Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

Well, the name sure as hell fits this place, Archie begrudgingly admitted as he crouched beside a wet patch of rich soil, his arms crossed above his knees as he stared at the massive seven-fingered footprint embedded into the ground in front of him. The Sloughshade Woodlands.

"Here," said the hunter in a low rasp, digging his knee into the mud as he knelt beside the footprint. He was lean and long-limbed, draped in a mossy gray cloak that covered him from head to toe, with only his scale-hide armor, quiver, and bow strapped to his back being to only visible equipment that he could see.

He wasn't a local from the 23rd Universe. He was fully human without any cybernetics – same as himself.

His eyes flicked toward the trees, then down to the moss-streaked earth. "Four-legged. Heavy. Maybe a meter and a half at the shoulder. Wide stride, but it's favoring the left side."

"Definitely the creature that you were asking for," he finished, turning his head towards Archie, who gave a silent nod.

'Still fresh?' He asked, a thin, faint mana construct appearing in front of him as he studied another massive seven-fingered footprint that stood a meter away from the other.

The hunter gave a short nod. "Real fresh. Less than an hour, 58 minutes, to be exact. I can still feel the residual body heat in the print." He sniffed. "And there's a scent. Nasty. Sweaty. The beast hadn't bothered masking its trail, which puts its concern for predators attacking it on the lower end. Exactly the kind of creature we're after."

They pushed forward under the canopy, where moonlight fractured into slivers against thick, gnarled branches. The air was cooler here and dusty, some way somehow, almost like a graveyard.

Archie knew the scent. He'd spent enough time in one to never forget.

"Why this thing?" the hunter asked, voice barely above the whisper of leaves. "There's better game out there to hunt. Easier, too."

'Personal grudge,' Archie answered as he stepped carefully between the massive roots of a tree that protruded above the damp soil. 'I killed a similar-ish leveled creature a while back, but some… thing helped me. What was supposed to be a clean solo kill ended up hollow. Felt like the victory wasn't mine. So, this time–'

He paused, ducking under a thick hanging vine slick with condensation.

'-I want to make it right. Same level, but far more physically powerful than the last creature - to balance the playing field, considering I've leveled up a bit since then.'

So, I'm looking to challenge myself with a creature equal in level to the one I fought before, but much stronger physically, to match the progress I've made.

The hunter gave a quiet grunt of acknowledgement. "I think you're a complete maniac for wanting to hunt down a creature that's twenty-plus levels above your own, not to mention it also being an entire Grade above you."

He scanned the twisted trees, eyes following the unmistakable trail carved through the undergrowth.

"And yeah, I get that E- and D-Grade evolutions are just the prep grades before shit gets real in C-Grade. And the gap between them ain't as wide as the jump to C-Grade and beyond," he added, almost like he was trying to reason it out. "But still... wanting to go pound for pound with this creature? While I'm not one to speak on doing dumb and dangerous stuff, you have to know that fighting this creature isn't something that you should take lightly. It could easily twist your head off in less than a second if it gets a hold of you."

Good, Archie nodded, gauntleted fists clenching with quiet resolve. The stronger, the better.

The hunter standing across from him exhaled slowly, running a hand through his beard. Archie's excited and eager reaction to his warning wasn't exactly telling of someone who would be cautious.

"Kids these days, they always seem to want to kill themselves doing the dumbest shit thinking it to be fun," he muttered under his breath. "Is this how Master Thistle felt when I was training under her?"

He was already neck-deep in this kind of nonsense at home. Just last night, while trying to enjoy a rare evening out with his wife, he'd hidden his guild membership card in the kitchen cupboard – two meters off the ground – to keep it out of reach of his overly curious children. It was the same cupboard his wife had sealed with a minor ward to stop him from sneaking in for cereal, which, in her words, was "for kids."

He had reached up with both hands to bypass the seal, unsuccessfully, only to realize hours later that he'd left his guild card sitting right there in the cupboard.

Big mistake.

While he and his wife were out, the slave was left to watch over the kids and prevent them from doing something stupid, such as sticking a fork in a socket. And somehow, someway, his five-year-old daughter managed to duck under the slave's notice, scale up the two-meter-tall cupboard, find the card, figure out how to navigate the guild console, and accidentally accept a stack of pending missions – including one involving Archie. Missions that ranged from retrieving a giant Fly Agaric mushroom from an ice planet to helping to overthrow a minor C-Grade kingdom.

And now here he was. On a job accepted by a five-year-old with sticky fingers, a love for cinnamon-flavored cereal, and a wild imagination.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Honestly, he wasn't sure whether to be proud that his daughter had become a spider jockey or devastated by the amount of work he had to do while on his "vacation".

As they ventured deeper into the Sloughshade Woodlands, the quieter it became. No wind. No fluttering wings. Not even the usual chirp of tree-dwelling pests. Just the steady squelch of boots in the mud and the occasional crack of a twig underfoot – Archie's, of course.

The hunter moved in silence, leaving no sound as he walked through the mud.

Then came the smell.

Archie's nose scrunched as he fought the urge to lift up his arm to cover his mouth and nose. The scent was thick, coppery, and rotten, like spoiled meat left too long in the sun.

"Hold up," the hunter said, voice low and steady.

They emerged into a small clearing, where the path widened enough to reveal the carnage.

The first body lay in a slump against a tree trunk, head lolled unnaturally to one side, throat brutally ripped out, and limbs missing. The second was barely recognizable – ribs cracked open like a barrel of gin in a dwarven pub, organs half-missing, chunks torn out of them as if someone had eaten them like raw fruit then tossed them aside.

