For any Ethereal, every level up is a quantum leap in danger, and going from level three to four is like ascending to the heavens in a single step.
The power boost from a Thanatos-type Ethereal leveling up is particularly immense. If you were to encounter two level-fours at once, the danger would increase exponentially.
For Andrew, this type of Ethereal was a bit of a handful.
After all, for a hunter without any particular superpowers, a monster that could jump through space was a definite pain.
Most importantly, Andrew was only wearing a pair of bracers. If he had a Swaying Bun Set, he could cosplay as his master, the the Azure Star.
But in the end, it was just a little trouble.
Andrew opened his ammo pouch and took out a Shock Round. After a moment's thought, just to be safe, he grabbed another one.
He removed the primer meant for firing and instead directly exposed the Thunderbug electro-essence inside to the air.
The moment the Thunderbug electro-essence made contact with the air, it began to crackle with tiny sparks of electricity, forcing Andrew to quickly stash it in his system's Item Pouch.
And just like that, a projectile Shock Round was converted into a throwable one.
No other hunter could pull off a move like Andrew's. After all, if they prepared the Thunderbug electro-essence like this, the effect would be the same as if they'd been hit by their own shot.
If it wasn't used immediately and was instead stored in a regular item pouch, it probably wouldn't be long before a zap fried the carrier crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
But if you tried to prepare it on the spot during a hunt, the monster would have enough time to hit you with a Dragon Charge a few times over.
Only Andrew, relying on the divine power of his System, could turn Shock Rounds into throwable Shock Bombs.
However, just as Andrew finished preparing his ammunition, a violent coughing sound came from behind him, followed by Caesar's urgent voice.
"Susanna! Hang in there! I'll get you to a doctor right away!"
Turning around, Andrew saw the blonde girl being helped up by Caesar, looking incredibly weak. But the shallow wound on her body shouldn't have been causing her so much pain.
Andrew carefully studied the girl's pale face and the blood she had spat out. He suddenly realized what her truly serious injury was and immediately walked toward them.
Caesar lifted the girl who had collapsed to the ground. As she touched Susanna's skin, she found it covered in a cold sweat. It was damp and cold, yet there were no visible major wounds on her body.
Susanna's face was pale, and though her brow was still furrowed in pain, her expression had noticeably relaxed.
She spoke weakly to Caesar:
"I... I'm fine. Just a little thirsty, I want some water."
As if remembering something, she sat up abruptly and said urgently:
"Sis Caesar, I'm okay! Quick! Go save my sister! I hid her in a room on the way here!"
For some reason, the girl felt the severe pain in her abdomen suddenly begin to subside. The easing pain made her sigh in relief.
Although the feeling of thirst grew stronger, Susanna just chalked it up to dehydration from having pushed herself to run so hard.
Seeing that Susanna's face was no longer contorted in pain, Caesar also breathed a sigh of relief.
When it came to internal injuries, her experience was next to nothing, so she had completely failed to see where Susanna's real wound was.
It had to be said, injuries to internal organs were difficult to spot even for experienced people, since on the outside, the victims often looked no different from anyone else.
Caesar, who was quite adept at handling external wounds, quickly checked the injury on Susanna's shoulder and confirmed it wasn't fatal—just a bit of blood loss from running.
The bleeding had even mostly stopped on its own.
Relaxing, Caesar heard Susanna say she was thirsty and offered her water canteen, reassuring her:
"Don't worry, Susanna, you've just lost a bit too much blood. Have some water and rest for a bit, then we'll go find your sister!"
But before Susanna's outstretched hand could touch the canteen, a large palm pressed down on it. Then, Andrew's serious voice followed.
"Caesar, if you don't want Susanna to be beyond saving, don't let her drink a single drop of water."
Seeing that Andrew's expression was not a joke, Susanna and Caesar both froze. With Andrew's intervention, they silently looked at him, waiting for his explanation.
Andrew reached out and touched the girl's back, finding the cold, sweaty condition was exactly as he'd expected. He pulled a Healing Potion from his backpack, handed it to Susanna, and said:
"Young lady, let me ask you: did you have unbearable pain in your abdomen that has now suddenly started to ease, and do you feel increasingly thirsty and want to drink water?"
Susanna nodded, a little bewildered. She took the Healing Potion from Andrew and asked with some confusion:
"But if it doesn't hurt anymore, doesn't that mean I'm okay?"
Her naive answer left Andrew speechless for a moment. He gestured for the girl to drink the Healing Potion in her hand while explaining:
"Those are classic symptoms of a ruptured liver or spleen. If you actually drank water, you'd die at light speed within a minute. The kind no one could save."
Caesar listened to Andrew's explanation, stunned. While she didn't know much about internal injuries, she wasn't an idiot. After he explained it was a ruptured organ, she immediately grasped the severity of the situation.
But when she turned to look at Susanna, she saw that she had already drunk most of the bottle of green liquid Andrew had given her.
Instantly, Caesar panicked. But out of trust for Andrew, she just turned to him and asked urgently,
"Andrew, didn't you say she couldn't drink water?! Isn't giving her this the same as drinking water?!"
In response to Caesar's question, Andrew just waved his hand, signaling her to calm down, and then gestured for her to look at the girl.
To Caesar's amazement, after drinking the potion, Susanna's complexion quickly grew rosy, and her breathing became much smoother.
Even the last traces of pain she could still feel vanished without a trace, like spring snow under the sun.
When Susanna had just started drinking, she'd panicked after hearing Andrew's follow-up explanation. She had looked helplessly at the bottle in her hand.
Feeling the last drops of the liquid in her mouth, she had swallowed reflexively, and in doing so, ended up gulping down the final bit.
_____
We made it! We hit our goal of 55 supporters on P@tre-... Hehe~
And here's my part of the promise! 5 extra chapters for everyone! Yayyy!
New goals:
🔥 Get 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories! 🔥
🪦 Join my P... (Walnutchan) now with a 25% discount!
✅ New releases are dropping, plus get exclusive content & updates.
✅ Help us unlock community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 80 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan