First Hunt Part 2

As he delved deeper, the environment in the forest grew colder. Travis maintained his guard the entire time, for he was now in the level 2 monster area—a fact he discerned from a sign he passed a while ago.

'Since I'm in level two, I gotta be careful. This part of the forest has two monster races that are kind of slow but very strong. So, I should try to keep my guard up.'

Checking his surroundings while walking, Travis remained vigilant. Trolls and skeleton warriors inhabited this area. Skeletons, though easy to kill due to their low durability, demanded caution since they were a level higher than he.

As time passed, the forest darkened. Travis found a spot on a tree, contemplating his next move, and waited for any sign of monsters. Nighttime typically brought groups of monsters, but to Travis's surprise, none emerged.

'Where are these fools? I'm so bored I could sleep right here. By the way, why am I even doing this in this forest since I can't level up even if I fight those monsters.'

[Ding]

[Host, you can gain experience from them, though. So, it would be wise of you to continue fighting monsters so that you can get experience. Plus, it helps you adjust to your body more.]

Travis sighed tiredly as he jumped off the tree. 'Okay, I guess that's a good reason. I should continue my search for things that could kill me.'

Suddenly, a cracking sound reached Travis's ears from his left. He swiftly turned and saw multiple eyes staring at him.

'Man, that's creepy. I guess those are the skeletons. Why do they seem scarier in real life?'

The group of skeletons walked out of the tree line, approaching Travis with swords and metal clubs.

'Where the heck do they get all these weapons? I mean, I get that some dudes die here, but that's a lot of weapons.'

Travis assumed a fighting stance, preparing to strike. His heart raced in both fear and excitement as they closed in. As they approached, Travis ran at them, side-stepping a sword swing and destroying a skeleton's skull with a punch.

'Okay, that was easy, but I still have to make sure none of them has any magic.'

Skeletons could gain magic if they stole a staff from a magic user. Most hunters, on hunts, retrieved staffs from deceased magic users to prevent monsters from becoming stronger.

Travis pulled one skeleton by the head, bringing it down to his knee and crushing its skull. The other skeletons swung their swords, but their slow movements allowed Travis to dodge most attacks. Some tore his jacket, but after they did, he instantly killed them. The skeletons didn't seem to diminish in number, which irritated Travis.

He backed off a bit to get a better view and saw more than 50 of them approaching him.

'I guess it's a horde of skeletons. My lucky day. Let's get this over with,' he sprinted to a group of them and sent a powerful punch that destroyed them all.

[Boom]

He dodged a swing by ducking underneath it, tripping a skeleton in the process. As it fell, Travis delivered a powerful upper kick to its jaw, causing its skull to crack and fly off its body. While underneath, a flying kick came from the side, hitting a skeleton right in the head, shattering its skull instantly.

He got up, looking at the ones left, and smirked, really enjoying this battle. They tested his agility and stamina, which were crucial in a fight. Suddenly, out of nowhere,

*Boom*

A huge shockwave blew toward Travis, the ground trembling and cracking beneath him. He leaped back, gaining some distance, and saw what caused it, his heart pounding.

A giant skeleton walked toward him, its colossal steps causing the ground to tremble and break as it approached. The skeletons, towering over the trees, stared at Travis with their big red eyes glowing from their eye sockets. The ground shook as its heavy bone feet stomped with each step.

'Bro, that's a mega skeleton. What's it doing here? This isn't the level 5 forest. Fuck, I gotta run or I'm gonna die.'

Travis turned around, about to flee, but red eyes surrounded him from the dark tree lines. He stared at them all with a horrified expression.

'Nah, screw this. If I'm gonna die, then I'll die like a boss.' He thought.

His expression turned cold as he faced the mega skeleton. It stared down at Travis, who stared back. Suddenly, the entire aura around the area turned dense; the wind blew wildly as the trees swayed side to side in a wild manner. This aura emanated from Travis, who unconsciously began to emit killing intent. Despite the change in the environment, the mega skeleton didn't flinch.

'Okay, if I wanna survive this, I first gotta kill all the skeletons in my surroundings.'

With that thought, Travis sprinted toward them, seeing hundreds of skeletons with sharp swords. Travis got a little scared but didn't let it stop him. He reached the first horde and threw a hard punch, pushing those behind backward into a couple of trees.

Travis breathed heavily, feeling himself getting tired.

'Fuck!! I gotta be quick.'

Sprinting to another horde, Travis did the same thing, but this time not all of them died. They got up, walked to Travis, and swung their swords. Travis managed to dodge them all and kill each one. But he knew that if he continued, he would pass out.

He took a deep breath, relaxing his muscles. Travis turned his focus to the mega skeleton that still stared down at him. Surprisingly, it didn't strike him yet. Travis exhaled and got ready to strike again. He ran toward every skeleton, killing each one without stopping. His power decreased with every punch, forcing him to use more than one to defeat them. After finishing, he stood there, finding it challenging to catch his breath from overusing his body.

'Okay, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to beat the big guy. But I can't give up. I gotta hold on until I finish. If I can't beat this level 5 monster, then I'm gonna die,' he thought.

Travis looked down at his tattered clothes and bloody hands. All that punching really messed up his hands. Yet, he still had adrenaline in his body, so he felt no pain. The cuts on his skin were bleeding a little, but Travis hadn't noticed them.

'Okay, now that I'm calm again, let's go.'