The one that inspired heroism!!!

the visit to the nomad lady store seemed like a distant memory when adam woke up the next morning, standing in that formless pressure has drained him completely, he didn't even eat his launch, now that he sorted things out ... he believed it ...all of it ... if an old store owner can be this terrifying... what about a millinia old ancient beast?? it will be absurdly poweful...

wait ... the competition is in the morning isn't it? damn he almost missed it ....

running out of his room he grabbed some bread and a jug of milk and chugged both of them down his throat, leaving the dumbfounded crowd and stuff behind, he didn't slow down a bit, taking for the gate directly, as fast as he could.... and his speed was astonishing to the town-folk he passed by..

not long after ... adam was in front of the town gate ... stiff and battle ready guards were in his way, and they kept asking him what he was planning... and if he is with a dark cult, they were like a tense string that may be snapped at any given moment, one of them insisted he was using dark energies to empower his body, how else would he be this explosive?? .... adam felt troubled, he will miss the event that way....he needed to think of something...

while he was thinking of a way out adam heard a commotion at the back of the guards crowd, then he saw one man kicking the guards left and right, and yelling at them, the guards flinched, but still protested, one of them ( the one who saw adam running at max speed ) said " but sir orven this man was---....."

"shut up and make way" orven yelled very loudly this time, made his way towards adam and smiled when he was in front of him

" i see ... so you became even more powerful huh " " as expected of sir vandaxe... follow me ... this way i will take you to the event site. they are expecting you there "

" thank you orven you are a saver .... "

"hmmm" orven just nodded and smirked to himself, remembering the terrifying soul devourer.... 'look who is talking about saving ....i came here to save my men not you '

after they reached a clearing several hundred metres away from the gate of the hamlet, orven bowed and went back on the same way, heading for his post...

when adam stepped into the area he felt the burning gazes of around 20 adventurers.. they had different clothing, a variety of weapons and equipment.... and apparently.. most of them was not happy, because they had to wait for him, it certainly would feel unfair .. adam understood that so he didn't push them anymore, he just stood at the edge of the crowd and waited ....

not long after adam got to the site, the mayor showed up.. and did a short speech, explaining again the rules of the game, he apparently wanted to make a good impression on adam by that, but it somehow backfired.. adam now was the collective enemy to most of the present adventurers, they had the stereotypic idea about him being the ''i know the mayor" sort of guy ... but he didn't care about that too much, those fellas was after all just a bunch of greenhorns who had yet to be accepted as adventurers, he of course would never underestimate an opponent but he absolutely won't overestimate anyone either, regardless of the opponent if he was not totally outmatched -- which he isn't, he will never flinch back from necessary fights...

the equilibrium was a tricky one, great fighters should not show any weakness to others yet at the same time, they shouldn't reveal so much of their powers, they must always have something to pull out of their hats if things went south ...

A blow from a loud horn was the sigh of start of the competition... it didn't take long before the clearing was dead empty, only some guards and officials remained there, even the mayor was heading back to the gates, adam scanned his surroundings, and slowly moved around the place, he was trying to seek the least crowded direction, because he wanted to go all out, and having praying eyes wasn't comfortable nor beneficial to him, he was hiding his class and his skills from others like that annoying solyman advised him to, and after meeting with the old nomad woman he became more humble and more careful...

recalling what the mayor explained just moments ago adam noted that he needed to extract some sort of crystal from every monster he hunted down... that would be his only way to prove his kills , the minimum requirement to pass as an adventurer was three crystals for every adventurer in the span of three days ... they can go back to the hamlet to stay the night... and continue hunting in the next day ...or they can stay in the wilderness, but an adventurer that is more then 24 hours late by the end of the event will automatically fail ...

muffling the sounds he was emitting as much as he could.. the young bounty-hunter navigated the forest slowly and carefully ... after an hour of walking through the forest he heard a sound finally... closing his eyes and focusing ... he turned his head to the north.. opened his eyes which gleamed with a dangerous light and nodded his head... a human .. and a beast ..two ... three.. beasts ...

maybe the bounty Hunter couldn't wait to hunt some game, or maybe adam knew how dire a situation the human to the north was in ... but he didn't hold back any bit of his speed and reflexes, and he was in the scene in mer moments, a girl in her late teens .. was on her butt, her bow was broken ... a gaping scratch in her main right hand ... where an iron dagger was desperately held, her weapon was shaking, her eyes were desperate... she was screaming at the beasts but did they care??? of course beasts didn't ...they only knew how to hunt and eat ... and this tasty human girl was their meal for today ...

