Lulu was waiting inside her room nervously. She was waiting for Tang Shaoyang, ready to fulfill the contract she made with him as the evening approached. The villager prepared a house for her and her brother, and She thought he would come at night. She stood up from the cranky bed, walking back and forth as the outside started to get darker.
Hours passed, and the villagers knocked on her door, delivering her food. She did not have an appetite for food because of what would happen to her. She sat at the edge of the bed and frowned. Even though it was hard to track the time, she was pretty sure it was past midnight already. It was past midnight, and Tang Shaoyang had not come yet.
"Did I get nervous for nothing?" Lulu furrowed her brow, "But what's the point of bringing me with him if he does not want to do it? Does he really just want to use me as bait?"
With all the useless thoughts in her head, she did not get a wink of sleep. She awoke all night until the sun rose once more. She got out of the house and spotted Tang Shaoyang talking with a teenager.
Lulu noticed that Tang Shaoyang's face got a lot brighter than yesterday. The teenager seemed eager to talk to the man as she overheard their conversation. They seemed to be talking about hunting the monster, and the teenager was overly excited about killing the monster. The guy seemed to forget that she was even here.
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Tang Shaoyang agreed to Areth's request to help him get stronger. That was what made the teenager so happy, and they kept talking about killing monsters. He decided to help the village for the last time, giving them enough power to survive on this floor. That was the last favor for the village before he left. He planned to leave the village after the Skelly Family finished their grind and also after he finished exploring the other two potentially dangerous areas.
It was more like since he had nothing to do; hence he was willing to help the boy. After the refreshing night, it restarted his mood. He had a great morning, and Areth came at the right time for that.
The pair headed out of the village, and Tang Shaoyang noticed Lulu. He did not spare a glance at her, leaving the village together with Areth. They went quite far from the village, heading toward the Steeer's territory. The plan was to raise Areth's level by killing the Steer until the teenager reached the level where he could solo-kill the Steeer.
Of course, before the killing, Tang Shaoyang armed him with a weapon and armor. He opened the treasure and got a set of armor and also a spear. He gave them to Areth, the starter pack for the teenager. The Grade One treasure from the Rock Lizardmen gave the teenager Grade B set equipment. It was bad luck on his part to get just Grade B set equipment from Grade One Treasure Chest. He thought it might be because he got the whole set of armor and weapon. That was why it was just Grade B. If it was just a weapon or maybe one piece of armor, it might be Grade A instead.
Areth followed Tang Shaoyang closely, matching the pace as he looked around. Despite having someone reliable in front of him, he was still afraid that they might get ambushed. He did not see any monster, but then he felt a vibration on the ground. It was no doubt a big monster was running based on the vibration. The teenager subconsciously tightened his grip on the hem of Tang Shaoyang's clothes.
"It's fine. Nothing will happen to you as long as I am here," The voice comforted Areth as he loosened his grip on the clothes. But the teenager still made sure that he was not more than a meter from Sir Tang.
Steeer came from ahead of them, charging toward Tang Shaoyang with its antler pointed forward. Tang Shaoyang used [Detection] and found out it was level 837 Steeer, "Stay back." He instructed the teenager.
Areth made the distance from Tang Shaoyang, hiding behind the tree. He watched everything unfold before his eyes as Tang Shaoyang caught the Steeer by the antler. He was shocked that Sir Tang managed to stop the Steer by holding the antler. The more unbelievable thing happened as he watched Sir Tang lift the Steeer by the antler and slam the monster down.
The teenager could feel the ground shaking like an earthquake. Then he saw ten meters of a long spear formed in the air. He recognized the blue energy that formed the spear. "It's Mana." He could not hide his excitement to see the form of mana with his eyes.
The mana spear pierced through Steeer's body, pinning the monster down. Just like that, the monster that he could not dream of killing was subdued within less than ten seconds. Three mana spears pierced the monster's body. The spear went through to the ground, leaving the helpless monster bleeding and dying.
"Come here," Sir Tang motioned him to come over, and Areth obediently came over. Sir Tang pointed at the spear in his hand and told him to kill the monster. "Kill the monster."
Areth gulped down, staring at the monster nervously. Even though the monster was helplessly pinned down on the ground, not able to do anything. The fear instilled by the monster in his mind stopped him from getting closer to the monster, let alone killing the monster.
Tang Shaoyang narrowed his eyes as he noticed Areth's body was shaking and did not move despite his order. He did not expect that the boy was scared of the monster that would not be able to move.
"This is the only way to help you get stronger. If you can't overcome your fear of the monster, then there's nothing I can do."
Tang Shaoyang waited, but the boy just stared at the monster in fear. In fact, the boy flinched when the monster's gaze fell on him. It was a hopeless situation, and Tang Shaoyang was not going to help the boy more than this.
"If you can't kill the monster, then this is pointless. You are wasting my time, Areth! Let's go back."
"NO! I can do this!" Areth yelled out in response. His chance was right in front of his eyes. He did not want to miss the chance that might never come ever again in his life. The boy closed his eyes and screamed, pushing the spearhead to the monster's head.