"Yes!" Gabriel practically screamed, a purple glow bathing his Voidsting blade. Right before his eyes, it grew larger, lighter, and even the cracks from previous use disappeared.
Moreover, a new screen appeared before him.
[Name: Voidsting Sword (Bronze)]
Durability: 100/100
Description: A weapon reforged from the essence of Voidsting Bees. Each strike applies venom buildup. At 3 stacks, it triggers poison damage over time for 5 seconds.]
Just as he finished using extraction on the sword, the bald-headed man closed the remaining distance between them. Whether it was because he was clouded by anger or simply inexperienced, his movements were easily predictable.
Swoosh!
Gabriel dodged the attack with ease, sliding under the wide arc of the warhammer using practiced footwork.
"You—!" the man shouted, spinning around to recover.
But Gabriel didn't give him the chance.
Shing!
A clean horizontal slash carved across the tanker's midsection.
[-102]
[Venom Stack: 1]
The man grunted, stumbling back in surprise.
Another slash followed.
[-108]
[Venom Stack: 2]
A third strike landed without pause.
[-119]
[Venom Stack: 3 – Poison Triggered!]
His expression twisted in agony. Green veins pulsed around the wounds as the venom surged through his body. He let out a growl and swung wildly again—but Gabriel had already moved behind him.
With a swift, brutal thrust, Gabriel stabbed behind the knee, forcing him to the ground.
[Ding! You have defeated a Level 10 Human]
[Ding! You've received Experience]
[Ding! You have received +5 EP]
As the body collapsed, Gabriel slowly turned toward the red-haired girl.
She had frozen mid-dash, eyes trembling. The confident smirk from earlier was gone—replaced by fear.
"You... you're just a Level..." she muttered, then gritted her teeth and shouted, "Screw it!" before vanishing in a blur—activating a movement skill to escape.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
[Vicious Pounce – Activated]
He shot forward like a bullet, reappearing directly in front of her. Before she could even react, he pierced her heart with a killing blow.
[Critical Hit]
[Ding! You've defeated a Level 9 Human]
[Ding! You've received Experience Points]
[Ding! You have leveled up!]
[Ding! You have received five free stats]
[Ding! You've received + 5EP]
Even after killing the trio, Gabriel felt no remorse—only a strange sense of satisfaction.
"I could get used to this feeling," he thought inwardly, unaware that with each passing second, he was becoming more like the Champion of Death the mysterious giantess intended him to be.
Soon after, he began to consider what to extract. He now had [14 EP] in his reserve—the highest so far—but considering the number of corpses present, that amount wouldn't be enough for everything. He needed to be decisive.
Naturally, the first body Gabriel approached was that of the support mage. As soon as he placed his hand on the corpse—
[Ding! Would you like to extract the target? Cost: 5 EP]
"Yes."
[Please choose what to extract!]
[Intelligence +4]
[Catalyst Core]
[Magic Robe]
"Catalyst Core!" Gabriel's eyes sparkled the moment they landed on the second option.
Although the choice lacked a description, he knew what most of the items did thanks to his past life experience.
"If I recall correctly, the Catalyst Core reduces cooldown and mana consumption of all skills."
This treasure was extremely rare and highly sought after. Gabriel remembered that it once caused a major uproar when a player discovered it—multiple guilds had even gone to war over it.
Back then, Gabriel had ignored the treasure and didn't participate in the hunt—something he deeply regretted as one of his greatest nemeses used the same item to defeat him in the finals of the Ascendancy Global Tournament.
Without hesitation, he selected the Catalyst Core. A grey crystal appeared in his grasp.
[Name: Catalyst Core (Bronze)]
Description: When activated, reduces the remaining cooldown of all active skills by 10% instantly. Can be reshaped into a desirable form. Cooldown: 3 hours]
Gabriel thought about turning the core into an earring, which shimmered under the sun's glare.
After putting it on, he moved to the bald man's corpse. For 5 EP, he extracted +10 Strength. From the red-haired girl, he extracted +5 Agility by spending 4 EP.
He now had 0 EP left but it was worth it. As for the Hound Rat carcasses, he ignored them.
Soon, he heard footsteps and voices approaching.
"Right, we did make quite a bit of noise. Some adventurers probably overheard." He thought to himself and quickly fled the scene.
Even in a monster-filled open-world game, murder remained a serious offense. If a player was caught, they'd be imprisoned and could only bail themselves out through rigorous community service.
Gabriel returned shortly after—as a bystander—to observe the aftermath.
"Damn, who could've done something this cruel?"
"These wounds... this was definitely done by a human."
"Who'd stab a beautiful woman in the chest?! I'd pay a thousand just to suck her toes!"
"We should report this to the city's Adventure Guild. I'm sure the guild leader will find the culprit easily!"
"Yeah, let's do that."
While the commotion grew, Gabriel had already slipped away after seeing everything he needed. He wasn't worried about the repercussions of his actions.
Once he reached a safe distance, he pulled out the map that led to Black Ridge Mountains.
"Now that I'm Level 7... time to complete this quest," he muttered, assigning 5 points to Agility.
[Agility: 15 → 20]
Just minutes after he left, two familiar faces arrived at the murder scene.
"Hmmm... such a beautiful scene," Darius murmured, eyes gleaming with twisted admiration.
"Those wounds..." Vera's eyes narrowed. "No doubt, this was done by someone even more deadly—and more insane—than us."
Meanwhile, after running for approximately an hour, Gabriel finally arrived at the foot of Black Ridge Mountains.
* * *