The next morning.
The sunlight seemed unable to penetrate the layers of gray clouds, making the morning extremely gloomy and cold.
At this time, Borok stood outside Karik's door, knocking while calling out, "Karik, are you inside?"
"Come in!" Karik's hoarse and heavy voice rang out, his throat destroyed by alcohol.
Borok pushed the door and entered inside, seeing Karik still lying on the bed, hand holding a wine bottle, face flushed red, both eyes still hazy as if about to lose consciousness.
"You..." Borok said angrily, "Karik, with your condition like this, how can we catch that girl?"
Karik tried to sit up and snorted contemptuously. "Huh! Just a brat who can't even kill a chicken—what are you worried about?"
"Wait until I sober up a bit more, then we'll go to that bastard's house. Kill him, play with that girl, then... hahahaha..."
At this time Borok said worriedly, "But... you right now..."
"You doubt me?"
"Huk!"
Borok saw the sharp eyes like knife blades along with Karik's cold and heavy words, and immediately shut his mouth.
He ground his teeth, then said, "Don't make it difficult for me either. I've already invited people from the brothel to come. This afternoon, if we can't catch that girl to hand over to them, they won't let me go."
Karik indifferently took another gulp of wine and sneered, "They won't let you go, not me. Why should I worry?"
Hearing that, Borok's face turned deathly pale.
"Huh!"
CRASH!
Karik threw the wine bottle that had been drunk dry in his hand down, causing it to shatter into countless pieces.
The room, which wasn't spacious to begin with, was now filled with wine bottle fragments, making Borok not know where to place his feet.
Karik stood up, not paying attention to the fragments under his feet, stepping on them and advancing toward the cabinet in the corner of the room.
Crop! Crop! Crop!
The sound of Karik's feet stepping on the fragments rang out, making Borok grimace in fear.
But Karik's feet didn't bleed at all, as if what he was stepping on wasn't sharp fragments but just ordinary pebbles.
Karik opened the cabinet. Inside was a greatsword and a set of metal armor.
Although already old, Borok could see the terrifying traces on that armor.
Cut marks, stab marks, even cracks. Just that much was enough to prove that what that armor had been through was not at all ordinary.
Karik glanced at the greatsword full of cracks and chips, then took out the gauntlets and put them on.
But when he intended to put on the chest armor, he immediately discovered that his fat belly could no longer fit into the old armor.
"Tsk!" Karik clicked his tongue, then only wore the gauntlets, turned his head, and with staggering steps walked toward the door.
Seeing this, Borok felt worried in his heart. "Karik, if it's no good, wait until you're sober, then we'll... Ack!"
Before he finished speaking, Karik had already grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him up high as easily as carrying a chicken.
"What did you just say?"
"No! No!" Borok was frightened, struggling and shouting, his face deathly pale.
"Huh!" Karik snorted contemptuously and released his hand.
Thud!
A heavy sound rang out, but Borok didn't dare cry out—he only silently rubbed his buttocks, then looked at Karik's back.
"Son of a bitch! That bastard—there will come a day when I'll kill you!" Borok ground his teeth, a trace of cruelty appearing in his eyes, then chased after Karik from behind.
…
Inside the house, Lathel had just finished eating breakfast with Viviane. At this time, he looked into the pot, which only had water, salt, and meat, and frowned as he asked,
"Viviane, we're out of wheat?"
Viviane nodded. "That's right. Not only wheat, but there are no wild vegetables left either."
Lathel sighed. Although having meat to eat was good—after all, right now it was famine, being able to eat enough was something countless people dreamed of—but having only meat wasn't enough. He needed wheat, and besides that, he also needed to buy more supplies and warm clothes.
"It seems... I need to find that tiger," Lathel thought inwardly.
A large tiger like that—whether its hide, bones, meat, or organs all had very great value.
One could say that tiger was like a moving treasure chest. It was just that... Lathel didn't know where to find that tiger.
'After being attacked by me yesterday, perhaps it has become more vigilant and will change its hunting grounds,' Lathel thought inwardly.
Seeing Lathel thinking, at this time Viviane said gently, "Lathel, I... can I help you with anything?"
Lathel looked at her and smiled. "What you need to do now is rest well and recover your health. Look at yourself—being so thin, what can you do?"
Viviane knew clearly that Lathel was worried about her. Her face flushed red, her eyes showing overflowing warmth.
He wanted to say more, but suddenly he frowned, his eyes glancing toward the entrance door.
