Surrounded

Grrr!!

When Luna saw how the fatty had lifted Evan and was threatening him, she charged at the fatty to save Evan.

Seeing how the cub was chagrining at him just to save Evan, he looked at Evan with an evil grin.

Immediately understanding what the fatty was planning Evan shouted, "N-no! Luna Don't come! You Bastard! If you dare harm her, I will fucking kill you!!"

He tried to free himself from the fatty's grasp and stop Luna, but it was futile.

Luna was just a meter away from them and took a jump so she could attack Fatty, but Fatty already predicted it and swung his leg in that direction, if nothing happened it would hit Luna midway and send her flying like a ball.

Ptui!

Before any such thing could happen, Evan gathered his saliva and spit it in fatty's eyes which managed to hit the mark.

Due to this unexpected occurrence, the fatty instinctively let go of Evan to clean his face with both hands and tried to step back to gain some distance but he lost his balance and fell on the ground and his kick had just missed Luna by a slight margin as she landed over his body.

Evan got up and quickly picked up Luna as he was about to run from there but then he came back and decided to teach him a lesson—a kick for a kick.

Evan took a full swing and gave a solid kick to the fatty, it hit him straight in the balls*

UMmFFP!!!

The fatty squirmed on the ground while holding his crotch, feeling unbearable pain like no other, he couldn't even scream, and his mind was buzzing. In the end, it was too much for the fatty and he just fainted.

"Bastard, it is good that your kick did not hit Luna otherwise...."Evan did not continue the sentence, he just picked up Luna and walked over the fatty's body while stepping over his nose which soon started bleeding profusely.

Seeing this Evan and Luna ran away from the scene.

They soon entered the forest, and there were two different missions, The first one was to collect a special plant called Pollen stickers which grow in the wild, they are used to clean air from pollen because the number of pollen skyrockets during spring and summer.

The second is to collect the Marigold flower which is used to make mosquito repellent because their number also increases during this time.

Evan slowly traversed through the forest with the help of Luna, even if her intelligence was not comparable to Evan's, she made up for it with instincts and her sharp senses. She was in charge of monitoring the nearby area and alerting Evan as soon as she discovered any monsters.

Evan also took out his old practice sword before they entered deeper, he would have liked to have a more reliable weapon with him, but beggars can't be choosers, so he just made use of what he had with him.

The spring has just begun hence the day span is short, meaning they have only around two hours before it starts getting dark. So, they have to be quick and collect 20 stalks of each plant to complete the mission, if even one stalk is missing then you get only half of the reward money.

While travelling Evan accidentally found one Marigold flower. Marigold flowers are generally found in sunny regions, so the ideal location in a forest should be a clearing where they can get direct sunlight.

The problem is the pollen stickers, which grow anywhere in the forest, and some monsters with a strong sense of smell like to be in their vicinity to save themselves from the pollen assault.

After searching for around ten minutes Evan found his first pollen sticker, it had no leaves only one long cylindrical fruit attached to the stem which kept secreting a sticky fluid on which pollens stick.

With his knife, Evan cut the stem and then put it in a special container from which the sticky substance would not leak.

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Meanwhile outside the village fortification on the way to the forest, fatty was woken up by his companions who just came a few minutes after Evan had left.

When they saw Fatty lying on the ground surrounded by his blood, they were shocked to see him in such a state, they quickly checked whether he is still alive or not.

Fortunately, or unfortunately the fatty was still alive. When they woke him, he started shouting and cursing. His body was already obese and with his swollen nose he looked like a pig; seeing him acting like this his companion couldn't help but imagine him as a pig gone mad.

Finally, after some time he had calmed down but his was face still scrunched due to the still lingering pain from Evan's kick. Whenever he closed his eyes that scene flashed making him feel the pain once again.

"I will kill that brat no matter who he is!" He scowled as his companions were socked and tried to talk reason with him, but he refused, how could he just forget what happened?

"Let's wait here till for him, for someone who had yet to begin his cultivation, he is bound to return to the village before it gets dark. We will catch him at that time." he paused and looked at his companions.

