There was no time to complain about Coarmy’s incompetence. Luca immediately grabbed the radio and shouted angrily, “Everyone, listen up! There’s more than one monster in the mountains, be extremely careful!”
Almost simultaneously, Donlow’s voice crackled through the radio. She said anxiously, “Damn it! There are at least thirty monsters here! Don’t come over, go get reinforcements!”
“Thirty?!” Quagmire and the police outside were stunned upon hearing this. How could so many monsters suddenly appear in the Black Mountain?
“We… we only saw one monster…” The sheriff in charge of blocking the mountains broke into a cold sweat. Before this, they hadn’t imagined there would be other monsters in Black Mountain. After all, this was their first time encountering such terrifying creatures, and they hadn’t even seen them clearly. How could they have predicted that these monsters would be a pack?
“Dammit! Everyone, listen up! Withdraw from Black Mountain immediately!” After swearing, Quagmire made a quick decision. They could handle a few dozen monsters, but no one knew how many were actually in the forest. If these creatures escaped Black Mountain, who knew what kind of chaos they would cause?
The most important thing now was to relay this information back to headquarters and have them send armed forces and heavy firepower to prevent the situation from escalating. As for Donlow and the soldiers… there was no time to worry about them now.
The other voices over the radio remained silent.
This wasn’t the first time Morning Star had suffered casualties, but this situation was different from all the others. They had to make the painful decision to abandon their teammates and watch as they were slaughtered by the monsters.
Donlow, however, remained calm and even tried to comfort everyone. Discover more stories at
She laughed and said, “The moment I joined Morning Star, I knew I might have to sacrifice myself. If I was afraid of dying, I wouldn’t have joined this organization. Besides, we might still manage to escape.”
There was a moment of silence on the radio before commands to retreat started coming through. Now was not the time for sorrow. If these monsters broke out of Black Mountain, it wouldn’t just be Celephais at risk; even the nearby Shen City could suffer. They had to act quickly.
Luca removed his headset and turned to the police officers behind him. “You guys withdraw as well.”
The officers nodded and quickly headed toward the mountain exit.
They didn’t notice that Luca, who was supposed to leave with them, hadn’t followed. Instead, he disappeared deeper into the forest.
That direction was exactly where Donlow and the others were located.
His figure moved through the woods with the speed of a cheetah, the surrounding scenery rapidly retreating behind him.
This wasn’t Luca’s first time experiencing such a situation. He had faced countless similar encounters in his previous life. Normally, by all logic, he should be retreating right now.
And since Donlow had survived in his past life, it meant she had definitely made it through this crisis as well.
The reason Luca stayed behind was because he sensed that something wasn’t right. It was impossible for Black Mountain to suddenly have this many monsters. There was most likely a Spatial Node here, and it was probably located where Donlow and her team were.
Considering the timing, it was about right. The fall of Celephais in his previous life wasn’t due to a single node eruption. Instead, it was a chain reaction—countless nodes inside and outside the city were triggered, and countless monsters poured out.
Before anyone could react, the city had already fallen.
Now that he had encountered this again in this life, he couldn’t just ignore these nodes.
And the best way to speed up his progress in the game was to make contact with a Spatial Node.
Such opportunities were rare, and this was a perfect chance.
Fortunately, Luca was already close to Donlow.
As Luca drew nearer, the sounds from the area grew louder. The noise was deafening, with gunfire mixed with screams, roars, and the terrifying shrieks and growls of monstrous creatures.
When Luca arrived, the first thing that caught his eye was a black-furred creature resembling a monkey.
There were about dozens of them, their eyes pitch black. Their bodies were similar to regular monkeys, but they had pale, ghastly faces twisted into unnaturally eerie, stiff smiles.
They moved with incredible speed, their claws like steel knives, easily capable of piercing through a person’s body. These creatures had surrounded Donlow and the police officers she was leading. Two officers had been gutted, lying on the ground, barely breathing. The others had sustained various injuries. Donlow was at the front, bravely standing her ground, while the others provided covering fire, barely managing to fend off the monster assault.
“Devil Monkeys?” Luca narrowed his eyes, recognizing these creatures. Devil Monkeys were a fairly common monster in later stages of the game, but their power wasn’t considered top-tier.
That was after the game had been on the decline for years, and they were pack creatures, which made them extremely troublesome. He hadn’t expected to encounter such a level of monster this early on.
Without hesitation, Luca drew his standard-issue long knife. A gust of wind appeared around him, and he moved like lightning, charging directly toward the monsters ahead. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
“Screech!” One of the Devil Monkeys noticed Luca and bared its teeth, emitting a sharp, shrill roar as it lunged toward him.
“Seeking death!” Luca snorted coldly. Red magic runes appeared around him, and the long knife in his hand turned crimson at a visible speed.
