Samson dashed at the large green toad, targeting its big eyes this time.

His biceps and triceps flexed, and his thigh muscles tensed. The ground beneath him cracked as he leaped into the air, raising his axe and swinging down fiercely.

Although he was quite old, he was a very energetic person in his youth. Now empowered by the Star Stream’s opportunity for leveling up, it was like he was back in his prime.

The mutated toad turned its head, then shot out its tongue to hit him midair.

Selene snorted coldly, raising her hands as she shot several icicles at the tongue. Unlike the toad’s flesh, the tongue wasn’t impervious to her attacks, so it was quickly recoiled.

Her face grew slightly pale as she paused her assault. Although she had superior stats to a normal human, she leaned more into the path of a mage.

Therefore, all the stat points she gained from leveling up were used to increase her mana reserves. This made her mana stats surpass the others except Leon.

However, after using her ability several times, she was already running low on mana, and her face was looking even paler than before. Yet, she didn’t say a word, and her expression didn’t change.

At that moment, an arrow shot from the distance, striking the mutated toad’s other eye at the same time as Samson’s axe landed.

The toad, despite its large size and slow movements, closed its eyes the moment it sensed danger.

Samson’s axe and Gwen’s flaming arrow hit its eyelids, barely dealing any damage.

Still, a little damage had been done. Even though the eyelid protected the mutated toad’s eye from Samson’s attack, the force of the attack was still transferred to the eye.

As for Gwen’s arrow, it struck the eyelid with a dull thud, barely impacting heavily.

However, what made her attacks dangerous wasn’t the arrow itself, but the pale green flame it carried.

According to the information she got from the ability scroll, it was a kind of flame that either burned or nurtured the soul.

As long as there was physical contact with the target, there was no defending against the flames.

Assaulted by the pain from Samson’s attack and the agony in its soul, the mutated toad gave a low roar as it scrambled back erratically.

"Reymond, now!"

Selene shouted, sensing the creature’s intentions to escape with a powerful leap.

Although it would benefit them if the mutated toad disengaged, Selene didn’t want that. She wanted the creature dead.

Reymond’s eyes snapped open, lightning flashing in them as he dashed at the mutated toad.

His blade had turned lightning blue, becoming a conduit for the densely packed lightning element in it.

"Die!"

A single swing from the sword, and a lightning arc shot out, slicing through the thick and slimy flesh of the creature.

The attack cleaved through the head of the mutated toad, and it was instantly killed, its head mutilated.

[You have slain a Level 23 Mutated Swamp Toad! + 7... gained!]

The same message flashed before their retinas, though their specific rewards were different.

Then there was another set of messages.

[You have leveled up to...]

[You have leveled up to...]

After killing a high-level creature, it was only natural that they leveled up. Though, the rewards weren’t as much as it’d have been if it had been killed by the efforts of a single individual.

Selene realized this and frowned. However, she wasn’t at odds with sharing the rewards with the others. Only a madman would say he wanted to fight a high-level creature by himself, just so he could gain the rewards selfishly.

........

At the female dormitory, the Tier One Evolved spider finally crawled out of the building, its six eyes instantly locked on Leon’s figure.

The young man tensed, tightening his grip on his spear.

The spider was large, larger than he expected. It completely dwarfed him in height, making him wonder how it had fit into the dormitory in the first place.

Now standing proudly on its eight metallic legs as sharp as blades, the spider released a low, chattering sound.

Then, Leon saw a flash of white.

The instant his eyes caught that color, his tensed muscles released like a coiled spring.

He flash-stepped to the side, evading the massive thread of silk that had been shot by the spider.

If he had been caught by that attack, that would have been the end.

Without pausing, he dashed at the creature, his speed barely registerable to the normal human eye.

The spider still reacted to his movements, though. A single leg came forward, striking him mid-change and sending him flying back.

He controlled his fall by skidding on his boots, barely able to pause the slide.

His eyes trembled, almost feeling numb. In that brief moment that the spider attacked him, he had blocked with his spear, avoiding being severed into two parts.

’It’s so strong.’

He marveled, feeling his arms still trembling from the attack. This proved that the spider’s strength and speed surpassed his own.

’There’s no turning back now.’

Again, he dashed at the spider, carefully paying attention to its mouth that could shoot threads, and the razor-sharp legs that could slice him into pieces.

Just as he expected, the spider struck at him again with its legs. Two of its large legs came straight at him like heavy sword pillars.

’Holy crap!’

Although panicking inwardly, he slid under the two sharp legs with perfect timing, evading the attack.

Then, he paused and rolled to the side.

A split second later, a massive silk thread struck his former position, making him gulp nervously.

If he hadn’t rolled quickly, he would have surely been pinned to the ground.

Without even pausing, he rose to his feet again and dashed at the spider again. With the distance between them closed, he could now inflict his own attacks on its body—or so he thought.

The spider made chattering sounds, then a dense green gas was released from its body.

Leon’s body jolted as he froze, knowing that the gas was definitely nothing good.

He dashed back, aiming to move out of its range. The spider helped him—in a way he didn’t appreciate.

The blunt side of one if its legs slammed into his side, cracking a rib and sending him crashing into a stall close to the hostel.

Bang!