A scheming foe

[Human(Transcendent) killed]

[+150(75) exp]

[Collect loot?]

[Yes/No]

'No'

[Title: Monarch of the Nameless throne unequipped.]

Kyle walked away from the clearing and headed towards the central part of the mountain range. He encountered a few beasts along his way which helped him to take his attention away from the murder he committed.

These beasts that he encountered in the way were also kind enough to provide him the much appreciated exp.

'Add three points to all the stats.'

[1800 exp consumed]

[Strength: 26(13)--->32(16)]

[Agility: 26(13)---->32(16)]

[Stamina: 26(13)---->32(16)]

[Endurance: 26(13)---->32(16)]

[Intelligence: 26(13)---->32(16)]

[Energy affinity: 26(13)---->32(16)]

An indescribable feeling coursed through Kyle's body for a few seconds before disappearing. Kyle looked down at the ground to see if there were any guards or beasts nearby.

When he was sure that it was safe, Kyle descended down the tree he was sitting on and continued his journey towards the centre of the mountain range.

As Kyle moved forward, the beasts that he encountered were progressively getting stronger as well.

"Why the hell am I stuck doing the job that is meant for guards?" Kyle heard a feminine voice coming from his side. He immediately climbed up the nearest tree he could find.

"Those weaklings don't even qualify to step foot in the sacred sanctuary. Even the beasts do a better job guarding the sanctuary than they ever could." Kyle saw a man walking towards the direction he was voting from accompanied by a female in similar uniform.

These two people emitted auras that surpassed the man that Kyle had killed. Not only were the patrols getting stronger, Kyle was also encountering them more frequently.

Just when Kyle thought that he had escaped the scrutiny of the two, he saw them turning towards him.

It was the tree to be exact. Kyle had an ominous premonition when he followed their line of sights. And....f*ck! There on the tree, was the mark of a shoe. Kyle's shoe.

As soon as he saw it, Kyle knew that he couldn't avoid this confrontation.

He leapt forward towards the two.

[Wink leap!]

The two guards heard the sound of movement from the tree top and shifted their gazes upwards at the same time. All they could see was a shaking branch.

"Behind you!" The woman cried out in panic, but it was a second too late. As a warrior, they had always been taught to evade the attacks, but the man got flustered by the sudden development and tried to turn back.

Then, he saw an arc of light pass through his body and that was also the last thing that he saw.

The woman's hand reached into her pocket and she drew out a glass bottle containing a red coloured liquid. Her brain went into overdrive while trying to find a way to survive. There was only one unlikely event that she could think of..

She faced Kyle and raised both her hands in the air.

"I-I mean you no harm... We were just patrolling...patrolling the forest to see if there are some bea...beasts which could pose threat to the members of ou...our organisation."

The woman took a gamble on the chance that Kyle did not want to kill them initially. Her gamble did pay off and Kyle stopped. Although he still pointed his sword towards the woman, he didn't make any attacking move.

Seeing that it worked, the woman tried to take another gamble. There had been no reports on anyone missing or instances of finding a dead body till now, so it was highly unlikely that this intruder knew about the signal flare.

"I..I wi-will throw..throw a-away this bo..bottle.." The woman made sure to stutter in her speech and shiver occasionally. All to make sure that Kyle didn't see her as a threat. But, she was dead wrong.

Kyle had wanted to stop her from throwing away the bottle, but it was too late.

He had always hesitated before killing a human, but he would never allow this hesitation to stop him whenever it was necessary.

[Wink leap!]

At this point, words were unnecessary. Kyle appeared before the woman and swung his sword in a vertical arc. The woman had been on guard against Kyle and reacted to this attack by twisting her upper body towards her left.

Kyle's sword grazed past her face and left behind a long cut on her face.

The woman immediately drew out a sword  which had been tied to her waist like a belt and swung her sword at Kyle.

Kyle deflected the attack with his sword and pointed his sword towards the woman.

[Energycut!]

The woman was caught off guard by the sudden attack. The mana projected in the shape of '×' hit her squarely on her chest. Blood erupted out of her body.

'Crashh!' The bottle containing the signal flare hit a tree and shattered into pieces. All the liquid present in it was spilled on the ground and a dense red colored smoke started to erupt from it. The smoke formed a mushroom cloud as it moved upwards.

Just when Kyle was about to land his finishing blow on the woman, he heard the sound of horses approaching his direction. Unwillingly, he had to retreat without seeing his fight through to the end.

