"What do you want?" Oliver said, his face showing clear hostility toward the group.

He knew too well who Ray was. He was the son of Robert, the Mayor of Ashville. And like his father, he was a spoiled brat who liked to bully others. Many kids avoided him whenever they saw him. He always walked around with his so-called minions, who only stuck close to him to get things.

And of course, Oliver was not scared of him in the slightest. Mentally, he was an adult, so to him, Ray was just a snotty kid.

"What’s with that face, huh? Do you want to get punched like before?" Ray cracked his knuckles.

But of course, Oliver’s current body was still small. Against Ray, he was no match. He had been beaten by him a few times already before. When he told his parents, they could not do anything and simply told him to stay away from Ray.

"Hey Ray! How about you show him your new monster? And use it to beat the crap out of him?" Lucius, one of the group, said.

"That is actually a good idea. Come out, Flamlio!" Ray summoned his monster.

It was a small flaming lion, a little over half a metre in size. It growled as it was summoned.

Oliver secretly used Overlord Eye to scan the monster.

---

[Flamlio]

Rank C

Level: 3

HP: 190

---

’Heeh, a Rank C monster, huh? That is actually a good monster.’ Oliver was slightly amazed. If he did not have Husk, he might have felt very jealous right now.

"Step back, everyone, if you all don’t want to get burned!" Ray told his friends as he got ready to fight.

"Hahaha! This will be very interesting!" Lucius grinned as he pushed the others back.

’Oii, oii... are you really trying to hurt me using that monster?’ Oliver thought, mocking Ray in his mind.

"Err... I don’t want to fight you, Ray. I don’t want anyone to get hurt," Oliver said, raising his hand in refusal.

"Do you think I need permission to beat you? And you the only one who will get hurt. Taste this, Burning Claw!" Suddenly, Ray’s hand was covered in flames. He dashed forward and thrust his hand out.

Oliver was slightly startled.

’Ray is already able to use his monster’s power?’

That meant Ray’s Familiarity with Flamlio was already high enough for him to link and learn its skill. Unlike Oliver and Husk, who was a boss monster, the synchronization with normal monsters was not as dramatic as Oliver’s, who underwent a total transformation. Lower-rank monster tamers could only use their monsters’ skills without combining with them.

For Oliver system, it was called as Synchronization. But for others they are called Link.

As for higher-rank monsters like S and above, Oliver had no idea yet, as he had never encountered them before.

Oliver immediately evaded the attack, thanks to the passive of Triple Instinct. Somehow, Ray’s movement felt slow to him just now. It might be because he had been fighting in high-speed battles that sharpened his senses.

"What?" Ray was surprised. But he did not stop. He twisted his body and swung his leg, now covered in flames.

Oliver once again managed to evade it with ease, leaving Ray in shock.

"How the hell did he manage to dodge that?" Lucius was not satisfied. He really wanted to see Oliver beaten to a pulp.

Ray then continued his relentless attacks. However, none of them connected.

"Huhh, huhh..." Ray was crouching on the ground, exhausted as almost all of his mana had been drained.

"How about we stop here? I think this is just making you more tired," Oliver said.

"Who is tired? I am not done yet. Flamlio, attack him!" Ray suddenly ordered his monster to strike Oliver.

"Nice, Ray! That Oliver will never be able to evade Flamlio’s fast attack! He is done for!" Amed, one of the group, said.

Ray’s face curled into a grin. ’My Flamlio can even beat Rank E and D monsters on its own. There is no way that idiot can come out of this unharmed.’ 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Rawwr!"

Flamlio charged at Oliver at great speed, its flames growing larger as it closed the distance.

’Tch! I just told you to stop so you wouldn’t get hurt. But it seems you are really stupid and can’t read the situation. Luckily, his Flamlio is still low level. I’ll show you the difference between us!’

Flamlio leapt toward him, but Oliver simply stood still.

Bam!

In an instant, Oliver raised his leg and kicked Flamlio. The beast was sent flying to the side, knocked out immediately upon impact.

"Hahh?!" Lucius and the others were shocked. But the most shocked of all was Flamlio’s master, Ray.

"Flamlio! Are you okay? How dare you kick my monster like that? I will tell my father about this!" Ray immediately carried Flamlio and ran off with his group.

"Did I actually overdo it? Well, he was the one who asked for it," Oliver muttered, scratching his head with a weak smile. He then looked at his basket, which was already full of Venin Leaf, and headed back home.

---

A few kilometres from where Oliver had fought Ray, a group of hunters was on their way back to Ashville Town.

"Aahh, my body is all sore. That was such a tiresome dungeon raid," Garret said as he massaged his shoulder.

"But it was a very rewarding one, don’t you think? With just a few raids, we obtained this much valuable loot. We can stop hunting for a few days with this," Arnold said, raising a leather bag filled with their spoils.

Both of them had joined an expedition consisting of hunters from nearby towns to raid a Rank 5 dungeon. After clearing it, they would sleep outside the dungeon before repeating the raid the next day. It was a normal occurrence for hunters to do this.

Suddenly, as they were walking and chatting, a loud sound erupted.

BOOM!

A nearby tree exploded, leaving only its roots behind.

Both of them were shocked and immediately readied their weapons.

"What is happening? Is it illegal hunters?" Garret said, sweat forming on his forehead.

"I don’t know. But if that’s true, we should take them down. This is a main road to our town," Arnold replied.

They cautiously moved deeper into the forest.

Just a few metres away, unknown to them, a large creature was watching, one that would soon bring fear to their town.