The Heaven-Cursed Costs Life, But I Have Infinite Life-Chapter 22: Grouping Up to Level Up, Assassins Arrive
"I don’t know," Lilia shot Allen a sharp look. "Let’s finish my advancement mission first. I need to kill five monsters at stage 2 or higher."
She had her eyes on those Demonic Jungle Serpents, too.
But right now, she was only stage 1, level 10, without Allen’s powerful attacks. Taking them down would be tough for her.
"Aren’t you supposed to be protecting me? Are you sure you won’t just slow me down?" Allen said dryly.
"I’ll be better at protecting you if I get stronger," Lilia replied, and immediately sent him a party invite.
Allen sighed and accepted. After all, the girl meant well; she’d come to warn him.
If real danger strikes, he’ll just leave her behind and run.
Lilia is a vampire, she can fly, and she figures that few people stronger than stage 5 could threaten her anyway.
Plus, since she’s still dressed as a guy, ordinary folk can’t tell her real gender, so she won’t risk exposing herself.
"You need to kill five level 2 monsters to advance your class?" Allen asked curiously.
"Yeah, isn’t that your task too?" Lilia nodded, looking genuinely confused.
It seems the SSS-rank Class Awakened advancement missions aren’t all the same.
"Yes, same as yours," Allen said simply, leaving it at that.
To him, killing ten stage 2 monsters or just five made no real difference.
"I’ll wear them down first, then you finish them off," he instructed, pulling his Saber from the ground and locking eyes with a Demonic Jungle Serpent.
Adventure class advancement missions require the player to deliver the final blow themselves; kills by party members don’t count.
Now that Allen had broken through to stage 2, his stats had surged again, making these Demonic Jungle Serpents feel like easy prey.
Whirrr!
The massive Saber hummed, its blade flashing with cold light. Even as three Demonic Jungle Serpents swarmed him at once, Allen moved with total ease.
"What a monster!"
Lilia muttered to herself. Allen was a The Heaven-Cursed, yet with just a normal attack, he could crush a stage 2 level 1 monster. If he unleashed a Forbidden Spell, the results would be terrifying.
And his Forbidden Spells had no backlash. He might not be invincible, but if he was on the same level as his opponent, he had no equal.
"Don’t just stand there! Your turn!"
Allen sheathed his Saber. The three Demonic Jungle Serpents were a bloody mess—fangs snapped, deep wounds exposed bone, and they could barely lift their heads.
"Oh." Lilia gave a quick reply, lifted her spear, and drove it straight into them.
Thwack, thwack!
Blood sprayed everywhere. The three Demonic Jungle Serpents were down in an instant.
"Keep going, just two more left." Lilia beamed, practically glowing with excitement. She loved this feeling, like Allen chewing the food and feeding it straight to her.
Allen shot her a look but locked onto the next two Demonic Jungle Serpents, doing the exact same thing.
Soon, Lilia finished her advancement mission and successfully broke through to stage 2.
"How much did your base stats go up?" Allen asked curiously.
"100 points in all four basic stats," Lilia said proudly, waving her spear. "And I even unlocked a new attack skill: ’Thrust’."
Allen felt a bit unbalanced.
He had also only gained 100 points in his base stats after breaking through to stage 2, but his advancement mission was twice as hard as Lilia’s.
"Are you going back?" Allen asked. It was still early, and he planned to level up a bit more.
"I’m here to protect you, so how could I leave? Since there’s nothing else to do, let’s just go level up," Lilia insisted, sticking by his side as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Allen sighed and reluctantly led her on, continuing to hunt monsters and raise their levels.
After breaking through to stage 2, killing enemies of the same level only gave 10 experience points, while the amount needed for the next level jumped to ten times the previous cost.
With experience split evenly in a party, Allen’s leveling efficiency dropped significantly.
Luckily, there were so many Demonic Jungle Serpents around that washing the field with Forbidden Spells kept his leveling speed from slowing down too much.
Flames raged across the sky, wind blades whistled through the air, and the Demonic Jungle Serpents were vanquished in an instant.
"Leave some for me, Allen!" Lilia shouted, holding her spear and scanning for a target.
But all the Demonic Jungle Serpents nearby had already been slaughtered.
Soon, both of them reached stage 2, level 2. Killing more of these snakes would no longer grant any experience.