He suddenly pushed off the ground with all his strength, his already incredible speed skyrocketing once more! In the blink of an eye, he shot forward like an arrow, reaching the monster in front of him before it even had a chance to react.
The Devil Monkey froze for a moment, realizing too late that this human in front of it seemed… different.
But it was already too late. Luca’s gaze turned cold as he gripped the knife handle tightly. His wrist twisted, and in one fluid motion, he swung downward!
The crimson blade streaked through the forest in an instant!
“Thwip!!”
The Devil Monkey froze in place, blood erupting from its body like a fountain!
Before the other monsters could react, Luca was already in their midst. In a flash, the blade danced like a torrential storm, spraying foul blood in every direction!
By the time the other monsters realized what was happening, three or four of them had already fallen beneath Luca’s blade.
“Screeek!!!” The sharp, piercing shriek of the Devil Monkeys echoed through the entire forest. These monsters were highly vengeful by nature, and seeing so many of their kin slaughtered, five or six of them immediately charged toward Luca.
At the same time, Donlow and the others noticed Luca’s arrival. They all showed a brief expression of surprise and relief, but when they saw that he was alone, disappointment quickly replaced their initial joy. The number of monsters was just too great—one person alone could never turn the tide.
“Is this guy trying to get himself killed?” Donlow muttered, her fist smashing through the skull of one Devil Monkey. She clenched her teeth, feeling both touched and angry.
Just a moment ago, she thought Luca was a rational person, but now he was acting recklessly.
Now, they were all going to die here.
The other officers couldn’t help but sigh as well. But there was no time to dwell on it. They immediately began shooting to cover Luca, trying to prevent him from being overwhelmed by the monsters.
But then they realized, they had been worrying for nothing.
More than a dozen Devil Monkeys surged toward Luca, surrounding him completely.
Yet, not a single attack landed on him.
A faint cyan glow appeared around Luca’s body as he moved like a ghost, effortlessly weaving through the monsters, as if he were casually strolling through a park.
At the same time, his standard-issue long knife continued to strike down, each blow resulting in a Devil Monkey’s head being severed from its body.
Even with more than a dozen monsters attacking him, they could do nothing. In fact, Luca even killed a few more of them in the process. This scene left everyone on the scene stunned.
“This kid… he’s so strong!” One of the officers widened his eyes, unable to contain his amazement. They had seen their fair share of skilled fighters—some had participated in military combat competitions, and others had even subdued multiple criminals in hand-to-hand combat.
But these Devil Monkeys weren’t just ordinary beings—they were ruthless, bloodthirsty monsters that killed without hesitation. If it had been any of them facing the monsters, they would’ve been torn to pieces in the blink of an eye.
They were all too aware of the terrifying nature of these monsters, which made them even more impressed by Luca’s absurd strength.
“Truly deserving of being in a special forces unit. He really is something else,” one of the officers commented, genuinely amazed. Little did they know, Donlow, also a player, was just as stunned.
“His strength… how has it increased so much?” She muttered to herself, astonished at how quickly Luca’s power had grown.
She remembered that Luca wasn’t this overpowered just a few days ago—how had he changed so drastically in such a short time?
In the dimly lit forest, the young man wielded his long knife, his eyes alight with a fierce glow, moving with incredible agility as he weaved through the encirclement of more than a dozen Devil Monkeys.
The majority of the monsters’ attention was now focused on him, which instantly relieved some of the pressure on Donlow and the others.
“Increase firepower, break through!” They all saw a glimmer of hope for survival. Their expressions lit up with excitement, and their attacks grew more intense.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The continuous sound of gunfire drowned out the roar of the monsters. Several officers opened fire with their APC-9 submachine guns, while Donlow’s body radiated a faint crimson aura. Despite her smaller frame, she wielded a heavy sword with surprising force, cleaving one of the monsters cleanly in half from head to toe.
Just then, a cursing voice suddenly rang out from the forest.
“My legs are about to fall off, and I still got here too late.” Everyone turned their heads to see Quagmire, carrying a sword and puffing on a cigarette, walking out of the woods.
Behind him were Fuzzsir and Melania. They hadn’t left the forest with the police but had instead chosen to support Donlow, though they were slower than Luca.
“You guys…” Donlow nearly burst into tears at the sight of them. Quagmire flashed a grin and said, “It’s just a few dozen monsters, what’s there to be afraid of? Watch how I hack them to pieces!”
Fuzzsir, on the other hand, was staring at the black-furred, white-faced monkeys, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
“They’re so cute!” he exclaimed, his face lighting up with delight.
Luca’s lips twitched twice. In the end, he couldn’t be bothered to comment on the guy’s taste.