Chapter 91: Alone in a graveyard

The night was dark, and a cold wind passed through the empty road, carrying the scent of blood, iron, and… death.

The road no longer looked like one.

It had become a battlefield.

And right now, it had become a graveyard.

Multiple corpses were scattered across the ground in a disordered, almost violent pattern, some staring blankly into the sky with horrified expressions.

Blood had spilled everywhere, spread across the road in dark, uneven patches, leaving dark stains, pooling beneath bodies.

But among the human corpses—

There was something else.

Beast corpses.

Multiple dire wolves, their bodies—half the size of the humans, along with one twice the size—lay lifelessly across the ground alongside the humans.

Their bodies tangled into the same mess of death, their forms more monstrous, yet just as lifeless as the others, along with a slightly larger, black-furred wolf among them all.

There were multiple stab wounds on their bodies, some of their eyes hollow—literally hollow—gone, with empty sockets as blood and dark, viscous fluid still dripped down their faces and onto the ground beneath them.

Their fur, once coarse and wild—was now soaked, darkened with blood.

“Ha…”

A hoarse exhale broke through the silence, cutting across the stillness of the night.

In the center of all the chaos—

Was a man.

Kneeling on the blood–soaked road, his black clothes darkened with blood.

His clothes had tears in multiple places.

Especially on his left arm and his left thigh.

The claw mark was visibly clear—a deep tear across the outer side of his thigh, flesh split apart, blood still seeping slowly from the wound.

His head hung low, with wet strands of bloodied hair clinging to his forehead, sticking to his skin, partially obscuring his face.

His face was smeared with blood, blood that wasn’t his.

His dark black eyes were dull and half-lidded, struggling to stay open.

Struggling to stay conscious.

“Ha… hkhaa…”

Lucian’s choked breathing came out raggedly as he found it difficult even to breathe properly.

His chest heaved unevenly, his lungs burning with every struggling inhale and exhale.

His vision blurred faintly as he looked at his bloodied hands, shaking, his fingers trembling, gripping the floor tightly to stop himself from fainting and collapsing onto the ground.

“Ha… ha… is…” he muttered, his voice barely audible as it came out as an exhale.

“Is it… ha… over?”

There was silence for a second.

Then—

[Yes.]

Akasha answered, her voice soft, yet slightly worried, seeing him barely keeping himself awake.

Lucian instantly felt it despite his fading state, as he raised his head slightly.

A small, weak, half-crooked smile barely formed on his lips.

‘What? Worried… about me?’ he teased her internally, since he found it hard to breathe, let alone form words through his mouth.

[…]

For a few seconds, she was silent.

Finally, she let out a small, quiet sigh that only he could hear.

[First, take care of your current state. You are just a few meters away from death right now.]

This time, there was no arrogant answer as he had expected.

Her voice was sharp, not having the usual playful tone in it.

Lucian barely registered her words, his mind already blurring past that.

His half-lidded eyes moved again as they swept over the corpses of the dire wolves.

He didn’t know how long it took him to kill all of them…

After the death of the E rank dire wolf, it had been a struggle fighting the others.

But they were only four, and despite him almost dying while fighting them—

They were dead.

All of them.

‘Rewards…’

Even before the thought could form properly—

[Ding!~]

A loud, melodic chime rang in his head, buzzing in his head.

A faint glint formed in his eyes as his gaze flickered over the screen that materialised before him.

[You have completed the Quest: Kill The Hesitation!]

[Quest: Kill the Hesitation]

Main objective:

– Kill all the F rank dire wolves that have been ambushing you.

– Don’t let any of them escape.

Reward: 50 Attribute Points𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Bonus objective:

– Deal with the newbie who has just arrived.

– Kill the E rank dire wolf.

Bonus Rewards: 100 Attribute Points

Difficulty: A

Failure Penalty: None — If you are alive

— — — —

Then—

[You have completed the main objective.]

[You have acquired 50 Attribute Points.]

[You have completed the bonus objective.]

[You have acquired 100 Attribute Points.]

Lucian’s gaze barely looked at the glowing system messages.

Right now, he only wanted one thing.

To get up.

To move.

To not collapse here like the corpses surrounding him.

‘Put 10 points in Strength…’ he muttered inwardly, his thoughts faintly sluggish.

[Attribute Points(AP) – 150➝140]

Suddenly, he felt his muscles twitch, a surge of strength returning to his body.

‘Not enough… add 20 to constitution and 20 to stamina.’

[Attribute Points(AP) – 140➝100]

Finally, his body responded.

His already exhausted body felt some of its energy return.

“Ugh…”

Straining his leg muscles, Lucian pushed himself up.

His knees shook violently, and his balance wavered.

He was barely stopping himself from tripping and falling again.

“…ha…”

Slowly, with each forceful step, he walked toward one of the wolves’ corpses.

[Are you really going to devour them?] Akasha asked, her voice carrying faint tension, slightly worried by his decision, seeing him kneeling before the dire wolf’s cold corpse.

Lucian didn’t answer immediately.

As soon as he kneeled over the corpse, his knees hit the ground harder than intended.

