Level Up: Voidwalker

Chapter 12: A Damn Yeti

'A damn Yeti! And it's Rank B! That would destroy me,' Atlas thought. 'I wonder what it's doing.'

He would soon find out as another monster roared, and the sounds of something charging through the brush could be heard. Atlas poked his head out to see a Whooley Rhino-looking monster rushing toward the White Warden.

This newcomer was the size of an elephant from Earth, with its body rippled with muscles as it barreled through trees like they weren't there. Atlas quickly scanned the newcomer to see its rank.

[Woolhorn]

[Rank: B+ - 850 exp]

'The Woolhorn is a bit stronger, but let's see who wins,' Atlas mused while nibbling on his bread as he watched the sudden entertainment.

Once the White Warden saw the newcomer, it let out a loud, ear-piercing roar and charged forward, causing the Woolhorn to rush forward. When Atlas saw this, he chuckled, ''They're playing a game of chicken.''

What happened next took him by surprise. The Woolhorn impaled the White Warden, its body flailing before hurling the monster's corpse in his direction. With a sickening thud, it landed nearby.

More Yeti-like monsters emerged from the brush as it prepared to charge again, witnessing their injured kin and entering a berserk fury. As this happened, Atlas noticed the badly injured White Warden was staring at him with hate in its dying eyes.

Despite his apprehension, he resolved to face the creature. Focusing on his aim, he cast Void Arrow. An azure blue projectile materialized and shot forward, striking the White Warden's head with unerring precision.

When the creature died, Atlas felt the experience pouring into his body. As he did this, the battle intensified, as both sides were injured. He took this opportunity to escape his hiding place and take out his dagger.

Quietly, he went to the lifeless White Warden, extracting a stunning azure Monster Core and stashing it in his bag before quickly departing, abandoning the intense fight. Following a twenty-minute dash, he arrived at the snowy plains leading to the Frostmark Kingdom.

Atlas surveyed the wintry expanse and saw rolling hills blanketed in snow punctuated by sporadic clusters of trees. "It's like a snowy desert," he mused before walking through this strange landscape.

After scanning the landscape, he trekked across the plains for hours and saw only groups of trees. A herd of deer-like monsters ignored him, but he still scanned them.

[Meadowhart]

[Rank D - 300 Exp]

He quickly noticed the male eating grass in the middle of the herd and lifted its head to watch Atlas, who was miffed at the creature's behavior but didn't want to bother them and continued.

They let him pass as the monsters sensed he meant no harm to them. After another hour of walking, Atlas spotted a rundown village on the shore of the Shivering Sea, and he now understood where it got its name from as the air was ice cold, causing him to shiver before wrapping the cloak around himself.

Atlas wrapped his Winter Cloak around himself before trekking toward the abandoned village, and when he got closer, he noticed it looked like a hunter's village as it was half a mile away from the forest.

Pulling out his dagger and readying a spell, Atlas searched the village and found nothing but dust. It looked like it had been abandoned for some time, so he checked one more house before leaving.

As Atlas entered the room and scanned his surroundings, his eyes alighted upon something intriguing: a dusty tomahawk. Excitement surged within him, and he reached out and picked it up.

The weight wasn't an issue, so he swung it a few times to get the hang of it before using Void Sight on the new find.

[Hunters Tomahawk]

[Rank: Common]

[Level: 2]

Atlas was pleased with his find before tucking the new weapon securely into his belt. He scanned the area for anything else of value but found nothing. Satisfied, he left the old village behind and approached the forest a mile away.

It took him about an hour to reach it because he had to track through the knee-high snow, which caused him to slow down and took a toll on his body. Atlas made it to the forest and smelled burning, which caught his interest.

Atlas heard laughing and cheering while traveling toward the smell. 'People? I wonder if they're human or something else,' he thought while creeping closer.

He readied his knife and the tomahawk while coming upon a bandit camp surrounded by a makeshift wall. Atlas counted nearly thirty men and women patrolling the area while another two guarded a cage where a group of scared people huddled together.

Atlas's eyes grew wide, a scene from the novels he used to devour. "Slavers!" he exclaimed. With this realization, he spotted two men and a woman stationed at the entrance, conversing and sipping their drinks.

