Deklan stared at the sudden quest for a good moment.
His mind still seemed to be determining whether he was reading it right or not.
"Defeat all hostile enemies? Who? Me?"
[Of course, you. Dumbass.]
Only when the system cursed him that his mind snap back into reality, and instinctively, Deklan immediately sprinted back to the small hut and slammed the back door hard. He pressed his back against the wall, hiding from all the windows.
"How… How many are there?"
[Defeated enemies: 0 / 3]
"Three people. Okay, okay, I can fucking do this."
Deklan recalled that the people he buried had one side wearing leather armor that was marked with an emblem shaped like a golden dragon coiling around a spear, while the other side had no distinctive mark that showed where they were from.
From that, he assumed the other side should be mercenaries or assassins sent to kill him.
Since the battle ended with both sides falling, nobody was there to report.
Surely, the person who wanted to kill him sent another group to finish the task or to simply check.
Deklan wanted to find out more about his situation, but he panicked a little.
He had been in many fights before, but his enemies right now surely brought lethal weapons.
It was scary to think that he'd die again.
But Deklan immediately went into focus when he recalled Paul's slumped, depressed shoulders.
Get it together. I need to get stronger.
If the only way to return was to get stronger, then he has to do this right.
"Damn it, I should've taken those people's weapons," Deklan rubbed his face exasperatedly when he recalled that he dispatched the corpses without looting them, an honest mistake. "It's fine. I've no time to waste."
First things first, potions.
Deklan opened the Shop menu and went to the consumables section.
Thanks to completing the earlier quest—and also some achievements, he currently has 115 SD that he could spend. He quickly bought two Minor Mana Potions for 10 SD in case the fight dragged on. Then, he searched for a healing potion too, intending to buy some.
But there wasn't a healing potion in the Shop.
Best he could find was a Healing Cream for 5 SD.
It needed to be applied thoroughly, best-suited for after a fight, but he bought it anyway.
Once he bought the essentials, his focus turned to his weapon.
"Fighting bare-handed doesn't sound pleasant, especially against blades and guns," Deklan frowned, then recalled that he had some form of a weapon. "Can I use the Ghost Conqueror skill to fight? Is that even possible?"
Deklan used the skill again and summoned a knife made entirely of white light.
He inspected the blade—visibly, there's nothing wrong.
But the moment he tried to check the sturdiness, the knife shattered.
"It's not durable. Is it because it's only meant for hunting Ghosts? Or is it because my mana is trash?"
Regardless of which one was the real reason, the fact remained that he couldn't use the skill.
Deklan opened the Shop again, but this time he wandered to the equipment section.
Most of the unlocked equipment was F-rank equipment, but it was better than not having anything at all. "I need something that I can use for close range and also long range," Deklan thought aloud, then his eyes fixated on one weapon. "Guess this is good enough."
It cost 50 SD to buy the F-rank weapon—pretty damn expensive.
But he couldn't afford to be stingy right now.
Just then, Deklan paused, and his heart pounded hard inside his chest.
He could hear the sound of bantering, and it was approaching.
From the sound alone, Deklan could tell that they were approaching the front yard.
For some reason, his senses were sharper during the night, compared to during the day.
[Do you want to summon Red Pumpkin Head?]
"Hmm? I can do that?"
[Yes, but there will be a time limit. It will increase depending on the Ward level.]
"Everything depends on the Ward level, it seems. How long will it last?"
[Two minutes.]
"Then I have to make it count. But first, I still have 50 Spooky Dollars…"
Deklan smiled, knowing exactly where to spend the remaining SD.
…
Meanwhile, walking leisurely through the road leading to the small hut was a group of three men.
A stern-looking bald man was leading the group, eyes tracing left and right in alert.
Behind him, the two men were more relaxed—one had his shoulders slumped, while the other had both hands locked behind his head as if he was taking a stroll, the complete opposite of the bald man. "Keep your guard up. Remember, if we fail here, we die."
"Geez… Rock, what's there to be worried about? I'm sure everything is fine."
"Even if the young master's loyal guards won, they would be badly wounded. Axel is the only threat, and he's probably bedridden right now."
"Right? I bet if there's a survivor, it will be Axel, and he was now mourning his poor young master's corpse."
Hearing his two lackeys treating the matter lightly, the bald man clicked his tongue.
Upon reaching the downslope, the group finally saw the small hut.
And almost instantly, the bald man drew his machete.
Even the two lackeys behind him froze and then did the exact same when they realized there wasn't a single corpse in sight. In the front yard, there was a mound. Someone must've cleaned them up—and if it was Axel, then he clearly wasn't as wounded as they'd thought.
Rock and his two lackeys approached the small hut carefully.
He then nudged his chin to the sides, signaling for his two lackeys to trace either side of the hut.
