On their way to the river, Desther stopped in his tracks as he looked around in vigilance.

All of a sudden, he felt the change of temperature in the air. Although subtle, his high attributes allowed him to sense the faint changes around him.

A surge of familiarity overtook his mind, recalling the time they went back to the base.

Although vague, he felt that it was definitely there and was definitely the same thing he had sensed back then. The only difference was the fact that this time, he had felt it clearly.

It was definitely a monster.

"What’s wrong?" Noah asked, his vigilance rising upon seeing Desther’s reaction.

Following Desther these past few days did not make him complacent. As Desther intended and as Noah liked it, he was still constantly thrown into a dangerous fight. Growing at every monster he fought, at every monster he killed, one at a time. Although subtle, Noah was slowly becoming a genuine Combat Awakened Professional.

Desther raised his hand, telling him to stay quiet.

Noah nodded his head and allowed him to do his thing.

On the other hand, Desther focused all of his senses, trying to ’see’ where this monster was hiding.

A moment later, his eyes widened as he turned toward one location.

"There!"

Instantly, a massive Magic Bullet condensed out of thin air and was shot toward that location at extreme speed.

With 500 Intelligence Attribute, the Magic Bullet was no longer the same as before.

The previous size, which was only as big as a thumb, was now as big as his thigh. The difference was staggering, yet the speed at which it traveled was only faster.

BANG!

Breaking the barrier of sound, a deafening sound echoed as another explosion ensued the moment it struck the target.

Desther quickly went forward, checking what was there. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any visual toward that monster, so he could not cast his Theft Mark toward it.

It only took him a moment to reach the tree where the monster was hiding.

"Gone?"

Desther frowned as he looked at the empty space behind the tree.

Creak! Creak!

Desther looked up and saw the massive hole blasted into the tree. A chunk of it was now gone after being struck by the Magic Bullet. Unable to bear its own weight, the tree creaked and was slowly falling toward the ground.

From the looks of it, it was also falling toward Noah’s location too.

Like the others around it, this tree was quite massive and tall. Its trunk alone was as thick as a regular bus.

Noah looked up, color drained from his face; the shadow of the tree loomed over his head, preparing to smash him apart.

"Oh hell nah..."

Desther noticed the scene and just shook his head. He raised his hand and lightly tapped his hand toward the falling tree.

As he tapped it, the entire tree was actually pushed dozens of meters away. No matter how light, his 500 value of Strength was not just something that could be taken lightly, and it was not just for show.

If not for his Ultimate Thief Talent allowing him to perfectly control his strength, he did not even know what kind of mess he would cause every time he increased his attributes by such a huge amount.

BOOM!

The tree fell into the distance, crashing loudly into the ground. Smoke billowed as dust blew everywhere.

The wind blew as the tree fell to the ground.

Noah’s hair fluttered in the air; he was still frozen in shock and fear.

This was not the first time in the past few days that he felt death gripping his neck. However, every time he experienced it, a different kind of palpitation would still engulf his mind.

"Hey, you alright?"

It was only when he heard Desther’s voice that he woke up from his trance.

His eyes, though, were still staring at the tree in the distance.

"What the fuck!?"

He was already shocked and felt fear upon seeing the tree falling toward him. However, what he was even more shocked by was the fact that the tree... the fucking massive tree was actually pushed to the side by Desther with a casual tap.

With a casual tap...

’Just how strong is he now?’

He could have sworn that Desther was strong, but he was not this strong just a day before.

’Did he just level up again? Isn’t it supposed to be hard to level up once you reach Tier 1?’

Although confused, as usual, Noah did not try to ask anything and merely nodded his head.

"What was that just now? Was it a monster?"

He did not know what truly happened. It was just that Desther moved and attacked too suddenly. Noah did not even know if there was truly a monster or not.

"Who knows..."

Desther shrugged his shoulders. Even he doesn’t know what it truly was.

All he knew was that it was a real entity. It was also strong. At least strong enough to escape from his attack.

It must be noted that he was using his full-powered attack during that time. Yet, it still failed to kill that entity that was hiding behind that tree. Heck, he did not even know if it had been hit by that attack or if it was actually fast enough to escape before the Magic Bullet landed.

This was his second encounter with that monster.

One time would just be an accident; two times would be a coincidence; and three times was a pattern.

He did not know if it was truly just a coincidence this time around or if the monster was actually following them.

Regardless, Desther just hoped that there wouldn’t be a third time.

Speaking of that entity, Desther felt as if he were actually lacking something.

If he had sensed it sooner or quicker, it would not have escaped.

A skill that could detect and scan the surrounding area at that time would have been pretty helpful.

Although his senses were already strong, they still could not compare to proper skills after all.

Desther recalled the mission given to him by the title.