Now that the signal flare had started attracting the other guards in this region, infiltrating from this direction would only get exponentially difficult. That being the case, Kyle could only adopt the most basic tactic against the siege taught in his school.

That was to change the direction of his approach.

When Kyle was sure that the woman could not see him any longer, he took out the signal flare from his inventory and threw it towards his left with all his might.

Then he turned right and dashed away at his greatest speed. Although it was a tiresome and time consuming process, Kyle had to do it for the sake of his mission.

[Humans(Transcendents)×2 killed]

[+200(100) exp]

[+250(125)exp]

[Collect lo...

Two notifications appeared before Kyle while he was running away. Since he was already far away from the corpses, the second notification was already fading away.

As he ran in a circular arc, Kyle avoided confrontations as much as possible. Sometimes, he even ran past the beasts in his way. These beasts would chase him for some distance before giving up. If it wasn't possible to outrun the beast, Kyle would activate his Monarch's Aura and scare it away.

Two hours and some minutes later, Kyle was resting on a branch of a tree which was well hidden from outside. The people patrolling this area were pretty lax in their job. It was possible that they had heard the news of Kyle's appearance in the other part of the mountain range and were convinced that he would not show up in this region.

'Status'

[Name: Kyle Zehern ]

[Ascendant level: 1]

[Life tokens: 2]

[Status:]

[HP: 9/10]

[Mana equivalent: 14/20 ]

[Exp: 1350/100]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 32(16)] [Agility: 32(16)]

[Stamina: 32(16)] [Endurance: 32(16)]

[Energy affinity:32(16)][Intelligence: 32(16)]

[Skills: tap to expand]

[Abilities: tap to expand]

[Equipment: Doppelganger blade]

[(Sword/mortal/tier 1)]

Once he had rested enough, Kyle climbed down the tree and started moving towards the centre once again. With his senses on high alert, Kyle focused all his attention on his surroundings. He did not wish to meet another guard taking a break in the middle of the forest.

This time, he met comparatively fewer guards, but the beasts that he encountered were stronger than the ones that he had fought earlier.

[Twin head cat]

[HP: 35/40]

[MP: 48/50]

[Stats: ]

[Strength: 22] [Agility: 38]

[Stamina: 28] [Endurance: 20]

[Intelligence: 30] [Energy affinity: 36]

Kyle looked at the beast that he was fighting. This big cat could definitely be considered a high level foe by Kyle's current stats. Its agility and energy affinity both surpassed Kyle's and it was very good at evading attacks, not to mention its 'Twin head' as the name.

This second head was hidden behind the first head of the beast and only visible when it lowered the first head, but its appearance was nothing short of a nuisance.

'Meowww!' The two heads purred at the same time and the result was nothing like a cat's purr, it was only spelled the same way.

The cat leapt forward with its claws swiping at Kyle's face. Kyle raised his sword and blocked the attack. At the same time, the cat opened its mouth to take a bite at Kyle's throat.

Kyle moved his sword to block this attack as well. The sword scratched against the cat's claws and created an irritating sound. At the same time, the second Head popped up from behind the first one, turned at a weird angle to target Kyle's throat once again.

Kyle kicked the belly of the cat and pushed both himself and the cat backwards respectively, barely dodging the attack.

The kick seemed to be more effective than Kyle thought as the cat crouched on the ground and took a defensive posture as soon as it landed.

'Meeeoooww!' The purr this time was different from the ones earlier. Kyle capitalised on this and dashed forward towards the cat.

With both its faces attacking together with its forelimb, the cat tried to force Kyle into a defensive move and disrupt his attack. Kyle saw the cat attempting the same attack once again, but he didn't stop.

When he was nearby enough, Kyle's sword suddenly disappeared and he twisted his upper body mid-air to catch the cat's forelimb in his hand while evading it at the same time. Kyle planted his feet on the ground while pushing his upper body backwards as if trying to suplex the cat.

The cat purred in a resentful tone and tried to rip at Kyle's back with another one of its claws. Just before the cat let out the raged purr, Kyle's free hand moved towards its second foreleg and gripped tightly around it, preventing its movement.

Since the cat had its second head right behind the first one, it was useless in this condition. Before the remaining useful head could bite at Kyle, he released one of his feet from the ground and kicked towards the cat's ribs. His sword suddenly appeared on his foot, facing towards the cat's ribs.

The blade moved through the flesh of the cat and impaled its heart.

[Wink leap!]

Kyle disappeared from below the cat the next moment along with his sword which had been in contact with his foot.

Kyle appeared a few metres in front of the cat while sliding along the ground on his back.