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nana couldn't believe they escaped and used her as bait, she was shocked !!! furious ... and at the same time felt a suffocating dread overcoming her heart... these mixed feelings didn't improve her already dire situation... four unholy wolves were after her ...worse yet she was dizzy and shaken because these bustards pushed her off a cliff and escaped... she wished they burn and die million times, she hoped the other wolves would catch up to them .... but then she was back to her terrible reality, pulling the string she fired an arrow from her bow, the angle was tricky ... but her arrow still hit the mark .. one wolf down three to go .... just when she was in the motion of pulling another arrow from her back... one of the wolves jumped and slashed at her with its gigantic claw, the attack was aimed to cleave her in half but she was able to jump back... it still destroyed her weapon and injured her dominant hand though, so all was left now is for her to die .... there was no hope ... no hope at all ...

in the last moments nana just couldn't stop crying, she was about to die just like that!! , she didn't even turn 20 years old !! she didn't know which one of the two hurt more, being eaten by unholy wolves, or being tricked and sacrificed by a bunch of weak-willed coward greenhorns ... looking at the wolves nana felt something out of place, its like they were frozen in place for some seconds, the wolf to the right moved suddenly trying to dodge something ... but he couldn't escape a flying hook that crushed its head... before the other two could react the chain that was attached to the hook tensed up again and was launched horizontally, the two wolves panicked and jumped back ... making a room for a masked man to step in and separate them from the girl ....

nana was dumbfounded... she couldn't believe it, this man ... she knew him... he was the white saint of the hamlet, the very man she saw a couple days back .... she was saved ... she was saved, she didn't have to die that soon...

it didn't take long for the other two unholy wolves to fall under the barrage of the chain flying attack and the crushing axe, nana was amazed, she watched with bated breaths, the way the very same beasts that nearly killed her and even mad her party betray her, was outmatched in every aspect, power ,pricision, power, and even speed and reflexes.... this !!!

it was not a fight at all ! what was she doing? is she even qualified as an adventurer?? ...

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it was simple for adam to kill the wolves, these were not like the ones he met by the wall of the town when he saved the guards, these were unholy wolves, it means they were undead wolves... less intelligent and less organized, but they never ran out of energy, worse their bites was extremely dangerous ...

remembering she was scratched adam ignored his system notifications and went to girl ... looking at her from a distance she seemed to understand he was concerned about her injury, the almost passed out when she looked at her wrist, it was now blue and black blood was ouzing out of it, not bothering with the girl adam took her knife from her hand, examined it carefully then stabbed it deep into her arm, loud screams were heard from inside the forest for several minutes ...

adam was sweating bullets, looking at the health bar and the infected status in his analyzing screen, bit by bit her health was going down with the potency of the infection , then he finally breathed out in relief after the infected status was removed, he didn't have holy water nor did she has, the only way was to remove the flesh that was infected with unholiness... luckily before the girl bled her life out he succeeded... he had her drink some healing potion, fortunately, the infection was cleaned before her hp zeroed out ...

after another several minutes ... nana woke up ... and when she saw adam in his white mask she flinched slightly... adam looked at her and felt somehow bad ... he had no other way ... he had to hurt her .... nana suddenly grabbed his hands and bowed down

" thank you so much sir saint ... i .... am not worthy of that kindness.. me a warrior who let herself be tricked and exposed to danger that easily ... "

adam barely kept his reflexes in control and knew the girl might though he was with the competition stuff... so she was hoping to have a chance next year. .. but he wasn't... so he got an idea

" look here miss Nana ... you see these three wolves ? four i mean .... i will only give you two of them ... by tomorrow.. you need to hunt two more ... if you do that ... you pass .... "

saying that adam cut one of the crystals out and walked away ..." sir ... but what ... i .... i .... "

the girl was crying again .... damn it this is why i hate dealing with them .... adam was bad with girls and he always panicked when dealing with them so he quickly fastened his pace .... but he then looked at her and said

" ahhh and don't tell anyone you met me okay !!!?" and puff he vanished...

of course for the dreaming girl this scene was the most majestic one she has ever seen, showing up like a mythic beast, saving a life and then vanish?? awesome ??

nana has stars in her eyes, she swore to herself that she is going to be a hero who saves others and smiles a little smile and then tell people not to say that she was there .... !!! this saint is a real hero though, and i'am nothing but a weak archer, i need more practice, and i need to be an adventurer first, i will not waste that chance he gave me .... never ....

i won't disappoint you sir saint ....

nana said looking in the direction adam left from .... her eyes were full of resolve, if she didn't succeed she will die trying!!! she even forgot about her revenge... these crybabies didn't deserve her time now... !!! her fatigue was there but she could manage..... she has to ...!!

that day ... adam didn't know he has played the strings of fate to a degree even he wouldn't expect or imagine... the shy saint ... was slowly spreading light in a dark world ... one crazily devoted hero was already born ....