Kyle furrowed his brows with a loud sigh.
"You all still haven't killed him? Alright, I'll give the finishing blow."
Alec's eyes widened, his mission would fail if he let anyone else kill the monster lord! He lunged forward to stop Kyle, panic written all over his face.
Just like him, Jian's eyes also trembled but for a different reason altogether. How could he let his prey be stolen right before his eyes? He also lunged at Kyle with a loud no.
The people around them stared in astonishment as the duo grabbed hold of Kyle's arms before the latter could unleash his attack.
Kyle blinked, clearly confused.
"What?"
Jian stared at him with a deadpan expression.
"Let me!"
Kyle let out a chuckle and gave him a nod.
"Okay. Look, the monster lord's secretly trying to run away, so kill him before he's gone."
Jian nodded enthusiastically, but Alec stopped him with a righteous expression.
"Wait, let me kill this one. I'll give you an (A)-rank skill core!"
A solemn expression appeared on Jian's face, but in the next second, he raised his hand with an okay sign and retreated.
Kyle looked at the red-haired man dumbfounded. He couldn't believe Jian benefited because of him.
'Wait... I was the one who stopped my actions, so why is Alec giving the skill core to Jian?'
He wanted to ask the question, but he got distracted when he noticed a pair of concerned eyes. Kyle blinked and floated over to Yue.
"What happened?"
Yue raised her eyebrow, surprised that he noticed. She was worried when she saw him being chased by so many monsters, but, he didn't have a single scratch on his body. She hummed and looked around.
"Where's Bia?"
Kyle stared at Alec as the latter used his sword to kill the monster lord.
"She'll be here soon. I used teleportation, so I arrived first."
The crowd around them cheered with excitement. They had done it. They had killed a monster lord on their own, without the help of any elders! Just a few years ago, if someone had told them they would do this, they would have called that person crazy!
After Alec killed the monster lord, he received the reward for his mission. A bright smile appeared on his face.
He immediately checked the monster lord's body for any skill cores, but he didn't find any. Instead, he found a strange pulsating crystal in place of the monster's heart.
"What's this?"
He grabbed the crystal and everyone's attention shifted to it. But before anyone could look at it properly, a roar echoed through the air.
-"It's mine!"
Bia's eyes sparkled, and amidst the stunned onlookers, she swiftly snatched the crystal from Alec's hand. The blue-haired man stared at his empty palm and then glanced at the phoenix soaring above with a wry smile.
Alec shrugged his shoulders and looked at the people around him.
"She took it. If anyone wants to fight for the crystal, they should go talk to the phoenix."
Instantly, the crowd dispersed in different directions, searching the other lifeless bodies. Knowing Bia's temperament, no one dared to challenge her for the crystal.
Kyle glanced at the furious phoenix with a chuckle.
'Is the crystal useful to you?'
Bia huffed at him, her eyes narrowed. Despite her anger, she replied.
-'It's the monster lord's heart. Only monsters with immense physical strength have their hearts turned into crystals. So, it's pretty rare... no almost impossible to come across one. And yeah, it's useful to me.'
Kyle gave her a quick nod and stared at the makeshift throne of rocks.
'I need to check what's beneath the throne.'
He looked around and saw that everyone was busy examining the bodies of the monsters they had killed. Kyle glanced at Yue, she had been floating beside him.
"Don't you want to check?"
She shook her head.
"Not all of them have skill cores. And the ones that do aren't useful to me."
"Huh? How do you know that?"
"I have a skill, but it's a low-ranked one, so it's only useful on dead monsters."
Kyle let out an 'Oh'.
"What a useful skill."
He started floating towards the throne, and Yue glanced at him with a questioning look. She didn't ask anything, but he told her anyway.
"I'm going to check underneath the rocks. Want to come with me?"
Yue nodded, and the duo approached the throne. A few people noticed them, but Jian stopped them with a grim expression. No one understood his words, but he tried his best to signal them, that the couple needed some alone time.
Kyle landed above the rocks, he stared around for a few seconds but then used the scent perception skill to sense if something valuable was present in his surroundings.
He frowned when he didn't sense anything valuable but instead, he sensed a small life behind the throne.
Kyle's eyes narrowed, and he went behind the throne where many rocks were stacked together to form a small round burrow.
He bent down and started removing the rocks one by one. Yue sat down on her heels beside him. After he removed the rocks, a pair of brilliant pale blue eyes stared at him.
Kyle grabbed the growling little monster's neck and stared at it with curious eyes. It was very similar to the monster lord Alec just killed.
"A young Lynx? Don't tell me we killed its father or maybe mother?"
The little monster stared at him with round eyes, it blinked cutely and tentatively licked his arm with a low whimper.
Kyle stared at the saliva dripping down from his wrist and had the urge to just toss the monster away, but he paused when he sensed Yue staring at the Lynx with sparkling eyes. He thought for a second and then moved the monster toward Yue.
"Do you want to cook it? The size is short and won't fill Bia's huge stomach, but well, I guess we don't have a choice. It looks quite delicious."
As if sensing the impending doom, the monster cried out in surprise and tried to wriggle out of his grip. After countless failed attempts, it stared at Yue with teary eyes.
The elven girl was speechless at Kyle's words, and when she noticed the wriggling monster staring at her, she let out a sigh.
"No, I won't cook it! It's too young to understand what's happening, so why don't you form a bond with it?"
Instantly, Kyle shook his head with a solemn expression.
"No way, one is enough. You know she eats a lot. Also, I just somewhat killed its only parent. So, what if it attacked me in my sleep? That's why, it's better to cook the monster."
The monster didn't understand Kyle, but for some reason, a chill ran down its spine. It gathered all its strength and leaped toward Yue with a pitiful expression.
Kyle wanted to grab it again, but Yue stopped him. He furrowed his brow, but his brows relaxed when she gave him a bright smile.
"It's cute, so if you don't want it, you can give it to me. In return, I will cook you something good next time."
Kyle stared at her face for a second and agreed. Yet, for some reason, he felt irritated when the monster curled up on her lap cutely.
'What cute? It's too ugly.'