"Viviane, quickly clean up and go to the back door." Lathel said seriously, his hand quickly grabbing the axe hanging on the wall.
Viviane also knew clearly that danger was coming. She didn't ask many questions and quickly cleared the food on the table, then ran into the kitchen.
She of course knew that with her abilities, if she stayed, she couldn't help him at all—it would even make it harder for him to act.
Viviane walked to the kitchen door and turned her head back, her eyes looking at him worriedly. "Be careful, Lathel."
Lathel nodded, showing a smile, gesturing for her to feel reassured.
Seeing Viviane had entered the kitchen, he didn't worry too much because inside the kitchen there was a secret door for her to escape if there was danger.
Inside the kitchen, there was also a secret hiding place to prevent bad people from surrounding the house.
After all, this was also a chaotic era—wars continuously breaking out, danger everywhere. If there weren't any contingency plans, death was obvious.
Lathel didn't fear death because he had the Immortal talent, but Viviane was different. That's why he had to fully prepare plans to protect her.
He held the axe in his hand, his eyes looking through a hole in the door, seeing outside there were two people walking toward his house.
A moment later, the house door was pounded hard.
BAM! BAM!
"Lathel!" Karik's voice rang out, heavy and hoarse. "Lathel! Are you home?"
Lathel frowned, recognizing that was Karik's voice—also the person who had sold his own wife to a brothel to exchange for alcohol and meat. After all, he didn't hide this matter, so the whole village and Lathel both knew.
"Could that bastard have already gone crazy from hunger?" Lathel muttered.
BAM! BAM!
The door-knocking sound rang out again. Karik's voice gradually became impatient. "Open the door! Lathel, I know you're inside."
Lathel sighed and said, projecting his voice outside, "What is it?"
"Open the door quickly! I have something to say to you!" Karik shouted.
Lathel bit his teeth, knowing in his heart that he couldn't avoid this battle.
Even if he fled, he could run, but what about Viviane?
'Although Karik is an alcoholic, I heard that in the past he was a Bronze-rank Adventurer, only one step away from Silver rank.' Lathel thought inwardly. 'Because he was injured, he couldn't continue that work.'
He frowned and ordered the System in his heart: 'Add all free attribute points to Strength.'
That's right—he still had 100 free attribute points just received last night. In his heart he was still hesitating, not knowing how to use them, so he temporarily didn't pay attention to it.
But at this moment, he needed strength more.
[Ding! Your STR is now 330.]
Lathel felt his strength had increased considerably, and in his heart he became much more confident.
Although he didn't know if 330 STR points were enough for him to confront Karik, now he could only try.
At the very least, his greatest advantage was the Immortal talent—that was his trump card.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"Son of a bitch!" Karik shouted loudly, then...
BAM! BAM!
The door-knocking became stronger and stronger. Lathel knew clearly that Karik had lost patience and wanted to break the door to rush in.
BAM!
The wooden door was immediately kicked open violently. Karik, with a face still drunk and eyes red as blood, looked inside.
But—
Whoosh!
Right at this moment, the axe blade suddenly appeared, chopping toward Karik's head.
"Damn it!" Karik cursed inwardly.
Although he was still drunk, after all he was also an experienced Adventurer for many years—his reactions weren't slow either.
He swung his arm up, using the gauntlet to block the axe blade.
CHENG!
The sound of metal colliding rang out piercingly. Sparks flew when the axe blade collided with Karik's gauntlet.
He retreated backward, his foot stepping into the snow, his body losing balance and falling backward.
Lathel had already possessed Basic Close Combat skill, so he immediately seized this opportunity. His body spun around, utilizing the momentum, once again swinging the axe blade toward Karik.
"That bastard!" Karik shouted loudly, his body leaning to one side, dodging the axe blade.
SMASH!!
"AGH!!!"
Although the axe blade didn't chop into his head, it struck his shoulder, making him scream loudly in pain.
Lathel saw Karik's blood splatter everywhere, his heart cold, without any mercy or pity for Karik.
He didn't stop, pulled the axe out, then once again chopped down on Karik's head.
Right at this moment, while his life was being threatened, his body burst out with all its strength. His foot immediately swung up and kicked into Lathel's stomach.
BAM!
Lathel was kicked backward, but he didn't feel pain. Once again he rushed toward Karik.
Suddenly...
SMASH!
Lathel was startled, feeling something stabbed into his back, making him fall to the ground.
"Borok?!"