His gaze lowered to the lifeless beast.

Then—

“Can I keep all their bodies inside my Inventory?” he asked hoarsely, rather than answering her question.

If he could store all their bodies inside his time-frozen inventory—

If he could take them with him—

But—

[No, you cannot.]

Akasha instantly shattered his hopes.

[Most of all, you will be able to store one corpse. That is its maximum size right now.]

Lucian fell silent.

He remained still for a few seconds before letting out a breathless exhale.

“Then… you have your answer.”

He looked at the corpse before noticing a bone dagger stabbed into its neck.

“So… you were the one holding onto them…” he muttered, his fingers reaching out, gripping the bloodied handle.

With a weak yet firm pull, he yanked the dagger from its neck.

There were a few daggers he had lost during the fight, some lodged in the wolf’s, as he didn’t get much time to take them back, due to being ambushed.

Lucian didn’t waste another second as he stabbed the bone dagger into its chest, precisely, so as not to stab the bone.

Slicing through its flesh, he drove his already bloodied hand into its body, before removing a dark F rank monster core.

The small marble-like shard instantly vanished from his hand and was stored in his inventory.

After that, Lucian placed his other hand over its body, and dark, black tendrils began spreading throughout the wolf’s body, before both of them vanished into his palm.

[You have devoured a Dire wolf.]

[You have obtained 1 Attribute Point.]

Lucian didn’t wait, as he pushed himself up again, before walking towards the other wolves.

His body swayed strangely while walking, almost making him look like a drunk man walking through the road.

Lucian went to all the wolves, removing their cores, storing them in his Inventory, and then devouring them.

All this while, he hoped that he wouldn’t get any memory, since he didn’t know if he could handle them right now.

Not in this state.

Thankfully, he didn’t get one.

After a few long minutes…

These were the gains he got.

[Attribute Points (AP) – 100➝131]

He got 31 Attribute points after devouring all of them.

He didn’t know if there were more, but as far as he could see, there wasn’t anything aside from butchered human corpses.

Lucian’s gaze lingered over them for a few seconds.

Soon, he turned his gaze away, before walking—almost limping towards the direction of his house.

His right leg dragged slightly with each step, the claw wound on his thigh pulsing faintly with every movement.

Yet—

He moved forward.

He stored the chipped bone dagger—the only one he had left right now—into his inventory.

His gaze lifted slightly as he thought about the two new skills he had fortunately gotten after devouring the dire wolves.

Instantly, two screens materialised before him, showing both of their descriptions.

His blurred vision struggled to focus—

But slowly, the words became clear.

[Hunter’s Focus]

– Locks onto a single target, sharpening perception toward it.

– Improves accuracy and reduces wasted movement.

– Slightly predicts target movement patterns over time.

[Echo Awareness]

– Detects surroundings through vibrations and subtle sound shifts.

– Reveals movement even without a direct line of sight.

– Improves reaction speed to nearby threats.

Lucian read through them despite the dull, relentless thudding in his head and the constant ringing in his ears.

His eyes moved slowly across each line.

“They weren’t so useless then…” he muttered, feeling that killing the wolves had given him at least something.

If he hadn’t gotten even one skill from the wolves after going through all that pain… then Lucian would’ve lost it.

“Show me… my entire status,” Lucian muttered in a low voice.

The screen showing the description faded away, and another, larger one flickered before him.

Yet, even as it appeared before him.

Lucian didn’t stop walking.

[STATUS]

Name – Lucian Foster

Race – Human

Rank – E

Titles – Loved by ######

Bloodline – Devourer’s Bloodline

Affinity – None

Talent – B

[Attributes]

Strength – 30➝42

Agility – 30➝34

Constitution – 20➝43

Intelligence – 20➝25

Will – 48

Perception – 21➝26

Charm – 20

Stamina – 38➝50

Mana – 20

Attribute Points (AP) – 131

[Skills]

Pain Tolerance, Advanced Analysis, Mana Sensitivity, Minor Mana Recovery, Minor Poison Resistance, Minor Fear Resistance, Thought Shield, Suppression Intent, Night Vision, Basic Combat Sense, Hunter’s Focus, Echo Awareness

[Unique Skills]

Devour, Inventory

— — —

Lucian’s gaze lingered on the attribute for a while.

His half-lidded eyes narrowed faintly as something registered in his mind.

His strength was previously 30, and after he had used the Attribute Points, it should’ve been 40.

But they were higher than that.

And it wasn’t just strength.

Some other attributes were like that, too.

He instantly asked Akasha about it.

[It’s because of the fight,] she answered, before adding,

[After your battle, the attributes increased by a few digits on their own.]

“Oh…” Lucian mumbled softly, nodding in acknowledgement.

Still, he didn’t stop his mind from thinking.

He was exhausted, and he felt like he would faint if he didn’t keep his mind busy right now.

Akasha, knowing that, started to talk to him.

About the fight…

About his madness during the near-death situation.

Lucian let out a small chuckle as he, too, continued in the conversation.

All while walking to his home.

Give me more power stones.

Add the novel into your Library if you like what I write.

Thank you for reading.