CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER 38 - FIRST KILLS

Logan followed the map, heading towards the dungeon’s exit.

’There’s the river again,’ Logan thought, glancing to his right. ’I’m not that far away anymore.’

Looking at his bloodied clothes, Logan considered cleaning the blood off in the river.

’There’s no point,’ he thought, having decided. ’The smell won’t fully disappear and staying in one place will just make it easy to find me.’

Logan continued along the stream until he found the path he’d taken earlier, moving slowly as he pushed through the leaves and scanned his surroundings.

’I’m not going to get caught off guard at the last moment,’ Logan thought, smiling as he shook his head. ’I refuse to give Silas a reason to mock me.’

Logan narrowed his eyes, peering into the distance as he recognized a distinct mana stone formation on the ceiling.

’There it is,’ he thought, pushing aside the final set of leaves.

Finally in the clear, he found the medium-sized opening that would lead him to the surface.

’I’m pretty satisfied,’

he thought, walking up to the opening. ’It was, like Silas said, a great experience.’

Turning the corner, Logan’s instincts screamed at him to move.

But it was already too late.

A large, earth-infused warhammer slammed into his gut, hurling him into the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel.

’Ugh,’ Logan thought, coughing as he stood back up.

Amid the settling dust cloud, Logan caught a flicker of movement in the distance.

’Shit,’ he thought, crushing the mana shield crystal on his forearm.

Not even a second later, a sharp earth shard pierced through the dust, crashing into a blue barrier in front of him.

As the dust settled, Logan let out a short sigh of relief, happy he trusted his instinct.

Behind the dust cloud, Logan spotted two attackers. The one who’d hit him with the warhammer was a muscular male, seemingly in his thirties. Behind him stood one skinny boy, holding a small round shield and a short sword.

Logan hadn’t taken a lot of damage since his bodysuit had shielded him from the impact, but the shock of the unexpected attack was still there.

’I need to find my glaive,’ Logan thought, his eyes darting between the ground and the attackers.

He’d been hit out of nowhere, accidentally causing him to let go of his weapon.

Spotting his glaive near the muscular man, Logan calmed himself down and focused, activating his Flaming Body technique.

The enemy assassins were immediately alerted, watching carefully as Logan’s skin turned red from the fire mana running through his body.

’’What kind of trick is that?’’ the muscular man asked, holding his warhammer with both hands as he looked at his teammate.

’’I... I don’t know,’’ his teammate answered, raising his shield further.

Logan kept quiet, conjuring a large fireball in one hand before charging at the muscular man.

Amidst charging, Logan released the fireball while he himself slid to the left and grabbed his glaive.

’’Shit,’’ the muscular man cursed, swinging his hammer down toward the ground.

His hammer cracked the floor as it hit the ground; a stone the size of his body shot up from the ground, blocking Logan’s fireball from reaching him.

The muscular man had yet to raise his hammer when Logan dashed toward his side with his glaive.

The muscular man dropped his hammer and took a step back, only taking a slight cut to his side. His teammate immediately jumped forward to block Logan from continuing his attack.

The skinny hunter let Logan’s glaive slide off his shield and lunged forward with his short sword.

’They have a lot more combat experience,’ Logan thought, forced to let his bodysuit take the hit.

Logan saw a chance, grabbing the skinny boy by his wrist while his sword was still stuck trying to penetrate his armor.

’But I have superior strength and speed,’ Logan thought, thanking his Flaming Body technique as he broke the boy’s wrist.

The boy tried to break free, using his shield to throw punches against Logan’s armor. But Logan didn’t flinch.

Logan focused, quickly guiding fire mana into his palm.

He released a surge of fire mana, engulfing the boy’s arm in flames. The boy’s screams followed as his skin blistered and melted away within seconds.

The boy tore himself free once the flesh had completely melted away, leaving his arm behind. But it was already too late.

Logan’s fire kept spreading, slowly engulfing his entire body while he screamed until his vocal cords were burned away.

Turning his attention to the other hunter, Logan found he hadn’t burned to death from the fire.

The muscular man looked pale, a small pile of burning flesh laying beside him.

’He ripped out all the burning flesh to prevent it from spreading?’ Logan thought, surprised, remembering the cut he’d made with his fire mana.

’’Hey, stop, stop!’’ the man said, raising his hands as he saw Logan approach.

’’What?’’ Logan asked, confused.

’’You’re way stronger than what was agreed upon in the contract, and I’m not going to fight you.’’ the man said, waving his hands. ’’There’s no need to kill me. I’ll turn myself in to the Mana Enforcement Team as soon as I get outside.’’

Logan shook his head, moving closer to the man.

’’Did you honestly think I would believe that?’’

’’I swear it on my life!’’ the man shouted, gripping his warhammer tightly with both hands.

Logan didn’t respond as he dashed forward.

The man swung his warhammer toward him, but Logan dodged and made a large cut on the man’s thigh with his glaive.

The man groaned, still trying his best as he conjured a stone shard while turning around.

Alas, he was too slow. Logan drove his glaive through the back of the man’s skull, ending it instantly.

Deactivating his Flaming Body, his adrenaline also slowly came to a stop.

Logan gagged at the smell of burnt human flesh. Remembering how the boy had burned alive, he started to feel sick.

’I can’t trust their words,’ Logan thought, his gagging slowly stopping as he turned away from the bodies. ’I did the right thing.’

His body was exhausted from the constant strain the Flaming Body skill left on it, and his mana core had long started aching from overusing his affinity’s mana.

’Let’s get to the exit,’ Logan thought, feeling utterly drained.