"Let’s go deeper into the jungle." Allen collected the Demonic Jungle Serpent crystal cores and fangs, slung his Saber over his shoulder, and kept moving forward.
By now, night had fallen. Lilia hesitated.
The jungle at night was dangerous; monsters became wilder, and stronger ones started to appear.
"Allen, maybe we should head back and continue tomorrow?" Lilia suggested.
Allen ignored her. Staring into the jungle ahead with a furrowed brow, he said, "There’s a powerful energy signature ahead. Let’s go check it out."
"Wait, is that dangerous?" Lilia worried but trailed after him anyway.
The two of them pushed through the trees, and the view suddenly opened up.
The trees vanished for several kilometers around, replaced by a massive, deep pit. More than a dozen bodies of humans lay scattered at the bottom, all long dead.
"This... how did they do that?" Lilia gasped, swallowing hard as she warily scanned her surroundings.
Allen was shaken too. The sheer destructive power was terrifying; even his Forbidden Spells couldn’t create a crater like this.
What made it even weirder was that there were no traces of magical energy in the air. It seemed like this massive pit was carved out by some incomprehensibly powerful force.
Was it a human or a monster?
Allen stared at the dozen corpses in the pit, his brows knitting together in a frown.
If this really was a monster, a single strike like that would have been enough to destroy most of Blackspire.
"I sense someone!" Allen’s expression turned alert. He stepped in front of Lilia in a protective stance.
Bushes rustled behind him, and two tattered, scarred men stumbled out, looking a mess.
"That woman is terrifying! That attack was so powerful, even a stage 6 expert probably couldn’t block it. Good thing we hid far away." They seemed to have completely ignored Allen and Lilia, staring at the pit with visible relief.
"Bro, this kid looks like a wanted target too," the thin, sharp-faced man on the side said, eyeing Allen up and down with excitement.
"Yeah, you’re right!" the other man, who had a nasty scar across his face and a cruel look, stared at Allen with glowing eyes.
"I was ready to come back empty-handed, but now we have some unexpected bonuses!" The scarred man licked his lips, staring at Allen and Lilia with bad intentions.
"What do we do? One of them is a stage 4 expert, and the other is stage 5," Lilia thought quickly, gripping her spear tight. She was ready to shift into her vampire form and run away with Allen at a moment’s notice.
Allen didn’t flinch. He looked utterly innocent and asked curiously, "Hey, did you two mistake who we are?"
The thin man frowned, looking disgusted. "Bro, is this guy really worth a 1 million gold bounty?"
The scarred man also looked suspicious. "Be careful. This kid is a The Heaven-Cursed. Let’s not slip up here."
Allen was now sure these two were assassins. Curious now, he asked, "Hey bro, do we have any past conflicts? I’m just wondering who put a bounty on my head?"
"Heh." The thin man couldn’t help but laugh at Allen’s innocent look. "Employer details are usually secret, but your case is special. They need you alive, so I’ll tell you. It’s the owner of the Blackspire underground casino: the Butcher."
So it was that guy!
Allen wasn’t surprised. The Butcher had already targeted him, and since Allen killed the werewolf Mason, the man wouldn’t let it go.
The thin man smirked coldly. "Kid, just come with us. Don’t make us hurt you."
Allen nodded obediently. "Alright, big brothers. I’ll go with you, but can I get half of that one million gold bounty?"
The thin man froze and glanced at the scarred man. "Brother, is this guy stupid?"
Lilia even took two steps back, looking disgusted, pretending she didn’t know Allen.
"Oh, you disagree?" Allen’s smile vanished. He stuck his Saber into the ground and glared at them with malicious intent.
The scarred man snapped. "The employer said ’alive,’ not ’untouched.’ Break his legs and teach him a lesson."
"Got it." The thin man’s eyes lit up with excitement. He drew his Saber from his waist, a cruel grin spreading across his face, and slowly approached Allen.
"Hey! I warn you, I’m strong! If you come closer, I’ll scream for help!" Allen acted terrified, stumbling backward quickly. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Lilia held her forehead, utterly disgusted.
"Heh." The thin man grinned wickedly, thrilled. "Go ahead and scream the louder, the more I enjoy it."
"Damn, you sicko! Take this!" Allen’s fear disappeared instantly. A massive fireball formed in his left hand, and a wind blade condensed in his right, launching them straight at the thin man.