Blood soaked into the mud, pooling in dark, congealed puddles.

"Bandits, probably," the hunter muttered, crouching near the bodies. "No... they're wearing tags. That could mean they're part of some group that requires identification – possibly a guild or a mercenary company."

'Couldn't they be guards for one of the cities nearby?' Archie asked as he stared at the insignia on their metal tags.

"No," the hunter grunted. "Guards, knights, and those similar to them all display their insignia of their cities, kingdoms, etc… on their chests or on their flags. Besides, they're wearing different clothes."

"See this one right here," the hunter said, pointing to a third corpse above them.

A third corpse, smaller than the others, was draped over a low branch like a discarded rag doll – half its torso and right arm missing entirely. The bark beneath it was stained dark. Its bow lay broken on the ground, the quiver empty on its back, arrows scattered in a pool of congealed blood.

"That one's like us, no cybernetics in sight and covered in leather armor, which means she's not from Universe 23. Not a single city there would accept her into its militia, since she wasn't born a citizen," the hunter explained, brows furrowed as he then muttered under his breath. "I wonder what an E-Grade like her was doing here on this planet of all places."

Could she have been a Tutorial Participant? Archie wondered as he stared at her hanging corpse.

Archie's steps grew slower, more cautious as they reached into the heart of the woodlands.

Then, without warning, the hunter's arm shot out in front of him.

"Stop."

Archie froze.

The hunter pointed just ahead and to the right.

Past a clump of thorn-choked underbrush, nestled in a shallow, naturally formed hollow, was a massive boulder – four meters tall, maybe more. Covered in lichen and moss. Almost looked like a natural part of the forest, unmoving and undisturbed.

The hunter didn't look at him as he said, "We're here."

Archie nodded, eyes locked on the boulder. Yup, it looks exactly like what I saw in the book.

"Now listen, kiddo," the hunter said, his voice hushed as he grabbed Archie's attention. "I'mma ask you one last time, cause I got a spot in my heart for dumbass kids doing dumbass stuff. Are you sure you want to do this? That thing over there could and would definitely kill you just as easily as it killed those people back there. Hell, it would be even easier, on account of you not having a team to cover your ass."

Archie's jaw tightened, but he said nothing, instead nodding.

"I'm assuming this is for your Class Evolution requirement," the hunter continued, glancing at him from the corner of his eye, catching the brief flicker of surprise on Archie's face. "Thought so. You kids are always so overconfident – too much pride, not enough sense."

"I can tell you're strong for your level, very strong, and have a lot of potential considering you were allowed into our guild," the hunter said. "But that guy over there… have you fought their normal variant before?"

Archie nodded.

"Yeah, well, these guys aren't like the normal ones. They're ten times tougher thanks to their stone-like skin, which wards off magic like it's nothing, way more territorial – they only leave their ground once a year to find a mate. They're extremely hostile, and strong enough to bench-press a magi-lev and bend it in half at the end of their workout," the hunter pointed out, ticking off the creature's traits. "They're also sadistic, dumb, and, compared to their regular counterparts, have much weaker regeneration."

Archie nodded in confirmation. 'Yeah, I studied as much as I could about them in both 'The Sapients and Non-Sapients on Fractal' and 'The Myriad of Races within the Multiverse, 36th edition', which also mentions that they could either have cybernetics that could further enhance their strength, toughness, agility, or worse case one that enhances their regeneration.'

The hunter nodded. "Those are decent books – I've read them both, though The Myriad of Races Within the Multiverse was the 35th edition in my case."

"However, just because you read about that guy right there doesn't mean it translates well to practice, nor does it mention everything," he warned Archie. "For example, their left ear twitches for a moment, just before they go completely berserk, which means…"

'That they are close to dying,' Archie finished, recalling the last excerpt about the creature in the book, getting a nod of approval from the hunter.

"Yes, but the book doesn't mention that both ears have to do that," the hunter smiled, wriggling his index and middle finger. "Just like how a Sphinx's left ball twitches every time it spews out its toxins. They don't mention shit like that in the books because what they contain is true, it's not the complete truth."

'Alright, thanks,' Archie nodded. While I ain't gonna trust his words a hundred percent, I'll keep that in mind.

'Well, thanks for your help,' Archie wrote out, taking out his guild card and holding it up. The hunter nodded silently and produced his own silver guild card, confirming once again that he was a Silver Frontier Seeker, three tiers above Archie's rank within their guild.

As both cards tapped against the other, they both glowed green, confirming the completion of the quest, to which Archie handed the hunter two Gold Coins and a boar, lettuce, and tomato sandwich from his spatial storage.

'The guild gives out rewards for special objectives, right?' Archie wrote out with a smirk as he looked at the slightly bewildered expression on the hunter's face. 'Why can't I give one out myself?'

The hunter chuckled for a brief moment and accepted both his payment and the sandwich Archie offered him.

"Take care of yourself, kid," the hunter said to him with a slight nod before vanishing from Sloughshade Woodlands, leaving Archie alone with the beast he planned on killing.

Giving a quick look around with Vital Sight, Archie leaped up into the branches above and took out the Verdant Serpent Beastcore from his spatial storage before activating Spirit Bond.

However, just before his eyes closed shut, he identified the beast in front of him.

[Mountain Troll Lv ???]

This time, this will be all me, Archie thought as he found himself seeing the visage of the Five-Eyed Serpent that had almost killed him back in the Group Tutorial overlap with the Mountain Troll's for a brief moment.