𝗈𝓥𝓁xt.𝒸𝑶𝓂

“Cough, cough,” Kevin coughed heavily as he endured another blow to the side of his stomach.

The boar’s who speed had slowed down slightly, mostly due to the knife wound on its face and the injured joint in one of its legs, looked at Kevin with more fury.

“Careful, don’t slash its fur too much, or it’ll reduce its worth,” Keith advised, observing Kevin getting pummeled by the silver boar.

“If you care so much, why don’t you kill it yourself?” Kevin retorted, skillfully dodging the bone-crushing bites of the boar.

Keith chuckled without saying anything, finding Kevin’s predicament quite amusing.

Both combatants were in a similar state of distress. The boar’s movements were sluggish due to its injured joints, and Kevin was feeling pain all over his body due to the boar’s body slams.

Kevin wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible. He knew he would have to defeat stronger monsters than this one, and fleeing or seeking help wasn’t an option he’d consider – it would hurt his pride. ‘not if it’s from some women,’ Kevin thought and looked at Keith with hope, but seeing her amusing smile, he didn’t put any faith in that she would save him. Unless he is on the dying door.

“I don’t care! Let’s finish this bastard off, ahhh!” Kevin shouted inwardly and sprinted towards a nearby tree. Even though it was just a few steps away, he didn’t slow down and continued at full speed.

With the tree almost within reach, Kevin took a step on a root, followed by another on the trunk, and then forcefully pushed off the tree with his third step, propelling his body backward into the air. The boar, charging at full tilt, looked on in shock as it couldn’t stop in time. Unlike Kevin, it didn’t possess a flexible body, and its short legs made it impossible to evade the collision. It slammed into the tree trunk, breaking it.

Kevin, who had been admiring his own action and giving a mocking smile to the boar, soon twisted his expression into one of pain. “Ahhhh.” Unfortunately, his feet missed the landing, and his knees took the full brunt of the impact, turning his flashy maneuver into an embarrassing fall.

“Haha… Kevin, you’ve got quite the talent for landing on your knees. I suppose we could start calling you ‘Kneevin’ from now on! Hahaha!” Keith erupted in laughter as she teased, and her laughter continued. “Hahaha, Kneevin… do you get it? Hahaha!”

Kevin’s face reddened with a mix of embarrassment and anger and on top of Keith’s stupid joke. He struggled to his feet, his fists clenched at his sides. “that’s enough, you bitch,” he growled as Keith kept laughing, his voice dripping with irritation. “Call me whatever you want, but don’t forget who’s still standing and who’s on the ground.”

He dusted himself off, shooting a defiant glare at Keith. “Let’s finish this boar off before we attract more unwanted attention, Kneevin or not!”

Keith managed to control her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes, and said, “It’s already dead, you don’t have to do anything, ‘Kneevin’! Hahahaha!” As she repeated his new nickname, she burst into laughter again.

Kevin contained his anger as he watched her laugh, holding her stomach. He grew even more irritated, thinking about how silly the joke was that had her laughing like a maniac. “Stop it, you dumb woman, and help me skin this creature.”

Keith finally managed to regain her composure, wiping away the tears of laughter. She grinned at Kevin and said, “Alright, alright, Kneevin, let’s get to work then.” She walked over to the dead boar and began to help him with the task of skinning it, occasionally chuckling to herself and mumbling “Kneevin” under her breath, which only made her laugh again. Kevin couldn’t help but crack a reluctant smile as they worked together to process his hard-earned kill.

After some time, finishing the skinning and collecting all the materials, Kevin asked, “What are we gonna do after this?”

Keith looked up at the darkening sky. They had entered the jungle late at night and began hunting the monsters early in the morning. Due to Kevin’s slow pace, they were only able to hunt six, but it was still a good haul.

After contemplating for a moment, Keith pulled out all the hides and meat from her space ring and said, “Put this in your ring and submit it to CA for the mission. You can sell the meat too, but keep the teeth; I need them.”

Kevin stored the materials in his own space ring and asked again, “What about you?”

“I’ll stay here for a while to complete the information mission. I would have done it with you, but you haven’t learned any stealth techniques yet, so I’ll go alone,” Keith explained. She then handed him all the remaining materials. “It will take you at least a few hours to get out of the jungle, so go now. I’ll meet you at the hotel room where we’ll come back here tomorrow morning and stay until the end of the four days for your training.”

Kevin nodded, not objecting to her plan. He knew it was dangerous to roam the jungle at night, having seen many large shadows moving about and heard terrifying shrieks and roars that shook him to his core. He simply nodded and said, “Okay, then. I’ll meet you at the hotel.”

“yeah see you soon kneevin.” Keith replied with chuckled before running into the dense forest and this time even more faster than before like in some second she vanshied from kevin’s view

‘So she running slow beacuse of me.’ With this, he also began to sprint out of the jungle. His goal was to reach a safe place before dawn. When they initially entered the jungle, it took them three hours, and now that they had ventured deeper, it might take him four or even five hours at most. Dawn was just two hours away.

“Let’s extend that gap as much as I can,” he muttered to himself. He popped a healing pill, which cost him 8000 units, into his mouth and started running, feeling the gradual healing of his wounds as he moved.