"Don't worry I will be the one to finish him, just help me catch that bastard and everyone will be rewarded" Hearing about the money, his companions also lost any reason to refuse after all, it was not their first time killing someone.

'Just you wait brat I will make you regret ever being born into this world kekeke'

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Unaware of what was happening outside the forest, Evan focused on his sole task of finding the three remaining pollen stickers to complete the mission.

In the past one and a half hours, he had been lucky and found the clearing in the forest where there were more than enough marigold flowers, and on the way, Luna had also found some pollen stickers bringing up the number.

The sun was already on its way to going down, and Evan picked up his speed of searching for pollen stickers. But even after the combined efforts of Evan and Luna, they were not able to find the pollen stickers during the next half hour.

The sun was now on the verge of setting, and it already started getting dark. Evan had given up his hopes of completing the pollen stickers mission and getting full pay for it. Even though Evan was unwilling to leave without completing the mission, he still started packing his backpack properly so they wouldn't get damaged during the journey.

After picking up Luna, Evan started his journey out of the forest it already started getting dark, and unknowingly Evan took a wrong turn which led him deeper into the forest instead of coming out.

Fortunately, Evan realized that something was wrong and retraced his path which brought him to the correct path, but this took out the precious time during which it had already gotten dark everywhere and Evan's visibility had decreased.

Suddenly Luna jumped out of Evan's grasp, sniffed around, and suddenly started running in the same direction in which they had gone mistakenly.

Evan was stunned for a brief moment before he also gritted his teeth and started running behind her.

"LUNA! S-stop you are running in the wrong direction; it is dangerous to go deeper in the forest right now, Come Back" unknowingly Evan started shouting while running through the forest.

But it was futile, no matter how much he called her out, she just kept running and her speed increased over time, if not for Evan also increasing his speed to catch her up he might have lost her.

Finally, after a ten-minute chase, she stopped at a clearing in the forest from where moonlight cascaded, but she did not stay in one place, she just kept moving around the clearing as if she were searching for something.

Evan finally caught up to her, while panting he forcefully picked her up, fearing that she might run away again and that was the correct choice she still turned and twisted in his arms looking here and there.

Evan was about to scold Luna when his eyes fell on a golden tree in front of him, it was unlike any tree he had seen in his life. It was completely golden and had black coloured scribblings all over its body, even its leaves were golden, and it had a single golden fruit.

When Evan looked at the golden fruit he felt attracted towards it.

'Is this fruit the reason, why Luna started running like crazy' Evan thought then he looked at Luna who was still in a frenzy looking here and there.

'Why is she still acting like that, can't she see the tree is just in front of us?'

'Or maybe I have gone crazy seeing magical things in the middle of a forest' Evan thought.

"Ugh, only one way to find out I guess" Evan said as he moved toward the golden tree step by step.

When he reached five meters away from the golden tree, he suddenly started feeling nauseating and his head hurt but Evan still did not stop and kept moving.

It seemed as if his pure curiosity had now transformed into a quest that he wanted to complete anyhow.

Finally, Evan touched the fruit and without wasting any time he plucked it from the tree.

As soon as he plucked the fruit, the tree shook visibly and then black scribblings faded away followed by the golden colour, but Evan did not pay much attention to it as he started feeling normal once again after plucking the fruit.

He would been in a trance if not for Luna who seemed like she was possessed once again and tried to eat to fruit from his hands.

Evan curbed his urge to eat the fruit and kept it inside the bag. He had not forgotten that they were still inside the forest where dangerous monsters were present everywhere.

Rustle

He had just taken a step when heard a rustling sound, followed by that he heard multiple rustling sounds. Evan was stunned for a moment when he understood what the source of this noise was.

'FUCK FUCK FUCK seems like all that shouting had attracted nearby monsters.'

Evan did not waste any time as he placed down Luna who had also come to her senses and pulled out his old practice sword and took a pose to fight whatever was coming at them.