Impossi-Pu! 

"Tsk. Who does that guy think he is." The big fella wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Giving us that careless attitude. He thinks he is a tough guy or something? If it's not for us, he thinks he could have made it this far?"

"Now he's probably too scared to move." Reaper took a drink of water. "Not so careless now right?"

Hearing these remarks, a faint smile appeared on Beetle's grim face.

Standing perfectly still or playing dead was useless against the monsters here. Beetle just saw Jake as an oblivious newbie praying for a miracle.

As expected, the ape raised a hand. It was holding a boulder.

"Do it! Show this guy what the magical realm is really like!" Reaper's smile widened in excitement.

Beetle also faintly smiled. Looks like the fate of that detector was sealed. Simple quest. Easy money.

Beetle rubbed the talisman resting on his chest.

Jake didn't notice the two. But if he did, Jake might even point behind them. A friendly heads-up. Though, this probably wouldn't be much help now.

Sure. The cave was some distance away behind these two. But the horde of apes was moving out already, forming a wide circle around the two.

In a moment, these two explorers would be completely surrounded.

Looking at the ape's attack, Jake lightly shook his head.

To an iron-tier, this attack was way too slow. Focusing his mind, in Jake's view, this ape moved slowly like a sloth.

Nevertheless, Jake was not interested in testing out his defensive abilities here. His clothing was not superhero outfit after all.

'Let's do the control test first.' With his full strength, Jake hurled his bronze billiard ball at that over-sized ape.

Upon the throw, Jake could hear a small pop sound in the air.

Doooonn...

Like a beam of bronze light, that bronze billiard ball crashed into that ape's chest, making a low impact sound.

The sound was like a pile-driving hammer slamming onto concrete at a construction site.

Upon contact, that bronze orb exploded into a burst of bronze-colored dust.

Thump... Thump...

As if being hit by a sledgehammer, that five-meters tall ape stumbled back two steps.

Doooonn...

Being knocked out of balance, that ape dropped its boulder onto the ground.

On its chest, there was a bullet-sized red mark. Red pixels gradually flowed out, quickly disintegrating into the air.

However, in proportion, the wound looked like a needle mark on this giant ape.

'Looks like non-magical material is capable of punching through the mana barrier. Check. However, the barrier absorbed most of the hit.' Jake took a closer look and shook his head.

'Also...' Jake knitted his brows. His arms felt a little sore now. 'Looks like I need to work on my stamina.'

'On a positive note though, looks like my aim is much better than I'd expected.'

Without further hesitation, Jake hurled his crimson-red billiard ball at that ape. The aim: it's head this time.

Since the crimson-red billiard ball didn't reflect much light, there wasn't a clear trajectory track.

As an iron-tier though, Jake could catch the projectile path of his throw. That thing melted right through the ape's mana barrier, shot through the ape's head, and continued flying into the sky.

The edge of Jake's mouth twitched a little. Looks like he was not getting this projectile back.

Sure, this ball was simple to make. Just mix some magical material into some bronze. And voila. An artifact that could interfere with mana barrier of monsters.

But the process still required an artisan. Sensitive mana control was needed.

One mistake and the magical material would dissipate into dust!

'How troublesome...'

'Also... The gap between iron-tier and unranked can't be bridged by numbers after all... It's like our tier of life form is not even the same anymore.'

'An army of a thousand caterpillars can never win against a monster truck after all...'

Jake casually nodded as he summarized this battle.

On the other side.

'Impossi-' Reaper widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Pu!" The big dude spit out a mouthful of water.

As a newbie explorer, he couldn't even catch all the action. All he saw was that Jake shot out a beam of bronze light.

That light hit the giant ape's chest. The white-furred ape stumbled two steps back. Then it's head exploded.

Not very logical. But hey. It's magical.

Reaper bended his knees. His legs felt a little soft. At this moment, Reaper wanted to thank himself. He felt grateful for his decisions. Restraining himself from starting anything physical with that 'harmless' detector... best decision ever!

Lightly gulping, this big fella slowly took a step backwards.

It's clear to Reaper now. This 'powerless' detector really was a tough guy.

Sticking around because he's too scared to run off by himself?

Too scared to move when they encountered monsters?

Reaper panted at his ridiculous thoughts. Thinking of his attitude towards this careless detector, Reaper started to sweat even more.

No wonder the detector was acting carelessly. Those monsters were too weak to even pique this laid-back dude's interests!

As an experienced explorer, over the years of meditation, Beetle's motion vision had been significantly enhanced. Also, he's got plenty of drops in the realm. He absorbed plenty materials to enhance his physical aspects.

As a result, Beetle could see that Jake actually attacked twice. He knew that Jake didn't one-shot the field boss.

Yet.

Witnessing this result, it was at this moment, Beetle knew that he... pissed himself a little.

After all, wearing a blank grey T-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants, Jake looked like a typical high school graduate.

A detector class. Entering the realm for the first time?

Beetle always believed that he could play Jake around like a chess piece. After all, this was just a powerless newbie right?

Naturally, Beetle never took Jake seriously.

Looking back, Beetle could see things more clearly now. Jake had never taken him seriously either!

Slowly taking in a deep breath, Beetle gently took a step back. It was as if he's stepping out of a sleeping dragon's lair or something.

Abruptly turning around, Unsheathing his short sword, Beetle entered his battle stance.

Why were there faint footsteps around?!