CHAPTER 532: LOOKING FOR ANOTHER CROCODILE

The sky had turned dark and the first twinkling stars peeked through the scattered clouds, providing some light in the dark sky of the night.

However, despite how deep the night is, Coco was far from finished with her missions.

The thought of resting or admiring the scenery didn’t even cross her mind at this moment, her focus was entirely consumed by finishing the last mission she had on her hand.

Coco huffed, her breath escaping her lungs in a sharp exhale as she hoisted a large crocodile onto her shoulder.

With a quick glance at the mission at hand, her eyes scanned the details.

"Two crocodiles and one flying pig." Coco muttered, a brief spark of annoyance flickering across her face as she realized that she understood the mission wrong earlier.

"I swear I read that it only needs one each." Coco grumbled, upset that the mission was not yet complete.

Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to throw a hook on something to let out her annoyance, she turned to survey her surroundings instead, searching where to get another tough crocodile.

"I should probably just bring this one to the gate first and let Neo take it back to the guild." Coco told herself and let out a heavy sigh, turning in her heels to start making her way back to the city gates.

The weight of the monster didn’t even faze her, likely fueled by a surging adrenaline rush or due to her strength.

She had been killing monsters all day and didn’t take a break— well, Neo gave her three sandwiches, and she ate them of course, but that’s about it.

Despite the physical exertion and the intensity of the missions she chose, Coco showed no signs of exhaustion.

She was halfway through the forest path when the nagging feeling of having to go back to go look for a single crocodile kept echoing in the back of her mind.

"Damn it." Coco cursed under her breath and glanced at her surroundings, internally smacking herself upside the head for her own indecisiveness.

"Guess I’ll hunt one instead." Coco said to no one in particular and halted abruptly in her tracks, her focus shifting to the skill scroll she summoned a moment prior. "But if I remembered correctly, my skills leveled up, no? Maybe I can duplicate this crocodile.."

As she quickly scanned the skills, a hint of disappointment flickered across Coco’s face upon reading the restriction associated with her Duplicate skill.

"This skill cannot be applied to carcasses; it is limited to objects that the user has personally created." Coco mumbled, frowning.

Her hopes of using her [Duplicate] skill were crushed in that instant.

"Oh, man.. Can’t these fairies give me cheat skills and let me duplicate dead monsters instead?" Coco whined and stored the crocodile inside her personal inventory, securing it out of sight. "That would help me big time, you know?"

As if to answer her question, a rolled scroll appeared into thin air and unceremoniously smacked her in the head.

"Agh!" Coco hissed, glaring at the scroll as it vanished from her sight.

With a sigh, she turned on her heel and stomped off deeper into the forest, all the while running her hands over her face, frustration etched on her features.

"No choice, but to find another crocodile." Coco grumbled, crossing her arms. "I swear, once I get home, I’ll let Quizen fuck the living shit out of me."

Coco’s search for another crocodile was laborious work, consuming almost two full hours of her time.

The minutes ticked by as she meticulously searched the forest, her patience tested with each passing moment.

Sweat trickled down her forehead, the exertion of her trek around the rocky terrain starting to take its toll, but just as fatigue threatened to overtake her, a glimmer of hope appeared in the form of a crocodile.

The long hours of hard work were about to pay off.

Though it was completely her fault for impulsively grabbing a handful— said handful was ten missions of killing monsters spotted near the city walls, but still.

As quietly as she could, Coco approached the crocodile, her mind focused on taking it down quickly with a swift strike from her hoe.

However, a sudden movement in the corner of her vision caught her attention, but before she could even react, something shining sliced through the air, grazing her cheek.

Whatever went past her, caused a sharp pain to flare across her face.

Coco’s hand instinctively and quickly shot up to her cheek, her fingers gingerly touching the skin and figured out that she now had a fresh wound.

The pain snapped her out of her focus, her eyes darting wildly to locate the source of the attack, but her surprise quickly turned to fear as a second attack came unannounced.

This time it found its mark with a stabbing pain in her abdomen and arm.

"Ack!" Coco gasped, the shock of the sudden pain caused her to stagger, her breath hitching in her throat.

A flying pig?! Coco thought, her eyes widening in surprise as she clutched her injured abdomen, but she didn’t pull out the sharp talons— she knew that it would only cause her to bleed out profusely.

On the other hand, this monster attack snapped her back into reality, her mind shifting into survival mode and causing the adrenaline to kick in.

Her eyes narrowed and she sensed the approach of another attack.

Thanks to the burst of adrenaline, Coco leaped backwards, albeit painfully due to the talons in her flesh, and managed to avoid the incoming blade by a hair’s breadth.

Then, Coco snapped her gaze towards the source of the blade, expecting to find a flying pig had its wings spread wide open.

However, her surprise deepened as her eyes registered the sight.

It was a shadowed figure, not a flying pig—

"I didn’t know I would be lucky to encounter another outsider this deep into that stupid king’s territory."