Chapter 103: A Horrifying Encounter

Words : 1099 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 103: A Horrifying EncounterIn front of Hal was the nature of his world at its worst. Corpses of hundreds of Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Trolls were scattered across the ground, some piled atop one another, mixed in with beast carcasses. It seemed the beasts had indeed gathered here to feast on free meals. Some had likely already returned to their lairs with a corpse or two in tow. Others, perhaps too greedy, had joined the battle and ended up being slain themselves. At the center of all the corpses stood a Forest Troll who towered above the rest of his kind, more than three meters tall with bulging muscles. The monster wasn’t moving. Hal assumed that this creature, likely the trolls’ leader, had fought hard to protect its territory, only to fall in the end. Still, it was probably the last to fall, judging by the scene of utter carnage he was looking at. This was why Hal felt he had used up his entire lifetime of luck after stumbling upon hundreds of untouched monster corpses. He also believed that the beasts wouldn’t have stayed after the troll leader rampaged, as their instincts would have told them to flee, and they had probably gotten their share of meals yesterday or the day before. The only problem was that he might catch a disease if he harvested the cores by hand... ’Damn... I have to calm down...’ Hal realized he was being overwhelmed by both the gruesome scene and the thought of endless riches. So, he took a deep breath, left the area for a bit, and began thinking about how he would harvest the cores from the rotting corpses without getting too close. The first thing he did was look for a safe spot in the periphery before activating [Dark Ward] and sitting down. Then, he tapped on his left wrist to open his deck. ’Let’s see...’ It didn’t take long for him to formulate a plan. There was no need for him to leave the safe cover of the [Dark Ward]. Hal summoned both the Spirit Bear and the Spirit Wolf, and spent a charge of [Conjure Greatsword], controlling all three to move to the site of carnage. He then directed the greatsword to pierce deep into the flesh of a dead orc warrior, carving it up before having the Spirit Bear bite off the pieces, repeating this until the core was revealed. The Spirit Wolf would harvest the core and gather everything in one area, ready for Hal’s collection. This way, he didn’t have to get too close to the rotting corpses, drastically reducing his chances of catching a disease. This was what Hal did for the majority of the night, harvesting one C-ranked core every five minutes or so and a few juicy B-ranked ones every thirty minutes, due to the sheer difficulty of cutting through the flesh. Only now did he realize that the trolls were the strongest of the three races. Perhaps that was why the Fellkins didn’t dare mess with them directly and instead took control of the weaker races, partially forcing and partially manipulating them into going to war. Unfortunately, Hal hit the Chaos Karma limit he had set for himself four hours later. He couldn’t afford to dry himself out; otherwise, he might not even be alive to enjoy his spoils. It was still midnight, though, so he had more time to harvest more cores later. Sleep would be sacrificed tonight. Overall, he had already gathered 35 C-ranked cores and two B-ranked ones, though he still needed to head out and take them himself. So he did. He stood up and moved, dispelling [Dark Ward] before moving over to where his summons were guarding the spoils. A delighted grin appeared on Hal’s face as he saw the cores, picking them up one by one and storing them in the system’s inventory, stacking each core with those of the same rank. Just as he was storing the last one, he suddenly froze. Endless fear gripped his heart in that moment. Not only did he not dare move, but he actually couldn’t. Searᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Only his eyeballs could. Gazing forward, he saw a two-foot-tall monster that resembled a disheveled gnome, wearing nothing but leaves, staring straight at him from the distance, seemingly sizing him up and the core in his hands. Hal was certain that his life was in that small creature’s hands at that moment, whatever the thing was. Fortunately, by the grace of the gods, he found himself able to move, and in the distance, the disheveled gnome motioned its head to the side. Hal didn’t speak monster, but he easily understood what it was saying: "Scram." Trembling, he dismissed all his summons and returned from whence he came, the lingering pressure of the gaze fading after an oak blocked the small creature’s line of sight. His entire body was shaking, but he ran, and ran... Hal didn’t even use the Spirit Sparrow anymore; he just kept running. His primal senses told him that beasts and monsters wouldn’t go near that thing and that as long as he was feeling this way, they would be nowhere close. Even the Stormshade hadn’t made him feel this much horror and helplessness. Only after running for an entire hour did the feeling completely fade, and weakness finally caught up to him. That’s when Hal also began using the sparrow, resting for an hour atop an oak, struggling to climb it, and was forced to use [Blink]. Only once he felt that he could protect himself and make it back to the underground camp did he attempt to return, with the help of his expedition device, of course. Another hour later, Hal breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive... "So, are you finally done relieving yourself?" a cold voice suddenly sounded from above, making Hal jump. He thought it might be Arran at first, before realizing it was Lucien’s. Taking a deep breath before looking up, he responded, "Yeah," and proceeded to return to the underground room. But a tiny wall of ice blocked his way. "You think that answer would cut it?" the Ice Magna Prospect retorted, his tone a notch colder. Hal, however, would never cower when threatened unjustly. "What’s it to you where I went? Are you perhaps interested in me?" A brief silence followed between the two before Hal proceeded back to the underground room, this time without any interference.

Chapter 103: A Horrifying Encounter

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