He swiftly crouched down, inching closer to get a better look and assess their ranks. Atlas carefully examined them once he was near enough, scanning them using Void Sight.

[Roland]

[Level: 65]

[Rank: Apprentice - 200 Exp]

[Maria]

[Level: 89]

[Rank: Apprentice - 200 Exp]

[Corvin]

[Level: 100]

[Rank: Apprentice - 200 Exp]

'Oh, they're strong, but if I can ambush them when they're not expecting it, I could win,' Atlas mused, but they caught himself, 'Killing them? Why is this stuff coming to me like It's normal.'

Atlas shook his head, attributing his thoughts to the transmigration. He then settled down to eavesdrop on their conversation. While daydreaming, he heard the dark-haired woman speak first.

''Corvin, when will we be hitting Frostwood Village? There are plenty of people to take, nothing like the last place, but they will still earn us some coin and could be good playthings.''

He watched the large man named Corvin reply, ''We will hit them at sunrise tomorrow before they start their work. The boss said we can have fun with the women this time because the last batch was instantly sold and he wouldn't let us touch the bird girl.''

When Atlas heard that, he distracted himself from their conversation, which annoyed him. Opting to attack the bandits under the veil of night, He stealthily withdrew from the vicinity in search of a secluded spot after checking his status.

[Level Up: 10?11]

[Experience: 50/1000]

[Experience Gained?800]

[Stamina: 141?142]

[Intelligence: 138?140]

[Core Points: 8100?8400]

[Core Points Gained: 300]

''Nice,'' Atlas mumbled as he noticed his status had been boosted. After that, he found a bush to sit inside and wait.

While sitting there, he pulled out 'Diving: A Beginners Guide To Dungeons' to learn more about them. Atlas started reading as the midday sun shone overhead, allowing him to see in his hiding place.

Atlas was amazed to discover all kinds of dungeons, from swamps to deep-sea ones. He discovered six levels of them, which were found all around Valoria. Levels seven to ten were also found, but they were infrequent and secured by magic schools or the realms they were in.

Only high-level adventurers are allowed to join after being tested by the Adventurers Guild Instructors. Atlas read about the Guild, which fascinated him as it was precisely like the novels he had read.

Adventurers complete quests, hunt monsters, and aid whatever realm they are in against any Monster Waves. Atlas discovered that you had to be thirteen to become one, so he signed up when he reached the first town, as the guilds weren't in villages.

After reading for a while, Atlas got a devious idea and jumped up before going through the snow-covered forest, looking for another Woolhorn to use as a battering ram against the bandits.

He searched for an hour until he found a small herd, which made him second guess his plans, but he pushed it aside before raising his hand toward the monsters and casting two dozen Void Bullets.

The azure blue projectiles lit up the forest around him before Atlas sent them flying toward the Woolhorn and started sprinting in the direction of the bandit camp. While running, he glanced backward and saw the monster staring at him with rage in its eyes.

When seeing this, Atlas yelped, knowing he didn't have much time before the creature started charging toward him. It didn't take him long to reach the part of the forest the bandit camp was in.

Once reaching the area, he acted like a monkey and scaled the closest tree to get a good view of the upcoming chaos. Seconds later, the ground started to shake, causing him to spin around and spot the small family charging in his direction.

Atlas watched as the five Woolhorns crashed through the forest, capturing the bandit's attention as they rushed to the entrance. Just as the large group arrived outside, the large Woolhorn appeared, causing the leader to scream something.

But it was too late for them. The monster barreled into the bandits while swinging its massive horn, goring two men and crushing another. Atlas got excited seeing the chaos, and the bandits didn't know what hit them.

While watching the larger Woolhorn fighting the remaining bandits who regrouped, but that's when the rest of the monster family joined the fray. The baby creature jumped on a woman, crushing her with ease as its parents caused chaos for ten straight minutes.

By the time the Woolhorn family's anger was sated, more than half of the bandits lay dead while others were injured and rolling around on the ground. Atlas watched this as his blue eyes glowed with killing intent, knowing what was about to happen until the guilt of getting them killed crept back into his mind.

Atlas shook his head while turning his gaze toward the cage that held the slaves and reaffirmed his determination to kill the slavers as they didn't deserve to live.