As he waited for his lackeys to look around, Rock entered the front yard.
'Hmm, this place looked deserted. Did they already—run away? But where? Other than Slosa Hamlet, the nearby settlements are all against Young Master Deklan,' Rock thought, scanning the hut to see if there's any movement at all inside.
But there was none.
"Fuck!"
Rock snapped to the left side of the hut, hearing his lackey's voice.
"Someone is inside! I think it's a Ghost!"
"Activate your Spirit Talisman! If it's a Ghost, then we'll kill it and find the young master's corpse."
Thud!
Rock was startled by the hard thudding sound from inside.
It sounded like someone or something struck the wall.
Sensing something was off, Rock pulled a paper charm from his pocket and placed it on the ground.
As he infused it with mana, the paper charm glowed and trembled before releasing a surge of mana into the earth. A heartbeat later, the ground burst with a bluish shockwave that spread outward, covering the whole hut's grounds in an expanding ring.
Rock looked at the paper charm and frowned, "No change in its color. It's not a Ghost?"
Normally, if there were any Ghosts in the area, the paper charm would turn color.
Since it didn't, then his lackey must've seen it wrong.
Crash!
"Raargghk!!"
Rock immediately dashed to the right to check—and saw his lackey on the right side of the hut was on the ground, groaning in pain while holding his stomach. Crimson liquid stained his hand, which could only mean an attack.
But there was no sign of the attacker.
Just then, Rock heard the sound of footsteps on the roof.
"Above?!"
Swish!
Rock's body began to steam with mana as he made a big leap, reaching the rooftop in an instant.
Then, he saw a figure moving to the other side.
It was clear that this figure was aiming for the other lackey on the other side next.
'Young Master Deklan?' He thought in surprise, knowing that Deklan should've been a normal human.
Regardless, he gritted his teeth and chased after the figure.
But as he extended his hand to grab Deklan, he was caught off guard when Deklan suddenly turned to face him and slapped his hand away. In the next succession, a fist landed perfectly against his rough face, stumbling him backward.
Losing balance, Rock slipped and fell from the roof.
Not wasting a single second, Deklan turned to the other lackey and jumped directly at him.
"Where did you get the balls to attack me, young master?" the lackey asked in amusement.
However, his amusement didn't last long as he noticed mana surged from Deklan's body, and a white spear materialized in his hand. Alerted, he raised his machete and clashed against the arcing spear—It was humiliating to admit, but Deklan's strength was more than he expected.
Angered, the lackey pushed back and immediately drowned Deklan in a flurry of attacks.
"What's wrong, young master?!"
Clang!
"Did you get cocky because you turned out to have some sliver of talent?!"
Clang!
"Don't make me laugh! A trash will always be a trash!"
Defending against the close-range strikes is hard for Deklan with a spear that was at least the length of his entire body. He was forced to block, block, and block. Making a counterattack is impossible for him as the threat of the blade seized his attention.
Brak!
Upon blocking a powerful swing, Deklan was blasted through the wooden fence.
He fell to the ground and slid in the mud.
I have to end this quickly or else it's going to be a two-on-one!
"Raargh!"
Splash!
Deklan rolled to the side and stood back up, barely avoiding the lackey's heavy slash.
But as he climbed to his feet, he saw blood on the lackey's machete, and a sting on his arm.
He was cut—shallow, but the pain made this even more real.
Seeing the trace of fear in Deklan's face, the lackey approached and licked the bloodied machete.
"What's wrong, young master? Aren't you eager to fight me earlier?" He taunted—chuckling a little as he stopped a few paces away. "A little bit of blood and you're trembling? Don't worry, the pain will go away soon enough, kekeke~"
Just then, Deklan combed his hair back, exposing his annoyed expression.
"Motherfucker, you sure talk a lot for someone who was about to die."
"Hmm?"
"Now, system!"
Immediately after his command, the grave between the two of them suddenly hissed with energy.
Seeing this, the lackey frowned in alarm.
Just then, something emerged from the ground—a Red Pumpkin Head.
It appeared out of nowhere, and almost instantly, its eyes flashed crimson—the Small Prankster skill.
Caught off guard, the lackey was blown back by the impact and hit with the skill's unique stun effect.
"Hmph! Unfortunately for you, I have the Spirit Talisman active!"
Around his neck, the talisman glowed—breaking the unique stun effect.
But it was too late.
In a sudden blur of motion, Deklan appeared in the lackey's view again as he darted sideways, his spear already pulled back, primed to be unleashed. His eyes shimmered with mana as he exhaled a hot breath from his mouth.
'He… He's so fast?!' the lackey exclaimed inside his mind.
"Like I said," Deklan smirked. "You're a dead man talking."
Swoosh!