his statistics before.

[Checking the status window and talent levels of player Lee Joon]

[Name: Lee Joon]

[Age: 20]

[Disposition: ambitious reserved]

[Title: None]

[Class: None]

[Stats]

[Strength: 16/growth potential: rare or lower]

[Agility: 11/growth potential: legendary or higher]

[Vitality: 13/growth potential: heroic or lower]

[Intelligence: 11/Growth Potential: heroic or lower]

[Stamina: 12/growth potential: heroic or lower]

[Luck: 10/growth potential: heroic or less]

[Mana: 05/growth potential: rare or lower]

[General Review: He has potential agility growth above legendary grade. Unlike you, who are practically trash... While his overall magical ability is low, he may experience explosive growth as an archer or assassin in the future. You are currently unaware of your incredible potential. It is not an exaggeration to say that your talent is a speck of dust compared to him. Seriously, how can you have so little talent]

Kleint looked closely at Lee Joon's condition and bit his lip, unable to shake the feeling of injustice.

Lee Joon... has a pretty good growth potential. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he would make a perfect assassin... But, I must always emphasize my horrible talent... Kleint muttered to himself silently, frowning at the unnecessary comment directed towards him.

Looking at Lee Joon sitting down, Kleint decided to ask him his name even though he already knew it, "By the way, what is your name?"

Hearing that he was talking to him, Lee Joon looked at him briefly and replied in a tired tone, "My name is Lee Joon."

"Lee Joon... My name is Kleint" Kleint said with a weak little smile.

"Kleint, thank you so much for helping me just a few moments ago," Lee Joon thanked him sincerely.

"Don't worry about it. It is nothing; I just did what I had to do." Kleint waved his hand with a small smile.

As a small smile appeared on his face, Lee Joon looked at Kleint's attitude.

"This, Lee Joon; when you received the message, were you in America or Korea?" asked Kleint with interest as he had some idea in his head and wanted to be sure if his thought was right.

Lee Joon didn't answer right away; he first leaned back against a tree, looking up with a sad expression, and began to speak in a slightly hoarse voice:

"Before I was summoned to this place, I was with my parents and sister in Times Square, celebrating New Year's Eve and ushering in the new year. Everything was completely normal, nothing out of the ordinary until I got a strange message that said [Will you participate in the game?] I thought it was some beta of a new game, so I accepted it without thinking much about it. After, from that, I lost consciousness; then I found myself in that place that the woman called a split point or something like that."

"I see..." Kleint muttered as he fell into deep thought after hearing everything.

Interestingly, Lee Joon was transported with us because when he received the text, he was in the United States... So, if things are like that, people from all over the world were summoned to this place that the woman called "Continent" but that's not quite sure. Also, I cannot trust whether people from all over the world were summoned.

I have to remember that many people declined that message, so the summoned people were limited since the woman said, "We sent invitations, and you accepted." Hmm, how complicated...

Kleint let out a long sigh; even though he had an idea, he couldn't come up with anything because the more he thought, the more confused he got; he couldn't come up with a clear answer in his head, so he decided not to think about it now.

Leaving the thoughts, Kleint closed his eyes to rest as his whole body ached, and he needed to rest.

Lee Joon, looking at this one also closed his eyes to rest as well, as too much has happened in a short period of time.

...